Jonathan Cerullo Page to Stage

From the page to the stage

Description: Description: Description: Picturesque

2004 - 2005

“A vision’s just a vision if it’s only in your head.

If no one gets to hear It, it’s as good as dead. It has to come to life.”

Stephen SOnDHEIM

When director, Michel Barette and I began discussing Picturesque, a show inspired by master artists who used the circus as subject matter, he had the idea of starting the show by turning Big Apple Circus’ iconic clown Grandma into an artist in her atelier⁽¹⁾.

1 Grandma as The Artist

In addition to this, we would also be using characters from famous works, which included the clowns of Picasso, the ballerinas of Degas, Lautrec’s Cancan dancers, and the wire animal sculptures of Calder. From my research, I brought Michel the Johan Zoffany painting, Tribuna of the Uffizi⁽²⁾ of what that might look and feel like. He loved the look.

2 Tribuna of the Uffizi Johan Zoffany, oil on canvas

Using this as an inspiration, I suggested that we create a tableau vivant for the opening of Picturesque to support the concept set forth by the authors and designers. While in pre-production I created a 3-D cardboard cutout⁽³⁾ for myself.

3 My cardboard circus of Picturesque’s opening tableau.

Michel then organized, on paper⁽⁴⁾, the placement of where he wanted the characters; I subsequently created the poses that became the opening tableau⁽⁵⁾.

4 Barette placement diagram

5 Picturesque’s opening tableau

Now that I had the opening look, what was I going to do with it? Throughout my research, thoughts about artists in their studios and what they must go through creatively, emotionally, spiritually, and physically to get their work out the door swirled around in my brain. In solidarity, I understood them. While looking through massive amounts of images for the show, I came across the photo spread of Jackson Pollack in Life Magazine⁽⁶⁾.

6 Jackson Pollack in his studio – Life Magazine

Suddenly motion began to take shape. The splatter technique Pollack employed was my inspiration behind Picturesque’s opening number, or Charavari as it is called in the circus. I thought, “…what would happen if all the cans of paint Grandma, the artist uses, explode and splatter in the air? …How could I get color to dance in the air?” This led to creating the scenario for the opening dance and subsequently the music we would use.

Grandma, while trying to paint her masterpiece, is bursting with ideas and images from the masters that came before her. In frenzy, she begins splattering paint around. This causes the characters and cans of paint in Grandma’s atelier to explode sending color and action bursting throughout. Musically I worked closely with the composer to capture this idea. Based on Offenbach’s Orpheus In the Underworld, we used a Cancan as the opening musical signature. This fit both the concept of the show and the style for a circus perfectly.

Very much like Picasso did in painting the air with light ⁽⁷⁾ I thought to have girls hoisted in the air, pulling paintbrushes from paint cans that had 16-foot satin ribbons attached to them, and as in rhythmic gymnastics literally paint the air with color ^{(8 & 9)}.

7 Picasso painting with light

8 My sketch for the Ribbon Painters

9 The characters and ribbons in action

I also wanted to represent the color wheel spinning out of control.⁽¹⁰⁾ Using Lautrec’s lithograph of the dancer Loile Fuller ⁽¹¹⁾ I used weighted flags whirling in motion throughout the space. The effect was dazzling. (Watch the video clip on my video page under Circus arts to see these effects.) Carefully thought-out, all these ideas and images combined with the performers acrobatic abilities created an exciting opening number to Picturesque.

10 My sketch for the color wheel spinning

“out of control”

11 Lautrec’s lithograph of dancer Loile Fuller

Below left are the images I used to bring some of the characters to life (below right)

Chocolat Dansant / Henri Toulouse-Lautrec

Moulin Rouge Dancer

Quadrille [Features La Goulue]

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

The real life La Goulue and Valentin

Eli MacAfee as Chocolat

Grandma and two Can-Can Dancers

Svetlana Samsheeva as La Goulue

Andrey Mantchev [Center] as Valentin

Blue Dancers Edgar Degas

Ballerina Alla Barra

Edgar Degas

Sketch

Edgar Degas

Prancing Horse

Edgar Degas

In Paris, while listening to Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” on my iPod, I headed to the top floor at the Musee D’Orsay, for this is where Degas’ ballerinas live. The connection I was about to make with those paintings, the music, and the glory of the Paris Opera House, which I had visited the day before, moved me beyond all words.

Knowing we were using Degas’ paintings of ballerinas in the show I read all I could about Degas, the Paris Opera, and then with my own involvement in a ballet company I translated all this to the Big Apple Circus choreography.

To begin the equestrian or Liberty Act as it is called, we heard the sound of a metronome. Then the lights came up to reveal two men dressed in white tie and tails swaying a large pole back and forth as if it was the metronome. I posed five dancers around the perimeter of the ring as if they were the ballerinas in the paintings, trying my best to conceal their faces as Degas did. Then, in syncopated rhythm, the ballerinas changed their poses as an elegantly dressed society couple strolled by looking at the paintings. We then saw the large pole carried on; this became the ballet barre, which for me supported the notion that the Paris Opera and ballerinas were exclusively “supported” by the wealthy. Suddenly the ballerinas came to life, popped out of their imaginary frames, waved to each other, and scurried to “begin class.” Ending with Grand Allegro the ballerinas executed grande jettes, symbolizing the jump a horse would make, leading them off stage. Immediately following out paraded five black horses, the society couple became the trainer, and we were into the Liberty Act.

Regina Dobroritskaya

Kovgar Girls

Yasmine Smart

Harlequin with Mirror

Pablo Picasso

The Bullfight

Pablo Picasso

To introduce the juggling act the choice was made to feature Picasso and to use his Harlequins as the main source of interpretation.

Knowing the bullfight was an important theme for Picasso I took this idea and created a tongue in cheek mock bullfight using the Harlequins as picadors gone amuck.

Using the swirl of the bullfighter’s cape and a flamenco dancer dress, I reintroduced 6 flags from the opening, this time in blood red, creating a highly stylized comic dance.

Max Binder as a Harlequin

Acrobat

Calder Wire Sculpture

Mei Ling in a tribute to a

Calder Wire Sculpture

All Picturesque photo’s by Bertrand Guay

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Production Reel is available upon request

Jonathan Cerullo – Internet Broadway Database

Jonathan Cerullo – Internet Off Broadway Database

Jonathan Cerullo – Film & TV Database

Page Updated: Monday, December 12, 2011