“Black Swan” is billed as “a new dance thriller” by the American Repertory Theater. It is indeed both thriller — a tense and suspense-driven story — and thrilling in its bold use of lighting, choreography, sound, music and illusion. It’s an awe-inspiring work of creative power.
And one needed by the A.R.T., which has had a string of underwhelming productions in recent months. It’s good to see it back with something unmissable, which is exactly what “Black Swan” is. To be honest, I was not looking forward to seeing this, in part because of the 2011 Oscar-nominated film of the same title. That movie offered visual intrigue, but the exploitative and misogynistic relationship between young dancer Nina and her powerful male choreographer Thomas LeRoy overshadowed the story.
Since 2011, we had #metoo. With the blessing of film director Darren Aronofsky, book writer Jen Silverman has recast choreographer Thomas from the film as Margaux LeRoy (an impressive Amber Iman), a woman with presence and power who must also battle the powers-that-be in the world of prestige dance. Her decision to cast young Nina (Melanie Moore — further comments about her later) as the Swan Queen in Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” shocks the rest of the company. Nina is a social outcast, driven by ambition yet held back by fear. LeRoy sees something in her that will equip her to dance both the “good” White Swan and her “evil” double, the Black Swan.
To dance the Black Swan, Nina must delve into painful, unfamiliar emotions. LeRoy insistently if gently pushes Nina, and she is not the only source of pressure. Nina’s mother Barbara (understudy Mehry Eslaminia at the performance I saw), exerts demands, as do Nina’s competitive feelings toward understudy Lily (Jada Simone Clark). But the biggest source of stress for Nina lies within. Her own ambition drives her to find and embody her “shadow self,” aspects of her personality she has previously denied.
It’s the execution of this transformation, rather than the story line, that leads me to highly recommend this production. Sonya Tayeh’s direction and choreography are a mesmerizing blend of ballet and contemporary dance; Dave Malloy’s music, lyrics, and orchestrations are a compelling mix of percussion and melody interwoven with familiar strains of Tchaikovsky. Isabella Byrd’s superb lighting design alone is almost enough to see the show. By turns she obscures and illuminates to highlight the growing emotional pitch of this brilliant production.
The A.R.T. characterizes this as a journey into mental illness; its website offers resources for coping with trauma and distress. Nothing wrong with that, but I did not see Nina’s transformation as illness. Her deep personal interrogation is a requirement for her creative metamorphosis. (This metamorphosis, thanks to illusion design from Chris Fisher and Skylar Fox, is physical as well as emotional.) Painful, yes. Illness, no. The film presents Nina’s journey as a descent into a madness; in the A.R.T’s version it is healing. Nina fully realizes the roles required of the ballet; she also achieves adulthood.
No production is perfect (except perhaps for “Hamilton”!). This one has flaws, likely to be ironed out on its journey from world premiere here in Cambridge to later productions (the word “Broadway” was in the air the night I saw the show). The culmination of the show is confusing. Half or more of the audience began applauding before it reached its finale. And while I was glad to have the menacing male choreographer removed, I’d like a different dynamic between Nina and her mother Barbara. Frustrated and demanding stage mothers are a stereotype.
I had mixed feelings about Nina, played by Melanie Moore. Throughout most of the show, she is overshadowed in dance technique and personality by Jada Simone Clark, playing Nina’s understudy Lily. It’s only in the final scenes that Moore comes into her own. Arguably, that’s the point of the story, but it left me wondering what led LeRoy to cast Nina in such an important role, given LeRoy’s own professional challenges. LeRoy claims she saw her own younger self in Nina; I’d like to have seen a glimmer of that.
“Black Swan” plays at American Repertory Theater through July 12.
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