It's Hard to be the Bard

So, these specific images are from a photoshoot with the performers/crew involved in George Balanchine’s 1966 ballet film/production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. If you search up “1966 new york city ballet film photoshoot” then you will find more images from the film version. Many images are archived by the New York Public Library (NYPL Digital Collections):

John Clifford (also a dancer) has posted many videos over the years of various performances, both his own and others, on his YouTube (@ jcliff26). In 2016, he posted multiple clips of the 1966 Balanchine ballet film production referenced in the above photos. John Clifford also posted the full PBS broadcast of a live Balanchine NYC Ballet production— however, this one has a different cast and does not appear to have as detailed of set designs as the film version, as seen below:

If you were curious (like me!) about what the film version looked like in action… below is the scene from the film where Titania is lying asleep and begins to wake up (“Bottom’s” Pas de Deux). The start most closely resembles the original images shared from the photoshoot!

And this next clip is “Titania’s” Pas de Deux! More beautiful scenes!!

There are additional clips of the film on John Clifford’s YouTube and more photos from the official photoshoot in the NYPL Digital Collections!

Below are some other images from the 1966 film production photoshoot that I particularly enjoyed:

Hamlet gets kidnapped by pirates but we don’t see that part. It’s a letter.

The Oracle of Delphi shows up in the Winter’s Tale and rather than do all the special effects required to make that adequately supernatural, two guys come on stage and go “woah that was cool”

There’s a big storm on the night that Duncan is murdered and we learn about this when half the cast of Macbeth says “sure was stormy last night”

In King Lear (III:vii) there is a man who is such a minor character that Shakespeare has not given him even a name: he is merely 'First Servant'. All the characters around him – Regan, Cornwall, and Edmund – have fine, long term plans. They think they know how the story is going to end, and they are quite wrong. The servant has no such delusions. He has no notion how the play is going to go. But he understands the present scene. He sees an abomination (the blinding of old Gloucester) taking place. He will not stand it. His sword is out and pointed as his master’s breast in a moment: then Regan stabs him dead from behind. That is his whole part: eight lines all told. But if it were real life and not a play, that is the part it would be best to have acted.