***** (5 stars)
“A Joy and a Delight!”
I’m really sorry to have missed the opening night of this show in Glasgow – but being in Finland at the time, I wasn’t able to come. Instead you and I had to wait till Starstruck came to Edinburgh for me to tell you what a joy and delight this ballet is.
The late great Gene Kelly was an impressively talented man. Most of us remember him as an actor, singer, and dancer, with a sense of humour that enabled him to send himself up as the self-obsessed silent movie star in Singin’ in the rain. Who knew that he was also a choreographer, linguist, reader, deep thinker, and overall lovely human being?
His widow and biographer, Patricia Ward Kelly, that’s who. Which is why she was delighted to collaborate with Scottish Ballet’s Christopher Hampson and designer Lez Brotherston to create what in September 2021 I described as “An exhilarating, effervescent, exultant, eye-catching extravaganza, Starstruck is the perfect choice for Scottish Ballet’s first ‘live in front of an audience’ production.”
This first version of Starstruck took Pas de Dieux, an original ballet about the love life of the gods of Olympus which Gene Kelly choreographed for the Paris Opéra, and set it within the framework of a company rehearsal, which gave a fascinating insight into life backstage as well as allowing all the very talented Scottish Ballet company to shine in their individuality. Gradual emergence from lockdown meant that the Scottish Ballet orchestra didn’t perform live, but pre-recorded their score which made much use of the music of Chopin and Gershwin.
Today’s version of Starstruck expanded the ‘outside’ story to give even more richness and depth with a thought-provoking exploration of star quality, the behaviour stars can display, and the challenges facing anyone trying to create new work. The rehearsal begins with three female dancers auditioning for the lead in the Choreographer’s new show and showing their desperation to get the part – Choreographer and Pianist have a hard time of it keeping the dancers at arm’s length.
A true Star Ballerina enters and the others retire discomfited. Star and Choreographer fall in love – but as the Choreographer becomes increasingly absorbed in his work, the Star Ballerina becomes increasingly discontented: nothing she can do can make him pay her the attention she demands. She leaves. The Choreographer dreams that she has gone to Hollywood, and met a Film Star. They dance together at a gloriously glittering party, and the Choreographer is unable to reach her and get her back.
Rehearsals continue, but it’s not until the Star Ballerina re-enters that the ballet can be completed. The dress rehearsal takes place: Choreographer and Star Ballerina now dance the parts of Zeus and Aphrodite. She is bored and travels to earth with her friend Eros, where she starts a flirtation with a Life Guard, charming him away from his fiancée. Zeus sends a thunderclap of warning, but this is ignored – he has to come down to earth himself and restore things to normal, leaving Aphrodite annoyed at his interference.
The rehearsal pauses while the Choreographer works with the other dancers, including the young lovers. The Star Ballerina, finding herself once more ignored, starts a flirtation with a Stagehand. This provokes a fight between Stagehand and Choreographer which the latter wins, winning back the Star Ballerina at the same time. Their love duet morphs into the reconciliation of Zeus and Aphrodite, and a sparklingly successful curtain call at the Paris Opéra. Reunited, the two lovers leave the rehearsal studio to its quiet darkness.
One of the huge joys of this production was the presence of the Scottish Ballet orchestra, under guest conductor Martin Yates, with the incredible pianistic skills of Lynda Cochrane. I’m so glad she got her own curtain call at the end – she gave us the equivalent of two piano concerti [Gershwin and Ravel] as well as goodness knows how much Chopin. And I have to confess that more than once I was torn between watching the dancers on stage and the musicians in the pit! As with opera, ballet orchestras play in the darkness, unable to see the art they are accompanying – I do hope they get the opportunity to see it all at some point!
Need I say that the dancing was superb? It’s always a joy to see dancers progressing within the company, so to have Bruno Micchiardi and Jessica Fyfe as the romantic leads was a great satisfaction to me, as well as a great pleasure. Thomas Edwards and Alfie McPherson shone as the Pianist/ Eros and Stagehand/Film Star, and Urara Takata and Yipeng Xu made a touchingly sweet pair of lovers both in ‘real life’ and ‘on stage’. The rest of the company shone too, obviously enjoying the challenge of dancing in so many different styles, especially the angular and strongly grounded ‘American show style’ dancing which is so very different from the elegant, ethereal ‘ballet style’ they do so well.
The Edinburgh audience loved this show, and applause at the end was loud and long. The show has already been to Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen, so you’ve only got a couple of days left to catch it. We can only hope that it will revisit us very soon…
But with Mary Queen of Scots already legendary [and going to New York very soon], Emergence making its debut in the autumn, Cinders! returning this Christmas with the joy of seeing same-sex romance danced for us, and the promise of Mayerling next year, there’s a whole lot more balletic brilliance to look forward to in the coming year. Don’t miss it!
Star Struck, Scottish Ballet, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, runs until Saturday 9th May for more information and tickets go to: Starstruck – Capital Theatres
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