Les millions d’arlequin, a humorous love story based on the commedia dell'arte style, was staged by the legendary choreographer Marius Petipa in 1900 in Saint Petersburg at the Hermitage Theatre, on the occasion of the empress' birthday. A century later, this ballet was revived thanks to choreographer Alexei Ratmansky. The choreography of the ballet was created after studying the notation of V. Steponav's original production, which is kept in the Theatre Collection at Harvard. Robert Perdziola, the designer of this production, was also inspired to create sets and costumes after seeing the sketches made by O. Allegri and I. Vsevolozhski in 1900.
Choreographer Aleksei Ratmansky has already staged this ballet in 2018 at the Metropolitan Opera (New York) and the Australian Ballet. In February 2022, when Russia started war with Ukraine, A. Ratmansky, a world-famous choreographer, terminated his contract with the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow where he staged his last ballet, and returned to the United States. A. Ratmansky grew up in Kyiv, his career as a dancer is closely related to the Kyiv Ballet. The whole family of the choreographer lives in Ukraine, his wife is Ukrainian. Since 2009 A. Ratmansky has been the resident choreographer of the American Ballet Theatre (ABT).
Les millions d’arlequin is a ballet full of joy and romance, humour and fun situations – a real treat for seasoned lovers of classical ballet and a joyful discovery for curious audiences who want to dive deeper into the wonder of ballet.
