It is hard to believe, at least for those of us old enough to have been here for so long, that Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake was first performed at the Ahmanson Theatre in 1997. Well over twenty years ago local audiences were first exposed to a radically re-thought version of the classic ballet in which the swans were all male. Bourne and company are back at the Ahmanson beginning on Tuesday with a re-imagined Swan Lake.
Changing the gender of the swans added a layer of repressed homosexuality that, no doubt, mirrored that of the ballet’s composer, Tchaikovsky. Critics were divided on whether or not the Oedipal longing the Prince character had for his mother, which, when unfulfilled found him running to The Swan, was more of a 1950s view of homosexuality. Perhaps the 21st century updating will address those concerns.
Nonetheless, audiences were swept up in the inventiveness of this Swan Lake. As did Tony voters who awarded the production three Tony Awards for Best Costume Design, Best Choreography and Best Direction of a Musical in 1999.
Casting for this production is as follows:
The role of ‘The Swan’ is performed by Will Bozier and Max Westwell.
‘ThePrince’ is performed by James Lovell and Andrew Monaghan
‘The Queen’ is performed by Nicole Kabera and Katrina Lyndon.
‘The Girlfriend’ is also performed by Katrina Lyndon. She is joined by Freya Field and Carrie Willis.
The production will run at the Ahmanson through January 5th.
For tickets go here.
Photo: Will Bozier and company in Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake (Photo by Johan Persson/Courtesy of Center Theatre Group)