Whipped Cream
Warning: Approx 1 hr and 45 mins incl one interval
Recommended for ages 3 and above
Category: Theatre/Dance
Genre: Ballet
Company:
American Ballet Theatre
Venue:
Hong Kong Cultural Centre - Grand Theatre
Date and Time:
March 22-25, 7.30pm; March 25, 2.30pm
Ticket Price:
340-1080
Location:
Kowloon
Nearest MTR Station:
Tsim Sha Tsui
Ticketing By: Urbtix
Age Limitation: 3
Commissioned by composer Richard Strauss when he was co-director of the Wiener Staatsoper between 1919 and 1924, Whipped Cream features one of only two scores he wrote for ballet. His aim was to provide distraction from the misery and hard times of post-World War I Vienna with a joyful, fantastical story that comprised enough waltzes, polkas, gallops and beautiful violin adagios to banish any darkness and lift everyone’s spirits.
The story itself is pure confection. Following his first communion a young boy joins his friends at a pastry shop to indulge his passion for all things sweet, especially whipped cream. His excessive consumption leads him to fall asleep, only to wake in a strange, hospital ward. He escapes to an imagined fantasy land whose inhabitants include the Princes Cocoa and Coffee, Princesses Tea-Flower and Praline, and where sweets and treats come to life in dance.
Almost a century later this historic ballet gem has been re-imagined by ABT choreographer Alexei Ratmansky on the same lavish scale as the original. The fabulous sets are complemented by more than 150 costumes, designed by pop-surrealist art star Mark Ryden, sparkling with 75,000 Swarovski crystals.