Act I of the ballet 'Anyuta', based on the story 'Anna on the Neck' by Anton Chekhov. Cast: Anastasia Stashkevich (Anyuta), Andrey Merkuriev (Pyotr Leontievich), Yan Godovsky (Modest Alexeyevich), Denis Rodkin (Artynov), Karim Abdullin (Student), Daria Bochkova (Young Girl), Andrei Sitnikov (His Excellency), with artists of The Bolshoi Ballet. Choreography - Vladimir Vasiliev. Music - Valery Gavrilin. Bolshoi Theatre, 29 May 2013. With many thanks to Batya Annadurdyev of The Bolshoi Ballet for the thumbnail image. After the death of his wife, Leontievich is left with three children: a grown-up daughter Anyuta and two young boys. Grieving for his wife, he takes increasingly to drink. Modest Alexeyevich asks for Anna’s hand in marriage and she accepts, in the hope that the marriage will save her family from poverty and give her a comfortable life. She breaks up with her student sweetheart and goes to live with Alexeyevich. She soon realizes that the
marriage will bring her no benefits: her husband, who is miserly and unemotional, has no intention of helping her father and brothers.
