Brian Macdonald (choreographer)

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Brian Ronald Macdonald
Born(1928-05-14)May 14, 1928
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
DiedNovember 29, 2014(2014-11-29) (aged 86)
Stratford, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Occupation(s)Teacher, dancer, choreographer, director
Known forDancer, choreographer
AwardsOrder of Canada

Brian Ronald Macdonald

choreographer and director of opera, theatre and musical theatre
.

Early and personal life

Brian Macdonald was born in

Radio-Canada and studied piano.[3]

In 1959 Macdonald's first wife Olivia Wyatt died in an automobile accident. Macdonald became a single father, raising his three-year-old son.[3] Macdonald met his second wife Annette av Paul while the artistic director of the Royal Swedish Ballet.[4] They married in 1964.[5]

He died on November 29, 2014, in Stratford, Ontario, of bone cancer.[3]

Professional career

Dancer

Macdonald was taking a B.A. in English at McGill University when he began ballet classes with noted teachers Gerald Crevier and Elizabeth Leese.[4] From 1947-1949 he was music critic for the Montreal Herald. Macdonald joined the National Ballet of Canada in 1951[2] and was one of its founding members.[4] He left the company in 1953 due to a serious arm injury.

Ballet choreographer

Backstage of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens' performance of 'Adieu Robert Schumann (1979)' by R.M. Schafer and choreographed by Brian MacDonald (center), with (left to right) Annette av Paul, Vincent Warren, Maureen Forrester, and Denise Massé

Early on in his dance training Macdonald was inspired to study choreography, affected by the

en pointe and in high heels.[3]

In 1956 he established his own company called the Montreal Theatre Ballet. He went on to create works for the

Canadian Broadcasting Company.[3]

He was artistic director of the

Schubert and R. Murray Schafer.[6]

Macdonald's last choreographic work was Requiem 9/11, which premiered at the

9/11 terrorist attacks, performed to Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem.[3] The ballet was danced in front of images of violent events from history. The dancers were covered in ash-looking makeup to reflect the appearance of survivors fleeing the World Trade Center buildings.[7] The dance was well received by audience members and critics. Hugh Winsor from The Globe and Mail, who was present at the inaugural performance, wrote that the audience gave the show "an extended standing ovation."[7]

Musical theatre choreographer and director

In 1957, Macdonald and his wife, Olivia choreographed the satirical revue My Fur Lady which went on a national tour of over 400 performances.[2] In 1968 Macdonald directed Maggie Flynn for its premiere on Broadway.[3]

Macdonald moved to

Tony Award nominations for Best Choreography and Best Direction of a Musical. Macdonald's last directed musical at the Stratford Festival was The Music Man in 1996,[3] ending 17 seasons with the Stratford Festival.[5]

Opera

Macdonald's debut as an opera director was

Massenet's Cendrillon in 1979 and Madama Butterfly in 1990.[4]

His final work was a revival his 1990 staging of Madama Butterfly with the Canadian Opera Company in 2014.[5] The show was praised for the talent of the cast in their vocal abilities.[8] The show was criticised for a lack of emotional connection between the performers, with Richard Ouzounian of the Toronto Star saying, "[T]he whole thing now has that "paint by the numbers" kind of feel about it, with everyone coughing up lungfuls of emotion, but rarely connecting to each other at all in any genuine way."[9] Robert Harris of The Globe and Mail commented that the show struggled to overcome issues of racism and prejudice that exist in the opera.[8]

Dance teacher

In 1982 Macdonald became the head of the

Banff Centre's Summer Dance Program.[1] He split the program into a training section and a professional section[10] which performed remounted works by Macdonald, George Balanchine and winners of the Clifford E Lee Choreographic Award.[4] Some of his students have included Johnny Wright, the male lead in the West End production of Dirty Dancing, and Crystal Pite.[3] He was head of the program until 2001 when he became artistic advisor from 2001-2007.[1]

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Brian Ronald Macdonald 1928-2014". The Dance Current. 2014-12-04. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  2. ^ a b c Kelly, Deirdre (2014-11-29). "Famed Canadian director, choreographer Brian Macdonald dies". The Globe and Mail. Philip Crawley. Retrieved 2015-05-15.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Kelly, Deirdre (2014-12-10). "Choreographer Brian Macdonald forever part of Canadian dance scene". The Globe and Mail. Philip Crawley. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Crabb, Michael (2015-03-04). "Brian Macdonald". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Retrieved 2015-05-15.
  5. ^ a b c Ouzounian, Richard (2014-11-29). "Brian Macdonald leaves a fine legacy in Madama Butterfly". The Toronto Star. Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  6. ^ Citron, Paula (2010-04-18). "Young dancers resurrect classics". The Globe and Mail. Philip Crawley. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  7. ^ a b Winsor, Hugh (2002-09-09). "Requiem 9/11 is a natural for New York". The Globe and Mail. Philip Crawley. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  8. ^ a b Harris, Robert (2014-10-12). "COC's Madama Butterfly remains beautiful and problematic". The Globe and Mail. Philip Crawley. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  9. ^ Ouzounian, Richard (2014-10-11). "Madama Butterfly fails to deliver on large promise: Review". The Toronto Star. Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  10. ^ Crabb, Michael (2008-08-22). "A New Era, Not Unlike the Old". The Dance Current. Retrieved 2015-05-19.

External links

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