Fancy Free (ballet)

Fancy Free is a ballet in one act by Jerome Robbins ( choreography and libretto ), music by Leonard Bernstein. Premiere was on April 18, 1944 at the Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. The ballet takes about half an hour.

People

• Three sailors
• Three Girls
• A bartender

Action

Spend three sailors during the Second World War, a 24-hour shore leave in New York. It is evening. Heat broods over the city. The sailors want to have fun. Two girls come to meet them. The sailors try making the acquaintance with them by dancing around wooing the ladies. However, none of the girls want to opt for one of them. It advised the sailors in dispute. The girls did not want the scuffle with longer view and turn away. A third girl enters the scene. The game starts all over again.

Comments

Soloists in the premiere were John Kriza, Harold Lang, Jerome Robbins, Muriel Bentley, Janet Reed and Shirley Eckl. On the podium was the composer.

Bernstein's music sounds fresh, imaginative and is provided with elements of jazz. It reveals itself to the listener easily. For the choreographer, it was his first ballet. He used it Jitterbug steps and movements of social dances that were just current at the time of the premiere. For Bernstein and Robbins ballet in a short time became a worldwide success. It was so successful that it inspired the two to even turn it into a full-length musical in the same year. The result was "On the Town", premiered on December 28, 1944 at the Adelphi Theatre in New York.