Photos - Food and Friends (and photos)

I'll be a little light on the theatergoing and reviewing for a bit, though I do have more ballet coming up, of course, and a few plays towards the end of June.  My Tony voting friends have been a little stingy with their invites this year (just kidding, generous Tony voter friends).  But I thought it might be fun to post a few photos of food and sights I've recently experienced about town. 

I got a new tablet in the last month or so, as my laptop died a tragic, blue-screen-of-death, death.  Which ticked me off, but that's a whole other blog post.  Anyway.  I've been curious about how good photos would be taken with the tablet - although I think it looks dorky to stand around with a big tablet taking photos.  I just hadn't taken the tablet out of my apartment yet until recently...

After the AIDS Walk a couple of Sundays ago (I took the year off from walking this year), I met my two most favorite handsome pals for brunch (they DID walk and raised a lot of money!).  We went to a fun restaurant called Sugar and Plumm on the Upper West Side.  I was a bit worried at first that it would be too loud and full of screaming kids, but it was fine.  It's very light and airy in there, and they've done a good job with keeping the sound from escalating throughout the large dining room.  For brunch, I got the bacon, egg and cheese waffle, which was off the charts delicious.  The iced coffee was very tasty as well.  Their brunch menu is amazing, so I definitely want to go back.  I think I'd like to take my nephew, because their ice cream sundae menu looks awesome as well and my nephew is a connoisseur of ice cream sundaes.  Enjoy this photo of the deliciousness.  But before I met my handsome pals for brunch, I wandered around the Upper West Side taking photos with my tablet.  You'll notice a strange format to the pictures below - I thought I had accidentally turned on a telescoping feature in the camera, but no.  My brilliant and handsome pal showed me that I was just taking pictures through the hole of the tablet case.  Sigh.  I'm a maroon.  Next time I experiment with photos, I'll take the tablet out of the case.  Some of the photos still turned out pretty well, even if I am a dope...

Last Thursday night, I met those same most favorite handsome pals, along with my most favorite beautiful gal pals, at Tree Bistro, on the east side.  I got there a little early and took some photos of their charming garden in the back.  These photos are with the iPhone, so I need to really examine closely to see if the tablet takes better photos than the iPhone.  If you have opinions, let me know.  These are important things to know before I start my museum viewings on Summer Fridays (I have two museums in the queue, with a couple of other road trip-type ideas for later in the summer) - photographing and recording charming and beautiful things is a fun thing to do in this town.  Oh, and my duck wontons and mashed potatoes at Tree - a dumb dinner combination but they were what I was craving in the vaguely chilly weather that night - were delicious.  Everything needs to be served with that cranberry ketchup on the side.  So enjoy some photos, have a great weekend and I'll be back soon with more thoughts on the ABT summer season!  There may also be some tennis thoughts on the way, as we head towards the second week of the French Open...

 

 

 



I love these people; photo credit - Nicholas Wuehrmann

 

 

ABT 2014 - La Bayadere

More ballet happiness last night at the Met - my subscription ticket for La Bayadere featured a ballerina I've enjoyed in the past alongside a new guest artist who I hope will be back soon.  I've seen La Bayadere a couple of times, most recently in 2012 with two of my uber-favorites, Polina Semionova and David Hallberg.  When I changed my subscription this year to Tuesday nights, I noticed I would be seeing Gillian Murphy and Denys Nedak.  It crossed my mind to exchange my tickets for another night to see Polina or maybe Marcelo Gomes, but then I thought, no, it's good to see new dancers!  And so it was last night...

Of course, with Polina and David's gorgeous gorgeousness still in my head, I did find last night's performance a little wanting.  It was a bit sedate and safe - lovely dancing, don't get me wrong.  But it was like looking at a beautiful painting - all surface and nothing underneath.  It was as if they were playing the dancing instead of the story.  I guess I like it better when they do both...

