Farrell Fan

Yes, I want to read it too. It sounds like a refreshing change from the sequels and completions ("Sanditon," "Antipodes Jane." etc.) perpetrated by supposed Austen admirers. As a male member of the Jane Austen Society of North America, I'm particularly pleased that one of the six members of "The Jane Austen Book Club," is another "obvious irritant."

When Suzanne Farrell had her first hip replacement, my wife and I sent her several get well cards. Eventually she sent this reply, on a Metropolitan Museum of Art note card of a seated cat: "May 3, 1987 Dear Alice & Lou, Thank you so much for all your cards and well-wishes. They were certainly effective as I've graduated to a cane today. I've had no pain for 11 weeks -- practically since the operation! I'm already bored with therapy but am being a "good little patient." So you see, all is well. I hope you are both well also and, perhaps, I'll see you at the theater." We did see her at the theater -- onstage. She danced again, including on pointe, and I still get goose bumps thinking of her farewell performance on Nov. 26, 1989, when she danced Peter Martins's "Sophisticated Lady" and the last section of "Vienna Waltzes," before, as she later put it in her book, being "showered with white roses, over five thousand of them, tied in little bouquets with silver streamers."

Sorry about that -- I confused the 50th Anniversary season with the Balanchine Celebration. I didn't see the 50th anniversary curtain calls at all, to the best of my fast-fading recollection.

I got so excited and flustered at the 1993 curtain call Oberon talks about, not knowing where to look first, that I completely missed Suzanne Farrell even though subsequent photographs revealed her front and center. But if there indeed was an embrace by Peter Martins, I'm glad I didn't see that -- since a little over a month later he fired her from NYCB.

The Met might have more prestige, but the New York State Theater is a much better place to see ballet. For years I've dreamed of NYCB and ABT sharing it. But I've lost hope that it will ever happen. Peter Martins's idea is intriguing. As I understand it, he's talking about a modern dance company which would perform works of the masters of the genre -- "Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp and Paul Taylor, for example, along with that of others," according to the NY Times. This seems like a tall order. As a matter of fact, it seems impossible that one group of dancers could do justice to so many diverse styles. It would probably make more sense to invite the various companies -- Cunningham's, Graham's, Morris's, Tharp's, Taylor's and others to share the time among themselves. That would be truly exciting. In the meantime, the New York City Opera is still there and I just renewed my subscription for next season.

Too bad the prima alumna assoluta won't be there.

I don't have a ticket but I'll get one. Wouldn't want to miss Hugo's big night. Glad he's been named emeritus and not just let go after all these years.

BA member bobsey alerted me to the following quote from an advertising supplement in the April 18 New York Times Magazine. "Like Tanglewood in the Berskshires and Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, Saratoga fills its summer calendar with cultural events. On June 26 and 27, Saratoga's acclaimed Performing Arts Center will host its annual Jazz Festival, followed by Philadelphia Orchestra concerts in August." Apparently Chesbrough and SPAC had already consigned NYCB to oblivion.

"It was like watching a private relationship that maybe one shouldn't be witness to." -- Marga "It was like watching adultery played out onstage." -- Mel Johnson These two estimable posters are talking about George Balanchine dancing with Suzanne Farrell in Mr. B's "Don Quixote," on the latest thread devoted to that subject. But what if someone who'd wanted tickets to "Man of la Mancha," (which opened about the same time), had been talked into seeing the ballet instead? Having no knowledge of Balanchine's marital status or Farrell's place in his affections, would he have been embarrassed by the onstage adultery? Or would he just have been bored seeing an old coot dancing with a woman who was mostly the figment of his imagination? Perhaps this was a special case, but perhaps not. When you see Nilas Martins partnering Darci Kistler, do you think, "This guy is dancing with his stepmother! Isn't that incest?" And when you see Jenifer Ringer and James Fayette do you ooh and aah at the beautiful married couple and hope they'll always be happy as honeymooners? In other words, is it possible for ballet fans to suspend disbelief?

I think perhaps he did and was turned down. I saw the ballet too, a few times, although Balanchine did not dance with Farrell any of those times. His performances were never announced in advance. I loved the ballet, but many members of the audience did not and it underwent many changes from one season to the next, and even from one performance to the next. It makes me wonder what version Farrell will settle on. Whatever happens, I look forward to the Kennedy Center performances next year as the culmination of nearly 45 years of following Farrell. I posted at the same time as liebs.

Monday, May 10, 6-8 p.m. BALANCHINE'S WOMEN. This panel will consist of Merrill Ashley, Melissa Hayden, Allegra Kent, and Karin von Aroldingen. The moderator will be Jacques d'Amboise. Monday, May 17, 6-8 p.m. BALANCHINE'S MUSIC. The panelists will be Stravinsky associate and biographer Robert Craft, NYCB Music Director Andrea Quinn, and Solomon Volkov, author of Balanchine's Tchaikovsky. Richard Moredock will moderate. Both events will be at the New York State Theater and are free to NYCB Guild members and other donors. General admission is $5 at the door.

That's great news!

