FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 23, 2005
CONTACT: Mark Fleisher, 401.353.1129
October 29 at 7:30 pm
October 30th at 2:00 and 6:00 pm
Providence, RI -
Immediately following the premiere of Romeo and Juliet, Festival Ballet Providence opens its Up CLOSE on HOPE season with an audience favorite from the previous season, Viktor Plotnikov's The Widow's Broom. Based on the book by Providence author and illustrator, Chris Van Allsburg, the production features sets designed by three-time Tony winner Eugene Lee, original musical score by Alexandra Vrebalov, lighting design by Alan Pickart, and costumes by Ka Yan Kan.
Commissioned by Festival Ballet Providence, The Widow's Broom was described in the Providence Journal, "For artistic ambition in dance this year, nothing came close to Festival Ballet Providence's world premiere ballet adaptation of Chris Van Alsburg's book, the The Widow's Broom". The story, which features a dozen witches, a lifelike broom, and a field of pumpkins, makes for a magical Halloween diversion. As reviewed in the Providence Phoenix, "The movement, steps, mime and gestures that Plotnikov has woven together for the dancers. are terrifically captivating, full of emotional content."
This is the story of a witch's worn-out broom that befriends a widow and her son, to the growing distrust of her neighbors. The action includes a broom-riding convocation of witches swirling around a boiling cauldron, a magical broom helping the lives of a kind-hearted widow and her son, and the ultimate outwitting of xenophobic neighbors by a simple woman only wanting peace and quiet. The ending of The Widow's Broom is a triumph that is both satisfying and delicious.
This production of The Widow's Broom will be adapted to the Up CLOSE on HOPE black box theater at 825 Hope Street. This series presents dance at its closest and most intimate, a combination that many audience members consider to be captivating. Limited to 90 seats, with no one more than 20 feet from the performers, the Up CLOSE experience is so unique it was presented a Best of Rhode Island Award by Rhode Island Monthly in 2005. The proximity to the dancers will make this Widow's Broom a memorable experience for all ages.
The venue offers contemporary dance with a fresh twist. Audience members have the opportunity to meet the evening's performers and company's artistic staff during a complementary hors d'oeuvres intermission, complete with juices, water and wine. Reception wines are provided by Laurine Ryan Perry, and the food by neighboring Hope Street restaurants, giving the audience a taste of the neighborhood's varied culinary offerings. The restaurants supplying the nibbles in October are Gourmet House, Garrison Confections, and Not Just Snacks.
The Widow's Broom performances take place Saturday October 29th at 7:30 pm and Sunday October 30th at 2:00 and 6:00 pm at Festival Ballet Providence, 825 Hope Street, on the East Side of Providence. Seating for each performance is limited to 90. General seating tickets (priced at $30) and Up CLOSE on HOPE season subscriptions (priced at $90 for three separate productions in October, November and March) are available by contacting Festival Ballet Providence at 401.353.1129 from 9 am to 7 pm. Price includes hors d'oeuvres & wine intermission. For additional information about the production, visit www.festivalballet.com or send email inquiries to info@festivalballet.com. There are no discounts for this performance series.
The Up CLOSE on HOPE series is sponsored by GLAD WORKS and season television sponsor, NBC10. The series's second program will take place November 12, 19, & 20 and third program March 4, 11 & 12, 2006.
The Festival Ballet Providence and the Festival Ballet Providence Center for Dance Education are together a not-for-profit arts organization whose EIN is 05-0377245 and whose Rhode Island Corporate ID number is ND-27-137.
For digital photos or to contact any of the artists, please contact Mark Fleisher, Tel 401.353.1129 or mfleisher@festivalballet.com.
A large group of witches in striped stockings dance together at night around a cauldron with brooms. As they fly off, we notice that one is moving slower, eventually being left behind and finally falling from the sky to a hard landing.
The next morning, the son of the widow whose house we see, discovers the witch in their pumpkin field. Against his advise, the kind mother invites the bruised witch into the house to recuperate. The son later finds the fallen broom and brings it into the house.
Inside the widow's cottage the widow is doing her housework, sweeping nervously as the witch rests. The son brings the fallen broom to his mother, who compares the two, by all appearances, identical. She puts the broom away, and they fall aspleep. The witch emerges from her rest, and leaves the house and her old worn-out broom behind. The broom soon emerges from the closet, dancing behind the widow and her son. They watch as it sweeps and dances. The widow is horrified and demands the broom leave. The broom, eager to please, sets to work outside, performing chores to help the widow and her son.
Eventually the neighbors, including Farmer Spivey and his children, spy on the broom as it does more and more chores for the widow. The widow keeps her distance from the broom, enjoying its usefulness, but still not dancing with it. She does allow it to help with the household chores. At one point the Spivey children torment the broom as it works outside, so much so that it finally retaliates. The neighbors soon come to the widow, demanding the broom. She gives them the broom from the closet. They take it and set fire to it with relish. Later Farmer Spivey and his children, out in the forest hunting, are frightened by a menacing white broom holding a white ax, thinking they have seen the ghost of the broom.
In the last scene, the broom appears to the widow, and at last she accepts his invitation to dance.
