page_title: Petrushka
section_title: Performance history
hierarchical_section_title: Petrushka / Performance history
caption_attribution_description: Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, France, c. 1900
context_page_description: Petrushka is a ballet burlesque in four scenes. Alexandre Benois and Igor Stravinsky wrote the story of the ballet. Igor Stravinsky wrote the music. Michel Fokine choreographed the work. Benois designed the sets and costumes. Petrushka was first performed by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Paris on 13 June 1911. Nijinsky played Petrushka, and Tamara Karsavina played The Ballerina. Alexandre Orlov played The Moor, and Enrico Cecchetti played The Charlatan.
  Petrushka tells the story of the loves and jealousies of three puppets. The three are brought to life by The Charlatan during St. Petersburg's 1830 Shrovetide Fair. Petrushka is in love with The Ballerina. She rejects him because she likes The Moor. Petrushka is angry and hurt. He challenges The Moor. The Moor kills him with his scimitar. Petrushka's ghost rises above the puppet theatre as night falls. He shakes his fist at The Charlatan, then collapses in a second death.
  Petrushka brings music, dance, and design together in a unified whole. It is one of the most popular of the Ballets Russes productions. It is usually performed today using the original designs and dances.
context_section_description: Petrushka was first performed by the Ballets Russes in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet on 13 June 1911. Nijinsky portrayed Petrushka, Tamara Karsavina The Ballerina, Alexandre Orlov The Moor, and Enrico Cecchetti The Charlatan. Pierre Monteux conducted.
  Fokine revived the ballet in 1925 for the Royal Danish Ballet, and again for Ballet Theatre in October 1942. The Royal Ballet revived the work on 26 March 1957 with Alexander Grant, Margot Fonteyn and Peter Clegg. Rudolph Nureyev danced Petrushka with the Royal Ballet in 1963. 
  The ballet was first performed in the United States by the Ballets Russes at the Century Theatre in New York City on 25 January 1916 with Leonide Massine in the title role. The Joffrey Ballet revived the work in New York City on 13 March 1970, and the American Ballet Theater revived it on 19 June 1970 at the New York State Theater.
caption: Théâtre du Châtelet about 1900
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