Title: Edward Scissorhands ballet review
Karen - January 14, 2007 01:20 AM (GMT)
Posted by Jeppody on 1/07/07 at 03:03 AM
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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07007/751321-325.stm
Dance Preview: 'Edward Scissorhands' reawakens as cutting-edge dance
Sunday, January 07, 2007
The dance version of "Edward Scissorhands" doesn't stick to the plot of the movie -- it redreams it.
By Jane Vranish
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
When something as markedly original as the movie "Edward Scissorhands" comes onto the scene, it's only a matter of time before it's adapted for another medium.
After all, adaptation is an integral part of the artistic landscape covered by books, film, television and theater.
Sam Archer in the dance version of "Edward Scissorhands" at the Benedum.
Click photo for larger image.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Related articles
Q&A with Matthew Bourne
Broadway musicals are bending the genres
"Edward Scissorhands"
Where: Benedum Center, Downtown.
When: 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 1 and 6:30 p.m. next Sunday.
Tickets: $25-$57; call 412-456-6666, go online at www.pgharts.org, or visit the Box Office at Theater Square.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Literature seems to hold the upper hand -- good writing begets just about any other creative endeavor. It is said that Shakespeare is the most popular screenwriter in Hollywood -- "West Side Story," "O" and "10 Things I Hate About You" are among the many films based on his work.
Dance has borrowed from Shakespeare as well, along with other literary giants. But the art form has had an uneasy relationship with film in transferring from the three-dimensional to the two-dimensional, or vice versa.
Thus a dance version of "Edward Scissorhands" would seem to languish at the bottom of the list for that and several other reasons. The "scissorhands" would eliminate the use of an expressive port de bras. Love duets, often the backbone of any dance production, would seem to be out of the question.
But British choreographer Matthew Bourne saw something in this cinematic outsider that would make the transition.
Bourne might be called the current master adapter of dance. He has achieved fame through odd twists on ballet staples such as "Swan Lake," with a male corps de ballet; "The Car Man," a gender switch on the operatic "Carmen"; and "Nutcracker!," which takes place in a Dickensian orphanage.
It provides a comfort zone for audiences, a recognizable name or subject that will lure them into the theater -- in fact, Bourne calls his style "dance theater." So his recent switch to musical theater ("My Fair Lady," "Mary Poppins") was a natural.
But a gothic film with a creamy emotional center starring Johnny Depp?
Bourne was initially attracted to Danny Elfman's soaring score, which seemed to make it eminently danceable. Original author and co-adapter Caroline Thompson and movie director Tim Burton once thought of making the film a musical. And the title character had about 12 lines, meaning that the Chaplinesque Edward played right into Bourne's own stylish hands.
Thus began Bourne's latest adaptation.
Adaptation can be a good thing if it involves adjustment and perhaps an element of survival. Sometimes it can mean conforming, not a good thing in the creative arts.
Bourne wanted to make sure that his dance creation didn't mimic the film version. He won the support of Burton and Thompson, who commented at the outset, "Don't stick to the movie. Let's re-dream it. Let's do something that makes sense for the stage."
In some ways, imitation wasn't possible. The stage didn't allow for haunted close-ups of a larger-than-life-sized face. Quick cuts from the castle to suburbia and back were not possible. Depp had several specialized "scissorhands" to perform separate duties for topiaries and haircuts.
The stage Edwards wouldn't have that luxury. They had to devise movement that suited foot-long plastic extensions of fingers weighing 7 pounds each. They would remain affixed throughout the production.
But things that didn't seem possible proved otherwise.
Sam Archer, one of two alternating Edwards with Richard Winsor and a veteran Bourne dancer, had qualms about following in Depps' footsteps.
"It was hard because this character has only been played by one person," he says by phone from Los Angeles. "We were mimicking Depp at first. But we wanted to make it our own. Luckily there were two of us. We could bring different things to it and learn from each other."
Archer and Winsor couldn't rely on close-ups. Plus the makeup eliminated another mode expression -- the eyebrows. Instead, it's "all about the body language." The hands became an integral part of that language. Through rigorous rehearsals Bourne and the two Edwards found that they could do more movements than expected -- without taking away "from the reality of them being blades."
And in the end, this "Edward Scissorhands" would formulate its own personality. Bourne devised a new beginning, where the inventor's son is seen playing with scissors. When his son dies, that provides the visual connection for his subsequent invention.
Even with all of the changes in this version, and subsequent projects such as "The Addams Family," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "The Secret Garden," Thompson has retained a special affinity for "Edward Scissorhands."
"It's completely based on my own childhood in its own way," Thompson says of growing up in suburban Bethesda, Md., which she found "absolutely fascinating and beautiful and horrific in its underbelly." She crafted it partly from "Frankenstein" and an earlier novel, "First Born," about growing up in suburbia.
"They're sort of companion pieces," she explains. "But this is the sweet one."
