ABT 2015 - Romeo and Juliet

Because my very-favorite ballerina is retiring this season, I exchanged my Tuesday ticket to this Saturday night, when I will cry all the way through Romeo and Juliet and Julie Kent's final performance with ABT.  But I entered a little lottery to win tickets to last night's performance since the highly-publicized dancer Misty Copeland would be making her debut as Juliet - surprisingly, I won!  I generally don't win things.  I took a gorgeous co-worker who is also a ballet fan and we had a grand time.

Well, we had a grand time because it was fun to go out together.  Unfortunately, we didn't find this particular incarnation of Romeo and Juliet to be all that.  As I (meanly, I know) said to my date, it was as if we watched the 'B' team perform.  They were good, everything was done well, but there was no spark, no pizazz, no oomph.  And you know how I love me some oomph.  I really wanted the evening to be a "I saw a star being born tonight!!"  I'm sorry it didn't happen that way for me...

I've seen MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet a number of times, it may have even been the first live ballet I ever saw (I can't remember; I can't remember what I had for lunch today, so...you get the picture).  I see it at ABT frequently, though I did miss seeing it last year.  But the performances I saw in 2013 were sublime (you can see that review HERE).  Last night...was not.  It seemed as if our leads were nervous, so there was no connection, no sweeping love story, no passion, and frankly, not much of anything.  Again, it was nicely danced, but not much else.

I asked my gorgeous date if he thought the music sounded too slow and he agreed, saying it definitely could've been 'brighter.'  Actually, that's a good comment about the whole ballet.  I know it's tragic, but it could've been danced with more air, more lightness, more buoyancy, more of what makes ballet great.  It was very earthbound and rather leaden at times.  I'm generally a sucker for the sad story ballets, but I was completely unmoved last night.  Which made me sad.  Ironically.

The crowd was more diverse than usual, which is fantastic, and there were lots of hoots and hollers for our Juliet, though, surprisingly, there was still only one curtain call.  I don't think anyone was transported the way they should be at the end of a great Romeo and Juliet.  I'm all for more publicity for ballet and for diversifying the audience, but I'd like some great ballet to happen, too.  That doesn't seem like too much to ask.

photo credit: Rosalie O'Connor

Maybe it's because it was Juliet's first time performing the role.  Maybe it's because Romeo hadn't danced with this particular Juliet before.  But there wasn't any chemistry or heat, just well-done steps.  There wasn't really any storytelling either.  Just choreography.  Which is too bad.  The lifts were especially awkward throughout.  Though there were some bright spots in the evening - Joseph Gorak, who I love, was a terrific Benvolio and I wish I could see his Romeo; at one point during the ballroom scene, I thought, 'hey, is one of Juliet's friends danced by Skylar Brandt?  Because one of those girls is sparkling and Skylar always sparkles!'  I was gratified to be right.  Oh, and my ABT MVP, Roman Zhurbin, as Juliet's father, provided me with the one moment that moved me all night, when he was trying to comprehend that his daughter was dead (not really, but he thought so).  He was very touching and his acting stood out (I mean, it always does, but it REALLY did last night since he was one of the few people to establish a character on stage). 

I guess I shouldn't complain about a performance I got to see for free.  I was happy to be there, I'm always happy to be there.  But I also want the performance to equal the hype and I didn't think it did, unfortunately.  I did catch a few new nuances in the music, which was fun, and I also enjoyed a dancer who was new to me - Grant DeLong as Paris - but on the whole, I was just ready to either go home and watch videos of past performances of the ballet, or to hop in a time machine to be transported one more time by the magic of Julie Kent.  Thankfully, I only have to wait a few more days before I can revel in that performance.  Oh, and apparently I need to have a tutorial on how to use my co-worker's camera - it worked fine last week, but last night, I couldn't get it to focus at all.  Annoying, especially since our seats were pretty close.  Oh well.  Just added to the non-perfection of the evening, I guess...

