It tells the story of a beautiful young girl who is chosen-quite against her will-by Tsar Ivan the Terrible to be his bride. The actors, singers and musicians of the Bolshoi Opera & Theatre star in this motion picture, which is sung in Russian with English subtitles.

Upon its original theatrical release, the New York Times acclaimed the Rimsky-Korsakov score as one which “surgers and soars, magnificently voiced by the grand old Bolshoi.”