La Fille Mal Gardee Alain
After ashton s death the rights to his staging of la fille mal gardée passed to alexander grant the original performer of the role of alain.
La fille mal gardee alain. La fille mal gardée was choreographed in 1960 by sir frederick ashton and tells the story of a love triangle between country beauty lise her true love colas and alain the son of a rich vineyard owner. Despite lise s mother wanting her to marry wealthy alain she falls in love with colas and eventually gains her blessing. In this respect la fille mal gardée was a contemporary cousin of the marriage of figaro. Frederick ashton s final full length ballet la fille mal gardée the wayward daughter is one of his most joyous creations inspired by his love for the suffolk countryside.
La fille mal gardée is a comic ballet presented in two acts inspired by pierre antoine baudouin s 1765 painting la réprimande une jeune fille querellée par sa mère. Jean dauberval s original la fille mal gardée ditched the fashion for formal displays of technical tricks in favor of a warm comedy of manners with a clear narrative and fully realized characters in a real farm setting of harvesting peasants pretentious landowners and thwarted lovers a far cry from queen marie antoinette s stylized shepherdesses elegantly disporting in a pastoral idyll. It s a light comedy about a young girl called lise who loves colas a local farmer and sneaks meetings with him while her mother tries to marry her off to the rich village idiot alain. Based on a 1789 french ballet of the same name the joyful la fille mal gardée the wayward daughter distils all of frederick ashton s love for english traditions and landscapes.
In the 1981 version the role of alain was performed by alexander s brother garry grant. Starring marianela nuñez as lise carlos acosta as colas and william tuckett as widow simone the ballet is set to music by john lanchbery arranged and orchestrated from the original 1828 score by ferdinand hérold. Marianela nuñez and carlos acosta portray the passion between the two young lovers superbly. La fille mal.
La fille mal gardée is set in the suffolk countryside and tells the tale of lise and colas. The ballet was originally choreographed by the ballet master jean dauberval to a pastiche of music based on fifty five popular french airs. Frederick ashton s delightful ballet la fille mal gardée is the next online production from the royal ballet available to view free of charge.