Turandot is the beautiful, icy princess of the Forbidden City – she lures prince-suitors to their death by posing three riddles. She will marry a prince who answers correctly, and if not he loses his head. Prince Calaf correctly answers the riddles, but instead of claiming Turandot, he poses his own riddle – “Tell me my name before morning and I shall die.” The highlight of the third act of Puccini’s opera Turandot is the marvelous aria Nessun Dorma (No One Sleeps). Princess Turandot decrees that no one will sleep that night in Peking until she learns Calaf’s true name. Thus the background for what must be one of Moscow’s, if not the world’s, great restaurant experiments, the huge investment in Turandot, next to the city’s essential Pushkin Cafe.
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http://www.passportmagazine.ru/article/432/