Denys Nedak is beautifully regal and oh so smooth a danseur.  He cuts a handsome figure on the stage and fills it nicely.  His hands are beautiful and it seems as if his partnering is very steady.  He might have been dancing a little carefully in certain spots, and he did have a bit of an oops in his second act solo.  But all in all, I think I'd like to see him in other roles - Swan Lake, perhaps - where his natural elegance can shine even more.

Gillian Murphy is a stunning dancer, like a diamond, bright and sharp.  But, again, it was as if she was dancing on the surface.  I didn't see any of the love or agony in her movements.  Well, I take that back, at one point during the scene with her romantic rival, I did see a glimmer of something, but when she danced for her lover and with her lover, there wasn't much 'lover'ing going on.  I guess it could be because Nedak is new to the company and there wasn't time to get much of a rapport.  But I still think there could've been more longing and oomph in the dancing.  They didn't seem to take any pleasure in dancing with each other.  And if there's no love or sorrow or redemption, it's just a bunch of pretty steps (which, of course, is still worth my time, imho).  Her solos were lovely, her spins were amazingly quick and her jumps were high and free.  I just wanted more...romance, I guess.

Isabella Boylston was the romantic rival, Gamzatti, and she had some fire and spirit in her miming scene, but not so much in her dancing.  Though her leaps were secure and her spins were fast, she seems a very brittle dancer to me.  And not brittle in a character way (which would've worked for this character), but in a dancer way.

photo credit: Marty Sohl

Actually, everyone last night seemed a little brittle and there were lots of bobbles throughout.  The Kingdom of the Shades piece was gorgeous, but a tad out of sync, and one poor gal dropped her leg - you could almost see her willing herself to keep that leg up but it just.wouldn't.stay.up.  Poor thing.  The three soloists were lovely, but each had a tiny glitch.  It was almost as if once one person wobbled, everyone else had to as well.  So it made me a little nervous throughout the rest of the evening that someone was going to go down.  Oh well.  Thankfully, no one did.  The third act pas de trois was actually quite nice and finally had a little romantic zip, but it was a tad late, for my tastes.


Roman Zhurbin was terrific as the High Brahmin (think Yul Brynner in The Ten Commandments) and Luis Ribagorda was fantastic as the head fakir.  The Bronze Idol solo was done by Zhiyao Zhang, who I don't think I've seen before.  He was quite powerful and sure, with beautiful turns in the air and precise landings.  I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for him the rest of the season.

There wasn't a lot of sustained applause last night - it was mainly polite, in keeping with the rather polite performances, with only one curtain call.  And I don't think I've ever seen the the theater empty so quickly.  Part of me wants to go back and try again - although the music and the dancing were lovely last night, on the whole, it wasn't the best Bayadere I've ever seen.  But at least I have my memories of other more successful (for me) performances...

 

 

 

 

I wish I could see The Normal Heart

I don't get HBO, so I won't be one of the first to watch Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart tonight.  But rest assured I will be watching it as soon as it's available for non-HBO subscribers.  It is a powerful, messy piece of pain and I love every minute of it.  I saw the Public Theater's production that played about ten years ago and couldn't speak for fully an hour afterwards.  I went to the Actor's Fund benefit performance in 2010 and was again a weeping mess after.  And of course I was thrilled to see the show on Broadway.  As for the tv film, I'm a big fan of Mark Ruffalo and think he's a wonderful choice to play the charismatic, but difficult, Ned Weeks, and the rest of the actors seem perfectly cast.  I think it's great they cast Joe Mantello, who played Ned in that last revival of the play, in another role.  I'm just excited and think everyone should watch it.  Maybe it's not the best-written play known to man, but it's important and it's powerful.  Please.  Watch it.  Get those ratings sky high so we can see more of this kind of work.  And maybe someone will learn a little something, which can never be a bad thing.

