ABT 2016 - La Fille mal gardee

This summer's ballet season is especially exciting for me because I'm seeing all sorts of ballets I've heard about but have never seen before.  It's good that I've had other things to think about in this first post-Julie season.  I enjoyed seeing Ratmansky's new piece a couple of weeks ago and I'm looking forward to seeing  his new setting of an old ballet next week. Last night was my first time seeing a Frederick Ashton ballet I've long read about but knew next to nothing about: La Fille mal gardee (badly interpreted: The Badly Guarded Young Girl). I adore Ashton choreography - I think he finds the timeless beauty in steps and characterizations and I always find new things to sigh over in his ballets. I was so happy with La Fille last night - I found it filled with lovely innocence and lyricism, with lots of charm and rueful smiles throughout.

A simple pastoral story, La Fille mal gardee is about Lise and Colas, a young country couple who are in love, but Lise's mother wishes Lise to marry a rich man's son.  Most of the ballet consists of either gorgeous love pas de deux between Lise and Colas, or silly dances by the countryfolk or the rich fiance.  All of the dancing is filled with mime and character-work that was truly delightful - there's a dancing rooster and his chicks, a dorky yet adorable young man and a real pony. Yes, a pony.  I will admit to feeling fear every time the pony came onstage, but he was always followed by a couple of gents with brooms and buckets...

Lise and Colas were danced by two of my current favorites, Stella Abrera and James Whiteside.  Stella was simply enchanting, so silky and sweet, with gorgeous arms and beautiful phrasing.  She was playful, petulant, lovestruck and clever.  It was a lovely lovely performance.  Whiteside was a grand partner - his lifts were effortless and he had charm to spare.  He had a playful, teasing manner about him that was very appealing and he was also a very ardent lover.  The two of them make a terrific pair.

Lise's mother, the Widow Simone, was played by the uberfabulous Marcelo Gomes, who could have a serious acting career when he stops dancing (which I hope never happens, actually).  He found the comic in this batty older lady, yet still had some youthful dreams and he clog danced up a storm.  And Aaron Scott as Alain, the doofy fiance, was fantastic. He comes out in an ill-fitting suit, with a crazy wig and a red umbrella he's rather abnormally attached to, and does the funniest character choreography I've seen in a long time.  I thought he was just delightful.

photo credit: Andrea Mohin (not the cast I saw)

The lovers Lise and Colas have no less than five love dances and each one is different in its storytelling method.  I especially liked the pas de deux where they made the cat's cradle with the long silk ribbon they had been dancing with - at first the dance is rather silly, using the ribbon as a toy, but when they started wrapping the ribbon around each other and getting closer and closer together, you could see a true love emerging from the kidding around and the way they got the ribbon into its final shape was really wonderful. I can't imagine how long it would've taken to figure those steps out!  Oh, and the bit where Lise becomes a kind of maypole?  She balances on pointe as her girlfriends in the chorus revolve her slowly and the effect is stunning.

I really enjoyed La Fille mal gardee and hope to see it again soon - it hasn't been in ABT's repertory for over ten years and I hope it doesn't disappear for that long again.  It just has such a lovely sweetness to it, and an innocence; the dancing may not seem overly complex or bravura at first sight, but the magic that is woven by the whole piece is wonderful.  The corps de ballet seemed especially engaged last night as well, so this seems a piece that brings out the best in everyone.  Even the pony, who happily did not leave any remembrances on stage!  :)

Seat neighbor wise:  the cranky gal was next to me again, though she did apologize for her attack of whooping cough near the end of the first act.  It took all my self-restraint not to say "at least you apologize for your mistakes," that would've been rude.  Besides, I heard her talking with her buddies about tennis, so if she knows tennis, she can't be all bad, right? There was an oddball lady standing in line at the ladies room after the show; I guess the line wasn't moving as quickly as she thought it should because she suddenly shouted "What's going on in there?!"  That was a little odd.  And then, when I left, I noticed a large NYPD presence all over the Lincoln Center campus - the path I usually take to the subway was blocked and there were lots of police cars around the front of the building.  That made me nervous, but I couldn't see a ruckus or anything.  I just ran over to the bus stop to head home.  Thankfully, the trains were running local and it wasn't a two-hour trip back.  That would've made my holiday Monday a bummer.  But the beauty of the ballet prevailed and I can't believe my summer season is already more than half over.  Slow down, please, ballet season!

Review - The Signature Plays

Many months ago, one of my favorite theaters in one of my favorite locations announced they would be doing an evening of absurd/avant garde one-acts by Albee, Fornes and Kennedy.  I was so excited and I waited for what seems like eons before tickets went on sale.  And when tickets went on sale, I pounced, not even talking to any of my theatergoing pals about going with me.  I just had to get a ticket asap.  Last night was FINALLY the night I saw what's being billed as "The Signature Plays."  As I was sitting in the theater, waiting for the plays to begin, I texted a handsome chum, with whom I probably should've consulted on when I was seeing the show.  We had a little texting exchange, after which he decided I needed to publish a bit of the exchange on my blog.  I said I would.  I don't generally tell fibs to people and I don't like letting people down, so here is that exchange:

Handsome Chum:  The whole thing is both totally professional and sort of amateurish, all in the best possible way.  A fairly thorough evening of theater from a time when thought and feeling actually mattered.
Me:  Ooooooooooooooo.

