''Le Train Bleu,'' then, was one of Diaghilev's disposable ballets. Experiments, for their part and by their very nature, also rarely last. But its deliberate simplicity and references to the fashions of the day are reproduced here with shrewd sophistication. ''Le Train Bleu,'' with its bathing beauties and beefcake showoffs, looks nothing if not chic. The Oakland Ballet, which presented the revival in California in November, gave the eagerly awaited East Coast premiere on Saturday night at the Staller Center for the Arts, at the State University at Stony Brook, L.I. It is this big-name production hitherto relegated to the history books that has been pieced together from various written and visual sources for the first time since its last performance in 1925. ''Le Train Bleu'' (''The Blue Train'') had choreography by Bronislava Nijinska, a front curtain by Picasso, commissioned music by Darius Milhaud, costumes by Coco Chanel and sets by the sculptor Henri Laurens. In 1924, Diaghilev's Ballets Russes presented the premiere of Cocteau's ballet. As a rule, ballets conceived by Jean Cocteau did not resemble ballets, and ''Le Train Bleu,'' which has now received a major and engaging reconstruction job from the Oakland Ballet, is no exception.Ĭocteau, poet and polymath, suggested to Serge Diaghilev a ''danced operetta'' that would take place on a beach and incorporate athletics.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |