Gala Performance: A Record of The Sadler’s Wells Ballet over Twenty-Five Years.

Edited by Arnold Haskell, Mark Bonham Carter, Michael Wood.
With a foreword by H.R.H. The Princess Margaret.

London, Collins, 1955.
4to, 248 pp., ill.

In original black cloth and pictorial dust jacket.
In good condition, price-clipped jacket, rubbing and small losses to dj spine, bookplate ‘From the Library of Douglas D. Martin’ to first free endpaper.

The book celebrates the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Sadler’s Wells Ballet. It features contributions from notable figures in the ballet world, including Sacheverell Sitwell, William Chappell, Arnold Haskell, and Dame Ninette de Valois, offering insights into various aspects of British ballet such as its history, training, music, and design. It also contains photographs by leading photographers like Baron, Cecil Beaton, Denis de Marney, Gordon Anthony, and Roger Wood, showcasing the evolution of ballet productions over time. Additionally, the book includes color plates of ballet décors by prominent artists such as John Piper, Oliver Messel, John Craxton, and Osbert Lancaster. A special appendix provides a comprehensive record of productions and casts of the first performances by the Sadler's Wells Ballet and Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet.