Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie (CLC) proudly presents the world premiere of From the House of Mirth, directed and choreographed by James Kudelka from May 9 through May 13 at its new home, The Citadel.
A show has been added on Sunday, May 13 at 8pm due to popular demand.
Kudelka turns to America's Gilded Age and Edith Wharton's 1905 novel, The House of Mirth, as inspiration for his latest work. From the House of Mirth is a music/dance/theatre collaboration with original score by Rodney Sharman and libretto by Alex Poch-Goldin, featuring both choreography and theatrical direction by Kudelka.
The novel tells of Lily Bart's tragic descent from the glittering social circle of 1890s New York to poverty and a solitary death, her dreams of marriage - whether for wealth or love - shattered by convention and by her own conflicted desires. Kudelka's challenge has been to create a vocabulary of movement, music and theatre that can evoke the story's moral issues, while illustrating the heroine's inner life and her relationships to the men that help her, make demands on her and would save her.
The whole evening is presented as a salon concert, staged in intimate venues including private homes. Plans are currently underway to tour it to The Mount, Edith Wharton's home in the Berkshires, for the 150th anniversary of Wharton's birth.
James Kudelka is widely acknowledged as one of North America's most innovative choreographers. His mastery of both classical ballet and modern/contemporary dance has earned him commissions from companies as stylistically diverse as American Ballet Theatre, Chicago's Hubbard Street Dance and Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal. Kudelka's work covers an impressive range, from virtuoso pas de deux, through large-scale and always arresting adaptations of such classics as Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Cinderella, to boldly innovative creative collaborations with dancers, designers and musicians. After nine distinguished years as artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada (1996-2005), James Kudelka continues to undertake collaborative projects that engage and challenge him as a choreographer. In 2008, Kudelka became CLC's Resident Choreographer.
~ CAST ~
Singers
Selden - Scott Belluz Countertenor
Trenor - Graham ThomsonTenor
Rosedale - Alex Dobson Baritone
Dorset - Geoffrey Sirett Bass Baritone
Dancers
Lily Bart - Laurence Lemieux
Judy Treynor - Claudia Moore
Grace/Gertie Farish - Christianne Ullmark
Aunt Peniston - Claudia Moore
Musicians
Violin - Parmela Attariwala
Cello - Carina Reeves
Harp - Sanya Eng
Harmonium - Kathryn Tremills
Piano - John Hess
Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie presents the world premiere of
From the House of Mirth
a music/dance/theatre collaboration
directed and choreographed by James Kudelka
original music composed by Rodney Sharman
libretto by Alex Poch-Goldin
musical direction by John Hess
set design by David Gaucher
costume design by Jim Searle and Chris Tyrell for Hoax Couture
lighting design by Simon Rossiter
stage management by Gillian Lewis
May 9 to May 13, 2012 at The Citadel, 304 Parliament Street, Toronto
Wed-Sun at 8pm with matinees May 10 at 3pm, May 12 at 4pm and May 13 at 4pm.
Tickets: $50 except May 10 at 3pm is Pay-What-You-Can and May 10 at 8pm is a Gala with tickets at $100.
Box Office: 416-364-8011 or online at colemanlemieux.com
Photo: Laurence Lemieux. ©2012 Paul Antoine Taillefer.
2012-05-04
Toronto: Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie’s “From the House of Mirth” adds a second performance on May 13