Word: ashton
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Hookless Future. "I was born in the midst of vast cotton plantations," Mary's story begins, and things "were about as they had been during the days of slavery." Ashton Hall-the Kimbrough place close to the Jefferson Davis house on the Gulf Coast near Biloxi-featured all the regulation black nannies and the beaux whose only weakness was the bottle. A gallant gentleman named Jerome Winston was Mary's fiance. Alas, there came the day when Daddy, old Judge Kimbrough, pronounced the terrible words: "Jerome Winston is not worthy of the love of my little daughter." Before...
Most satisfying of the new items were Birthday Offering by Veteran Frederick Ashton and Solitaire by Kenneth MacMillan. Ashton whipped out his piece last year in honor of the company's 25th anniversary; it proved to be a sequined, dazzling showpiece for 14 soloists, and a convincing demonstration of the kind of high-caliber reserve talent the Royal Ballet can call on when it needs to. Margot Fonteyn's enchainement (linked movements) looked as poised and effortless as everybody expected; there was also some lithe, beautifully filigreed dancing by Rowena Jackson, Nadia Nerina, Svetlana Beriosova. Solitaire, a less...
...other new ballets-Ashton's La Péri and MacMillan's Noctambules-failed despite inspired and startling flashes of choreographic brilliance. The most ballyhooed premiere of all was Prince of the Pagodas (TIME, Jan. 14) by John Cranko, with music by Benjamin Britten (his first ballet score). Choreographer Cranko's splintered story had in it recurrent themes from Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, plus snatches of court intrigue reminiscent of King Lear viewed through the wrong end of the telescope. The stage was roiled by gaudy dancers, the sets were feverish with color, but despite...
What all the theory comes down to, however, is a bewildering combination of Shakespearian iambics, incessant alliteration, and implausible puns. All of this profuseness of language is rather overbearing, and suggests that Mr. Ashton may be more interested in experimenting with style than in narrating an admirable theme...
...risk of being inconsistent, however, it should be said that Ashton's "experiments" are refreshing theatre. Not that he has approached success, for Chrysalis is very imperfect. But it is an effort toward a new theatre which deserves respect and, if for no other reason than its seriousness, it deserves an audience...