I'm reprinting below my review of the recent Broadway production of The Normal Heart, which I saw in April, 2011.  I just thought it would be good to jog some memories and get this title out into the blogosphere, in case some of you are also non-HBO subscribers who may want to rent it eventually, too.  And tell all your friends...

**

4/26/11:  Soooo exciting--I won tickets to last night’s performance of The Normal Heart through Time Out NY—hoorah! Love winning stuff! I had to stand in line for a bit to get the actual tickets, but it wasn’t too bad. Our seats weren’t the best (about twelve rows back on the extreme left), but the house is small enough and the show is staged so that we didn’t miss much (or anything) at all.

Here’s a snippet from my review of the one-night benefit performance that got this production started: I went to the Actor’s Fund one-night-only reading of Larry Kramer’s “The Normal Heart” Monday night. It was spectacular. Joe Mantello, who hasn’t acted since the original “Angels in America,” was Ned Weeks and was really amazing. He caught so many layers in Ned. I thought he was great. Victor Garber was terrific as Ned’s older brother, John Benjamin Hickey was fantastic as Felix, Ned’s lover. My husband, Michael Cerveris, was of course terrific as the government official. Kramer’s play is part didactic mess and part passionate rage at the world. The two parts co-exist very well and the show is still so powerful. It’s amazing that this play, written over twenty years ago, is still so timely and angry. I laughed, I cried, I was a weeping puddle by the end.

All of the above is still completely true, except that Victor Garber and Michael Cerveris aren’t in this version of the show. Boo. But the gents who took their place are completely up to the challenge.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

Joe Mantello has such a fine line to tread here—he’s described as a jerk and everyone is afraid of him, so we need to see that, but we also need to root for him and be curious about his journey. Too much of a jerk and we don’t care. Too little, and the plot could unravel. But he finds the right combination. I thought he was terrific, and although I LOVED Mark Rylance in La Bete, I think I’m rooting for Mantello to take the Tony.

He and John Benjamin Hickey have a wonderful chemistry and really play off each other beautifully. I also enjoyed how Mantello played off Ellen Barkin, as Dr. Brookner. She was fantastic, and omg, her monologue in the second act? Breathtaking. Mark Harelilk, who I loved as the father in Light in the Piazza, is terrific as Ned’s older brother.

Lee Pace, from Pushing Daisies fame, was really good as Bruce, the closeted friend who ends up as the first president of GMHC (or the thinly veiled version of GMHC). His monologue in the second act about the death of his lover was just shattering. I mean, the monologue itself is horrifying, but he delivered it beautifully. It’s so amazing—I know what’s coming, I try to prepare myself emotionally, and yet still I break down because it’s all so raw and so real. Patrick Breen’s second act monologue was also heartbreaking. Oh, and Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory) was also great as the young guy who ends up being the peacemaker of the group. He had wonderful comic timing, but also a lot of compassion and layers to his performance. I would definitely like to see him on stage again.

Joel Grey directed the reading last year, but since he was involved in rehearsals for Anything Goes during this rehearsal process, George C Wolfe came on as co-director. I definitely saw a lot of his touches during the evening, though, on the whole, the staging and set were identical to last fall’s reading. I liked many of George’s additions (I generally admire his directing work a great deal), though I do wonder at one thing. I was thinking about this on the way home last night—there was a change in the way the last scene was played from last fall to now. I don’t want to say exactly what happened, in case people are going to see the show and don’t want to be ‘spoiled,’ but I’m really curious about why it was done. I’d love to discuss with people after they’ve seen the show.

And I do hope everyone can try to see this production. It's amazing to me that all that rage and fury actually made it into a play. Usually there’s a filter, but there’s no filter here. And the rage and fury are STILL completely justified. As I said above, it’s amazing to me that so much of what is happening on that stage is still timely and current. And it was written over 20 years ago! But, oh, this play is just filled with pain and beauty. Thumbs way WAY up from me.

