Tom McCamus (5/02 The Contract)
Critical Dance 5/4/02: Tom McCamus
National Ballet of Canada "The Contract"
By Malcolm Tay May 4, 2002
Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, ON
James Kudelka's latest full-length ballet for The National Ballet of Canada, The Contract, doesn't milk, drag out the narrative for all its worth. In two acts, it tells a compelling, if somewhat eccentric, story solely in terms of movement, with a libretto by Robert Sirman; and yet, its larger implications hint at some deep-seated fear, even revulsion, of humankind's primal passions.
....
The people have gathered for their children’s performance, as given by students of the National Ballet School, in Michael Levine's whitewashed community hall, where the stage wings have been blocked with large, grilled windows. They brilliantly enact an adaptation of Robert Browning’s poem, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, narrated by Tom McCamus. The story is famous enough - the colourfully-caped Piper rids a city of rats in return for a sum of money, but this promise is breached, and he consequently lures the people’s children away, except maybe the crippled boy who couldn’t follow fast enough.
© Critical Dance
Excerpt from Now Toronto 5/9/02: Tom McCamus
Contract expires: New James Kudelka ballet is marred by clumsy storytelling and derivative score
by Glenn Sumi May 9, 2002 12:00 AM
the contract choreographed by James Kudelka, libretto by Robert Sirman, set by Michael Levine, with the company, May 14-18, Tuesday-Saturday 7:30 pm, matinee Saturday 2 pm. $26-$110, May 14 all seats $20-$40. 416-345-9595. Rating: N
james kudelka's the contract needs a major overhaul before it ever gets renewed.The $1.2-million National Ballet of Canada premiere is the most confusing and dramatically empty narrative ballet I've ever seen. Kudelka's not a strong storytelling choreographer -- he's best at abstract pieces like The Four Seasons or modest narratives like The Actress -- but his work here enters a new realm of befuddlement.
Set in a nameless community hall that feels American (maybe because Michael Torke's easy-on-the-ears score cribs shamelessly from every mid-20th-century American composer), the work opens promisingly with a charming play-within-a-play version of the Pied Piper story. We're in high realism mode here: narrator Tom McCamus recites the famous Browning poem, kids act out the story in Michael Levine's naturalistic set, which includes a couple of ghostly touches (like white exit signs), and Kudelka indicates age, station and religious order with geometric moves that seem inspired by square dancing.
© Now Toronto
Excerpt from National Ballet 2004: Tom McCamus
CONTRACT(The Pied Piper) BALLET N o t e s
Choreography: James Kudelka
Libretto: Robert Sirman
Original Score: Michael Torke
Set Design: Michael Levine
Assistant Set Designer: Kip Marsh
Costume Design: Denis Lavoie
Lighting Design: Kevin Lamotte
Narration: Tom McCamus, excerpts from The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning
Sound Designer for the play The Pied Piper: John Oswald
© National Ballet