Review - The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek

Athol Fugard has documented so much of South Africa's tormented history - his work is always breathtakingly honest and utterly moving.  And totally theatrical.  His newest work, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, may be his last play (Fugard has said as much, but I'm hoping he changes his mind; I can't imagine a world without a new Fugard play) and it continues Fugard's streak of plays that have made me sob uncontrollably.

I almost missed this production, but I'm glad I finally got all my ducks in a row and saw it at the Signature Theatre last night.  Back in the Linney Theatre space, the theater has been transformed to an arid section of South African farmland onto which an elderly black man has been painting "flowers" for years.  There are many rocks scattered along the set, in various stages of brightness and design.  Seeing just sand, painted rocks and sky, you can feel the beauty of the earth in this set design.  And Fugard's script is just as spare and beautiful.  *spoilers will abound from now on*

photo credit: Joan Marcus

At the start of the play, it's 1981, during apartheid.  An elderly farmhand has come up to the rocks to paint "flowers," which is what he has done for years.  There is an enormous rock there, which is the spot he means to tackle.  But suddenly, he can't bring himself to paint.  He says he has no more flowers in him, and that he's afraid this will be his last painting.  Leon Addison Brown as Nukain (based on real-life 'outsider artist' Nukain Mabusa) is heartbreakingly touching.  You feel his spirit having been beaten down by life; when he says he wants to give the rock eyes so he can finally be 'seen,' you get all of the history and pain of a people downtrodden.  His young companion, Bokkie (played by effervescent eleven-year-old Caleb McLaughlin), cannot believe there won't be more painting.  He tries to inject energy and spirit into Nukain, but until Nukain realizes that he doesn't need to paint flowers anymore, he needs to paint himself and his own story, there isn't much inspiration.  After Nukain comes to that realization, the joy and passion that flows while they paint is gorgeous.  The painting on the rock is powerful.  And so moving.  Especially so when the owner of the farm, Mrs. Kleynhans (beautifully portrayed by Bianca Amato) arrives, and the spirit immediately fades and the subservience begins.  Mrs. Kleynhans doesn't appreciate the art and asks that it be washed away and painted over.  Bokkie objects and Mrs. Kleynhans bristles at a young black talking back to her, putting into microcosm the difficulties and oppression of apartheid.  At the end of the act, Nukain shuffles off, beaten because he again hasn't been 'seen,' and Bokkie rebels.  It's a quietly powerful end of the first act.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

The second act takes place in 2003, after apartheid has been abolished.  A young black man, attractively dressed in shirt sleeves and tie, wanders onto this farmland and takes everything in.  It slowly becomes clear to us that this is the grown-up Bokkie.  As he is looking at the big rock, where Nukain's art has faded over the years but traces of it are still visible, suddenly there is shouting and Mrs. Kleynhas appears, carrying a walkie-talkie and pointing a pistol at Bokkie.  The tensions of the Afrikaaners who stayed on their lands is starkly presented in that moment.  Many of the white farmers around her have been attacked recently and she is taking no chances.  Bokkie reminds Mrs. Kleynhas of who is was and she slowly lowers the pistol, while still bitterly condemning the blacks and her country's new position and Constitution.  The young man tells her that he prefers to be known by his given name, Jonathan.  He has returned to reclaim Nukain's painting and to restore it.  Jonathan now wants to be seen.  He wants Mrs. Kleynhas' permission to do this.

We discover that Nukain died three days after we last saw him make that painting and that Jonathan ran away to Zimbabwe.  Obviously, there are passionate feelings on both sides of the South African issue and Jonathan and Mrs. Kleynhas battle angrily.  Finally, Jonathan takes a deep breath and says (I'm paraphrasing), "Let us try again; try to understand each other. If we can't do that, then one thing is certain. Our future will be as big a mess as anything in our past."  This stuns Mrs. Kleynhas and it also stunned me.  From here on out, I was a big mass of tears as each person gave their side of their story and made points that were clear-headed and right, and also passionately wrong, until there was a moment of tentative acknowledgement.

