Doug Fullington
STAR ON THE RISE
La Bayadère ... Reimagined!
Musical Comedy Ballet in Two Acts
Music by Ludwig Minkus
Adapted and Orchestrated by Larry Moore
Choreography by Marius Petipa
Adapted and with Additional Choreography by Phil Chan and Doug Fullington
Libretto by Phil Chan
(after Sergei Khudekov and Marius Petipa)
Musical Supervision by Doug Fullington
Star on the Rise premiere: March 29, 2024,
Musical Arts Center, Indiana University,
Bloomington, Indiana
La Bayadère premiere: January 23, 1877 (Old Style),
Bolshoi Theater, St. Petersburg
About
Star on the Rise is a reimagining of Marius Petipa's 1877 ballet La Bayadère. The ballet's new narrative matches the contours of Bayadère's plot but is set in 1920's Hollywood instead of a fantasy India and substitutes a backstage musical comedy for melodrama. Star on the Rise is the brainchild of Phil Chan and Doug Fullington, but more than that, it is the result of close collaboration with music adapter and orchestrator Larry Moore and the whole of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Ballet Department. Star on the Rise: La Bayadère ... Reimagined! premiered at IU's Musical Arts Center on March 29 & 30, 2024.
Livestream available here.
PDF program available here.
Read the New York Times preview here.
Read about Petipa's La Bayadère in detail in my dissertation here (pages 37–213).
Scroll down for more press.
Characters (in order of appearance)
Sol, A Rising Leading Man of the Silver Screen
“Mad” Gavin, The Choreographer
Mr. Bramen, The Director
Nikki, A Talented Chorus Dancer
Pamela Zatti, The Leading Actress of the Silver Screen
Doug Manta, The Head of The Film Studio
The Costume Designer
The Golden Oscar
Dreamland soloists
Chorus Dancers, Cowboys, Pianist, Camera Operators, Costume Assistants, Ranchers, Mini Mantas, Buckaroos, Falconers, Sheriffs, Jug Band Kids, Drummer, Dreamland corps de ballet, Wranglers
Synopsis
ACT ONE
Scene 1—The Rehearsal Hall
Sol, a rising star of the silver screen, has just finished filming a scene for the studio’s latest Western-themed musical extravaganza. He asks “Mad” Gavin, the film’s choreographer, to deliver a bouquet of flowers to Nikki, a chorus dancer he loves. Mr. Bramen, the director, observes a rehearsal then selects Nikki for a plum solo role. The proceedings are interrupted by the antics of Sol’s Cowboy cohorts and the arrival of Pamela Zatti, the reigning star of the silver screen. With all eyes on Pamela, Mr. Bramen takes Nikki aside and promises her stardom in return for her romantic favor. Rejecting him outright, Nikki is left shaken until Gavin hands her Sol’s bouquet. Later, Nikki stays behind to meet her beau, who surprises her with a marriage proposal. An eavesdropping Mr. Bramen, still bruised from rejection, vows revenge.
Scene 2—On Set: The Cactus Dance
As a new day of shooting commences, Doug Manta, the owner of the studio, greets the cast and crew.
Scene 3—Doug’s Office
Pamela pays a visit to Doug, who reveals the poster for the studio’s next big film. As Sol joins them, Pamela insists that she star alongside him, a partnership sure to extend her waning career. Envisioning the film’s Oscar-winning potential, Doug agrees. Mr. Bramen interrupts and demands to see Doug alone. Wanting Nikki for himself, Bramen reveals the romance between the two young lovers and suggests the studio’s perfect pairing of Sol and Pamela would be jeopardized. Pamela overhears and decides to confront Nikki herself. Threatened by ruin, Doug resolves to fire Nikki.
Scene 4—Pamela’s Dressing Room
Pamela summons Nikki to her dressing room and reveals she is aware of the chorus dancer’s recent engagement to Sol. Pamela plays nice but also makes clear that she, and not young Nikki, will be starring alongside Sol in the studio’s next picture. She offers to bribe Nikki to leave the studio of her own accord, but Nikki refuses. The encounter erupts into a heated altercation, leaving Pamela enraged.
Scene 5—On Set: Rodeo Parade
Filming resumes with a festive rodeo parade. Following the successful shoot, sad Nikki can’t bring herself to celebrate with the others. She consoles herself by playing her guitar and soon begins to attract a crowd of cast members who enthusiastically support her undeniable talent. Suddenly, Doug returns to set, a livid Pamela at his heels. Desperate to keep his biggest star happy, Doug fires Nikki on the spot. Seizing the moment, Mr. Bramen approaches the distraught young dancer and offers to save her career if she will only entertain his advances. Nikki refuses with all the strength she can muster and dashes off set, with Sol, Doug, and finally Pamela in hot pursuit.
ACT TWO
Scene 6—Nikki’s Dressing Room
Dejected, Nikki is packing her trunk when Sol arrives to console her. When Doug joins them, they describe to him their hopes and dreams of starring together in a new, glittering film.
Scene 7—Dreamland
Sol and Nikki lead a stunning deco ballet fantasy, the model for their ideal collaboration.
Scene 8—On Set: The Train Station
Won over by the young lovers’ irresistible enthusiasm, Doug relents, reinstates Nikki’s contract, and lays plans for the studio’s future. As the final day of shooting comes to a close, he surprises everyone with thrilling news that leads to a joyous happily-ever-after.
ACT ONE
Scene 1—The Rehearsal Hall
Campfire Waltz.............................................................................. Chorus Dancers & Nikki
Tango di Diva........................................................................................ Pamela & Cowboys
Scene 2—On Set: The Cactus Dance
Cactus Dance.........................................................................................................Ranchers
Scene 3—Doug’s Office....................................................... Doug, Pamela, Sol & Mr. Bramen
The Golden Oscar........................................................... The Golden Oscar & Mini Mantas
Scene 4—Pamela’s Dressing Room..................................................................Pamela & Nikki
Scene 5—On Set: Rodeo Parade
Rodeo Parade........................................................................................................Ensemble
Ranchers Dance.....................................................................................................Ranchers
Ten Gallon Hat Dance........................................................................ Ranchers & Cowboys
Falconers Dance................................................................................................... Falconers
Sheriffs Dance.......................................................................................................... Sheriffs
Jug Band Dance.......................................................................... Nikki & her Jug Band Kids
Bronco Busters............................................................. Pamela, Sol, Drummer & Cowboys
Rodeo Waltz......................................................................................................... Ensemble
Finale....................................................................................................... Nikki & Ensemble
Intermission
ACT TWO
Scene 6—Nikki’s Dressing Room.................................................... Nikki, Sol, Doug & Pamela
Scene 7—Dreamland
Into Dreamland......................................................................... Dreamland corps de ballet
Waltz......................................................................... Dreamland soloists & corps de ballet
Pas de Deux......................................................................................................... Nikki & Sol
Grand Adagio.................................................. Nikki & Sol with Dreamland corps de ballet
Variations.................................................................................. Dreamland soloists & Nikki
Coda in Swing Time ................................. Nikki, Sol, Dreamland soloists & corps de ballet
Scene 8—On Set: The Train Station
Wranglers Dance.............................................................................. Wranglers & Ranchers
Train Station Trio........................................... Pamela, Sol & Nikki with Sheriffs & Cowboys
Two-Step
Adagio
Coda
Finale and Charleston.......................................................................................... Ensemble
Reimagining La Bayadère as Star on the Rise by Doug Fullington
I’ve always thought Marius Petipa’s choreography for the character dances in his 1877 La Bayadère would look at home on the music hall stage. So when Phil Chan suggested that we collaborate on a reimagining of this revered but problematic ballet warhorse, originally set in a fantasy India, I hoped we’d settle on an early-twentieth century setting. After discussing a variety of scenarios, we landed on a backstage drama—a show within a show—one of the favored narrative structures of American musical theatre. Phil immediately identified the congruence between Bayadère’s love triangle of Nikia, Solor, and Gamzatti and that of Singin’ in the Rain’s Kathy Seldon, Don Lockwood, and Lina Lamont. This led us to our reimagined plot, a comedy (!) featuring an up-and-coming ingenue, her fiancé, and the reigning star of the Silver Screen. Nikki (Phil’s new name for Bayadère’s Nikia) would be our star on the rise.
