All information © Northwest Ballet Theater 2012
Northwest Ballet Theater
1417 Cornwall Ave.
Bellingham,WA 98225
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info@northwestballet.org
Act I
The story begins during a town festival. The town is celebrating a new town
bell that is due to arrive in the coming days. Anyone who wants to be married on
that day will be awarded with a special gift of money. Swanilda is engaged to Franz
and plans to marry during the festival. Swanilda asks Franz if he loves her and he
answers yes, but she doesn’t feel it is heartfelt. She becomes unhappy with Franz
because he seems to be paying more attention to a girl named Coppélia who sits on
Dr. Coppelius’s (a toymaker) balcony. She spends all of her time reading and gives
no one her attention. Franz is mesmerized by her beauty and is determined to get
her attention. Swanilda is deeply hurt by his distractions and feels he does not
love her. Despite him saying he loves her, she no longer trusts his words. Instead
she will hold up an ear of wheat to her ear and if it rattles when she shakes it,
then she will know that he loves her. When she does this however, it does not rattle.
When Franz does the same thing he tells her it does rattle. She does not believe
him and runs away heartbroken.
When Dr. Coppelius leaves his house, he is heckled by a group of small boys. After running them off he finally goes on his way not knowing that he dropped his keys in the process. Swanilda finds his keys and is determined to find out more of Coppélia. She and her friends decide to go inside Dr. Coppelius’s house. Meanwhile, Franz develops his own plan to meet Coppélia. He climbs up a ladder to Coppélia's balcony.
Act II
Swanilda and her friends find themselves in a large room filled with people,
but these people aren't moving. The girls discover that these are not people, but
life-
When Dr. Coppelius returns home, he finds the girls in his house. He becomes angry not only for getting into his house, but for also messing up his workroom, and kicks the girls out. Dr. Coppelius begins cleaning up the mess and notices Franz coming into the window. Instead of shooing him away, he invites him in. Dr. Coppelius wants to bring Coppelia to life and in order to do that, he needs a human sacrifice. His magic spell will take Franz’s life and transfer it to Coppélia. Dr. Coppelius gives Franz some wine laced with sleeping powder and Franz begins to fall asleep. Dr. Coppelius then readies his magic spell.
When Dr. Coppelius kicked the girls out, Swanilda stayed and hid behind a curtain. Swanilda dresses up in Coppelia’s clothes and pretends to come to life. She wakes up Franz and quickly escapes by winding up all of the mechanical dolls. Dr. Coppelius becomes saddened to find a lifeless Coppélia behind the curtain.
Act III
Swanilda and Franz are about to say there vows when the angry Dr. Coppelius
shows up. Feeling badly for causing such a mess, Swanilda offers Dr. Coppelius her
dowry in return for his forgiveness. Swanilda's father tells Swanilda to keep her
dowry. He pays Dr. Coppelius instead, because it was a special day. Swanilda kept
her dowry and Dr. Coppelius was awarded his own bag of money. Swanilda and Franz
get married and the entire town celebrates by dancing.
Aaron Green. (n.d.). Classical Music. In Entertainment. Retrieved Jan. 16, 2012, from http://www.about.com.