The Haunted Ballroom
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The Haunted Ballroom is a one-act ballet, in three scenes and an interlude, with music and libretto by Geoffrey Toye and choreography by Ninette de Valois. It was first produced in London in 1934, and was revived several times, but much of the choreography is now lost. The ballet is a Gothic melodrama about a fatal family curse.
The ballet was first staged by the Vic-Wells Ballet at Sadler's Wells Theatre on 3 April 1934.[1] Geoffrey Toye, who wrote the libretto and the music, based the plot on a story by Edgar Allan Poe.[2] The costumes and sets were by Motley.[3] The principals in the first production were Alicia Markova as the leader of the ghosts, Robert Helpmann as the Master of Tregennis, William Chappell as the Stranger Player, and the teenaged Margot Fonteyn as the young Tregennis heir.[2]
The work remained in the company's repertoire until 1957, but much of the choreography has since been lost.[4]