We all know that George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion was the inspiration for the Lerner & Loewe musical My Fair Lady. But did you know that Shaw was inspired by Greek mythology? For in that mythology Pygmalion, a sculptor, fell in love with one of his sculptures that then came to life. Russian choreographer Boris Eifman uses the Greek mythology as the inspiration for The Pygmalion Effect which will be performed Friday-Sunday at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa.
In his ballet, a ballroom dancer turns a young girl into a brilliant dancer. The ballet is set to the music of Johann Strauss, Jr.
Eifman, a one-time dissident in the former Soviet Union, found himself warmly embraced as change swept across the country. The Master and the Margarita is the work that marked the change in Eifman’s career.
He has tackled such great literary classics as Don Quixote, Anna Karenina and The Seagull in previous ballets. His work is polarizing as people either love it or hate it.
In 2019 we wonder if a ballet based on a premise that is deemed misogynist can be transformed into a ballet that solves that basic problem: is a woman only made great by the guidance of a man, and a pompous one at that?
There are four performances of The Pygmalion Effect over the weekend at Segerstrom Hall.
For tickets go here.
Main photo by Eric Khoury/Courtesy of The Segerstrom Center
