[Concert programme: Edward Scissorhands [ballet]]
Sadler's Wells, London, 2005.11.20
Source: Excerpts from Bluntinstrument's copy of the programme
Scan: front cover, 79kb
NEW ADVENTURES, MARTIN McCALLUM and MARC PLATT present
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS
Devised, directed and choreographed by ... Matthew Bourne
New music and arrangements by ... Terry Davies
Based on themes from the original motion picture score composed by ... Danny
Elfman
Based on the original motion picture by arrangement with ... 20th Century Fox
Original story and motion picture directed by ... Tim Burton
Original screenplay story and co-adaptation by ... Caroline Thompson
Designed by ... Lez Brotherston
Lighting designed by ... Howard Harrison
Sound designed by ... Paul Groothuis
Dear Friends,
A very warm welcome to this performance of EDWARD SCISSORHANDS
at Sadler's Wells.
It has been a dream of mine to present Edward Scissorhands
on stage ever since I first saw Tim Burton's wonderful film in 1990. The show
has been in development, on and off, for over seven years so it is thrilling
now to finally be able to realise that dream. Indeed, were it not for the generous
support and encouragement of Edward's original creators, Tim Burton, Danny Elfman
and Caroline Thompson, I might have given up hope long ago of ever bringing
him to life on stage. I have been overwhelmed by the kindness and trust they
have show in handling over what I know is a very personal and beloved project
for each of them. I only hope that we have done theatrical justice to the spirit
of their unique cinematic vision.
I am also blessed to be working, once again, with a brilliant creative team
of long term collaborators led by Lez Brotherston, Terry Davies, Howard Harrison
and Paul Groothuis. I would also like to add my special thanks to my Associate
Directors. Not only does this show celebrate 15 happy years of collaboration
with Scott Ambler and Etta Murfitt, they also get to play husband and wife,
which is only fitting!
For Edward Scissorhands, I have assembled what I feel
is a tremendous cast of New Adventures company members both old and new. I am,
as always, extremely grateful for all their creative contributions and for supporting
their increasingly stressed and neurotic Director throughout the birth of his
new 'baby'.
Since its launch three years ago, my company, New Adventures,
has had an incredibly busy time with four major shows touring throughout the
world (Nutcracker!, Play Without Words, Swan Lake and Highland
Fling). I take great pride in out extensive touring programme, growing audiences
and the fact that we have given employment to over 100 dancers in that time!
For this, and so much more, I have to thank my co-director at New Adventures,
Robert Noble. To streer Edward Scissorhands to the stage, Robert and
I have the great good fortune to be working with marin McCallum and marc Platt
as our co-producers and HoriPro Inc and TV Tokyo as our partners in Japan.
Lastly, what a delight to be back at Sadler's Wells for our fourth Christmas
Season in a row. Alistair Spalding has made Sadler's Wells into one of the hippest,
most happening places in London. As a newly appointed Associate Artist of the
theatre, I am proud to present my work here as part of such music and theatre.
I feel that Sadler's Wells has become the first real London home for my company,
I'd like to thank Alistair and the Board for making this possible.
Our audience is very important to us at New Adventures, as is out Friends organisation
who so generously contributed to the costs of the summer workshop for the production.
Thank you all for your continued support and for keeping out unique brand of
dance theatre alive.
Enjoy the show!
Best wishes,
[Matthew Bourne]
Terry Davies
New Music and Arrangements
Terry Davies has worked widely in theatre, film and television.
He has worked regularly at the National Theatre since co-orchestrating the multi-award
winning Guys and Dolls in 1982. His 31 productions there as composer,
orchestrator or music director include Edmond, Scenes From the Big
Picture, Luther, Lady in the Dark and The Rise and Fall
of Little Voice.
His many other theatre credits include: Days of Wine and Roses
(Donmar Warehouse), Honeymoon Suite (Royal Court), Sexual Perversity
in Chicago (Comedy), The York Realist by Peter Gill (Royal Court
and Strand) and Shakespeare productions at the RSC and Regent's Park's Open
Air Theatre. Terry also wrote songs for the RSC's Alice in Wonderland.
In the recording studio he has conducted or orchestrated the
music for 29 feature films, amongst these: Lassie, Kinky Boots,
The lawless Heart and House of Mirth. He conducted Renée
Fleming in Verdi and Bellini for AMidsummer Night's Dream and conducted
some of Stephen Warbeck's Academy Award winning score for Shakespeare in
Love. The film Vanity Fair features Terry's dance music and he wrote
music for live performance with Man Yay's 1927 silent film Les Mystéres
du Château de Dé.
Original music for television includes: adapting his score for
The Car Man and writing the songs for Tipping the Velvet, gaining
a BAFTA nomination. He has conducted the music for a large number of TV dramas
and documentaries including BAFTA and EMMY winning scores.
