Posted 29 June 2012 - 05:34 AM
My review from the Corella Farewell performance on June 28, 2012. (please note that this post is written first thing in the morning without edits!)
First of all, I am having trouble digesting the fact that the events of last night actually took place. The evening was truly sensational and emotional for all who were present.
Somehow, I was very lucky and ended up sitting in (what has been named on this board) the best seat of the house, Orchestra K 117. Thus, I had the ideal view to see the full picture, yet be able to really see the emotion on the dancers, but most importantly, Corella's face.
The curtain calls were particularly interesting and endearing. They began with the normal set of bows, with the swan on stage and then the soloists taking their bows. Once Angel and Paloma came on stage, the entire theatre was roaring. Paloma presented her bouquets of flowered at Angel's feet. Angel was a bit bashful and tried to play off the bows like any other performance- putting to focus on the ballerina. The curtain went down, and opened to Angel alone on the stage, and again the audience went wild for him. There was bountiful cheering, stomping, clapping; the whole house was one their feet in appreciation. (should also note that many people sitting in the back of the orchestra moved to the front to get a closer view). After Angel accepted the applause, Paloma brought him a bouquet. This began the series of flower presentations starting with Gillian Murphy, then Julie Kent and her 2 children, followed by Xiomara, then Irina. Subsequently, the male principals brought wreaths for Angel, first Maxim, then Cory (who tried to put it around his neck), then David (who tried to throw it at Angel like a frisbee). Next was Marcelo and then Herman (who shared 2 long hugs with Angel). The surprise "guest" male principals were Ethan Stiefel and then Jose Carreno! However the biggest surprise, and most touching, was when Carmen Corella came on stage. This was when Angel seemed to break down emotionally a bit, as he shared a very very lengthy hug with her and seemed to not want to let go. Some other guests to the stage (presenting flowers) were Victor Barbee, Irina K., the conductor (forgot whom!), Clinton Luckett,Nancy Raffa, and of course Kevin. Then the whole company came on stage and threw roses at Mr. Corella. The audience kept clapping throughout the whole time, and finally confetti was shot into the air. Angel looked so bashful- like he couldn't comprehend the immense support he was receiving. He kept shrugging his shoulders like a little boy. Finally, he did not know what else to do except do an impressively fast set of a la second turns ending in multiple pirouettes. After what seemed like an endless amount of applause, it seemed like Angel signaled for the curtain to close. Then the out of the curtain calls began- the soloists came out again, but then it was all about Angel. People in general were not leaving. Leaving the theatre meant accepting that Angel would not be dancing there anymore. Angel came out for about 6 solo curtain calls. The last one was after about 5 minutes of fanatics (including myself) not leaving and creating a joint clap encouraging him to come out one last time. He was very very gracious, and jokingly told us to go home by waving us out the theatre. Sadly, we had to let him go and truly say goodbye to his performances at the Met.
PERFORMANCE REVIEW:
Pre-performance, the theatre was buzzing with anticipation for the show to begin. When Angel stepped on stage the reception was so enthusiastic- I don't think anyone wanted to stop clapping. This was the first of many moments that I got teary-eyed, and I couldn't take my eyes off him for the rest of the night I noticed during the maypole dance that he looked very pensive and was looking down a lot. When he finally looked up, I could see him taking it all in. He realized the magnitude of this performance and needed to take in one of his last looks of the met opera house. His solos were very good and he looked joyous on the stage.
Act II: The white swan pas was so emotional. You could feel the energy right before it started. The two of them performed beautifully. Odette's sorrow and Siegfriend's compassion felt so real- and probably because it was real for Paloma and Angel. Watching Angel's eyes and his subtle head movements reminded me why he is such a lovely partner. He stayed completely entranced by Odette the whole time.
