(Description)
Vitrine Ballet in 2 acts. Story by Hans Christian Andersen. Music and libretto by Zoltan Demme.
DANCERS: Ugly Duckling, Mother Duck, Duck Majesty, Cock the King, His Grace The Turkey, Her Grace The Turkey Lady, Peacock Queen. GROUP DANCERS: Poultry, Wild Ducks, Migrant Birds, Wild Pigeons, Hawks, Icebirds, Storks, Vultures, Swans.
Act 1 Scene 01-1-1 CUCKOO AND CLOCKS
LIBRETTO: China cabinet in the romantic era. As large as the stage! Porcelain sculptures everywhere. Silver music boxes inside. Cuckoo-clocks on the walls. Steeple, bells far outside.
COMMENT: The music starts off in a “cute”, kids-like music filled with anticipation and underlying excitement.
Scene 01-2-1 PORCELAIN POULTRY REVIVE
LIBRETTO: Sunshine. Group of porcelain poultry of china cabinet. Frills and laces of the clothes of poultry groups are also made of porcelain. Mother Duck, ducks, ducklings, hens, chickens, cock revive.
COMMENT: Very happy vibes in the music, calming and very diverse selection of sounds. Accurately portrays the animals in the scene.
Scene 01-2-2 DANCE OF THE DUCKLINGS
LIBRETTO: Porcelain eggs. Small ducklings come out and dance. Yellow, frilly, lacy clothes. Happy Mother Duck, ducks, and poultry.
COMMENT: The ducklings dance are adorable in sound, colourful and fast sounds, however somewhat repetitive nearing the end.
Scene 01-2-3 BIRTH OF AN UGLY DUCKLING
LIBRETTO: Big porcelain egg. An extremely ugly duckling comes out. No frills. No laces. She has thick and large pieces of rags. She is dirty, smelly, she makes almost a nauseating impression. Confused Mother Duck, ducks, poultry. Cock attacks the ugly newcomer.
COMMENT: Quick high pitched sounds and a melody which suggests a sense of impending doom, as if something is going to go wrong. Assumedly it is to portray the introduction of the “ugly duckling”.
Scene 01-2-4 BEATING THE SMALL UGLY DUCKLING
LIBRETTO: Fight. The ducks and hens beat and chase the ragged newcomer who squeals somtimes. Other little ducklings leave the scene. Mother Duck and the bleeding, dirty duckling follow them.
COMMENT: Tensions could be felt right from the start in this part, definite confrontations however not too serious and becomes playful through the middle of the music. The background sound in the end was somewhat annoying, like a broken record player.
Scene 01-3-1 LITTLE DUCKS ARRIVE TO RULERS OF THE FARM
LIBRETTO: Spring sunshine. Bird talk. Frilly clouds on the sky. Frilly humps in the poultry yard. Porcelain poultry of china cabinet revive. Mother Duck followed by ducklings and finally the ugly one arrives. Greetings to Duck Majesty and other poultry. Shame of Mother Duck because of the ugly young.
COMMENT: A happy and calm farm-like spring environment could be felt, very accurate and true to the scene. The “waving” effect in some of the elements in the music was refreshing and pleasant.
Scene 01-3-2 DANCE OF THE DUCK MAJESTY
LIBRETTO: Duck Majesty on the top of a hump. Red mark on her leg while dancing. Slimy, smarming poultry. Slimy Mother Duck and ducklings. Ugly Duckling fears and hides.
COMMENT: The dance of the duck majesty is immediately very obviously shows that of a royalty, condescending tones could be heard and not much inherent elegance. Highly accurate representation of the scene, even the hiding and presence of the Ugly Duckling. The repeating melody got rather annoying after a while.
Scene 01-3-3 DANCE OF THE YOUNG TURKEYS
LIBRETTO: Young turkeys arrive and chase other young poultry. Ugly Duckling fears and hides. His Grace The Turkey, Her Grace The Turkey Lady arrive and stop youngsters.
COMMENT: Highly intense, fast paced and colourful music full of life. The arrival of the royal Turkey was obvious and clear.
Scene 01-3-4 COURTESY DANCE
LIBRETTO: All the poultry smarm around His Grace The Turkey and Her Grace The Turkey Lady. Ugly Duckling fears and hides
COMMENT: This one sounded very familiar to that of “old-school” video game music at the beginning, however transitioned to a bit dull and chaotic melody with some pleasant and new and refreshing elements.
