Cat 186 Archives - The George Balanchine Foundation

Balanchine Catalogue Archive

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Richard Rodgers (from On Your Toes, 1936, with new orchestration by Hershy Kay)

George Balanchine

Scenery and lighting by Jo Mielziner, executed by Feller Scenery Studios. Costumes by Irene Sharaff

May 2, 1968, New York City Ballet, New York State Theater. Conductor: Robert Irving. (Preview: Annual New York City Ballet Gala Benefit, April 30.)

Hoofer, Arthur Mitchell; Strip Tease Girl, Suzanne Farrell; Big Boss, Michael Steele; 2 Bartenders; Thug; 3 Policemen; Morosine, Premier Danseur Noble, Earle Sieveling; Gangster; 7 Ladies of the Ballet; 4 Gentlemen of the Ballet

Performance Type

Ballet

See Also

Note

Originally choreographed in 1936 for the Broadway musical On Your Toes, the ballet was mounted for the New York City Ballet as a separate work, following the original ideas but with different steps. Mitchell created some of his own dance material, as Ray Bolger undoubtedly had done in On Your Toes.

Additional Productions

Stagings

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1991   Reagle Players (Massachusetts)
1992   Lyric Theatre
1992   Texas Ballet (formerly Fort Worth Dallas Ballet)
1994   Kansas City Ballet
1997   Pennsylvania Ballet
1997   Texas Ballet (formerly Fort Worth Dallas Ballet)
1998   Cincinnati Ballet
1999   Birmingham Royal Ballet/Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet
2000   Birmingham Royal Ballet/Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet
2000   Miami City Ballet
2000   North Carolina Dance Theatre
2002   Ballet Arizona
2002   Boston Ballet
2002   Texas Ballet (formerly Fort Worth Dallas Ballet)
2004   Ballet Arizona
2004   Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse
2004   Pennsylvania Ballet
2007   The Suzanne Farrell Ballet
2008   Oregon Ballet Theatre
2009   Pacific Northwest Ballet
2010   Miami City Ballet
2010   Kansas City Ballet
2011   Pennsylvania Ballet
2012   Ballet de Capitale Toulouse
2012   Suzanne Farrell Ballet
2014   Birmingham Royal Ballet
2015   Nevada Ballet Theatre
2016   Richmond Ballet
2017   Pacific Northwest Ballet
2019   Miami City Ballet
2020   Washington Ballet
2022 Ballet Arizona

Recorded Performances

Videos/DVD

2001, Winstar TV & Video, Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse (rehearsal excerpt)

Film

1996, Seahorse Films, Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse (rehearsal excerpt)

Source Notes

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Arthur Mitchell

Musical Comedy in Two Acts and Thirteen Scenes

Music by Richard Rodgers. Lyrics by Lorenz Hart. Book by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, and George Abbott. Orchestrations by Hans Spialek

George Balanchine

Entire production under the supervision of Dwight Deere Wiman. Produced by Dwight Deere Wiman. Staged by Worthington Miner. Scenery by Jo Mielziner. Costumes by Irene Sharaff. Scenery built by Turner Scenic Construction Company and painted by Triangle Scenic Studio; costumes executed by Helene Pons Studio, Brooks Costume Company, Eaves Costume Company, and others.

April 11, 1936, Imperial Theatre, New York. Conductor: Gene Salzer. Pianists: Edgar Fairchild and Adam Carroll. (Out-of-town preview: March 21, Shubert Theatre, Boston.)

Phil Dolan III, Ray Bolger; Frankie Frayne, Doris Carson; Vera Barnova, Tamara Geva; Peggy Porterfield, Luella Gear; Sergei Alexandrovitch, Monty Woolley; and others. Dancers: Demetrios Vilan, George Church, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Ballet, 12 women, 8 men. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Ensemble (tap), 13 women, 8 men.
TWO A DAY FOR KEITH (Act I, Scene 1): Sung and danced by Dave Jones, Ethel Hampton, and Tyrone Kearney.
THE THREE B’S (Act I, Scene 3): Sung and danced by Ray Bolger and ensemble.
THERE’S A SMALL HOTEL (Act I, Scene 5): Sung and danced by Doris Carson and Ray Bolger.
LA PRINCESSE ZENOBIA BALLET (Act I, Scene 8): Princesse Zenobia, Tamara Geva; Beggar, Demetrios Vilan; Old Prince, William Baker; Young Prince, George Church.
QUIET NIGHT (Act II, Scene 1): Sung by Earle McVeigh, danced by the tap ensembles.
ON YOUR TOES (Act II, Scene 2): Doris Carson, Ray Bolger, David Morris, tap and ballet ensembles.
SLAUGHTER ON TENTH AVENUE BALLET (Act II, Scene 4): Hoofer, Bolger; Strip Tease Girl, Geva; Big Boss, Church.

Performance Type

Musical Theater

See Also

Note

315 performances, followed by national tour. LA PRINCESSE ZENOBIA BALLET parodies the ‘Oriental-style’ ballet (such as Schéhérazade). In SLAUGHTER ON TENTH AVENUE, a narrative ballet within the play, a nightclub stripteaser and a hoofer fall in love; a rival arranges for the young man to be killed by a gangster, but the girl saves him. Although these two numbers are most frequently singled out by reviewers as the main dance numbers, photos show that dancers appeared throughout and that the title song was a large production number with full tap and ballet ensembles. At Balanchine’s insistence, On Your Toes was the first Broadway musical to credit staged dances as choreography (a practice already customary in Europe), and is considered the first musical in which the dances were integrated into the plot, performed by dancers who were also dramatic characters. In choreographing for Broadway musicals, Balanchine often used ballet, tap, and ballroom steps, in combination and separately.

Additional Productions

Other Productions

February 5, 1937, Palace Theatre, London, and April 19, 1937, London Coliseum (‘dances’ by Andy Anderson; ‘ballets’ by William Baker, ‘based on the choreography by George Balanchine’).
August 3, 1937, Jones Beach Stadium, Long Island (‘additional choreography by Marjerie Fielding’).
Broadway revival October 11, 1954, Forty-sixth Street Theatre, New York (out-of-town preview September 25, Shubert Theatre, New Haven).
Broadway revival March 6, 1983, Virginia Theatre, New York (out-of-town preview December 19, 1982, Opera House, Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.), with the 1968 version of SLAUGHTER ON TENTH AVENUE (including a cigarette sequence from the movie [186] not in the original stage version) and additional choreography by Peter Martins; tap sequences credited to Donald Saddler.

Recorded Performances

Television

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1937 adaptation including Princesse Zenobia and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (BBC [London])
1956 Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (NBC, Omnibus)

Source Notes

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Balanchine, Susan Hendl, Lynn Garafola