Jayne

Act II began in a Land of the Sweets set that didn’t vary much from the Ten-Arturian version at NYCB. I expected some fanciful Falconer magic in the Act II sets and they were….watercolor renditions of stacked cakes. Meh. I wondered why Falconer didn’t diverge further and offer something completely original? Fortunately Lesley Rausch arrived, now at the height of her considerable powers, as the Sugar Plum Fairy. Notes in the program summarized the original 1892 Russian reviews that the story didn’t give enough for the prima ballerina to do. I have to agree, because I wished for far more stage time for La Rausch. The audience (surprisingly) became very quiet during the angels glide-dancing section and remained so through the Hot Chocolate section featured Sarah Ricard Orza and Guillaume Basso (another excellent addition to PNB’s corps). The entire group wore exceptionally striking appliqué Seville-style costumes, but the steps they dance are not particularly memorable. Laura Tisserand gamely dancing Coffee while wearing a Persian-ish peacock accented turquoise costume. She was applauded, but the dance itself was seductive for 1954….and tame for 2015. Matthew Renko danced beautifully as Tea, and only pointed his fingers “in the Chinese manner” during the finale reprise. There was a *lot* of murmuring in the audience during both Tea sections. I heard the phrase “isn’t that kind of racist?” by several commenters behind me. Maybe Tea would look better if it was danced in Panda costumes or another China-associated animal. I think kids would like dancing pandas. J Ezra Thomson danced Candy Cane lead, on this night he struggled with the hoop, his jumps were low, and his footwork was blurred. I stopped watching him and focused on the children, who were excellent. This is really a brilliant little piece of dancing for children. Marizipan was led winningly by Amanda Clark, and while some seemed charmed by the doily costumes, from a distance some of the audience were heard to whisper “what are they wearing and why does Marzipan need a Shepherd?” As time goes on, perhaps this will become clearer to the audience. Perhaps a sample of the costume could be displayed in the lobby? Also I think an explanation of what Marzipan is would be in order. Seattle attracts families from all over the world, and not just Europe, and the treat is not familiar to many of them (or even many Americans of European descent). Why not serve Marzipan at the food kiosks? The younger children loved Mother Ginger, and while I thought the costumes for the polichinelles were completely inventive and adorable, the scene and dancing are sort of vapid. Then we had the Waltz of the Flowers which again made the corps look wonderful, although not quite as crisp as snowflakes. The peach / pink / butter yellow dresses are lovely, but not a patch on Karinska’s gorgeous tiered pink masterpieces. Dewdrop choreography is one of the best parts of Balanchine’s Nut and Sarah Pasch thoroughly charmed the audience with her rendition. Finally we had the beautiful PPD with Purple Sugar Plum Fairy Lesley Rausch and her Cavalier Batkhurel Bold. Mr Bold no longer has the ballon of the younger men, but he does frame his partner beautifully and lifts her as if she weighed no more than a champagne flute. They carried off the choreography with deft ease and the “slide” moment went without any hitch, to a great cheer and hooting of pleasure from the audience that expanded to wild full throated spasms of bravos to match a Seahawks touchdown at the finish. Ms Rausch really is fabulous as SP, and I am disappointed she wasn’t given opening night Premier. I enjoy Elizabeth Murphy very much and do not begrudge her promotion. But opening night belongs an Etoile. Let the arrows of criticism fly as they may, but IMHO Lesley Rausch is all that and a box of Godiva chocolates. After the usual finale “review” of dancers, the airborne sleigh lifted off with truly elegant flying reign deer who moved their legs elegantly (apparently with with coordinated wind-shield-wiper-motors). The audience cheered loudly, but only a few stood for the ovation.

I wrote this up a long time ago, but forgot to post it on BalletAlert. I apologize for the lack of brevity. Fans of Norman Maclean will sympathize: My review of the December 17 2015 7:30pm “The Nutcracker”, a.k.a. “The New England Nut”. The costumes are based on the Federalist art period of the early United States furniture and architecture, with the odd-ball twists added by Ian Falconer. If you have visited the spare, highly edited, two dimensional character of Federalist art in the Metropolitan Museum, you should get a general sense of the sets. Setting the story in a different part of the USA than the Pacific Northwest was a smart move to help transport us to a different time and place. I went with a large group of family and friends, coordinated by my mother and we sat in Row X in the Orchestra, with excellent views of the stage. So hopefully for PNB, that meant a considerable influx of cash in ticket sales. (January note – PNB was indeed successful, earning $1 million over their target. Huzzah for PNB!) The audience was full and enthusiastic – think figure skating event enthusiasm. There was considerable laughter at times, and cooing at other times. My mother loved it. My friends and cousins politely said they liked it. My sister said “it was ok”. Her boyfriend gamely smiled, after all he didn’t have to pay for the ticket. The animation scene was beautiful and I hope it stands the test of time. The mice details were a wonderful. I enjoyed seeing the artists portrayed on the wall silhouettes or busts on pedestals. Overall the scenery is all saturated color, but 90% simpler than the Sendak sets. The opening act of course is mostly acting, and Cecilia Illesiu (most recently a soloist at Carolina Ballet) was a strong actress as Mrs. Stahlbaum. The ladies’ faux hairpieces were extremely memorable. They wear awkward center crown “tufts” that are true to the time, but slightly more extreme to match the weird quality of Falconer’s designs. The Harlequin and Columbine were played by Margaret Mullin and Nicole Rizzitano, who were effective in the “doll” style. Dylan Wald played the Toy Soldier and he made a strong impression (he’s been given many chances this season and has delivered every time, definitely someone to watch!) In this version Herr Drosselmeier is on stage for a minimal amount of time. I did enjoy the red/white stripes motif that appears in Clara’s dress, continues in Her Drosselmeier’s cape lining and the seat cushions in the house. The real action begins when the mice arrive. Truly, they are the most delightful thing about this production. I wish the marketing had featured them instead of the Sugar Plum. In this version they are benign, bumbling comic relief, without an ounce of menace. The premier year marketing for the Falconer/Balanchine production has mostly been an image of Elizabeth Murphy in a dark purple Tutu, with a lavender background. It could have been an advert for the newly discovered “Amethyst” epilogue for Jewels. It just doesn’t scream Christmas – or even whisper christmas. But the mice sure do! They should be the new “icons” of the PNB Nut marketing campaign. Hopefully for 2016 something more "mouse-friendly" will be devised for marketing. The tree growth a surprisingly quiet scene, both in the tree growth itself (it seemed unmagnificent compared to the glorious music), the lighting and choice of movement along with the music. Contrary to Mr.B’s comment “The ballet is the tree”….well, not in the Falconer set. The walls and false ceiling have been withdrawn from the stage at this point, leaving a stark stage, which interfered with my suspension of disbelief. But then the mice battle started and we were cooking with gas. I really enjoyed how Jerome Robbins blocked the mice vs soldiers (and hare drummer). (Could we have Pulcinella in Seattle, pretty please?) There was significant audience laughter when the sentry shot the mouse in the bum, and more when the cannons fired cheese at the mice. Once the bed moved into the snow scene, we finally saw some significant choreography! I give full credit to Balanchine for choreographing beautiful steps for the corps, in a very small space, considering how much of the stage is crowded by snowy birch trees. The quiet moments of the music are choreographed with adagio arm movements, so we never hear the thump-thuump of 32 toe shoes banging against the floor, or even any squeaking on the fast turns. PNB’s corps looked precise. In fact most of my family/friends group enthused that this new version really shows off the corps. But maybe it’s the snow choreography that makes the corps look so good? PNB leased a “Winter Star” from Dale Chihuly, which is a glass confection chandelier in the sky of the set above the snowy birches. While it added a northwest touch, it didn’t overwhelm the effect of the corps, and hit all the right visual “notes”. Next post.... Act II

