Preview: Broadway Festival at Pacific Northwest Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet’s BROADWAY FESTIVAL, March 12-22, 2009, featuring George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Susan Stroman and Christopher Wheeldon, offers four marvelously entertaining works in a salute to dance on The Great White Way.
Carousel (A Dance) — Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon
Music by Richard Rodgers (“Carousel Waltz” and “If I Loved You” from Carousel, 1945).
Wheeldon’s salute to Rodgers includes the composer’s melodic and evocative music in a reverie that distills Carousel’s carnival atmosphere as well as its theme of tragic romance.
TAKE FIVE … More or Less – Choreography: Susan Stroman
Music by Dave Brubeck (Take Five, 1959) and Paul Desmond (Blue Rondo al la Turk and Strange Meadow Lark, 1959).
Tony Award-winning choreographer Susan Stroman’s work premiered at PNB’s Laugh Out Loud! Festival in April 2008 to rapturous responses from audiences and critics alike.
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue — Choreography: George Balanchine
Music by Richard Rodgers (from On Your Toes, 1936).
Balanchine originally choreographed Slaughter on Tenth Avenue in 1936 for the musical On Your Toes, a parody of Broadway, Russian ballet and the mob. He mounted it as a separate work for the New York City Ballet in 1967, following the original ideas but with new choreography.
West Side Story Suite — Choreography: Jerome Robbins with Peter Gennaro
Music by Leonard Bernstein (“Prologue,” “Something’s Coming,” “Dance at the Gym,” “Cool,” “America,” “Rumble,” and “Somewhere Ballet” from West Side Story, 1957)
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
West Side Story is one of the most popular theatrical productions based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Robbins extracted a sequence of dances from West Side Story to make this suite for New York City Ballet in 1995.
Tickets to Broadway Festival range from $20-$150. Single tickets are priced at $15 for patrons 25 and under (two for $25) for both Friday performances on March 13 and 20. Visit www.pnb.org for more info.
