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Wish list for ABT Repertory


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I'm not sure it was Bruhn's production of Sylphide you saw at ABT in 1970 Glebb -- Now that you mention it, the Sylphide and her confreres (or consoeurs) fly in the Bruhn production, but I do not remember any broomsticks. It is played rather straight.

I saw the Bruhn production at ABT two seasons ago in NY when they gave it three or four performances -- The Sylph was either Julie Kent or Yan Chen, and James was either Belotserkofsky (sic, spelling?) or Malakhov. Kent was the superior Sylph and both Jamess were very good. The reel, above all, was well performed. The production generally suffered from a loss of (or lack of) important detail. And It was never quite made clear who and what the Sylph was and why and how James's effort to possess her and to know her, and his lack of appreciation for the freedom and otherness of her nature, inevitably caused her destruction. But even diminished in that way, it was still a beautiful ballet and better to see than 9/10ths of what I see on that stage and elsewhere.

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An earlier staging by Bruhn, very much "after Lander" -- Gurn was a comic character, although not a middle-aged one. I think Bruhn staged and directed it without "rethinking" (think of that! How revolutionary!!!) although there are a lot of details missing. The Met production (which I have to say I do not like at all) where James now lives in a grand house, was done because the other designs, and the scale of it, were just too small for the Met.

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Manhattnik--I liked your list. I saw Tudor's R&J danced by Markova and Kaye--but it is Hugh Laing's performance that has stayed with me. At the time, I found it too slow moving and I wasn't thrilled with Delius' music---However, having matured much since then I would love to see it again--but I don't know where they could replace Laing's brooding performance.

As to Berman's "Giselle"---no! All those blues and blacks made for a very cold atmosphere--I like my "Giselle" to be bathed in the warmth of autumn colors.

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