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Le Grand Jet´é
"A Charming Story of Tragedy & Love,
In The Golden Age of Musicals"
Synopsis
Set in postwar 1949, Le Grand Jete is a tale of four artists who have found themselves knocked down within their respective professions. At the peak of her ballet career, Audrey Harrington is injured dancing the title role of Cinderella, and is forced to return home and start over. Luckily her longtime dearest friend, Gilbert Sullivan is there, back from the war recuperating from injuries both physical and emotional. Unbeknownst to Audrey, he is also taking care of his dying father, artist/inventor Henry Sullivan of the famed Sullivan Gramophone Company. When Gilbert stumbles into a once grand theater in a run down part of town and serendipitously encounters the now infamous interracial, blacklisted ex-Vaudeville stars, Millie Hallifax and her husband, Sage Lemaitre, an idea springs forth to reinvigorate all four of their passions. The four must wrestle not only their own insecurities, but battle with the growing industrial commerce of the 1950s to bring to life their version of Cinderella: The Musical.
Desirable Cast
Principal Talent
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AUSTIN BUTLER
as GILBERT
OSCAR® NOMINEE
BAFTA® WINNER
Domestic Value: $TBCM
Foreign Value: $TBCM
Character Tone:
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LILY JAMES
as AUDREY
GOLDEN GLOBE® NOMINEE
EMMY® NOMINEE
Domestic Value: $TBCM
Foreign Value: $TBCM
Character Tone:
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KATE WINSLET
as MILLIE
OSCAR® WINNER
5x BAFTA® WINNER
Domestic Value: $TBCM
Foreign Value: $TBCM
Character Tone:
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COLMAN DOMINGO
as SAGE
EMMY® WINNER
TONY® & OLIVIER® NOMINEE
Domestic Value: $TBCM
Foreign Value: $TBCM
Character Tone:
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Note: Add in Andre Benjamin
Executive Team
Spearheaded by Award-Winning Industry Professionals
ALICE L. WALKER
Creator, Director, Writer
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EXPERIENCED THEATRE DIRECTOR
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Directed 20+ Musicals
Author of Numerous Screenplays
Previous Ballet Dancer (Save The Last Dance)
Founder, Thursday Night Theatre Club
JON ALTHAM
Executive Producer
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NOMINEE, Forbes 30U30 (Entertainment, 2023)
Creative Entrepreneur, Exec. Producer & Board Advisor
Multi-Award Winning Record Producer, Composer & Songwriter
Trusted to Exec. Produce $100M of Film Content
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Founder, SWS® Music Group
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From The Creator
Alice L. Walker, "The Vision"
Le Grand Jete is the culmination of my entire life's focus on stage craft; firstly as a professional ballet dancer growing up in the jazzy city of Chicago, and then in working on stage in Los Angeles as a choreographer, musical theater director and then artistic director for my theater company, Thursday Night Theater Club. Specifically Le Grand Jete was born after I choreographed and directed Cinderella: A Rock & Romance Ballet. Using Prokofiev's music which was written during the 1940s and heavily influenced by the popular jazz music of the time, I was inspired to somehow combine the syncopation and spontaneity of his music with the movement of the dancers, who I chose because they all were also trained actors. I could create a real moving play onstage with a heightened reality, a comedy rarely seen in ballets, and a meisner-esque quality in the relationships between characters.
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As I was sadly retiring from being a touring ballerina myself and leaning into acting and directing, I found a story that I could plant inside of one of my favorite eras in film making; the Golden Age of Cinema and the movie musical. In truth, Audrey is me- finding her way from one artistic home to another more intimidating, more exposing, and more collaborative endeavor. Like her, I found myself performing in musicals and then directing them and writing them. I had to learn to sing. Yes. Me- who was made fun of by every member of my huge family all along the way... but nevertheless, I did. And so will Audrey. The magic of the 1940s and 1950s musicals for me, is in the escapism of it all. These films are a living dream, and so creatively you have artistic license to go anywhere- in and out of someones mind, into another person's nightmare and then back to reality all within a song, or a scene, or a mixture of both. My favorite musicals are in truth a film with songs and dance numbers like White Christmas or An American In Paris, which of course rely heavily on story being the reason someone just up and starts singing and dancing. Done right, even today's audiences are transported into a dreamstate where all disbelief is suspended and anything wonderous is possible. I suppose ballet allowed me to tap into that, and that is the feeling I'm yearning to share, even if just for a couple of hours.
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