This article is devoted to the analysis of the interpretation of Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina" in the Russian musical of the same name staged in 2016. The research takes place in the context of the problem of intermediality and simplification of literary classics as a result of its translation into the language of another art aimed at the mass audience. The author examines how the theatrical production transformed the novel. The article identifies two key points for this interpretation: firstly, the invented image of the Manager as a personification of fate and morality, whose parties are the leitmotif of the whole performance, brings particular situations to the existential level; and secondly, the emphasis on the topic of public opinion, which entailed a change in the system of characters, the motives of the characters. The author reveals this aspect by analyzing five important scenes: a ball in Moscow; an evening at Princess Betsy's; conversations between Karenina and her husband, as well as between Vronsky and his mother; horse races; and Anna's arrival at the theater. In the course of the analysis, the author draws attention to both the libretto, which is a verbal part of the interpretation of the novel, and the dramatic action, choreography, and stage design involved in the interpretation nonverbally. Through comparison with the novel and taking into account the genre specifics of the musical, the author comes to the conclusion that Tolstoy's Anna Karenina was intermediately adapted for the mass audience by simplifying the psychological portrait of the main character, shifting semantic accents, and introducing his own leitmotif image
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