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Charleston Ballet to offer discount tickets by Heather Woolwine Public Relations With packed schedules, busy personal lives, and demanding work and school loads, many people would love to find a moment to enjoy artistic expression, but find it difficult to free themselves and explore their cultural attitudes.   The MUSC Cultural Projects Council recognizes this struggle to do what we like and what we must. In response the council has secured a special MUSC Night at the Ballet in the hopes that MUSC students, faculty and staff will have a convenient opportunity to allow the beauty of dance to enrich their creative spirit.   The MUSC Night at the Ballet will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26, at 477 King St. within the Charleston Ballet Theatre. Tickets are $5 for MUSC students, $10 for MUSC employees, faculty, and staff, and may be purchased with cask or check (pay to MUSC SGA) in the MUSC Office of Student Programs located in the Harper Student Wellness Center. Two hundred seats are available for the exclusive performance.   The evening will feature a compilation of scenes and performances from some of the most beloved American musicals of all time, and is thus named “The All American Getaway.” Patrons can expect to see scenes adapted from West Side Story, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, An American in Paris, and Bolero.   “When I started putting the evening together, my mind kept drifting back to  the notable music of Leonard Bernstein and most of all the breathtaking choreography of Jerome Robbins,” said Jill Eathorne Bahr, Charleston Ballet resident choreographer, “Then and there I decided to add my own jigsaw puzzle of West Side Story to the evening. His dancing numbers probably are the most spectacular ever devised and lensed, blending into the story and carrying on action that is electrifying to spectator and setting a pace which communicates to viewers. Bernstein’s score, with Stephen Sondheim’s expressive lyrics, accentuates the tension that constantly builds.  I’ve always loved the  Romeo and Juliet theme, propounded against the seething background of rival and bitterly-hating youthful Puerto Rican and American gangs. The dark theme, sophisticated music, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theater, which had leaned previously toward light themes.”    West Side Story is a musical written by Arthur Laurents (book), Leonard Bernstein (music), and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), and was originally produced, choreographed, and directed by Jerome Robbins. West Side Story debuted on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater on Sept. 26, 1957 and played 732 performances before going on tour -a very successful run for the time.   The story explores the enmity between two rival gangs of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and is based loosely on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story is produced frequently by local theaters and, occasionally, by classical opera companies.   Slaughter on Tenth Avenue is the name of a ballet written by Richard Rodgers and choreographed by George Balanchine. Near the end of Rodgers 1936 Broadway musical comedy On Your Toes, this piece tells the story of a dancer who falls in love with a dance hall girl. The girl is shot and killed by her jealous boyfriend, before the jealous boyfriend meets his own end at the hands of the dancer.   According to Bahr, the ballet is integrated into the plotline of the musical by incorporating two gangsters who are watching it from box seats in the theatre in which it is staged. They have orders to shoot the leading dancer. The dancer, who has been warned just in time, evades them by suddenly dancing at full speed even after the ballet actually ends, and finally two policemen enter and arrest the gangsters.   Also featured in the program will be Bahr’s take on An American in Paris, the famous film originally shot as a large Hollywood production. The story revolves around a former G.I., Jerry Mulligan, who stays in Paris after the WWII to become an artist. He is caught between choosing a rich American, who wants to be more than his benefactor, and a young French gamine, Lise Bouvier, with who he falls in love at first sight, though she already is engaged.   “The MGM musicals don’t get any better than this one, because it’s got everything: romance, excitement, music, song, dance, and thrills,” Bahr said. “Vincente Minnelli’s expert direction and cinematography captured some of the most enchanting sights of post-WWII Paris, as seen through the eyes of a light-hearted painter played by Gene Kelly. The lengthy final number is brilliantly performed and is one of Mr. Kelly’s most impressive choreographed numbers.”   The last section of the ensemble will feature Bolero, and Bahr promises something unusual with the Charleston Ballet’s rendition.   The Charleston Ballet Theater seats about  200 people in a simple, low-ceiling space with stark black staging, but “Bolero” will transform the place. As the music intensifies, eventually 10 ballerinas  and six male dancers will spin together across the dance  floor.   For information about the theater, visit http://www.charlestonballet.com/.     Friday, Jan. 19, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.