Edward Scissorhands is Terry Davies' third collaboration
with Matthew Bourne following The Car Man and Play Without Words
for which they shared the 2003 Olivier Award for best Entertainment. Details,
along with projects and a discography, can be found at www.terrydavies.com.
The Story of Edward Scissorhands
ACT ONE
Prologue
Creating a boy
Halloween
Trick or treat
The suburban ballet - Family values
A new home
A portrait of Kim
Gossip
The Boggs' barbecue
Topiary garden
ACT TWO
Edwardo the barber
Helping Joyce
Christmas in Hope Springs
Ice dance
New best friend?
The annual Christmas ball
Farewell
Epilogue
Edward Scissorhands Re-Bourne
Mark Shenton talks to Matthew Bourne about his long-gestating project to bring
Edward Scissorhands from the screen to the stage
[this entry is not complete: much text is omitted]
As boundaries have been crashing down between the various live
art genres, Bourne's work has been at the vangard of bringing in a new audience
to a different type of work: "The one thing I don;t mind boasting about
is the fact our audiences have genuinely grown." That's despite the fact
that it's not easily categorisable. When choreographer Susan Stroman took a
dance show to Broadway called Contact, it became labelled a "dansical".
And the current trend to adapt movies as musicals, such as Chitty Chitty
Bang Bang, The Lion King, The Producers and Saturday Night
Fever, amongst numerous others, has seen them dubbed "movicals".
So could Edward Scissorhands perhaps be called a "movical dansical"?
Bourne laughs when I put it to him, and agrees, "It's funny trying to
find a way to describe what I do; there was a time when i thought that it was
simply musical theatre, really, because that's exactly what it is - it's music
and theatre joined together. My work is completely led by music, and in fact
more so than in some musicals unless they're sung-through, because the starting
point is always the score."
In fact, the idea for a stage version of Edward Scissorhands
was first born when the songwriting duo George Siles and Anthony Drewe (who
recently provided the new songs for the stage version of Mary Poppins
that Bourne co-directed and co-choreographed last year in the West End) approached
him so see if he had any ideas for what could be turned into a musical at least
seven years ago: "I wrote down about ten ideas, and the first one was Edward
Scissorhands. And one of the reasons that it occurred to me was because
it felt very musical, thanks to Danny Elfman's score."
It was a subsequent visit to Los Angeles that Bourne got to meet Elfman, as
well as caroline Thompson who co-wrote the original screenplay to the film.
Though they both came onboard early, it was a far longer process
to acquire the rights and bring it to the stage: "It's been delayed several
times," admits Bourne, not least because of the changes in his own company
and then again because of the West End launch of Mary Poppins. But it
was also very important to honour Tim Burton's original vision: "It's a
very personal project for him - so much of it comes directly from his own life.
So he's never really given permission for it to be used in other ways, such
as books or video games."
But in a remarkable act of creative trust, Burton - who now lives in London
- has "more or less handed it over - he said it's your to do with as you
wish, which was very generous."
Bourne has duly introduced a prologue: "I wanted to explain a bit more
about why he was made, rather than just accepting that he was; and I suppose
I try to apply a logic to the dance, too, as I always do. One of the tasks I
have is always about how much dance I can get into it - how many reasons can
i find to dance?"
According to designer and long-time collaborator Lez Brotherston, "We've
tried really hard not to replicate the film. This isn't just about putting the
film onstage. And he looks different: whereas edward in the film looks like
a young Tim Burton, we're got a different look entirely. Instead of wearing
Gothic black, his body is made by the inventor from different things around
the house, like an old sofa - we've created an anatomical figure out of old
brown leather that is stitched together."
Bourne's work, meanwhile, is stitched together from many sources. But his eye
is always on the clarity of the storytelling: "You have to imagine the
person sitting in the audience who knows nothing of dance or the film or anything
about the story, but who can still follow it just by watching it." And
ultimately too, "it's about trying to turn something that's a film into
something that's essentially theatrical. It would be a mistake to simply recreate
the special effects from the film; there are things you can do in theatre more
simply that are much more magical."
Orchestral team:
Musical director ... Brett Morris
Associate Musical director ... Benjamin Pope
Third conductor ... Paul Hoskins
Keyboard Programmer ... Phij Adams
Music Copyist ... Colin Rae
Orchestral Management Consultants ... John Beadle, Andrew Bentley
Violin 1 ... Gina McCormack
Violin 2 ... Tim Warburton
[no viola]
Cello ... Andrew Fuller
[Double] Bass ... Lucy Hare
Flute ... Helen Keen
Clarinet ... Duncan Askby
Trumpet ... Daniel Newell
Percussion 1 ... Robert Kendell
Percussion 2 ... Stephen Gibson
Keyboards ... Alex Collinson, Bernard Robertson, Jonathan Taylor