Once again, Fugard has taken this ugly, political mess and turned it into a beautiful story of pain and hope.  This play was quietly and elegantly devastating, with four amazing performances.  The young man playing Jonathan, Yaegel T. Welch, apparently went into the play just last week due to an injury of the original actor.  I couldn't tell.  He seamlessly blended in with the other actors and gave a fully-realized, very touching performance.  I really loved the play and I wish that I had seen it earlier in the run (it closes Sunday) so that I could go back and experience that theatrical exhilaration again.

ABT 2015 - The Sleeping Beauty

You all know I'm a big fan of ABT.  I'm also a big fan of their artist-in-residence, Alexei Ratmansky.  I think he's so imaginative and interesting as a choreographer; I found his Firebird quite engaging and love his version of Nutcracker (it's not going to be at BAM anymore and my Christmas holiday season will not be the same).  Apparently, when he first came on board at ABT, he talked about wanting to do a new version of Sleeping Beauty that utilized the original choreographer's (Petipa) notations.  Ratmansky actually taught himself how to decipher that ancient dance notation so that he could replicate and reinterpret the original ballet.  I finally saw The Sleeping Beauty last Tuesday night and I LOVED IT.  Bravos to Ratmansky.

I'd seen ABT's previous version of Sleeping Beauty a couple of times, back in 2007 and 2011, and had a few problems with it.  Not the problems that people who actually know ballet had with it, but I thought the costumes and the staging felt off (and seemed rather cheap, to be rude about it), though the dancing looked good to me.  Now, with this new production, every aspect is sumptuous and first-rate.  The set and costumes are glorious, the wigs are pretty fantastic (except for one, which I'll mention later) and the staging is terrific.  The main difference I can see is that instead of contemporary bravura dancing we get more classical storytelling through dance.  There's a lot of pantomime, which is excellently done, and quick footwork instead of big turns and jumps.  It took me a few minutes to get in synch with the style of dancing, but once I did, I was hooked.

The prologue with the christening of the baby princess was lovely.  The King and Queen are marvelously robed with exquisite costumes.  But here is the one wig that made me nearly giggle.  The Queen's enormous bouffant beehive wig had a ornamental decoration on the front of it that, from the balcony, made the Queen look like the Bride of Frankenstein.  That wig was tremendously unfortunate.  But I soon put it out of my mind while watching the gorgeous dancing of Stella Abrera as the Lilac Fairy.  Her sister faeries were all also terrific, especially Zhong-Jing Fang as the Canary.  She was enchanting and really did seem to float around the stage like a bird.  Craig Salstein, as the evil fairy Carabosse, was excellent in his miming and forceful taking over of the stage.  He has a lot of music to fill and he fills it wonderfully.  My ABT MVP, Roman Zhurbin, was the King and was, as usual, wonderful.  His miming is always so crystal clear, as is his characterization.  You always know the person he is playing; no stereotypes, no shortcuts, just good dramatic acting.

photo credit: Gene Schiavone

Then, in Act One, we meet the young princess Aurora, danced charmingly by Gillian Murphy.  Coincidentally, Gillian is the dancer I saw as Aurora the first time I saw the ballet live.  Her Rose Adagio then, and now, was superlative.  So sure and steady en pointe, yet young and girlish with each of her suitors.  Again, the dancing was about telling the story of this young girl's hesitant step towards womanhood.  The moment when she pricked her finger and fell was quite dramatic - in this production, she actually gets up once and everyone thinks she's fine before she falls again.  I will say that the Garland Waltz seemed crowded to me, as if there were just too many dancers on stage.  From the balcony, it was cool to see so many dancers come out onto the stage, but then it seemed as if they were just too close together to really be able to dance.  Maybe that was just me.