Review - Substance of Fire

When Second Stage announced they were doing Jon Robin Baitz's The Substance of Fire, I thought, ooooo, I need to see that.  I generally like Baitz's plays, I didn't see this one first time around and wanted to, and the cast looked good.  With all the other stuff playing around town, though, I sort of forgot about it.  Then I saw an article that said original star Ron Rifkin would be joining the production for a few performances due to a scheduling conflict of one of the current stars!  NOW I was all over it!  I love Ron Rifkin!  I've loved him on stage, of course (genius work in Cabaret), but hello, he was Arvin Sloane on Alias.  I'm a geeky fan girl for Alias, I admit it.  Someday I should do a post about that...  Anyway, all that blah blah blah was to say that when TDF tickets popped up for one of the performances featuring Rifkin, I was in.

Centered around a family conflict in a publishing house, The Substance of Fire is a rather over-stuffed, but still poignant, play about how the past is always present.  Ron Rifkin (carrying his script for some of the piece, but was impressively off-book for much of it, 23 years after originally playing the role) is the father, Isaac Geldhart, who specializes in publishing obscure scholarly books, mainly about the Holocaust.  He's a Holocaust survivor, and you wonder how much of his present is haunted by his survivor guilt (the rest of his family perished in the war).  He is high-minded and arrogrant, and unwilling to compromise his ideals.  As might be expected, these obscure books don't sell, so the publishing house is in financial trouble - Aaron, the oldest son and vice-president of the company, thinks they should publish a sexier-type of novel that is sure to be a best-seller.  Aaron has called his brother and sister into town to back him up, since together, they own 60% of the voting stock in the company.

 

photo credit: Carol Rosegg

How the power struggles go back and forth and destroy this family is pretty much the entire plot of the play.  The first act takes place in the publishing house, the second act takes place three years later, in Isaac's apartment.  In the second act, we meet the fourth character of the play, Marge Hackett.  Played by the great Charlayne Woodard, Marge is a social worker come to assess Isaac's mental health (there is still a power play happening off-stage with Aaron vs his father), but she too is more than she appears.  (This photo is with the original star, John Noble.)



photo credit: Peter Cunningham

All of the acting was excellent, especially Ron Rifkin, who still creates a fully-fleshed, three-dimensional, flawed, proud, haunted man even while carrying around his script.  He can barely contain his contempt for people around him, but as his layers are revealed, you don't hate him, you empathize with him and pity him for his inability to open up.  His connection in the second act with the social worker he occasionally thinks is a Sotheby's appraiser (his solitude has perhaps led to his mind getting a bit foggy) is very touching - he wouldn't connect with his children, choosing his old world ideals over their more free American standards, but he suddenly connects with this woman with losses of her own.  Her own inability to compromise matches his.  Even if I found their textual connection a bit far-fetched, I still bought their dramatic relationship.  (This photo is from the original Off-Broadway production.)

 

I also enjoyed the performances of Daniel Eric Gold, Carter Hudson and Halley Feiffer as Isaac's other children, all of whom are still children, looking for their father's approval, but are also bitter adults.  They have a nice balance of successful adults, but immature hurt kids.  If some of their motivations were a little on-the-nose, the actors at least added some shading to their portrayals.

There are maybe a few too many revelations and surprise twists along the way, but the play is still very current, even today.  It's almost as if we live in the world Isaac Geldhart is afraid of, with the loss of the importance of books and literary ideals.  And seeing how this family of a Holocaust survivor still suffers from the scars is always moving - the recent revival of Donald Margulies' The Model Apartment also showed how this particular ghost isn't going anywhere.  The final moments of this play were quite moving and very hopeful, yet not.  I'm very glad I saw The Substance of Fire and highly recommend you see it too, whether Ron Rifkin is in it or not.  It's just a good play.

