Information provided by Virginia Brooks, Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; corroborated by Melissa Hayden.
206. Rosalinda (DIE FLEDERMAUS) 1942
Operetta in Three Acts and a Prologue
Music
Music by Johann Strauss the Younger (produced 1874), in a version by Max Reinhardt (1929). Music from other Strauss scores interpolated by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, including Tales from the Vienna Woods, Knight Pazman, and Wine, Women and Song. Lyrics by Paul Kerby. American book by Gottfried Reinhardt and John Meehan, Jr.
Choreography
George Balanchine; ballet Master: William Dollar
Production
Produced by Lodewick Vroom. Staged by Felix Brentano and George Balanchine (uncredited). Scenery by Oliver Smith. Costumes by Ladislas Czettel. Scenery built by Vail Construction Company and painted by E. B. Dunkel Studios; costumes executed by Brooks Costume Company. Lighting by Jean Rosenthal
Premiere
October 28, 1942, New Opera Company, Forty-fourth Street Theatre, New York. Conductor: Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Cast
Rosalinda von Eisenstein, Dorothy Sarnoff; Gabriel von Eisenstein, Ralph Herbert; Adele, Virginia MacWatters; Prince Orlofsky, Oscar Karlweis; Dr. Frank, Paul Best; Frosch, Louis Sorin; and others. Premier Danseur, José Limón; Première Danseuse, Mary Ellen Moylan; 10 female dancers, 7 male dancers.
Performance Type
Operetta
See Also
107. Dances for Sir Oswald Stoll's Variety Shows (DIE FLEDERMAUS), 169. The Bat, 199. El Murciélago (The Bat), 294. The Countess Becomes the Maid
521 performances, followed by national tour. Created during Balanchine’s year-long association with the New Opera Company, dedicated to producing opera in English, for which he choreographed opera divertissements and mounted a production of Ballet Imperial.
PROLOGUE: A mimed bat sequence with cape for Todd Bolender, ending with his jumping through a window.
WAITERS DANCE (Act I): Todd Bolender, Douglas Coudy.
BALLETS IN BALLROOM SCENE, INCLUDING GRAND WALTZ
FINALE (Act II): Mary Ellen Moylan, José Limón, ensemble.
DREAM PANTOMIME: DANCE OF DRUNKEN GENTLEMEN IN PRISON (Act III): Paul Best, male ensemble, ‘ballerina,’ dancing couples.
Originally presented by the American Ballet, New York, 1935. At the invitation of Nelson A. Rockefeller, Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein formed American Ballet Caravan, bringing together members of the former American Ballet and of Ballet Caravan for a five-months tour of South America. Serenade was presented in repertory with other ballets, including Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial, Concerto Barocco, Divertimento, Errante, Apollo, The Bat, and Fantasia Brasileira.
169. The Bat 1936
(also called EL MURCIÉLAGO) Character Ballet, from ‘Die Fledermaus’
Music
Johann Strauss the Younger (from Die Fledermaus, produced 1874, with unidentified additions). Book by Lincoln Kirstein
Choreography
George Balanchine
Production
Costumes and lighting by Keith Martin
Premiere
May 20, 1936, American Ballet Ensemble, Metropolitan Opera, New York. Conductor: Wilfred Pelletier
Cast
The Bat, Holly Howard, Lew Christensen; The Poet, Charles Laskey; The Masked (Identical) Ladies, Leda Anchutina, Annabelle Lyon; The Gypsies (later called Hungarian Dancers), Helen Leitch, William Dollar; The Can-Can Dancer, Rabana Hasburgh; The Ladies of Fashion, 4 women; 2 Coachmen, Can-Can Dancers, Officers, Ladies and Gentlemen, corps de ballet
Performance Type
Ballet
See Also
107. Dances for Sir Oswald Stoll's Variety Shows (DIE FLEDERMAUS), 199. El Murciélago (The Bat), 206. Rosalinda (DIE FLEDERMAUS), 294. The Countess Becomes the Maid
Balanchine conceived The Bat as a couple, a man and a woman, each wearing a huge spangled wing. The ballet is an evocation of Vienna, set in a park; a young poet seeking inspiration is confounded by two beautiful but identical ladies; a band of Gypsies invades the scene. At the end the park is empty, except for the shadow of The Bat.
The Bat was the first independent ballet choreographed by Balanchine at the Metropolitan while the American Ballet Ensemble was in residence. It was performed about a dozen times over the next two seasons.