The Gershwins’ 1930 musical Girl Crazy, which made stars out of Ethel Merman and Ginger Rogers, has long been a favorite of mine with its dude ranch setting and terrific musical numbers. I was thrilled, then, that Phil was as game as I was to set most of the ballet’s dances as part of a cowboy-themed film being shot throughout our show, In short order, Bayadère’s opening ritual dance became a Campfire Waltz, the “Djampe” scarf number became a Cactus Dance—its performers wielding riding crops—and Petipa’s lavish Badrinata festival was transformed into a Rodeo Parade. Bayadère’s iconic Kingdom of the Shades scene called for special attention and a contrasting approach. We’ve made it the “dream ballet” of our show—an art deco fantasy inspired by the over-the-top creations of Busby Berkeley.
We knew the score by Ludwig Minkus would need to be adapted to deliver the sound world of a vintage musical. This particular combination of symphony orchestra and jazz band is epitomized in the work of Robert Russell Bennett, the orchestrator of choice for most of the era’s tunesmiths. From the beginning, I had the wonderful vintage musical specialist Larry Moore in mind and hoped I could convince him to take on the project and give the score a Robert Russell Bennett treatment. Larry had worked on a reconstruction of Girl Crazy in the ‘90s, and I knew he’d be perfect for Star on the Rise. To my delight, he was more enthusiastic than I could have hoped, and we spent a happy nine months in 2023 working together as he adapted the score from period sources and sent me scans of his handwritten manuscripts, which I dutifully computer-set to create a full score, parts, and piano reduction. Larry worked from two Imperial-era rehearsal scores, one for two violins and another for piano. We breathed sigh of relief as we found that Minkus’s waltzes, polkas, and galops transformed easily into tangos, beguines, and Charlestons. The new orchestration for the Dreamland scene (Larry’s apt new title for the Kingdom of the Shades) was inspired by Bennett’s glamorous settings for the Astaire-Rogers hit film Swing Time.
I’ve approached Petipa’s choreography for Bayadère based on the various ways the steps have come down to us. Nearly all of the ballet’s ensembles dances and a few solos were documented using the Stepanov choreographic notation system in connection with Petipa’s revival of Bayadère in 1900. Nikolai Sergeyev, a dancer in the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet who later became rehearsal director and an important ballet stager in the West, was the notator. His work is now housed at Harvard University. (The ballet’s mime script, also copied by Sergeyev, and Petipa’s own preparatory notes are held in Moscow archives.) In setting the dances, I’ve followed the notation closely, although we’ve allowed ourselves some latitude in the upper body (and occasionally in the legs and feet) to help place the choreography within our new narrative context.
Some numbers that aren’t notated have been handed down by oral transmission, from dancer to dancer. For these, we’ve consulted the earliest films we were able to locate—usually mid-twentieth century black-and-white excerpts from Bayadère. Here, we’ve allowed ourselves additional freedoms in the staging, particularly where the “traditional” choreography seems not to represent ballet step vocabulary or structure that was common around the turn of the twentieth century. In the case of the adagio from the pas d’action in the final scene, we’ve created new choreography drawing on many inspirations. Likewise, the dances for the fakirs in the opening scene—undocumented and by early accounts demeaning and exoticized representations of Hindu religious thought to possess miraculous powers—have been replaced by choreography for our band of cowboys. For these passages, we looked to other cowboy-themed dances in the American repertory for inspiration, especially those by Agnes DeMille (Oklahoma, Rodeo) and George Balanchine (Western Symphony). (The cowboy roles are a composite of Bayadère’s fakirs, the young boy students in Petipa’s Badrinata festival scene—this choreography is shared with our young Buckaroos—and the ensemble in Bayadère’s "Hindu" dance.)
