Review - The Old Woman

I'm normally not a devotee of avant garde theater - I'm such a plot girl, I find it hard to let my brain go and just exist with a surreal piece.  And I don't really understand it as thoroughly as I should.  I will admit, in college I did take a course in surrealism (mainly fiction, not drama), and I do, on occasion, try to expand my brain.  When BAM announced they were doing a Robert Wilson piece starring Willem Dafoe and Mikhail Baryshnikov, I thought, what the heck?

I saw Dafoe in an environmental production of The Hairy Ape a number of years ago and found him to be spectacular.  I've always enjoyed his film work, of course.  And naturally I'm a huge fan of Baryshnikov - not only of his dancing, but of his stage work, as well.  I saw him do some Beckett a few years ago and he was haunting.  So I was inclined to enjoy their work in the Wilson piece.

photo credit: Ruby Washington

No matter how I explained to myself that there wouldn't be a narrative and just go with the flow, it was still a bit difficult for me to completely engage in The Old Woman.  Adapted from a surrealistic text from Russian author Daniil Kharms, Wilson and adaptor Darryl Pinckney have put together more like vignettes than actual scenes.  The original text is about a writer who found a dead old woman in his apartment, he put the woman into a suitcase, and then the suitcase disappeared.  This version doesn't really follow that throughline.  There are references to old women, there's a reference to a body in an apartment, and there are suitcases.  There's a lot of repetition of dialogue, some of it in Russian, some in English.  But the piece is mainly dreamlike flashes of imagery and shapes, not really with dramatic flow. 

photo credit: Ruby Washington

Not that there's anything wrong with that, I guess.  Dafoe and Baryshnikov played rather two sides of the same person.  They wore matching dark suits, whiteface and extreme angular hairdos.  Dafoe was maybe the more angry of the two, Baryshnikov was maybe a little more melancholy.  But they both were fully committed, playful when called for, and chilling in other scenes.  And physically, their performances were expert.  There were two scenes that were mirror images of each other, with the exact same dialogue and same odd movement sequences, but they were spoken with entirely different intent and ended in the complete opposite direction.  I found those two scenes to be lovely and extremely evocative, almost like a weird dream.  Other scenes were harder for me to connect to, which probably doesn't bother any of the creators in the slightest.



photo credit: Ruby Washington

Throughout most of the afternoon, I was extremely intrigued about what would come next, though I did begin to get a little restless by the end.  But to be honest, this could possibly be the most ravishingly beautiful physical production I have ever seen.  The lighting and the manipulation of the actors in space was breathtaking.  The actors were on a swing at one point, with a gorgeous backdrop behind them, and it was glorious.  One scene had one actor with green lighting on his face only, the other actor had red lighting on his hand only.  The manipulation of the lights was expert.  Maybe this didn't work for me as a piece of theater, but it certainly was a stunning work of art, and I'm sure I'll never see anything like it again.  I'm glad I saw it, though I'll be happy to get back to a little plot the next time I'm in a theater... :)  I took quite a few photos on my way to and from Brooklyn, so I'll include some extra photos at the end of the post.  Enjoy!

 

 

ABT 2014 - Swan Lake

As my ABT season hurtles to a close, I'm trying to take a deep breath and slow it down.  It's not working, of course. I'm starting to feel withdrawal already.  Sigh.  Anyway, Swan Lake wasn't included in my subscription, but since I love the ballet so much, I decided to pick up an extra ticket for last night.  I was especially keen to see Herman Cornejo and Alina Cojocaru dance it, since Alina had to cancel last year.  Well, perhaps I'm a jinx for poor Alina, because she didn't dance last night either, due to an injury.  Darn it.  Instead of throwing Cornejo with a partner he wasn't used to, they replaced them both, so I got to see super dreamy Roberto Bolle dance with the lovely Hee Seo.

I still dream about the sublime perfection of last year's Swan Lake with Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes, so maybe I was bound to be disappointed.  Not disappointed, exactly, because it was a lovely evening, but I wasn't moved or overcome by beauty.  Oh well.

