THE MAGIC OF THE ROYAL BALLET
COMES TO THE BIG SCREEN WITH CINEMA NOUVEAU
Alice’s Adventures
in Wonderland comes alive in Christopher Wheeldon’s magical ballet
for the enjoyment of audiences of all ages…
‘Absurdist, dark and almost beyond praise: Christopher Wheeldon's take
on Lewis Carroll is a dazzling extravaganza’ – The Telegraph ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆
All the beauty, grace and
magic of the ballet will soon be enjoyed on the big screen, thanks to a
screening partnership between Cinema Nouveau and The Royal Ballet in London.
Following on the success of the screening of ‘live’ theatre, opera and art
exhibitions, lovers of the arts will now be able to enjoy wonderful ‘live’
ballet productions from The Royal Ballet at Cinema Nouveau theatres in
Johannesburg (Rosebank Mall), Pretoria (Brooklyn Mall), Durban (Gateway) and
Cape Town (V&A Waterfront).
A season of five famous
ballets will be screened over the next few months, and launches with a ballet
that will appeal to audiences of all ages. Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland, adapted from the delightful book by Lewis Carroll, releases
exclusively at Cinema Nouveau from Saturday, 28 March, with limited screenings.
The other ballets to be screened include Swan Lake (02 May),
Romeo & Juliet (06 June), La Fille mal gardée (27
June) and The Winter’s Tale (08 August).
Tumble down the rabbit hole
with The Royal Ballet with an exhilarating performance of choreographer
Christopher Wheeldon’s magical Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
His version of the ballet first arrived on the stage
in 2011, with a burst of colour, theatrical magic and inventive choreography.
It was The Royal Ballet’s first new full-length work since 1995 and was greeted
with delight by audiences.
Exuding a girlish charm, Alice, danced by American Principal Sarah Lamb,
encounters a cast of extraordinary characters including the gardeners’ boy,
Federico Bonelli, who later becomes her Knave of Hearts as they dance a tender
and loving pas de deux of delicate beauty.
There is also the highly-strung Queen of
Hearts, who performs an hilarious send-up of The Sleeping Beauty's
famous Rose Adage, dancing playing cards, the jittery White Rabbit and
the quirky tap-dancing Mad Hatter.
But the ballet does not avoid the darker
undercurrents of Lewis Carroll’s story – a nightmarish kitchen, an eerily
disembodied Cheshire Cat and the unhinged tea party are all created in vivid
detail.
The familiar story is
reimagined with quirky designs by Bob Crowley as we follow Alice into
Wonderland across a lake of tears, playing croquet with flamingos and
hedgehogs, and attending the deranged tea party. Drawing upon a wealth of
theatrical effects, projection and puppetry are used to visualise the grinning
Cheshire Cat and the sinuous Caterpillar with his 16 legs of ballet dancers en
pointe to create a mesmerising world of enchantment.
A feast for the senses,
Wheeldon’s spectacular ballet brings to life Lewis Carroll’s famous story with
a menagerie of colours, characters and compelling choreography. Joby Talbot’s
lively score combines contemporary sound worlds with
sweeping melodies that gesture to ballet scores of the 19th century, to provide the
perfect accompaniment to the ballet with sparkling idiosyncrasy. Bob Crowley’s wildly imaginative sets and costumes draw on puppetry,
projections and masks to make Wonderland wonderfully real.
Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland was the first full ballet created for the Company
since 1995 and premiered in 2011 with sold-out world performances. The live
screening on Tuesday 16 December was captured for release on cinema screens
worldwide.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland releases on South African
screens on Saturday, 28 March, for four screenings only – on 28 March, 01 and
02 April at 19:30 and on 29 March at 14:30 – at Cinema Nouveau theatres in
Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town. Bookings are now open, and the
running time of this production is 2hrs, 55mins (including two intervals).
For booking information on the Royal Ballet’s
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, visit www.cinemanouveau.co.za
or sterkinekor.mobi. Folllow us on Twitter @nouveaubuzz or on Facebook at
Cinema Nouveau. Download the Ster-Kinekor App on any Nokia, Samsung Android,
iPhone and Blackberry smart phones for updates, news and to book from your
mobile. For queries, call TicketLine on 0861 Movies (668 437).
View some video clips here: http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/alices-adventures-in-wonderland-by-christopher-wheeldon;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u--jDp2Hieg
Hi-res images for this production are
available at: www.skpictures.co.za
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