San Francisco Ballet

Steven McRae as The Creature and Federico Bonelli as Victor Frankenstein in Liam Scarlett's Frankenstein // © 2016 The Royal Opera House. Photo by Bill Cooper If the name "Frankenstein" makes you think of a green- faced Boris Karloff with bolts threaded into his neck, then Liam Scarlett's ballet Frankenstein won't be what you're expecting. It'll be better. Inspired by Mary Shelley's Gothic horror story Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Scarlett delivers far more than scary-monster thrills. Both book and ballet tell a disturbing, tragic tale about the consequences of abandonment, the risks of tampering with the creation of human life, and, most of all, the power of love, both given and withheld. Scarlett tells the story of Frankenstein through movement in a poetic way, embodying all the dualities of Shelley's book — love and hate, curiosity and fear, desire and guilt — within one man, Victor Frankenstein. That duality is amplified by the overarching design concept. In every scene, we see two worlds: Victor's, represented by the 18th-century buildings he inhabits, sits within the Creature's world, a landscape described by Scenic and Costume Designer John Macfarlane as conveying "an overwhelming sense of emptiness." Frankenstein is a co-production of The Royal Ballet and San Francisco Ballet. When Kevin O'Hare, The Royal Ballet's artistic director, pitched the idea to Helgi Tomasson, SF Ballet's artistic director and principal choreographer, he described Scarlett's vision for the production. "I was intrigued right away," says Tomasson. "I'm always looking for something new, and it's hard to find something full-length [that's] different and maybe daring." What is remarkable, he says, is how Scarlett addresses a theme that's so suited to "this time we are living through — it's so much about acceptance of someone who is not like yourself." When he saw Frankenstein in London, Tomasson says, "I was amazed to see how many people were wiping their tears. It's touching." Scarlett is deeply invested in this story. He was about 11 when he first read Frankenstein. "I've revisited it at various points in my life, and it's always had a different poignancy every time that I've read it," he says in a Royal Opera House (ROH) video. "The fragments of emotions that shine through, I think, differ with the age that you read it. Even now different gems come up; it's such a multi- layered story, and incredibly written, that it kind of struck something with me." He wanted to make a ballet inspired by this book, he says, because it's "a story of betrayal, curiosity, life, death, and above all, love. Shelley was really commenting on the state of human emotions." And on her own as well — she experienced tremendous loss early in her life, with the deaths of her mother (in giving birth to her), three of her four children, and her young husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley wrote her novel in 1813 and set it in the 1700s, at a time when the functions of the human body were largely mysterious and the discovery of galvanism (the contraction of a muscle when stimulated with an electrical current) sparked scientists' imaginations. "I think that's why the book works," Scarlett says, "because there was so much unknown in that period, where the idea and the fear of creating something new was almost real." Adapting a book of this depth and complexity to a ballet narrative is difficult, and changes must be made in order to tell the story clearly. Scarlett cut several characters, he says in the ROH video, but "the intention and emotions that go through the book, and the empathy that you feel for absolutely every character is something that I've tried to stay true to." He omits the Arctic Circle setting that begins and ends the book, but the scenic design reflects the desolation of that environment. And though he changes the circumstances surrounding some of the characters' deaths, he retains all the significance and consequences of those events. To help tell this story, Scarlett turned to composer Lowell Liebermann, whose music he used for three previous ballets. For Frankenstein, Scarlett says, "I wanted something hauntingly beautiful, and I think he has done that." SF Ballet Music Director and Principal Conductor Martin West agrees. "It's great music," he says, "very dramatic, full of leitmotifs that come back, so we're always taken on a journey. Lowell doesn't write easy music. It's tricky, it's fast and exposed, a lot of energy going on." Liebermann had read Frankenstein, so he knew what to expect in terms of story. What surprised him was that Scarlett wasn't updating it, as he has done with other story ballets. "When he told me that this was going to be absolute period Mary Shelley, then I had to readjust," Liebermann says. "The music can't be too anachronistic to what you're seeing and to the nature of the story and the way people reacted in that time. I felt the need to write music that would be true to that period." What Scarlett wanted, Liebermann says, was "a very romantic-sounding score, certainly a very melodic score." Frankenstein is Liebermann's first full-length ballet and only the second piece he's written for dance. What was difficult about composing this ballet, he says, was that he had only an outline to work from, "the emotional thrust of each scene. Liam doesn't make a lot of decisions until he's actually working with the dancers. So the challenge was composing music when I had no idea what the movements were going to be, or the detailed action." He compares the experience to composing an opera, in which lyrics provide a detailed story. "With ballet," he says, "it's more like writing FRANKENSTEIN PRODUCTION CREDITS Frankenstein is a co-production of San Francisco Ballet and The Royal Ballet. Music: Original composition by Lowell Liebermann. Costume Supervisor: Mary Terrey, Assistant Costume Supervisor: Karen Short; Scenery construction and painting by Royal Opera House, Bob and Tamar Manoukian Production Workshop, Thurrock, Additional painting by John Macfarlane; Props and Armoury by Royal Opera House Production Department; Dance floor painted by Coolflight Ltd.; Scenery construction by Cardiff Theatrical Services Ltd.; Pyrotechnics provided by Le Maitre Ltd.; Glowing wire effects supplied by elwirecraft.co.uk; Costumes, jewellery, headdresses, dyeing, props by Royal Opera House Production Department; Wigs by Campbell Young Associates; Additional costumes by Fran Alderson, Robert Allsopp, Gillian Crawford, Karen Crichton, Lal D'Abo, Anna-Maria Genuise, Parkinson Gill, Zlata Halkova, Jackie Hallatt, Naomi Isaacs, Andrea Moon, David Plunkett, Phil Reynolds, Gwen Russell, Sue Smith, Mervyn Wallace, Charles White; Additional dyeing and printing by Penny Hadrill, Hatley Print, Schultz and Wiremu Fabric Effects, Sheila White. By Cheryl A. Ossola PROGRAM NOTES 2017 SEASON GUIDE SAN FRANCISCO BALLET 61

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