Roberto Bolle was his expected terrific self, with a very shy, pensive interpretation of the prince.  He was an awkward prince, uncomfortable with all the attention and perferred most of the time to be alone, which neatly explained his solos during the first scene.  I noticed something I hadn't seen before - he seemed to have an interest in one of the ladies dancing in the pas de trois.  He got up, watched her, then had discussions with his tutor about her.  It was very interesting.  He danced beautifully, as always, and I enjoyed his performance.

photo credit: Gene Schiavone

Hee Seo is a gorgeous dancer, with lovely long limbs and incredible stretch.  She doesn't seem to get engaged in the music or the drama, though.  I don't feel her, or get the sense that she's telling a story.  I don't know.  I'd like to see her really sink into the music and share something.  Maybe that will come with more experience.  But last night, I didn't really engage with her, though I did appreciate her technically gorgeous dancing.  Well, except for one bobble at the end of the Black Swan pas de deux.  That was unfortunate.



photo credit: Gene Schiavone

With some emptiness around the lead performances (I don't think Bolle could really be as wonderful as possible if he couldn't really connect with his partner), I did notice some other performances I might not normally have enjoyed.  Oh, well, I'm sure I would've noticed Jared Matthews as Benno, the best friend.  I always enjoy Jared's dancing, and he was terrific in the pas de trois. But for once, I was especially taken with the Hungarian dance, led by Alexei Agoudine and Luciana Voltolini.  They were strong and charismatic and made me take notice of a dance I'd never really overly enjoyed before.  And the Neopolitan dance was really fantastic since it featured the ever-more-terrific Joseph Gorak and the still-new-to-me Zhiyao Zhang.  Good on all the dancers in that ballroom scene for giving things their all - sometimes those dances are just fillers until Odile and von Rothbart came in.  Speaking of von Rothbart, Alexandre Hammoudi smoldered wonderfully and seduced us all.  His balances at the end of his solo were a little wobbly, but it didn't lessen any effects.  The MVPs, as always, were the corps de ballet swans and cygnettes, they were all terrific.

All in all, it was a perfectly pleasant night at the ballet, but it didn't live up to my memories of last year, unfortunately. But that's why there's always next year...

Review - tick, tick...BOOM

I have a rather strange relationship with the musical tick, tick...BOOM.  I'll see if I can make a long story short (probably not, knowing myself as I do): when I saw a college friend in the revival of The Rocky Horror Show, I became completely enchanted with Raul Esparza in the role of Riff Raff (someday, if you're interested, ask me to reenact the first moment I saw him onstage, it's pretty funny. My date, on the other hand, was not amused).  I was fortunate to see that show a few times, thanks to my generous friend, and I became more impressed with Raul's voice each time I saw the show.  He left the show rather early to star in a new Off-Broadway musical based on a rock monologue the late Jonathan Larson, composer/lyricist of Rent, had been performing.  Naturally, I was interested in seeing this new show since Raul was starring in it.

On another odd tangent, I used to work with Housing Works on a theater project for the children of homeless or formerly homeless clients who were HIV positive or had AIDS.  One of the shows we presented featured a few songs written by Jonathan Larson for an unproduced children's musical.  At one point, I met his father - we had great success with that production.

Anyway.  When the cast album for that original production of tick, tick...BOOM came out, I bought it at the Virgin Megastore on the very day it was released: September 11, 2001.  I was a little late for work that day, since I stopped to buy the CD first.  As I walked to my office in Times Square, I wondered why there were crowds of people standing in the street, watching the ABC News big screen tv.  I soon learned why.  Then, strangely enough, the very first show I saw after 9/11 was, you guessed it, tick, tick...BOOM.  So it has always had this bittersweet poignance around it, even outside the real-life sadness of Larson's story. 

I remember enjoying the original Off-Broadway production very much. Raul was, of course, a powerhouse.  Molly Ringwald had gone into the show as a replacement for Susan and she was fine, better in the book scenes than in the songs, but she could sing well enough.  I remember thinking the show was very touching, but I guess because Rent was still playing on Broadway at that time, I didn't really focus on the loss of Jonathan Larson, my mind was still focused on New York and trying to rebuild after the tragedies of 9/11.  Seeing a show was the beginning of that.

