Toward the end of the Cold War, the state theater of New York, under Pat Snyder's direction, started a cultural exchange with the USSR that resulted in a Soviet theater company coming to Albany to perform. One of the shows they did was a variety show with a little bit of everything thrown in, including a Russian dancing bear act.
Somewhere in the middle of the show, a half-dozen Russian women in peasant clothes took the stage to sing "Summertime." It was one of the most beautiful, goose-bump inducing moments of theater I've ever experienced.