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Flashback Friday again!

Howdy, all!  I'm currently preparing to enjoy some family time with my mom and my nephew.  Please everyone put good thoughts in the universe that my teenaged nephew has at least a small bit of fun while he's here...

I was looking again at next season's offerings - it seems like so many productions are revivals.  Sigh.  Where are the new plays?!  And, if we have to have revivals, why can't we have revivals of August Wilson plays?!  I miss them.  So, when I was looking for something to post as a 'flashback,' I found a review I wrote of the last new August Wilson play produced on Broadway, Radio Golf.  I saw it eight years ago today.  Eight years ago.  Wow.  This isn't much of a review, sorry, but here it is.  I wonder if it's time for a revival of Radio Golf?!  Maybe after the Obama presidency, it will have even more resonance...

June 26, 2007:  Hi, everybody!  Forgive me if I write distractedly—I have the video of my Roger Federer playing his second round Wimbledon match in the background behind this e-mail.  (he’s up a set, if you were wondering)   Anyway, I saw Radio Golf last night and really enjoyed it.  It’s maybe a little lighter than most other August Wilson works, perhaps a little slighter as well, but it’s a solid work.  It’s very well acted and quite a bit funnier than I thought it would be.  Having said that, maybe it doesn’t really attain the ‘important’ status of much of Wilson’s body of work, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing either.  But maybe that’s what Wilson was saying—some of the problems facing people now aren’t as weighty as in the past, but they need to be dealt with just the same.  Who knows?  But, as always in a Wilson play, the dialogue is fantastic, only in a more contemporary and less grandiose way.

Harry Lennix (who I liked very much on the most recent season of 24) plays a successful businessman who returns to his old neighborhood in Pittsburgh to head a redevelopment campaign and kick off a possible mayoral campaign.  It’s his struggle between right and wrong, success and failure, the past and present which drives the story.  It’s directed briskly by Kenny Leon (who I thought over-directed Gem of the Ocean).  The set design is terrific and the incidental music is very good.

photo credit: Carol Rosegg

I think this is the best ensemble I’ve seen in a Wilson play.  The two gentlemen who were up for Featured Tonys were both really wonderful.  I loved me some Billy Crudup in Coast of Utopia, but boy, after seeing these guys in Radio Golf, I would not have been unhappy if either guy had won.  Anthony Chisholm plays the old sage, a regular in Wilson plays, who sounds crazy at first but then you realize he’s making the most sense of anyone.  John Earl Jelks is an old neighborhood friend who hasn’t achieved the material success of the other guys, but who is definitely more comfortable in his skin and makes the character Lennix plays think about and reassess his life and career.  The other character is the wife of Lennix’s character, played by Tonya Pinkins.  Hers is the least developed character, but Pinkins makes her an interesting woman.  But she’s essentially a device and not a true character. 

I really enjoyed the show and I think it’s a shame that it couldn’t run longer.  The audience last night was extremely attentive and enthusiastic, which was nice to see.  I got my ticket from TDF and was in the sixth row orchestra, so if you’re not doing anything else this week, you could do worse than pick up a cheapie ticket and check it out.

ABT 2015 - Swan Lake

As you probably remember, my usual ballet night is Tuesday, but when the ABT schedule came out, I decided to exchange my ticket for a Wednesday so I could see a different couple do Swan Lake.  At first I thought to myself, 'gee, I think I've only seen Veronika Part in Nutcracker, so I'll pick her.'  Uh, no, I went back and looked at my past ballet posts and I've seen her dance a lot!  I've seen her in Giselle (as the head Wili), Apollo (as Terpsichore), in a couple of Ratmansky pieces and even twice this season, in Les Sylphides and Jardin aux Lilas!  And I've always loved her!  So why did I think I never see her?  Hmmmm...