Cut to the announcement that Encores Off-Center would be producing a revival of tick, tick...BOOM.  Starring Lin-Manuel Miranda.  Um, hello.  Lin-Manuel Miranda is way up at the top of my list of very favorite special talented people.  Charm just flows from him, along with talent and a huge spirit.  I love watching him onstage.  Hearing Karen Olivo and Leslie Odom, Jr would be his co-stars was just icing on the Lin-Manuel cake.  I bought a ticket immediately.

look at that crowd!

Before the show last night, there was a pre-show talk with Jonathan Larson's family in the lobby of the theater.  Of course, I got there late, so there was no room to see anything.  I just stood at the back and tried to listen.  I couldn't really hear what was going on, but as the talk ended, suddenly there was a sing-a-long to "Seasons of Love" from Rent.  It was beautiful, hearing more and more voices take up the lyrics and wonder 'how do you measure a life.'  It was very moving and put me in a rather weepy mood before the show even started.

My seat was spectacular, in the center of the Grand Tier.  I loved it, though I did not love my seat neighbors, all seven of them, who sauntered in one at a time after the show had started.  Deep breath.  Moving on.

I loved every minute of the show.  I loved the singing, the acting, the flubs, the ad-libs.  And I was moved, so incredibly moved throughout.  And this time, I was so moved because I kept thinking of all the shows Jonathan Larson never got to write.  Hearing Lin-Manuel Miranda, a composer himself, sing of the struggles and the sacrifices people make for their art was almost unbearable during the song "Why."  I was on the verge of tears through most of the show, but big gulping sobs began during that song and when the, well, I guess you could call it the deus ex machina voice mail message was played, I was a MESS.  A heaving mess of regret and happiness.  Regret for Larson and happiness at being so moved by this honest piece of art.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

The audience was up for anything and super-engaged.  At one point, Lin's microphone went out, so a techie came out and gave him a handheld mic.  Lin used that for one scene, played it for all it was worth, then a techie came out to give him a new body mic.  As that was going on, Karen and Leslie just ad-libbed adorably.  And, of course, Lin's first line after getting all set up was "Rehearsal went well."  HUGE laughter from the crowd.  I mean, everybody was already all in, but that just sealed the deal.

I could say a lot more about how wonderful the performances were, but this post is already too long.  But they WERE wonderful.  Karen Olivo is knocking "Come to Your Senses" out of the park!  tick, tick...BOOM only runs through this weekend; I highly recommend you go out and try to get tickets.  There's so much love of theater, love of art, just plain love, and meta-theatrical beauty going on, you owe it to yourself to see it.  Watching the huge-hearted Lin-Manuel Miranda play the huge-hearted Jonathan Larson is a sight to behold.  I'm glad I took the plunge again.  And I'm so lucky to be able to "spend my time this way."  It's always good to acknowledge how much I appreciate this life...

Review - If/Then

Even though I've closed the door on last season, when a ticket to If/Then made itself available to me last week, I jumped at the chance.  I'm always eager to check out new musicals and I'm a huge fan of the creators' last musical, Next to Normal.  And so it was last Thursday that I headed to the Richard Rodgers Theatre to check out If/Then...

To back up a tiny bit, if you're wondering why it has taken me so long to report on If/Then (I generally turn my reviews around in a day or two), I believe that someone at the Richard Rodgers Theatre gave me a freaking cold.  Or maybe the guy that delivered my lunch that day.  All I know is, I was perfectly fine when I arrived at my office Thursday morning.  After lunch, I had itchy eyes and some sneezing, so I thought at first I was having some sort of allergic reaction to my lunch.  During If/Then, I ran out of kleenex trying to keep up with my drippy nose (sorry, tmi) and it didn't have to do with my crying or anything.  By the time I got home Thursday night, I was a mess.  I spent Friday at home (and I very rarely take sick days) and was on my couch basically the whole weekend.  So, if someone in the restroom at the Richard Rodgers Theatre left their cold germs around, shame on you.  More anti-bacterial cleaner, if you please.

OK.  Sorry for germ talk.  Just providing a little context (and looking for some sympathy, lol).  I'm happy to be feeling a little better today, after practically ODing on Advil cold & sinus all weekend, not to mention ingesting tons of vitamin C pills/orange juice.  But my brain could still be a little fuzzy, and it's not being helped by the fact that the a/c is off in my office today.  Oh and today is the first day of Wimbledon, so distraction is the word of the day.  If this review makes even less sense than usual, at least you've been warned...

