The Rite of Spring been "incomparable: with the exception of a few places, everything was as I wanted it". The premiere was followed by five further performances of "The Rite" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the last on 13 June. Although these occasions were relatively peaceful, something of the mood of the first night remained; the composer Puccini, who attended the second performance on 2 June, described the choreography as ridiculous and the music cacophonous—"the work of a madman. The public hissed, laughed – and applauded". Stravinsky, confined to his bed by typhoid fever, did not join the company when it went to London
The Rite of Spring critical triumph. It has remained in the company's repertoire for more than 50 years; after its revival in May 2011 "The Daily Telegraph"s critic Mark Monahan called it one of the Royal Ballet's greatest achievements. Moscow first saw "The Rite" in 1965, in a version choreographed for the Bolshoi Ballet by Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasiliev. This production was shown in Leningrad four years later, at the Maly Opera Theatre, and introduced a storyline that provided the Chosen One with a lover who wreaks vengeance on the elders after the sacrifice. Johnson describes the production as "a product of state