In 1954, Audrey Hepburn took the stage in Ondine, a Broadway production by Jean Giraudoux. Ondine is a naïve, free-spirited water nymph who lives by a lake. She falls deeply in love with a human knight named Hans. Despite warnings from her supernatural kin, especially the King of the Waters, she chooses to marry him, knowing the risk: if he ever betrays her, he will die, and she will lose him forever.
At the time, Audrey’s star was rapidly ascending. Fresh off the success of Roman Holiday, she had just completed filming Sabrina, wrapping production only two weeks before heading to New York for Ondine rehearsals. Despite the demanding schedule and long hours that often left her exhausted, she threw herself into the role with remarkable dedication.
A review of Audrey’s performance by critic Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times, February 28, 1954:
“Miss Hepburn gives a magical performance as Ondine. She is a rapturously beautiful young woman, but there is no self-consciousness or vanity in her acting. Sprite-like in the spontaneity of her movement, quick, agile and bubbling, she describes Ondine’s ordeal in the human world with candor and grace. Under the enchantment, a keen mind is at work. Ondine is not merely an entrancing creature but a vivid idea, and the acting could hardly be more lucid or admirable.
Giraudoux would have been especially proud of her last scenes when Ondine’s ecstasy turns to grief because she has lost her lover. Miss Hepburn does not drench the character in tears. She preserves the integrity of a spirit that is vanquished, but knows that the dream, however impossible, is still exalted and sublime.”
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