I think you can see who has the brains in the friendship between me and Handsome Chum. Moving on.  I am actually going to respond to his comment and my thoughts on the plays at the end of this post.  Because what happened AFTER the show became the show.  You'll see what I mean in a few minutes.

Generally, when I go to Signature, the crowd is pretty eclectic, but last night, the crowd was particularly, well, there's really no other word...old.  I'm guessing half the audience had seen these particular plays when they premiered in the 50s and 60s and were excited to see them again.  The other half of the audience just didn't get it.  There was a lot of "what?" "odd!" "Oh my god!" and chatter like that going on.  People started to get up and leave - the gal next to me wanted to leave during the pause between the first and second piece, but couldn't see well enough to get by so she sat back down (she did leave at intermission), and there were a couple of people who left during the third piece, one of whom just wandered around because he couldn't actually find his way out.  All this is to say when the production was over and the lights were coming up after the curtain call, the lady at the end of my row in the back was in a hurry to leave.  She was in such a hurry that she tripped and fell, heavily, down the concrete steps.  She screamed, other audience members screamed, people were yelling for the house manager, 911, the lady's husband.  The rest of us in the audience were kind of frozen and didn't know what to do.  We knew there was supposed to be a talkback after the performance so there were still a lot of people in the house.  Suddenly, you heard the woman say "I think my nose is broken!  So much blood!"  Needless to say, I didn't go over to look, but I did feel as if I needed to stay to make sure the woman got the help she needed.  The house manager came and sat by the woman, the husband came back in, after a bit we could finally hear the sirens.  Suddenly, there was an announcement over the loudspeakers that the talkback would be in the lobby instead of the theater and could we all please leave from the same door so the paramedics could come in the other door?  It really was very surreal, which I guess was in keeping with the rest of the night.  I did stay for the talkback, which had some interesting questions and some absolutely batsh*t crazy questions, which again I guess is par for the course.  And, in keeping with the surreal quality, during the talkback the lady was wheeled through the lobby, on a stretcher, with a bandage around her head and face.  Strange night indeed.  I half expected the poor lady to ask the paramedics to stop so she could listen to the talkback...

As for the plays - I thought they were amazing.  All really crazy, off-kilter, not-entirely-completely-successful, but thoroughly mesmerizing and so worthwhile.  Directed and designed with incredible imagination, I highly recommend everyone seeing them.  These plays that mix absurdism with maybe some surrealism are rarely seen nowadays, which is sad, because they all have so much to say about the human condition and about the sadness of missed personal connection.  No one was happy with their lot in life and how they dealt with their dissatisfaction and despair was maybe one thread holding the three plays together.

First was the 15-ish-minute The Sandbox by Edward Albee.  It's an early play, and one he has described as being his only 'practically perfect' piece, but it has a lot of familiar Albee imagery in it, with the domineering mother, the milquetoast father and the horrible treatment of each other by the upper classes.  It was absurd, yet relatable, with an onstage cellist, a handsome man wearing only swim trunks who turns out to be an actor/angel of death.  Alison Fraser and Frank Wood are terrific as the oddball indifferent couple who come to the beach to wait for Grandma (played with delicious pluck and satire by Phyllis Somerville) to die in the sandbox.  Witty, acidic and totally odd, The Sandbox is a great way to start the evening.  (the photo above is by Caitlin Ochs.  I'm having photo link issues at the moment, sorry.)

After the curtain falls on this first short piece, we see a projection that tells us we're having a "nine minute pause."  The house lights come up a bit and an actor comes out carrying a radio, which is playing a lovely opera aria.  We're listening, along with the actor, and he decides to change the station.  Repeatedly.  In a perfect little divertissement between scenes, we're left listening and wondering what kind of music comes next and what the heck is going on, which is the perfect lead-in for the next piece.

I have read most of Maria Irene Fornes' plays but I've never seen one performed live.  I was very excited to see Drowning in this evening of one-acts.  The curtain raises to an industrial-looking room, maybe a factory cafeteria?  There are two beings sitting at a table - are they human?  Animal?  They have very large, misshapen heads and their appearance makes you feel off-kilter.  They speak and move very slowly, but we begin to understand that although they look different, they're just like us. They want to be loved and respected for who they are and have a hard time finding that affirmation outside of these walls.  The actors are just heartbreaking - Mikeah Ernest Jennings plays the more naive being and his pain and pathos are so moving.  He sees a woman in a newspaper and falls in love with her; off-stage during a scene change, she rejects him and breaks his heart.  This play is full of beautiful imagery and unexpected dialogue - they speak so slowly that your brain automatically tries to come up with a reply and what I kept thinking was nowhere near what came next.  I loved that.  I never knew what would happen or be said next.  This may have been the hardest play to experience, but it was fascinating all the same.  (photo above is by Monique Carboni.)

