“In [the final] scene [of Firebird], the music swells to a glorious finish, but since there’s no movement, and all is still, it’s as if there’s a hush when the curtain falls. When it did, we all stood there in a state of shock. It was over! But calls had never been rehearsed, and nobody knew quite what to do. Then the curtain rose again, and as long as I live, I’ll never forget the roar.
“A firestorm of applause erupted in the City Center, and the audience was on its feet clapping, stomping, and shouting. We just stood there, dumbfounded. People were screaming, ‘Bravo!’ shouting themselves horse. It was pandemonium. The theater had turned itself into a football stadium, and the audience was in a frenzy. In the mezzanine, a group of people was standing in the isles and every time the curtain came down. They started calling out my name until it went up again: ‘Tallchief! Tallchief! Tallchief! Tallchief!’
“When the curtain fell for the ninth or 10th time, there were still cheering. We were all in a days. Then Jorge took my arm to leave me out in front for a bow. Before going out, I looked around for Franke, but he had disappeared. so Jorge and I were out there alone. Perhaps it was fitting that it was just the two of us.”
—Quoted from Maria Tallchief: America’s Prima Ballerina
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