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[Alexandra]

There's a brief preview note in the NYTimes about the upcoming tribute to George Harrison which ABT will show at its fall City Center season.

Ballet Theater Will Rock to a Beatle (the Quiet One)

Quote

Kevin McKenzie, the artistic director of American Ballet Theater, said the idea for the company's coming "Tribute to George Harrison" grew out of a conversation with Wallace Chappell, a company administrator, the day Harrison died last November.

"I went to Wallace, who I knew to be an old rocker," Mr. McKenzie recalled. " `Feel a little old, do we?' I said to him. Then he asked, `Has anyone ever done ballet to Beatles music?'

I wonder what would have happened if the reply had been, "Yes, actually. Michael Smuin did one for the San Francisco Ballet, 20 years ago"?


I'm curious.  How do ABT fans feel about this?  Theme, music, choice of choreographers, direction of the company, "targeted" audience?

[Watermill]

In the world of music there are mountain ranges: the Classic Range, the Baroque, the Romatic, the Modern.  We may argue over the relative heights of these mountains, but we all know a mountain when we see/hear it.

     The dancing muse has in turn scaled these heights and awaits a tectonic shift in the human soul, a formation of the next mountain range.

      The very fact that Mr. Chappell would ask that question and that Mr. McKenzie would respond to it is an indication of the foothills we are dwelling upon.

      But oh will there be fannies in the seats!