Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The Black Rose is a “cinematic ballet that is both alluring and disturbing.” A dark evocative tale, the Black Rose echoes several dance masterpieces and presents its story in a totally unique and contemporary way. The score, written by Scott Marshall, is a “hallucinogenic musical collage” combining Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake with popular love standards and several other musical genres. During a ball and a Witch’s Sabbath, a man presents a red rose to a female. Another man intercedes with a black rose. After a scene of seduction, rape, and beating, a baby is born, placed on a platter and chased offstage with an enormous knife and fork. The red rose wins out in the end.