La Chauve-Souris

La Chauve-Souris (French: The Bat) was the name of a touring revue during the early 1900s. Originating in Moscow and then Paris, and directed by Nikita Balieff, the revue toured the United States, Europe, and South Africa. The show consisted of songs, dances, and sketches, most of which had been originally performed in Russia. The revue was enormously successful in the U.S., and one of its legacies is the popularization of the jaunty tune The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers by Leon Jessel.

In 1906, Armenian actor Nikita Balieff moved to Moscow, and took a job at the Moscow Art Theatre under Constantin Stanislavski. After years of only non-speaking roles, and with a desire to perform comedy rather than drama, Balieff, along with theatre devotee Nikolai Tarasov, co-created his own theatre group in a basement near the Moscow Art Theatre. He named the cabaret and troupe The Bat, after a well-known cabaret in Vienna called Fledermaus.

The Bat enjoyed much success and popularity in Moscow, until the Russian Revolution in 1917. Balieff then went into exile in western Europe, and began presenting vaudeville shows there with other Russian émigrés. La Chauve-Souris opened in Paris in December 1920. The spectacle was noticed by the British theatrical producer Charles B. Cochran, who brought Balieff and his troupe and show to London.

In 1922 La Chauve-Souris made its first tour to America, through an arrangement with the producer Morris Gest. La Chauve Souris performed on Broadway from February 1922 to June 1922 (153 performances) and January 1925 to March 1925 (61 performances) in productions produced by and Morris Gest. Balieff and his company also toured from Washington, D.C. to California for 65 consecutive weeks.

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