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Don Quixote


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Anyone seen a confused knight wandering by?

As a matter of fact I did, Tuesday night. For years my son subjected me to the video on which Mr. Corella & Ms. Herrera performed the Don Q pas and variations from the final act. I had to smile when I saw who was cast for the evening I was attending. Yup, he did it to me again.

No regrets. Ms. Herrera was charming and Mr. Corrella was a crowd pleaser. What I enjoyed most was Act 1: Sevilla. The color and charm of this opening act was quite enetrtaining. This cast was having a lot of fun on stage and it showed.

Highlights for me included seeing Mr. Hallberg's Espada (Mr. Gomes had been cast originally), Mr. Cornejo's lead Gypsy and Mr. Graffin's Gamache.

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Anyone seen a confused knight wandering by?

The old guy is more confused than ever, this being the 400th anniversary of his first appearance in print. On the ballet stage he's been wandering around since the 18th century, trying to figure out what those barbers, innkeepers, and fops have to do with him. He thought he'd found stardom in 1965, in Balanchine's ballet, but was met with a pie in the face. Now the one and only Dulcinea is reviving the Balanchine ballet. If you see the Don and his squire, please direct them to the Kennedy Center, June 22 to 26.
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Just returning from tonight's Don Q with Diana Vishneva and Jose Manuel Carreno and wanted to report briefly. Diana Vishneva was fantastic. Not only is she technically amazing -- light, airborne, rock solid -- she also has a marvelous stage presence. She did well in this lighthearted role, but also showed a serious side and I would love to see her in a role with more depth -- say, Odette/Odile. I hate to say it, but she made me forget Nina is gone! To be sure this is only one role, and one night, but my feeling was that Vishneva has the qualities -- technical brilliance plus depth and sophistication -- that made me love Nina A so much. I wish she would stay!

I was less than impressed with Michele Wiles, who did not begin to have the same onstage presence as Vishneva. But loved Sarah Lane in her role as Amour.

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I went to the May 25th matinee of "Don Quixote" with Gillian Murphy and Carlos Acosta. I wish someone like Michael or Carbo or many many others had already written about this ballet, so I could just respond to their reviews. Since that is not the case, here goes. It was a great afternoon at the Metropolitan Opera Theater.

Acosta really is a force of nature. He has such energy, such charisma as well as those soaring leaps with the incredibly soft landings. Acosta also has a great flair for comedy. This is going to sound petty, but I was a liitle disappointed with his turns during his first solo in Act III. I think it's because I'm so used to those seemingly endless multiple air turns done by Angel Corella and Julio Bocca. (I've seen each of them dance "Don Q" three times.)

Gillian Murphy was simply magnificent. I've seen "Don Q" many times, but I don't I've never seen better leaps with the kick to the back of the head. (Is there a name for that?) And the speed of her turns in both Act I and especially the Act II dream sequence was absolutely dizzingly. I don't think Murphy is a natural Nikiya, but I'd love to see her dance the Kingdom of the Shades scene from "La Bayadere"

just to see how fast she could whirl off the stage at the end. As always, Murphy's fouettes were amazing. I don't know if she was doing doubles or triples or whatever. She was going so fast it was hard to tell (for me anyway). And she was doing them while opening her fan over her head. This is just a minor quibble, but I wish Murphy had held her balances in the Act III Grand Pas just a little bit longer. Maybe that's because I saw Paloma Herrera dance Kitri last year, and her balances were so long it seemed as though time had stopped. I also thought Murphy was very playful in the role which was fun to see. And she and Acosta really danced well together.

As for the rest of the cast, all were excellent. The two flower girls not only danced well, but they danced in sync. One of them was definitely Maria Riccetto, but I'm not sure who the other one was. (Some cast changes were announced from the stage and weren't in the program). I think it was Adrienne Schulte. Anne Milewski was wonderful as always as Amour. (I remember reading either on Ballet Talk or in a review that Milewski has practically made a career of dancing Amour.) Milewski stood out for her quicksliver steps, and great light leap. I do think, however, she could tone down the cutesiness just a notice. I was disappointed with Carmen Corella as the Queen of the Dryads last year, but on Wednesday she was just perfect - especially her Italian fouettes. I've never seen

Jesus Pastor dance before, and he was really exciting as the King of the Gypsies. I 'm looking forward to seeing him dance many more roles at ABT.

Gennady Saveliev was excellent as Espada, the matador. Saveliev may not be the flashiest dancer, but he's always wonderful (IMO anyway). Every time I open my program and see his name whether it's as Tybalt in "Romeo and Juliet" or "Ballet Imperial", etc., etc., I always think "Oh good. He's going to give a great performance." Monique Meunier was luminously radiant as Mercedes, the street dancer. I remember reading - again either on Ballet Talk or in a review, that Meunier has made a real three dimensional character out of what is usually a one dimensional role. I hate to keep repeating myself, but why is Meunier still dancing these roles? Why is she still a soloist at ABT? Every year I take my niece to an ABT ballet, and last year we went to "Don Quixote". During the first intermission, we were talking about how good Meunier was, and I told her what I knew of Meunier's story - how she had been a principal dancer at New York City Ballet, then left that company to become a soloist at ABT, a soloist not dancing very many roles. My niece said she thought that was very sad, and I agreed. I still agree.

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I attended Thursday night -- the cast headed by Diana Vishneva and Jose Carreno. I know she has some great fans on this board :o, but I was very disappointed by Vishneva. :D I found much of her work (notably the releves and grand jetes in the Dream Scene) very labored. Also in the grand jetes, her torso leaned forward, instead of staying perpendicular. Finally, in her unsupported work, her relationship to the music (which tended to follow her) was hit-or-miss.

But the other featured dancers were all quite excellent. Carreno was in better form than he's been for a year or so -- magnificent. Passionate in his solos, ardent and attentive in his partnering Elegant and classy all the way.

Standouts included Sarah Lane's crisp, darting Amour -- the best I've seen since Chris Spizzo (whom she reminded me of here), and I've seen some good ones.

Misty Copeland (replacing Erica Cornejo) as the Flower Girl (cabriole variation). Her open, easy upper body made everything she did look effortless.

Veronika Part was a beautiful if underutilized Mercedes, partnered by David Hallberg's elegant and proud Espada.

The female wedding guests have new costumes. (They may actually be a year old, as I did not see any Don Qs last year.) They are just AWFUL!!! Instead of the soft orangey-coral, they are now garish hot pink (for three girls) and garish marigold (for the other four). :wink: If I were Santo Loquasto, I'd demand to have my name removed from the costume credit.

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