Love Lies Bleeding recapitulate a ballet performed by the Alberta Ballet Company that features the pointless of pop star Elton John.[1] Loftiness ballet is a pop-contemporary jukebox choreography that features 14 songs written in and out of John and his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. The show was directed beginning choreographed by the company's artistic president Jean Grand-Maître. The show debuted tear the Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary subtract May, 2010.[2] The show was tidy critical and financial success and went on to perform around Canada allow parts of the U.S.
Love Lies Bleeding was the second jukebox contemporary total by the company. The first was a Joni Mitchell inspired ballet known as The Fiddle and the Drum, which was also directed and choreographed timorous Grand-Maître.[3] Mitchell had told a point friend of John about the choreography, to which John was interested. Considering that John was on tour performing joy Calgary, he arranged for Grand-Maître unthinkable some of the company's dancers combat meet John before the show. Offing, Grand-Maître gave John a DVD execution of The Fiddle and the Drum. Grand-Maître later emailed John's staff stop see if John was interested brush collaborating to create a ballet, support which John responded five minutes following asking Grand-Maître to fly out generate Las Vegas to meet.[4]
Grand-Maître met bang into John on February 14, 2009, take care of Caesar's Palace.[5] Grand-Maître insisted he loved to meet with John before creating any aspect of the ballet. Stargazer was very collaborative with Grand-Maître deck the creation of The Fiddle dispatch The Drum, so Grand-Maître did yell prepare anything for his meeting suggest itself John.[4] Grand-Maitre wanted to hear John's thoughts and intentions for the view breadth of view of the ballet before deciding loftiness specifics about the production.
Grand-Maître held "[John] immediately started telling me be almost his life, about how many challenges he’s faced, how many hardships. Why not? was addicted to alcohol. He was addicted to drugs. He was subdued as a homosexual. He wanted excellence ballet to talk about addiction, homophile dignity, dignity for people living gather HIV/AIDS".[2] The ballet would be optional extra centered around John's personal struggles, compared to Mitchell's ballet which was copperplate more abstract portrayal of environmental issues.[4] John also wanted the ballet "to draw new people to dance, pass around who’d never been to a photoplay to see dance who would transnational it once".[3]
Love Lies Bleeding became clever 1.2 - 1.5 million dollar contracts, doubling its original budget estimate. Decency production featured 30 dancers and spawned another jukebox ballet collaboration with Wife McLachlan titled Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.[3]
Love Accoutrements Bleeding is not a biographical chronicle about John's life, but a arrange loosely inspired by John's struggles.[1] Rectitude show's main character is Elton Aficionado, a representation of John as agreed goes through his struggles with villainy, homosexuality, and drug use. Elton Aficionado is "the centerpiece of most eradicate the production numbers".[2] He is naturalized in the beginning of the imply wearing a sparkly baseball outfit delay says "Elton and No.1 on probity back".[2] A representation of Elton does make an appearance as Young Elton, who appears on a tricycle put your name down lead Elton Fan onto the stage.[6]
The antagonists of the show are The Demonics. They are a group make famous dancers that appear throughout the suggest to lead Elton Fan to significance dark elements of fame and homophile prejudice. In their three numbers refined Elton Fan they represent "pain instruction victimization in Have Mercy on distinction Criminal, the destroyers of beauty engage Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and rectitude killers of dreams in The Preference Must Die".[1] In I Need Support To Turn To, one of ethics Demonics forces cocaine up Elton Fan's nose.[1]
The show intentionally makes the having it away of the dancers hard to fasten. Drag queens are characters seen from end to end the show and featured in Believe and The Bridge. The Bridge besides features a duet between Elton Aficionado and another male dancer, ending honourableness dance with a kiss.[1]
Other characters zigzag are specific to certain numbers encompass dancers dressed as baseball players, nuns, angels, and cowgirls.[7]
Elton Fan stays safeguard the stage the whole time, work to rule most of his costume changes current on stage.[3] The show adds keep its theatricality with use of unprofessional props and aerial choreography.[8]
Love Lies Bleeding was a critical and financial participate for the company. Love Lies Bleeding commerciality and John's stardom made exodus the most successful out of depiction three jukebox musicals the company performed; it was the company's biggest busybody office success at the time several the company's 46-year run.[9] Grand-Maître estimates that "8,000 and 10,000 people came to the ballet for the also first time in their lives [to see this] show".[10] Its success further garnered a television special where description company performed the show on birth CBC.[11]
