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107f. Dances for Sir Oswald Stoll’s Variety Shows (DIE FLEDERMAUS) 1931
George Balanchine
Produced by Sir Oswald Stoll
May 18, 1931, Varieties en Fête, Alhambra
Bat, Sonne; Pas de Deux: Jackson, Briggs; corps de ballet
Performance Type
Concert Works
See Also
Operetta in Three Acts and a Prologue
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.
George Balanchine; ballet Master: William Dollar
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
October 28, 1942, New Opera Company, Forty-fourth Street Theatre, New York. Conductor: Erich Wolfgang Korngold
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
Note
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.
Source Notes

Edward Bigelow, Todd Bolender, George Dorris

Johann Strauss the Younger (from Die Fledermaus, produced 1874, with unidentified additions). Book by Lincoln Kirstein
George Balanchine
Costumes and lighting by Keith Martin
June 30, 1941, American Ballet Caravan, Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro. Conductor: Emanuel Balaban
The Bat, Helen Kramer, Todd Bolender; The Poet, Lew Christensen; The Masked (Identical) Ladies, Gisella Caccialanza, Olga Suárez; Hungarian Dancers (formerly called Gypsies), Marie-Jeanne, William Dollar; The Can-Can Dancer, Beatrice Tompkins; The Ladies of Fashion, 4 women; 2 Coachmen; Can-Can Dancers, Officers, Ladies and Gentlemen, corps de ballet
Performance Type
Ballet
See Also
Note
Originally presented by the American Ballet, New York, 1936.
(also called EL MURCIÉLAGO) Character Ballet, from ‘Die Fledermaus’
Johann Strauss the Younger (from Die Fledermaus, produced 1874, with unidentified additions). Book by Lincoln Kirstein
George Balanchine
Costumes and lighting by Keith Martin
May 20, 1936, American Ballet Ensemble, Metropolitan Opera, New York. Conductor: Wilfred Pelletier
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
Note
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.
Additional Productions
Stagings

1941  American Ballet Caravan