Music: New Ballet in Manhattan

The music was by a Frenchified German Jew (Offenbach), the sets and costumes by a Manhattan-French commercial artist (Marcel Vertés.) the hats by chic U.S. milliners (John-Frederics), the choreography by a veteran Russian (Michel Fokine), the leaping and cavorting by a foreign legion of nationalities(the Ballet Theatre). Such was the ballet Bluebeard, a smash hit whenit was put on last week in Manhattan.

Bluebeard had three glittering stars: bouncingly glamorous Irina Baronova; svelte, feathery Alicia Markova (born

Alice Marks in England); swift-leaping Anton Dolin (Patrick Healey-Kay, also English-born).

Bluebeard was a jolly, pacing romp in which the hats were especially nifty, the sly ‘plot especially profuse. In the world of ballet (where troupes change the way French Cabinets used to), the new Ballet Theatre now had the edge on the Massine ballet (Monte Carlo) and Colonel Wassily de Basil’s ballet (Original), which have contrived no new hits this year.