Elite Syncopations (The Royal Ballet, 1978)
Feb 27, 2023 2:21:26 GMT
Andrea Doria and Swithin like this
Post by Lucky Dan on Feb 27, 2023 2:21:26 GMT
On July 22, 1978, Metromedia Television and the BBC presented a live broadcast via international satellite from The Royal Opera House titled, "The Royal Ballet Salutes the USA." There were several works performed that evening but the opening piece was a performance of the one-act ballet, Elite Syncopations by Kenneth MacMillan.
It was and remains unique. It features American ragtime music by Scott Joplin "and his contemporaries," with the exceptions of pieces by Max Morath (born in 1926 and still with us) and Donald Ashwander (1929 - 1994). Ragtime was then enjoying a surge of popularity, thanks in large part to George Roy Hill - himself a ragtime pianist - and Marvin Hamlisch, who adapted Scott Joplin's music for The Sting. (Ragtime music was an anachronistic choice for that film of course, with the movie being set in the 1930s, and ragtime being by then an out-of-fashion early 20th century phenomenon, but as Hill said to Hamlisch, "No one will know." Hill had also heard it used in Public Enemy during his prep work.) There had however been other successful recordings of contemporary rags, and MacMillan is said to have thought of setting ballet to ragtime a few years before the premier of Elite Syncopations.
Gene Kelly introduced the evening to the television audience with some history of Covent Garden, significant for an appearance there in 1921 by Ninette de Valois, later the founder of the Royal Ballet, and discoverer of Margot Fonteyne. (He also revealed Margot's real name.) He then related some biographical details about Texas-born (or close enough) Scott Joplin (1868 - 1917).
The performance was seen on WNEW-TV in New York, and probably picked up by PBS. I can't confirm. An owner of an early VCR recorded it and has uploaded it to You Tube. I remember seeing parts of it on KERA in Dallas in 1980 or 81. Most noticeable to me then, in part because of the stars on her costume, was Canadian dancer Jennifer Penney. (I see in photos from later productions that the prominent star in front of the costume was moved a little northward.) She is today as impressive as I remember, especially in the centerpiece "Stop-Time Rag" but back then I must have missed the blue-stockinged Monica Mason and her turn in "Calliope Rag," which is a highlight for me this time. Monica was also, I have discovered, a favorite of Kenneth MacMillan. She had been, upon joining the Royal Ballet in 1958 its youngest member at age 16. She remained with the company until her retirement in 2012 after having served 10 years as artistic director.
Some might think ragtime and ballet an odd pairing but Scott Joplin himself, as Gene reminds us, composed a ballet, as well as opera. "And how wonderful it is to think," Gene says, "that this music, composed in a Missouri bordello, will be played by an authentic ragtime band on the stage of the Royal Opera House in London and sent back to the States." You can judge for yourself how well ragtime and ballet go together, but the whimsical burlesque, or downright harlequin, costumes by Ian Spurling, and the colorful dance hall party atmosphere serve the music well and make for, as Gene says, "great fun," which is exactly what ragtime, a remarkably expressive music that can evoke lament (a touch of which I detect in "Ragtime Nightingale") as well as happiness, should be.
The performance consists of 12 dances, a mix of solos, duets, a trio, and ensemble pieces, to the music of a ragtime band on stage behind the dancers.
This upload is videotape of the broadcast and is a little VH essy, but the off-track lines seen at the start soon disappear, and the shaky picture stabilizes. I've watched it twice and there are no commercial interruptions. It runs 42 minutes.
