Bliss composed Adam Zero for the Sadler's Wells Ballet, in collaboration with Michael Benthall[1] and Robert Helpmann, with whom he had seen success with Miracle in the Gorbals.
The first performance at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London on 6 April 1946 was conducted by Constant Lambert.
[2] The premiere dancers included the following: Bliss considered Adam Zero his "most varied and exciting ballet score; the music is instinctively theatrical and strongly characterized.
The ballet is an allegory of the cycle of man’s life; the world in which he lives is represented by a stage on which a ballet is being created: Adam is cast as the principal dancer, Omnipotence is represented by the Stage Director and Adam’s Fates by the Designer, Wardrobe Mistress and Dresser.
Adam falls in love, marries, and achieves power, but his triumph is brief; his world crumbles about him, he is stripped of his glory, and a new generation (Understudy) takes his place.