In Act Two, it's 100 years later and we meet our prince, strongly danced by James Whiteside.  It took me a minute to get on board with his costume - with the wig and jacket, he looked like he was getting ready to go fight the Revolutionary War, but again, I went with it.  The Vision Scene was lovely, with Gillian all ethereal air and quick moves, ever elusive away from the prince.  But once he catches her, their pas de deux was lovely.  She has one moment where she's en pointe for at least ten or fifteen seconds (apparently she has some help, but I couldn't tell when I was watching it) and it's so dreamlike, it's perfect for the scene.

photo credit: Gene Schiavone (not the cast I saw)

Act Three is, of course, the wedding celebration, with dancing dancing dancing.  The beautiful Precious Stone Faeries were glorious, especially Cassandra Trenery as Diamond.  Gorgeous line and beautiful footwork.  When talking about gorgeous line and beautiful footwork, I have to mention the superlative Sarah Lane as Princess Florine.  She and her Bluebird, Zhiyao Zhang, were spectacular.  Just so sweet and sparkling; their pas de deux got one of the biggest hands of the night.  Next to the grand pas de deux, gorgeously done by Gillian and James.  Again, she has a balance that's breathtaking, where she goes into a deep backbend in front of her prince.  Amazing.

I really loved this new production and can't wait to see it again.  I loved the dancing, the music, the costumes - I especially loved the integration of child dancers from ABT's ballet school taking part.  They were all so good and fit right in with the rest of the company.  I think ABT has a real hit on their hands.  I look forward to seeing many dancers take on this new classical, yet contemporary take on a timeless ballet.  (Oh, and the pictures below look a little better, don't they?  My camera finally really died and a generous friend lent me his camera.  I think the color is way better.  I may become an ungenerous friend and not give it back...)

Apres the Tonys

(I'm coming off two+ weeks of watching the French Open, forgive me if a little 'en francais' sneaks into my post...)

Well, the Tonys are over, after tons of buildup and anticipation, at least by me.  The broadcast, big-picture-wise, was a disappointment.  I thought for sure the producers would cave and put at least the Best Score award on tv, especially since Sting was a nominee, but no.  Again, all of the awards by the creative people, the people who actually CREATE THE PRODUCT CBS IS TRYING TO SELL, got relegated to the commercial breaks.  It is so offensive on every level.  Why, why, why will they never realize that no one other than theater lovers are going to watch the broadcast?!  No one.  Ever.  Kiefer Sutherland is not snagging viewers.  Ashley Tisdale is not snagging viewers.  Even Jennifer Lopez, who even looked confused herself as to why she was there, is not snagging viewers.  Celebrate the ART, people.  And that means all of the art, not just the musical art.  Plays got such short shrift on last night's broadcast, it was appalling.  Why couldn't we have had a repeat of last year when all the playwrights came out to introduce their plays?  Little glances of B-roll footage didn't really do it for me.  All mentions of the Best Plays took less time than ONE musical number.  And several of the musical numbers were for shows that weren't even nominated for Tonys!  Ugh.  It was just a frustrating night.  If anyone has good ideas about getting the word out to the producing powers-that-be that everyone I was chatting with on social media was ticked off about these issues, please let me know.





photo credit: Getty Images

Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming were charming and seemed to be having a good time, but much of their scripted dialogue was rather terrible.  Like last year, the backstage stuff was better than the onstage stuff.  The musical numbers were ok; the best one was "Ring of Keys" from Fun Home.  That song is just, quality-wise, head and shoulders above most everything else out there, and little Sydney Lucas was giving a master class in acting through song.  Though I wasn't thrilled with Kristin coming out in an E.T. costume during the applause.  It was great to see Chita do a number from The Visit, though I might've put in a smidgen of "You, You, You" in there.  The sound mix wasn't great (revenge of the sound designers??), so it was hard to hear the trio singing "I Would Never Leave You" to Chita and the edit they did of "Love and Love Alone" didn't really show off that gorgeous choreography to its best advantage.  The mash-ups of several songs that On the Town, On the Twentieth Century and The King and I did were less successful, though Kelli O'Hara and Ken Watanabe sure exuded some sex in the snippet of "Shall We Dance."  I would've preferred to see just one extended number from An American in Paris, too, though what they presented did look lovely.  The number from Something Rotten did nothing for me and I was just as mad seeing a song from Finding Neverland as I was watching it in the theater.  That score is a MESS.

