‘Frankenstein’ turned into a monster collaboration among Modesto companies
There’s no better time than Halloween to offer a production based on “Frankenstein.”
Modesto’s Central West Ballet presents “Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus” on Oct. 28-29 at the Gallo Center for the Arts. The Oct. 28 show is sold out and the Oct. 29 show had limited seats available at press time.
“Frankenstein” will be a joint production, along with three other local companies, according to a press release from CWB. It’s been delayed two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s the final in a trilogy of Halloween-themed ballets from CWB after offering “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in 2015 and “Dracula” in 2018. It opens the company’s 35th season.
“We have taken unprecedented steps to make this a special 35th anniversary season, starting with ‘Frankenstein,’” Karin Reenstierna, CWB’s executive director, said in the release. “I began asking Modesto Symphony Orchestra, Opera Modesto and Prospect Theater Project about collaborating with us to bring (CWB’s artistic director) René Daveluy’s vision of Mary Shelley’s novel to life two years ago.”
That means the production will include a live orchestra, singers and actors sharing the stage with CWB dancers.
The production makes use of select elements in Shelley’s novel, according to the release, but some liberty was taken to translate the novel into a ballet.
The bride demanded by The Creature, which in the novel never makes it off the laboratory table, is brought to life for a dance scene in the second act. Other scenes make use of tavern songs and dances.
Daveluy said in the release that this will be his final Halloween ballet. “We have been producing these shows for the last (seven) years and there was only one possible contender to complete our trilogy, the revered novel by Mary Shelly.”
This story was originally published October 17, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