Scene 01-3-5 PEACOCK VALSE
LIBRETTO: Musix box sounds. The Peacock Queen and many young peacocks arrive to a hump. Slimy poultry around the group.
COMMENT: Highly elegant and even promiscuous, portraying the Peacock Queen even without knowing what’s going on visually or from the text. It was highly suggestive. Also some promiscuous undertones but nothing condescending or arrogant. Seemed like ballroom music.
01-3-6 POULTRY FIGHT
LIBRETTO: The beauty of the Peacock Queen is amazing for the dirty duckling in ugly rags. She leaves her hiding place and comes closer. Peacock Queen kicks her off the hump. Young turkeys and peacocks spot her. Chase. Beating. Mother Duck remains passive. Ugly Duckling squeals and squeals, then escapes.
COMMENT: Calm start which became the opposite, high energy” burst” of colourful music followed. The admiration of the Ugly Duckling towards the Peacock Queen is clear, and even some jealousy is present based on the sounds.
Scene 01-4-1 DANCE OF THE WILD PIGEONS
LIBRETTO: Porcelain water-lilies, porcelain water plants, porcelain reeds of china cabinet appear on stage. Marsh in the outskirts. Frilly clouds. Frilly borders of water and small islets. Dry area in the downstage. Small porcelain sculptures of wild pigeons revive. Pigeons pick, peck, jump on the ground then leave.
COMMENT: The dance of the wild pigeons in the scene is very exciting, smooth and enjoyable melody. Accurate portrayal in the scene for sure.
Scene 01-4-2 DANCE OF THE WILD DUCKS
LIBRETTO: Wild duck ladies and cavaliers revive and dance. Ugly duckling arrives onto the stage. Wild ducks become frightened of the dirty duckling in rags and quickly escape.
COMMENT: The smooth “waving” in the music is interesting, though a bit too much in my opinion for what the scene itself holds in content. The escape of the ducklings was clear and obvious in the music thou hard to compose it.
Scene 01-4-3 HAWK DANCE
LIBRETTO: Hawks come. All of them hunt for the duckling. Chase. Run. Hawks tear out some pieces of rags of the duckling but finally she escapes.
COMMENT: Highly dramatic “chase” sounds, exaggerated slightly, reminiscent of old American cartoon sounds. Danger definitely could be heard. After a certain point near the end it became comical, possibly because of the overblown nature of the musical elements.
Scene 01-5-1 THE TEMPEST
LIBRETTO: Wind. Later tempest. Other part of china cabinet revives. Frilly, lacy character of stage set is still saved. Thunder. Lightning. Danger. Ugly Duckling struggles with wind on the stage. Composed for a ballerina Solo Virtuoso.
COMMENT: The music and scene works perfectly together to showcase the dangerous and volatile environment in the scene. A solo dance with very high potential which embodies elegance and fierceness both.
TEXT OF AN OPTIONAL INTERMEZZO IN THE LIBRETTO:
TRUMPET SOLDIER ON THE TOP OF A MUSIC BOX: China cabinet again. From the top of a music box a silver soldier plays trumpet music. Bell sounds outside. A DARK, DIRTY CORNER OF CHINA CABINET. Old, broken sculptures. Jesus Christ covered with mess and surrounded with messy angels. Statue of Liberty fully cracked. Dusty, demaged Thomas Morus, Voltaire, Rousseau, Marx portraits with readable names on. Choir and cuckoo alert. Choir text and sylables: You see he-re this small sculp-ture of Je-sus Christ, a-mong cob-webs? You see ho-ow ma-ny dirt and mess co-ver him from the past cen-tu-ries? All grand-fa-thers and all fa-thers have no suc-cess to clean up his nice i-de-as from the dirt, mess of the past cen-tu-ries! Have more suc-ces than what we had! Clean up the dirt! Clean up the mess! Sculp-ture of Christ make clean a-gain, make nice a-gain, don’t let him stay ug-ly! You see he-re this small sculp-ture of Li-ber-ty, a-mong cob-webs? You see ho-ow ma-ny dirt and mess co-ver her from the past cen-tu-ries? All grand-fa-thers and all fa-thers have no suc-cess to clean up her nice i-de-a from the dirt, mess of the past cen-tu-ries! Have more suc-ces than what we had! Clean up the dirt! Clean up the mess! The Li-ber-ty make clean a-gain, make nice a-gain, don’t let her stay ugly! You see he-re these small sculp-tures of U-to-pists, a-mong cob-webs? You see ho-ow ma-ny dirt and mess co-ver them from the past cen-tu-ries? All grand-fa-thers and all fa-thers have no suc-cess to save the-ir nice i-de-as from the dirt, mess of the past cen-tu-ries! Have more suc-ces than what we had! Clean up the dirt! Clean up the mess! Their i-de-as have clean a-gain, have nice a-gain! Keep clean these small sculp-tures! TRUMPET SOLDIER ON THE TOP OF A MUSIC BOX: China cabinet. From the top of a music box a silver soldier plays trumpet music.