After the intermission, we were treated to the third piece, Funnyhouse of a Negro, by Adrienne Kennedy.  I thought this piece was spectacularly staged and was horrifyingly, thrillingly theatrical and surreal.  It really was a funnyhouse, with mirrors and ghosts and repetition.  Our main character, called Negro-Sarah in the program, is telling us about her past and her ghosts.  She seems to relive the same nightmare over and over again, plus she is so self-loathing and is completely incapable of living inside her own skin.  This is a tough play to listen to, with lots of horrible racial epithets, but it's also mesmerizing and like a nightmare you can't stop looking at.  I was gasping throughout and although the ending is probably the only possible outcome, I was still shocked and stunned.  In the best theatrical way.  I thought it was incredible - the entire house was sort of silent and didn't know it was over until the actors came forward for the curtain call, but we were all together in a sort of hushed amazement, until the lady fell and broke her nose.  What a night.  (photo above is by Caitlin Ochs.)

It's hard to imagine these three landmark plays ever being performed together again in such a first-rate production, so I do highly recommend you get yourself over to my favorite spot, the Signature Theatre, to check them out.  And when you exit the theater, please wait for the lights to come up and use that handrail.  You never know what could happen...

ABT 2016 - Shostakovich Trilogy

I like the trio programs at ABT - although I'm a sucker for the goopy, romantic story ballets, I also like to see the dancers stretch themselves with more abstract ballets.  Last Monday, I got to see the Shostakovich Trilogy again.  I really enjoyed it when I saw it in 2013 and I was glad to experience it again. 

The first piece was Symphony #9.  I just love this one.  It has so many wonderful things in it - wonderful solos, pas de deux, and ensemble dancing.  The shapes and the way everything fits together is fantastic.  I especially loved something I hadn't really noticed before - a lot of running from one side of the stage to the other before dancing.  That just added a sweep and vigor to

photo credit: Rosalie O'Connor

everything.  Plus, the orchestra sounded wonderful playing this gorgeous Shostakovich music - there was one section with just oboe and flute that was so beautiful, I almost started crying.  There are two couples, vastly different in manner and feeling.  One couple moves quickly, with sharp turns and a more loose feeling.  The other had more longing and more luxurious lines.  Both were lovely.  And one of my young favorites, Joseph Gorak, danced the solo portion with verve and restraint (I know they contradict each other, but he did!).  I continually marvel at the way he seems to just have all the time in the world to move and he is never behind the music. He's just so secure and charismatic.  But everyone was.  I think this was my favorite piece of the night.

photo credit: Rosalie O'Connor

After a short intermission, we saw Chamber Symphony.  The music is quite haunting and different from the last piece, which had more humor in it.  This one has a man, maybe representing Shostakovich, dancing with a troubled mind amongst people who don't seem to understand him.  Then three ladies appear, perhaps the three women who impacted his life most directly.  The first woman was light, flirtatious and quick.  The second woman was even more briefly there, then the third woman danced with a passion and fervor, only to seemingly die and leave the man in even more despair.  Jeffrey Cirio was the lead gentleman and he found many layers in this complex choreography.  The wonderful ladies were Devon Teuscher, Cassandra Trenary and Isabella Boylston (a substitution for the injured Gillian Murphy) and they were all fantastic.  There was a different quality to each of their pas de deux and a progression to the ballet as a whole.  I enjoyed the piece quite a bit, especially the last pose.

photo credit:  Natalie Keyysar

The final piece was Piano Concerto #1, which I find intriguing even though it doesn't really make itself known to me.  It is fast and furious and although I know there's no plot per se, I don't really know what I'm supposed to be feeling during this one.  I know that I loved the four soloists - Christine Shevchenko & Calvin Royal III and Skylar Brandt & Gabe Stone Shayer.  Both couples had a lot of chemistry dancing with each and were particularly well-matched.  I think Skylar Brandt just sparkles onstage, so pairing her with Shayer was a great idea, because he's a sparkler, too.  Again, there were lovely shapes in the choreography and I adored seeing all those wonderful dancers move through space, but this particular piece always leaves me a little puzzled.  I'll say that I may be the only one - it got the most rousing applause of the night and was the only piece to get the post curtain-call curtain-call.  I know my pictures aren't great, but I think they show the rapport the dancers had with each other.

Seat-neighbor-wise, I guess the rude lady who was mad at me last time for climbing over her to my seat is a subscription-mate.  She was there again, though I went into my seat the other way so we wouldn't have words.  The guy on the other side of me may have been a musician, because he kept getting offended when people applauded bravura dancing in the middle of the concertos.  I guess in a concert setting, those spots aren't where you generally applaud.  He was throwing his hands up in the air and just couldn't understand.  It was interesting, I must say.

And as a side note, I was again fortunate enough to catch another NYCB rehearsal. We got to watch two portions from Midsummer Night's Dream.  The first part had a lot of children dancing, so time was spent with them, getting their spacing and timing correct. The other had to do with the dancer playing Puck - not one, but two handsome young men are playing Puck and they both had to rehearse the (spoiler alert) flying scene.  That was fun to watch.  We also got to see two Oberons rehearse their moments.  After that section, the techies came onstage to fix a scrim and something else (there's no WAY I could ride one of those cherry-picker things up that high!), then we saw another section with a gorgeous pas de deux between two dancers I don't know.  But they were both delightful and had gorgeous softness and gentleness in their dancing.  Fangirl moment: Peter Martins was on stage for much of both rehearsals.  At one point, he was showing the two delightful and gorgeous dancers bits of movement - sometimes he would dance the ladies' role and sometimes he would dance the gent's.  Charming.  I was way more interested in watching that dynamic happen off to the side of the stage as opposed to more corps de ballet dancing behind them.  But it's just a thrill, regardless, to be so close to the ballet action.  I think I'm allowed one more rehearsal this year, so I'll be signing up for something in the fall.  I can hardly wait.

