With Queen’s popularity registered at an all-time high — due in no small part to the Bohemian Rhapsody movie — it’s no wonder there’s a renewed interest in anything the Queen name is attached to. One significant collaboration occurred in the late 1990s with choreographer Maurice Béjart’s Ballet for Life, which married ballet dance performances to the music of Queen. The Queen + Béjart: Ballet for Life Blu-ray disc, housed in a hard-bound photo book, features a documentary about the collaboration, and there’s a full performance of the ballet from June 1997 by the Béjart Ballet Lausanne.
The story of Béjart’s vision for ballet is pivotal to the documentary, with numerous testimonials from friends, peers, and dancers, proclaiming his virtues. Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor also speak of the man’s genius, while touching on how the theatrical sense and presence that Freddie Mercury brought to Queen was heavily inspired by the ballet world. The parallels run deep. Mercury and Béjart are both hailed as masters of their chosen paths, though the collaboration itself is more of a tribute to those who have died too young, including Mercury and Béjart’s former principal dancer, Jorge Donn. Both passed away from AIDs.
There’s archival footage with Mercury, Béjart, Queen and Gianni Versace, who created the costume designs. There are also a few 2017 dance interpretations with Queen’s music featured between the commentary, along with with the full 1997 performance. The highlight of the whole set may be from the show’s January 1997 opening night in Paris when Elton John joins Queen — Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon — for a performance of “The Show Must Go On.” It would be John Deacon’s final public performance. Altogether, Queen + Béjart: Ballet for Life unveils yet another dimension of Freddie Mercury and Queen’s inimitable sound, vision and influence.
~ Shawn Perry
