CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY IN MUSIC, DANCE, AND FILM 747
- The Stone Medusa (1969). Choreographer, Richard Elis. Music by Hector
Villa-Lobos (Uirapura, Symphonic Poem). The Illinois Ballet performs this
dance about Medusa, based on the myths of both Medusa and Pygmalion.
Video by Orion Dance Films. - Medea (1979), a ballet from the Soviet Union. Choreographer, Georgiy
Aleksize. Music by Revaz Gabichvadze. Offers a more traditional version
danced by a Russian cast; available on video. - Medea (1780), ballet d'action by Jean Georges Noverre, the father of mod-
ern ballet, has been re-created for today, staged and choreographed by
Judith Chazin-Bennahum and presented by the University of New Mex-
ico Department of Theater and Dance with a chamber ensemble in full
period costume of the eighteenth century and accompanied by sixteen
musicians. The Dance Horizons Video includes the documentary Recreat-
ing Medea by Mariel McEwen. - Daphnis and Chloe (1982). Choreographer, Graeme Murphy (The Sydney
Dance Company). A provocative and daring production, not least of all
because of its frank sensuality. The scenario is based on the novel by
Longus, and the famous score is by Maurice Ravel. On video. - Birgit Akesson, a noted Swedish dancer, choreographed several mytholog-
ical ballets for the Royal Swedish Ballet, including Sysyfos (1957), Mino-
tauros (1958), Ikaros (1963), and Nausikaa (1966). - The famous Danish choreographer, Flemming Flindt, created for the Dal-
las Ballet a powerful Phaedra (1986), based on Euripides. The score by
Philip Glass is most effective.
MYTHOLOGY IN FILM
This brief survey concentrates on movies that seem to be available, particularly
on videotape, videodisc, or DVD, which may be judged of some interest and
significance. Even the most casual perusal of films that deal with the ancient
world reveals an impressive number of treatments. We omit with regret the
many adaptations of Greek and Roman history, legendary or otherwise, but be-
gin by mentioning one in this genre because of its mythological and musical in-
terest: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (directed by Stanley Donen, 1954), a gem
of a Hollywood musical, based very loosely upon the accounts by Plutarch and
Livy of the rape of the Sabine women in the early saga of Rome and reset in the
American Old West (from Sobbiri Women by Stephen Vincent Benet). The dances
are choreographed by Michael Kidd, the songs are by Johnny Mercer, and the
stars are Howard Keel and Jane Powell, joined by dancers including Tommy
Rail and Jacques d' Amboise.
Everyone should enjoy the movie versions of two musicals discussed ear-
lier that derive from Plautus: Rodgers and Hart's The Boys from Syracuse (1940),