Photographer: Joanne Salyer; Dancers: Sarah Jung and Allen Sizemore
Dust off your tambourines! April 24 and 25, Ballet Theatre of Maryland concludes their mainstage season with the company premiere of La Esmeralda. Based on Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, this production uses stirring music and the expressive art of dance to tell Esmeralda's story.
BTM will perform La Esmeralda at Maryland Hall on April 24 at 7:30 pm and April 25 at 1 pm and 4:30 pm. Audiences can also livestream the show from home with virtual tickets. La Esmeralda will be between 2 and 2.5 hours long.
Artistic Director Nicole Kelsch says, "It is an honor to bring La Esmeralda to the stage this season, as it is a ballet rarely performed in the United States. We are excited to share a production that many audience members won't have seen before, and we're confident that they'll fall in love with it the way we have. You can expect the same drama as its source material, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, along with charming comedic moments, heartfelt characters, and lots of exciting dancing."
Though inspired by Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris, the ballet production makes big changes to the original novel's sweeping narrative and heavy themes. This stems from 1836, when Hugo adapted the book into an opera. He narrowed the focus to Esmeralda, made the character Phoebus more traditionally heroic, and crafted a new, uplifting resolution to the story.
Although the opera was not a success, Hugo's libretto proved perfect for Jules Perrot's 1844 ballet adaptation. Literary-minded audience members may notice how the ballet strays from the source material, but these changes come with the blessing of the original author.
Photographer: Joanne Salyer; Dancers: Sarah Jung and Allen Sizemore
Set in medieval France, La Esmeralda follows the noble-hearted street performer as she defies the wicked Archdeacon Claude Frollo and his henchman, Quasimodo. She's aided in this by an unlikely ally: the poet Pierre Gringoire. He wanders into the wrong part of Paris and faces the threat of death from the Romani King unless one of their women will marry him. Esmeralda agrees, but only to save his life.
Frollo and Quasimodo attempt to kidnap Esmeralda, but their plan is foiled when the dashing Captain Phoebus rescues Esmeralda. Though she's grateful, Esmeralda begs Phoebus to spare Quasimodo. Phoebus finds Esmeralda charming, so he agrees—and gifts her with a scarf originally given to him by his fiancée, Fleur de Lys. Although Phoebus and Fleur de Lys do not love one another, their engagement party is scheduled for the next day.
Unbeknownst to Esmeralda, her band of dancers has been hired to entertain at Fleur de Lys's party. Fresh from teaching Pierre Gringoire to dance, Esmeralda arrives only to realize that Phoebus is betrothed to another. Will Phoebus follow his heart? Will Esmeralda escape Claude Frollo's plotting? These questions and more are answered in this spellbinding story of adventure and romance.
Audiences will thrill at exuberant dances like the Festival of Fools and marvel at the elegant Grand Pas de Fleurs. With themes of courage, compassion, and the redemptive power of love, La Esmeralda is a family-friendly event that is not to be missed.
To purchase your tickets for La Esmeralda, visit www.BalletMaryland.org! For other inquiries, call 410-224-5644 or email btmmgr@balletmaryland.org. BTM cautions that BalletMaryland.org and Eventbrite.com are the only official websites for purchasing tickets to La Esmeralda.
