NE ZHURYS'!
 

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The Lviv variety theatre "Ne Zhurys'!"(Don't Worry!) was formed in June of 1988. Its' popularity peaked between 1988 and 1991 when it staged a whole series of musical-theatre productions that sharply criticized and mocked the current communist regime. The group performed songs that were banned during Soviet times (songs of the Sich Riflemen, UPA, political dissidents) and, on October 5, 1989 in the Lviv Philharmonic Hall, was the first to publicly perform the still banned Ukrainian national anthem "Sche ne vmerla Ukraina" (Ukraine has not died yet).

The most well-known productions of the theatre included "Vid vukha do vukha" (From ear to ear) (1989), "Vertep" (Christmas Pageant), "I mertvym, I zhyvym, I nenarodzhenym" (To the dead, the living, and the unborn), "Kartoteka Pana Bazia" (Mr. Bazio's Files), "Poviav Viter Stepovij" (The Steppe Wind Blew) (1989), "Pisni z-za Grat" (Songs from Behind Bars) (1990), "Zolota Lykhomanka" (Gold Fever) (1992). The soundtracks from these productions were recorded in Lviv's "Studia Leva" and were produced on cassettes in Ukraine and Canada by "Kobza International". Songs made popular by the theatre also served as a basis for several musical television films - "Ne Zhurys'!" (Kyiv, 1989), "Os' taka istoriya" (Such a history) (Lviv, 1989) - and many humorous television shows.

The "Ne Zhurys'!" theatre toured in many countries, including Canada, the United States of America, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, England, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Russia.

The initial theatrical troupe consisted of (in alphabetical order): Taras Chubaij, Ostap Fedoryshyn, Victor Morozov, Stefko Orobetz, Andrij Panchyshyn, Yuri Sayenko, Yuri Vynnychuk and Vasyl' Zhdankin. Subsequent productions involved dozens of other performers, among them Kost' Moskaletz, Bohdan Stel'makh, Oleh Lykhach, Bohdan Rybka, Orest Khoma, Tryzubyj Stas (Stanislav Scherbatykh), Oles' Drach, Tetiana Kaspruk, Bohdan Gengalo, Lesia Bonkovska, Lesia Sobolevska, Zenko Filipchuk, Ihor Krut, Roman Mykytiuk, and many others. In the second half of the nineteen nineties, the comedy duo of "Pani Stasia" (O. Fedoryshyn) and "Pan Dziunio" (B. Rybka) gained wide popularity.

The directors of the various productions were Sofia Kokhmat, Volodymyr Kuchynsky,
Serhij Proskurnia and Vasyl' Obraz.
Art design - Volodymyr Kaufman and Yuri Koch.
Administrative director - Ostap Fedoryshyn.
Artistic director - Victor Morozov.

Article in THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY (03.12.1989)