Moving on.  If/Then.  I'm sure you've all heard the conceit of the show - in the first scene, a young woman named Elizabeth meets two friends in the park.  She chooses to accompany one, but wonders what might've happened if she had chosen to accompany the other.  The rest of the show shows the result of both choices, in (basically) alternating scenes.  One choice (she is called Liz) pretty much emphasizes romantic satisfaction with no career satisfaction, and the other (she is called Beth) emphasizes career success with no romantic success.  At first, this seemed to be a bit sexist to me, but as the show unfolded, I guess I gave up being disgruntled about it since the inherent sexism was sort of explored.  Ish.

I did reasonably enjoy myself at If/Then - it has very good performances, with attractive music and it definitely had some plot points in the second act that I wasn't expecting, but it did feel like rather a slog to get there.  I felt like the first act was WAY too long, going back and forth, when it just seemed they were saying the same thing over and over again.  The second act settled down more and dealt with consequences instead of setting up challenges, so that was more satisfying to me, I guess.


photo credit: Joan Marcus

What must it be like to be Idina Menzel?  My goodness, she engendered a lot of love in that theater.  People were SCREAMING for her.  I guess I missed the zeitgeist of Rent and Wicked.  I mean, I like her and boy, can she belt.  She was good in If/Then - she definitely has a way with a one-liner and her belting was great.  But it was very one-note and her portrayals of both Liz and Beth were the same prickly, overly analytic, and borderline annoying character.  Everybody ADORES Liz/Beth and I didn't see why.  You would think that different choices would've emphasized different character traits, even in the same woman, but that isn't how the show was played.  That could be inherent in the writing and couldn't be overcome by the actor, I guess, but...I wonder.



photo credit: Joan Marcus

LaChanze was delightful and she did find different character traits in the different scenarios of her life.  She is just a star and lights up every stage she's on.  People need to write shows for her, stat.  Jerry Dixon did what he could with an underwritten role, Anthony Rapp just sort of seemed to be playing Mark from Rent, and I saw the understudy for the romantic interest.  His name is Charles Hagerty and I thought he was great.  Handsome, funny and a great singer.  The real deal.  I hope to see more of him (though, I'm sorry to say out loud, he seemed a little young for Idina Menzel, at least from my vantage point in the last row of the mezz). 

The music didn't seem to be as distinctive to me as the score to Next to Normal.  Even though I thought what the songs were trying to say was interesting most of the time, they did seem to repeat themselves, both lyrically and musically.  In the second act, Idina has three or four big belty solos in a row and they all sort of blended together for me.  I don't know.  I guess all the back and forth just exhausted me.  And I wasn't moved, even with the unexpected plot twists at the end.  Having said all that, maybe I just wasn't completely enraptured with If/Then because of that stupid developing head cold.  Oh, and I forgot to mention, I sat behind a man with the biggest head known to man.  I don't think they're the only reasons, but I guess I'll never know... 

 

ABT 2014 - Deux Fois Giselle

Yes, I've been playing with Google Translate again.  I just wanted to have a different way of saying I saw Giselle twice this week.  :)  I know I sound like a broken record, but I did enjoy both performances very much...

I know I've also said a number of times that Giselle is one of my favorites - it's just old school beautiful ballet, with gorgeous positions, iconic choreography and lush music.  And, you know, when there's a scene with men-hating women forcing a guy to dance himself to death, hello.  My wheelhouse.  Kidding.  Sort of.

My regular subscription ticket was for two of my favorites, Polina Semionova and David Hallberg.  But when the possibility of winning tickets to see my favorite favorite, Julie Kent, dance it, I pounced.  I'm so lucky I won!  So I got to see two completely different, yet thoroughly lovely, versions of Giselle!  If I preferred one over the other, ok...

