Opening for the 12th time, the Golden Mask festival presents its annual showcase of the best of the best in Russian theater.

It comes around now with the precision of a fine Swiss watch. It has become so predictable and so reliable that one might be excused for thinking it's just another element of nature; one of the little gifts that spring invariably brings -- like the first green buds or the last clumps of dirty snow. It is the Golden Mask, the festival that brings to Moscow an array of the previous season's top accomplishments in theater from all over Russia.