Azerbaijan State Academic Musical Theatre
Baku's musical comedy and operetta company, descended from Uzeyir Hajibeyov's 1910 premiere.
Azerbaijani musical theatre is dated from 24 May 1910, when Uzeyir Hajibeyov's musical comedy Husband and Wife was first played in the Nikitin brothers' circus building in Baku. The company was given independent status in September 1938, with separate Azerbaijani and Russian sections. Through the following decades it built a repertoire of national musical comedies alongside Viennese and Hungarian operetta, including works by Franz Lehar and Imre Kalman.
The theatre lost its home in 1988 and worked without a permanent stage until 1992; it now plays in the building on Zarifa Aliyeva Street that opened in 1982, a short walk from Fountains Square. The programme mixes Hajibeyov's comedies, among them Arshin Mal Alan and If Not That One, Then This One, with newer musicals, children's shows and concert evenings. Performances are chiefly in Azerbaijani, and the company also tours to festivals abroad.
Highlights
- Descended from the 1910 premiere of Hajibeyov's Husband and Wife
- Repertoire of Azerbaijani musical comedy and European operetta
- Playing in its building on Zarifa Aliyeva Street since 1982
- Regular children's matinees alongside evening shows
