Balanchine Catalogue Archive
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177. The Card Party 1937
(also called THE CARD GAME, POKER GAME) A Ballet in Three Deals
- Music
Igor Stravinsky (Jeu de Cartes -A Card Game -Das Kartenspiel, 1936, commissioned by Lincoln Kirstein and Edward M. M. Warburg). Book by Igor Stravinsky and M. Malaieff
- Choreography
George Balanchine
- Production
Scenery and costumes by Irene Sharaff. Scenery executed by Triangle Scenic Studio and painted by Joseph Novak; costumes executed by Eaves Costume Company and the American Ballet Studio: Eudoxia Mironova, Marie Striga. Wigs by Lucien
- Premiere
April 27, 1937, American Ballet, Metropolitan Opera, New York. Conductor: Igor Stravinsky
- Cast
Joker, William Dollar; Queens: Hearts, Annabelle Lyon; Spades, Leda Anchutina; Diamonds, Ariel Lang [Helen Leitch]; Clubs, Hortense Kahrklin; 4 Aces (women); 4 Kings; 4 Jacks; 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 of Hearts; 10, 9, 8, 7 of Spades
Performance Type
Ballet
Note
As conceived by Stravinsky, the principal characters are the chief cards in a game of poker; each of the three deals is complicated by the endless tricks of the perfidious Joker who believes himself invincible because of his ability to become any desired card.
Additional Productions
Revisions
In later productions by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and the New York City Ballet, the Aces were danced by men.
