FOR STORY CONSIDERATION – Tulsa, OK
Tulsa audiences will be among the first in the nation to experience a bold new ballet created by a predominantly female-led team at a time when the industry is pushing for change.
TULSA, OK — Decades after her death, Marilyn Monroe remains one of the most recognizable faces in the world, immortalized in everything from classic films to Andy Warhol’s portraits. But behind the platinum image is a more complicated story, one that has often been flattened into myth.
A new full-length ballet from Tulsa Ballet aims to bring that complexity back into focus as 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s birth. This production offers a timely and poignant tribute to illuminate the woman behind the legend.
Marilyn, choreographed by Dani Rowe, reimagines Monroe not as a Hollywood storyline, but as a study in contrasts: public adoration and private vulnerability, constructed identity and authentic self. Arriving in Tulsa as part of a national co-production between Oregon Ballet Theatre and BalletMet, the work invites audiences to look past the icon they think they know and consider the emotional cost of becoming a symbol.
Rather than tracing a linear biography, Rowe’s ballet draws on visual and cultural touchstones, particularly Warhol’s vivid, layered depictions, to explore how Monroe’s image was stylized and, in many ways, separated from the person herself. The result is a piece that feels less like a retelling and more like an excavation.
In an interview with Pointe Magazine, Rowe reflected, “The biggest thing for me has been really exploring that line between image and reality, performance or truth.” “And the craziness of being human. That’s what connects us all. Even Marilyn.”
That perspective is echoed behind the scenes as well. With a predominantly female-led creative team, Marilyn reflects a broader shift within the ballet world, one that is opening space for new voices and new ways of telling familiar stories. Composer Shannon Rugani’s score and the production’s cinematic design elements work in tandem with Rowe’s choreography to evoke both the allure of Hollywood’s golden age and the artifice that sustained it.
For Tulsa audiences, the production offers something rare: an early look at an ambitious new work that is as much about contemporary questions of identity and perception as it is about a singular figure from the past.
In revisiting Monroe through movement rather than myth, Marilyn suggests that the most enduring legends are not the ones we recognize instantly, but the ones we are still trying to understand.
PERFORMANCES AND TICKETS
Show Run: April 29-May 3
Performance Location: The Lorton Performance Center
550 S. Gary Pl. Tulsa, OK 74104
Performance Dates and Times:
Wednesday, April 29 | 7:00 PM (Preview night pricing-tickets start at just $25)
Thursday, April 30 | 7:30 PM
Friday, May 1 | 7:30 PM
Saturday, May 2 | 2:30 PM
Saturday, May 2 | 7:30 PM
Sunday, May 3 | 2:30 PM
Tickets can be purchased at tulsaballet.org
Marilyn Monroe™ ©The Estate of Marilyn Monroe LLC
This production is a collaboration between Tulsa Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and BalletMet
For more information or interview opportunities, please contact:
Jessie Kenney | Content Creator
918-396-5949 | Jessie.kenney@tulsaballet.org