In Nikolai and the Others Richard Nelson imagines the relationships between Balanchine and Stravinsky, their friends, lovers, wives and ex-wives, supporters, and dancers (including Maria Tallchief and Nicholas Magallanes), at the time of their historic collaboration on the ballet Orpheus. Later that year, Orpheus would be the spectacular inaugural production of the newly formed New York City Ballet. The play also explores the controversial ways American art and artistic institutions were funded at the outset of the Cold War--including the subtle hand of the State Department in the post-war cultural scene.