Review - Violet

As I believe I've mentioned before, I'm a huge fan of Jeanine Tesori.  I adore Caroline or Change; I thought her score to Lincoln Center's Twelfth Night was stunning; I had a grand time at Fun Home (I'm not as familiar with Shrek or Millie).  Her ability to put together a score of music that is cohesive and unique and dramatic at the same time is a wonderful thing.  Surprisingly, even though I've been hearing about it for years, I've never seen nor heard Violet before.  No idea why, though after hearing the compliments all these years, my expectations were pretty high.  Although no Tony voter friends invited me to be their guest, I bit the bullet and bought a slightly discounted rear mezzanine ticket for last night.  And I'm glad I did.

Jeanine's score for Violet is the highlight of the production for me: thoroughly American, with tinges of bluegrass, gospel, folk, and country-rock, all put together in a musical theater form.  I thought it was wonderful.  This is the sound of my childhood - when I see a banjo in the band, I'm immediately happy.  So, right off the bat, I was ready to enjoy myself. 

I knew the basic plot of Violet before I got there: a badly scarred and bitter young woman embarks on a bus trip so that she can be healed by a televangelist.  Her pursuit of being 'pretty' is something I can relate to - desperate for people to really look at her and to SEE her was very moving and identifable to me.  Having Sutton Foster play the part was terrific casting - although Foster IS pretty, she's also very sympathetic and spunky, so the audience is immediately on her side.

photo credit: Sara Krulwich

On the trip, Violet meets two soldiers, a prettyboy ladies man and a pragmatic openhearted African-American, who are both drawn to her.  Now, to be honest, in a story about a girl who is so facially disfigured that people generally can't bear to look at her, the fact that two handsome young men are immediately drawn to her both personally and sexually was a little hard to wrap my brain around.  I get that Violet is a special person, but...still.  Anyway, moving on. 

Because Violet has led such a lonely life, a lot of the piece is memory or fantasy, which made perfect sense.  I live a lot inside my head as well.  So I was very interested in this story and how it all played out.  I was moved by Violet's struggles and by the message about finding strength and beauty within yourself.  I was brought to tears several times, especially by the beauty and power in the music.  The cast was fantastic all around - I loved the three leads, and I was especially taken with Ben Davis as the televangelist and Alexander Gemignani as Violet's father.

I was not, however, taken with the sound design.  I was sitting in the rear mezzanine, in a seat on the right aisle.  I frequently had trouble hearing the lyrics, or at least clearly understanding them.  The sound was muddy and at times the band was too loud.  You would think that after running for a couple of months already, that kind of problem would've been figured out.  It was very frustrating, because when I could hear the lyrics, I enjoyed them very much.  When I got home, I bought the cast album in iTunes and listened to it a couple of times this morning.  Hmmmm.  Maybe that was their aim all along...

Oh, that's cynical of me.  Anyway, I enjoyed Violet and think it's a very worthwhile night at the theater.  This story is told honestly and is very heartfelt, with a lot of integrity.  So now I've seen two of the Tony nominees for Best Actress in a Musical - I think my vote is still with Kelli O'Hara, though Sutton Foster is quite worthy.  I need to get myself to If/Then and check out what's happening over there...

ABT 2014 - Classic Spectacular

Last night was the 'official' start to my ABT season - the evening of short ballets they called Classic Spectacular was the first in my subscription series (last weekend's Don Quixote visits were happy accidents).  Since I hadn't previously seen any of the three ballets included, I was really looking forward to the evening.

First up was Balanchine's "Theme and Variations" - choreographed originally in 1947, this ballet is intended "to evoke that great period in classical dancing when Russian ballet flourished with the aid of Tchaikovsky's music" (quote by Balanchine).  Sounds perfect to me.  I love the Russian style of ballet and I love Tchaikovsky, so "Theme and Variations" is the perfect marriage of the two.  From my subscription seat up in the baloncy, I adored seeing the intricate patterns of the choreography.

