Chéri – Location, Tickets, Reviews
Signature Theatre presents the world premiere of Chéri, an interdisciplinary work by Martha Clarke that incorporates theater, live music, and dance.
Adapted from French author Colette’s novel Chéri and its sequel La Fin de Chéri, the story is set in Paris around the First World War. It tells the tragic story of Chéri, a young man who is in love with his mother’s best friend Lea, a woman twice his age. Their relationship ends when Chéri, in a compromise with his mother, marries a younger woman. As the war breaks out, Chéri is sent to the front. He comes back mentally devastated and the emotional crisis leads him to ruin.
The story unfolds with dance sequences by Herman Cornejo, playing Chéri, and Alessandra Ferri, playing Lea, set to live piano music played by Sarah Rothenberg. Amy Irving acts as the mother and narrator. The choreography is beautiful at times, but repetitive, the New York Times called certain passages “generic or trite” (trite, a term also used in the New York Magazine review). The dance routines did not make up for the absence of dialogue when communicating Chéri’s intricate experience of forbidden love and psychological trauma or as the New York Post said it “struggles to create drama.”
As with all shows produced by the Signature Theatre tickets are $25 for the duration of the initial run (through December 22) and increase to $75 during the extension period. The opportunity to witness prima ballerina assoluta Alessandra Ferri justifies a $25 ticket for this show but the flaws make a $75 ticket a tough sell.
LOCATION
Signature Theatre
480 West 42nd Street
New York City
[google-map-v3 width=”250″ height=”250″ zoom=”12″ maptype=”roadmap” mapalign=”left” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”480 West 42nd Street, New York{}1-default.png” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]
RUNNING TIME
1 hour and 5 minutes, no intermission
TICKETS
Through December 22 – $25; beginning December 23 – $75 (click here for tickets)
DATES
Extended through December 29, 2013
REVIEWS
New York Times
Tragic Course of a Delirious Blaze
New York Magazine
So much agony and ecstasy, so little fun.
New York Post
‘Chéri’ struggles to create drama
Time Out New York
The distinction is quite blurry in Martha Clarke’s dance-theater reduction of Colette’s 1920 novel Chéri, in which choreographed steps melt into steamy clinches.
TheaterMania
Martha Clarke brings together masters of dance, music, and theater for her seductive stage adaptation of Colette’s celebrated French novel.
NJ.com
Darling dancers make Martha Clarke’s Chéri a voluptuous dream
Talkin’ Broadway
Martha Clarke’s arresting new dance-theatre piece at the Pershing Square Signature Center runs scarcely more than an hour, but in its limited time describes, depicts, and deconstructs every imaginable component of romantic affection.
CAST & CREW
(partial list)
Conceived, directed & choreographed by Martha Clarke
Text by Tina Howe
Piano by Sarah Rothenberg
Featuring Herman Cornejo, Alessandra Ferri, Amy Irving