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Marie

Presented by Houston Ballet at Wortham Theater Center - Brown Theater

February 24-March 6, 2011

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From February 24 through March 6, 2010, Houston Ballet presents Stanton Welch’s Marie, a three-act narrative ballet inspired by the life of the legendary French queen, Marie Antoinette.

Villain or victim? Haughty queen or impetuous girl? In his full-length Marie, artistic director Stanton Welch offers a new perspective on the often controversial and always fascinating life of Marie Antoinette. Choreographed specifically for Houston Ballet, Marie makes tremendous use of the company’s acting abilities and dancing talent. Stylized sets by Kandis Cook and a sumptuous score by the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich add depth to this absorbing tale of pomp and circumstance.

Marie was born an Austrian arch duchess in 1755, married the future French King Louis XVI at the age of 15, and was executed by guillotine at the height of the French Revolution in 1793. Canadian designer Kandis Cook’s scenery and costumes for the production create an eighteenth century essence, with an abstract and minimalist feel. Houston Ballet Music Director Ermanno Florio arranged the music of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich to create the dark and brooding score for the work.

“A story ballet is like a fine wine: it gets better with age. It is exciting to return to Marie. The ballet will have a new sense of self, with each role maturing as dancers return to the roles I choreographed on them,” comments Mr. Welch. “The more a story ballet is performed, the stronger it gets. The characters come full circle as the dancers understand the roles better.”

Famously known as the eighteenth century French queen whose excesses have become legend, Marie Antoinette was blamed for instigating the French Revolution. Thomas Jefferson wrote in his autobiography on Marie Antoinette, “I have ever believed that had there been no queen there would have been no revolution.”

“I was intrigued to learn that Marie Antoinette wasn’t as superficial as she is often portrayed and found a true character arc in her transition from young princess to spoiled queen to mother to Revolutionary victim,” says Mr. Welch. “All the intense gossip and scrutiny of the queen’s life mirrors our society: how we become fixated on some pretty girl and how through gossip and tabloids, we create a distorted image of someone.”

As a 15 year old girl, Marie Antoinette was sent from Vienna to marry the future King Louis XVI. The youngest daughter of Austrian empress Maria Teresa and Francis I, she was sent on a journey by her mother from Vienna to Versailles with the expectation that she would further Austrian interests. Sacrificed to eighteenth century power politics, she arrived in France, a foreigner hardly prepared for the court at Versailles and far from interested in state affairs. Marie threw her energies into extravagant parties and patronizing the arts. The French accused her of political interference and wrote scandalous tracts against her, mocking her lack of sophistication. Longing for a family and a birth of an heir to secure the French-Austrian alliance, Marie’s marriage remained unconsummated for seven years, and she had to endure more than eight years of public humiliation for her barren marriage before the delivery of her first of four children.

The revolutionaries who stormed the Bastille found the queen a ready target for all that was wrong with France. Torn from her 100 room palace when a mob of some 7,000 women marched on Versailles and her thrust into jail, she was plunged into despair, only to be transformed by her suffering. She defied her enemies at her trial with intelligence, arousing the admiration of even the most hostile revolutionaries. With new awareness and regal dignity, she mounted the steps of the scaffold to the guillotine, conscious of her failures, doomed by her own tragic flaws, a young woman trapped in a tumultuous moment of history.

Scenic and costume designer Kandis Cook began her research for Marie by visiting Versailles and studying portraits from the time period. “It was important to research eighteenth century Austria, eventually exploring the features of the Hofburg Imperial Palace where Marie and her family frequently lived, but one of many palaces in the city. Its Baroque weight contrasted that of the Rococo lavishness of Versailles, and very quickly clarified the difference in temperament between the two people.

Marie was raised in a relaxed and loving family environment and found the court life of France strict in comparison,” states Ms. Cook. She created 150 costumes for the ballet based on the style and designs from 1770-1795 Austria and France with powdered wigs and perukes, corsets, panniers, silks, lace, jewels, braided waistcoats and jackets, jabeuxs (the strict formal dress of the ancient regime of France), and the rags of the public.

Ms. Cook has designed narrative ballets for London’s Royal Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, Royal Danish Ballet and San Francisco Ballet. She has created the costumes for six of Mr. Welch’s works: The Four Seasons (2007) and Marie (2009) for Houston Ballet; Velocity (2003) for The Australian Ballet, Taiko (1999) for San Francisco Ballet, Powder (1998) for Birmingham Royal Ballet, and Fingerprints (2000) for Cincinnati Ballet. She has also designed scenery and costumes for prestigious theaters, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Abbey Theatre in Dublin, The Royal Court, and The Donmar Warehouse.

The score for Marie features Dmitri Shostakovich’s solo piano and chamber music, and excerpts from such compositions as Symphony No. 10, Piano Concerto No. 2, Ballet Suite No. 2 and Jazz Suite No. 2.

“We felt Shostakovich would be a wonderful composer for Marie. He was one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century for both the stage and concert hall,” comments Mr. Florio. “Stanton made the selection of the music and explained the synopsis of the ballet. I felt the music he had chosen worked extremely well in telling the dramatic and tragic story he has in mind."

Houston Ballet presented the world premiere of Marie on February 26, 2009 at Wortham Theater Center and toured the work to New Orleans March 28-29, 2009.

Pictured: Dancer: Melody Herrera Ballet: Marie Photo by: Pam Francis.