Helene

University of Washington basketball forward Quincy Pondexter performed in "The Nutcracker", and there's a short video of his experience in The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/husk...syndication=rss

This is a great book!

The Herbfarm Cookbook. Gastroporn at its finest.

I watched the same broadcast. This morning the Paris Opera Ballet's performance of Nureyev's production aired for the third time, and in comparison Tomasson's waltz and pas de deux positively gush and flow. Oh, dear!

And Happy Boxing Day!

The SFB Nutcracker was broadcast on PBS in Seattle tonight. One second viewing, for me the waltz of the flowers and the grand pas de deux really dragged, although Karapetyan and Kochetkova danced beautifully. The only part I remember from the Christensen version that I saw during the Nutcracker run from just before War Memorial was closed for seismic refitting was the Waltz of the Flowers and how the costumes were different colors and the choreography grouped the colors so beautifully. In my memory that section was much more live and vivid than in the new version. The friend who watched it with me told me he's going to try to go to San Francisco to see it live. He was as taken with the opening as scenes as I was.

Amalric was wonderful in "A Christmas Tale". It was strange, though, to see it very soon after "My Favorite Season", with Deneuve's daughter, Chiara Mastraoianni, playing her daughter-in-law instead of her daughter 15 years later, in a different, equally complicated relationship with Deneuve's character. Anne Consigny gave a great portrayal of Deneuve's onscreen daughter, Elizabeth, a mess attempting to be a control freak, thrown by the fact that people's affection is not a matter of justice or fairness. Despite the wonderful scenes where Deneuve tells her son (Amalric's character, Henri) and Henri's girlfriend that she doesn't like Henri, never has, the movie had a bit of "The Big Chill" optimism. Henri, conceived as a marrow donor for an older brother -- he didn't match -- is a trainnwreck, but much less of one than Daniel Auteuil's Antoine in the earlier move, which gives "A Christmas Tale" a more Hollywood indie feel. Emmanuelle Devos brought the quirkiness of the ghosts in "Truly, Madly, Deeply" to her nonplussed-proof performance as Henri's girlfriend, Faunia, which underlay her characterization in the 2007 "Two Lives...Plus One".

Rest in peace, Mr. Lorenzo.

I've seen the movie at the Vancouver Film Festival: it's about one boy, Irlan Silva (ABT II), and one girl, Isabella Coraci, who are from the favelas of Rio de Janiero, and who study at Mariza Estrella's Centro de Danza Rio. http://www.tribecafilm.com/filmguide/Only_When_I_Dance.html If you can, don't miss this viewing.

Thank you for posting, JMcN. That is a very sweet video.

I saw last night's performance. For Act I, I thought I was watching a film at Film Forum: if mirrors had been put under our noses, I'm not sure there would be fog on them. The dancers tried, but, for the most part, there wasn't much energy. That changed for Act II. Alastair Willis, who is familiar to Seattle audiences from his stint as Associate Conductor of Seattle Symphony, conducted an unusual performance, with emphasis on woodwinds, horns, and lower strings, which emphasized the ominous elements of the staging. In Act I after the overture, the first time the high violins were prominent was during the transformation scene, which made quite a dramatic statement. For much of Act II, Willis and the orchestra were on Usain Bolt time, and kudos especially to the kids in Toy Theatre and the beginning of the coda for keeping up. Seth Orza performed Drosselmeier. It is a wonderful role for him. He found many unique touches and phrasing in the mime, and he avoided any tendency to over-act. James Moore's characterization and mime as the Warrior Mouse was beautifully realized, a larger version of Fritz, who was portrayed by the striking Theo DePina. Lucien Postlewaite was a prince of a Prince, partnering with such style and grace. In the Act II mime, many a Prince has directed it vaguely toward the audience of servant children, but his mime was most specifically directed to them, and he made us watch him tell the story to them. Moore in the Act II Commedia had great energy and charm. The night, though, belonged to three long-legged women: Sarah Ricard Orza danced Clara, and her approach to both Pas de Deux was daring, with great energy through her clearly articulated legs. Laura Gilbreath was a superb Peacock, and she portrayed a trapped bird on display not through birdlike gesture, but by punctuating her phrasing with an almost staccato-like sense. Finally, Lindsi Dec was all big, creamy movement as Flora. I know she was just promoted to Soloist, but she's been dancing this season like she belongs front and center.

Congratulations to Ms. Chung , a Vancouver girl who was trained at Goh Academy.

And then there's Weenies. Now there's a technical term.

I love Amalric!

I ordered it last night from amazon.com. I'm glad you recommended it!

Since it's the holiday season, I nominate Techine's family drama "Ma saison preferee" with the amazing Marthe Villalonga. Oh, and Catherine Deneuve and Daniel Auteuil are also in it.

Snuff would be preferable to Love Actually. But it has Alan Rickman in it. Surely there's something worse than Love Actually...

