".a most welcome addition to the small number of English references work on Russian theater." -- American Reference Books Annual "Senelick's wit and learning make this dictionary hard to put down.With the dictionary, bibliography, and convenient and compendious list of play titles, Senelick performs a real service in this genial reference book." -- The Russian Review "Laurence Senelick is supremely qualified to compile this historical dictionary. The result, authoritative and astute in its selection of details (including a wonderful bibliography), is up to the moment in its coverage." --Don B. Wilmeth, Editor, Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History "This splendid volume is destined to find pride of place on the desks of many scholars interested in Russian theatre.

With his usual panache and energy Laurence Senelick has filled another massive gap in the tools we need to understand Russian theatre and popularize it in the English-speaking world. A very handy reference. Heartily recommended." --J. Douglas Clayton, Canadian Slavonic Papers "Senelick (drama and oratory, Tufts U., Massachusetts) writes for students and general readers who do not know Russian, though she hopes specialists will find some useful information as well. She focuses on the dramatic stage, mentioning opera, ballet, and film only when the careers of actors, designers, and directors she describes wander into such genre. Her emphasis is on theater within the borders of the Russian Federal Republic during the Soviet era, but she does consider Ukrainian, Georgian, Armenian, Baltic, and Jewish figures who played major roles in it as well as figures who became prominent after they left Russia.

In addition to people, she cites theaters, movements, and plays." -- Reference and Research Book News.