Sparkling “Red Shoes” at the Ahmanson

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Matthew Bourne gives “The Red Shoes” the silent treatment

There is no one else quite like choreographer Matthew Bourne, and the Ahmanson Theatre, first under Gordon Davidson and then Michael Ritchie, has been presenting his work on a near-regular basis since his astonishing all-male “Swan Lake” in 1997. Over the years I’ve seen at least half a dozen of his dance theater productions, without ever being disappointed. His latest is one of his finest, and it’s being performed through Sunday.

Bourne’s rendition of “The Red Shoes” is derived from the 1948 film of the same name by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, which is itself based on the 1845 fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen.

Victoria Page (Ashley Shaw in the performance I attended) is a young dancer with ambition and dreams, who finally catches the eye of impressario Boris Lermontov (Sam Archer) and becomes a member of his ballet company. When the prima ballerina (Michela Meazza) breaks her leg (and not in the sense which means “good luck” or “go get ‘em”), Victoria is given her big break (in the other sense of the word). In this way, the story’s a bit like “42nd Street,” when ingenue Peggy Sawyer is given the plum role at the last moment.

The young lady is of course a sensation. Her future looks bright. Plus she and the company’s composer, Julian Craster (Dominic North), fall in love. But while a fairy tale may be the basis for this story, a fairy tale ending eludes it.

Lermontov is jealous, and in a fit of anger and frustration he fires his composer. However, the firing backfires. When Julian leaves, Victoria goes with him.

She may have been a sensation in Monte Carlo (the scenes are set in London and on the French Riviera during the late 1940s), but Victoria, and Julian, cannot find respectable work on their own. One scene, perhaps painfully humorous, is set in a rundown music hall with ratty characters and cheap entertainment.

Ultimately, Victoria is torn between her love for Julian and her love for dance, and this dilemma is depicted in what appears to be a struggle for her soul between a Mephistophelean figure and a priest. What we see is a tense, rising desperation that recalls the frenzy of Grieg’s “Hall of the Mountain King” and the dying swan in “Swan Lake,” plus an exit that mirrors the one taken by Anna Karenina.

AND WHY IT’S SO SPECIAL

Matthew Bourne’s “The Red Shoes” is a seamless blend of ballet, pantomime, and graceful, wordless acting (and similar in many respects to Bourne’s “Play Without Words,” which was based on Joseph Losey’s 1963 film “The Servant”). The movement is stylized, of course, but not exaggeratingly corny as in the old silent films of the 1920s.

The revolving proscenium arch gives the work a cinematic quality, as if the audience is in front of the imagined theater one moment, and behind the curtain the next. This also helps us to decipher what the lead characters are feeling, as when we see Victoria and Julian forlorn on one side, then an agonizing Lermontov on the other. And thus the narrative moves forward as smoothly as the onstage cast.

Underlying the action is the lush orchestration by Terry Davies; the music adapted from the scores of Bernard Herrmann, although not from “Psycho,” for which he may be best known. Rather, the adaptations are from such films as “Citizen Kane,” “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,” and (for the sensational “Red Shoes” ballet that concludes the first act) “Fahrenheit 451.” The music is the aural equivalent of saturated color.

The pièce de résistance must indeed be act one’s closing sequence, not only for the dancing but for the entire mixture of projection design (Duncan McLean), sound design (Paul Groothuis), lighting design (Paule Constable), set and costume design (Lez Brotherston), and of course Bourne’s choreography. This is not only teamwork, but collaboration between masters of their craft.

One could attempt to describe the effects that accompany the dance of the title–the windstorm, the galactic spaciousness, etc.–but the description would pale… and fail. Throughout it all, especially with a palette of grays, there is an emphasis on the red shoes that embody everything Victoria aspires to in life. Can we really have it all? Or is the pursuit of art and the pursuit of love at cross-purposes with one another?

Once more, Matthew Bourne has given us an experience, sensual and exquisite.

THE RED SHOES is onstage at the Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles in the Music Center. Remaining performances Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. plus Saturday at 2 p.m., and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m. Tickets, $30 to $130. The leads vary, and may be different from those referred to above. Closes Sunday, Oct. 1. Call (213) 972-4400 or go to CentertheatreGroup.org. ER

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