Gelb has been casting as if all were going to be broadcast on film vs. real life at the Met, which is one of the constant complaints about his direction. One thing that I've heard over and over is how the Met acoustics are so great that small voices are just fine there. (The true test would have been how Bjoerling sounded at the new Met, but he died six years before it opened.) Lindsey, for whatever reason, made me question whether her voice would carry in the house, although she sounded great from where the microphones picked up her voice. There was a lot of cast shifting from the original: Netrebko was originally slated to due all four heroines, and Villazon was the original cast for Hoffmann. Netrebko, whose face still shows a little bit of post-baby fat which suits her to a T, I think would not have done well as Olympia, but would have been a much better Giulietta than Ekaterina Gubanova, who didn't hold much interest in the role, vocally or dramatically. Villazon cleared his schedule when he had vocal problems, and Hoffmann was a stretch for Calleja, whose quick vibrato is controversial. I happen to love it on him, and I can't wait until he sings Werther. I would even see "Faust", an opera that generally bores me to tears, if he were in it. Lindsey, too, was a replacement for Elina Garanca, who replaced Gheorghiu in the upcoming Carmen, and Held replaced Rene Pape, who decided to drop the role for now. I liked having the baritone voice in the villain roles. Held was quite smooth. It's hard for me to imagine how this would have played in the house. I think that Halvorsen's direction on this one was spot on, and focused the eye properly on the action.

I saw "The Tales of Hoffman" today, and I think the production is a triumph. I have seen "Hoffman" several times, once beautifully sung by Vinson Cole with the villains oddly sung by John Relyea -- to me he sounded grumbly, like he couldn't quite settle on the notes, but he won the Artist of the Year award from Seattle Opera, so what do I know? -- but I'd never seen a production that made me care about what the opera meant until this one. Bartlett Sher, the director, said in an intermission interview that there was something sweet about tenor Joseph Calleja, the Hoffmann, and that he wasn't the typical weird Hoffmann. I thought he was a classic 19th century Bildungsroman character, which gave him pathos, especially in the pivotal Act II with Antonia. Kathleen Kim hit a vocal grand slam home run as Olympia in Act I -- for such a tiny thing (probably not taller than 4'8") she has a huge voice -- a beautifully stylized tour de force aria instead of simply vocal fireworks, but dramatically, she can't be much more than the Coppelia doll. Anna Netrebko sang Antonia, a role more dramatically akin to Odette if taken seriously, and she used her dark, rich lower register to forge a heartbreaking portrayal. In Sher's production Hoffmann's muse Nicklausse clearly teams with the four villains to tear Hoffmann away from his loves and infatuations, who in turn distract him from his art, but for all of Hoffmann's existential angst, Antonia is the character through whom Offenbach makes the clearest social statement: as a young woman, she is torn between art, duty, and love, which for her is literally life or death. Kate Lindsay was onstage every moment at Nicklausse, and her mezzo is beautiful and rich, if a bit small. She was a superb actress in the role. Alan Held managed to differentiate between all of the villains -- the first singer I've seen to do this -- without losing any sense of power or underlying evil. James Levine is back, and he conducted from a chair. Kim's fellow dolls were on pointe, and five of them managed to make as much noise without jumping as the entire corps of the Bolshoi before many of them switched to Gaynor Mindens. There wasn't much room, and the choreography blended well into the production. I don't think it was meant to be notable on its own. I wasn't planning to see "Carmen", but if I can drag the friend I'll be staying with to see it, I'll go. It's a modern dress version, and during one intermission, host Deborah Voigt spoke to Roberto Alagna, the Don Jose, who alone wouldn't be a draw for me, and Mariusz Kwiecien, who would. Voigt mostly did fine, but she also reinforced the stereotype that Americans are ignorant of anything not right in front of them :wallbash: . She opened an interview with Maltese tenor Calleja with "So, not much opera in Malta..." and he had to correct her by saying one of the oldest baroque opera houses is in Malta. Doesn't anyone vet these things beforehand?

He's at the ballet. (Slacker)

Quiggin, thank you so much for your reports! It's always great to hear descriptions of SFB performances, especially the younger dancers. Your description of Kochetkova and Nedvigin made me swoon.

Where is Scotty when you need him to beam you around the galaxy to see stuff?

I saw the performance Sunday afternoon, and it was superb! It's amazing the huge sound that 15 voices can make, and the setting of Town Hall was a beautiful one for such a thoughtful and integrated performance. The soloist work was remarkable. Lone among the "Messiah" performances I've seen, the soloists for the most part told a story instead of the more typical bunch of show-off arias, especially bass-baritone Douglas Williams, whom I'd love to hear in a song cycle, his approach is so text-based. Tenor Wesley Rogers, a former Seattle Opera Young Artist, has a brilliant and easy top. Soprano Robyn Driedger-Klassen had breath control to spare through all of the long phrases and ornamentation, and mezzo Sarah Mattox has a beautifully integrated voice. My favorite section was the third, with the duets between soprano and violin, tenor and mezzo, and bass-baritone and trumpet solo, played by the splendid Kris Kwapis. It was great to see former PNB dancer Manard Stewart in the bass section. According to the program, the Tudor Choir is performing "Christmas in Olde England" on Boxing Day, 26 December at 7:30pm at the Blessed Sacrament Church on 9th Avenue.

Doug Fullington's Tudor Choir will perform "The Messiah" with the Seattle Baroque Orchestra at Seattle's Town Hall 7:30pm tonight and 2pm tomorrow. doug was quoted in The Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/ente...messiahs12.html

That was "All My Children". It's moving to California Unlike "Another World", which moved to Brooklyn.