Matthew Bourne and Christopher Wheeldon are choreographers whose work owes as much to their passion for cinema and for Broadway musicals as it does to the traditions of ballet. In fact, last week, Wheeldon picked up the Tony for best choreography for the second time, for his work on MJ: The Musical (which he also directed). Bourne has also won two Tony awards (for the choreography and direction of his version of Swan Lake).
This doesn’t make them unique. George Balanchine worked on Broadway and Jerome Robbins conquered it; Kenneth MacMillan was hugely influenced by film and his final work before his death was the choreography for the 1994 revival of Carousel, which also won a Tony. But it does provide a key to understanding how they go about telling the stories they want to tell.
