Fancy Free was a one-act ballet that launched the careers of composer Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins in musical theater. The ballet was first presented by the Ballet Theatre (now American Ballet Theatre) in New York City in 1944. It marked Robbins’s debut as a choreographer. It was also Bernstein’s first composition for the stage. Fancy Free was so successful that Bernstein and Robbins expanded it later in 1944 into the hit musical comedy On the Town. Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote the story and most of the lyrics for the show.
The ballet portrays the adventures of three American sailors on a brief shore leave in New York City. The three quickly become romantically involved with girls they meet in the city. The sailors were danced by Harold Lang, John Kriza, and Robbins. The high-spirited, American flavor of the ballet made it an important work in the history of American dance in the 1900’s.