I also want to mention that Monday night, before the ballet, I was one of the lucky guests at the Lilly Awards, the annual event that honors women who are making a difference in the theater and in the world.  The Lillys started seven years ago to celebrate women and to fight for gender parity.  This year also had another theme - activism.  All of the recipients, and the presenters, are thinking outside themselves and doing what they can to make this world a better place.  I pretty much started crying during the first video, saluting the women who started the #WakingTheFeminists movement in Ireland, and didn't stop crying until I left to go to the ballet.  I"ll just list all of the presenters (the cast of Eclipsed, Diane Paulus, Russell G Ford, Cusi Cram, Howard McGillin, Neena Beber, Lloyd Suh and GLORIA STEINEM OH MY GOD) and the recipients (Danai Gurira, Jessie Mueller, Kate Whoriskey, Genne Murphy, Martha Plimpton, Norbert Leo Butz, Candis Jones, Rehana Lew Mirza, Mia Katigbak and Kathy Najimy) and say that it was an amazing night filled with inspiration and love.  I encourage you all to Google the event, or I think you can watch the video online, look at the photos and read the speeches that have been reprinted.  You won't be sorry and you may be inspired a little, too.  Crying is also a possibility...

Review - Daphne's Dive

Someday, I should just do a post of all my favorite people who are also my favorite writers and that will get my predispositions out of the way.  Someday.  Until then, I will just continue to mention the writers, one by one, whose work I have enjoyed in the past and therefore assume I will enjoy their work again.  In perpetuity. So...after that build-up, I greatly enjoyed Water by the Spoonful and The Happiest Song Plays Last by Quiara Alegria Hudes, so I figured I would enjoy her newest play, Daphne's Dive, at my favorite spot, Signature Theatre.  Plus, I know Quiara slightly and she is a warm, lovely person, so that just adds to my 'positive opinion' mindset. And, again, I was not wrong.  

I love how Quiara's characters are so real and lived-in; I love her dialogue that has beauty and truth in it; I love her storytelling and her characters who are looking for a human connection; I love her empathy and I love her revealing of a culture I'm unfamiliar with.  I love how she takes the time to let us get to know the characters and feel like we're a part of the conversation.  Daphne's Dive had all of these wonderful traits, though I will admit to feeling the play was a little too short (what?!).  I could've used maybe one more scene between two of the characters, but I guess that would make it my play and not hers.

Daphne's Dive takes place in a bar in South Philly, where a merry band of regulars frequently stop for conversation and maybe a little bit of help. They've made themselves into a family, mainly because (as we gradually learn) their real families left lasting scars, both psychologically and physically.  There's not a lot of plot per se in Daphne's Dive, but there are stories and characters that are compelling to watch.  And all of the actors are fantastic.  They create fully-dimensional people with whom you empathize and connect with.  They make bad decisions and you forgive them. They show their vulnerabilities and their commitment to each other constantly.  

photo credit: Richard Termine

Daphne, played with great warmth and pain by Vanessa Aspillaga, is the proprietor of the bar and the de-facto den mother of these quirky misfits, though she fights her impulses to mother them until the frightened young Ruby enters her life.  Much of the play revolves around Ruby and her growth and evolution as she matures in the company of these adults who take her under their wings.  Samira Wiley is fantastic as Ruby and so moving. She convincingly plays Ruby from eleven years old up to her late 20s.  

Other cast members include Daphne Rubin-Vega as Daphne's upwardly mobile sister Inez, Carlos Gomez as Inez's husband (and I have to say I find Carlos Gomez to be wonderful in everything he does; his was my favorite performance in In the Heights and he's just as grand here), Matt Saldivar as a warm-hearted artist, Gordon Joseph Weiss as a biker/sage and KK Moggie as the quirky activist, Jenn.  Most of the play's poignancy is due to Jenn, her choices and their repercussions - she casts a large shadow over the proceedings.  This is a terrific ensemble and they all play off each other beautifully.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

Having said all that, I will admit that I would've liked maybe one more scene, maybe even another flashback, featuring the characters of Ruby and Jenn. Jenn makes such a strong impression on Ruby and affects her life so profoundly, yet we only see them share a personal conversation once.  Not that I can't buy their connection because I only saw them together once, and fairly big chunks of time happen between each scene, but it still would've been nice to see them connect at least one more time. But that's just a quibble. Mainly, the secrets and tragedies are parsed out in such a way that they're not shocking revelations that take you out of the story but are just other parts of these multi-faceted characters' lives that deserve consideration.

