20 replies to this topic

[sandik]

Hamorah, on 22 December 2012 - 12:08 PM, said:

I don't know if that is artistic generosity or professionalism, but he certainly was a fine example of "the show must go on".

It is certainly both, and an excellent example -- thank you so much for letting us know about this backstory.

[Hamorah]

Yes, it is a good story!  They were both blondes so it didn't notice too much and they changed tunics. However the story of artistic generosity actually continues in this way. Everyone was madly busy coaching the new Mercutio for his fight and death scene in the interval, but I had a different problem - he was also supposed to take part in the comic scene with me as Nurse when I bring the message from Juliet to Romeo about the wedding. In this scene the "boys" including Mercutio tease me unmercifully and it's quite slapstick.  I realised that the replacement had enough on his plate without worrying about my scene, so I left him to it and took one of the boys from the corps to teach him what Mercutio usually did.  He was surprisingly good at it and picked it up very quickly as he'd watched the scene a number of times. So that's how we got through the performance with a quarter of an hour very intense coaching session!

[sandik]

Several years ago, during a performance of Balanchine's Midsummer Night's Dream, Ariana Lallone was dancing Hippolyta and injured herself in the middle of the scene with all the dogs.  Brittany Reid was scheduled to perform the role later in the week, and was backstage that night --  they quickly swapped out the tutu, but they couldn't get the headdress off of Lallone in time to get Reid out on stage. (it was held on with a million hairpins)  Lallone is taller than Reid to begin with, and the headdress, with a military cockade on top of the helmet, adds at least six more inches.  I knew something was amiss, since there was a short sequence with a missing Hippolyta, but when Reid came out, I didn't recognize the change -- my first reaction was "I could swear Lallone is taller than that."  Reid performed the rest of the ballet with aplomb, and Lallone healed nicely, but when people talk about last minute substitutions, I always remember this one.

[California]

In the emergency substitution department, a notable one was the world premiere season of Barsyhnikov's Don Quixote at the Kennedy Center in March 1978. Kitri was danced by Gelsey Kirkland, alternating with Martine van Hamel and Cynthia Gregory. Kirkland and Baryshnikov had done the Saturday matinee, after already doing the world premiere on Thursday night and they were scheduled to do another performance on Sunday. But at the Saturday evening performance, van Hamel was severely injured in the first act and could not continue. Somebody found Kirkland and Baryshnikov having dinner next door at the Watergate Hotel and they came back to perform Acts II and III that night.

[dirac]

sandik, on 22 December 2012 - 12:11 PM, said:

Hamorah, on 22 December 2012 - 12:08 PM, said:

I don't know if that is artistic generosity or professionalism, but he certainly was a fine example of "the show must go on".

It is certainly both, and an excellent example -- thank you so much for letting us know about this backstory.

A belated thank-you, Hamorah, that was a great story, as are the other anecdotes on this thread. Surely there are a few more such tales out there?

[Natalia]

Evelyn Hart was totally giving of her soul in performances that I saw live at various galas and such (Dying Swan, Jeune Homme, Juliet). I don't think I've ever seen anyone quite like her. Film does not do her justice. Kirkland, at her best, was similar but I'd have to give the nod to Hart.