The Waltz of the Toreadors

Last updated

The Waltz of the Toreadors (La Valse des toréadors) is a 1951 play by Jean Anouilh.

Contents

Plot

This bitter farce is set in 1910 France and focuses on General Léon Saint-Pé and his infatuation with Ghislaine, a woman with whom he danced at a garrison ball some 17 years earlier. Because of the General's commitment to his marriage, the couple's love remained unconsummated. Now faced by the reality of retirement with his hypochondriac wife, the General finds himself lost in fond memories of his old flirtation. When Ghislaine suddenly reappears, he is delighted — until he finds himself competing for her hand with a considerably younger suitor.

Background

The General and his mad wife had previously appeared in Anouilh's 1948 play Ardèle ou la Marguerite , and a further variant on the character appeared in the 1958 comedy L'Hurluberlu, ou le Réactionnaire amoureux. By the time of Anouilh's last play, Le Nombril (1981), Léon St Pé had transformed into a grouchy and unfashionable old playwright intended by Anouilh as a cynical self-portrait.

Stage productions

The Waltz of the Toreadors premiered in Paris at the Comédie des Champs-Elysées on 8 January 1952, with Claude Sainval and Marie Ventura in the leading roles. [1] Four years later, it premiered in London in an English translation by Lucienne Hill. Directed by Peter Hall, the production opened at the Arts Theatre on 24 February 1956, then transferred to the larger Criterion Theatre on 27 March, running in all for 700 performances. [2] The cast included Welsh character actor Hugh Griffith as the General and Beatrix Lehmann as Mme St Pé, with Brenda Bruce as Ghislaine and Trader Faulkner as Gaston. [3] For part of the Criterion run, Renée Asherson took over as Ghislaine.

"This is an extraordinary work," claimed T C Worsley in the New Statesman . "It is at the same time wildly comic and savagely cruel; it moves with a virtuoso's freedom up and down the emotional scale from pure farce at one extreme to real pathos at the other. There are scenes of pure horror and there are scenes of pure comedy, and M Anouilh modulates between them with an absolutely sure touch." According to the News Chronicle , "the play, though deplorable, is a bit of a masterpiece." "This farce," added The Times , "has a bitter, some will say sour, flavour, but even those who resent its hard realism will be highly amused in spite of themselves, for a resourceful wit is supported by a brilliant sense of the theatre." [4]

A Broadway production, directed by Harold Clurman, opened on 17 January 1957 at the Coronet Theatre, where it ran for 132 performances. [5] The cast included Ralph Richardson as the General, his real-life wife Meriel Forbes as Ghislaine, and Mildred Natwick as Mme St Pé. The production received Tony Award nominations for Best Play, Best Direction, Best Actor in a Play (Richardson), Best Featured Actress in a Play (Natwick), and Best Scenic Design (Ben Edwards). It won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Foreign Play. Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times pronounced it "startling and funny ... original, bright, tart and worldly." Other US estimates included "endlessly fascinating and uproariously funny" (New York Herald Tribune), "a genuinely uproarious sex comedy, witty, ironic, sophisticated" (New York Post) and "exhilarating entertainment" (The New Yorker). [6]

On 4 March 1958 the play returned to the Coronet, where it ran for 31 performances. [7] Again directed by Clurman, it starred Melvyn Douglas as the General, Betty Field as Ghislaine, and Lili Darvas as Mme St Pé.

The second Broadway revival, directed by Brian Murray, opened on 13 September 1973 at the Circle in the Square Theatre, where it ran for 85 performances. [8] The cast included Eli Wallach as the General, Diana van der Vlis as Ghislaine, and Anne Jackson (Wallach's real-life wife) as Mme St Pé. This was the first of several revivals around this time. In October 1973, Louis de Funès starred in a new production at the Comédie des Champs-Elysées (with Luce Garcia Ville as his wife and Mony Dalmés as Ghislaine); this production was directed by Anouilh himself in conjunction with Roland Piétri (who also played the Curé). Then in 1974 Trevor Howard starred opposite Coral Browne (Mme St Pé), Zena Walker (Ghislaine) and Ian Ogilvy (Gaston) in a revival at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Among more recent revivals of the play, Peter Bowles starred in a 2007 production at the Chichester Festival Theatre; the new translation was by Ranjit Bolt.

Adaptations

A television production aired on 16 November 1959 as part of David Susskind's anthology series Play of the Week. It was directed by Stuart Burge, and starred Hugh Griffith as the General and Mildred Natwick as Mme St Pé, reprising their roles from the West End and Broadway productions respectively, as well as Beatrice Straight as Ghislaine.

A 1962 feature film, Waltz of the Toreadors , directed by John Guillermin, transported the setting to England and anglicised the lead characters' names to General Leo and Emily Fitzjohn. The cast included Peter Sellers as the General, Dany Robin as Ghislaine (who remained French), and Margaret Leighton as Mrs Fitzjohn. Wolf Mankowitz was nominated for a BAFTA for Best British Screenplay and Sellers was awarded the Silver Shell for Best Actor at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. [9]

The play was adapted by Howard Marren and Joe Masteroff as the 1998 musical Paramour. It had its premiere in 1998 at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in a production directed by Joseph Hardy and starring Len Cariou. [10]

Related Research Articles

<i>A Streetcar Named Desire</i> 1947 play by Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of personal losses, leaves her once-prosperous situation to move into a shabby apartment in New Orleans rented by her younger sister and brother-in-law.

Jean Anouilh French playwright

Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's Vichy government. His plays are less experimental than those of his contemporaries, having clearly organized plot and eloquent dialogue. One of France's most prolific writers after World War II, much of Anouilh's work deals with themes of maintaining integrity in a world of moral compromise.

