Search Results: Performing Arts from Le Bookiniste, ABAA-ILAB-IOBA

New York: The Ballet Theatre, 1940. First Edition, First Printing. Quarto (12 3/8 x 8 7/8 inches; 313 x 225 mm), [32] pages, in stapled pictorial wrappers (soft cover). Scarce program for the first season of the company that is now known as American Ballet Theatre. The profusely illustrated program for 1940 includes synopses of 17 ballets, profiles of choreographers and dancers, stage designs, and an introduction by Lucius Beebe. Laid in is a single page announcing that The Red Poppy would be performed in place of Etude on April 13 (although this would not have been 1940). Ballets that first year included La Fille Mal Gardée, Giselle, Swan Lake, Les Sylphides, Carnaval, Death and the Maiden, Judgment of Paris, Voices of Spring, Ode to Glory, Peter and the Wolf, and a "ballet play" by William Saroyan called "The Great American Goof." Cover illustration by Nicholas de Molas. In 1939, a group of dancers, choreographers, and producers associated with Russian-born Mikhail Mordkin's ballet company joined… Read More

New York: Random House, 1973. First Edition, First Printing.
Small 8vo (7 1/2 x 4 5/8 inches; 190 x 118 mm), viii, 257 pages, in mustard-colored cloth, purple titles to spine, in a stunning dust jacket designed by Larry Rivers (hard cover).
INSCRIBED by Kenneth Koch on the half title: "To Franklin / with no chance of [circles the title: A Change of Hearts] / with best wishes / and thanks / Kenneth (Koch) / Providence, 1974."
A collection of dramatic works by Kenneth Koch (1925-2002), mostly featuring plays but also including films. Koch was a well-known poet closely associated with the New York School of poetry, so this volume represents an interesting insight into his theatre and film works. With a fabulous, stunning dust jacket designed by artist Larry Rivers. CONDITION: Pages heavily toned, as usual with this volume, some soiling to cloth edges and to end papers. A Very Good copy in a Very Good dust jacket that has some creases to both the front and rear flaps. Original price of $6.95 intact on front flap.

New York: The Living Theatre, 1952. First Edition, First Printing. Small Quarto (9 1/8 x 6 inches; 230 x 155 mm), 16 pages, in stapled red wrappers printed on Japanese paper.Program for Paul Goodman's "Faustina," which opened at the Living Theatre on May 25,1952, starring Julie Bovasso as Faustina. Judith Malina directed and Julian Beck designed sets and costumes.This production was part of the first season at the Living Theatre's first permanent performance space at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village. The program includes a "portrait sketch" of playwright Paul Goodman by Laura Perls; "Notes on a Ritual Tragedy" by Judith Malina; and a full-page drawing by Larry Rivers for "A City Winter and Other Poems" by Frank O'Hara. There are also advertisements from local businesses, especially bookstores and cafes; a list of paintings for sale by Julian Beck; and a list of sponsors, which included John Cage, Jean Cocteau, Merce Cunningham, Betty Parsons, and other luminaries of the art and literary… Read More

Shershenevich, Vadim. Igor Ilyinsky. Moscow: Kinopechat, 1926. First Edition, First Printing. 24mo (5 7/8 x 4 3/8 inches; 150 x 110 mm), 14, [2] pages in photo-illustrated stapled wrappers.
An illustrated booklet on comic actor Igor Ilyinsky (1901-1987) in the Kinopechat series. Ilyinsky was associated with the Meyerhold Theatre, most notably as Bruno in Fernand Crommelynck's "Magnanimous Cuckold." He also was active in early Soviet cinema and won the Stalin Prize several times for his film roles.
This pamphlet is entirely in Russian and contains seven black-and-white photographs (in addition to the photo on the upper wrapper). OCLC shows seven institutional holdings. SCARCE.
CONDITION: Pencil notations under two photographs, soiling to wrappers, toning to pages. Overall, about Very Good.

