In the 1990s Georgy Vasiliyev saw '' Les Misérables '' in New York City . He felt inspired to take theatre to Russia . He tried to buy the rights to '' Les Misérables '' but did not succeed , so he decided to start a homegrown Russian production . He spent funds to convert a former ball-bearing factory " culture hall " into a modern theatre . He spent $ 4 million U.S. dollars , making the play the most expensive theatre project in the history of Russia . The tickets were 15 U.S. dollars each , making them relatively expensive . Vasiliyev showed his financiers a marketing study stating that 30 % of Moscow 's population fit the profile audience that would be willing to pay for the production , due to changing sensibilities and increasing incomes . The Russian theatre community had a prejudice against this kind of play . Peter Baker and Susan Glasser said that the Russian theatre community " considered the concept the thespian version of McDonald 's . " Vasiliyev said " Nord-Ost was a sort of protest against tarnishing our history , against not believing in your own strength , against all this pervasive , depressing , ugly stuff in mass media . '' Nord-Ost '' is the opposite . It 's a romantic story about family . It 's a story that elevates us and our history . It 's a story that enables us to look at our history not as the history of class struggle , wars , and repressions , but a history of people and personal achievements . " On October 23 , 2002 Chechen terrorists took the audience hostage in the Moscow theater that was showing the production of '' Nord-Ost '' , threatening to blow up the building and demanding withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya . Most of the hostages were released after the theatre was stormed by special forces . 130 hostages died from poison gas used by Russian special forces ; " Nord-Ost ” lost 17 members of the team , including 2 child actors aged 13 ( Kristina Kurbatova and Arsenii Kurilenko ) and one third of all musicians in the orchestra . The producer Georgii Vasilyev had himself been among the hostages
took the audience hostage
Moscow theater hostage crisis
Nord-Ost