J. Wynn Rousuck reviews Little Dancer, which continues at the Kennedy Center in Washington through November 30th.
The Rousuck review of "Little Dancer" at the Kennedy Center.
“Little Dancer” – the world premiere musical at the Kennedy Center – tells the backstory of the most famous sculpture in modern art: Edgar Degas’ “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen.” The Baltimore Museum of Art has a bronze cast; Washington’s National Gallery has the wax original.
A statue might not seem like a dramatic subject for a musical, but librettist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty’s real focus is Marie von Goethem, the Paris Opera Ballet student who posed for Degas.
Two performers portray Marie, at ages 40 years apart. Tiler Peck, a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, plays Young Marie, and Peck’s often airborne performance is the incandescent soul of the production. Broadway’s dulcet-voiced Rebecca Luker plays wistful Adult Marie, whose return to Degas’ studio immediately after his death forms a flashback framing device.
Trying to convince Degas’ friend, artist Mary Cassatt, that she was the dancer who posed for his controversial sculpture, Adult Marie tells how that came about – and what the consequences were.
This is part of director/choreographer Susan Stroman’s expansive opening number. It introduces the segments of society who meet at the Paris Opera Ballet – the young ballerinas, who were called “rats”; the wealthy, top-hatted men who often took advantage of the young dancers; and, Edgar Degas, who came backstage to sketch the ballerinas.
Choreographing a musical about ballet must be a choreographer’s dream, and Stroman’s work is magnificent. The highpoint is a second act dream ballet. In this semi-factual musical -- as in real life -- the ballet company dismissed Marie, who then disappeared.
The dream ballet suggests different paths she might have taken – from being lured away by the sinister men in top hats, to becoming a laundress, like her mother, or following her older sister into the world of courtesans and prostitutes. Tiler Peck’s marvelously expressive dancing conveys her response to each possibility.
As this attention to Marie suggests, “Little Dancer” is much more about Degas’ model than Degas -- although parallels are drawn between her ascension in the ballet and his desire to create a new, unexpected work of art. The creativity, desperation and obsession of artist and dancer form a strong undercurrent in the musical, as does the public’s misunderstanding.
Though we get to know Marie, we learn surprisingly little about Degas – beyond the fact that he was going blind when he made the sculpture. Boyd Gaines – whose early credits include Center Stage – doesn’t have enough to work with to make us care about the artist. There are references that he regards Marie as a daughter, but it’s not a connection we feel.
Indeed, there’s so much going on in “Little Dancer” that few of the other characters get fleshed out. A violinist in love with Marie seems largely extraneous – perhaps included just to give her an age-appropriate suitor.
Kennedy Center’s production is so loaded with Broadway pedigrees, it must be hoping to get there. And there’s a lot to applaud. Along with Peck’s portrait of Marie von Goethem, William Ivey Long’s costumes, Ken Billington’s lighting and Benjamin Pearcy’s projections magically bring Degas’ paintings alive on stage. And composer Flaherty’s string-laden score is tinged with lilting, romantic French flavor.
But having Mary Cassatt sum up the eventual outcome of Marie’s dreams is overkill. The show’s stunning final image does the job beautifully on its own. “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see,” Degas says in the musical. “Little Dancer” has many riches, but to make us see these more clearly, it needs to tighten and deepen its focus.
-- J. Wynn Rousuck
