Farrell Fan

Anyone have recollections of dancer Ron Reagan?

In Ballet Review and Dance View I like to read articles that are analytical and historical. However, I don't want too many scholarly thoughts intruding into a New York Times review of what happened two nights ago. I like interviews, from puff pieces to in-depth ones. A long time ago, when he was on the New York Times, I thought Clive Barnes was the ideal reviewer -- a clear writer who was often amusing. I think the Times staff of daily reviewers was the best then -- Barnes, Kisselgoff, and Don McDonagh. It's sad that nowadays in the NY Post, Barnes has been relegated to an innocuous paragraph or two every now and then.

I agree with everything you say, GeorgeB fan. That's why I enjoy reading him so much.

Thanks for posting that wonderful interview with Kronstam, Alexandra. I've never seen a Sleepwalker-Poet pas de deux that's been completely audience giggle-free, but some have come close. In this connection, I've been heartened by the receptions given the "Five Pieces" section of "Episodes" recently. Formerly treated as a laff-riot by most audiences, they now seem merely mesmerized. So maybe there's hope for Sonnambula.

I know this is not what you're talking about, but the 1974-75 ABT souvenir book is called ABT XXXV (an early example of the Super Bowl influence.) The photos are by Kenn Duncan and the text consists of brief descriptions of the repertory. I dug it out to stroll down memory lane, and the principal dancers were: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Karen Brock, Fernando Bujones, Eleanor D'Antuono, Michael Denard, Carla Fracci, Cynthia Gregory, Jonas Kage, Gelsey Kirkland, Ted Kivitt, Natalia Makarova, Bonnie Mathis, Ivan Nagy, Terry Orr, Marcos Paredes, John Prinz, Martine Van Hamel, Sallie Wilson, Gayle Young.

I've always loved the mystery of La Sonnambula as well. The sleepwalker strikes me as the baron's secret wife, sort of like Mr. Rochester's. When I first saw the ballet and watched the baron go off with drawn dagger, I wasn't sure whether he was going to kill the sleepwalker or the poet. Not only is the ballet mysterious, it's also raging with hormones -- the baron's guests pairing off and the coquette and poet thwarted in their attempt to do the same. I love the Rieti score based on the Bellini themes -- schmaltz on the verge of dissonance. If only the French horns were better able to cope with it. I don't know how much Nikolaj Hubbe weighs but he was obviously too heavy to be carried by Yvonne Borree. Couldn't anyone have predicted that? I loved Whelan and Boal in it. My favorite sleepwalker was Kent of course. I liked Victor Castelli very much as the poet. Kay Mazzo was a good sleepwalker, as was the object of my fandom. I can't say that I have a favorite coquette. It's a good part for a lot of dancers. At one time, after the sleepwalker carried off the dead poet, the light from her candle was seen moving from upstairs into the sky. I liked that. As it is now, the ending has an element of necrophilia.

As Bobbi recalled above, Allegra Kent used to carry the "body" of the poet in Sonnambula from midstage back into their alcove. Other dancers did it that way too. In recent years however, the sleepwalker stands just at the entrance to the alcove while the poet is placed in her arms. Last night (Friday, Oct 21) even this proved too much for Yvonne Borree, who stumbled into the side of the scenery under the weight of Nikolaj Hubbe. One reads how today's dancers are "stronger" than those of the past. Not when it comes to strength, apparently.

DIVERTIMENTO NO. 16 (with apologies to Nancy Reynolds' Repertory in Review) The title of this little-known Balanchine work confused many. Expecting more of the exquisite felicities of Mozart, they were subjected instead to the vulgar bleatings of sixteen kazoos. Where Divertimento No. 15 had been proclaimed "a ballet of the aristocracy." this was seen as "the last gasp of feudalism." (World Telegram and Sun). John Martin, who had been lavish in his praise of No. 15, declared after 16, "Mr. Balanchine has worn out his brief welcome; it's time he be repatriated, forcibly if necessary, to the decadent old world from which he sprang."

To respond to art076, I thought all of acts two and three took place behind a scrim. It didn't bother me, and prevented smoke from the destruction of the temple from drifting out over the orchestra.

Even the bumps and grinds?

Before that woman is dragged out in "The Concert," she's been hit over the head by a milquetoast turned caveman. "The Concert" also features women kicked in the rump, bent into undignified positions, and trampled underfoot. But it's all hilarious, or should be. The context is what's important.

Does anyone remember what color Suzanne wore in Dances at a Gathering? I'm ashamed to say I don't, even though I know she performed in it in 1977 and perhaps beyond.

Yes, I'm planning to go because it's on one of my subscriptions, Series 6 on Friday nights. This subscription also includes Wheeldon's Shambards on May 21 and the new Martins ballet on June 4. The Eifman is on June 18. I'd probably go anyway, because how could I resist seeing Maria Kowroski as Suzanne?

Thanks for the post, Oberon, and for the explanation of the girl-in-yellow catch, which I wasn't aware of. I'm sure that my state of mind colors my reaction to a performance, and I was feeling testy last night even before the curtain went up.