The physical production is grand, you're right in the middle of this bar and feel a part of the proceedings.  I was in the last row, so I had a good view of everything.  I think that some people in the front row had a harder time with sightlines, so that's something to keep in mind.  I liked the costumes very much, too, though Daphne Rubin-Vega was saddled with a couple of unfortunate wigs, in my opinion.  The sound design was terrific and the original music by Michel Camilo was grand - having the music supposedly come from the pianist who lives upstairs was a really lovely touch.  Daphne's Dive runs for another month, I think, so I suggest you get a ticket and live in this world yourself.

Seat neighbors:  my.  I took a lot of notes last night.  I will say, first off, that it looked like a Wednesday matinee crowd instead of a Thursday night crowd.  You know what I'm saying. Moving on.  There was the very nice lady who needed me to help her to her seat; the other very nice ladies who just couldn't see their seat/row numbers so I helped seat them because it was getting close to curtain and the ushers seemed overwhelmed; the very nice gentleman who just may have been hitting on me when he stopped to chat a little too long about how he was in the wrong section (I didn't figure it out until later, oh well); and the guy at the bookstore who would not get out of the way so I could pay for my treats and then he wouldn't sit down in the theater because he didn't like his seat. Sigh.  I will never get used to people who use their ticket/seat number as a suggested location instead of the one they paid for.  Oh, and I saw a strange sight in the subway station after the show:  a completely full antipasto platter was sitting on top of a garbage can at the Times Square station.  People kept slowing down to look at it, but nobody touched it.  All that prosciutto, going to waste.  Plus, there was a musician playing Christmas carols.  An odd commute home, that's all I'm saying...

ABT 2016 - Ratmansky Triple Bill

I know I've mentioned before that I enjoy Alexei Ratmansky's choreography - I like how he takes classical steps and makes them seem modern.  If you know what I mean.  I enjoy how he makes bodies move throughout space, the shapes he creates, and how he matches choreography to music; I also enjoy how he gives chances to so many dancers.  His ballets are where you see a lot of soloists and corps dancers perform solos and pas de deux that they might not get to do in the story ballets.  In my series, last night's Ratmansky Triple Bill wasn't part of the subscription, so I bought an extra ticket to the performance.  I'm ever so glad I did.

The first piece of the evening was a world premiere, Serenade

photo credit: Andrea Mohin (not the cast I saw)

After Plato's Symposium, with music by Leonard Bernstein.  I don't know the Bernstein violin concerto or the Plato text, but I know I did like this ballet, even on first viewing.  Sometimes it takes me a couple of tries to really enjoy something, but I thought this was simply beautiful.  Seven fantastic male dancers, along with one lovely ballerina, went through different sections of comaraderie, love, indecision, and complexity, all with beautiful classicism and also whimsy. There was air and speed and ease in much of the movement.  Each gent brought their own individual brand of energy and strength to their dancing and each gent had a chance to shine.  If I was especially taken with Herman Cornejo and Joseph Gorak, well, I'm almost always predisposed to be taken with them.  I also enjoyed Alexandre Hammoudi and his pas de deux with Hee Seo, who either played a version of Love or maybe even a version of Death, I can't quite tell who.  But I'm intrigued enough to see it again to find out.  I really enjoyed this piece.  Oh, and the violin soloist was outstanding.

photo credit: Rosalie O'Connor

The second piece was one I've enjoyed in the past, Seven Sonatas.  This is just so beautiful, with movement and drive that's also so light and airy.  The solo pianist playing the Scarlatti themes was expert.  There are three couples, and just the moving through space of the six dancers was lovely.  Lines of three, either of the men and the women, or one/two of each, were wonderfully used.  Stella Abrera and Calvin Royal III had my favorite pas de deux, so intricate and yet still so gentle and beautiful.  The ballet has no plot, but that doesn't mean there isn't story and character and their story was very touching.  I really love this piece the more I see it.

The final piece of the night was the return of The Firebird.  I saw this one a couple of times the summer it premiered (2012, I think?) and enjoyed it, though it probably remains my least favorite Ratmansky piece.  Oh, wait, no, my least favorite is probably The Tempest.  Moving on.  I was happy to see a different cast in Firebird this time and I did find much to enjoy, though it may just be a little too frantic for me.  Yes, Stravinsky's music gets frantic at the end, so there it makes sense.  Anyway, I thought Alexandre Hammoudi did a fine job as Ivan and his boots didn't squeak on that shiny floor nearly as much as I remember from the last time.  He was very passionate and resolute in his dancing, and I found his pursuit of the Maiden (beautifully danced by Cassandra Trenary) to be quite touching.  My uberfavorite, Roman Zhurbin, danced the evil Kaschei magnificently, as always.  He is always so strong and sure, and in this part, he was also quite slinky and evil.  Plus, he looked good in the green hair.  I was less taken with Isabella Boylston as the Firebird for some reason.  I'm not sure, but she always seemed to be a tad behind the music or something.  But I'm sure she will grow into the part.  She WAS lovely in her first tentative pas de deux with Ivan.  I again found the pas de quatre to be my favorite part and I again loved the reveal of the cursed souls now saved.  I did have a quibble with all of the maidens turning into bleached blonds, but all that white did make a lovely contrast to the black shiny floor and all the red firebirds. So, there's that.  I'm happy I saw The Firebird again, but maybe I won't be searching it out again in the near future. 