(Jane Vranish can be reached at jvranish@post-gazette.com. )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07007/751321-325.stm
Dance Preview: 'Edward Scissorhands' reawakens as cutting-edge dance
Sunday, January 07, 2007
The dance version of "Edward Scissorhands" doesn't stick to the plot of the movie -- it redreams it.
By Jane Vranish
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
When something as markedly original as the movie "Edward Scissorhands" comes onto the scene, it's only a matter of time before it's adapted for another medium.
After all, adaptation is an integral part of the artistic landscape covered by books, film, television and theater.
Sam Archer in the dance version of "Edward Scissorhands" at the Benedum.
Click photo for larger image.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Related articles
Q&A with Matthew Bourne
Broadway musicals are bending the genres
"Edward Scissorhands"
Where: Benedum Center, Downtown.
When: 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 1 and 6:30 p.m. next Sunday.
Tickets: $25-$57; call 412-456-6666, go online at www.pgharts.org, or visit the Box Office at Theater Square.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Literature seems to hold the upper hand -- good writing begets just about any other creative endeavor. It is said that Shakespeare is the most popular screenwriter in Hollywood -- "West Side Story," "O" and "10 Things I Hate About You" are among the many films based on his work.
Dance has borrowed from Shakespeare as well, along with other literary giants. But the art form has had an uneasy relationship with film in transferring from the three-dimensional to the two-dimensional, or vice versa.
Thus a dance version of "Edward Scissorhands" would seem to languish at the bottom of the list for that and several other reasons. The "scissorhands" would eliminate the use of an expressive port de bras. Love duets, often the backbone of any dance production, would seem to be out of the question.
But British choreographer Matthew Bourne saw something in this cinematic outsider that would make the transition.
Bourne might be called the current master adapter of dance. He has achieved fame through odd twists on ballet staples such as "Swan Lake," with a male corps de ballet; "The Car Man," a gender switch on the operatic "Carmen"; and "Nutcracker!," which takes place in a Dickensian orphanage.
It provides a comfort zone for audiences, a recognizable name or subject that will lure them into the theater -- in fact, Bourne calls his style "dance theater." So his recent switch to musical theater ("My Fair Lady," "Mary Poppins") was a natural.
But a gothic film with a creamy emotional center starring Johnny Depp?
Bourne was initially attracted to Danny Elfman's soaring score, which seemed to make it eminently danceable. Original author and co-adapter Caroline Thompson and movie director Tim Burton once thought of making the film a musical. And the title character had about 12 lines, meaning that the Chaplinesque Edward played right into Bourne's own stylish hands.
Thus began Bourne's latest adaptation.
Adaptation can be a good thing if it involves adjustment and perhaps an element of survival. Sometimes it can mean conforming, not a good thing in the creative arts.
Bourne wanted to make sure that his dance creation didn't mimic the film version. He won the support of Burton and Thompson, who commented at the outset, "Don't stick to the movie. Let's re-dream it. Let's do something that makes sense for the stage."
In some ways, imitation wasn't possible. The stage didn't allow for haunted close-ups of a larger-than-life-sized face. Quick cuts from the castle to suburbia and back were not possible. Depp had several specialized "scissorhands" to perform separate duties for topiaries and haircuts.
The stage Edwards wouldn't have that luxury. They had to devise movement that suited foot-long plastic extensions of fingers weighing 7 pounds each. They would remain affixed throughout the production.
But things that didn't seem possible proved otherwise.
Sam Archer, one of two alternating Edwards with Richard Winsor and a veteran Bourne dancer, had qualms about following in Depps' footsteps.
"It was hard because this character has only been played by one person," he says by phone from Los Angeles. "We were mimicking Depp at first. But we wanted to make it our own. Luckily there were two of us. We could bring different things to it and learn from each other."
Archer and Winsor couldn't rely on close-ups. Plus the makeup eliminated another mode expression -- the eyebrows. Instead, it's "all about the body language." The hands became an integral part of that language. Through rigorous rehearsals Bourne and the two Edwards found that they could do more movements than expected -- without taking away "from the reality of them being blades."
And in the end, this "Edward Scissorhands" would formulate its own personality. Bourne devised a new beginning, where the inventor's son is seen playing with scissors. When his son dies, that provides the visual connection for his subsequent invention.
Even with all of the changes in this version, and subsequent projects such as "The Addams Family," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "The Secret Garden," Thompson has retained a special affinity for "Edward Scissorhands."
"It's completely based on my own childhood in its own way," Thompson says of growing up in suburban Bethesda, Md., which she found "absolutely fascinating and beautiful and horrific in its underbelly." She crafted it partly from "Frankenstein" and an earlier novel, "First Born," about growing up in suburbia.
"They're sort of companion pieces," she explains. "But this is the sweet one."
(Jane Vranish can be reached at jvranish@post-gazette.com. )