Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-22

something more than an entertainment.
actually new art and new sensation.
The "Firebird' is the story of Czare-
witch who captures a wonderful burn
ing-brisht bird and frees II because he
cannot bear to crush it's beauty As a
reward he is given a feather from her
plumage, and by the aid of this token
can rescue himself and an enchanted
princess from the wiles of a villainous
crew OF dwarfs gnornes, littlc men and
djinns. Here is all the material of a
ballet, a story which can be expressed
In gesture and a setting which can be
fantastic and beautiful NJ. Golovine's
set is an astounding creation. The very
sky is inlaid with arabesques and against
1t is an incredible tower whose turrets,
under the changing light, flash from dull
pink to startling red. There Is no fiat
for the eye to rest on. everything Ia
movement and wonder The costumes,
too, are strange, unreal captivating, and
Strawinsky's music, full of odd disso-
nance, of tricks and queer sounds. eX-
hausts the full vocabulary of grotesquerle.
A Classic Interlude
Tschaikowsky's pas de deux," called
classic, was a slight thing In comparison
with this The fact that Nine. Macezova
pirouetted even 81 times on one set of
toes without touching ground with the
other was hardly thing for the alarmed
Imagination to dwell upon. Interest held
over until the "Soleil de Mutt" began to
shine, reduplicated in ten grinning pump
kin heads, red and almost obscene. The
Midnight Sun" is in fact, a representa-
tion of Russian folk games and dances.
1t is full of bucolic humor, of awkward
ness of sport Bobyl, the pumpkin with
his hands tied together, and the Mid
night Sun himself with gilded disks
like cymbals attached to his hands, are
the characters. but the inspiring centre OF
the dance and of the action is the human
crowd AS in the preceding ballets color
was everything but action. There was
room for no other element. so that what
was felt in the music was not rhythm, not
melody, but color itself.
And finally the "Scheherazade" sem
sual, terrible drama. esctatic and awful
and grand. For this performance the fa-
milar yellow of Bakst's set was changed
to green and the costumes, too, were al
tered. The story of the luckless and faith
less Zobeide, shared by her Shah and dis
covered in the midst of her amour with
the black slave is familiar, but no repeti-
ton can dull the keen edge of its sensu-
ality nor spoil the terrible effect of its
vengeful climax. The magical intensity
of Nine. Revalles as Zobeide, the mad
leaping of the odalisques and their lovers,
the carnival rout of all at the end were
all elements In the drunkenness of all SEN
sations. And around and about them,
weaving the men and women into mere
lines or masses of color, was the decor
into which al melted in a fury of lust.
Such was the Offering at the first per-
formance. Later the dance arranged to
Debussy's famous prelude to Mallarme's
Afternoon of Faun' was danced This
is more hammered, more individual bal
let, and here, perhaps, the single star had
III R,, oil ba
the setting of Bakst had all their old
power to charm, to stife and finally to
outrage the senses. The other ballets IN
the repertoire of the company are too
numerous to be mentioned separately.
In this. as in all things. the total effect
is what counts. BY every sign, they
should count here enormously. G. V. ;.