The competitive program and nominees of Russia's major theatrical award were aired at the press-conference in the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater.

      As it turns out, several records have been set at once this year.

      The Golden Mask contest will be held in the Stanislavsky Theatre from early February till April 19.

      The press conference made a report on work of two advisory committees (musical and drama), which went to a record number of business trips and watched a record number of stage productions — 939 in total. As a result an unprecendently big number of performances (74) and cities (25) hve been nominated for the Golden Mask. Six of the cities, namely Norilsk, Naberezhnye Chelny, Tver, Kemerovo, Sharypovo, Glazov, are debutants.

      The competition of this year is expanded thanks to new nominations, such as supporting roles in the operetta/musical and playwrights. The latter one is represented with Natalya Vorozhbit, Marius Ivashkyavichus and Vyacheslav Durnenkov with Maria Zelinskaya.