Way back when Tim Burton was a much weirder filmmaker, my wee brother and I were unreasonably thrilled by the chaos engine of awfully bad behaviour that was Michael Keaton’s unhinged and unwashed demon, Betelgeuse.
The grotty stripe-suited monster ate up the 1988 film of not quite the same name – the studio figured folks would stay away unless the title was simplified to Beetlejuice. Named after the red supergiant star blazing ferociously in the constellation of Orion, some 600 light years from our solar system, Betelgeuse is an outcast from the hilariously bureaucratic afterlife, aka the Netherworld. Which leaves him preying on the naïve recently deceased, like sweet young couple Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis), in an attempt to crowbar open the sort of ridiculous loophole the Greek gods are fond of.
Say his – apparently too complex – name three times and he’ll be unleashed on the mortal coil once more.
But Betelgeuse’s sleazy attentions are soon distracted by Winona Ryder’s goth child Lydia, when she reluctantly moves into Adam and Barbara’s now-empty house with her dad, Charles (disgraced actor Jeffrey Jones), and his new squeeze, OTT sculptor Delia (fabulously demented goddess Catherine O’Hara).
A smash hit, Beetlejuice is a wild and unruly thing writhing with unhinged ideas, from its stop-animated black and white sand worms to characters shrunk into a model of sleepy town Winter River, and on to the hilariously-depicted dead of the surreal...
If 2015 was the Australian Ballet’s ‘year of beauty’, then 2016 delves into darker (yet no less ambitious) territory, with classic and contemporary works depicting turbulent romances, supernatural forces and a tortured genius. “Ballet has the ability to transform,” says McAllister. “This is a richly dynamic and diverse season which I am proud to present.”
An anticipated highlight of the season will be the Australian premiere of Nijinsky (Sep 7-17) an emotional tribute to the Ballets Russes prodigy, lauded as one of the greatest dancers and choreographers of the 20th century. Created by master choreographer John Neumeier and first performed by the Hamburg Ballet in 2000, Nijinsky tells the story of the dancer’s meteoric rise to fame, the controversy around his sensual choreography, and his battle with mental illness that eventually saw him pass away in a mental institution in 1950.
Following the huge success and critical acclaim of 2015’s 20:21, contemporary ballet will again come to the fore with Vitesse (Mar 11-21), which will featuring new works by three world-famous choreographers: Christopher Wheeldon, Jiří Kylián and William Forsythe.
On the other end of the spectrum are lavish productions of ballet classics. Stephen Baynes’ traditional staging of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (Jun 7-18), created by the resident choreographer for the Australian Ballet’s 50th anniversary in 2012, will return for an encore run, complete with Edwardian set design by the masterful Hugh Coleman.
The talented Stanton Welch, who is both a resident choreographer with the Australian Ballet and artistic director of Houston Ballet, will bring his much-loved production of Romeo and Juliet (Jun 30-Jul 9) exclusively to Melbourne. Rounding out the season will be the family favourite fairytale Coppélia (Sep 23-Oct 1).