Scene 01-6-1 SWANS ARRIVE
LIBRETTO: A strange part of china cabinet appears. No frill. No lace. Everything is tranquil and elegant. Moonlight. Enigmatic land. Ugly Duckling comes impoverished. Far from her, in the backstage, snow white swans revive.
COMMENT: Moonlight feel of the music, at the start sounded like something from the “Final Fantasy” series. Became very mysterious with a smooth transition to dramatic build up which yet again became calm and moonlit-esque. The revival of the snow white swans is realistically portrayed.
Scene 01-6-2 DANCE OF THE SWANS
LIBRETTO: Swans begin to dance far from the duckling in the moonlight. Bone tired dirty duckling admires purity and elegance of swans.
COMMENT: The sheer elegance of the swans is exactly as I would imagine it to sound like in music form. Although drawn out and in some parts monotonous, the pleasantness of the melody left nothing more to long for in this part.
Scene 01-6-3 SWANS LEAVING
LIBRETTO: Dance of swans ends. Like a dream, they disappear. Ugly duckling stays alone in the cold moonlight.
COMMENT: With the swans leaving, the Ugly Duckling is left alone. I would have liked it to be more dramatic in the music, was a bit too calm and did not give off the supposed sadness of the Ugly Duckling in this scene.
Act 2 Scene 01-1-1 DANCE OF THE ICEBIRDS
LIBRETTO: A new part of china cabinet. Winter. Snow. Cold. Frosty, frilly, lacy trees. Small, blue female icebirds revive. Dance. Ugly duckling comes shivering with cold. Icebirds become frightened and escape. Male icebirds arrive. Dance and attack. Sharp beaks beat the duckling. She loses few pieces of rags. She becomes hurt, bleeding, and stays alone in the snowy ground.
COMMENT: Cold and frosty beginning which transitions into a highly smooth lullaby. The shivering Ugly Duckling’s arrival was portrayed well in the music, as a bit saddening yet clearly unpleasant to the other characters in the scene. The music became way too repetitive and I found it hard to focus due to its monotonous and dull melody. After such part, a refreshing melody arrived which redeemed the previous part in my opinion.
Scene 01-2-1 STRUGGLING IN THE MARSH
LIBRETTO: Few days later. Strange sounds of a marsh area. Still cold. Frilly clouds. Frilly, icy borders of the water and the small islets. Bleeding duckling comes. She get stuck in the marshy ground. She begins to sink. She loses a few pieces of rags. She struggles for life. She becomes motivated to return home. Memories from the spring poultry yard. Memories of Mother Duck and ducklings. Escaping. Composed for a dance solo.
COMMENT: Old school video game style undertones in the music, buildup of excitement and anticipation is instilled in the listener. Highly playful in some parts, new sounds which were very different from the sounds previously. Transitioned into a somewhat dull and the same repeating sounds which provoked boredom more than anything else. The escape however is intense and the dance solo is yet again high in potential and the act in the scene is synergistic with the music itself.
TEXT OF AN OPTIONAL INTERMEZZO IN THE LIBRETTO:
TRUMPET SOLDIER ON THE TOP OF A MUSIC BOKSZ: China cabinet again. Darkness. From the top of a music box a silver soldier plays trumpet music. Bell sounds outside. A DARK, DIRTY CORNER OF CHINA CABINET. Old, broken sculptures. Jesus Christ covered with mess and surrounded with messy angels. Statue of Liberty fully cracked. Dusty, demaged Thomas Morus, Voltaire, Rousseau, Marx portraits with readable names on. Choir and cuckoo alert. Choir text and sylables: Be-side poul-try, we have o-ther sculp-tures he-re! From his-to-ry! You see ho-ow ma-ny dirt and mess co-ver them from the past cen-tu-ries? All grand-fa-thers and all fa-thers have no suc-cess to save the-ir nice i-de-as from the dirt, mess of the past cen-tu-ries! Have more suc-ces than what we had! Clean up the dirt! Clean up the mess! All these sculp-tures have clean a-gain, have nice a-gain! Don’t let them stay ug-ly! TRUMPET SOLDIER ON THE TOP OF A MUSIC BOX: China cabinet. Darkness. From the top of a music box a silver soldier plays trumpet music.
