“… all the dancers deliver their best. Dances of merchants, gypsies and fair visitors create the twists of the story… Everybody without exception is filled with happiness being part of the picturesque feast, feeling common sincerity. This overall bursting bliss is taken up by the orchestra and the audience whose voices get hoarse from ecstatic “bravos”.

Elena Fedorenko, "Kultura"

"The Stone Flower" staged by Yuri Grigorovich had the premiere in 1957 at the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Theatre. In 1959 it was transferred to the Bolshoi Theatre.

The premiere of "The Stone Flower" marked a departure from the "dramballet" and the beginning of a new phase of the Russian Soviet ballet whose absolute leader was Yuri Grigorovich. It was the work on "The Stone Flower" that was the beginning of his collaboration with Simon Virsaladze, who proved the choreographer’s veritable co-creator. Many a star of the Russian Soviet ballet, such as I. Kolpakova,  A. Osipenko, A.Gribov, Yu. Solovyov, M. Plisetskaya, E. Maksimova, V. Vasiliev, and N. Timofeeva, danced in "The Stone Flower".

In Moscow, "The Stone Flower" had not been performed since 1994. The production of 2008 at the K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre was the first encounter of the Theatre’s ballet troupe with Yury Grigorovich.