cobweb

What a lovely performance of the Four Temperaments-Liebeslieder Walzer program. As with last night, this week's casts make a whole different impression from last week's casting of the same program. Last night Jules Mabie captivated me as Melancholic, and I was wishing to see him again. As soon as Anthony Huxley walked onto the stage, that feeling vanished. Instead I had the experience I've often had -- while I might love someone in a role, when I see Huxley do the same role it's as if the scales fell from my eyes, or some objet d'art was dusted and is now sparkling -- when Huxley dances it is so clear and pristine that everyone else looks dull and smudged. Alston Macgill again danced with ferocity and gusto, you go girl!! Davide Riccardo gave an even more riveting Phlegmatic than he did last night. He was going full force, hitting everything with authority and clarity. As he's made his way into bigger roles I've sometimes found him lacking in confidence or impact, but not so here. Great to see. Mira Nadon's Choleric again like a bolt of lightning. Overall a thrilling Four Temperaments. Liebeslieder Walzer. I hope they bring this back soon (in the fall would be great!), but next time better singers please. To go through the cast of women: best prepared, most thought-through and richly detailed performance: Indiana Woodward. She is a gem. She does have a significant height differential with Preston Chamblee, but despite that it totally worked for me, I found them wonderful together. Most naturally suited to this ballet: Ashley Laracey. The tilt of her chin, flutter of her eyelashes, and flick of her wrist radiate throughout the theater. She and Andrew Veyette have no doubt known each other since they were teenagers, and they give a sense of old colleagues and veterans dancing roles that show each at their very very best: she in poetry and delicacy, he in protective partnering. Most dynamic and dramatic presence: Sara Mearns, no doubt!! I've already commented on the handsomeness that she and Chun Wai Chan have together, all I can say is tonight was another transporting experience, with Sara's soaring arabesque and piques like a hurricane blowing through the theater. Finally we come to Isabella LaFreniere. With her innate grandeur, incredible smile and physique, and touching vulnerability, my heart is always touched by her. Despite some very dubious performances (as mentioned by @meunier fanearlier today), I just love her. I have many criticisms, but I won't even go into that right now. All I can say is I'm a fan, waiting for her to pull it totally together. Tyler Angle -- I'm getting used to the bald head, and very glad to see his protective guidance with Isabella. To conclude: this was a great program of Balanchine at his very, very, very best!!

I very much enjoyed last night's performance of the Four Temperaments-Liebeslieder Walzer program, finding both casts a big improvement over last week's performances of this program. In 4T's, both Jules Mabie as Melancholic, and Davide Riccardo as Phlegmatic, made fabulous debuts. As someone said up-thread about Ava Sautter (was it you, @deanofdance?), I knew Mabie was looking good, but I didn't know he was THAT ready. He was just beautiful, fully inhabiting the role with clear shapes, elegance, authority, and a yearning emotional warmth. It is wonderful to see a young person grow up enough to get a big chance and to deliver something beautiful. Of all the night's performances, this is the one that most lingered in my mind! Davide Riccardo is someone who's gotten a lot more attention, so it wasn't a surprise to see him attack Phlegmatic with clarity and purpose. Mira Nadon was a captivating, thrilling Choleric. Alston Macgill was one of Melancholic's two sidekicks and it was great to see her back in action and looking sharp and fierce. Olivia Bell led the four buzzing ladies of Sanguinic, and she really stands out. She somehow seems to have the movement more in her body in a way that's different from the other three, it seems more organic to her. She also seems mature beyond her years. Overall, a very exciting Four Temperaments. Liebeslieder cast a far better poetic spell than it did last week. Overall a far more engaging cast, with an inner rapport that also radiated out and included the audience. Sara Mearns and Chun Wai Chan are beautiful together, so handsome to look at that it almost hurts the eyes, and they make poetry together. Hard to describe how beautiful they were in that final section where he carries her backwards across the stage, she turns and does an arabesque penchee, then back bend, and he reaches under for her hand. Her piques around the stage have a soaring quality like the wind. Indiana Woodward and Preston Chamblee also were wonderful together, Woodward with so much imagination and care to detail, and Chamblee looking extremely appealing. Ashley Laracey and Andrew Veyette brought far more depth than Fairchild and Danchig-Waring did last week. As usual I have mixed feelings about Isabella LaFreniere, and I'm struggling to understand and articulate it, but I liked her here more than I thought i would.

Also, what about KJ Takahashi? I would think he and Von Enck would be a good fit height-wise.

Great video snippets. Ava Sautter looks bold, confident, and ready for bigger things, while Von Enck's sparkling personality and dancing really radiate out of the screen.

Week 6 casting is up. Emma Emma Emma... Ballo della Regina!

Agree, nysusan! I first noticed Sautter as one of the Tall Ladies of Phlegmatic, back when she was an apprentice. Striking physique, really bringing out the accents of the music, and compelling stage presence. It's great to see her getting bigger opportunities. Same for Asanesenkov, also doing this same role. I'm not sure I'm going to get to see Sautter in this piece, so I appreciate the report!

