‘the winter’s tale’: the blockbuster ballet that almost wasn’t

This is the story of how one of Shakespeare\'s most problematic plays, Winter\'s story, became a critically acclaimed ballet, which will be staged at the Kennedy Center this week.
The story begins.
As cultural cooperation often does
A director of dance and drama walked into a bar.
Director Nicholas haitner does not remember the exact location, but he remembers drinking with his friend, dance director Christopher whitden, who also discussed which story Wilden should adapt for his next ballet.
\"I want to tell a more challenging story,\" Wheeldon said in a London apartment last week . \".
\"A little more meat.
At that time, Turner was still the director of the London National Theatre, and Wilton just stood out from the great success of Alice in Wonderland
Performances by the Royal Ballet of London and the National Ballet of Canada.
He\'s not bathed in his Tony\'s Broadway glow yet.
The nominated musical \"American in Paris\" opened in New York last year.
Heitner suggested that his next full
Length ballet, choreography should solve a drama that hinders the director of the dramahim included —
400: Shakespeare\'s story of winter.
\"As far as I know, the show may not have been the basis of ballet before,\" hybris recently recalled via email . \".
\"Its emotional range, it finds miracles in the mundane world, its faith (
Although tentative)
In the possibility of redemption, its various settings may be suitable for ballet.
\"A Winter Story\" will premiere in the United States on Tuesday night, when the National Ballet of Canada will stage six games.
The Kennedy Center had a one-day performance and just stood out from the acclaimed Toronto ballet premiere last fall.
The Royal Ballet held the world premiere on 2014 and will be staged again this spring.
Winter Story has achieved business and key success on both continents.
But without haitna and another theater celebrity on the Atlantic side, Ballet would not exist.
\"I didn\'t believe it completely at first,\" Wheeldon remembers . \".
After drinking with haitner, he sat down and read it again. Or tried to.
\"Actually, I found it difficult to navigate on the page,\" he said . \".
\"But I understand why Nick was so excited when he saw the show being told through action.
If you knock the language off and boil it down to the most essential thing, there\'s a great story there.
The story of Winter tells the terrible consequences of jealousy and the difficult road to redemption.
The show begins with the Sicilian king Leon Tez, whose childhood friend, King Polly of Bohemia, hosted a diplomatic visit that should have been made long ago.
In the second scene, Leon is sure his wife, Hermione, has feelings for \"too hot, too hot\" politicians!
Although so far, only a few lines have been spoken by each character.
\"One of the suggestions Nick gave me was, \'Don\'t try to explain jealousy, \'\" recalls Wilton.
No reason is given in the text.
In a scene of a court party, when the chief female dancer put the hands of two men on her belly at the same time, Leon suspected that Hermione was pregnant with his friend\'s child.
The lights were dim and the drums rumbled, followed by a bizarre flute siren and violin. (
Composer Joby Talbot created inspired music. )
All the dancers on the stage except Leontes.
Then there is an angle, a painful solo, a man who is suddenly crazy.
Whitden was inspired by Shakespeare\'s lines, and Leonte felt as if he had almost swallowed a spider into a cup.
There is no reason for madness, but there is a way to describe it.
\"We used the keys in the text to unlock the moving vocabulary,\" says Wheeldon . \".
Choreographer handles other \"problems\" of \"Winter Stories\" through a series of storyline clips, character integration and genius stage art \".
Turner made himself a consultant.
Royal Shakespeare\'s veteran Bob Crawley created these sets, and the puppetry Basil Twist designed rolling curtains for special effects, including the raging sea that appeared in Act 3
Both storm and angry Brunn are hard to put on and inadvertently become a farce comedy.
\"Exit, chased by bears\" is a seemingly ridiculous stage direction, just before a protagonist is swallowed up by the stage.
The scene took place in Bohemia. After the bear incident, a group of shepherds immediately found an abandoned baby on the beach.
Hermione\'s exiled little Princess will grow into a fan of bohemian farmers.
Some directors, such as Michael Kahn of Shakespeare\'s theater, pursue bankruptcy, embrace strange transitions, and change the set design when the break comes back to shock the audience.
Kahn quipped: \"Who knows where Bohemia is ? \"
\"I used to set it up in Switzerland and everyone has yodeling.
\"Since the young Englishman was a dancer at the New York City Ballet, he has been watching Wilton\'s work, kahn has been looking forward to watching the Winter story without Shakespeare\'s tricky text.
\"It\'s probably one of the few successful stories of winter, because it\'s a very difficult drama, even though it\'s one of my favorite dramas,\" Kahn said . \".
\"This is the most beautiful last scene he has ever written.
The last beautiful scene brought another problem.
Leontus has been mourning Hermione\'s death for 16 years.
At the urging of Hermione\'s waiting wife, Paulina, Leon showed pettita a statue of her mother who she thought had died. “The so-
It is believed that people have been writing about the so-called statue scene, \"said Michael Witmore, director of the Folger Library.
Both the director and the scholar have a lot of theories about what happens when the statue starts talking, although her lines are only for Perdita.
\"It\'s the magic of the theater and the audience, and they don\'t want Hermione to be alive,\" Witmore explained . \".
In Shakespeare\'s time, Wilmore suspected that the actor who played the statue would stand on the wall behind the stage to rest.
The modern lights and effects give the directors the magic.
Scholars may disagree, but in Wilton and his ballet play, there is little ambiguity between the ending and the clear message of forgiveness it presents.
Karen Kane, artistic director of the National Ballet, said: \"Christopher somehow touched the heart of the story with all his talent . \".
Just as Wilton has to overcome his concerns about adapting the show, Kane also needs to be convincing before joining the Royal Ballet
Debugging the choreography project.
Kain asked for advice from her friend, the great Canadian actress Martha Henry, who has played Paulina and many Shakespeare roles in five years
Ten years of career at the Stratford music festival.
\"Oh, it\'s perfect,\" Kain recalled her friend . \".
\"It gives me the courage to move forward and promise.
\"Visually ,(Tower of Winter),” Kain said.
\"They are right.
Perfect for a very dramatic ballet.
Ritzel is a free writer.
National Ballet of Canada: The Story of winter.
It\'s about 1/2 hours. Jan. 19 to Jan.
At the Kennedy Central Opera House.
Tickets cost $39 to $149. Call 202-467-
4600 or visit www. kennedy-center. org.