Just to confuse things irremediably, "apricot," "mustard," "blue-green," "plum," and "olive" are no longer identified as such in the program. The performance of Tuesday, May 11, listed the cast thusly: Ashley Bouder (in yellow), Kyra Nichols (in pink), Jenifer Ringer (in mauve), Rachel Rutherford (in blue), Sophiane Sylve (in green), Antonio Carmena (in brick), James Fayette (in blue) Sebastien Marcovici (in green), Jock Soto (in purple), Damian Woetzel (in brown).

I was surprised when I consulted Repertory in Review that the dancers were not identified by costume. My memory has faded, but Leigh's guesses sound correct to me, and I can definitely confirm that Maiorano was the boy in blue. He used to joke that he extorted money from mothers of girls in yellow to guarantee his catching them. And recalling the competitive duet of Blum and Villella reminds me that I've always preferred it when, as in that case, the two men are of different sizes.

Dances at a Gathering disappointed me. Some of the performances were fine but seldom have I seen so many bobbles in this ballet. Marcovici was a prime offender, and should be singled out for an appalling performance. And for the first time that I can remember, the part in the middle of the ballet which culminates with the girl in yellow seemingly shot from a cannon to land in the boy in blue's arms (Bouder and Fayette last night), failed to excite. Sophiane Sylve had an unusual interpretation of the girl in green, but it was perhaps too subtle and failed to get any laughs. I was one of the people who provided only polite applause at the end, although most of the audience was more enthusiastic. Brahms-Schoenberg made me happy.

Thanks for the warning, Alexandra. With the likes of Peggy Noonan and Tucker Carlson on Jeopardy, I'll make sure to avoid the show this week.

Not when I'm going to see the Suzanne Farrell Ballet.

Funny, but I always thought Peter Martins looked like the headwaiter in that uniform. This is not to say I didn't admire his waltzing or his dancing in general. He was great in almost everything he did. Now Nilas wears the uniform and his resemblance to his father in it is astonishing.

As Dale said, the program in the theater was scheduled to start at 7:30, and after seeing the show on TV tonight I'm confused as to what the people in the theater saw. And I'm even more confused about what I saw. There was no intermission on TV, but there wasn't enough content to fill the alloted two hours. So they played the tape of Placido Domingo singing "None But the Lonely Heart" again. This was a weird way to start the gala and it was even weirder for the home audience to hear it again when just a few minutes earlier host Martin Bookspan had promised delights presumably denied the live audience. At the very start of the broadcast an appearance by Baryshnikov was announced. It didn't materialize. And a lot of the footage of Balanchine was recycled from the PBS special of 1983 which was rebroadcast a while back. Sarah Jessica Parker's appearance seemed pointless once Misha didn't show up. I love Wynton Marsalis, but I prefer "The Man I Love" without him. As a matter of fact, the "concept" of the other Lincoln Center constituents paying homage to Balanchine didn't work, in my opinion. The NYCB dancers did their usual wonderful work, but the broadcast as a whole had me ready for one of those hookers Mr. B used to promise us. A shot of vodka, that is.

The process that began several years ago when some of us urged the US Postal Service to issue a commemmorative stamp honoring Balanchine's 100th birthday has at last come to fruition. In the process the original idea was lost and substituted was a group of four stamps honoring American Choreographers: Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, Agnes de Mille, and Balanchine. Now the stamps are out and I'm more than a little disappointed. The colors are muted and the detail unclear. If these were television pictures instead of stamps, I'd be fiddling with the color and brightness controls till I drove myself crazy. The names Martha Graham and George Balanchine are hard to read -- yellow type on a pale background. Those of Alvin Ailey and Agnes de Mille, also in yellow type, are on dark backgrounds and legible. I suppose these stamps are better than nothing, though, and I intend to use them as much as possible. Incidentally, I don't know what the philatelic term is, but they come in sheets of twenty. Under the vertical row of five Graham stamps it says, "Martha Graham is a registered trademark." Under the Ailey row it says, "Alvin Ailey is a trademark of Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc." Under the de Milles, "The appellation Agnes de Mille belongs to de Mille Productions," and under the Balanchines: "BALANCHINE is a trademarkof the George Balanchine Trust." Just wanted to give you the complete picture, appellations and all.

I saw Stars and Stripes and it was a horror. You couldn't tell a thing about what the ballet actually looked like onstage.

There was a preview of this in the big Lincoln Center Festival 2004 brochure, where the company is called simply The Joffrey Ballet. I haven't seen them since they moved to Chicago, and I'm really looking forward to their July 8 program of Les Patineurs, Monotones I and II, and A Wedding Bouquet. They'll also be appearing on a couple of mixed bills with the Birmingham Royal Ballet and K-Ballet Company. Welcome back!

Yes, Liang is back and was quite wonderful dancing with Jenifer Ringer in the Spring section of The Four Seasons on Friday night. But either he's acquired an extra letter in his first name or the same typo was made both on the company roster listing and in the cast listing -- EDWAARD LIANG.