<i>Noises Off</i> 1982 play written by Michael Frayn

Noises Off is a 1982 play by the English playwright Michael Frayn. Frayn conceived the idea in 1970 while watching from the wings a performance of The Two of Us, a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave. He said, "It was funnier from behind than in front, and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind." The prototype, a short-lived one-act play called Exits, was written and performed in 1977. At the request of his associate, Michael Codron, Frayn expanded this into what would become Noises Off. It takes its title from the theatrical stage direction indicating sounds coming from offstage.

<i>Blithe Spirit</i> (play) Play written by Noël Coward

Blithe Spirit is a comic play by Noël Coward. The play concerns the socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to gather material for his next book. The scheme backfires when he is haunted by the ghost of his annoying and temperamental first wife, Elvira, after the séance. Elvira makes continual attempts to disrupt Charles's marriage to his second wife, Ruth, who cannot see or hear the ghost.

<i>Loot</i> (play) Literary work, play

Loot is a two-act play by the English playwright Joe Orton. The play is a dark farce that satirises the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death, and the integrity of the police force.

<i>La Cage aux Folles</i> (musical) 1983 musical composed by Jerry Herman, with libretto by Harvey Fierstein

La Cage aux Folles is a musical with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and a book by Harvey Fierstein.

Harold Edgar Clurman was an American theatre director and drama critic. In 2003, he was named one of the most influential figures in U.S. theater by PBS. He was one of the three founders of New York City's Group Theatre (1931–1941). He directed more than 40 plays in his career and, during the 1950s, was nominated for a Tony Award as director for several productions. In addition to his directing career, he was drama critic for The New Republic (1948–1952) and The Nation (1953–1980), helping shape American theater by writing about it. Clurman wrote seven books about the theatre, including his memoir The Fervent Years: The Group Theatre and the Thirties (1961).

Gaston Baty French playwright and theater director (1885–1952)

Gaston Baty, whose full name was Jean-Baptiste-Marie-Gaston Baty, was a French playwright and theatre director. He was born in Pélussin, Loire, France.

Mildred Natwick American actress

Mildred Natwick was an American actress. She won a Primetime Emmy Award and was nominated for an Academy Award and two Tony Awards.

Brian Murray (actor) South African actor

Brian Murray was a South African actor and theatre director who was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2004.

<i>Enter Laughing</i>

Enter Laughing is a 1963 play by Joseph Stein.

<i>The Baltimore Waltz</i>

The Baltimore Waltz is a play by Paula Vogel. It revolves around a brother and sister who appear to be taking a European trip and is based on Vogel and her brother Carl's real-life experiences. The play had a workshop at the Perseverance Theatre in 1990, it was first staged at Houston's Alley Theatre in 1992 and made its off-Broadway premiere later than year.

Elizabeth Anne Seal is a British actress. In 1961, she won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her performance in the title role of Irma La Douce.

Le Voyageur sans bagage is a 1937 play in five scenes by Jean Anouilh. Incidental music for the original production was written by Darius Milhaud and for the play's first Paris revivals by Francis Poulenc.

<i>Three Men on a Horse</i>

Three Men on a Horse is a three-act farce co-authored by John Cecil Holm and George Abbott. The comedy focuses on a man who discovers he has a talent for choosing the winning horse in a race as long as he never places a bet himself. Originally titled Hobby Horse by John Cecil Holm, Three Men On A Horse was a property controlled and produced by Alex Yokel, who reached out to Warner Bros. for financial assistance; Warners agreed to provide financing on the condition Yokel find someone to doctor the script and direct the Broadway production. George Abbott, the director, who had since 1932 directed and produced each of his Broadway productions, immediately saw the potential and rewrote the script and agreed to direct if he received co-author credit and split the author's royalties with Holm. Abbott wrote a third act, resulting in a new three-act play titled Three Men on a Horse.

Ardèle ou la Marguerite is a 1948 play by French dramatist Jean Anouilh. It was the first of his self-styled pièces grinçantes – i.e., 'grating' black comedies. According to Anouilh's biographer Edward Owen Marsh, "In this angry, pessimistic work Anouilh shows himself a master at the height of his powers in every aspect of his craft... Ardèle is a terribly bitter play, but it holds the imagination as a piece of poetic theatre."

<i>Waltz of the Toreadors</i> (film) 1962 British film

Waltz of the Toreadors is a 1962 film directed by John Guillermin and starring Peter Sellers and Dany Robin. It was based on the play of the same name by Jean Anouilh with the location changed from France to England. It was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay, in 1963.

Lucienne Marie Hill was a French-English translator and actor.

Roland Piétri, was a French actor and theatre director.

Claude Pierre Edmond Giraud was a French actor.

References

  1. ↑ "Programmes originaux de théâtre - La Valse des Toréadors de Jean ANOUILH - Comédie des Champs-Élysées 1952". Regietheatrale.com. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  2. ↑ Who's Who in the Theare [15th edition], London 1972
  3. ↑ "PLAYBILL VAULT'S Today In Theatre History: FEBRUARY 24". Playbill. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  4. ↑ quotes taken from the Elek Books edition of The Waltz of the Toreadors, London 1956
  5. ↑ The Broadway League. "The Waltz of the Toreadors - IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information" . Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  6. ↑ quotes taken from the Coward-McCann edition of The Waltz of the Toreadors, New York 1957
  7. ↑ The Broadway League. "The Waltz of the Toreadors - IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information" . Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  8. ↑ The Broadway League. "The Waltz of the Toreadors - IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information" . Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "San Sebastian Film Festival". sansebastianfestival. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
  10. ↑ Archived March 5, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.