Coolidge Corner Theatre to Launch New Season of Opera and Ballet

The Coolidge Corner Theatre (‘the Coolidge’) has revealed the lineup for its Winter / Spring 2024 Dance at the Cinema and Opera at the Cinema series. 

The series kicks off on Saturday, January 6 with a Paris Opera production of The Marriage of Figaro, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and featuring direction, set, costume designs, video by Netia Jones. Additional highlights include a performance of Giselle (Saturday, February 3) featuring former Bolshoi Ballet principals Olga Smirnova and Jacopo Tissi, who fled Russia to join the Dutch National Ballet, where this production was filmed; a thrilling Paris Opera production of Romeo and Juliet (Sunday, February 18) directed by Thomas Jolly, who was recently appointed Artistic Director of Paris 2024 Olympics; and a Paris Opera Ballet tribute to choreographer Maurice Béjart (Saturday, April 28).

A full schedule for January - April 2024 is listed below.

“After a long hiatus due to the pandemic, we are delighted to once again be able to present opera and ballet performances from the world's greatest dance companies,” commented Deputy Director Beth Gilligan. “The Coolidge’s iconic, Art Deco Moviehouse 1 is the ideal venue to screen these productions.”

The Coolidge’s screens are accessible by elevators. All are also equipped with a variety of options for patrons that are hard of hearing, deaf, blind, and/or visually impaired. For questions about accessibility or to request any special accommodations, please email info@coolidge.org.

All screenings take place at 10am unless otherwise indicated; for tickets and showtimes, please visit coolidge.org. The Coolidge Corner Theatre is located at 290 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA. Unless otherwise noted, tickets are $25 general admission and $22 for seniors and Coolidge members.

About the Coolidge Corner Theatre

The nonprofit Coolidge Corner Theatre is a premier American independent cinema renowned for its curated feature film programming and innovative signature educational, cultural, and entertainment programs. A beloved movie house, the Coolidge welcomes over 225,000 patrons per year and has been pleasing audiences with the best in cinematic entertainment since 1933. 

In addition to showcasing the best in contemporary independent cinema, the Coolidge has developed a wide range of programing to reach all sectors of the community, including: Big Screen Classics, After Midnite, Senior Matinees, Talk Cinema, Science on Screen®, Cinema Jukebox, PANORAMA, The Sounds of Silents®, Kids’ Shows, Rewind!, Box Office Babies, and adult education film classes. The Coolidge hosts several prominent film festivals and has welcomed film luminaries such as Meryl Streep, Werner Herzog, Jane Fonda, Liv Ullmann, Frank Oz, Ruth E. Carter, Ethan Hawke, Viggo Mortensen, and more. For more information, visit coolidge.org.

Winter/Spring 2024 Ballet and Opera titles

All screenings take place at 10am unless otherwise indicated.

Opera: The Marriage of Figaro

Saturday, January 13

Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel

Direction, set, costume designs, video: Netia Jones

Chorus master: Alessandro Di Stefano

A 2022 production featuring the Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Mozart’s iconic work shines in Netia Jones’ new production, starring Christopher Maltman and Maria Bengtsson. Jones retains the very essence of Beaumarchais’ play as she humorously yet mischievously explores human relationships in a universe that confuses reality and fiction to the point of asking, like the Count: “Are we playing in a comedy?”

Runtime: 3h 30m

Ballet: Giselle

Saturday, February 3

The ultimate romantic ballet, performed by former Bolshoi Ballet principals Olga Smirnova and Jacopo Tissi, who fled Russia and joined the Dutch National Ballet, where this production was filmed in November 2023. The young peasant girl Giselle falls in love with Albrecht, a nobleman already betrothed who hides his true identity from her. When she learns the truth, she becomes mad and dies. Against her own will, Giselle joins the Wilis: vengeful spirits of jilted brides who condemn Albrecht to dance until he dies of exhaustion… Giselle touches upon the great and universal romantic themes, and Rachel Beaujean and Ricardo Bustamante’s acclaimed production pays tribute to one of the oldest and greatest works of classical dance.