We’ve reassigned several dances as well: Pamela Zatti, our Gamzatti character, performs Nikia’s vina (guitar) number in the opening scene, its music reimagined as a tango; Nikki performs the "Manu" dance in the Rodeo Parade scene, a moonshine jug replacing the milk pitcher of the original; and Pam and Sol (our Solor) dance the leads in the frenzied “Hindu" dance, here rechristened as Bronco Busters, another nod to Girl Crazy. The "Lotus" dance in the ballet’s finale scene was choreographed by Petipa for 24 student girls and provided us with a particular challenge because our resources didn’t allow for this cast size. Our solution has been to set the dance for six young students joined by six Rancher men from the IU Ballet Department, and we have adapted the choreography accordingly. We’ve also included a non-Petipa dance that has become part of Bayadère’s performance tradition—the 1948 interpolation for a character originally called the “little god,” better known today as the Bronze (or Golden) Idol. Finally, with Larry’s encouragement, we’ve replaced the ballet’s apotheosis, depicting Nikia and Solor flying through the mist over the Himalayas, with an upbeat Charleston finale that befits the uplifting ending of our new story. Structured in the manner of a Petipa coda, the number features the entire ensemble dancing to the strains of a jazzy, reimagined melody from the Kingdom of the Shades.
The entire IU Ballet Department, especially its wonderful students, approached this project with generosity, openness, and enthusiasm. I sincerely thank them all.
February 2024
A Better Bayadère by Phil Chan
Who doesn’t enjoy a spicy drama of dangerous love in an exotic setting—a timeless story told through exquisite dance? The quintessential classical ballet La Bayadère did exactly that, wowing European audiences who were fascinated by the new worlds their empire-building was opening to them. Inspired by contemporary news stories about India in the 1870s, including a high-profile tour by England’s Prince of Wales in 1875, Marius Petipa began sketching out this melodramatic Indian-themed ballet. In the original tale, the noble warrior, Solor, must choose between his true love, Nikiya, the titular “bayadère,” or temple dancer, and his betrothed, the Princess Gamzatti. The ballet underwent significant Soviet revisions in the 1940s, and it’s from those revisions that most current productions derive.
Stories that rely on being “exotic” for their appeal can lose their charm, and even seem silly, once people become more worldly and can recognize inaccuracies and stereotypes. Because La Bayadère was created and presented by Europeans long ago with little authentic cultural knowledge, 21st century audience members now find many of La Bayadère’s depictions of Indian people, religion, and culture as inappropriate caricatures. We’re not impressed, seeing Hindus who crawl on the floor like savage apes, page boys in blackface, and bastardized sacred mudras. When we all have Indian friends, colleagues, neighbors, family members, and opportunities to engage with authentic Indian culture, presenting “India” as an exotic pastiche can no longer be done with integrity or respect.
Seeing the problems, most North American companies have shelved (“canceled”) this dance masterpiece — this classic that contains so much of ballet history and tradition. What a pity, say those of us who believe La Bayadère still has a place in today's repertory because of its sublime music and timeless choreography. If the problem is the setting of the story, can’t we fix that?
As the cofounder of Final Bow for Yellowface (www.yellowface.org) I have worked tirelessly since 2017 to eradicate yellowface and Orientalism from our ballet stages, replacing them with better reimaginings of classics and new works by Asian artists. My work is the opposite of cancel culture—I believe we should be steeping in our traditions and recognize redeeming qualities in works from the past, while creatively reimagining them for today's diverse audiences. So, how could we tweak this very human love story —preserving this iconic work? My favorite artistic prompt is, “what else could it be?”
