On April 12-13, the ballet "Perrault's Tales" will be presented as part of the International Opera and Ballet Festival in Tashkent. The production is a collaborative effort by Maxim Petrov, Konstantin Khlebnikov, and Alexander Merkushov.

The librettists chose four of Charles Perrault's tales — "Puss in Boots," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Bluebeard," and "Tom Thumb." Together with a prologue and an epilogue, they form a cohesive performance about how fairy tales can be both kind and cruel; how appearances of beauties and beasts can be deceiving; how all people are different, and no outward appearance can take away the right to rejoice, grieve, or love.

The music for the ballet was composed by three different composers, working independently, resulting in contrasting styles — from Alexey Balovlenkov's postmodern medley, through Dmitry Mazurov's dark horror themes, to the repetitive emotionality of Nastasya Khrushcheva.