Ballets: The Great Gatsby

[Chronus24]

My school's company is performing this is Oct, and we got to learn some of the corps roles recently. It seems very contemporary, so I'm assuming it's quite new. They have repetiurs teaching it, but does anyone know who choreographed it? I can't tell if the repetiurs are actually the choreos or not, and no one I've asked yet is sure. Any other info is cool too. And if it helps, this is Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre I'm talking about.

[Mel Johnson]

The best-known setting of Gatsby is by André Prokovsky; the music is a pastiche score of twentieth-century composers arranged by Gunther Schuller. The problem with the story as a ballet is that F. Scott Fitzgerald made it a rather interior story, so not a lot actually happens, and choreographers who have tried it before have had to make a lot of the sturm und drang that the characters feel, but in the book, don't externalize.

[lovemydancers]

The PBT website indicates the choreography is by John McFall and Lauri Stallings.

 

http://www.pbt.org/performances/gatsby.php

[Mel Johnson]

Right, I just looked it up myself, and that's the one from Atlanta Ballet. There are several other settings around. I'm surprised that the repetiteurs didn't make that clear from the outset of rehearsal. They must assume that you read your own company's publicity!

[trythis]

I saw the Atlanta Ballet version. I thought it was very good. Very creative things were done to the scenery and the sets to create a mood and tell the story.

[Chronus24]

Yeah, I read all the postings about it, but didn't check the website until now *doh*...well good to know it's the atlanta one since I did read some good reviews of it.

[Mel Johnson]

The problem I have with Gatsby is that after the line "The very rich are different from you and me...", it's all downhill.