Tharp & ABT, Kennedy Center Honors - tonight on CBS

[Natalia]

As per the following notice on the CBS website, Marcello Gomes and Lucianna Paris of ABT are scheduled. They will be performing an 'audience-friendly' ballroom number from Sinatra Suite, rather than a traditional ballet...increasing the likelihood that the dance will not be cut. There should also be a Tharp retrospective, so glimpses of other ballets might be seen.

http://www.cbs.com/specials/kennedy_center_honors/

[carbro]

I set my DVR very carefully, but somehow it recorded the first hour on The Food Channel, which I NEVER even watch, let alone record. Then I dozed off. I missed Luciana and Marcelo. How were they? And how was the Tharp segment as a whole?

[Marga]

I'm so sorry that happened, carbro! Things like that have happened to me, too.

Marcelo and Luciana were absolutely wonderful! I was looking forward to seeing Marcelo dance this, as I had seen José dance it with Luciana at Bard. Luciana was so much better in her performance with Marcelo! Maybe the packed to capacity venue and the fact that millions of eyes were on her in closeups, and that among them were so many glitterati, VIP, and celebrity eyes helped her shine more at the Honors. Or maybe it was just dancing with Marcelo. HE was ravishingly macho and menacing and romantic and bad boy and debonair!

My gripe is that they only got to do 3 Sinatra dances and ...... no other dancers appeared in any other Tharp works. That would have been all right if the tributes to all the other honorees were in balance, but that was not the case. They imported what looked like a hundred New York City cops for Daltrey and Townshend and hundreds of singers for a short chorus for Streisand on top of all the soloists (Beyoncé was incredibly good and secure in her strong beautiful voice). Also, the singers of Who songs kept parading out one after another, presenting far too many songs, going beyond my endurance for them, that's for sure. I did enjoy all the country performers that paid tribute to Jones, among them Randy Travis and Garth Brooks. I'm not a fan of country, but I like it one or two songs at a time. Tonight was very pleasant and enjoyable, even with quite a lot of Jones's songs. It was still properly a tribute, while the Who's segment was pretty much a rock concert!

In comparison, what bright minds thought that we could only "take" 3 Sinatra dances and, heavens to Betsy, no other dancers, please! -- who can stand so much dancing? Sheesh!

For all the famous entertainers, including B.B. King and some jazz greats in their 90s, that were amassed to honor Morgan Freeman, one of my favorite actors (who, after Tharp, got the next shortest shrift), George Jones, the Who, and Streisand, they couldn't bring in a handful of extra dancers to perform a few energetic pieces from Baker's Dozen? Or Movin' Out? Or anything else Tharp? Color me very disappointed!

Thank goodness we had Gomes and Paris and their extraordinary pas de deux.

[ivypink]

I, too, felt that Tharp's tribute was too short. It was almost embarrassing, and certainly Tharp deserved more. But Marcelo and Lucia were stellar. I've never seen either one of them dance before, so this was a superb treat. He is so handsome and incredibly talented, and she is the perfect feminine counterpoint. Luciana, (to me, at least) bears a strong resemblance to a young Leslie Browne. I drank in every step with great pleasure.

[bingham]

I, too, felt that Tharp's tribute was too short. It was almost embarrassing, and certainly Tharp deserved more. But Marcelo and Lucia were stellar. I've never seen either one of them dance before, so this was a superb treat. He is so handsome and incredibly talented, and she is the perfect feminine counterpoint. Luciana, (to me, at least) bears a strong resemblance to a young Leslie Browne. I drank in every step with great pleasure.

She does resemble Leslie Browne. I have never seen her in a central role before but she proved to be a good partner to Marcelo. I hope this will lead to more prominent role in the future.

[Natalia]

Marcello and Lucianna were amazingly good. Marcello's close-ups, in particular, were glorious -- he 'nailed' it! To be honest, I expected only one dance from Sinatra Suite, so was pleasantly surprised to see three (All the Way, That's Life and My Way). Perhaps CBS figured that the American public could digest three, thanks to Dancing With the Stars and similar shows?

The mini-documentary on Tharp's life included filmed bits of Deuce Coupe, Push Comes to Shove and Upper Room.

Tharp definitely deserved a longer tribute but, all in all, it wasn't any shorter than Danilova's or Farrell's, for example.

[canbelto]

It was great! Marcelo was sizzling, and yet at the same time such an attentive partner. I thought the Tharp tribute was a bit short too but it's quality, not quantity.

A bit OT, but Marcelo is the rare type of dancer who rarely changes from role to role and is yet always perfect. I've seen him do Franz in Coppelia to Solor to Sinatra Suite. In every role he's not your boy-next-door, but instead the Man of Your Dreams. Balanchine said, "When you put a man and a woman together there's already a story." In many cases this is not the case but with Marcelo it is. You put him onstage with a woman and it's already a love story. Please, ABT, preserve this man's performances on film!