Runtime: 2h

Opera: Romeo and Juliet

Sunday, February 18

Conductor: Carlo Rizzi

Stage Direction: Thomas Jolly

Chorus master: Ching-Lien Wu

A 2023 production featuring the Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus. How many composers have been inspired by the two lovers of Verona depicted by Shakespeare? From Vincenzo Bellini and Hector Berlioz to Leonard Bernstein, the list is long. If Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, first performed during the Universal Exhibition of 1867, enjoyed immediate popularity, it is doubtless because this is the version that translates the tumultuous lives of the celebrated lovers with the greatest finesse. Four love duets, a fiery waltz and luminous, lyrical music: the entire score seems to tremble with desire and freshness. Who better than Thomas Jolly, one of the most inventive directors of his generation, appointed Artistic Director of Paris 2024 Olympic ceremonies, to celebrate this hymn to youth? Following his Eliogabalo by Cavalli in 2016, he signs his second collaboration with the Paris Opera. Starring Benjamin Bernheim and Elsa Dreisig.

Runtime: 3h 17m

Ballet: George Balanchine

Saturday, March 2

A 2023 production, featuring the Paris Opera Ballet. Created in 1970 by the New York City Ballet, Who cares? is a suite of dances to songs by George and Ira Gershwin - including the “classic” that gives the piece its name and I Got Rhythm - against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. Who cares? combines an ensemble of dancers in various formations, followed by four soloists. All come together in a playful finale in which Balanchine wanted to show the musical genius and melodic beauty of Gershwin’s compositions through classical dance. A tribute to the grandeur of Imperial Russia, Ballet Impérial was created in 1941 by the American Ballet Caravan to Tchaikovsky’s Second Piano Concerto. A work in which George Balanchine brilliantly celebrates the technical virtuosity of academic ballet in the style of Petipa - his “spiritual father” - and the great St Petersburg tradition.

Runtime: 1h 40m

Ballet: Swan Lake

Sunday, March 10

A 2019 production, featuring the Paris Opera Ballet. In Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky took up the legend of the immaculate bird to create some of the most beautiful music ever written for ballet. The choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov left their distinguished mark on this story of an impossible love between an earthly prince and a bird‑princess, refashioning the myth of the swan‑dancer, the ultimate ballerina. When creating his version for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1984, Rudolf Nureyev chose to give it a Freudian dimension, illuminating Tchaikovsky’s poetic dream through a sense of profound hopelessness.

Runtime: 2h 43m

Opera: Salome

Saturday, April 13

Music Direction: Simone Young

Stage Direction: Lydia Steier

A 2022 production featuring the Paris Opera Orchestra. King Herod’s stepdaughter, Salome, princess of Judea, finds palace life dreary. Her curiosity is roused when she hears the voice of Jochanaan, a prophet held prisoner by Herod who is afraid of him. Obsessed by this enigmatic and virtuous man, Salome is ready to do anything to possess him, dead or alive. Drawing on Oscar Wilde’s scandalous play of the same name, in 1905 Richard Strauss produced the work that was to ensure his status as Wagner’s successor in the history of German opera. “Dance for me, Salome”. From Herod’s lubricious injunction to the young woman stems one of the most emblematic orchestral passages in opera: the dance of the seven veils. A hypnotic interlude in itself sufficient to capture the fatal mounting desire that suffuses this work whose orchestration is as rich as it is modern. 

Runtime: 2h

Ballet: Maurice Béjart

Sunday, April 28

A 2023 production, featuring the Paris Opera Ballet. The partnership between Maurice Béjart and the Paris Opera lasted for over 40 years and provided the institution with more than 20 pieces. In a tribute to the choreographer who died 15 years ago, the Paris Opera Ballet present three works initially created during the seventies and which all shine with equal choreographic and musical intensity. For The Firebird, an ode to youth written for the company’s dancers, the choreographer took up Stravinsky’s powerful score bringing out its quintessence. Written for two male dancers, Le Chant du compagnon errant is an intimate work to a song cycle by Mahler. Finally, the mythical Boléro espouses Ravel’s eponymous score. Surrounded by dancers, alone on a table, the principal performer – male or female – is transported by the voluptuous rhythms into an erotic and hypnotic dance that is like a vibrant call to life.

Runtime: 1h 16m