Silk Stockings (Arkiv version)

Act I
Peter Ilyich Boroff, a leading Soviet composer, is detained in Paris by Hollywood agent Steve Canfield, who wants to use his "Ode to a Tractor" for a picture starring Janice Dayton. The Soviets send a trio of agents, Brankoff, Ivanov, and Bibinski, to Paris to bring Boroff back. At their hotel the agents and the staff express amused dismay at the plight of the composer who is torn between going home and staying in Paris – “Too Bad.”

Canfield, who now has Boroff as a client, fabricates a French father for him so he can claim he is a French rather than a Russian citizen.

Meanwhile, in Russia, Markovitch has been appointed the new Commissar of Art. His attractive ballerina girl friend wants him to make her prima ballerina at the Opera in place of his own wife.

When the Soviets learn of the failure of their agents to bring Boroff home, they order Markovitch to dispatch Comrade Yaschenko to Paris to get not only the composer but also the three agents who have been seduced by Parisian life. Yaschenko, who turns out to be Nina "Ninotchka" Yaschenko, arrives in Paris and meets Canfield, who sings to her of the many virtues of the City of Lights – “Paris Loves Lovers.”

Janice Dayton makes a grand entrance into the hotel lobby and tells the assembled reporters that she is going to make her first serious non-swimming picture. It will be an adaptation of War and Peace. Writing, casting and direction are less important than the latest technological developments – “Stereophonic Sound.”

Ninotchka tries to persuade Canfield that sex is extrachemical in origin – “It's a Chemical Reaction, That's All.” But Canfield, who disagrees, wins her over to his point of view – “All of You.”

Janice makes a play for Boroff in a boutique in order to convince him to let her use his music for her film – “Satin and Silk.” And by the end of Act I, Ninotchka, although full of guilt, has been won over by Paris and Canfield – “Without Love.”

Act II
The three Russians conclude that Ninotchka plans to marry the American and that they will have to bring Boroff back themselves. If they succeed, they assure themselves their leader Bibinski will be honored – “Hail Bibinski.”

After admitting to Ninotchka that the story about Boroff's French father is a hoax, Canfield proposes marriage to her. She accepts, and together they sing “As On Through the Seasons We Sail.”

Janice transforms "Ode to a Tractor" into a jazzy song about Napoleon and Josephine. The previously passive Boroff is infuriated and he, Ninotchka, and the three agents decide to go back to Russia after all. As the others depart, the agents conclude that they have no choice – the alternative is “Siberia.”

The despondent Canfield sings of his love for the departed Ninotchka, for whom he had just bought 365 pairs of “Silk Stockings.”

Back in Moscow, Ninotchka is named superintendent of a building – an apartment house she sets up as a place for Soviet artists to have more freedom of expression. Having decided that the transformation of "Ode to a Tractor" into "Josephine" is not so bad after all, Boroff is now fascinated by Western popular music. He arranges a jam session at which they all sing and play “The Red Blues.”

Unexpectedly, Canfield turns up – as does Commissar Markovitch. The fast-talking Hollywood agent convinces Markovitch that there is big money to be made in America (less a 20% agent's fee) if he writes his story, "I Was A Commissar Under Bulganin." Canfield is reunited with Ninotchka and they all escape to the West. The Russians are full of high hopes that they will become "Wall Street Billionaires." Finale – Reprise of “Too Bad.”