I don't know if the programming was meant as a tribute, charlieloki, but it brings to mind one of the distinguishing characteristics of NYCB -- the tremendous variety of its music. When Balanchine and Robbins were alive and working, attending NYCB was a musical as well as choreographic education for the audience. Both aspects have been more limited in recent years, but that's another, oft-told story.

The La Scala Ballet was part of the Lincoln Center Festival in 2001 and performed at the New York State Theater. The program I saw consisted of "Amarcord" and "Carmen." I love Fellini films and "Amarcord" is just about my favorite. One of the great things about Fellini was the music of Nino Rota, but the ballet music (played live) was from other sources. The choreography, by Luciano Annito, captured one aspect of the film -- the sinister one of fascism and militarism-- but none of the romance, sensuality, and nostalgia that permeates it. Roland Petit's "Carmen" was performed by Viviana Durante and Massimo Murru. They were unmemorable. Nevertheless, I was happy to see this company of good-looking, enthusiastic dancers.

10. Read the program and find out what you just saw. 9. Resume the conversation interrupted by the curtain going up. 8. Observe that "There's never a line for the men's room." 7. Drop names (first only): Misha, Paloma, Irina, Monique, Damian, Kyra... 6. Stay planted in your seat and trip anyone trying to get by. 5. Wave to Leigh Witchel. 4. Ask an usher what time the show will be over. 3. Use your cell phone to call everyone you know. 2. Forget to turn your cell phone back off. 1. Leave.

Steve Summers (Somers?) on WFAN calls them the Icelanders.

How about Mozartiana? That's got two great male roles.

It's very difficult to argue with your list, GeorgeB fan -- I think it's excellent. I might quibble with the order following Number One, but that's all it would be -- a quibble. I think some might have a problem with the inclusion of von Aroldingen, but I don't. Thanks for giving us something nice to think about. I hadn't seen Ari's post before the above. I wondered about Ashley, too.

In my case I am both dreading and looking forward to the new Eifman ballet at NYCB. I feel the same about the appearances there of the Georgian State Dance Company.

I don't know what year(s), but Peter Martins also danced Orpheus with Luders as Dark Angel and von Aroldingen as Eurydice. The ballet never looked better.

You're not the last one who loves Orpheus, but our number is dwindling. At one time the NYCB audience was endowed with a classical education and it knew what was going on in this ballet. Mr. Kirstein never wrote an explanatory program note, but I really think it is necessary for today's balletgoers, to understand the plot. The gist of it is simple enough -- Eurydice has died, Orpheus is inconsolable; the angel of death answers his prayers and escorts him to Hades; there he puts a golden mask on Orpheus which mustn't be removed until Eurydice is safely out of the underworld; Orpheus cannot resist Eurydice's entreaties, takes off the mask to look at her, and she is immediately whisked away from him. If the ballet ended there most people would get it. But who are those wild women who come on next and tear Orpheus limb from limb? And what is the meaning of the last scene with Apollo? Judging from its reaction in recent years, the audience is more mystified than uplifted. It's not just the audience -- I think NYCB doesn't fully appreciate Orpheus either. I still resent it that Orpheus's lyre designed by Noguchi was dropped a few years ago as the NYCB logo in favor of a generic lyre on top of an inverted pyramid. Sort of typifies what happened to the company.

I look forward to the return of Ivesiana, Varations pour une Porte et un Soupir, Scherzo a la Russse, and Union Jack. I love Davidsbundlertanze, but I'm not sure the present company can do it justice. The season includes two of Peter Martins's best works -- his first, Calcium Light Night, and Barber Violin Concerto. I look forward to them. And I also look forward, with morbid curiosity, to the new ballet in honor of Balanchine by Boris Eifman.

On another thread there was a link to a NY Post celebrity-sightings item which mentioned Shawn Stevens. It made me realize she's somebody else I miss. Such a sweet face, and no "pinhead" she. I'm editing to add that when she was with NYCB, there were three different ways to spell that first name, the others being Shaun (O'Brien) and Sean (Lavery). Did I miss anyone?

He'd faded from the NYCB scene in recent years, but at one time John Taras played an important part in the company's success. He recognized Suzanne Farrell's talent before Balanchine even noticed her. He choreographed one of the strangest ballets ever in the NYCB repertory -- Piege de Lumiere -- a drama featuring convicts and butterflies. I don't recall seeing Arthur Mitchell as The Young Convict, but I did see his successor in the part, Paul Mejia. It was one of Mejia's best roles. In the Tschaikovsky Festival of 1981 and for sometime thereafter, Taras's Souvenir de Florence was ubiquitous. I must have seen it half a dozen times in a matter of weeks. And when it was revived some years later, I realized just how much I'd missed it. I'll never forget the 1983 SAB Workshop, when Kirstein, Taras, Robbins, and Martins came before the curtain as Kirstein announced Balanchine's death: "Now he is with Mozart, Tschaikovsky, and Stravinsky." Like Kirstein and Robbins, John Taras is there now too.

Thanks, Manhattnik. I think Bruhn, Baryshnikov, and Schaufuss are all leading examples of "Alas, what might have been" at NYCB. As for Jorge Donn, I always think of him as Suzanne Farrell's third great partner -- the one between d'Amboise and Martins.