photo credit: Sara Krulwich

As to my predictions, I made predictions in twelve categories and got nine right.  Not too bad, I guess.  I was so happy for all the Fun Home love!  Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori gave kick-ass acceptance speeches, which would've been great to see on tv, but...you know how I feel about that.  At least you can see them online.  I wish there could've been some love for The Visit, too - due to their being shut out of the awards, the show is closing on Sunday.  That just breaks my heart.  I wish there were room for everything, shows that are daring and maybe don't completely succeed are intrinsically more interesting to me than big spectacle-y things. 

I was thrilled that Michael Cerveris won, he has been a favorite of mine for a very long time and his work is never less than impeccable.  I was surprised and thrilled that Kelli O'Hara won!  I had an inkling it might be her night, since she was sitting in the front instead of in the back (like last year) - her speech was delightful and you could tell that everyone in the house was happy for her.  The boy from Curious Incident was adorable, as was the gent from The Audience.  Helen Mirren can do no wrong, as far as I'm concerned, though it was strange for hers to be the first award of the night.  So much of the show seemed odd, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

photo credit: Sara Krulwich

I'm going to get the crabbiness out of my mind by watching videos of Lisa and Jeanine's speeches, along with Tommy Tune's delightful acceptance of his Lifetime Achievement Award.  I mean, really, they couldn't spare an extra 90 seconds to let Tommy Tune be on the fricking broadcast?!?!  (breathing deeply)  OK, now I'm getting rid of the crabbiness.  Goodbye to last season, hello to what's coming.  Most of the shows I'm looking forward to are revivals, which makes me kinda sad, but hopefully there will be some new things that just appear at the last minute.  Of course, the new show I'm most looking forward to is Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton.  I'm so bummed I missed it at the Public, but I will not miss it at the Rodgers.  I'm also looking forward to the new musical Tuck Everlasting - I saw a previous musical by the songwriting team and liked it a lot. 

But the revivals stand out in my mind so far.  Laura Benanti in She Loves Me?  Yes, please.  She Loves Me is a perfect jewel of a musical.  Clive Owen in Pinter's Old Times?  Annaleigh Ashford (one of my favorite winners from last night) and Julie White in Gurney's Sylvia?  Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell in Fool for Love?  Andrea Martin and Jeremy Shamos in Noises Off?  Jessica Lange, Gabriel Byrne and John Gallagher Jr in Long Day's Journey Into Night?  Oh my.  I've already put in a bid for one of those shows with a Tony voter friend, but clearly I'm going to have to make more Tony voter friends if I want to see everything.  Those are just the Broadway shows I'm interested in!  Everything at Signature Theatre is appealing to me, a friend has a show coming up at Primary Stages and Playwrights Horizons always has a good lineup.  Geez.  I'm starting to feel broke just thinking about next season.  Mustn't get crabby over projected possible poverty...

UPDATE:  As I was thinking about this post after I finished it, I was feeling pretty down again.  But I've been reading some articles that make me think that possibly, POSSIBLY, someone else is noticing what 'theater people' have been saying for years.  I thought I'd link to some of these articles because they say what I wanted to say, but they say it infinitely better.  Thank you, Mark Harris, for this terrific piece at EW.com; Jesse Green for this piece at Vulture.com; and Peter Marks for hitting the nail on the head at the Washington Post.  I'm sure there are more and I'll probably update further at a later time.  And, of course, if people would rather not have their link on my page, I'll remove it immediately...

