23 July 2011

William Shatner & Ballet

Really, did you ever think you might hear "William Shatner" and "Ballet" in the same sentence. Well you just did. After suffering this week with a summer cold and 100 degree temperatures, I admit to being pretty useless. So I watched an unusual amount of television. I realized that I can mow tell you who the killer is in most Law & Order episodes during the little prologue where they find the body. This will not find one gainful employment nor will it make you the life of the party (unless you might be parting with Dick Wolf). So I was pretty desperate to watch anything and being a bit of balletomane, I decided to watch William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet.

Never did I expect to find William Shatner speaking eloquently about ballet, but there he was.

So the story goes like this:

William Shatner after finding himself one more than one Golden Throats compilations really wanted to make some music...




Shatner enlists Ben Folds who totally gets what Shatner wants and brings his enormous talent to the project...




They produce a very interesting album entitled Has Been.




Choreographer Margo Sappington (who as a mere tot co-wrote, choreographed, and performed in the musical, Oh! Calcutta!) hears Has Been on NPR and calls Shatner and asks to turn it into a ballet and he says sure.




So William Shatner's Common People debuts at the Milwaukee Ballet on 15 February 2007. It is a big hit.



After that, a documentary is inevitable and so we have William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet.


This is totally watchable and quite fun. It is coming soon to Netflix, so add it to the queue.

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