posted May 22, 2000 01:38            

Here's a link to the AMP website

Adventures in Motion Picture's latest show opens in Plymouth. Three of the London critics took the train down to the West Country to see the event. Donald Hutera and Judith Mackrell were impressed, but Ismene Brown only thought it good in parts. There's more sex and grittiness than in his earlier works. One male ballet dancer who won a part thought it was going to be 'Swan Lake' Part II and opted out when he realised it was modern dance based rather than a hybrid.

I saw part of a rehearsal in a London theatre which did look interesting, although like the critics I was a bit puzzled why two crucial props in this saga of small town America are a couple of aged UK cars including a Morris Minor like the one I used to own. It's a little known fact that Aaron Copland owned a Morris Minor when he was working in Italy, but I suspect that this is a rather weak US link.

http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4020793,00.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000148269364269
&rtmo=qXLuJxd9&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/5/22/btcar22.html

http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/00/05/22/timartdan01002.html

[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited August 31, 2000).]

posted June 17, 2000 13:39            

Hopefully when AMP become resident at the Vic here in London we will see the beginning of a new era in Bourne's choreographic career which I feel has a lot more to offer

posted June 18, 2000 06:36            

I too love Cunningham technique and I think on a training level, that and Graham are very complimentary and doing both gives a solid base.

posted June 18, 2000 10:09            

Bourne has some fine work under his belt apart from 'Swan Lake'. I recently saw 'Spitfire' a very funny 15 minute pastiche on macho male dancing; the around 70? minute 'Highland Fling' an update of 'La Sylphide' to present day slum Glasgow with a heart-breaking ending; a contemporary version of 'The Nutcracker', which has lots to commend it.

So, although 'Swan Lake' is his most complete and successful work to date, these other pieces show that he has already created a fine body of work. One of the treats in store at the Old Vic will be to see again the dozen or so works of varying length from his back catalogue and this was one of the reasons for AMP taking on the theatre.

Of his more recent work, 'Cinderella', which I didn't see, was not as well received and some felt that there was not enough dance. I understand that the revised version has a lot more dance in it.

'Car Man' has pleased several critics already and is probably still being developed, given the changes still being made in a rehearsal I saw 2 weeks before the opening.

Will 'Swan Lake' turn out to be the career high spot? We'll have to wait and see, but even if he 'merely' produces work of the quality of his earlier pieces, then the dance world will be a much richer place.

posted June 19, 2000 23:14            

Michael, if you are from England and are a Cunningham fan you may be interested to know that there is a Cunningham conference day on October 14th at the Barbican here in London. This is followed by a performance of Summerspace and Byped Cunningham's latest work.

posted September 03, 2000 14:05            

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/People/Profiles/2000-09/profile030900.shtml

posted September 06, 2000 02:38            

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Now one of AMP's principal dancers - the most famous was Adam Cooper, who was feted for his performances in Swan Lake but who has now left the company - Kemp first joined AMP six years ago and has seen the company expand from 16 core members to about 30. "I think I was lucky to get in at the beginning," he says. "There was so much excitement. It was very fresh and very ambitious. That's one of the most encouraging things about working with Matthew. He surrounds himself with incredibly creative people. It was on a knife edge, whether Swan Lake would succeed."

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posted September 12, 2000 12:12            

Alan Vincent and Saranne Curtin: pushing back the boundaries

Nadine Meisner reviews the AMP phenomenon and previews 'The Car Man':

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Matthew Bourne has invented an entirely new theatrical genre, with the production values of musicals, but with dance instead of songs. His latest, The Car Man, is his most ambitious yet

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http://www.independent.co.uk/enjoyment/Theatre/Dance/2000-09/carmen120900.shtml

And so does Maureen Paton:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/hottx/theatre/review.html?in _review_id=312483&in_review_text_id=258911

The show is currently previewing in London and 'opens' on Wednesday.

posted September 15, 2000 01:20            

I'll start with Judith Mackrell, partly because she is one of my favourites and also that she is the critic most appreciated by the modern dance community in London. Matthew Bourne and others have said that 'The Car Man' is more influenced by modern dance than ballet.

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With Lez Brotherston's set defining a brilliantly louche and period atmosphere, The Car Man drives with an urgency that at moments has our nerves and hearts at full stretch.

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Judith Mackrell's review

John Percival thinks the dance drama is good in parts, but that the choreography is the most disappointing element.

John Percival's review

And the others did not enjoy it:

Debra Craine is unimpressed in The Times. Interestingly, Donald Hutera the other Times critic, and a modern dance fan primarily, wrote a mostly positive review of the touring version in the most recent 'Dance Now'.

Debra Craine's review

Ismene Brown laments the days when Matthew Bourne made small scale, inventive work,

Ismene Brown's review

I think it's fair to say that Mr Crisp is not a big fan of AMP in general or 'The Car Man' in particular,

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In a world where opera and dance are under constant siege and in ever- present danger of erosion, Bourne's parasitic stagings flourish: and under their astute marketing they are debased, and debasing.

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Oh dear!

Clement Crisp's diatribe

Reading the views on ballet.co.uk of those who have seen it on its pre-London tour, dance fans love it and it will be a big success.

posted September 16, 2000 23:33            

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That said, Car Man is far better value than a limp West End musical. Let's hope that the Old Vic proves a safe house for Bourne to try out ideas without too much commercial pressure.

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Also covered is Sheron Wray's 'Jazz Exchange'. Sheron is an ex Rambert dancer and one of her themes is improvising dance to improvised music. I'll try to fit it in next week.

http://www.observer.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,369218,00.html

But David Dougill gives 'The Car Man' the thumbs up with a couple of caveats:

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So how does all this sensationalism work out in dance terms? The big ensembles are done with gusto: butch "wrenching" numbers for the corps of car mechanics (one of them female); a strutting-stuff scene for cowboy-hatted dudes and gals in the club. Bourne is a slick choreo-grapher in this showbiz manner, although his formulas have grown familiar. The mass-orgy scene is rather ridiculous. There is a cabaret number that is a wickedly funny send-up of Martha Graham, but scarcely justified.

For the leading characters, the dances are subtly expressive and inventively detailed; and AMP's practised artistes are wholly committed in their performances.

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However, Dougill does not get much out of 'La Danse du Temps' by Ballet Atlantique.

http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/09/17/sticuldnc02001.html

posted November 29, 2000 01:05            

Matthew Bourne always seems a bit puzzled when he wins 'Best Musical' awards. AS he points out there aren't any songs!

Well done to all the team involved. As the Nutcracker season descends on us, this will be a good time to go and see it.

posted November 29, 2000 10:20            

Most people, including me think that it is great. I have heard some muttering about no pointe work and the hilarious scene sending up a Romantic ballet offended others. Finally there are those who say that it is too populist.

posted April 24, 2001 12:07            

quote:

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TRIO Acquires Matthew Bourne's 'The Car Man'

Nando Media

TRIO Acquires Matthew Bourne's 'The Car Man'

London's Dance Sensation Slated for American Television Premiere in Fall 2001

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