Overture

ln the prologue, all main characters соmе onto the proscenium, one after another.

Scene one

ln а hall of the Museum of Moscow History and Renovation, tourguide Bubentsov tells visitors about the past and the future of Moscow. His wife Masha is in the group as well.

Everybody goes into the next hall, but Masha stays alone with her husband. They live separately, despite having been married for several months, and keep each other’s company wherever they саn.

The newly-weds dream about а fiat of their own.

Boris Koretsky and Sergey Glushkov enter the hall. Boris opens to his friend: he wants to find love.

Lidochka, another tour-guide, enters. She is Bubentsov’s neighbour. Boris and Sergei flirt with her, but Lidochka feels scandalized. The young men leave. Lidochka’s musings are interrupted bу her father: the ceiling in their communal flat has fallen in, and the building is to bе demolished. Masha and Bubentsov, who live in the same estate, are happy: if the building is demolished, they will finally bе eligible for new housing.

Sergei accidentally comes across the housing orders in Baburov’s papers, that were received upon hearing about the demolition. AII the party goes to Cheryomushki District in Sergei’s company саr.