Anyway, last night was Swan Lake with Veronika dancing Odette/Odile opposite Cory Stearns.  I actually haven't been back to Swan Lake since the amazingly transcendent performance I saw starring Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes, but I do so love the ballet.  I had to go back.  At least Marcelo was dancing Rothbart (or Purple Rothbart, as he's informally known, since there are two dancers playing Rothbart at different times in the ballet).  So I figured if I didn't love Cory, there would always be Marcelo later on.

photo credit: Andrea Mohin

I had a fantastic time!  No, it wasn't the perfectly sublime experience of before, but it was an exquisitely danced performance and I think I witnessed Cory make a real breakthrough in his acting.  Normally, I find him a lovely dancer, but otherwise rather dull.  'Stalwart' is the word I generally use.  But last night, he was finding so many shades to Siegfried, it was wonderful.  His throughline was so clear and he was often doing something so interesting, I would watch him rather than the corps de ballet dancing on the other side of the stage.  That was a big change for me.  Ironically, I found Cory's acting stronger last night than his dancing.  At least, his acting had more purpose and more clarity, as if that's where his energy needed to be placed, instead of in his dancing (which was terrific, don't get me wrong, but not as electric).  When he puts the two things together, he is going to be dynamite.  I look forward to watching that develop.

photo credit: Rosalie O'Connor

Veronika was glorious - so beautiful and voluptuous.  Her long legs are so beautiful and she uses them to great effect to bring so many nuances to very familiar choreography.  Her Odette was mournful and hopeful at the same time and her Odile was so seductive and full of joy at her seduction.  The Black Swan pas de deux was simply electric - fast and furious, and full of meaning.  The way Odile and Purple Rothbart shared their evil glee at mastering Siegfried was amazing.  And Marcelo as Purple Rothbart was off.the.charts.  SO fantastic in a long list of fantastic performances I've seen him give.  There's an unsupported arabesque at the end of Rothbart's solo that I've never seen a dancer maintain without wobbling and Marcelo nailed it.  He even got bigger at the end and lifted his leg higher as if to really tell off the room.  I can't describe how he seduced everyone on stage and in the audience.  It was a pleasure (as always) to watch him.

photo credit: Gene Schiavone

The swans were lovely and in good unison, the cygnettes did a great job, and the youngsters doing the Peasant Pas de Deux were terrific, if a teensy bit off the mark at the very end.  But I've never seen any of those dancers do that variation before and it was nice to see them do so well.  I also noticed a fantastic young man in the first scene with stunning elevation in his split jumps.  Looking at the cast list, I can only assume he was Sung Woo Han and he is someone I will be keeping my eye on.

I was happy to see my ABT MVP, Roman Zhurbin, actually do a (sort of) dancing role for once!  I usually see him play Lizard Rothbart in Swan Lake, but last night he danced the Spanish dance and was terrific.  I hope to see him do more dancing alongside his terrific character work in the future.  Thomas Forster was Lizard Rothbart and he was quite good.  In that ridiculous lizard costume, he still found power and control over the swans - that is the mark of a good actor, to be able to get a characterization across while wearing a foam lizard costume.  :)

I'm so glad I went back to Swan Lake!  It was just what I needed after a VERY long day at work.  But I can't believe it was my penultimate ballet of the season!  I have Cinderella next week and that's it!  I'm already in withdrawal.  At least Wimbledon starts next week and I'll be able to get a tennis fix in every morning for two weeks...

ABT 2015 - Romeo and Juliet and the end of an era

I know I've said it a million times, but I'll say it again - I love ballet.  I love ABT, I love the story ballets and I love ballerina Julie Kent.  In my memory, she's the first ballerina I saw in person dance Romeo and Juliet, plus I've always been a fan of the movies Dancers and Center Stage, both of which feature her.  I just find her an incredibly musical and expressive dancer who doesn't rely on tricks or bravado, just experience, talent and storytelling genius.  I generally schedule my ABT spring season around which ballets she'll be dancing and her Swan Lake in 2013 was one of the transcendent experiences of my life (you can see that review HERE).  When ABT announced that she'd be retiring this year, I knew I had to be there.  I convinced my Impossibly Handsome Ballet Buddy (IHBB) to join me.  Well, it didn't take much convincing, he was a fan, too.