Glinka, M.I. Ivan Susanin [A Life for the Tsar]. Moscow: Bolshoi Theatre, 1943. First Edition, First Printing.Single printed sheet folded to create [4] pages, measuring 6 1/2 x 4 1/8 inches (163 x 106 mm) when folded.Rare playbill for the opera Ivan Susanin, performed at the Bolshoi Theatre, on September 26, 1943. This was a notable production because it was the Bolshoi's first performance in Moscow after returning to the city in World War II. The Bolshoi company -- along with the government and many other institutions -- had been evacuated to the city of Kuybyshev (now Samara) following the German invasion in 1941. The Bolshoi Theatre itself had been damaged by a bomb in 1941, so this performance marked the theatre's reopening.The great bass Maxim Mikhailov sang the role of Susanin, while the soprano Valeria Barsova appeared as Antonida, and the tenor Nikandr S. Hanaev sang the role of Sobinin. Samuil Samosud directed. An Associated Press report appearing in the September 27, 1943, edition of The… Read More

[Tempo Playhouse] [Playbill] Stein, Gertrude and Jean Genet. Julie Bovasso and Cletus L. Gundy Present a Tempo Playhouse Production: Gertrude Stein's "The 13th of March": Selections From the First Reader [and] Jean Genet's "The Maids." New York: Tempo Playhouse, [1955]. Octavo (8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches; 215 x 140 mm), [8] pages, in stapled wrappers. A rare playbill for the first plays presented by Julie Bovasso's Tempo Playhouse in New York: Gertrude Stein's "The 13th of March: Selections From the First Reader," and Jean Genet's "The Maids." In fact, this was the first production of "The Maids" in the United States. Both plays were directed by Strowan Robertson, with sets and costumes by Lester Hackett. The 24-year-old Bovasso founded the theatre with $250 from the sale of a painting by her husband, George Ortman. She rented an apartment at 4 St. Mark's Place in the East Village and built a small stage and a box office. (See Stephen J. Bottoms, "Playing Underground: A Critical History of the 1960s… Read More

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich. Lebedinoye Ozero [Swan Lake]. Moscow: Bolshoi Theatre, 1943. First Edition, First Printing. Single sheet, printed recto only, measuring 8 1/8 x 5 inches (205 x 126 mm).Rare playbill for Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, which took place at the Bolshoi Theatre's Main Stage in Moscow on September 28, 1943. This was a notable production because it came two days after the Bolshoi's first performance in Moscow after returning to the city in World War II. The Bolshoi company -- along with the government and many other institutions -- had been evacuated to the city of Kuybyshev (now Samara) following the German invasion in 1941. The great prima ballerina Marina Semyonova (1908-2010) danced the roles of Odette and Odile.This playbill, printed entirely in Russian, is rare. Only 800 copies were issued and many likely did not survive. RARE. CONDITION: One vertical fold and three horizontal folds, some soiling as well as some writing in ink to the verso. A Very Good copy.

New York: William Morrow & Company, 1929. First Edition, First Printing. The story of Actors Equity Association, the theatre union formed in 1913 to fight for fair contracts and better working conditions. In the striking and scarce dust jacket. The author, Alfred Harding, was the editor of Equity Magazine for more than 30 years. As The New York Times noted in his 1969 obituary: "In his book, Mr. Harding chronicles the one-month strike that virtually shut down Broadway in 1919, from which Equity dates its effectiveness as a bargaining agent for actors." (The New York Times, July 1, 1969, page 41.) PHYSICAL DETAILS: Octavo (8 3/4 x 6 inches; 224 x 150 mm), 575 [1] pages, black cloth, titles stamped in gilt to spine, embossed actors' masks to front board, in a striking, illustrated dust jacket (hard cover). CONDITION: Top edge a bit dusty but gilt titles remain bright and unfaded. Internally clean and unmarked. The price-clipped pictorial dust jacket has a few short, closed tears along the edges, with… Read More

[Living Theatre]. A Tribute to Julian Beck. [New York]: Publisher Not Stated, 1985. First Edition, First Printing.Single sheet folded to create [4] pages, measuring 8 3/8 x 5 1/2 inches (212 x 140 mm) when folded. Printed on heavy paper stock, with ragged edges to the cover and second page. Program for a memorial tribute to Julian Beck, cofounder of the Living Theatre, one of America's premier experimental theatre groups. The event took place on November 25, 1985, at the Joyce Theater in New York. It featured film segments, photographic slides, and tributes by numerous artists and writers, including John Cage, Jackson Mac Low, Larry Rivers, John Ashbery, Amiri Baraka, Kenneth Koch, and Abbie Hoffman. Beck's wife, Judith Malina, also spoke; she cofounded the Living Theatre with Beck in 1947. Beck (1925-1985) won numerous awards for his theatre work. Late in life, he acted in films, including Francis Ford Coppola's "Cotton Club," and left behind a body of nonfiction and poetry. His 1972 book, "The Life… Read More