There's a Little Dancer Live Stream This Weekend
In our October issue, we talked to New York City Ballet principal Tiler Peck about her musical theater turn in the brand-new show Little Dancer. Inspired by Degas’ famous sculpture and directed and choreographed by Broadway guru Susan Stroman, the musical is set to open at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center later this month.
Little Dancer
was custom-tailored to Peck, and naturally she’ll be bringing all her ballerina amazingness to the part—including her experiences dancing famous ballets. “It’s just like doing Romeo and Juliet,” she said to us of playing the young Paris Opéra Ballet student Marie von Goethem, who inspired Degas’ Little Dancer Aged 14 sculpture. “No one who plays Juliet is actually her age. The key is your mannerisms and the way you hold yourself.” Given that Peck also has serious musical theater cred—she made her Broadway debut at age 11 (!) in Stroman’s production of The Music Man—we’re guessing she’ll be pretty darn convincing.
Also, she kind of looks just like the statue! Eerie.
(Both photos courtesy The Kennedy Center. Left: Matthew Karas; right: Edgar Degas, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (1878–1881), yellow wax, hair, ribbon, linen bodice, satin shoes, muslin tutu, wood base, National Gallery of Art, Washington, collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon)
Wondering what all of that dance-drama goodness will actually look like? This Sunday night, the Guggenheim Museum will be offering a sneak peek when its Works & Process series goes inside Little Dancer. The event will include a bunch of excerpts from the show (Peck will be dancing, of course!) and a discussion with Stroman, Lynn Ahrens (who wrote the musical’s book and lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (the composer). And the whole thing will be live-streamed at guggenheim.org/live, starting at 7:30 pm EST.
Little Dancer
in your living room—not a bad way to end the weekend, amirite? While you’re waiting for Sunday night to roll around, take a look at this behind-the-scenes video from Peck’s official Little Dancer photo shoot:
