Beauty and the Beast as a Ballet Plot

[Michael]

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

[rg]

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.

[silvermash]

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.

[lovemydancers]

A quick search brings up several:

David Nixon for BalletMet Columbus (BalletMet's website has quite a bit of detail compiled by Gerard Charles)

Robert Weiss for Carolina Ballet

Robert Sund for State Street Ballet

Domy Reiter-Soffer for Colorado Ballet.

I'm sure there are more.

[bart]

Not a dance film, but Cocteau's La Belle et la Bete is wonderful for atmosphere and also for the quality of movement in some of its key scenes.

The image of la belle running through the hallway in which the candelabra are held by human hands is probably the most evocative.

http://www.google.co...biw=922&bih=508

[vrsfanatic]

Martin Fredmann did quite well in 1988 or '89 for Tampa/Colorado Ballet. It was in One Act. I will have to check on the music, scenery and costumes.

[Lynette H]

Martin Fredmann did quite well in 1988 or '89 for Tampa/Colorado Ballet. It was in One Act. I will have to check on the music, scenery and costumes.

David Bintley did a Beauty and the Beast for Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2003 and it has been revived since.

There's some photos at http://www.brb.org.uk/4851.html

And a listing of reviews here http://www.brb.org.uk/4774.html

[Brioche]

Lew Christensen choreographed it for the San Francisco Ballet in 1958 with various revivals of it in to the 1970's and televised I believe.

http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=7084

Scroll down to the second photograph of Cynthia Gregory and Robert Gladstein in the main roles (1964.)

[Michael]

Thank You all a Chunk (so to speak) - This is one of the things that makes this site amazing -- Michael

[carbro]

Not "based on," and this is probably not what you have in mind, but as you know (but who knows?), Robbins' Mother Goose Suite includes a Beauty and the Beast section.

[Gina Ness]

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...

[mimsyb]

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!

[Gina Ness]

Wow...mimsyb...You were an original cast member! I also danced Magic Flowers during the seventies, and my brother Anton Ness and I danced the Rose Waltz principal couple mid-seventies... During the time when the Panovs were guesting with SFB...