Tuesday night was Polina Semionova's ABT debut as Giselle and she did not disappoint.  That glorious back, and those superlong legs, were utilized to their fullest, especially in the lovely second act.  Her Act One Giselle is one of the sunniest, open-hearted people I've ever seen onstage.  It was as if she was lit from within and just had to dance her joy of life.  It was so pure and so lovely.  Her awakening love for Albrecht was very touching, and of course her dancing with David Hallberg as Albrecht was so stunning to look at.  They both have such long limbs and classic lines, it's almost like watching a textbook come to life.

Having said all that, I did find their acting a little dramatically inert.  Their dancing was glorious, truly, but it was a bit surface-y and didn't provide me the catharsis and angst I'm generally enjoying about Giselle.  Don't get me wrong, they were stunning in their dancing, but they didn't break my heart with their characters.  




photo credit: Gene Schiavone

The corps de ballet ladies dancing as the Wilis in the second act were superb, as was Veronika Part as their leader - she was forceful and magnetic, and her subtext was crystal clear throughout her dancing.  Melanie Hamrick and Stephanie Williams were lovely as her assistants.  Thomas Forster, who is a real find for me this season, was fantastic as Hilarion, the rival for Giselle's affections.  He acted the role beautifully - I saw the moment where he realized Albrecht was more than he appeared to be, and his dance to the death was thrilling.  Strong and powerful, yet still scared and looking for a reprieve.  I'm really looking forward to what he brings us next.  

Last night, with Julie Kent and Roberto Bolle, I had the emotionally satisfying experience I was looking for.  There was crying, which is always a good thing, in my opinion.  Julie's acting, which has always been good, is even deeper now, probably to compensate for her losses in technique.  Every move has a purpose and serves the character and the ballet, which is just beautiful to see.  If her dancing, from a technical standpoint, was not as superior as Semionova's, that was ok to me because her connection to her character and to her partner was sublime.

She began miming feeling her heart a little earlier than other Giselles, which was interesting.  You could've put it to the fact that this Albrecht is so stunningly gorgeous, he just makes a girl's heart race.  But then when she began to feel faint during dances, it got progressively bigger, which made her death at the end of the act that much more believeable.  And her mad scene was just heartbreaking.  I got my binoculars out, and when she turned around after learning of Albrecht's betrayal, the look of devastation on her face was so deeply tragic, it was my first cry of the night.  Just really really gorgeous.

And then, in the second act, I swear, it's like she's air.  She so embodies this spirit character, who has some of the quiet joy of the live girl in the first act, yet is still moving towards the eternity of spiritdom.  The way Bolle partners her, it's as if she's weightless, and their rapport is so palpable.  You can see him feel her and her love all around him.  Again, just lovely.  I know I won't be seeing Julie dance forever, so I'm savoring every exquisite moment as they happen.

Roberto Bolle, who IS stunningly gorgeous, there's just no way around it, danced superbly as well.  He's an attentive partner, but he also moves so smoothly and lightly in his solo work.  His extension, though perhaps less 'classic' than Hallberg's, is still spectacular and he was beyond brilliant in his dancing-to-the-almost-death solo.  Very chilling.  And, again, his chemistry with Julie is just so electric.

The ladies dancing the Wilis were again superb, and Stella Abrera as their leader, Myrta, was stellar.  I'd seen her dance Myrta before and found her characterization a little underwhelming, but she was commanding and fierce last night.  Loved her.  Another of my new favorites, Joseph Gorak, was paired with Sarah Lane for the peasant pas de deux and it was terrific.  He had a tiny bobble in one variation, but it didn't lessen his impact.  He just was so charming and light as air.  I'm such a fan of his already, plus he connected to all the other characters on stage - he really just lights up the stage.  Sarah Lane was simply inspired - one of her holds en pointe was so long, it was magic.  They just really dance well together.  I'd love to see them dance Giselle and Albrecht together one day.

So, as the ballet season hurtles towards the end (I have two tickets left), I'm feeling  grateful for all the wonderful dancing I've been able to see this summer.  Let's keep it going, ABT!

(oh, sorry that my photos are rather terrible, my seat neighbors were uncooperative, plus I can never get good photos with all those white costumes and bright light.  And some of the photos I got from the internet had no photo credit, so my standard disclaimer applies...)

Photos - Out with the Old...

Here's one last goodbye to last Broadway season - and here's hoping that next season will be the best yet!  :)