Post-Script: At the post-performance discussion, I realized that it is high time for PNB to do some pre-question education for the audiences. Some of the questions were really just rambling commentary. Some commentary stopping mid-sentence without any point being made. (Seriously! Mid-sentence!) Other times I had to wonder at the logic of the thought process of the audience members. Someone asked the dancers how preparing for this R&J is different than how the Royal Ballet prepared for the Macmillan R&J 55 years ago. How would the 25 year old PNB dancer know how Royal Ballet dancers prepared 55 years ago? Some questions were things that are easily googled on cell phones. Someone asked about the lighting technicalities (the dancers are not experts at lighting). Rambling comments and compliments belong in beautiful letters mailed to Peter Boal, so he can distribute them to his board and staff. Maybe PNB should switch to the Proust questionnaire format that Vanity Fair magazine uses on the final page of each magazine (that would be fantastic, actually).

On Saturday February 11 06, 2016 I saw the matinee of R&J with the following cast: Juliette: Leslie Rausch Romeo: Jerome Tisserand Mercutio: Ezra Thomson Friar Laurence: Miles Pertl (debut???) Tybalt: Seth Orza Lady Capulet: Kylee Kitchens (debut) The Nurse: Margaret Mullin Benvolio: Kyle Davis Paris: Joshua Grant Rosaline: Sarah Ricard Orza 2 Acolytes: Ryan Cardea & Matthew Renko (both debuts) I took a friend with me who normally prefers Shakespeare plays and the snarkier Broadway musicals (Book of Mormon, Matilda, etc). So how would she like this? She told me she really enjoyed Malliot’s version, altered Friar, odd suicide methods, and all. It was great to have a set of fresh eyes to have next to me, because this is my fourth Malliot R&J season and 7th or 8th time seeing the production. I felt like Forest Gump going to the White House….again. I comforted myself with Balanchine’s old quote: that even if you don’t like the dancing, close your eyes and enjoy the music. Well I liked the dancing, and Alistair Willis guest conducted and the Prokofiev washed over us like warm waves on a sandy beach. The blend of the horns was particularly beautiful. As Romeo, Jerome Tisserand danced with heart-catching purity, but this Romeo doesn’t really show much of the silly-caddish-boy–turned-ardent-lover personality. This was my first time seeing Leslie Rausch as Juliette. The youthful confusion of loyalties, obedience, and rebellion was well acted. I do think she lacks some of the ethereal hand movements that this role requires, but she was very good. As Friar Laurence, Miles Pertl had the height but not the emotional weight to pull off the character’s conflicts. I think I was spoiled to see Olivier Wevers own this role back in 2008 and no one else has really done it nearly as well. Kylie Kitchens acted well in her debut of Lady Capulet, but the essential grief scene when she sees Tybalt’s body wasn’t quite as powerful as it should be. She is a beautiful lyrical dancer, but lacks the strong panache that other PNB dancers bring to the role. She also had some hair issues in that scene (hair too slow to come out of the bun, and too obvious when she pulled on her pin). Some of the staging seems to have changed (in the post performance discussion, this was noted). The strangulation of Tybalt just looked like some fumbling in the back of the stage, rather than the slow, drawn out miserable, homicidal death that I remember from 2 years ago when Batkhurel Bold was Tybalt. That was a “good” death in the theatrical sense. You really believed he was being strangled and slowly giving up the fight as the oxygen depleted. Normally this is my favorite scene from the ballet because there is so much going on for the story, the dancing, and blocking. Kyle Davis Ezra Thompson played Mercutio like a stage animal, but lacked the Italian wicked charm. Caps off to Christian Poppe and Steven Loch as excellent Capulets in the corps. Margaret Mullin upheld the PNB “Nurse” standard of wonderful acting, dancing and comedy. It’s a great role and PNB dancers really put their hearts into it. My friend noted this was her favorite character of the ballet. Regarding the faux death / follow up death scene: I’ve never liked Malliot’s choices. Juliette’s drugging isn’t clear at all to the audience. Romeo impaling himself on the onstage bed/wedge looks silly. So does Juliette’s self-strangulation. I don’t suspend disbelief as an audience member. They should just use knives and a potion, and better miming from the Friar to explain what the potion does. All that said, I’m glad I saw the performances, heard the wonderful orchestra, and witnessed the debuts of secondary characters. The audience was rapt throughout, barely applauding until the very end and then about half of the audience stood for the ovation. What was most interesting was how young some of the audience members were – and yet the performance held their full attention. I’m happy PNB will acquire another Malliot work (Cendrillon) and relieved that R&J will probably take a rest for a while. No more trips for Jayne Gump to the PNB House for a while.

