Highly Opulent Ballet Version of Alice in Wonderland to Premiere in Australia
Expect OTT — we're talking hectic costumes, digital projections, All The Wigs.
White rabbits, tea parties, royal megalomaniacs — outside Lewis Carroll's gloriously twisted imagination, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is meant for the stage. And next year, you'll be able to see this dark, surreal and twisted tale as a ballet, with the Australian Ballet announcing the Australian premiere today.
Headlining the Australian Ballet's 2017 program, announced in Sydney today, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland will complete the season in Melbourne in September and Sydney in December. Spearheaded by legendary choreographer Christoper Wheeldon and scored by Joby Talbot, Alice will be brought to life by the Australian Ballet in what they're calling "magnificent detail". Think Broadway-level. Designer Bob Crowley will throw as many immersive digital projections, wigs and masks, puppets and intricate costumes as he can at this one.
Alice is one of three mainstage shows for the Ballet's 2017 season featuring female leads, joined by the return of artistic director David McAllister's highly opulent production of The Sleeping Beauty and radical modern reworking of Nutcracker – The Story of Clara. "It's a season defined by exquisite performance and the adventures of three extraordinary women," says McAllister. "We fall down the rabbit hole with Alice in Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, we follow the life of a Russian ballerina who arrives in Australia in Graeme Murphy's Nutcracker – The Story of Clara, and then Princess Aurora leads a cast of fairytale characters as she searches for her Prince in The Sleeping Beauty."
Keen for something a little more contemporary? The Australian Ballet is continuing their dedication to body-stretching modern triple bills with Faster — if you've caught the Ballet's previous tri-slam dunks like Triptych and Vanguard, you'll know how quickly you'll enrol in yoga after seeing one of these sexy, sexy works. Faster will see three of the world's leading choreographers create one diverse work, featuring an Olympics-inspired work scored by Australian composer Matthew Hindson, an Australian premiere of new work by Wayne McGregor scored by Steve Reich, and a new work by Australian Ballet resident choreographer Tim Harbour, architect Kelvin Ho and lighting designer Benjamin Cisterne.
In big news, the Australian Ballet will also perform a free outdoor event, Ballet Under the Stars, in Sydney's West. And if you show up at the wrong venue for the mainstage productions, take note — due to the closure of the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House in the second half of 2017, Capitol Theatre will be the primary venue for November and December 2017.
There's plenty more where that came from, including a Melbourne-only, young choreographer-focused production of George Balanchine's Symphony in C. Check the website for dates, tickets and more info.
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