Act III: Everyone wanted the ethnic dances to be over! (they were done well. but everyone wanted to watch the black swan pas!) Oh one thing to note is that Angel changed into black tights for Act III. He hadn't done that in the past, and it made me realize that he isn't the same dancer he was 10 years ago.
Once the pas began, no one in the audience dared to take a breath. It looked like the two of them were smiling like teenagers. It was slightly out of character, but beautiful at the same time. Angel's solo was fantastic. He had some really nice turns, clean tours and his boyish passion that everyone loves. Once he finished his solo, the audience roared again. And he let them. He looked out into the audience and stood there in appreciation for all of their love. This was the point when I (and many others) began sobbing. This bow was luxuriously long, but not long enough. There was an awkward pause between Paloma's solo and Angel's- she took a long time to bow and there was about 5 seconds of silence between the time she was off the stage and Angel got back on. But when he got back on, he exploded. He flew threw the air with his grande jetes and ended with a beautiful series of pirouettes. Paloma did her fouettes and actually got precariously close to being completely off balance However, Angel's a la second turns were unbelievably fast and clean. The audience went wild. The end of the pas was so dramatic. It was like Angel's complete surrender to Paloma's Odile.
Act IV: was very somber and emotional, aligning well to the feeling of the evening. Something that was a bit disappointing was how Odette and Siegfried died. Paloma chose to stand at the edge and fall into the ocean, and Angel opted for the same type of death. I guess I was expecting a more dramatic end, perhaps one last jump to the death.
OTHER NOTES:
I actually was not thrilled with the supporting cast of last night. I think Monday's and Tuesday's were better.
Actually, I was very surprised by Paloma's technical decline. I was not surprised that Angel was not able to dance the way he had in the Swan Lake DVD because he hasn't been performing full time for many years. Paloma's performance seemed far from effortless and she made noticeable technical adaptions. One was in Odette's solo, when she did the double ronde de jambe into a side extension, she opted to stay on flat for the 2 ronde de jambes instead of being on pointe. It also seemed like her side extensions were much lower than they used to be. Her balances were still very lovely and impressive.
Gennadi replaced Blaine Hoven for Benno, and I didn't think it was a good match. He and Angel had no rapport, and it seems like he was almost telephoning the performance. Hee Seo did the jumping variation in the pas de trois and was my favorite (compared to Stella and Simone). Hee really can jump. Melanie Hamrick was underwhelming. Her performance was colorless and she makes this really offputting expression whenever she turns.
Jared Matthews was the most technically adept von Rothbart that I saw this week (compared to Sascha and Alex H.) His sissones were really impressive and he looked solid overall. He definitely took an almost comedic approach to the role, which I'm not sure I liked. However, I was very impressed by him! His boots ripped in the middle of his variation, and I was so distracted and worried that they would cause problems for him. (they were no longer thigh-high, but knee-highs!)
Maria Riccetto, Nicole Graniero, Sarah Lane and Yuriko did the 4 swans. It was very nicely done. I think Maria and Yuriko are too tall for the others though. Also, Yuriko's upper body looked so stiff when she was doing swan arms. She stood out from the rest of the 31 swans.
Christine Shevchenko and Devon Teuscher were competent Big Swans. They're still young and will have time to grow in that role.
Simone Messmer was great in Czards.
Spanish dance was great (however if anyone gets to watch Tom Forester in that role, he is the best!)
Neapolitan was fantastic. Grant deLong and Luis were perfectly synced and each of them had very beautiful and high in number turns. They were reminiscent of young Angel in their energy.
That's pretty much all I have time for right now. I apologize that this was not beautifully written and that it is very long.
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He began with a run from the backstage-audience-left corner of the platform, then catapulted himself about 10 feet up and straight out, whilst in a long/horizontal (not so curved) slightly-arched pose. For a moment, I thought that the guy was supported by wires and about to fly into the opposite wing! Audience ooooed and ahhhhed. I've seen some great leaps from various Prince Siegfrieds but never anything quite like this (distance traveled).
