PRISCILLA PRESLEY BOOSTS CLEVELAND BALLET

Superlatives may not come easily to critics, but the Cleveland Ballet's production of "Blue Suede Shoes" is drawing these accolades:

"A hit." "The dancing is terrific." "Fabulous..." costumes and sets. "Big, glitzy and fun."

Cleveland Plain Dealer dance critic Wilma Salisbury wrote: "Rarely has there been so much spontaneous applause during a Cleveland Ballet performance."

It's a rock ballet set to Elvis Presley music, and Priscilla Presley was among those joining in that applause.

Those with her in her State Theater box at the world premiere opening said that Presley's former wife, "...laughed a lot, clapped a lot, and even cried during some of the scenes."

She is president of Elvis Presley Enterprises and she gave Cleveland Ballet permission to use the 36 Presley songs, original master recordings by the rock-and-roll icon.

It is a big production, with "big" in capital $-signs: a million-dollar spectacle of Bob Mackie costume and set designs, William Ross orchestration, Christina Giannelli lighting, and high-energy performance by the Ballet dancers.

Cleveland Ballet artistic director Dennis Nahat conceived the show and choreographed it. At the Ballet's Playhouse Square offices, Nahat these days is described as, "One big walking grin."

David Oakland is smiling, too; he's president of "New Dance Ventures," the division of the Cleveland Ballet that is presenting "Blue Suede Shoes."

To cover budget, "Blue Suede Shoes" had to do $350,000 in ticket sales. Sales already are above half-a-million dollars, 150 percent of the goal. They could approach $800,000 before the show closes here June 7.

The day after the official world premiere opening, there was a record single-day ticket sale of $72,000. Broken down into a 10-hour sales day, that's 7,000 tickets sold every hour.

The good reviews given the show also are expected to boost ticket sales, already described as "going through the roof."

The future?

"Blue Suede Shoes" returns to the Cleveland stage next April, then goes on the road to the new opera house in Detroit and then to San Jose, the California city that shares the Ballet's identity and that provided investors for this production.

Thirty-five presenters and promoters of ballet from across the country were here for the opening. It is not out of the question that "Blue Suede Shoes" could play all 35 of those venues.

One ballet office spokesperson said, "Blue Suede Shoes could play for the next three to five years."

That kind of acceptance would be emphasis to a Presley favorite, "Love Me Tender."

"The High School - from Blue Suede Shoes
designed by Bob Mackie