Seat-neighbor-wise, I'm starting to recognize some of the people in the balcony and I even think I can guess some of their handles on ballet chat boards!  Which is strange, but there you have it.  I was in a row of odd ducks, not the least of whom was the gal who sat on the aisle and refused to let people pass her, because she didn't want anyone to step on her bare feet.  BARE FEET.  Oh, hell no.  There was also the guy in front of me who looked exactly like Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man - my teeth began to ache just seeing him. But the happiest seat neighbor experience was when I arrived: I was getting ready to sit down and I heard my name called.  I looked up and saw an old friend with whom I hadn't chatted in a long time!  It was so nice to catch up with him!  He is one of the nicest people on the planet, so knowing he was behind me and I would get to chat with him during intermissions put a smile on my face the whole night.  A smile on top of my ballet smile.  Though, two things: I forgot to take out my camera to get photos of curtain calls, and the chandelier didn't raise again.  I was going to ask an usher about it, but forgot.  I'll ask next time, but then my smile might turn upside down if I hear it will never raise again...

I should also mention that thanks to my new idNYC, I was fortunate enough to attend a working rehearsal yesterday at New York City Ballet, so it was a ballet doubleheader day! They have the rehearsal thing down to a science - you arrive at a specified time, you check in, a volunteer explains a little about the ballets, they herd you up into the first ring and then you sit there and quietly enjoy seeing the process of a ballet coming together.  I loved seeing pieces of Balanchine's "Serenade" and "Midsummer Night's Dream" rehearsed - it was fascinating to see the ballet master talk to the dancers about tiny adjustments that suddenly made the steps mean something different.  Fascinating.  The "Serenade" rehearsal was pretty quick and focused, the "Midsummer" rehearsal was a little rockier.  I think quite a few of the dancers were doing this piece for the first time, so there were mainly a lot of spacing issues that needed to be dealt with.  Again, it was fascinating to see how the whole thing got put together, and when we finally saw the pas de deux between Tiler Peck and Tyler Angle, it was magic.  They are just STARS. Expansiveness and joy just poured forth.  I hope I can get to see them in the ballet for real sometime.  They were truly magic.

Having a double dose of ballet in one day has quite spoiled me for everyday life!  To badly quote Jane Austen.  Looking forward to what the next magical experience will be...

Review - She Loves Me

As I've already said, The Shop Around the Corner is one of my very favorite movies.  She Loves Me is also one of my very favorite musicals.  I received the original cast album and the revival cast album as gifts when I was away from New York - I was fortunate to be able to see that revival while visiting New York in 1994 (though I wish I had seen Judy Kuhn, she had already left the show by the time I saw it).  I loved every minute of it and frequently listen to the music.  So when Roundabout announced they would be doing another revival starring Laura Benanti and Zachary Levi, I knew I had to go.  And I was so excited to share it with my mom.

Our seats were up in the rear mezzanine, which was a bit of a hike for Mom (her knees just don't like stairs that much).  At least I had thought ahead and picked aisle seats. Thankfully, Mom's legs are REALLY short, so she let me have the aisle.  It was especially handy because the lady in front of me thought she was in a rocking chair, so every time her seat rocked back, I could at least move my knees more towards the aisle.  We happened to be seated amid a school group of maybe eighth or ninth graders - we were worried at first, but their handlers prepared them well.  They were all quiet during the show, none got their phones out when they weren't supposed to, and, even if they were bored (which I think the very polite young boy sitting next to my mom was, if his jangling ice in his Roundabout sippy cup was any indication), they sat still and paid attention.  Well done, school group handlers!

photo credit: Sara Krulwich

She Loves Me is practically a perfect musical - the way the book, music and lyrics set up character and story is fantastic, plus the show is sweet and romantic without being saccharine, funny without being overly silly, and touching without being maudlin. Practically perfect, I tell you! And this revival has a practically perfect cast!  Ever since I saw Laura Benanti as a replacement Maria in The Sound of Music (she was really too young for the part, but she was also simply spectacular opposite the probably-too-old-but-still-dreamy Richard Chamberlain), I've been a fan.  Her voice is just glorious and even though she's drop-dead gorgeous, she also has a quirky-real-girl quality about her.  I knew she would be terrific as Amalia.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

I greatly enjoyed Zachary Levi in the dreadful First Date - he has an easygoing, everyman charm about him and you know how I feel about charm.  It's in too-short supply.  But he has it in abundance, along with great comic timing, and he also has a wonderful chemistry with Benanti.  You could see the sparks flying and could understand how they could hate each other then learn to love each other.  Delightful.  Jane Krakowski seems typecast as Ilona, the lovesick clerk having an affair with another clerk, but she finds sweet and sad shadings as well.  And her dancing is surprising and fun.  Her costumes may be a little much for 1930s Budapest, but ok.  For me, Gavin Creel was a little young and callow for Kodaly, but I thought Howard McGillin was such perfection in the previous revival, so maybe I wouldn't have been on board for anyone else.  My mom loved Creel, though.  Just to present the opposite opinion.  :)  Oh, and the ensemble was grand, too!  

