Swan Lake Retold: Adapted from Tchaikovsky's Ballet🦢

 Swan Lake

Retold by A. Eleazar

from the ballet by

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

(1840-1893)

Dedication:

To my fellow bookworm and dear friend, Tristan McAvery, for his support.

To Natasha Connell, for providing me with the tools needed for this project.

To Rey Terciero and Megan Kearney, for breaking their legs in their collaboration.

To John Robert Allman, for showing ballet is for both boys and girls.

To Misty Copeland, Gillian Murphy, Marianela Núñez, and all the other Swan Queens, for gracefully entertaining us.

To Maestro Tchaikovsky, for giving us Swan Lake.

Act I:

Once upon a time, in this story you read,

Lives a charming prince whose name is Siegfried.

With his best friends, the prince loves having fun,

Yet those free days are over; he will turn twenty-one.

"My son," declares his mother. "You must start a family

For providing an heir is your royal duty.

Princesses shall arrive from many a foreign state.

On your birthday tomorrow, you must not hesitate."

The prince becomes saddened, his heart is full of woe

When his mother bequeaths him a quiver and a bow.

"Your late father's parting gift for your special day.

Go hunting, my child. From your duties do not stray."

Act II:

Deep within the forest, the prince hunts for trophies to take.

The sun has begun to set when he arrives at Swan Lake.

A white swan with a crown descends from the heavens.

Before the prince can shoot, it becomes a pretty maiden.

Odette in her daily avian form.

"I am the Swan Queen Odette. I am under a spell.

Please listen, my prince, to the story I will tell.

Rothbart the sorcerer had taken great delight:

Cursing me a swan by day and human queen by night.

Odette in her nightly human form.

My mother formed, with her own tears, this very deep, blue lake,

Wishing for my freedom until she died of heartbreak.

Do not kill Rothbart, the one who had cursed me.

Should he die before my freedom, I shall rest eternally."

Rothbart, the sorcerer who has cursed Odette.

"I shall give you my word, my heart, possessions all.

Queen Odette, I love you and invite you to the ball."

The prince has been shot by the son of Aphrodite,

Desiring to marry Odette and thus, set her free.

"I shall come tonight, but we must now part ways,

A white swan again beneath the sun's golden rays.

You must promise to love me and no other maiden

Or else, Rothbart's spell will never be broken."

Prince Siegfried falls for Queen Odette.

Odette flies away as a swan with a crown

While Siegfried waits at home for the sun to go down.

But the warlock and his daughter have spied on the couple

And have hatched a scheme to get them into trouble.

Act III:

The royal ball is festive with guests, presents, food, and drink.

The princesses the prince ignores; of Odette is all he can think.

Silence falls upon the guests when an elderly baron

Walks into the ballroom with a black-dressed woman.

The Black Swan

"Queen Odette, my beloved!" The prince dances with the crow,

Unaware of the white swan flapping at a window.

When the music and dancing are over, the prince says with pride,

"I love the Queen Odette and shall take no other bride."

Prince Siegfried proposes to Odile, whom he has mistaken for Odette.

Alas, the doors fly open to reveal the setting sun

And the prince is dismayed to see what he has done.

Queen Odette has arrived, but she is too late.

She has been doomed to suffer her fate.

"But her prince falls for the wrong girl..."

While Odette stands outside in white and weeping,

From within the palace, the baron is chortling.

The baron is Rothbart, victorious in his attack,

And his daughter is Odile, the swan maiden in black.

Like father, like daughter.

Act IV:

Into the forest run the prince and his queen.

On top of a cliff the two can be seen.

How can they escape this predicament,

Now that the spell on Odette is permanent?

Yet love finds its way into the most broken of hearts,

Hand-in-hand, Odette and Siegfried vow to never part.

In one final act, Rothbart's spell do they break

By jumping together into the waters of Swan Lake.

Rothbart defeated.

The sorcerer dies in agony for he has been defeated

By the love of two souls whom he has mistreated.

Above Swan Lake, when the weather is nice,

You can see Odette and Siegfried, together in Paradise.

Prince Siegfried and Queen Odette are together forever.

The End

Curtain call.