Bravo for a Robbins tribute! Would love to see PNB revive The Cage and NY Export: Opus Jazz (one of my favorites) and Opus 19 / The Dreamer. I'd love to see PNB add some new Robbins as well. An Evening of Waltzes, please?

gosh 11 Swan Lakes! I feel like I should send some advance ice buckets to the dancers for soaking. They will need them! But the mixed program looks like fun too.

In the R&J program for the February Rep, Peter Boal announced in his Director's comments that PNB will acquire the rights to the Jean-Christophe Malliot version of "Cendrillon" for the following season (Cinderella). I think this is a good move, because the Stowell version never received good reviews for the choreography. I will miss the gorgeous costumes, though! I have seen an excerpt from the Malliot Cendrillon on the Cable Arts channel. Maybe it's on youtube? It looks intriguing. And at least one dancer (Ms. Panastico) will already know the steps. Also, I look forward to something new (and to put R&J on the back burner for a few years. Sometimes it's good to miss something and welcome it back down the road - maybe in 5 years). Also, I saw in one of the articles on the POB resignation for Millipied, that he is scheduled to program a work for PNB. I am hoping for his Daphneus et Chloe made for POB that received excellent reviews. Tomorrow I will try to find the link to the original article.

In comparison, the top level of McCaw Hall in Seattle sells for $28-35 depending on the rep (mixed or story). But NYC is more expensive than Seattle (although the influx of investment money from China is making Seattle Real Estate jump closer to NYC!)

oops, sorry I meant Foster, not Butler. What was I thinking/ typing? I will edit.

how much are prices for 3rd and 4th ring seats?

I suspect both. I hope Madame DuPont can learn lessons from his successes and failures and move the company forward in a more peaceful fashion. Honestly, I suspect part of this is Monseur Millipied's own personality. If was to run NYCB as Martin's successor, I think he would also ruffle feathers and inject new choreography at a faster pace than Martins. The company dancers would probably complain that not enough Balanchine works are being preserved. Milliepied might have done better to take on a smaller project within POB - perhaps break off with 35 dancers to create/ commission all new works (sort of like what Urin has offered to Filin) and let the remaining 120 dancers do all the classics that they and the public adore. Certainly with 154 dancers, the company can afford to do both classical and contemporary at the highest level?

Jeffrey Cirio's hiring from Boston Ballet surely is meant to fill in for the time when the late 30's generation chooses to retire?

I'm very surprised at the casting. I thought Rachel Butler Foster would get a shot at Juliette. She understudied the role back when the ballet premiered. She isn't one of my favorites, but she has gotten other opportunities, and I did like her Giselle. I figured soloist Leta Biasucci would get a shot as she is a wonderful dance-actress. Or even corps member Angelica Generosa. And no Seth Orza as Romeo? No new Romeos? I figured Ben Griffiths might get a shot. Or Matthew Renko or Ryan Cardea. I have lovely memories of Ms. Pantastico, but this is completely overboard casting and does no favors for PNB's long term development of future Juliettes & Romeos. How much of this casting is controlled by Peter Boal instead of the stagers from Monte Carlo?