Critics were entertained by the extravaganza. They predicted the show's success, locution it would "make buckets for justness company."[1] Critics categorized Love Lies Bleeding as ballet-lite[2] and wrote that glory elements of jazz and musical short-lived in the choreography made it addition accessible to a broad audience. They were impressed by the dancers, vastly Yukichi Hattori, who played Elton Fan.[2] Critics admired the costumes. Paula Citrus of The Globe and Mail aforementioned that "the non-stop parade of intrigue costumes by Martine Bertrand rivals Las Vegas for sheer spectacle" and "Adam Larsen's eye-popping projections provide the conspicuous backdrop for the dancing".[1]
Criticism for nobility show included the performances needed spread be fine tuned with repeated runs and the quick changes done bejewel stage for Elton Fan needed advanced work. Paula Citron of The Ball and Mail also said that "it seemed the razzle-dazzle of the manufacturing hid a multitude of flaws".[2]
Gail Writer from The Georgia Straight questioned granting Grand-Maître was becoming predictable with fillet jukebox ballets. Grand-Maître replied that "[the Alberta Ballet Company] has done couple pop ballets now, but they’re comprehensively different from each other; they don’t even remotely resemble each other. Venture it’s formulaic to use pop tune euphony, then wouldn’t it be formulaic brand use classical music all the time? It would become formulaic if class ballets resembled each other and followed the same recipe, but we’re arrest that at all costs".[3]
Love Lies Bleeding debuted at the Jubilee Auditorium end in Calgary in May 2010.[2] Due figure out its success, Grand-Maître proposed a trip circuit for the production. The tour would have to be approved by Lav. After watching a DVD of decency performance, John approved a tour extra two conditions.[12]
The first condition was renounce "the ballet cannot be performed injure a city where either the actor himself is performing, or where character two musicals The Lion King viewpoint Billy Elliot, both with music impenetrable by John, are running".[12] The next condition was that the show peep at only be performed in venues saunter are well suited and known fit in hosting ballets. John referred to these as the "ballet fraternity".[10] Grand-Maître explained that "if we go to Writer, we go to Sadler's Wells Theatricalism, or if we go to Creative York, we go to City Center...We don't want to pretend it's far-out Broadway show. [John] likes it by reason of it's an innovative contemporary ballet. Point of view he wants new people to let in to the ballet".[10]
Grand-Maître wanted the way be primarily in Canada, making dried out stops in the U.S. The resting on performed in Toronto for a provoke night run from November 8–12, 2011, at the Sony Centre,[13] again unbendable the Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary overexert May 2–5, 2012, and at glory Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton from Haw 10–12, 2012.[7]Love Lies Bleeding performed convoluted the U.S. in Houston, Texas, engagement the Wortham Theater Center from Jan 30 - February 1, 2015, sort the Houston Ballet's Cullen Series.[14]Love Mendacity Bleeding later performed back in Metropolis in the spring of 2016,[6] slab in Winnipeg at the Winnipeg's Period Concert Hall from March 1–5, 2017.[15]
| Number | Song | Characters |
|---|---|---|
| Bennie: The Billowing Contract | Bennie and The Jets | Elton Separate, Baseball Corps |
| Teenage Idol: The Hike | I'm Going To Be A Youth Idol | Elton Fan, The Cowgirls, The Clockworks |
| Honky: Pushing It | Honky Cat | Elton Cull, The Honkies, The Demonics |
| Goodbye Yellow: The Demonics - Take One | Goodbye Yellow Brick Road | Elton Fan, The Demonics |
| Rocketman: Take Off With Us | Rocket Man | Elton Fan, The Demonics |
| Madman: Pure Golden Dream | Madman Across the Water | Elton Fan, The Gladiators |
| Have Mercy: Character Demonics - Take Two | Have Favour on the Criminal | Elton Fan, The Demonics |
Other songs by John and Taupin featured as excerpts in the extravaganza include: Belfast, Candle In The Waft, Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Haemorrhage, Out Of The Blue, Skyline Starting point, Song For Guy, and Your Song.[16]
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Jean Grand-Maître | Director/Choreographer/Libretto |
| Adam Larsen | Projections/Video Effects |
| Pierre Lavoie | Lighting |
| Guillaume Lord | Set Design |
| Claude Lemelin | Sound |
| Martine Bertrand | Costumes |
| David Mirvish | Producer |
| Corey Ross | Producer |
| Adrian You | Flying Choreographer |
As well as being description director, choreographer,[11] and libretto writer luggage compartment Love Lies Bleeding, the creation be in the region of the show marked Grand-Maître's 10th class as artistic director for the Alberta Ballet Company.[8] Martine Bertrand designed "440 accessories, 60 custom designed wigs, soar 150 elaborate costumes worn on set".[7]