Jungle Book - USA, Santa Barbara

24.3.2019, La Granada Theatre, Santa Barbara, USA

State Street Ballet, choreography by Rodney Gustafson

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Margo Kline: State Street Ballet Makes ‘Jungle Book’ Swing

Company members in fine form in Sunday's production of Kipling's two-act fable

By Margo Kline, Noozhawk Contributor | February 15, 2011 | 1:17 a.m.

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Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book makes a delightful ballet, as demonstrated at the Lobero Theatre on Sunday when scores of children and their indulgent elders enjoyed the State Street Ballet’s version.

This two-act tale of a human boy raised by wolves in Kipling’s fabled jungle was choreographed by company director Rodney Gustafson and ballet master Gary McKenzie. Members of the company were in fine form — from the boy Mowgli, danced by Yosuke Yamamoto, and the Panther Bagheera, performed by Leila Drake, to Baloo the Sloth Bear, portrayed by McKenzie with goofy flair.

 Gustafson spoke briefly before the performance, telling the jazzed-up crowd that the company had performed The Jungle Book in Fresno on Saturday and were back home in Santa Barbara the very next day — ready to do it again. Dancers may not be super human, but one might think they were considering the energy and panache the dancers showed in the performance.

Yamamoto is a fine dancer and a charming actor, conveying the boy Mowgli’s awakening to his primeval world. As his would-be nemesis, Shere Khan the Tiger, Lu Wang was appropriately menacing.

The dancers were well-served by the lush jungle set and the costumes, which wittily conveyed each character’s animal species — Baloo the Sloth Bear lumbering around, the beautiful wolves Akela and Raksha, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi the mongoose (Cecily Stewart) and Kaa the Python, sinuously mimed by Angela Rebelo.

The ineffable Sergei Domrachev nearly stole the show as Jacala the Monkey King, with his outrageous simian gang, danced by Samantha Bell, Christine Sawyer, Cooper Rust, Steven Jasso, John Christopher Piel and David Sanders.

McKenzie and Marina Fliagina were the nerdy Safari Couple, togged out in 19th-century British pith helmets and equipped with a gun and a large butterfly net — the better to threaten the jungle denizens.

True to the Kipling era, the story has a genuine romance — a lovely young woman, Messua, danced by Jennifer Rowe, was a sweet partner for Mowgli. And he, by the end of the ballet, has grown into strapping manhood, ready to take on the real world — whatever that might be.

Especially effective were the production values: scenic design by Jean Francois Revon, lighting design and production by Mark Somrfield, costumes by A. Christina Giannina, assisted by Anaya Cullen, and costume construction by Milly Colahan.

— Margo Kline covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributor.

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Animal Activists: State Street Ballet Updates Jungle Book

(Montecito Journal, Summerland, Santa Barbara, CA, USA)

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BY STEVEN LIBOWITZ   |   MARCH 14, 2019

Something about the original score by Czech composer and conductor Milan Svoboda for a theatrical production of The Jungle Book drew State Street Ballet Artistic Director Rodney Gustafson’s attention when it arrived unsolicited more than a decade ago with a proposal to use it to create an original full-length work based on the beloved Rudyard Kipling’s collection of stories. The tale of the adventures of a young boy named Mowgli who was raised by a pack of wolves in the jungle had been adapted many times over for stage, television and, most famously, in the classic 1967 Disney animated film. But ballet was something new.

“I get a lot of things sent by composers and designers. But for some reason this felt like an idea I was interested in,” Gustafson said. “I read the story as a kid, of course. I liked that it wasn’t a typical ballet. I looked at many different stories, from Hans Christian Andersen to Huckleberry Finn, wanting a protagonist who wasn’t a woman. But mostly the music was so melodic and symbolic, and very much like a soundtrack, and almost all very upbeat that it makes you feel good. It had a lot of flow to it, which is conducive to choreography.”

So Gustafson and Gary McKenzie set about creative choreography for The Jungle Book, uses movements to convey the relationships, struggles and alliances between Mowgli and the animal characters in the mystical land of wolves, snakes, monkeys, and panthers, in the coming-of-age story that has captivated audiences for more than a century. When it premiered in 2009, State Street’s The Jungle Book was hailed as “a joy to behold” and “visually stunning,” then toured throughout California and the Southwest before returning for a reprise performance at the Granada in 2011.

Eight years later, the ballet company is reviving the work for a single show at the Granada on Sunday afternoon, March 24. While 2019’s The Jungle Book is not a different animal altogether, there has been a significant overhaul. Spurred by longtime State Street guest choreography William Soleau coming on as co-artistic director when McKenzie retired two years ago, “We decided to take another look,” Gustafson said. “There are a lot of new things; it’s been refreshed.”

Soleau touched up a number of sections, Gustafson said, noting his co-choreographer’s background in theater as well as dance. “We went all through the piece, which was a little bit disjointed because in the segments Gary and I did before, the storyline didn’t feel like it flowed as well as it could. Bill is masterful at making it very even throughout.”

More dramatic is additional new choreography by Kassandra Taylor Newberry, which replaced much of McKenzie’s fight scenes and monkey interplay, Gustafson said. “She’s got a style that’s hip-hop-py and very unique, different than anything you’d see. I’m from classical ballet, Bill is contemporary, but she’s just a genius young choreographer who is so out of the box. The things she did were just great.”

Meanwhile, the elaborate and colorful animal costumes by A. Christina Giannini that so captivated kids and adults back in 2009 have been updated for this production with additional new designs by Nicole Thompson. Indeed, the cornucopia of critters is part of what attracted Gustafson to the story in the first place.

“Almost everyone in the ballet except for just a few characters are animals, and that’s intriguing because we could create movements appropriate for a tiger or a panther or monkeys. We have a lot of sophisticated stuff in our repertoire, dramas with hardcore music. But sometimes, I love to do a production that’s entertaining to a general audience. The Jungle Book is a lot of fun.”

As befitting a tale with universal appeal, State Street’s new production will have a lot of international flavor. Mowgli is portrayed by Francois Llorente, a young Cuban gold medal-winning dancer while Japanese dancer Saori Yamashita plays his love interest, and Deise Mendonca, of Brazil, plays Kaa the snake, and American Anna Carnes is the leopard.

“I think that’s a really nice feature of our company,” Gustafson said.