Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
Encyclopedia
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue is a ballet with music by Richard Rodgers
and choreography by George Balanchine
. It occurs near the end of Rodgers and Hart
's 1936 Broadway
musical comedy On Your Toes
. Slaughter is the story of a hoofer who falls in love with a dance hall
girl who is then shot and killed by her jealous boyfriend. The hoofer then shoots the boyfriend.
The ballet is integrated into the plot of the musical by the device of having two gangsters watching it from box seats in the theatre in which it is staged. They have orders to shoot the leading dancer (played by Ray Bolger
in the original production). The dancer, who has been warned just in time, evades them by suddenly dancing at full speed even after the ballet actually ends, and finally two police officers enter and arrest the gangsters.
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue was danced by Ray Bolger
and Tamara Geva
in the original stage production of On Your Toes, and by Eddie Albert
and Vera Zorina
in the film version. In Words and Music
, the 1948 Technicolor
film biography of Rodgers and Hart, the ballet was danced by Gene Kelly
and Vera-Ellen
, with a somewhat revised, more tragic storyline, and new choreography by Kelly (in Kelly's version, the boyfriend, in addition to killing the dance hall girl, also kills the hoofer).
The first television performance of "Slaughter" was on NBC-TV's "Garroway at Large" program in 1950 or 1951, with the NBC Chicago studio orchestra under the direction of Joseph Gallichio.
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue entered the repertoire of The New York City Ballet
in 1968, first danced by Suzanne Farrell
and Arthur Mitchell
.
performed a vocal (scat) version on her Verve album Incomparable.
One of The Ventures
' greatest hits was their instrumental
version of "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue", based on the score of the ballet; it was released in 1964
.
The British instrumental pop group The Shadows
released their version in November 1969 (b/w "Midnight Cowboy
" (John Barry) Columbia DB8628).
Electronic Realizations For Rock Orchestra, the 1975 album by synthesizer pioneer Larry Fast
under the project name of Synergy, featured the ballet.
James Last recorded the ballet on his 1975 album Well Kept Secret, featuring Larry Carlton on lead guitar.
Mick Ronson
chose the ballet as title track to his debut solo recording Slaughter on 10th Avenue. Ronson was lead guitarist of David Bowie
's legendary band, "The Spiders From Mars" and knew and liked the music from his childhood piano training. He continued to play the song the rest of his career.
starring Richard Egan
, Jan Sterling
and Dan Duryea
. The story had nothing to do with the ballet, but Richard Rodgers
's music for it was featured in the film.
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
and choreography by George Balanchine
George Balanchine
George Balanchine , born Giorgi Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Georgian father and a Russian mother, was one of the 20th century's most famous choreographers, a developer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet...
. It occurs near the end of Rodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership of composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist Lorenz Hart...
's 1936 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical comedy On Your Toes
On Your Toes
On Your Toes is a musical with a book by Richard Rodgers, George Abbott, and Lorenz Hart, music by Rodgers, and lyrics by Hart. It was adapted into a film in 1939....
. Slaughter is the story of a hoofer who falls in love with a dance hall
Dance hall
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub...
girl who is then shot and killed by her jealous boyfriend. The hoofer then shoots the boyfriend.
The ballet is integrated into the plot of the musical by the device of having two gangsters watching it from box seats in the theatre in which it is staged. They have orders to shoot the leading dancer (played by Ray Bolger
Ray Bolger
Raymond Wallace "Ray" Bolger was an American entertainer of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of the Scarecrow and Kansas farmworker Hank in The Wizard of Oz.-Early life:...
in the original production). The dancer, who has been warned just in time, evades them by suddenly dancing at full speed even after the ballet actually ends, and finally two police officers enter and arrest the gangsters.
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue was danced by Ray Bolger
Ray Bolger
Raymond Wallace "Ray" Bolger was an American entertainer of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of the Scarecrow and Kansas farmworker Hank in The Wizard of Oz.-Early life:...
and Tamara Geva
Tamara Geva
Tamara Geva was a Russian actress, ballet dancer and choreographer. She was the first wife of dancer/choreographer George Balanchine.-Biography:...
in the original stage production of On Your Toes, and by Eddie Albert
Eddie Albert
Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...
and Vera Zorina
Vera Zorina
Vera Zorina was a Norwegian ballerina, musical theatre actress and choreographer.-Background:Vera Zorina was born Eva Brigitta Hartwig in Berlin, Germany. Her father Fritz was a German and her mother Billie Hartwig was Norwegian. Both were professional singers...
in the film version. In Words and Music
Words and Music (1948 film)
Words and Music is a 1948 movie loosely based on the creative partnership of the composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. The film starred Mickey Rooney, Tom Drake, Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, and Ann Sothern, It is best remembered for the final screen pairing between Rooney and Judy...
, the 1948 Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
film biography of Rodgers and Hart, the ballet was danced by Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
and Vera-Ellen
Vera-Ellen
Vera-Ellen was an American actress and dancer, principally celebrated for her filmed dance partnerships with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Danny Kaye and Donald O'Connor.-Early life:...
, with a somewhat revised, more tragic storyline, and new choreography by Kelly (in Kelly's version, the boyfriend, in addition to killing the dance hall girl, also kills the hoofer).
The first television performance of "Slaughter" was on NBC-TV's "Garroway at Large" program in 1950 or 1951, with the NBC Chicago studio orchestra under the direction of Joseph Gallichio.
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue entered the repertoire of The New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...
in 1968, first danced by Suzanne Farrell
Suzanne Farrell
Suzanne Farrell is an eminent 20th century ballerina and the founder of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C....
and Arthur Mitchell
Arthur Mitchell (dancer)
Arthur Mitchell is an African-American dancer and choreographer who created a training school and the first African-American classical ballet company, Dance Theatre of Harlem...