My Tony Predictions - 2015

I'm getting ready for Sunday's Tony Award broadcast, are you?  To recap, yes, again, my Tony nomination guesses were TERRIBLE.  Even if I had seen more of the productions, I probably still would've gotten everything wrong.  Oh well.  But without begrudging any of the actual nominees, I'm still highly upset that Honeymoon in Vegas was completely shut out, I was sure Jason's terrific score would've been remembered.  And I'm still displeased that Douglas Sills' hilarious performance in Living on Love was passed by.  Grrrrrrr. 

Looking at the people who are actually nominated for awards, I offer below some of my predictions.  Since I haven't seen quite a few of the most-nominated works, I may just go with who I want to win, as opposed to who I think will win.  Or...I'll just make something up.  Or I'll just pick people with whom I've been photographed.  I won't do every category, especially those where I haven't seen many of the nominees.


BEST PLAY

My prediction:  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
My hope:  Disgraced

I haven't seen Curious Incident, though I really want to.  I did see Disgraced and I found it to be a provocative play on a topic not often seen on a Broadway stage.  I realize it has NO chance to win, even with its Pulitzer pedigree.  Side note: I admit I'm still surprised Constellations wasn't one of the nominees...

BEST MUSICAL

My prediction:  Fun Home
My hope:  Fun Home AND The Visit (bring back the tie!)

I know, people are saying An American in Paris will most likely win, and I do want to see it someday, but I just think Fun Home and The Visit, both original, both daring, should be rewarded in this category.

BEST SCORE

My prediction:  Fun Home
My hope:  Fun Home AND The Visit (omg, another tie!  it could happen!  not really.)

Again with the tie!  But I can't help it, I love them both.  I think "Ring of Keys" from Fun Home and "You, You, You" from The Visit are two of the most beautiful theater songs I've heard.  Ever.  And I've heard a lot.

BEST BOOK

My prediction:  Fun Home
My hope:  Fun Home (though I love me some Craig Lucas and he wrote the book for An American in Paris)

I just think what Lisa Kron did to adapt a comic/graphic novel into a cohesive musical was so smart and skilled.  She must win.  Plus, she's awesome.



BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY

My prediction:  Helen Mirren, The Audience
My hope:  Carey Mulligan, Skylight

OK, I haven't seen The Audience, but hello, she's Helen Mirren.  Helen Mirren must always win.  But I loved loved loved Carey Mulligan, so I'm rooting for her.  I'm also sort of rooting for Elisabeth Moss from The Heidi Chronicles because I played Heidi once, so it would be like I won a Tony.  Ish.

BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

My prediction and (biggest) hope:  Michael Cerveris, Fun Home

Yes, I know, I'm constitutionally unable to vote against Michael Cerveris.  But he is so tortured, so poignant and so...GREAT, that he should win, hands down.  If Roger Rees had also been nominated, this would've been a harder choice for me.



BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

My prediction:  Kristin Chenoweth, On the Twentieth Century
My hope:  Chita Rivera, The Visit

I thought all of these women were amazing and I would happy if any one of them would win.  But Chita is...Chita.  And Chita should always win.  I also am rooting hard for Kelli O'Hara, since she's so consistently brilliant.  But it seems to me that Kristin is doing what only she can seemingly do, which makes for a winning performance, IMHO.

BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY

My prediction:  K Todd Freeman, Airline Highway
My hope:  Matthew Beard, Skylight

Freeman has the flashier role, and was terrific, but Beard caught a lot of layers as the goofy teenager who is just looking for someone to love him.

BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY

My prediction and hope:  Annaleigh Ashford, You Can't Take It With You

This performance has stayed with me for months after seeing the show.  She was inspired.  That's all I can say.

BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

My prediction and hope:  Judy Kuhn, Fun Home

She is seriously due.  But a part of me is wishing for a three-way tie with all the Fun Home ladies.  They're all fantastic.

BEST SCENIC DESIGN, PLAY

My prediction:  Bunny Christie and Finn Ross, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
My hope:  David Rockwell, You Can't Take It With You

That house in You Can't Take it With You was a marvel.  I wanted to walk around and see all the fabulous nooks and crannies.  But I think Curious Incident is going to sweep most of the play awards...

