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Beauty and the Beast as a Ballet Plot


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Are there any ballets that are based upon Beauty and the Beast, either specifically as a plot or more generally as a theme?

A friend who is designing a theater production asked me, as they would like to incorporate some dance, but I really can't think of anything specific; Esmeralda has a similar theme but is so specific in its own "plating" (dans son assiette) that I don't really think it relates.

Much obliged for any information --

MP

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The NYPL Dance Coll. has entries on nearly 20 ballets based on this story and theme, including works by Didelot, Cranko, Ruth Page and Lew Christensen.

None seems to have an esp. long life on stage.

Two Russian productions come up at times in Russian ballet history, one by Nikolai Legat as follows:

Beauty and the beast: Original title: Alen'kii tsvetochek. Chor: Nikolai Legat; mus: Thomas Hartmann; lib: Pavel Marzhetzkii after the story by Sergei Aksakov; scen: Konstantin Korovin. First perf: St. Petersburg, Maryinsky Theater, Dec 16, 1907 (O.S.).

and what i take to be Gorsky remake of the same:

Beauty and the beast: Original title: Alen'kii tsvetochek. Chor: Aleksandr Gorski; mus: Thomas de Hartmann; lib: Gorski after a tale by Sergei Aksakov; scen: Konstantin Korovin. First perf: Moscow, Bolshoi Theater, Jan. 1, 1911 (O.S.).

sometimes the ballet's title freely translated as THE SCARLET FLOWER or THE BLOOD-RED FLOWER is confused w/ THE RED POPPY - a rather different work.

I believe both Beaumont's COMPLETE BOOK OF THE BALLETS and Balanchine's COMPLETE STORIES have entries on works with this theme.

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Well I don’t know if it answers your question but Paris Opera Ballet is dancing right now Roland Petit’s Le Loup. And while it's not the Beauty and the beast story, it's a story about a beauty and a beast!!!

It tells about a young bride who’s husband interchanged with a wolf in order to cheat on her with a gypsy and when she discovers she’s with a real wolf, she still loves the wolf and prefers to die with the beast when the husband and the villagers wants to take her bak and kill the beast. it is staged in beautiful sets and costumes by Carzou.

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As Brioche mentioned, Lew Christensen choreographed a wonderful version for San Francisco Ballet which premiered in 1958. The music was chosen from different Tchaikovsky works, including the Symphonies 1,2, and 3 (Winter Dreams being my favorite!) and Theme and Variations. It was a magical ballet. I loved the opening scene with the Stags dancing in the forest. It was in SFB's repertory until the early eighties when a new production designed by Jose Varona was unveiled with one piece of added choreography...a pas de six, in which I danced...

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As Brioche mentioned, Lew Christensen choreographed a wonderful version for San Francisco Ballet which premiered in 1958. The music was chosen from different Tchaikovsky works, including the Symphonies 1,2, and 3 (Winter Dreams being my favorite!) and Theme and Variations. It was a magical ballet. I loved the opening scene with the Stags dancing in the forest. It was in SFB's repertory until the early eighties when a new production designed by Jose Varona was unveiled with one piece of added choreography...a pas de six, in which I danced...

I danced in the original. Truly a magical ballet!

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