Wedding Bouquet

[Mme. Hermine]

Can anyone tell me how long this ballet is? Any impressions of it? Thanks!

[sandik]

I saw the Joffrey production several years ago -- I cannot remember how long it was, but I do remember it being absolutely silly and charming. Ashton's set of characters are very deftly and lightly drawn.

[rg]

a CD of Berners' music for A WEDDING BOUQUET clocks in at 32 min. more or less - this is the version for chorus, which has not been done in some time to the best of my knowledge, but the score is played through whether with narrator or chorus.

the ballet is considered in some American quarters as very, perhaps too, English, and thus difficult "to travel" much, but i have real admiration for its wit, inventiveness, and general atmosphere. Stein's text is daffy and more, whether spoken or sung; it's a kind ENIGMA VARIATIONS in at times, a more rollicking, breezy gear as well as, at other times, in a more dark-toned mood.

if ENIGMA is a more or less serene family scene; BOUQUET is a more "typical" family scene.

i last saw the ballet at Covent Garden in '05 and found it alive if not at its most lively, from previous Royal Ballet performances.

the Joffrey Ballet staging was good but not quite on top of Ashton's aesthetic as it might have been, though, probably as good as any non-English company could manage?

[sandik]

the Joffrey Ballet staging was good but not quite on top of Ashton's aesthetic as it might have been, though, probably as good as any non-English company could manage?

Thinking about this in light of the new documentary about the company -- they got that comment frequently, it seems to me, about their Ashton rep, and their Balanchine rep and their Bournonville rep and their reconstructions of Ballet Russe rep. I understand the distinction, and am glad to see it drawn, but for many of us living outside of New York at the time, the Joffrey was the only chance we had to see any of those works performed live (and in the pre-video world, see them at all...) I'm grateful to the company for that polyglot opportunity to see as much as I did.