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN, MUSICAL

My prediction:  Natasha Katz, An American in Paris
My hope:  Japhy Weideman, The Visit

Again, I think An American in Paris will probably sweep the design awards (though I guess The King and I is also gloriously beautiful, but I haven't seen it either), but the lighting in The Visit was almost like a character in the play.  It was like a work of art.  I liked that.


Looking forward to the broadcast Sunday.  I hope for once in holy hell they show some of the writing awards on the air and I hope Alan Cumming & Kristin Chenoweth's sense of fun comes through when they're hosting.  I also hope they don't make poor Kelli O'Hara sit in the back again if she's not going to win.  That's just wrong.

ABT 2015 - La Bayadere

After a simply lousy day at work yesterday (and, frankly, today hasn't been much better), it was nice to lose myself in the gorgeousness of ABT's La Bayadere.  If it was not as sublime as it was in 2012 (see review HERE), it was definitely better than the one I saw last year, which was beautifully danced but rather inert (see review HERE). 

La Bayadere isn't one of the most complex ballets, the choreography is pretty straightforward, but it does feature some lovely opportunities to tell a story through dance.  The solos of Nikiya, the temple dancer, and Solor, the soldier who loves her, are terrific, as are the pieces for Gamzetti, Nikiya's rival for Solor.  The second act pas de deux between Nikiya and Solor is exquisite, with the amazing corps de ballet in the background.  And the famed Kingdom of Shades number for the corps can be thrilling.

Last night, I saw Maria Kochetkova, a guest artist who I've seen once before a few years ago.  She was lovely, though not quite as achingly, heartbreakingly in love with her Solor, played last night by Herman Cornejo, as I might have liked.  I love Herman and he did not disappoint, at least in his solos.  His bravura dancing in his solos brought out excitement and loud cheers from the crowd.  Maria's dancing, at least in the first act, brought out respectful admiration.  She's terrific, don't get me wrong, but I think there could be more.  And although she and Herman have danced together before (I saw them do Swan Lake), they didn't have much of a rapport as a couple.

However, in the Kingdom the Shades scene, she pulled out all the stops.  She was exquisite, in her solos and in her pas de deux with Herman.  Her rather detached quality worked when she was dancing as a spirit instead of a flesh-and-blood woman.  I started to ruminate on her Giselle...  The corps de ballet were terrific in the Kingdom of the Shades opening - there was the tiniest bobble at the very beginning and I thought, oh great, here we go, but after that bobble, it was terrifically in unison and mesmerizing.  The three soloists were all lovely, especially Skylar Brandt, who just sparkled.

Photo credit: Marty Sohl

I found Misty Copeland to be a forceful, if one-note Gamzetti.  I think there's more to this character than 'bi*chy,' though perhaps that's just me.  But her dancing was fast and assured, if not very focused on telling a story.  Roman Zhurbin, my ABT MVP, was again fantastic as the High Brahmin - he reminds me of the sublime Yul Brynner, all masculinity and power, with vulnerability underneath.  I was so happy to see in the program before the ballet that Joseph Gorak was dancing the Bronze Idol solo.  I believe I've mentioned before how powerful and terrific that variation is, and how much I like Gorak.  He was fantastic, all coiled power and aggression, yet so light and free.  His stops and starts were so solid and he just sailed through the air.  I loved him.  He's probably the best I've seen since Angel Corella.

Seat-neighbor-wise, all was well until the beginning of the second act.  During the first intermission, a couple from the upper balcony came down to claim the empty seats in the row in front of me.  No problem, no one was sitting there, but the guy who took the seat directly in front of me had to be, conservatively, 7'6" tall.  There was a lot of bobbing and weaving going on to see around his head.  Sigh.  And my curtain call photos are not great because of it.  Ah well.  Oh, and his date decided she needed to use her cell phone during the third act.  Thankfully, an usher came right down and shone her flashlight right on the perpetrator and the phone was turned off.  I was grateful for that usher.

