Milwaukee Ballet bringing back William Shatner’s Common People
A locally made behind the scenes documentary premieres at the Nashville Film Festival next month
Decider is not going to pretend that we know anything about ballet. We know that there are tutus involved, and we’re pretty sure that you need to wear a monocle in order to appreciate the mind-blowing artistry of what’s happening on stage. After that we’re tapped out. However, we are familiar with William Shatner, and we used to really like Ben Folds back in our late-’90s college days. So we’re definitely curious about Common People, a ballet choreographed to music from Shatner’s bizarre 2004 album Has Been, which was produced and arranged by Folds. The Milwaukee Ballet will perform Common People as part of its Live & Kicking program May 14-17 at the Marcus Center.
All you hardcore ballet fans out there might remember that the Milwaukee Ballet originally performed Common People back in 2007. A documentary co-directed by local filmmakers Andrew Swant and Bobby Ciraldo (along with Pat Buckley) called William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet was made about the making of the ballet, and now the film is making the rounds of the festival circuit, including the Nashville Film Festival in April. There’s no local screening scheduled yet, though the Milwaukee Ballet hopes to set something up in conjunction with the Common People performance. Here’s a clip from William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet.
