The Prospect Before Us (ballet)

For the 1976 folk/rock album, see The Prospect Before Us.

The Prospect Before Us
Choreographer	Ninette de Valois
Music	William Boyce, arranged by Constant Lambert
Premiere	4 July 1940
Original ballet company	Vic-Wells Ballet
Design	Roger Furse
Type	Comic ballet

The Prospect Before Us is a one act comic ballet in seven scenes, choreographed for the Vic-Wells Ballet by Ninette de Valois to music by William Boyce arranged by Constant Lambert.

Overview

With its premiere in 1940, the first year of the war, de Valois set out to produce a light-hearted and jolly piece of escapism. Inspired by an eponymous 18th century engraving by Thomas Rowlandson, it has an intricate plot about the rivalry of two 18th century theatrical managers who fight over a troupe of dancers that includes Didelot, Noverre, and Vestris. The final scene with Robert Helpmann as Mr. O'Reilly doing a "drunk dance" is well known. ^[1]

Premiere cast

• Robert Helpmann as Mr. O'Reilly of the Pantheon
• Claude Newman as Mr. Taylor of the King's Theatre
• Frederick Ashton as Monsieur Noverre
• Alan Carter as Monsieur Didelot
• John Hart as Monsieur Vestris
• John Field
• Deryk Mendel
• Michael Somes
• Leslie Edwards
• Pamela May

Source: ^[2]

See also

• List of historical ballet characters

References

Notes

1. "The Prospect Before Us". Ballet Magazine. June 1998. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
2. Wearing, The London Stage 1940-1949, 2014, p. 33.

Sources

• Wearing, J. P. (2014). The London Stage 1940-1949: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN   978-0810893054

External links

• Short BBC excerpt from Dancing in the Blitz