Last Saturday was an incredibly emotional evening for me.  It was like losing a piece of my youth - not that Julie Kent is my age, I'm quite a bit older (of course) but I've been following her career for over 20 years, so that's a big part of my life.  Add into the equation that Romeo and Juliet features some of the most beautiful dancing ever, plus Roberto Bolle was dancing Romeo and he is one of the most beautiful dancers ever, and you have a recipe for sobbing from me.

After seeing the ballet twice earlier this week, I was a little afraid I'd be over hearing it again.  But I shouldn't have worried - I thought Saturday night just sped by.  It flew by much too quickly.  I was trying to be completely present and enjoy the moments as they came, but I did get weepy a couple of times when my brain remembered that this would be the last time I'd see Julie dance.  She got a huge round of applause at her entrance and I think I held my breath almost the entire evening when she danced, so I wouldn't miss a thing.  It was all just artistic, thoughtful and, of course, gorgeous.  I enjoyed her relationship with the Nurse and she had completely different actions than did the other ballerinas I'd seen earlier in the week.  I also really liked the way Julie played off Alexandre Hammoudi as Paris (I liked him in this role better than I did when he danced Romeo last Tuesday).  The way he looked at Julie, as if she were porcelain.  He touched her as if he were afraid she'd break.  Even in their last scene together, he only got frustrated with her at the very end of their pas de deux, which was a completely different choice than the Paris I saw earlier.

I saw the same gent dance Tybalt all three nights and he seemed to make some really different and interesting choices on Saturday night, perhaps because he was dancing opposite the sublime Roberto Bolle as Romeo and Herman Cornejo as Mercutio.  I don't know that I'd be able to watch three versions of every ballet, but seeing Romeo and Juliet three times in one week was simply fascinating, watching different dancers make different choices with the exact same steps.  Cornejo as Mercutio was brilliant - his death scene was far and away superior to the others I saw earlier in the week.  Of course, I also loved Cornejo's Romeo, as I guess I am predisposed to do.

photo credit: Paula Lobo

The balcony scene was so beautiful and romantic, yet tinged with sadness.  It also got an extended reception as the curtain went down for the first act.  The scene where Romeo and Juliet marry was incredibly touching and it seemed as if not only Romeo and Juliet wanted to not let each other go, but Julie and Roberto were also clinging to one another.  It was beautifully touching.  Roberto Bolle is just such a wonderful partner for her, they really seem to move as one, and he really pulled out the stops, it seems, for Julie's final performance.  Their bedroom pas de deux was incredible, and Julie's acting in the final scene with her parents and with the poison was sublime.  She may be a tiny lady, sitting alone on her bed, but she filled the space with her palpable terror and resignation.  And the end...sob city.  So tragic.  So beautiful.  So moving.  The way she died, trying to pull her Romeo up to her, was crazy wonderful. 

And then the rapturous applause.  According to reports, the ovation for Julie lasted over 20 minutes.  Former partners and colleagues came on stage to fete her, leave her bouquets and, in a couple of cases, lift her in one last lift.  It was beautiful.  And when her children came out to hug her, oh.  So adorable.  The whole thing just showed how beloved Julie is, not only amongst the audience, but also amongst her colleagues.  And she had such a sweet, touching look on her face throughout.  She was often wiping away tears.  As was I.  It was just a glorious night.  I'm so glad I was there and I'm so glad I got to share it with my IHBB. 