Alongside Doug Fullington, Larry Moore, and the immensely talented students and faculty of Indiana University’s Jacob’s School of Music, I’ve been working on a forceful and fun answer to that question. Retaining choreographer Marius Petipa’s steps and structure, that Doug meticulously restored from notation available, and Ludwig Minkus’ score, magically transformed by Larry, we have reset the ballet as a backstage melodrama during the Golden Age of the Hollywood musical. Keeping the basic plot but changing the setting is not a radical idea: these days it’s almost impossible to see a Shakespeare play that’s performed in a context that an Elizabethan would have recognized. Unlike paintings or sculptures, works of performance art are alive and always changing.
We hope you’ll agree with us that we lose nothing by trading in the blackface and opium fantasy for dancing cowboys and a Busby Berkeley-inspired dream ballet. We’ve made the ballet about “us," and center our experience as Americans. By doing so, we are able to preserve our beloved dance heritage while being respectful to Indian people and culture—win/win. Isn’t that a better way to tell a story for today?
February 2024
Adapting the Music of La Bayadère by Larry Moore
I saw the notice on Facebook; it had been posted by my friend Mark Horowitz of the Library of Congress Music Division: someone was looking for an orchestrator/arranger to score a ballet in the style of George Gershwin’s 1930 musical Girl Crazy. Well, I thought, I might be good for that. I had spent most of 1989 creating and editing a full score from original orchestra parts for the Roxbury Records recording of Girl Crazy, and I had been working as an orchestrator/editor with my friend Russell Warner for various musicals written between 1900 and 1945. I thought I had a pretty good grasp on what to do.
I contacted Mark immediately on January 23, 2022, and before long I was in contact with someone I suspect may be one of the few true gentlemen in show biz, Doug Fullington. There was an interesting situation here: Doug was good friends with my late friend Russell, who had orchestrated a ballet for Pacific Northwest Ballet, and by even stranger coincidence, I had orchestrated one or two sections of that ballet for Russell as the deadline closed in on him.
Several months later, I met Doug’s partner on this project, Phil Chan, for lunch. I must have passed the two interviews because shortly thereafter, Doug sent me a hefty carton of materials for the ballet I would be working on, Ludwig Minkus’ 1877 score for the Marius Petipa ballet, La Bayadère. Looking through the materials, my first reaction was, Oy! What have I got myself in for? After watching a production of the ballet, I was happy that Doug and Phil had reimagined this tragic ballet as a comedy.
There’s a large musical distance between 1877 and 1930, and an even bigger distance between 2024 and 1930. Musical styles have changed along with attitudes toward music and how one listens. Today, when one thinks of music from the 1920s, we think of the dance band stereotype—wah-wah mutes, the banjo, syncopated and bouncy rhythms for the Charleston and Black Bottom—but these weren’t necessarily the sounds for theatre music of the period. Broadway shows were sophisticated affairs, and the creators of the music provided a sophisticated sound for the scores they arranged. Their backgrounds and musical training were often European. Max Dreyfus, who ran Chappell Music and had writers like Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, and George Gershwin under contract, called most of the shots about published music, its arrangements and its orchestrators. Dreyfus’ orchestrator of choice for shows between 1924 and 1960 was Robert Russell Bennett, who studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris during the 1920s and who was principal orchestrator for Girl Crazy. I made him my model for this new version of La Bayadère, now titled Star on the Rise.
My principal challenge was to make a ballet score from 1877 sound as much like a 1930’s Broadway musical comedy as possible. The most important orchestral decision was to keep the sound of the major part of the ballet in one musical territory, a 1930’s musical comedy, and a different sound for the Dreamland (formerly “Kingdom of the Shades”) sequence. Another concern I had was how far Doug would let me go in twisting Ludwig Minkus out of shape? Much of his music was what I would call nineteenth-century ballet frou-frou. He had too much reliance on unison sections as well as a limited harmonic palette for my taste, but then there would occur a stunning melody that took your breath away. I couldn’t be condescending and call him a hack, but I never thought he rose to the level of Tchaikovsky or Delibes in their ballet scores.
