Love Lies Bleeding opened at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto last night to a packed house of annual subscription patrons, ballet aficionados, aging rockers, drag queens, and curious voyeurs. The crowd was just as diverse in nature as the production was, trying to fit the pieces together to finish the puzzle.
When you combine the talents of professional ballet dancers, with the tunes of Sir Elton John, and have it presented by David Mirvish, I’d say you’re pretty much guaranteed a success story. Alberta Ballet’s internationally acclaimed Artistic Director and Choreographer, Jean Grand-Maître, has created a stage production that definitely doesn’t fit the mould of traditional ballet. The show is enacted over the period of two hours comprised of 14 original songs, and a multitude of semi-clad male and female dancers.
While the core production centres around the movements of dance, the show also includes bicycles, aerialists, roller skates, multi-media projections, and a slew of props, with the obvious being pianos. John himself called it “a powerful fusion of art mediums”. Grand-Maitre and John initially met at a similarly styled Alberta Ballet production in Calgary, featuring the music of Joni Mitchell, and kept in touch until John’s version hit the stage. It’s a reflection of life and politics, from addictions to homophobia.
The storyline examines the cult of celebrity, and the triumphs and challenges of superstardom, featuring Yukichi Hattori as Elton Fan, the central character who first sees himself as a child on the stage among flashes of John’s life. Characterizing the intense admiration of celebrity culture, Elton Fan joins the stage and changes from the observer to the representation of his hero. The moments played out on stage are inspired by John’s life, without being fully biographical.
Overall, I left wondering what I had just experienced. Was it ballet, a rock show, a drag show, burlesque, or a circus? I think it’s best for each audience member to interpret in their own way. Just go and have fun as it seemed pretty much everyone did at the opening night performance.
The production has already played in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, and will be headed back to Calgary and Edmonton in May 2012, followed by Ottawa and Montreal in 2013. Beyond that there are plans for an international tour, but for now it’s Toronto’s turn to come out!
Now playing until November 12th only at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 1 Front Street E
Tickets from $33.10 at Ticketmaster or by calling 855-985-5000
More Info: www.albertaballet.com, www.sonycentre.ca