Saratoga, week 2

[Farrell Fan]

I heard an audience member describe Wheeldon's "Evenfall" as "the one where the ballerinas moon the audience." This is not quite correct, since they're "mooning" upstage. Nevertheless, the ballet proved popular in Saratoga. In fact everything NYCB does is popular -- that is, with the audience that shows up. During the second week of the season, the audience seemed to grow slightly with each passing night (I skipped the Thursday and Saturday matinees which I know are usually well-attended. Marcia White, the SPAC President, makes a little curtain speech before each performance and seems genuinely admiring of Balanchine, Robbins, and, as she calls him, Balletmaster Martins. And every night, the response at the end is a standing ovation. But no huge increase in the SPAC audience has materialized. And no banners across Broadway hail NYCB's Saratoga residency, as once was the case.

Darci and Nikolaj Hubbe gave a lovely, autumnal glow to "Duo Concertant," and "In the Night," which was performed In the Dusk because of the new curtain time was a highlight of the week -- Rachel Rutherford and Tyler Angle, Sofiane Sylve and Charles Askegard, Wendy Whelan and Sebastien Marcovici. Nilas was charming in Western Symphony, and Damian still evokes the squeals of the budding ballerinas in the audience. I liked Craig Hall and Rachel Rutherford in the Passage for Two of N.Y. Export Opus Jazz. But it bothered that that when the girl was thrown off the roof (Sorry, I didn't see who it was) it got a laugh. Tiler Peck and Daniel Ulbricht dazzled in Frandises. But the Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux (Ana Sophia Scheller and Benjamin Millepied), while nicely danced, lacked fireworks.

The balletgoers of the Capital District seem worried that the NYCB season may be cut from three weeks (or two-and-a-half weeks, as it is this year) to two weeks. This is a rumor and we don't usually deal in rumors, but it seems to me important to mention it.

The Lyrical Ballad Bookstore on Phila Street (the best bookstore in the United States, according to Lincoln Kirstein), was an even nicer place to hang out this season. Wendy Whelan and her husband were spotted there more than once.

[carbro]

Damian still evokes the squeals of the budding ballerinas in the audience.

One of the nice things about growing up is acquiring a bit of self-control.

I liked Craig Hall and Rachel Rutherford in the Passage for Two of N.Y. Export Opus Jazz. But it bothered that that when the girl was thrown off the roof (Sorry, I didn't see who it was) it got a laugh.

Was it Rebecca Krohn? She's pretty much owned the role. I wonder if the audience response was somehow tied to the less formal setting of SPAC.

Thanks, FarrellFan, from someone who would love to have been there but couldn't.