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PS: the pictures and sketches on this page come from a marvellous album that clearly was originally the property of somebody close to the production and the Royal Ballet at that time. Unfortunately we don't know who. Everything is an original and I only wish I had the space to present all of it.

I am appalled at the idea of Marguerite and Armand being revived!  When it was first choreographed it was a great vehicle for Fonteyn and Nureyev: it displayed their individual talents and their partnership extremely well. It was never, however, "great" Ashton.

Margot Fonteyn relaxing during Marguerite and Armand rehearsals
Photographer Peto

It was my understanding that Ashton never wanted it to be performed unless both Fonteyn and Nureyev were in it, but they did rehearse understudies in case of last-minute emergencies when it would be too late to change the ballet. I THINK Georgina Parkinson was Margot's understudy.  I can't imagine who would have been Rudi's. But I feel that any other cast would wind-up being caricatures.

The only occasion on which I can really conceive of it being performed again would be if they ever did a complete Ashton retrospective: the wonderful, the good, the okay and the truly awful (there were a few).

By the way, 1973 may have been the last time it was produced at the ROH, but it was revived again (with all the original principal dancers) at the Coliseum in 1977.  It was part of a "Nureyev and Friends" programme.

Nureyev had appeared for several weeks with the then-named Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet).  There followed a two week season with "friends."  During the first week there was a production of Les Sylphides, (which featured Nureyev, Fonteyn, Makarova and Lynn Seymour), Seymour performing Ashton's "Dances in the Manner of Isadora Duncan," Makarova and Nureyev in the Corsaire pdd,  and Marguerite and Armand.  The second week featured a group of dancers from the Royal Danish Ballet plus Nureyev and Makarova.  They performed "Pierrot Lunaire," a piece by the Royal Danes with percussion on stage the name of which I have forgot,  the Don Q pdd with Nureyev and Makarova and "The Lesson. "

Margot Fonteyn as Marguerite, with her admirers
Original Keith Money pencil drawing

I was the ASM (Assistant Stage Manager) for the two week season, so I can tell you that we didn't know until the last moment whether Michael Soames would actually come to perform his role as the father in "Marguerite and Armand."  Because of stagehand union problems the ballet wasn't rehearsed until the afternoon of the first performance.  Nureyev refused to participate in any rehearsals after 2pm, so Leslie Edwards stood in for him(!) as well as for Michael Soames.

Fonteyn told all the "boys" how they were to behave: "You're too young, so I won't pay much attention to you; you're just right, and I'm going to flirt with you", etc.  We also had problems with the sets: the ROH obligingly sent the sets, but the chandelier is a three-dimensional jigsaw, and they failed to send the assembly instructions, so it didn't get used!

It was at that time that I really became enamoured of Margot:  nothing fazed her.  She was calm when all around her were having temper tantrums or when things went wrong.  Nureyev had a fit when the light in one of the quick-change booths failed to work, and he had to change by the light of several torches; Fonteyn was incredibly cool.  Furthermore, every night after her quick change into her "nightie" in which Marguerite dies, as she went back onstage she would pat my arm and say "thank you" for holding a torch so she wouldn't trip backstage.

The failed light incident wasn't the only untoward event.  One night a flyman mistook a cue and lowered a chandelier instead of raising the white drapery during the "country" scene.  Margot cooly held it up out of the way while Nureyev cursed.  He was famous for his strung together curses.  A stage hand of my acquaintance even blushed when I had to ask for a translation!

Nureyev watching Fonteyn from the wings during Marguerite and Armand rehearsals
Original Keith Money watercolour

On a more positive note Rudi kept coaching Makarova in her pirouettes - she always did have trouble with them. (I happened to be present years before at what turned out to be her last class with the Kirov, and one of the up-and-coming soloists was coaching her then!).  However none of this stopped famous admiriers from hanging around and the Production Manager actually threw King Constantine out from backstage: 1) beacuse he didn't recognise him and 2) because His Majesty was smoking!  It was Constantine who was later to become the godfather to Makarova's son.

During the run, the curtain times kept getting later and later, because we couldn't call "beginners" without Nureyev's specific consent.  The audience would start to become restless and begin to clap.  The Stage Manager had to go personally to Nureyev every night, and every night he took longer to get ready.  One night he finally gave his consent to start (Les Sylphides), and then very nearly didn't make it onto the stage in time.  The audience might have noticed a slightly harried-looking poet.

Nureyev also wanted every thing done "yesterday". One of my chores was to pick up the stray "rose petals" (actually they were most laboriously made of crepe paper as pink tissue paper was completely unavailable since it was June - wedding month) from the Isadora Dances, as the stage hands never could get rid of all of them.  He was clearly irritated at the process of hand removing the stray petals, so I had to point out that he was at risk for slipping on one of them!

Fonteyn and Nureyev in Marguerite and Armand
Photographer Cecil Beaton

I also remember that on the Sunday, the "get-in" day, we couldn't hold a planned rehearsal of  Les Sylphides, so we had to phone everyone to make sure they didn't show up.  Well somehow we never got in touch with Margot, so she turned up at the theatre.  She just said:  "Never mind, I'll just do my barre.  Just let me know if I'm in the way," and preceded to do so - holding onto the proscenium for support.  The stage hands paused to watch. What a striking difference in the professionalism between Fonteyn and Nureyev.  I had never really been a particular admirer of hers before that season.  Afterwards I would have walked barefoot to China for her.

My husband also fell under Fonteyn's spell:  on the first night during the Les Sylphides, she put a hand on his shoulder for balance and stood on pointe in the wings so she could see what was happening on stage.  As the other dancers came off she would tell each of them how "marvellous" they had been. She also wanted to make sure that everyone got a bouquet of flowers after each piece, so she told me to put together new ones or take whole bouquets from the ones she had.

She also hated having cellophane around her bouquets, so it had to be removed before presentation.  Usually the cellophane was what was holding the bouquet together, and I had to be very inventive by the light of two torches, as the flowers usually arrived just before or during the performance.  On the last night of Marguerite and Armand, someone sent her a bunch of three dozen long-stemmed, triple-headed roses all of which had to be de-thorned and somehow held together.  It was very heavy, and it had to be placed at her feet. My husband was the person who brought out the flowers, and I have a picture of the curtain call with Fonteyn, Nureyev, Soames, and Leslie Edwards.  I also have some potpourri made from the dozens of the roses she gave me.