I can't believe I'm already more than halfway through my ballet season!  I'm looking forward to next week's piece - I'm finally seeing the debut of Ratmansky's new version of Sleeping Beauty.  Cannot wait.

Thoughts on The Qualms and the Return of Summer Fridays

I very much enjoyed Bruce Norris' Clybourne Park and saw it several times.  I'm sorry I missed his last show at Lincoln Center, so when TDF tickets came up for his newest play at Playwrights Horizons, I pounced.  Previously produced by Steppenwolf, The Qualms is still in early previews, so I'll only offer a few thoughts.

The Qualms is a dark comedy about a "swinger" community, with several couples who enjoy each other's company, both as friends and in the Biblical sense.  When a new couple arrives, everyone's ideas about sex and politics are challenged.  Like in previous plays, Norris takes the point of view of priviliged white Americans, who may not like talking about sex, but they definitely want to intentionally provoke and assert their rightness in all subjects, including sex.

Photo credit: Joan Marcus

One half of the new couple, Chris (terrifically played by Jeremy Shamos) at first seems to be  entirely reasonable in his doubts and discomfort, but he turns out to be (of course) the most small-minded and ugly of the group.  But each character has their good and bad points, and we hear about them all during the 90-minute intermissionless play.

The Qualms is often hysterically funny and often very thought-provoking.  The cast is first-rate, all eight of them.  One actor reminded me so much of an old boyfriend, I was giggling and having deja vu frequently during the afternoon.  One character is someone I should be playing, should I ever exit my semi-retirement from acting.  I enjoyed myself a great deal at the play, and have been thinking about several aspects of it since yesterday, though I'm not sure The Qualms is as strong a play as Clybourne Park, as a whole.  For a play that talked a lot about sex, I imagined there would BE more sex (though that might have been Norris' point, people talk about it and don't do it), and there were a LOT of topics brought up to think about - maybe too many?  I'm not sure.  I also thought it seemed as if Norris had a hard time deciding how to end the play, so the penultimate scene felt diffuse (though there is one writer/director collaboration that is rather brilliant), but I did feel satisfied by the very end.  I liked seeing The Qualms and may try to go back later in the run, just to see if my initial impressions were correct.  If you like a rather dark sex comedy, you'll enjoy it, too, I think.  Just a couple of audience neighbor observations:  golly, the subscribers (at least I assume they were subscribers) in the lobby before the show should perhaps step outside when they talk on their cell phones, or start to practice using their indoor voice.  Hearing about a guy's prostate during one call and a gal's distate for a current Broadway show wasn't really the way I wanted to start my afternoon.  :)

Going back two days, last Friday I had a fun afternoon with some work chums when we took advantage of Summer Friday and walked over to Gotham West Market to have some lunch and, more importantly, ICE CREAM.  One work chum had proclaimed the ice cream from Ample Hills Creamery as the best in NY (apparently Zagat's does, too).  Of course, I considered that a challenge and had to try it.  Before the ice cream, though, we sat at the tapas bar at El Comado.  I wanted to try nearly everything on their menu, but had to watch my budget.  I settled on the pan con tomate, my chum choose the patatas bravas, and we shared a finger sandwich with Serrano ham, manchego cheese and membrillo.  Everything was DELICIOUS.  I especially loved the pan con tomate and even dreamed about it last night.  I supposed I could make some for myself, but it never tastes as good.

Ample Hills had so many yummy-sounding flavors Friday - I tasted the salted crack caramel flavor, which was terrific, but I didn't think I could eat a whole dish of it.  I wanted to try the snap, mallow & pop flavor, but they were out.  I settled on the raw deal, which is vanilla ice cream with chocolate flakes and brown sugar cookie dough.  YUM. Serious YUM.  I may have to sample a few other ice creams before declaring it 'the best,' but that's a challenge I look forward to, lol.  My nephew will be visiting in a few weeks, maybe he'll want to take on that challenge with me...