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Matthew Bourne takes risk on ballet version of The Red Shoes Matthew Bourne takes risk on ballet version of The Red Shoes
(about 1 hour later)
It is some people’s favourite movie but the stage version was one of the biggest disasters in Broadway history. So the choreographer Sir Matthew Bourne admitted he was taking a risk as he announced his next production: The Red Shoes.It is some people’s favourite movie but the stage version was one of the biggest disasters in Broadway history. So the choreographer Sir Matthew Bourne admitted he was taking a risk as he announced his next production: The Red Shoes.
Bourne is to make a ballet version of the 1948 Powell and Pressburger film, which starred Moira Shearer as a ballerina forced to choose between ambition and love. He said it would be his love letter to the theatre, albeit a harder sell than some of his previous productions such as Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.Bourne is to make a ballet version of the 1948 Powell and Pressburger film, which starred Moira Shearer as a ballerina forced to choose between ambition and love. He said it would be his love letter to the theatre, albeit a harder sell than some of his previous productions such as Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.
“Everything is a risk, who knows what is successful these days,” he said. “The risk of this is that it is not so well known … audiences want something they know a bit. It is our job now to introduce people to the world of the film, the story and the music.”“Everything is a risk, who knows what is successful these days,” he said. “The risk of this is that it is not so well known … audiences want something they know a bit. It is our job now to introduce people to the world of the film, the story and the music.”
The story has obvious appeal to Bourne as it is set in the theatrical world of a touring dance company. “The film’s genius is to make that theatrical world at times surreal, larger than life and highly cinematic. My challenge will be to capture some of that surreal, sensuous quality within the more natural theatre setting.” The story has obvious appeal to Bourne, as it is set in the theatrical world of a touring dance company. “It is actually about dance and dancers, a world that we all understand so well.
The film, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale, is adored by many, not least Martin Scorsese, who oversaw its restoration in 2009. It has fared less well on stage, with Jule Styne’s musical version lasting all of five days on Broadway in 1993, losing nearly $8m. “The film’s genius is to make that theatrical world at times surreal, larger than life and highly cinematic. My challenge will be to capture some of that surreal, sensuous quality within the more natural theatre setting.”
Bourne’s version will star the Australian ballerina Ashley Shaw in the Shearer role, as the gorgeously red-headed Victoria Page. The film, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale, is loved as well for its glorious Technicolor cinematography by Jack Cardiff and has legions of admirers, not least Martin Scorsese, who oversaw its restoration in 2009.
The score will be arranged by Terry Davies, using music composed by the Hollywood composer Bernard Herrmann, who wrote for directors including Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles and Scorsese. It was particularly important to Bourne, who recalled seeing the film as a teenager. “At that stage I’d never actually seen a ballet, it was my introduction to that world … it does seem terribly glamorous and mystical when you watch this film.”
The Red Shoes has fared less well on stage, with Jule Styne’s musical version lasting all of five days on Broadway in 1993, losing nearly $8m.
Bourne’s version will star the Australian ballerina Ashley Shaw in the Shearer role, as the gorgeously red-headed Victoria Page, who comes under the spell of a pair of beautiful but possessed red shoes.
Shaw has been with Bourne’s company New Adventures since 2009, performing some of the leading female roles including Kim in Edward Scissorhands, Lana in The Car Man and currently Aurora in Sleeping Beauty.
The show will not use the original film music. Instead the score will be arranged by Terry Davies, using music composed by the Hollywood composer Bernard Herrmann, who wrote for directors including Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles and Scorsese.
“Who knew that Citizen Kane is full of brilliant dance music,” said Bourne. “Much of this music will never have been danced to before or heard in a theatre.”“Who knew that Citizen Kane is full of brilliant dance music,” said Bourne. “Much of this music will never have been danced to before or heard in a theatre.”
Bourne said the story of how to become the best, and the sacrifices that had to be made, had a continuing relevance, particularly given the success of programmes such as The X Factor. Bourne said the story of how to become the best, and the sacrifices that had to be made, had a continuing relevance, particularly given the success of programmes such as the X Factor.
Bourne said it was now one of the missions of his company, New Adventures, to create new ballets, after earlier productions reinterpreted the classics, most famously his all-male Swan Lake. “It is about the dedication it takes to become a star … sometimes that hard grind is forgotten about with things like X Factor. It is still relevant.”
The Red Shoes is Bourne’s first new production since Sleeping Beauty in 2011. He said it was now one of the missions of his company to create new ballets, after earlier productions reinterpreted the classics, most famously changing the chorus of swans from female to male in his version of Swan Lake.
“We’re running out of the big old war horses to do, there are no more Tchaikovskys left, sadly. The challenge is finding a great story which lends itself to dance and having great music to accompany it.”“We’re running out of the big old war horses to do, there are no more Tchaikovskys left, sadly. The challenge is finding a great story which lends itself to dance and having great music to accompany it.”
The show will open at Plymouth Theatre Royal in November, then travel to the Lowry in Salford, before becoming the Christmas show at Sadlers Wells in London. A UK tour will follow in 2017. The show reunites Bourne with his regular collaborators Lez Brotherston (set and costumes), Paule Constable (lighting) and Paul Groothuis (sound).
It will open at Plymouth theatre Royal in November, then travel to The Lowry in Salford, before becoming the Christmas show for eight weeks at Sadler’s Wells, London. A UK tour will follow in 2017.