“Comedies of Merimee” became the first performance by Alexey Popov in the Vakhtangov Theatre. The admirers willingly announced this performance a continuation of the “Turandot” line. The biggest help in comparing “Comedies” with the Vakhtangov performance settings by Ignatiy Nivinskiy: bright fabrics, arches, a blue curtain going down in a corner with a pattern made of headings from plays and inscription: “The Vakhtangov Studio”. Popov’s performance was indeed lively, joyful, sunny, but had no “theatre game” — the true battle of passions with their blistering redundancy raged on the stage.