Charleston Symphony Orchestra, CBT pair up in 'Masterpieces'

Can an orchestra conductor influence a choreographer?

It seems so.

Just ask Jill Eathorne Bahr, resident choreographer for the Charleston Ballet Theatre, who at the suggestion of David Stahl, director of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, chose a Debussy work for ballet and came up with a concept inspired by the music.

The world premiere of the ballet will be accompanied by the CSO in a program titled "Masterpieces of Dance," designed as a memorable way to spend a Valentine's evening at the Sottile Theatre.

"When David suggested that we use Claude Debussy's 'Afternoon of a Faun' for a ballet, I thought it was a good idea," says Bahr. "I know David loves to conduct the music, and I adore it as well, but have always felt the grandiose melodies to be very Hollywood."

Bahr decided to use "Afternoon of a Faun" (1876), but to place her own imprimatur on the work, changing the title slightly to "Afternoon With the Faun."

The choreographer explains that the two most famous ballet versions of the Debussy piece are those set by Vaslav Nijinsky and Jerome Robbins.

"These are not what the CBT will be dancing," emphasizes Bahr. "I wanted to paint my own picture, and so the faun, rather than being the half-man, half-goat version in the original ballet set by Nijinsky (1912) or being the ballet student in the Robbins version (1953), the faun will be Marilyn Monroe."

Bahr points out that she deliberately has taken her version of the ballet in a different direction by having this Hollywood icon as her inspiration.

"Marilyn was an endlessly mythologized figure, and her rise and fall are the stuff that both dreams and nightmares are made of," says Bahr. "She was innocent, vulnerable and impossibly alluring and defined the very essence of screen sexuality, not to mention she was a gifted comedienne and a magnetic screen presence. In short, she had it all, yet her career and life were a Cinderella story gone horribly wrong."

CBT principal ballerina and actress Jessica Roan will dance the role of the actress, who, as Bahr describes upon her death in her 30s, "had her fragile beauty trapped in amber, impervious to the ravages of age."

For Roan's embodiment of Monroe, Bahr has created brief encounters with some of Monroe's most famous paramours (and husbands), including Joe DiMaggio (danced by Alexander Collen), Howard Hughes (Stephen Gabriel) and John F. Kennedy (Jonathan Tabbert)."

She says she feels she has created "a slice of life we can only imagine," but has chosen to leave out Monroe's last husband, writer Arthur Miller.

Saturday's program also will include "Who Cares?" George Balanchine's celebrated tribute to Hollywood, performed by Melody Staples to the music of George Gershwin. Of her dance, Staples says, "The steps, themselves, are not that demanding, but the intricate combination of them and the rapid pace call for a great deal of stamina."

Also to be performed will be "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra," which Bahr originated and choreographed in 1987. She came up with the concept of an educational and entertaining depiction of the instruments of the orchestra set to the music of British composer Benjamin Britten.

The piece has been presented in a collaboration by the CBT and CSO at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival as a way to get youngsters and oldsters interested in classical music and musical instruments. The narration will be by Kyle Barnette with costumes by Gretta Wear and lighting by Dany Kapp.