LUSYA, the heroic Soviet building worker, would be happy if she were not constantly being stood up by: SERGEI, the somewhat unreliable chauffeur of: DREBYEDNYETSOV, the big party boss.

BABUROV, whose roof is falling in, doesn’t believe in the new ‘ideal home’. For him, old Moscow is still the place to be.

His daughter, LIDOCHKA, a guide at the Museum of the History and Reconstruction of Moscow, finds her life in the groves of academe a little lonely - it’s not just a roof that she needs. Needless to say she catches the eye of a most unsuitable man: BORIS, a disreputable vagrant, a dissident Soviet rocker in search of his soul, and any female who might help him find it.

Lidochka’s colleague at the Museum, SASHA, and his fiancée, MASHA, would be only too happy with anywhere where they could be alone for a few moments. With no room of their own, a new flat is their ‘Soviet dream’, but will it come true? 

BARABASHKIN, right hand man to the big boss Drebyednyetsov, knows that his power lasts only so long as everyone is begging for a flat in the new block: once they have their keys, who will care about him any more?

The boss of course has to make sure his girlfriend VAVA has a flat big enough to accommodate her ambitions, but is she more than he can handle?

Who can make this garden of Eden grow? The cynical manipulators, Barabashkin and Drebyednyetsov? Or Lusya, the idealistic singer of the Construction-workers Anthem? The bright enthusiasts for change, or the weary survivors of the years of struggle?

COME TO CHERYOMUSHKI AND FIND OUT!

...It’s a kind of crazy event really! Shostakovich believed that there was no such thing as serious or light music – only good or bad. The music has this intense Russian darkness; luscious and sweet like a very heavily sugared piece of Black Forest gateaux. But it’s as though the Keystone Cops and Charlie Chaplin have walked in…you get to the end of a number and the music suddenly goes double speed like a Looney Tunes cartoon! Shostakovich wrote the music post-Stalin, when he felt he could try something more satirical and slightly anarchic. This version includes saxophones, banjos and deliberately out of tune pianos!"

City Inn, an award-winning, contemporary hotel, will open in Leeds in Summer 2009, conveniently situated next to the train station. It will feature 333 guest rooms, a destination City Café restaurant with outdoor, canal-side terrace, and a Sky Lounge with 360° panoramic views over Leeds city. At the heart of the City Inn brand is an uncompromising approach to quality, service, value for money and putting customers first.  Each of our hotels has its own curated art gallery and Leeds will be no exception making it a perfect choice for a cultural break. For more information, please visit www.cityinn.com