On this date in 1993, "Billboards," a ballet
with music by Prince and dancing by the Joffrey Ballet, opened in
Iowa City, Iowa. Prince didn't attend the show, which featured 13
of his songs. The ballet company's artistic director called it the
first full-length rock ballet performed in this country.

I saw this in Brooklyn. Very good show and my first(and last) ballet.

I saw the show in Minneapolis. I really enjoyed it.

I have it on Laserdisk.

I was at that premiere! I wore a bright purple shirt and thought it was so cool to have a Prince premiere in Iowa. There was all this talk about how wonderful it was that Prince was being so generous and that he was saving the Joffrey. Now that Prince would rather rip off and/or sue his fans than actually treat them well, it's difficult to remember a time when Prince was actually seen as generous.

I, too, still have the Laserdisc, which I finally converted to DVD a little over a year ago. I still enjoy watching it, but the filming was poorly directed. But it's great, even so.

Efan said:

The filming, to me, was very "artsy".

Where was the Laserdisk filmed?

Efan said:

I was there too. Remember the car?

ernestsewell said:

I think it was filmed in Upstate New York on the last night of the show (I'd need to look at the packaging to be sure, and I'm not at home right now).

There are several points where I wish the director would have pulled back so we could see more of what was going on. On the other hand, the up-close intimacy of the camera works well in many other places (one of my personal favorites is the close-up of the two hot dancers hugging during "Willing & Able," just because they're both so adorable). Anyway, just my two cents that I wish the camera work had varied a little bit more in certain places.

Mars23 said:

Yeah, I loved seeing the car there in the middle of the lobby!

Efan said:

I am home right now, but I'm just too lazy to go look.

I had "Billboards" recorded on VHS video tape, broadcast from danish TV2.

I found it very boring, i'm not into ballets...

And a bit strange "Release It" was included, bad song imo.
[Edited 1/27/10 10:31am]

The full tracklist... anyone ?

thedance said:

From the Wikipedia page:

I: Sometimes It Snows in April (Choreographed by Laura Dean)

* "Sometimes It Snows in April"
* "Trust / Baby I'm a Star"

II: Thunder (Choreographed by Charles Moulton)

* "Thunder"
* "Purple Rain"

III: Slide (Choreographed by Margo Sappington)

* "Computer Blue"
* "I Wanna Melt with U"
* "The Beautiful Ones"
* "Release It" (by The Time)/ "Computer Blue" (Reprise)

IV: Willing & Able (Choreographed by Peter Pucci)

* "For You"
* "The Question of U"
* "It"
* "Willing and Able / Gett Off"

thedance said:

Google.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...8ballet%29

Thanks, Efan / Ernest.

Weren't Wendy and Lisa's voices replaced on Computer Blue? I'd have to play it again to verify, but I think they were.

I bought the VHS when it came out. I never watched it because I don't like ballets:

ernestsewell said:

I have it on wax cylinder.

squirrelgrease said:

WOW! Wax cylinders are worth lots of money. Be careful though, many were made to be only played once!

squirrelgrease said:

You've probably waxed your cylinder while watching it.

You bitches are funny.

Saw it live in San Francisco. It was an amazing performance by the Joffrey. My only disappointment was the choice of songs - too many of them were from DIAMONDS AND PEARLS and the Symbol album.

I saw the show in Cleveland. I enjoyed it.

LIBRA said:

Prince did attend the opening.

squirrelgrease said:

I enjoyed the after party at Paisley Park! I didn't go to the show though.

it can still be bought on amazon.com..

Efan said:

Cool