At the Ballet

A Look at “Slaughter on Seventh Avenue”

Richard Rodgers (1902-79) and Lorenz Hart (1895-1943) epitomized the wit and sophistication of Broadway musical comedy in its heyday—approximately 1930 to 1940. While conceived primarily as sheer entertainment, the Rodgers & Hart musical comedies quickly developed a reputation for innovation as well. Their 1936 musical comedy ON YOUR TOES, a lighthearted look at the world of dance, was no exception in its innovative mark: ON YOUR TOES was the first Broadway musical to use dance as a direct proponent of the plot. Here, for the first time, choreography became a means, and not merely an end, to the storyline's narrative.

Since dance was essential to the story, a strong choreographer was needed. Rodgers, Hart and their director and co-author George Abbott took the radical step of hiring a renowned talent from the world of classical ballet—the Russian-born co-founder of the New York City Ballet, George Balanchine—to create their dances. "He didn't speak much English," recalled Rodgers years later, "but he spoke an awful lot of ballet."

The jewel in this musical comedy's crown is the climactic Act II ballet “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.” Ostensibly written by one of the characters in the show (a WPA-funded struggling composer), it is an American ballet in the jazz vernacular. In its storyline, a customer in a seedy Tenth Avenue strip joint falls in love with a stripper, is discovered with her after closing by the Big Boss and, in the violence that ensues, sees her killed by the Big Boss. Not merely a showpiece, however, "Slaughter" is linked directly to the musical through a plot device, thus forwarding two lines of narrative at once. A dancer jealous of the ballet's leading man has hired two hit men to kill him during a performance of "Slaughter" the plot is uncovered and our hero alerted but, until help arrives, he is forced to keep dancing center stage and out of harm's way.

"Slaughter" is unique in the annals of American musical comedy; a recognized ballet in its own right, it has entered the repertory of several leading companies, particularly New York City Ballet. As an orchestral work, Rodgers' superlative score for the ballet has become a staple with many symphony and pops orchestras. Finally, while the musical has served to introduce many theatre companies to the rigor of ballet, in 1990 the reverse was true, when the world-famous Stuttgart Ballet of Germany premiered ON YOUR TOES as the first musical in its repertoire.