Petrushka

Petrushka is a ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky and choreography by Michel Fokine, first performed by the Ballets Russes on June 13, 1911, at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. Set at a Shrovetide fair in Saint Petersburg around 1830, it follows three puppets brought to life by a Charlatan showman: the clownish Petrushka, the Ballerina he loves, and the Moor she prefers instead. When Petrushka confronts the pair, the Moor kills him, and though the Charlatan shows onlookers only a lifeless puppet, Petrushka's ghost reappears above the booth to defy his tormentor beyond death. Praised for its close fusion of Stravinsky's score, Fokine's choreography and Alexandre Benois's designs into a single dramatic and musical whole, it remains one of the most frequently revived works the Ballets Russes produced.