A lively biography of the choreographer who helped recreate the
Broadway musical, infused ballet with American verve and humor, and
became a leading spokesperson for dance and the arts in general. De
Mille, who died in 1993 at the age of 88, told her own life story
with grace and spirit in such volumes as Dance to the Piper and And
Promenade Home. But Easton adds considerably to our understanding
of this woman who, despite an undancerly physique, was determined
to express herself in movement. Following de Mille's life from her
childhood in Hollywood as the daughter of writer/director William
de Mille and niece of Cecil B. De Mille, through her early career
struggles, her eventual huge successes with Oklahoma! and Rodeo,
and subsequent ups and downs of her career, Easton underscores
(sometimes too much) one central theme. De Mille's desperate and
ungratified need for approval from her father became the driving,
and usually destructive, force in her relationships with men. She
did marry finally at age 36, a man who repeated the early indignity
she felt: Despite his love for her, Walter Prude never thought
highly of his wife's choreography. Easton also convincingly details
how this need for a man's approval and a sense of sexual
inferiority coexisted with a fierce independence and
self-assurance. And all of these traits informed her most enduring
creations, from the the desperate Lizzie Borden in Fall River
Legend to Laurey's dream in Oklahoma!. Either Easton is a master
interviewer, or else those who loved and hated de Mille (and the
choreographer herself, whom Easton interviewed before her death)
were eager for a chance to go on the record: Their rich quotes
enhance this biography. James Mitchell, one of her closest
associates, said, "Agnes enslaved people. She knew her power and
that people would do for her." It may not be the case that "no
other dancer has approached the breadth of her achievement," as
Easton says, but this is a generally objective and useful summary
of de Mille's life and works. (Kirkus Reviews)
Pioneering a distinctly American style that combined modern dance
and ballet with a traditional folk idiom, Agnes de Mille
popularized what had been an elitist art and irrevocably changed
the American musical theater. During a life that spanned most of
the twentieth century, de Mille worked and played with a fabulous
cast of characters, from her uncle (the legendary Cecil B. de
Mille) to Charlie Chaplin, Martha Graham, Cole Porter, NoA"Coward,
Rebecca West, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Drawing on unpublished papers and extensive interviews with
friends, colleagues, relatives, and de Mille herself, Carol Easton
takes us behind the scenes of de Mille's extraordinary life:
struggling to establish a reputation, surviving a series of
disastrous love affairs, meeting the conflicting demands of
ambition and motherhood, and dealing with a devastating illness.
She unforgettably brings to life the combination of intelligence,
artistry, and humor that was Agnes de Mille.
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