I too cannot imagine that Unity Phelan is a big ticket seller. I guess we'd have to define what we mean by "big ticket seller," but agree that Tiler Peck seems the most likely candidate. Sara Mearns is surely known within the ballet world as someone who is a must-see, and maybe Taylor Stanley also has a fan base? Other than that, not sure I see anyone who would be a huge draw, especially outside the world of ballet. Obviously management likes Unity and now that she has debuted so so many of the major roles they are probably committed to her working on these for years. Hope we see progress. Definitely agree with @matilda that the problem could be she was given too much to absorb at once.

I greatly admire your systematic approach, Kathleen!!

This awful trend of random speeches needs to be stamped out now. Thanks for this report, vipa! I hope to get to see Tiler's piece soon. Agree about Daniel Ulbricht, he is having a great season. And also agree about Unity Phelan. I wonder what has happened with her. I also remember thinking she was a special dancer when she was on the way up. Now she regularly seems flat and bland. I don't know if she's lost some sparkle that she used to have, and if so why? Or, was she always flat but that was less evident when she was younger, and we're expecting more from her now that she's covering major roles? I am baffled about how to think about this.

... continuing on from the above, I also enjoyed Liebeslider Walzer more last night versus Tuesday. This is such a beautiful piece, so full of invention and variations on the waltz. I'm hoping the fact that they are fielding two casts, including lots of debuts, means they will bring it back soon (maybe even next year!). I didn't find the Phelan-Mejia pairing quite as jarring on the second night. It's good to see him in a non-bravura role, and work on developing his artistry. Nadon is an incredible talent.

I too found Four Temperaments considerably improved last night. Both Sebastian Villarini-Velez and Isabella LaFreniere managed far better than the first night. No doubt both have a lot of room for improvement. Also Preston Chamblee looked wonderful. It seems like he's been out for long stretches at a time, but here he looked ready for more. Adrian Danchig-Waring beautifully and confidently articulated Phlegmatic, and Emily Kikta was a blazing, towering Choleric. I look forward to seeing Davide Riccardo and Jules Mabie debut Phlegmatic and Melancholic next week.

Agree about the curtain during the changeover. In the recent podcast with Calegari and Cook, they mentioned that sometimes the curtain is left up, and I wish that was done here. Having the curtain come down, the house lights go up, the buzz of chatter, cellphone lights, and people getting up thinking it‘s intermission, really kills the mood.

Rethinking the 3rd theme, Riccardo was sharp and Adams was bland. Liebeslieder did not cast the spell I hope for. First, the music and singing were fine, but I’ve been spoiled by the Vienna Staatsoper 2022 performance. The Viennese know their music! … and no doubt have ready access to the finest singers, and more resources for rehearsal, than does NYCB. Not surprisingly, Nadon and Walker, and Tiler and Tyler, were the most poetic. Fairchild and Danchig-Waring were very polished but not magical, and Phelan and Mejia were a bizarre, what-were-they-thinking mismatch. He does look very dashing in evening wear though.

4Ts. I found the three themes lacking. Boisson has done this before and looked very polished but here she and Melnikov were bland. Olivia MacKinnon and Kennard Henson came out for the second theme in a refreshing blaze of energy but then seemed to struggle to keep up with the music. Davide Riccardo and Sara Adams were bland. In Phlegmatic Sebastian Villarini Velez was a step up in energy and commitment but lacks clarity in his steps. For his two sidekicks, I like India Bradley’s flexibility in other roles but here it made her seem flimsy and insubstantial, whereas Mary Thomas MacKinnon’s solidity and attention to form made her much more forceful and formidable. In Sanguinic, Preston Chamblee’s first entrance had surprising sharpness and attack, but he faded after that. LaFreniere was indeed frustrating, in her difficulty in marshaling her considerable talents. When Danchig-Waring came on, I thought: here’s a pro, he will get the job done! Same with Kikta.

I wish I felt as confident about this as you do, abatt. I look at the rosters right now and have some doubt about recent decisions. But it is good to see Maxwell getting big opportunities. I’m just in from to tonight’s show. Briefly, 4T’s looked kind of ragged until Adrian Danchig-Waring walked on. Boy was I glad to see him! Emily Kikta also blazed. She is a great, committed performer. Will try to add some more thoughts tomorrow.

Thanks for mentioning this, Peg. I'm not a big podcast person, but I enjoyed this. Farley is a terrific interviewer and host. I just wished they could have illustrated their comments with video snippets!

