 The Greenwich Music Festival 2011,
in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA, featured Poulenc's opera, The
Human Voice (La voix humaine) starring mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin, a new dance, The
Lady and the Unicorn (La Dame a la Licorne), based on the scenario Cocteau
wrote for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo featuring Juilliard dancers
Alex
Hille, Breanna O'Mara, and Casia Vengoechea, and The
Indifferent Lover (Le Bel Indifférent) featuring Meow
Meow.
"The Greenwich Music Festival
is a performance company committed to both classic and new works founded in
2004 by conductor Robert Ainsley, stage director Ted Huffman, and the
festival's first Board Chairman, Patricia Chadwick. Every spring the festival
produces a week-long series of public performances, including staged work,
chamber music concerts, lectures and educational outreach programs. The
festival begins when performers and artists from around the world arrive in Greenwich to spend a month
living and working in the community. For the artists, this residency is an
opportunity to explore new repertoire and collaborations. Rehearsals are opened
to the public and local students participate as interns, assistants and stage
crew."
The 2011 festival held in
Greenwich, Connecticut featured works by Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (1899
- 1963) and Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (1899-1963), comprised of a lecture by
Robert Ainsley on Cocteau and Music, Chamber Music: Music of Cocteau's Circle
(Francis Poulenc, Louis Durrey (1888-1979), Germaine Tailleferre (1892 - 1974),
and Igor Stravinsky (1892-1983) performed by ICE (International Contemporary
Ensemble, a ballet - The Lady and the
Unicorn (La Dame a la Licorne), a libretto - The Human Voice (La voix humaine), and a cabaret performance, The Different Lover (Le Bel Indifférent.
I attended the opening night
of the double-bill featuring Poulenc's opera, The Human Voice (La voix humaine), The Lady and the Unicorn (La Dame a la Licorne), and on another
night I saw The Different Lover (Le Bel
Indifférent).
The Lady and the Unicorn (La Dame a la Licorne)
The Lady and the Unicorn (La
Dame a la Licorne) by choreographer Zach Winokur was based on a choreographic
scenario that Cocteau wrote for the Ballets Russe de Monte Carlo in 1953, with
music by Giya Kanchelli.
The Lady and the Unicorn
Alex Hille, Casia Vengoechea, Breanna O'Mara
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Music
|
Ted
Huffman
|
|
Scenario
|
Jean Cocteau
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Choreography
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Zack Winokur
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Dancers
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Alex Hille (Knight),
Breanna O'Mara (Unicorn), Casia Vengoechea (Lady)
|
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Light/Stage Design
|
Marcus Doshi
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Costume Design
|
Austin Scarlett and Marion
Talan
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The ensemble piece featured the
very talented Julliard dancers Alex Hille as the Knight, Breanna O'Mara as the
Unicorn, and Casia Vengoechea as the Lady, who brought the ballet to life. In
Zach Winokur's notes, he writes "The Lady and the Unicorn is my complete re-imagining
of a ballet scenario that Cocteau wrote for the Munich-based choreographer
Heinz Rosen in 1953. The piece was later picked up and performed by the Ballet
Russe de Monte Carlo until 1959, when it seems to have disappeared completely.
I am thrilled to bring this story - which struck me by its quintessentially
Cocteau mix of the medieval and modern, fantasy and reality - to new life here
in Greenwich."
The Lady and the Unicorn
Casia Vengoechea, Breanna O'Mara
Cocteau's synopsis accompanying
his premiere performance slightly modified to fit the GMF version, wrote, "The
famous wall tapestries with the red background - the so-called "with the
Unicorn" - inspired this ballet. Its theme is virginity. According to the
legend, he unicorn accepted its food only from the hand of a virgin ... (The
knight enters) ... who brings her profane love. The unicorn sees this and dies.
The knight meanwhile does not remain faithful. He repents his inconstancy and
returns, but the lady will not look at him any more. She mourns her unicorn.
The knight forsakes her forever. Without the unicorn and without the knight,
the lady remains alone - with her famous, puzzling "motto" - "Mon seul desir"
(my sole desire)."
The Human Voice (La voix humaine) - Music by
Francis Poulenc, Libretto by Jean Cocteau
Poulenc's The Human Voice (La
voix humaine) takes Cocteau's seminal monologue as its libretto featuring mezzo-soprano
Laurie Rubin in the role of Elle (She) with pianist Djordje Nesic (GMF 2009).
The Human Voice
Laurie Rubin
|
Production
|
Ted
Huffman
|
|
Direction
|
Ted Huffman and Zach
Winokur
|
|
Choreography
|
Zack Winokur
|
|
Light/Stage Design
|
Marcus Doshi
|
|
Costume Design
|
Austin Scarlett
|
|
Projection Design
|
Caite Hevner
|
|
Hair
and Makeup
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Mieke
Aangeenbrug Knight
|
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Elle
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Laurie
Rubin
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Piano
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Djordje Nesic
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Dancers
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Alex Hille, Breanna O'Mara,
Casia Vengoechea
|
The setting: a dark apartment
in 1930 Paris illuminated solely by flashlights of the three dancers, Elle
(Laurie Rubin) lies crumpled on the floor next to her mink coat. The telephone
rings, it is her ex-lover.
Talented Laurie Rubin deftly portrayed
the challenging role of the woman left behind; singing in French with English
sub-titles projected on a screen, with the audience in the role of voyeur as we
listened to her side of the conversation with her ex-lover, a man who has
clearly moved on with his life, and is to marry another woman.
The Human Voice
Laurie Rubin
Over the course of the
conversation, often interrupted by the poor telephone service reflective of the
period, we learn about the characters' lives, their lies to one another, and
about her past suicide attempts when she felt that she could no longer go on
without him. Laurie Rubin triumphed, bringing depth and nuances to the role
with her impressive vocals and acting, ultimately winning the audience's
empathy.
The Indifferent Lover (Le Bel Indifférent)
The Indifferent Lover (Le Bel
Indifférent) is Cocteau's one-act 1940 play that he wrote for Édith Piaf (1915 -
1963), in which she starred and was enormously successful during her many years
of performing it. Based on Piaf's life, the play enfolds as a monologue of noir
drama and song.
Meow Meow
|
Director
|
Ted
Huffman
|
|
Light/Stage Design
|
Marcus Doshi
|
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Costume Design
|
Austin Scarlett
|
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Sound Design
|
Florian Staab
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Projection Design
|
Caite Hevner
|
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Piano Recording
|
John Thorne
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Performer
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Meow
Meow
|
Internationally acclaimed
Australian performer, Meow Meow, in the role of Édith Piaf, moved seamlessly
between French and English song and dialogue. She has a rich, powerhouse of a
voice, and she successfully captured the multi-faceted Édith Piaf, from Piaf's
aura as the Cabaret diva enchanting her audiences, to a lonely woman waiting
for her man to return to their hotel after his night of carousing, and his
total indifference towards her.
Meow Meow
I thoroughly enjoyed
experiencing the Greenwich Music Festival, and I look forward to seeing what
they will plan for next year.
To learn more about the Greenwich Music Festival, please visit
their website: www.GreenwichMusicFestival.org. The dates for the 2012 Greenwich Music Festival are June 4 - 10, 2011.
Greenwich Music Festival
P.O. Box 75
Greenwich, CT 06836
United States
Telephone: +1-203-637-0536
Email:
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Website: www.GreenwichMusicFestival.org
© June 2011. Luxury
Experience. www.LuxuryExperience.com
All rights reserved.
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