photo credit: Marty Sohl

The curtain goes up to reveal twelve ballerinas and the main couple (danced last night by Polina Semionova and James Whiteside).  There are solos, pas de deux, group dances and a final explosion at the end with 26 dancers triumphantly sailing through space.  It's a lovely, clearly technically difficult piece and it was beautifully danced last night, though I must say it took Polina and James a few minutes to settle into the choreography - it almost looked as if they were rusty and needed one more rehearsal.  But by the time their major pas de deux happened, they were rapturously beautiful together.  Polina used her glorious head and neck stunningly when dancing with the four female soloists, as they were going in and out of a daisy-chain-type-variation.  She was just regal and beautiful and seemed to me the perfect image of a ballerina.  James was confident and strong - he may have travelled a bit during his big turn/pirouette section, but I'd rather see bold dancing that goes a bit off course than timid dancing.  It's too bad they're only doing four performances of this piece - I'd love to go back and see how they deepen and refine their movement and their connection.  But I thought last night was lovely, all the same.  

After a brief pause, the next piece was also choreographed by George Balanchine - "Duo Concertant," set to music by Stravinsky.  This piece features a live pianist and solo violinist on stage with two dancers listening and reacting to the music.  The dancers stood by the piano and listened to the entire first movement, then would go back and forth between dancing and listening throughout the rest of the piece.  The last section was done in almost total darkness, with just a couple of shafts of light that the dancers moved in and out of.  The effect was lovely.

The two dancers, Misty Copeland and Eric Tamm, were beautifully matched and had a lovely, open, easy rapport.  The piece was just lovely, not showy, but perfectly in tune with the music and the musicians.  Both dancers were effortlessly light on their feet.  I would definitely love to see this piece again, especially since I think the spot operator in that last section got a few of the cues mixed up.  It didn't ruin anything, but it did dull the effect of the ending, I think.  Ah well.

photo credit: Fabrizio Ferri

The intermission was interminable, it had to have been at least a half hour.  But when the curtain went up for "Gaite Parisienne," all was forgiven.  Choreographed by Leonide Massine (who I always think of in The Red Shoes when I read his name), this is just a fun fun concoction of joyous dancing and a lot of humor.  The colorful costumes are by Christian Lacroix - they're so witty and fun!  The ballet is just saucy and very French, with Offenbach music, can-can dancers and a trio of delightful billiard players.  Oh, and I was very taken with the waiters.  Marcelo Gomes (who as everyone knows by now, is perfect) is The Baron, who loves the Glove Seller, danced by Hee Seo.  She is just an exquisite dancer, so smooth and lovely, and they made a very beautiful couple.  My favorite performer, though, may have been Joseph Gorak as the Dance Master.  Each time I see him dance, I'm more impressed with his characer work, open-hearted dance qualities and beautiful line.  He was just debonair and wonderful, rakishly brandishing his violet silk top hat.  But everyone was wonderful and "Gaite Parisienne" was a terrific way to end the evening.  Frothy and fun.  With the can-can!  Ballet subscription season is again off to a terrific start...

ABT 2014 - double the Don Quixote, double the fun!

One of my favorite times of year has arrived - the ABT season at the Met!  I bought my subscription ticket in January, the tickets arrived in early March, and the anticipation has been growing ever since!  One of the ballets that wasn't on my subscription this year was Don Quixote - I saw it last year and didn't feel the need to see it again.  But through a fortunate set of circumstances, I saw it not once but twice last weekend!  And had a great time.  Of course, that means this post will be a long one...