A few comments on today's The Four Seasons. Ashley Hod in Winter was replaced by Erica Pereira, hope all is okay there. The Winter section is too cutesy for me, but I enjoyed Andres Zuniga's bright energy as one of the soloists. For Spring, I love Sara Mearns in this role, but like @deanofdance's experience seeing Sara last night, she seemed more subdued than usual, like she was phoning it in. Still enjoyable to see, though, and she looks remarkably beautiful in that hair and makeup. Chun Wai Chan looked wonderful. The four soloist men were Davide Riccardo, Christopher Grant, Alec Knight, and Spartak Hoxha. Riccardo stood out, being the only one of the four to keep a good line in the tour jetes, or get his legs anywhere close to 180. For Summer, I just soaked in the sight of Ashley Laracey, and particularly the delicacy of her entire upper body. In Fall, I was paying particular attention to the faun/satyr/whatever figure, having been blown away by Cainan Weber's performances. I have to say that Weber etched the shapes somewhat more clearly than Ulbricht, but Ulbricht has way more stage presence. Both Andrew Veyette and Unity Phelan ran into some technical difficulties. I don't think this is a great role for her, and Veyette may be tired from having done this role several times over the past week. (Since he subbed for Mejia a couple of times, but Mejia is evidently fine since he was able to dance on Thursday night, I was hoping that he might show up and give Veyette a night off!) Commenting on the giant-sized very-slow-motion videos of the dancers on the mezzanine, Miriam Miller looks absolutely stunning in the Slaughter on 10th Ave costume. Surely those are the finest legs in the company, if not the world!! When she goes for that huge kick, and the video being so so giant, it is kind of mesmerizing. And can anyone tell me who is the Sleepwalker in the Sonnambula video? Hard to tell -- is it Alexa Maxwell?

Report from today's matinee. First off, I skipped Fancy Free. I have a lot of respect and affection for Fancy Free, absolutely nothing against it, but I've seen it more than enough times for now. On the other hand, I had not seen In the Night before this season (or if I did, I've forgotten it). I'm enjoying it and hope they keep it in rotation for awhile. But, I wonder if they have thought about re-costuming this piece. The only outfits that I like are for the first couple (he's in a cream-colored jacket and she wears a lilac gown). The second couple is saddled with a very unappealing shade of rust orange, and I find that the woman's costume in the third pdd, very black with a hot-pink underlay, kind of makes the woman hard to see. Also I don't get what period these costumes are supposed to be, or why they have to be period costumes at all. I think something simpler and elegant, retaining long dresses for the ladies for sure, would make this piece more appealing and more accessible as pure dance. I enjoy Robbins' penchant for heart-stopping lifts. The way the women are carried off in sudden, beautiful lifts reminds me of Dances at a Gathering. For today's performance, Indiana Woodward and Joseph Gordon were absolutely spellbinding, dancing this piece like it was made for them. Emilie Gerrity and Tyler Angle danced with a comfortable familiarity, and I particularly noticed the beauty of Gerrity's port de bras. In the third couple, Tiler Peck and Gilbert Bolden make a dynamite team. Very dramatic and compelling. In the group section, with great partnering and the long dresses billowing out, the women seemed to literally be sailing around the stage. Overall a lovely performance. More on The Four Seasons later.

Thanks for the report, Pepino23! I too hope for more "ballet-ey" works, and I'm glad Tiler's taking up that mantle.

Agree with this, but also Peter Martins should have made her principal at the same time Lovette was promoted -- or even instead of Lovette. That was in 2015.

Going back to abatt's comment from a week or so ago, I have to agree. Take Ballo della Regina. Fairchild is a great dancer, but I'm not sure she's adding anything new at this point. I would rather see fresh faces, such as, in this role, Emma Von Enck or Alexa Maxwell. I wonder, back in the day, what would Martins (or any AD hoping to develop exciting young talent) do in this situation? Fairchild is dancing at the top of her game and delivers sparkling performances, but (at least some of) the audience are eager to see newer faces take on some roles. If, say, Maxwell or Von Enck were cast, that's fewer performances for Fairchild. Or are senior dancers, even when still dancing well, asked to relinquish some roles altogether? I'm not sure what the right, or best, answer is. Looking at the women's principal and soloist roster, I can't help but think that the development of talent is not going as well as it should. For principals, the only ones I find consistently exciting are Tiler Peck, Sara Mearns, Mira Nadon, and Indiana Woodward. For the rest: Bouder is not dancing and seems unlikely to return. I feel I've seen Fairchild in the same roles for long enough. Unity is a mixed bag, but doesn't seem as exciting as she once did. LaFreniere has had some great performances and great potential, and some botched and inhibited performances as well. Emilie Gerrity is an excellent, consistent dancer but doesn't take it to the next level IMHO. There are three soloists -- Von Enck, Maxwell, and Kikta -- who are more dynamic and exciting than several of the principals. And Ashley Laracey has a far richer artistic maturity than most of the principals. I accept that Laracey's career isn't going to go any further, and that's okay -- she has more than delivered on the assignments she's been given. But Von Enck, Maxwell, and Kikta should be dancing principal roles now. I am confident that Von Enck will get there, but when? She's ready now. And I believe both Maxwell and Kikta could hold their own as principals as well, I'm just not sure they will ever get there.

I await reports on Tiler’s new piece!

Agree with this. He has so so much to offer, and we don't get to see enough of him.

I hope I'm getting these roles right and not just confusing things. As far as I can tell, for the 2nd cast of Liebeslieder Walzer, we have: Diana Adams -- Mearns Bill Carter -- Chan Melissa Hayden -- Woodward Jonathan Watts - Chamblee Jillana -- Laracey Conrad Ludlow -- Sanz Violette Verdy -- LaFreniere Nicholas Magallanes - Veyette

… and casting for this week is updated. Mejia is out of all of his assignments, except for Tiler’s new piece.