I took tons of photos and quite a few of them turned out pretty well, for once.  I'm also going to include some of the photos I've taken of Julie in the past.  I can't lie, ABT won't be quite the same for me anymore.  I'm interested to see how they move forward now that their premier ballerina of the story ballets is gone.  I hope she stays around to perhaps coach some of the younger dancers on how to fill the stage and tell a story through dance.  That would make me happy.  I think I'm going to need to see if I can find a copy of the Le Corsaire DVD (maybe I'll check at the Met when I go next week).  I'm sure I'll be in Julie-withdrawal very soon...

 

Cinderella, 2014

Cinderella, 2014

 

Giselle, 2014

 

Onegin, 2013

Manon, 2014

Swan Lake, 2013

 

 

Photo credit: Roy Round

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABT 2015 - (another) Romeo and Juliet

I probably should've purchased a lottery ticket yesterday because I WON MORE TICKETS TO ABT!!  After Tuesday's less-than-perfect outing, I was happy to get another chance to be transported and romanced by love and tragedy.  I took one of my beautiful goddaughters as my date, as her graduated-from-middle-school present.  She had never seen Romeo and Juliet  before, so it was treat to share it with her.  And boy, am I glad we went.  It was everything I hoped it would be.

It was Russian ballerina Evgenia Obratztsova's debut with ABT and she was...magical.  Her dancing was so airy and fluid and her acting was heartbreaking.  I could see her grow from the girlish imp dancing with a doll in her first scene to a grown woman fighting for her life and love in later scenes.  And she was gloriously partnered with Herman Cornejo, long one of my favorites for his technical bravado, but here he was also so moving and touching as an actor.  I could also see Romeo's maturation throughout, from his surface infatuation of Rosaline to his thunderstruck love for Juliet.  He was also delightful in his interactions with his pals Mercutio and Benvolio.  They had just as much chemistry as friends as Cornejo did with his Juliet.  But all of their dancing was exquisite and pitch perfect in storytelling - each step had a reason to move the story forward.  It was fabuolous.

There were so many sweet little touches throughout the ballet, like how Juliet responded to her parents, or how Romeo gently took her hand  in the crypt before he took his poison.  I've  seen this ballet a number of times and have never seen that particular acting choice before; I loved it.  The pas de deux were spectactular, all of them, and I was so happy to see the spark, verve and lightness I had been missing Tuesday night.

Several of the cast members were the same - I again saw Joseph Gorak as Benvolio (loved him again), Grant DeLong as Paris and Roman Zhurbin as Juliet's father.  They were all terrific in different ways since they were performing with other leads.  Daniil Simkin was Mercutio and I loved his dancing, although I thought his characterization was incomplete.  But his dancing was amazing.  Juliet's friends seemed more in sync tonight, though one took an unfortunate spill during the ballroom scene.  Cornejo, as Romeo, took a moment, totally in character, to see if the girl was ok before continuing his solo.  It was lovely, even if it did make me nervous that someone else would go down before the evening was over.

The music was definitely performed more brightly than it was Tuesday night, though there were a few really bad notes bleated out during the first act's Dance of the Knights.  And I think there was a trumpet who was just having a really bad night, but at least the tempi were more interesting and kept the ballet moving forward instead of just sitting there.

All in all, I loved loved loved seeing Romeo and Juliet for the second time and I hope with all my hopes that Obraztsova comes back to ABT to dance again and again.  I'd love to see her and Cornejo become a regular duo who performs all the story ballets.  I also had fun sharing this ballet with my goddaughter, who really loved it.  She just read the play in school, so it was very fun for her to see the story set to music and dance.  And seeing a good performance last night only whets my appetite even more for my third trip to R&J tomorrow night for my uber-favorite ballerina's final performance.  Oh.  Even typing that makes me cry.  I just hope I can get this darned camera to behave tomorrow night.  If I end up with only blurry photos from Julie's final performance, I'll be pretty bummed.  The production photo I have here were cribbed from the internet - my standard disclaimer applies and I'll remove if asked.  I'll be back with one last post on this gorgeous ballet after the weekend...