Introduction by Gene Kelly
Sunflower Slow Drag (Scott Joplin with Scott Hayden, 1901)
Ensemble
Elite Syncopations (Joplin, 1902)
Ensemble
The Cascades (Joplin, arranged by E.J. Stark, 1904)
Monica Mason, Vergie Derman, Alfreda Thorogood
Hot-House Rag (Paul Pratt, 1914)
Michael Coleman, Wayne Eagling, Stephen Jeffries, Wayne Sleep
Calliope Rag (James Scott, ca. 1910, revised by Robert Darch, 1964)
Monica Mason
Ragtime Nightingale (Joseph Lamb, 1914)
Ensemble
The Golden Hours (Max Morath, 1966)
Alfreda Thorogood, Stephen Jeffries
Stop-Time Rag (Joplin, 1910)
Jennifer Penney
The Alaskan Rag (Lamb, published posthumously)
Vergie Derman, Wayne Sleep
Bethena - A Concert Waltz (Joplin, 1905)
Jennifer Penney, Derek Deane
Friday Night (Donald Ashwander, 1965)
Michael Coleman
Cataract Rag (Robert Hampton, 1914)
Ensemble
Curtain call, flowers to the ladies
It was and remains unique. It features American ragtime music by Scott Joplin "and his contemporaries," with the exceptions of pieces by Max Morath (born in 1926 and still with us) and Donald Ashwander (1929 - 1994). Ragtime was then enjoying a surge of popularity, thanks in large part to George Roy Hill - himself a ragtime pianist - and Marvin Hamlisch, who adapted Scott Joplin's music for The Sting. (Ragtime music was an anachronistic choice for that film of course, with the movie being set in the 1930s, and ragtime being by then an out-of-fashion early 20th century phenomenon, but as Hill said to Hamlisch, "No one will know." Hill had also heard it used in Public Enemy during his prep work.) There had however been other successful recordings of contemporary rags, and MacMillan is said to have thought of setting ballet to ragtime a few years before the premier of Elite Syncopations.
Gene Kelly introduced the evening to the television audience with some history of Covent Garden, significant for an appearance there in 1921 by Ninette de Valois, later the founder of the Royal Ballet, and discoverer of Margot Fonteyne. (He also revealed Margot's real name.) He then related some biographical details about Texas-born (or close enough) Scott Joplin (1868 - 1917).
The performance was seen on WNEW-TV in New York, and probably picked up by PBS. I can't confirm. An owner of an early VCR recorded it and has uploaded it to You Tube. I remember seeing parts of it on KERA in Dallas in 1980 or 81. Most noticeable to me then, in part because of the stars on her costume, was Canadian dancer Jennifer Penney. (I see in photos from later productions that the prominent star in front of the costume was moved a little northward.) She is today as impressive as I remember, especially in the centerpiece "Stop-Time Rag" but back then I must have missed the blue-stockinged Monica Mason and her turn in "Calliope Rag," which is a highlight for me this time. Monica was also, I have discovered, a favorite of Kenneth MacMillan. She had been, upon joining the Royal Ballet in 1958 its youngest member at age 16. She remained with the company until her retirement in 2012 after having served 10 years as artistic director.
Some might think ragtime and ballet an odd pairing but Scott Joplin himself, as Gene reminds us, composed a ballet, as well as opera. "And how wonderful it is to think," Gene says, "that this music, composed in a Missouri bordello, will be played by an authentic ragtime band on the stage of the Royal Opera House in London and sent back to the States." You can judge for yourself how well ragtime and ballet go together, but the whimsical burlesque, or downright harlequin, costumes by Ian Spurling, and the colorful dance hall party atmosphere serve the music well and make for, as Gene says, "great fun," which is exactly what ragtime, a remarkably expressive music that can evoke lament (a touch of which I detect in "Ragtime Nightingale") as well as happiness, should be.
The performance consists of 12 dances, a mix of solos, duets, a trio, and ensemble pieces, to the music of a ragtime band on stage behind the dancers.
This upload is videotape of the broadcast and is a little VH essy, but the off-track lines seen at the start soon disappear, and the shaky picture stabilizes. I've watched it twice and there are no commercial interruptions. It runs 42 minutes.
Introduction by Gene Kelly
Sunflower Slow Drag (Scott Joplin with Scott Hayden, 1901)
Ensemble
Elite Syncopations (Joplin, 1902)
Ensemble
The Cascades (Joplin, arranged by E.J. Stark, 1904)
Monica Mason, Vergie Derman, Alfreda Thorogood
Hot-House Rag (Paul Pratt, 1914)
Michael Coleman, Wayne Eagling, Stephen Jeffries, Wayne Sleep
Calliope Rag (James Scott, ca. 1910, revised by Robert Darch, 1964)
Monica Mason
Ragtime Nightingale (Joseph Lamb, 1914)
Ensemble
The Golden Hours (Max Morath, 1966)
Alfreda Thorogood, Stephen Jeffries
Stop-Time Rag (Joplin, 1910)
Jennifer Penney
The Alaskan Rag (Lamb, published posthumously)
Vergie Derman, Wayne Sleep
Bethena - A Concert Waltz (Joplin, 1905)
Jennifer Penney, Derek Deane
Friday Night (Donald Ashwander, 1965)
Michael Coleman
Cataract Rag (Robert Hampton, 1914)
Ensemble
Curtain call, flowers to the ladies
