CHARLATAN is a memoir of Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. Written and Performed  by multiple Tony nominee Tony Tanner.

A towering figure in the world of art, Diaghilev was an Impresario who worked with creative giants... Fokine, Picasso, Cocteau, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Chanel and loved some of them.

Spoken in first person by the man himself, this memoir details that extraordinary moment when the Ballets Russes came to Paris for the first time in 1909 and started a revolution in the arts. Also examined, with pitiless honesty, his intense but ultimately tragic love for the dance genius Nijinsky.

"Vivid descriptions beautifully capture Paris Premieres."  – NEW YORK TIMES

"Brilliant evocation...superb actor... ranks with the best of the genre." –MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

'Witty, acerb.... the past lights up."    – VILLAGE VOICE   NEW YORK CITY

'Spellbinding".....     WQXR RADIO     N.Y.CITY (Francis Mason)

"Spellbinding"...    –  LA DRAMA LOGUE

"Vividly, unforgettably brought to life...:   – OFF OFF BROADWAY REVIEW. NYC.

"Diaghilev.... reincarnated by Tony Tanner: uncannily summoned the man's style".   –  DANCE MAGAZINE 

"Deeply moving, vastly entertaining..."  – BACKSTAGE

"Replete with Mr. Tanner's vivid characterizations of Diaghilev's appreciations and sarcasm."   – ON STAGE