First you chuckled, then you swooned during Wednesday’s program of the New York City Ballet. Jerome Robbins’s uproarious “Fanfare” appeases our inner child, while Peter Martins’s dreamy “Morgen” speaks to our embarrassed romantic. While these characters may have speaking roles in our imagination, they rarely make public appearances, even under the cover of a darkened theater.

Yet the most irascible Scrooge must lighten up to the hijinks of the personified gongs and cymbals in the percussion ensemble of “Fanfare.” Tom Gold, Amar Ramasar, and Sean Suozzi tumble, march, and collide in slapstick combinations, but unlike Larry, Moe, and Curly, their physical humor is patently British. How British? Benjamin Britten’s score, “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,” was originally composed for the Coronation Night of Queen Elizabeth II.

The work introduces the audience to the orchestra’s four sections – woodwinds, brass, strings, and percussion. Brightly differentiated in Irene Sharaff’s colorful costumes, and donning ornate doilies on their heads, the dancers capture the shape and personality of each instrument. Following a theme by Purcell, the Piccolos bounce with sprightly bourrees, the Oboe slowly extends a leg in arabesque, and the Clarinet hops in frisky jetes.

Each section has its comedians and its overachievers. Kyle Froman and Craig Hall play the Bassoons, walking on both knees, doing a few cartwheels, and scurrying back to their positions. Among the strings, the Viola couple in salmon pink (Jared Angle and Rachel Rutherford) performs an adagio with the right air of indulgence and self-mockery. With repeated leaps, Ask la Cour as the Double Bass pushes his way past the Violins and Cellos with a royal air. He somersaults (no mean feat with his large crown), and they offer applause. The Tubas and Trombones play gymnastic charades in full yellow bodysuits, building at one point a Stonehenge.

Teresa Reichlin as the lovely Harp produces long resonant extensions, but her refinement eventually gets buried amid the vaudevillian crowd. David Lowenstein as the Major Domo manages the spectacle in his affected English accent. The work is an ideal length, tickling the funnybone without becoming tiresome.

One can certainly recognize the clarinet solo in Richard Strauss’s melancholic Lieder. On a much different note, Peter Martin’s “Morgen” conjures, as in a crystal ball, a romantic era when glamour was part of the weather system and well-dressed individuals in flowing chiffon gowns took turns sweeping one another off their feet. Set to 10 selections from Strauss’s “Songs for Soprano and Orchestra,” the work features three couples who steal away to a collonaded arcade for a wistful fly-by-night rendezvous.

In Alain Vaes’s set design, the five Doric columns support nothing so much as their own pretense of classicism, overlooking a dramatic panaroma of the Austrian Alps plunged in fog. The Romantic duets that ensue are full of lyrical embraces and fervent lifts to such effusive Lieder as “Ruhe, meine Seele!” and “Das Rosenband.”

Only the fine technical prowess of the dancers keeps the work from being reduced to schmaltz. The original cast from its premiere in 2001 all made it to this impractical locale – including Janie Taylor, whose elegant sweep has been noticeably absent on the stage this season. As soon as she enters, bolt upright above her curving hemline, she is on the verge of evaporating with sighs. Jared Angle joins her as her love interest of the moment. He thoughtfully holds her as she spins beneath him in a crouch.

Each duet ends with an elusive disappearance of the female, and the men following after them into the wings. Darci Kistler and Jenifer Ringer repeat the pattern with energetic performances. Ms. Kistler, in turquoise, elastically thrusts herself in and out of Nilas Martins’s reach; Ms. Ringer is more sumptuous in her purple velvet dress. Partnered by Jock Soto, she moves with practiced abandon, her willowy arms searching the air as she is lifted.

The evening always holds the expectation for something better, and the cast rotates in three cycles, dancing with each other. The structure allows for an intriguing display of Mr. Soto’s partnering skills. All three females gain amplitude with him by their side, generating additional horsepower in their torque, but also a delicious quality of rest. Ms. Taylor is especially limpid and strong. Storm-tossed by passion, she flies upside down into Mr. Soto’s arms without a second thought.

Tomorrow finally arrives in the final section. To the title number, “Morgen!” the three ladies stir impatiently between the men in a lottery of the heart. They eventually match up with the man of their dreams – dreams made plausibly real to even the most hardhearted among us by their confident and exciting performances.

Also on the program was “Stravinsky Violin Concerto” and “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux,” which replaced “Tarantella.” Philip Neal, filling in for Benjamin Millepied, tackled the bravura role famously danced by Baryshnikov. While he struggled in the repeated turns, his leading leg held out like a horizontal boom, he dazzled with his cabrioles. Miranda Weese was his equal in her assurance and tinsel-bright liveliness. Their closing fish dives were not as daredevil as they are across the plaza, but they still took your breath away.

“Fanfare” will be performed again June 18; “Morgen” will be performed again June 17 & 18. (Lincoln Center, 212-870-5570).