Russia’s first home-grown musical “Nord-Ost” was a huge success in Moscow until rebel Chechens took over the theatre and killed 100 people. The show reopened earlier this year in the same theatre, but the stigma of the hostage drama finally shut down the show. “The organisers kept the seats full in part by offering places to the disadvantaged, who would not otherwise have been able to see the show. The modest operational profits made before the crisis were wiped out. Nord-Ost remains a musical and theatrical success, and an innovation in Russia.”