A beautiful gal pal and I entered a lottery for free tickets independently of each other.  She won a pair of tickets for Friday night and asked me to be her date.  I won tickets for Saturday night and took my Impossibly Handsome Ballet Buddy (my beautiful gal pal had a previous commitment).  I always love to see two different casts perform a ballet; it's amazing to me how differently characterizations can affect the performance and the experience.  I admit I snuck my camera out during curtain calls, so if there's no photo credit, the photo is one of mine...

photo credit: Hidemi Seto

Friday night, my beautiful gal pal and I saw Paloma Herrera and Ivan Vasiliev in the lead roles.  I believe I've stated before that Paloma is not my favorite ballerina (I don't enjoy how she breaks the line of her arms with her wrists), but I found her to be quietly charming as Kitri.  As I believe I pointed out last year, Don Quixote has maybe, at most, a half-hour's worth of plot in a two and a half hour ballet.  The rest of the evening is filled with charming pas de deux, and lots of opportunity to act as well as dance.  If Paloma's acting wasn't stellar, she definitely had the Latin spirit and fire that Kitri should have.  And her leaps were lovely.  At times, I found her footwork a tiny bit sluggish and she had next to no rapport with her co-star, but that can't all be her fault.

Ivan Vasiliev is an exciting dancer, that's for sure.  He may not be the best actor in the world, or the most elegant partner, but his dancing, especially in his solos, is thrilling.  His leaps are spectacularly high and he puts so many variations in, it's so fun.  I was happy to see him do the show live at least once.  I gasped a couple of times at his virtuosity, but did miss seeing the lead couple dance as one.  They were definitely both dancing for themselves instead of each other.  Even their curtain calls together were rather remote.  Ah well. 

 

Veronika Part and James Whiteside were wonderful as Mercedes and Espada - he was especially vibrant as the vainglorious matador.  And Sarah Lane was simply enchanting as Amour.  She seemed to skim the earth as she danced - lovely.  Victor Barbee was his usual wonderful self as Don Quixote and I especially enjoyed Skylar Brandt as one of the flower girls.  My beautiful gal pal and I had a grand time, then afterwards, we braved the monsoon, got DRENCHED, and had a pricey glass of wine and nibble at Cafe Fiorello.  It was a lovely night.


photo credit: Gene Schiavone

Saturday night, my Impossibly Handsome Ballet Buddy and I saw two of our uber-favorites as Kitri and Basilio - Polina Semionova and Marcelo Gomes.  I'm swooning just typing their names.  They have chemistry and rapport in spades.  Together, they just seemed to dance as one.  Their turns and gestures had fantastic symmetry and they just moved so beautifully together.  And separately, of course.  Polina is just so smooth and supple in her dancing - that elegant neck and back are breathtaking.  She is also saucy and flirtatious throughout, which is perfectly in line with Kitri.  Her leaps are stunning and her extensions and supports en pointe are simply gorgeous.  I just love to watch her dance.



Double that love for Marcelo Gomes.  IHBB and I decide, every single time we see him dance, that Marcelo is perfection.  The perfect partner, the perfect romantic figure.  HIs acting is detailed and specific, his charm is off the charts.  OK, so he didn't jump as high as Vasiliev, so what?  I found the total oneness of his performance to be much preferable to the momentary excitements of the night before.  Of course, there's room for both in the ballet world!  

Jared Matthews and Hee Seo were lovely as Espada and Mercedes; perhaps a little less bold, but still beautifully executed dancing and their eyes locked several times that ratcheted their dancing up a notch each time.  Roman Zhurbin was so touching as Don Quixote, especially in the Dream Scene, and he also had a lovely rapport with Polina.  And Nicole Graniero was also wonderful as Amour - very different from Sarah Lane, maybe a little less ethereal and a little more earthy.  But still wonderfully enchanting.

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention, those gypsy costumes for the men in Act 2 have got to go.  They're wearing macrame crop tops and bushy wigs - they look like rejects from a Van Halen video.  So out of keeping with the rest of the costuming.  IHBB and I had a giggle over the awfulness of those costumes, though the men danced superbly.  We again had a terrific time and had much beauty to discuss over late-night snacks and margaritas at Rosa Mexicano.  Ballet season is off to a fantastic start!  Next up, the evening they're calling Classic Spectacular.  I'm so excited, I've not seen these three pieces before.  And one of the ballets has costumes by Christian Lacroix - fashion AND ballet happiness!  Whee!