State Street Ballet showed off some changes they’ve made to one of its popular “family” ballets, The Jungle Book, in a one-off performance at the Granada March 24th. Co-Artistic Director William Soleau has polished some of the choreography for the many animals that populate this beloved story by Rudyard Kipling, giving them more animal-like movements to go along with the expected classic ballet moves. This is a fast-paced and colorful production with a dash of slapstick, a fabulous set and delightful costumes galore for an army of monkeys, Shere Khan the malevolent tiger, Kaa the slinky serpent, Bagheera the panther, Ikki the porcupine and Baloo the bear, peacocks and more, including the family of wolves who raise the hero Mowgli from infancy. Milan Svoboda, composer of the original score (which inspired founder and co-Director Rodney Gustafson to create the ballet in 2009) flew from Prague with his wife to see the new re-vamped version and children of all ages were thrilled to experience this big “new” production. Here are some highlights from the show.