Wow, 4 diffferent Welch story ballets. I hope Houston really loves his choreo. Now if this was RB performing four Ashton story reps, or MCB performing four Balanchine story reps, it would be jumpy claps all around

Well I hope Ms Morgan auditions for PNB and gets snapped up! The company just lost the gorgeous (and still growing in artistry) Principal Maria Chapman, and just promoted a Soloist, Elizabeth Murphy, to Principal. So there is a spot in the budget to hire in a soloist (or just labeling someone "guest" for a season). But perhaps, given the medical history, Kathryn Morgan would be better served in a less demanding rep, or a smaller company, in a smaller city? Or maybe she should accept her weight at the current level, and try out for the Mark Morris company? He doesn't hire spaghetti-skinny dancers. His dancers are medium sized (which she is in the video embedded in the thread, not really obese or anything).

I am following the news in Cuba with great interest, because things may go very well, may go the same as they currently exist, or may go very badly. What will happen with the soon-to-be Carlos Acosta Ballet company? Will he choreograph everything? Will Cuba allow dancers to guest star with western companies and keep their own pay? Or will the only change to Cuba be the invasion of millions of American college students seeking a cheap spring break? (God forbid!)

Oh! That was so much fun!!!

Bad Santa.

Confirmed, attended the same Q&A. But never fear, there are several other CPYB graduates with PNB!

Wow, what a great show! If only I didn't live 3000 miles from Saratoga....I would take you up on the offer!!!

If Stella Abrera gets promoted, will she be the first Phillipina-American to reach principal at ABT? Can anyone confirm?

I nominate this comment for the B.A. year-end commentary awards.

Normally we don't delve into politics at B.A. But this is more about a Judicial decision than about politicians. I thought I would start a thread to document the Social Media response to the legalization of gay marriage today. So here are a few things I found on Facebook today (shout out to the FB page Odette's Ordeal): Pacific Northwest Ballet Cincinnati Ballet Joffrey Ballet Boston Ballet San Francisco Ballet

regarding the "ballet competitions" changing the artform. While I do think that change is alarming, Misty Copeland wasn't known for participating in competitions. She is already 32 years of age and this year has debuted SL in Australia with ABT, DC with Washington Ballet, and NYC-Met with ABT (along with R&J). I think maybe we should take a big step backwards and evaluate her as a soloist getting some great opportunities, just like Sarah Lane (Ratmansky's SB) and Stella Abrera (Giselle). Like it or not, Stars with a paying fanbase are ABT's money maker. I think Ms Copeland saw the pattern and decided to develop her own fan base, while receiving extra coaching in Australia and DC that she wasn't getting at ABT. I don't resent her for it. Entrepreneurship is a very American thing to do, and she works in the Entertainment business. If she gets actual busloads of people to come up from DC to see her and the critical reviews are complimentary, why not promote her? She will expand the audience, expand the budgets, and over time, develop her artistry (just like every other soloist who gets promoted).

I found the Teatro Muncipal staff to be very helpful, even considering my low ability in Spanish (after just 8 weeks of lessons). The building was midway through a renovation, but it should be finished by now. The interior is very beautiful and I thought the orchestra sounded strong (it was Verdi, really, you can't go wrong with Verdi even if you have an obstructed view). It's popular in Chile to deride the government, but honestly I saw a lot of public money being put to good use - modern high ways, bus systems, subways, etc. One "only in Chile" detail: People line up single file for the buses! Everywhere else is the bus entry is a giant mob cluster. I didn't get it, but I found it so polite, organized, and boarding was so efficient. Food wise - Chilean traditional food is hearty, but I found myself missing spices very, very much (I'm spoiled living on the American west coast with lots of immigrant varieties in spicy food). Argentina may have crumbling architecture, but thankfully they have Italian heritage and make wonderful dishes with some spice!