I teared up during the "Sounds While Selling," because the lyrics are just so perfect!  I was so happy and grateful to be able to say hello to the lyricist, Sheldon Harnick, before the show.  He is just a genius, finding the right rhymes that tickle your ear but don't make you think 'oooooo, that's so clever,' or pull you out of the moment.  They're just right.  The set was delightful, like a little jewel box.  The show has been directed with a breezy lightness, giving everyone their time to shine.  If I thought some of the choreography, especially during the cafe scene, was a tad risque in a way it didn't need to be, oh well.

I knew I would love the show, but I'm so happy my mom loved it, too.  I'm glad I took my binoculars, because Mom got good use out of them (I did, too).  Our sightlines were fine, but the rear mezz is rather far away in Studio 54.  The entire audience was on their best behavior for Mom, so it was just a fantastic afternoon.  I can't wait until this revival cast album is released, because it will be grand to listen to all three versions whenever the mood strikes.

After the show, my mom and I went to Otto, Mario Batali's pizza restaurant in the Village. I wanted Mom to have at least one meal at a restaurant where she had heard of the chef - she watches Batali on tv's The Chew, plus Otto isn't all that expensive, so I chose it.  Plus, we had been talking about gelato the whole time she was here, so it was kismet.  Originally, I wanted to get some caponata, but I figured we should save room for dessert, so we just got the margherita pizza, with yummy tomato sauce, fresh bufala mozzarella and basil.  It was excellently delicious, with a very crisp crust and perfect proportions of crust to sauce to cheese.  I loved it and Mom liked it, too, though she's not as big a fan of mozzarella as I am.  Otto has a pretty big dessert menu, but we stuck with the gelato - you can get one, two or three flavors in one order.  So we chose three, of course.  After a lot of deliberating, we chose cherry, vanilla and lemon sorbet.  Wow, they were YUMMY!  Mom proclaimed them the best gelato she's ever had.  They're certainly as good as anything I've had around here, that's for sure.  As I describe them, I'm feeling the need to go back.  All in all, it was a day to remember and I'm SO GLAD I made my Mom come visit to experience it with me!

Fun With Mom

I love my mom, we always have such fun together.  We especially love to watch old movies - one of our favorites is The Shop Around the Corner (we also love the most recent variation, You've Got Mail).  When Roundabout Theatre Company announced they would be doing a revival of She Loves Me (which is based on the same play that Shop Around the Corner is based on), I told my mom she had to come visit so we could see the musical together.  It's been a long time since we've seen a show - she always comes to visit in August for a little pre-US Open tennis, but we never seem to have the time to go to the theater.  For this trip, the show was the cornerstone and I filled in an itinerary around it.  It wasn't until after I booked her trip that I realized she'd also be here for the AIDS Walk, so it was quite a busy weekend!  This will be a long post, sorry, but I will be leaving my She Loves Me review for another day.  It needs its own post.

When Mom arrived on Wednesday, I was feeling decidedly under the weather.  I'm pretty sure something I ate at work made me unwell; I was just hoping to feel better quickly. We decided to skip most of our plans except for touring the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum.  I thought the weather was too nice to stay in my apartment, but I wasn't feeling quite up to spending LOTS of time outdoors, if you know what I mean.  One museum would have to do.

I can't quite remember where I saw the listing for the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum, maybe on a website about little-known Manhattan landmarks.  But I figured since this museum was close-ish to my subway line and Mom and I always enjoy touring old houses, we would have a good time here.  And I was right!  As we walked further and further east, I was nervous that the museum wasn't there anymore, but we finally reached it.  It's a lovely spot in the middle of unattractive modern buildings and construction.  Sort of under the Queensboro Bridge, the Mount Vernon is a 19th century day hotel (formerly a carriage house) and it's been lovingly preserved for years.  Everyone who enters is greeted personally and then you get a guided tour.  There aren't a ton of rooms open for viewing, but there are enough to get a nice feel of how the hotel worked and how New York has changed since it opened.  Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and very excited to be sharing his knowledge with other people.  His enthusiasm was quite infectious and my mom and I enjoyed ourselves greatly.  Some of the furniture there is original to the house, some is period-appropriate, and some is updated, but the way the house is decorated and laid out is terrifically presented.  The gift shop was also nice and I picked up a copy of one of the first-ever cookbooks!  Or so the cover said.  After a quick stop to a diner for a snack, we hit the hay early.  And watched old movies.  Oh, and tennis!  There was a tournament going on in Rome while Mom was here, so we enjoyed watching Tennis Channel in the mornings (and maybe a replay or two at night).  We do love watching tennis together, too...

Thursday, I prepared my mom for a two-museum day.  There were exhibits at two museums that I wanted to catch before they closed, so we managed to fit them both in.  I joined both the Museum of the City of New York and the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a member, thanks to my new id-NYC.  Mom took the 'pay what you like' seriously and so we saw both museums for $10.  Well done, us.  We started at the Museum of the City of New York, which is in a gorgeous building on the upper east side.  I was especially keen to visit their exhibit on New York's Yiddish Theater, especially after seeing Indecent a couple of weeks ago.  There are some photos from the original production of God of Vengeance along with many photos, models, costumes, and film clips of the bustling Yiddish theater scene of the early 20th century.  It was really a terrific exhibit and I highly recommend your going to see it.  We spent quite a bit of time in there.

