The Waltz of the Toreadors is a play by Jean Anouilh.
Written in 1951, this farce is set in 1910 France and focuses on General Léon Saint-Pé and his infatuation with Ghislaine, a woman with whom he danced at a garrison ball some 17 years earlier. Because of the General's commitment to his marriage, the couple's love remained unconsummated. Now faced with the reality of retirement with his hypochondriac wife, his paunch growing and his midlife crisis consuming his life, the General finds himself lost in the fond memory of his old flirtation. When Ghislaine suddenly reappears, he is delighted — until he finds himself competing for her hand with a considerably younger suitor.
The General and his mad wife had previously appeared in Anouilh's 1948 play Ardèle ou la Marguerite, and a further variant on the character appeared in the 1958 comedy L'Hurluberlu, ou le Réactionnaire amoureux. By the time of Anouilh's last play, Le Nombril (1981), Léon St Pé had transformed into a grouchy and unfashionable old playwright obviously intended by Anouilh as a cynical self-portrait.
Read more about The Waltz Of The Toreadors: Stage Productions, Film
Famous quotes containing the word waltz:
“When we were at school we were taught to sing the songs of the Europeans. How many of us were taught the songs of the Wanyamwezi or of the Wahehe? Many of us have learnt to dance the rumba, or the cha cha, to rock and roll and to twist and even to dance the waltz and foxtrot. But how many of us can dance, or have even heard of the gombe sugu, the mangala, nyang’umumi, kiduo, or lele mama?”
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