La Boutique fantasque or The Magic Toy Shop was a ballet conceived by Léonide Massine who wrote the choreography and the libretto. Ottorino Respighi wrote the music based on piano pieces by Gioachino Rossini. Its world premiere was at the Alhambra Theatre in London on 5 June 1919 and was performed by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Lydia Lopokova and Massine played the roles of the can-can dancing dolls in the original performance with Enrico ...
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La Boutique fantasque or The Magic Toy Shop was a ballet conceived by Léonide Massine who wrote the choreography and the libretto. Ottorino Respighi wrote the music based on piano pieces by Gioachino Rossini. Its world premiere was at the Alhambra Theatre in London on 5 June 1919 and was performed by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Lydia Lopokova and Massine played the roles of the can-can dancing dolls in the original performance with Enrico Cecchetti as the shopkeeper. Design for the original 1919 performance was by André Derain.
The story of the ballet has similarities to Die Puppenfee ("The Fairy Doll"), an old German ballet which had been performed by Serge and Nicholas Legat in Saint Petersburg in the early twentieth century. Others note the similarities to Hans Christian Andersen's The Steadfast Tin Soldier.
Massine's story centers around the love story between two can-can dancer dolls in a toy shop. Its general theme is lightly satirical, incorporating elements of comedy,...
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