English Pantomime in Twelve Tableaux
Music: By Lord Berners (1926, commissioned by Serge Diaghilev). Book by Sacheverell Sitwell.
Choreography: By George Balanchine.
Production: Scenery and costumes after historical prints by George and Robert Cruikshank, Tofts, Honigold, and Webb, collected by B. Pollock and H.J. Webb. Costumes designed by Pedro Pruna; scenery and costumes adapted and executed by Prince A. Schervashidze.
Premiere: December 3, 1926, Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, Lyceum Theatre, London. Conductor: Henri Defosse.
Cast:
The Fairy Queen, Alexandra Danilova; Tom Tug, a Sailor, Serge Lifar; W. Brown, a Journalist, Michael Fedorov; Goddess [Britannia], Lydia Sokolova; Emerald Fairy; Ruby Fairy; Fairies, 16 women; Sylphs, Lubov Tchernicheva, Vera Petrova; Street Dancer, Tatiana Chamié; The Sailor's Wife; The Sailor's Mother; Snowball, a Blackman, George Balanchine; Harlequins, 6 men; Pages, 9 men; Dandy, Constantin Tcherkas; 2 Journalists; 2 Policemen; Cab Driver; 2 Telescope Keepers; Waiter; Beggar; 2 Street Hawkers; 3 Workmen; 2 News Vendors; 3 Newspaper Boys; Officer; Chimney Sweep; King of the Ogres, Michel Pavloff; 10 Ogres; 2 Clowns; 3 Neptune Attendants; Voice, Enrico Garcia.
Act I: CURTAIN [dance]. SCENE 1: London Bridge. SCENE 2: Cloudland. SCENE 3: Farewell. SCENE 4: Shipwreck. SCENE 5: Fleet Street. SCENE 6: The Frozen Wood.
Act II: CURTAIN [dance]. SCENE 7: The Giant Hand. SCENE 8: The Evil Grotto. SCENE 9: The Ogres' Castle. SCENE 10: Sunday Morning in London. SCENE 11: The Triumph of Neptune. SCENE 12: Apotheosis.
Note: Based on English pantomimes of the 1850s, the ballet follows the voyage to fairyland of a sailor and a journalist, and events back in London, where they are observed through a magic telescope. In the Apotheosis the sailor, deserted by his London wife, weds Neptune's daughter. Balanchine sometimes danced the roles of the tipsy Snowball, the Beggar, and the leading Harlequin.
Revisions: 1927: Cupid (Stanislas Idzikowsky) added, with new variation. Within six months of the premiere (Paris, May 1927), Scenes 5, 8, and 9 had been deleted, as had several minor characters.
