Ever since the first performance of Nikolai Gogol's "The Inspector" took place on April 19, 1836, Russia and the world have been fascinated by Khlestakov, a character in the play who poses as a government inspector and gets away with murder.

The original idea for the play had come to Gogol from Pushkin, who suggested to him the theme of both "The Inspector" and his other classic, the novel "Dead Souls."

The story of "The Inspector" is a simple one.