With the exception of the “Tango di Diva,” where I ventured into parody territory—the new version is a comedy, right?—I pretty much scored the music as it existed in the original score. I had decided the sonic world had to be American, not nineteenth-century Russian, but I proceeded cautiously. I did put a bit of Dixieland into one section, and I turned another into a rowdy polka, but I stayed close to Minkus’ harmonies. I considered the orchestration basically a new paint job. There were several spots in the first act where Minkus wrote “exotic” music for his exotic characters, and I felt that had to go. In one case, I rewrote one or two bars of music to remove the peculiar bars that came out of nowhere; our heroine is a sweet young American starlet, not a temple dancer in an exotic India that never existed. In another number, I replaced a curious bit of exoticism with the folk song “Red River Valley.” The movie being filmed in the ballet is a Western musical, and I thought it would be a nice surprise.
By the time I reached the final scene of Act One, I became more aggressive about Americanizing the score; the Rodeo Parade owes more to John Phillip Sousa than Ludwig Minkus, and the continuous unison lines in “Bronco Busters” screamed for harmonization to keep the excitement building.
In Act Two, I turned one section of music into a beguine as my nod to Cole Porter, and then came the section I dreaded: Dreamland, our Hollywood Fred-and-Ginger fantasy. Doug had the great idea of featuring the piano in the orchestra pit, and I had the challenge of turning a score from 1877 into a Hollywood musical of the 1930s. In the pas de deux for the romantic couple, it took me two failures before I decided the way to treat the music was just what writers of the 20s and 30s did to create pop songs from Chopin and Tchaikovsky melodies: keep the tune and rewrite the accompaniment. After that, the Dreamland scene was a breeze, and in the “Coda in Swing Time” finale of the sequence, I finally got a chance to pay homage to Jerome Kern’s “Waltz in Swing Time” and write a conclusion I think George Gershwin himself might have envied.
2023
Press
Dance Magazine: Indiana University Livestreams Star on the Rise: La Bayadère … Reimagined! (Mar 29, 2024)
Indiana Public Media: Star on the Rise (Mar 28, 2024) (audio interview with Phil Chan)
Indiana Daily Student: Jacobs prepares new ballet, “Star on the Rise: La Bayadère...Reimagined!” (Mar 28, 2024)
Indiana Daily Student: The Jacobs School of Music starts a new chapter with ‘Star on the Rise: La Bayadère... Reimagined!’ (Mar 28, 2024)
Ballet Help Desk: Inside Indiana University's Ballet Program with Sarah Wroth (Mar 27, 2024) (podcast)
IU Jacobs School of Music: Backstories with Doug Fullington, dance historian and musicologist (Mar 26, 2024) (video interview)
Indiana Daily Student: ‘Star on the Rise’ reimagines ‘La Bayadère’ with Hollywood glitz March 29-30 (Mar 26, 2024)
News at IU: ‘Star on the Rise: La Bayadère ... Reimagined!’ replaces caricature with character (Mar 25, 2024)
New York Times: How do you solve a problem like 'Bayadère': Send in the Cowboys (Mar 23, 2024)
Dance Australia: How NOT to cancel 'La Bayadere' (Mar 23, 2024)
Indiana Daily Student: Episode 2: Asking Phil Chan and Doug Fullington (Mar 20, 2024) (podcast)
The Guardian: The best theatre to stream this month: Peaky Blinders, Prima Facie and more (Feb 29, 2024)
Dance Magazine: Indiana University Removes Offensive Caricatures in New Productions of The Nutcracker and La Bayadère (Dec 21, 2023)
Conversations on Dance: Reimagining La Bayadère with Phil Chan, Doug Fullington, and Sarah Wroth (May 9, 2023)
Indiana Daily Student: Q&A with Phil Chan and Doug Fullington (Dec 11, 2022)
Pointe Magazine: A "La Bayadère" for the 21st Century: How Companies are Confronting the Ballet’s Orientalist Stereotypes (Aug 31, 2020)