Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Ah, the course of true love never did run smooth. With that Shakespearean thought in mind, choreographer Jorden Morris latched onto Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's latest production, "Moulin Rouge -- The Ballet," concocting a sprawling story filled with fact and fiction to bring the famed Parisian cabaret to life.
With this local premiere, the Benedum Center audiences could easily come away with a modern-day sensibility of the juicy excitement that the Moulin Rouge brought to Paris when it first opened in 1889. Mr. Morris did his research well, weaving in the original founder, Charles Zidler, as the villain, plus a virtuosic Toulouse-Lautrec, and actual high-kicking Moulin Rouge stars La Goulue and Mome Fromage.
6 comments:
Well this is a little dissapointing. I love moulin rouge, it is one of my favorite musicals by far so when I hear that PBT was doing a ballet to it I was extatic. but from the sound of it, the ballet was so classical it just didn't work. There is something about Moulin Rouge that just needs to be free and fun. Like the article says reckless abandon. I know that possible for a ballet but it requires you to break away from a lot of the classical style that characterizes ballet. The more I think about it, Moulin Rouge really is a challenge to produce as a ballet. I'm a little disappointed that the choreography didn't do the story justice..
This is the second article which mentions the need for more from the ballet. Whether it be reckless abandonment or more conflict. The only thing that I can compare the ballet to is the Film version and I must say that I liked both of them equally the same. However I must agree with the writer than the music chosen for the ballet was nicely put together. It really made most of the moments amazing.
I've never seen the show or the movie all the way through, but I get the gist of the hype and glamour associated with putting on that show. I appreciate that the choreographer kept true to his research in the way of expressing the storyline, but if you want to truly embrace the spirit of Moulin Rouge, you really have to go there. Yes, tense theatrical moments have their place, but this show requires more than just that. Both the art of dance and this show are about passion expressed physically, and I'm disappointed to hear that this production fell short.
Heading into rehearsal for the next ballet tomorrow, it's interesting to hear these thoughts that the show that should be looser and more energetic was actually stiffer and less interesting. The first piece in the ballet opening on Thursday, a story of two unspeakable love affairs, plays with the stiffness of the arranged marriages versus the looser passion of the affairs. The other two pieces, in contrast, heavily embrace alienation and emotional distance with no apology. I'll be interested to see the audience's response to these pieces and whether even the first falls into the trap Moulin Rouge did.
I've been waiting for years for Moulin Rouge to be on stage; I used to joke about doing it with my high school director but now that it is actually a production, I'm a little disappointed by the review. I have a huge problem with plot changes so I'm glad that the basic story seems to still be the same, but it is very disappoint to hear that the choreography is a little bland. I hope the kinks get worked out soon because this could really be a gorgeous production that so many people could enjoy. I am a little confused as to why it's a ballet instead of a musical but i assume that has to do more with the changes that were made to story and the music. I would still love to see it, but I'll probably watch it with an already disappointed attitude.
I love the fact that this production did a lot of research of the area of the moulin rouge as well as going into detail about some of the original people there and original factors dealing with the moulin rouge itself. It upsets me though to know that this production, which seems to be visually stunning, decided to stick with balletic movements instead of getting more physical and allowing the actors to bring out the characters rather than caring about the dancing. Doing something like this can seriously take away from their production, especially when you know the moulin rouge wasn't known for clean kicklines and other moves of the sort.
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