The Concert (or, The Perils of Everybody)

Choreographer Jerome Robbins wrote: “One of the pleasures of attending a concert is the freedom to lose oneself in listening to the music. Quite often, unconsciously, mental pictures and images form, and the patterns and paths of these reveries are influenced by the music itself, or its program notes, or by the personal dreams, problems, and fantasies of the listener. Chopin’s music in particular has been subject to fanciful ‘program’ names, such as the Butterfly Etude, the Minute Waltz, the Raindrop Prelude, etc.”

Choreographed in 1956, The Concert is a comic spoof of a classical music concert. The setting is an all-Chopin recital where the attendees allow their decidedly imaginative minds to wander. When the resulting images are danced, human foibles and insecurities are revealed as Robbins brings each fantasy comically and vividly to life. A genuine crowd-pleaser, The Concert illustrates Robbins’ remarkable insight into the delightful imperfections of human relationships and, in the midst of the laughter, enlightens us all.

Notes compiled by Doug Fullington.