Scene 01-3-1 DANCE OF THE NEW DUCKLINGS
LIBRETTO: Porcelain eggs. New ducklings born in the poultry yard. Yellow, frilly, lacy clothes. Happy poultry. Bleeding, dirty ugly duckling partly covered with marshy mud arrives. She has fear and hides herself.
COMMENT: Started off with an overly happy melody which sounded exaggerated and out of balance with the scene. I did not like this one at all as a result.
Scene 01-3-2 A DANCE OF THE DUCK MAJESTY
LIBRETTO: Duck Majesty on the top of a hump. Now much more red mark on her leg while dancing. Slimy, smarming poultry.
COMMENT: Familiar sounds in the music, false majestic and royal feel which is accurate to the scene, the one second silence “pauses” in some parts of the music gave the somewhat monotonous melody a refreshing element to it. The music became more colourful at the end, the ending transition was not smooth enough though.
Scene 01-3-3 POULTRY FIGHT
LIBRETTO: Dirty and hurt duckling comes out. Fear. Duck Majesty, with Mother Duck and other poultries behind her attacks the ugly young. Chase. Beating. Ugly Duckling escapes. She loses a few pieces of rags again.
COMMENT: The state of the Ugly Duckling is synergistic with the music, everything is chaotic though which got more and more intense as the scene progressed on.
Scene 01-4-1 FLATLAND WITH BONES AND STONES
LIBRETTO: Other part of china cabinet revives. Frilly rocks. Frilly stones. Frilly fragments of bones of animals in a meadow area. Deer corpses. Deer heads. Deer antlers. All like the deer sculptures of china cabinets of romantic era.
COMMENT: Downright disturbing and even creepy elements, personally made me feel as if something tried to crawl into my ears. Definite positive even though was not necessarily pleasant.
Scene 01-4-2 DANCE OF YOUNG VULTURES
LIBRETTO: Groups of young vultures revive. Tearing corpses. Eating. Jumping.
COMMENT: Malevolent-esque sounds which are representative of vultures in the scene. Yet again accurate to the characters and to what’s going on.
Scene 01-4-3 VALSE OF VULTURES
LIBRETTO: Big black vultures arrive. Eating. Dancing. Tearing corpses. Suddenly a strange ragged corps moves. It is the dirty duckling. She has no power to stand up. Vultures tear her body. Somehow she escapes. In the beaks of the black birds long and large pieces of rags remain. Then they spot some other corpses outside the backstage. They come to there to eat leaving the scene.
COMMENT: Colourful and exciting right from the beginning, the drum-like sounds were a great addition and the entire music was great in my opinion. The struggle of the Ugly Duckling against the vultures could even be heard, emotion provoking and not dull for a second. The miraculous escape of the Ugly Duckling and the mercilessness of the vultures is also highly accurate in my opinion.
Scene 01-5-1 LAKE AND FOREST
LIBRETTO: End scene of Act 1. No frill. No lace. Everything is tranquil and elegant. Moonlight. Enigmatic land. Ugly Duckling comes. She is thin, bleeding, impoverished. She is lunatic and mad now.
COMMENT: Moonlit environment with it’s representative sounds and melody, although slightly more mysterious and even a bit dark now.
Scene 01-5-2 REVIVING AS A SWAN
LIBRETTO: Snow white swans arrive. Lunatic duckling behaves ambivalent way. One time she believes that these birds too desire to kill her and defends herself from the beats that she never received. Other time she desires to die by the beaks and beats of these beautiful birds and lies down to the ground. Tragic Dance Macabre, Totentanz, Dance of Death. Sometimes the duckling tears her rags even. Presto dancing. Pirouettes. Falling and dropping rags. All the dirty rags come off. But from behind the rags a snow white clothes comes out! Ugly Duckling stands on the stage now as a swan.
COMMENT: By far the most intense scene, which is accompanied by just as high intensity in the music. Very high potential in the dance solo and also my favorite scene in the play. Every part is colourful and intense, not a dull part even for a second. The use of rags to reveal the Ugly Duckling as a swan is creative and a great choice and definitely surprising if someone did not know the outcome of the story yet. Definitely majestic and even angelic reveal, showcasing the beauty and elegance of the swan. Satisfying ending both in scene and music.
ANDREW R. DAMU