The premiere of the only operetta by Dmitry Shostakovich Moscow, Cheryomushki took place at the Moscow Operetta Theatre on the 24th of January 1959. Soon after, productions followed in Rostov-on-Don, Odessa, Sverdlovsk, Bratislava, Prague, Magadan, Zagreb, various cities in the GDR and Czechoslovakia. Two years later a film, based on the operetta, Cheryomushki was made (directed by Herbert Rappaport).

The return of the composer to the musical theatre after the “anti-formalistic campaign” of the 1930s, as well as his debut in the “light” genre was much looked forward to. One of the founders and a leading artist of the Moscow Operetta Theatre, Grigory Yaron wrote in his book of memories: “An announcement that Shostakovich is writing an operetta was met with huge interest. How? A composer who wrote Symphony No. 7, and recently — No. 11, suddenly composes an operetta?!! Wherever I appeared, the first question I heard from people I knew or who I did not know, of different ages and professions, was: “What is Shostakovich’s operetta like?”. The composer responded to the topic of his “sensational” referral to the genre of operetta: “I think that a true composer must try his hand in every genre”.