This performance is based on the play by Alexander Ostrovsky, "Whatever You Look For, That You Will Find". It is the last part of a trilogy about the adventures of Misha Balzaminov. Misha is an extremely romantic character: kind, dreamy, childishly naive and ingenuous. So he is perceived by the people around him as foolish. He lives with his head in the clouds and therefore feels detached from the world around him. Nevertheless, he has to survive in the petty bourgeois environment of 19th century Moscow. Having been born into family of very modest means but possessing a noble nature, Misha sees marriage to a rich lady as the only way to reach the upper crust of the society, where he thinks he belongs. Not deterred by all his previous failures, Misha is desperately trying to pursue his idea of happiness.
The phrase — “If I were a tzar, I would issue a law that the rich must marry the poor, and the poor marry the rich. Those who disobey would get capital punishment"— became a popular expression.