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The Kennedy Center

Hamburg Ballet

Hamburg Ballet: John Neumeier's The Little Mermaid

Tuesday, March 28, 2017 - Sunday, April 2, 2017

Ballet & Contemporary Dance Ballet

Returning for the first time in 13 years, the company performs the D.C. premiere of John Neumeier's adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fable. This stunning production is a darker meditation on love, loss, and alienation.

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About

HAMBURG BALLET
John Neumeier, Director and Chief Choreographer
 
THE LITTLE MERMAID
Music by Lera Auerbach
Choreography, staging, set, costumes, and light design by John Neumeier
 
with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra 
conducted by Luciano Di Martino
 
"Scenic sumptuousness… magnificent lighting, set, and costume designs"
--Los Angeles Times

 
"Vividly striking… the Mermaid is a unique role for a ballerina."
--The Financial Times

 
Hans Christian Andersen's beloved tale of love and loss comes to life in this bold retelling. Following its auspicious 2004 Kennedy Center debut with the mesmerizing Nijinsky, Germany's Hamburg Ballet returns with the D.C. premiere of another ambitious work by John Neumeier, the company's American artistic director who is internationally renowned for creating psychologically complex stories that straddle the worlds of drama and dance.
 
Neumeier's modern vision for The Little Mermaid is a dark, probing exploration of a young woman who risks everything--rejection, alienation, even physical pain--to follow her heart. Contrasting her fanciful underwater world with the challenges of life on dry land, the ballet also masterfully interweaves elements of Andersen's own biography, making the writer a figure in the narrative. Inspired in part by traditional Japanese theater, the expressionistic sets and costumes, angular choreography, and evocative score by acclaimed contemporary Russian composer Lera Auerbach put the finishing touches on this daring production. 
 
Recommended for age 10 and up.

Performance Timing: Act One - 80 min.; Intermission - 25 min.; Act Two - 50 min.

Note: Composer Lera Auerbach will sign copies of her book Excess of Being in front of the Opera House following the 7:30 p.m. performances on Tuesday, Mar. 28.

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PRINCIPAL CASTING    (subject to change)
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Mar. 28, 29, 31, Apr. 1 at 7:30 p.m. & Apr. 2 at 1:30 p.m.
The Poet: Lloyd Riggins
The Little Mermaid/His Creation: Silvia Azzoni
Edvard/The Prince: Carsten Jung
Henriette/The Princess: Carolina Agüero
The Sea Witch: Karen Azatyan

Mar. 30 at 7:30 p.m. & Apr. 1 at 1:30 p.m.

The Poet: Ivan Urban
The Little Mermaid/His Creation: Xue Lin
Edvard/The Prince: Edvin Revazov
Henriette/The Princess: Florencia Chinellato
The Sea Witch: Alexandre Riabko

 

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Hamburg Ballet: John Neumeier's The Little Mermaid

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