.
Music
Jazz singer Anita O'DayAnita O'Day
Anita O'Day was an American jazz singer.Born Anita Belle Colton, O'Day was admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appearances shattered the traditional image of the "girl singer"...
performed a vocal (scat) version on her Verve album Incomparable.
One of The Ventures
The Ventures
The Ventures is an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington. Founded by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, the group in its various incarnations has had an enduring impact on the development of music worldwide. With over 100 million records sold, the group is the best-selling...
' greatest hits was their instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
version of "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue", based on the score of the ballet; it was released in 1964
1964 in music
-Events:*January 1 – Top of the Pops is broadcast for the first time, on BBC television.*January 3 – Footage of the Beatles performing a concert in Bournemouth, England is shown on The Jack Paar Show....
.
The British instrumental pop group The Shadows
The Shadows
The Shadows are a British pop group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'...
released their version in November 1969 (b/w "Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and newcomer Jon Voight in the title role. Notable smaller roles are filled by Sylvia Miles, John...
" (John Barry) Columbia DB8628).
Electronic Realizations For Rock Orchestra, the 1975 album by synthesizer pioneer Larry Fast
Larry Fast
Lawrence Roger 'Larry' Fast is a synthesizer expert and composer. He is best known for Synergy, his 1975–1987 series of synthesizer music albums, and for his contribution to a number of popular music acts, including Peter Gabriel, Foreigner, and Hall and Oates.- Biography :Fast grew up in...
under the project name of Synergy, featured the ballet.
James Last recorded the ballet on his 1975 album Well Kept Secret, featuring Larry Carlton on lead guitar.
Mick Ronson
Mick Ronson
Michael "Mick" Ronson was an English guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. He is best known for his work with David Bowie, as one of The Spiders from Mars...
chose the ballet as title track to his debut solo recording Slaughter on 10th Avenue. Ronson was lead guitarist of David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
's legendary band, "The Spiders From Mars" and knew and liked the music from his childhood piano training. He continued to play the song the rest of his career.
Film
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue is also the title of a 1957 filmSlaughter on Tenth Avenue (film)
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue is a 1957 film directed by Arnold Laven. It stars Richard Egan and Jan Sterling.The film is a story of crime on New York's waterfront. It is based on the book "The Man Who Rocked the Boat," an autobiography by William Keating, played by Egan in the film...
starring Richard Egan
Richard Egan (actor)
Richard Egan was an American actor. In some films he is credited as Richard Eagan.-Career:Born in San Francisco, California, Egan served in the United States Army as a judo instructor during World War II...
, Jan Sterling
Jan Sterling
Jan Sterling was an American actress.Most active in films during the 1950s, Sterling received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The High and the Mighty , and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the same performance...
and Dan Duryea
Dan Duryea
Dan Duryea was an American actor, known for roles in film, stage and television.-Early life:Born and raised in White Plains, New York, Duryea graduated from White Plains Senior High School in 1924 and Cornell University in 1928. While at Cornell, Duryea was elected into the Sphinx Head Society...
. The story had nothing to do with the ballet, but Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
's music for it was featured in the film.
first cast
- Maria KowroskiMaria KowroskiMaria Kowroski is a principal ballerina at the New York City Ballet.Ms. Kowroski's training in ballet began at the School ofthe Grand Rapids Ballet and subsequently the School of American Ballet in 1992; became an apprentice with New York City Ballet in 1994 and joined the corps de ballet in 1995....
- Marika Anderson
- Likolani Brown
- Jenelle Manzi
- Rachel Piskin
- Brittany Pollack
- Gretchen Smith
- Philip NealPhilip NealPhilip Neal was a principal dancer with New York City Ballet. He studied from age 11 at the Richmond Ballet School. After six years of study there, Edward Villella arranged a summer scholarship for him at NCYB's School of American Ballet...
- Ask la Cour
- Zachary Catazaro
- Andrew Scordato
- Ralph Ippolito
- Adam Hendrickson
- Vincent Paradiso
second cast
- Sara Mearns
- Marika Anderson
- Likolani Brown
- Jenelle Manzi
- Rachel Piskin
- Brittany Pollack
- Gretchen Smith
- Robert Fairchild
- Ask la Cour
- Zachary Catazaro
- Andrew Scordato
- Ralph Ippolito
- Adam Hendrickson
- Vincent Paradiso
2009 Spring
- Maria KowroskiMaria KowroskiMaria Kowroski is a principal ballerina at the New York City Ballet.Ms. Kowroski's training in ballet began at the School ofthe Grand Rapids Ballet and subsequently the School of American Ballet in 1992; became an apprentice with New York City Ballet in 1994 and joined the corps de ballet in 1995....
- Philip NealPhilip NealPhilip Neal was a principal dancer with New York City Ballet. He studied from age 11 at the Richmond Ballet School. After six years of study there, Edward Villella arranged a summer scholarship for him at NCYB's School of American Ballet...
- Ask la Cour
- Zachary Catazaro
- Andrew Scordato
- Ralph Ippolito
- Adam Hendrickson
- Vincent Paradiso
2009 Saratoga Springs
- Darci KistlerDarci KistlerDarci Kistler is a noted American ballerina. She is often said to be the last muse for legendary choreographer George Balanchine.-Biography:...
- Philip NealPhilip NealPhilip Neal was a principal dancer with New York City Ballet. He studied from age 11 at the Richmond Ballet School. After six years of study there, Edward Villella arranged a summer scholarship for him at NCYB's School of American Ballet...
- Ask la Cour
- Zachary Catazaro
- Andrew Scordato
- Ralph Ippolito
- Adam Hendrickson
- Vincent Paradiso