Other wonderful things we saw at that museum were the exhibits featuring the cartoons of New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast; Picturing Prestige: New York Portraits 1700-1860; the Timescapes film about the ever-changing landscape of New York City; Gilded New York, about the influx of personal wealth among New Yorkers in the late 19th century; and the Stettheimer Dollhouse, which is an amazing 12-room dollhouse featuring miniature works of art created by the original artists themselves, such as Marcel Duchamp.  We also had lunch in the very nice cafe, so it was a lovely few hours there.  I missed several of the exhibits so I hope to go back soon.

After we finished lunch, we hopped on the Fifth Avenue bus and rode down to the Met.  I was dying to see the Elisabeth Vigee-LeBrun exhibit and it was closing that weekend.  We went straight to that gallery and spent a lot of time there - her work was simply exquisite, with beautiful color detail, empathy for her subjects and a clarity of vision. Ever since I performed in Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles, I've been painfully aware of the lack of female artists shown in major museums.  It was really important to me to support this exhibit, to show there's an audience out there.  The galleries were packed, which was great to see.  We were having a grand time, though my mom did almost came to blows with one gentleman who kept taking pictures of the paintings (it was a 'no photographs allowed' exhibit).  Not only was he selfishly breaking the rules, but he kept coming right up to people and taking pictures over their shoulders.  He was a bit strange.  My mom told him he wasn't supposed to take photos (he practically shot some photos right on top of her) and he said he had permission. Well, my mom didn't buy that, so she went over to a guard and asked if one could get permission to take photos.  Of course, the answer was no, so my mom pointed the guard in that rule-breaker's direction.  He knew he was doing wrong, because he kept looking around to make sure no guards were around before taking more photos, then he tried to get away from the guard. Finally, justice was done and the gent stopped with the photos.  It was kinda crazy.  But I LOVED the exhibit all the same.

We then went through the European decorative arts section where they have replicas of rooms from old French hotels, which was glorious to look at, and I wanted to get a peek at some medieval art (I love tapestries and stained glass).  Obviously, we could've stayed at the Met for a week and not see everything, but I did want to get Mom back out into the sunshine for a bit.  So we left after I enjoyed some religious art, hopped onto a crosstown bus and went to the Boat Basin Cafe on the west side.  We enjoyed a basket of fries and a margarita (well, I had a margarita, Mom just had water).  It was nice to sit, enjoy the view of the Hudson, and people-watch (another favorite pastime); after our snack, we walked along the river for a bit and caught the crosstown bus back to the subway back to my house.  I told my mom I should've counted how many buses and subways we took while she was here, it seemed like a lot.

Friday, rain was in the forecast, so we decided to see a movie, Love & Friendship, at the Paris Theatre.  Mom had never been to the Paris, so it was fun to see a movie there with her.  Love & Friendship is based on a little-known Jane Austen novel, Lady Susan. It stars Kate Beckinsale and was a ton of fun.  It got a little slow towards the end, but the wit and intelligence was always there, and the set/costumes/scenery/acting was first-rate.  After the movie, we went over to the Plaza Hotel Food Hall for a little lunch and shopping.  I had never been to that food court before - it was great!  So many selections - Mom and I went with a sandwich and soup from Epicerie Boulud, but I definitely have to go back and try other things.  I also got my sister's birthday present, so huge thumbs up from me.  After lunch, it was pouring, so Mom and I took the subway over to Macy's, where I got my dad's Father's Day present (woo hoo!), then we went over to GMHC to do early-sign for for the AIDS Walk.  I love early sign-in.  I get my lovely swag beforehand so I can use it the day of the Walk, plus I don't have to carry it around all day. The lovely volunteers also gave me an extra pass for my mom to be able to partake of the pre-Walk breakfast; that was greatly appreciated.  I was afraid I'd have to make Mom wait outside the breakfast area while I grabbed us some food.  After the early sign-in, it was still pouring the rain, so we got on yet-another crosstown bus to head home for the day. We did have the finale of The Amazing Race to watch, you know!

I'll save Saturday's fun for a separate post, so I'll finish with Sunday's AIDS Walk.  The weather was lovely - a little crisp, but blue skies and clear.  At least at the beginning.  It did start to sprinkle before Mom and I left, which was a tad annoying.  I figured she and I wouldn't be able to do the entire 10K - her plane was leaving earlier than I had originally thought, plus she has never walked that far at one time ever.  So we did about two and a half miles, which I thought was really good for her first time.  Since the rain started at about the same time as her needing to finish, it seemed a good time to hop on yet one more bus.  The Walk took a different route this year, mainly staying along Fifth Avenue on the east side, which was a nice different scene route for me (it was all new to Mom!), plus that made it easy for us to sneak out and get on a downtown bus.  It was a good day, all in all - walking with Mom was fun and I'm glad she got to see what the AIDS Walk is like, in person.  Plus, we got to hear La Chanze sing "You'll Never Walk Alone"! That alone made the day a success!  I'm exhausted now, of course, but the whole weekend with my mom was a lot of fun, seeing old favorites and enjoying new experiences.  Hurray!