Mel Johnson

Yes, Estelle, the King in the original Petersburg version was Florimund XIV, and the "fourteenth" is there for a very good reason, as the whole ballet has the rightness of absolutism as a major theme. After all, that theme that many people think is a Russian melody in the apotheosis is actually "Vive Henri IV", the leading exponent of divine-right absolute monarchy in his day!

Well, there's always the Mafia. And company discipline would become no problem at all!

It most certainly is, glebb, as to Marie Rambert at the mighty Victrola, and gives us a little picture of what life at Ballet Rambert was like, especially in the early days. There is a moment when her eyes light up that could not possibly have been achieved simply by changing lighting. We've both seen it, and in the same places, so we know what that look is all about!

Although, with the relative newness of ballet competitions, I'd have to say that a well-oiled and disciplined machine of corruption such as I believe has institutionalized itself in sporting events hasn't had a chance to set in. Transparency and posting, oh, yes, and accountability outside of the theater.

Overacting? At the Met? Ye Gods!

Kwan was outstanding in her short program. Her initial triple/double combination was smooth as silk, and the triple flip where she slipped off her toe on takeoff, and still landed the thing - I didn't think that could be done! There is nothing like her final spirals. I'm not really a partisan, here, but I seldom see things that impress me as much as she did with this short program.

A lot of how Serenade is pronounced has to do with the publisher of the score marks the score. I believe that most American editions of Serenade in C for Strings were printed in France, with French markings for tempo, and so forth. Ergo, Se-re-NOD. Now, as to say, Vaughan Williams' "Serenade to Music", published by Boosey & Hawkes, Seh-reh-NADE (long A) would be the preferred pronunciation. And Rodeo is a nice conundrum. If you are in Texas, it's pronounced one way, in Wyoming, another way, and in California, definitely Ro-DAY-oh. Maybe Agnes had been talking the idea over with uncle Cecil. [ February 19, 2002: Message edited by: Mel Johnson ]

I've got it! A remake of "Les Patineurs" as reinvisioned by Kenneth MacMillan!!!

I believe that Mr. Hamilton's thoughts on an independent adjudication panel has quite a bit of merit to it, and should be investigated for practicality. I still would like to see the whole present judging system methodically pored over and its "group dynamic" opened up. There are conflicting reports of who said what to whom and when, and that the pressure on Mme. Le Gougne came from inside the French delegation alone. There has to be a sociogrammetric diagram of interactions of the French judging delegation with other national delegations, so a broad investigation is not only warranted, but clearly necessary.

Aw, darn, and I wasn't there for that one! Even when Dolin was staging his version campy, he'd sometimes cut back, and go, "No, no, we're over the line here. It's too hammy." Problem is, he's gone, and the succeeding generations don't know how and where to cut back when it gets "too hammy".

Hardly anybody writes Grand Opera any more. By the same token, hardly anybody does Grand Ballets today. Let me explain a little bit about the terminology "Grand". It doesn't mean "grand style" or "grand scale", but instead means "nationalistically themed"! During the 19th century, there were many Grand-themed arts in opera (William Tell comes to mind), ballet (Marco Spada), or plays (L'Aiglon). The thrust now is not toward the "Great Men" school of historicity, but rather the more revealing examination of the characters and lives of the less-extraordinary people engaged in any given time, when a story is used at all. Perhaps the last gasp of the "Grand Ballet" is the Chinese nationalist spectaculars like The East is Red or The White-Haired Girl and such like. [ February 15, 2002: Message edited by: Mel Johnson ]

I have nothing against any of the skaters who won, but what I have is a horror of the ethical, moral, and legal (both civil and criminal) aspects of a judge for engaging in unfair practices to affect his or her decisions. The skaters are immaterial and irrelevant from this point of view.

We get the recollections of the rivalry from Benjamin Lumley's memoirs of his life as the producer of Her Majesty's Theatre, which was sort of a genteel Victorian "tell-all" about Life Upon the Wicked Stage. From the contemporary reviews, most particularly in the Illustrated London News that there was no display of rivalry onstage. Keith Wilbur kept it pretty straight, but the Dolin stagings sometimes were pretty campy, especially during the 1960s, when that sort of humor was fashionable.

Mary Skeaping did a "historically restored" version of Giselle some years ago. Some parts were successful, other parts less so. The pas de deux and variations work was much admired, the corps work, especially a fugue for the Wilis, was not much liked.

Andrei, in that "other" company, didn't Shamil Yagudin create the role of Shurale for their production? It would be hard to imagine anybody backstage being afraid of him! I remember him as a pretty humorous fellow.

The few exceptions the the SAB-only rule seem to break when you received early training from your mother (or father). That they would mention, just to keep the peace, especially if mom or dad is still alive!

Estelle, "hoedown" is an American term for a group dance in American Square Dancing that gradually grows in intensity and complexity as it progresses. The original hoedowns were circle dances in rondo form, influenced by the cotillion of 18th-century social dance.

And let's not leave out Nicklaus, in Tales of Hoffman. After all, Hoffman gave us so many ballet plots, one way or another.

That's good news about the Winter - the the US, a mint-condition first edition, and that's the only edition there was, if I recall correctly, goes for $3,000 to $5,000 on the rare book market. An actually useful copy must go for considerably less!

WOW! What great find! Now all we have to do is get you a copy of The Pre-Romantic Ballet and you'll really be in business. I think that one only was printed in one edition of about 300 copies and a great number of them were spoiled in a flood at the printer's.

You guys missed "Opus 34" which I saw as a little feller! I only recently overcame my residual fear of surgery from the Operating Room scene and when they turned the lights onto the audience, it was really horrifying. Combined with the atonal music, it was truly scary! I think Balanchine may have been playing with the 50s fascination with horror movies as a driving motive.

Delia was a hoot, but she didn't photograph particularly well. I was surprised when I first met her, at her youth. She was always good in a funny part, like the dancer who walks around a tableau in "Donizetti Variations" as if to say, "Now, what was all that rushing about? For this?" And while we're remember remarkable corps members of NYCB, let's not forget Rosemary Dunleavy, and Shaun O'Brien, who for years was carried as "corps"! [ February 01, 2002: Message edited by: Mel Johnson ]

There's also a union constraint on use of names. If, for example, there already is a, say, "Mel Johnson" in AGMA or Actor's Equity, then the performer has to take a variant or change it entirely, even if it's his own name. A recent example was Emma Watson, of Hermione Granger fame. Film historians were astonished to find that she had acted in films as early as 1914, and in 2001 had acted the part of a twelve-year-old in Harry Potter. The first Ms. Watson, however, had, by then, passed on to the great casting call in the sky, and the name wasn't "taken" anymore! An interesting possibility would be for the young performer to take the stage name "Abishag Hooplenoodle" and then announce they had changed it TO Abishag Hooplenoodle, and have the curiosity drive ticket sales. Of course that didn't work for Klinton Spilsbury, but....

Somebody ought to write an article for Esquire on "Ten Slick, Hip, Modern Ways to Meet Women": 1) Go to the ballet....

Actually, Leigh, in New York State, phone customers can avail themselves of the NYS Attorney General's "do-not-call" list. This is a service of state government that will inform all telemarketers that you do not wish to be contacted by telephone and, with only a few exceptions, a violation of the list will result in a $1000 fine PER CALL on the telemarketer. Just get their name and address.