dirac

Thanks for the heads-up, Deflope. It does look interesting and I will certainly tune in. Involvement of family members can help or hurt. I guess we'll see.

Doesn't really matter. If he had "support" to complain to the Times, it's bad. If he complained to the Times without "support," it's bad. If he was acting on his own I would say that's marginally better, because it would suggest it was more a matter of one man's poor judgment than an institutional problem.

Adding to this that Bouder could have aired her grievances just as effectively without any mention of her colleague. From the article: 'Mr. Stafford said that he would have been “happy to keep Ashley as first cast going forward” and that the current management team would rethink how casting is handled by living choreographers outside the company in the future. “It may need some adjusting to make sure the dancers’ interests are protected,” he said.' I imagine the choreographers will be interested to hear exactly how. Also, that's quite the public commitment to Bouder.

Same thing, it seems to me. If Stafford is beefing to the Times, it means the situation is out of his control, which indicates a weakness in his position. (Perhaps he is releasing his inner Karen Black: " There's no one left to fly the plane! I can't fly this plane! Help us! Oh, my God, help us!")

This. My takeaway is that Board needs to make its long-overdue decision about the leadership pronto. This is inside baseball of the worst kind and it's unfortunate that Stafford decided to fan the flames. I certainly can’t imagine any responsible company leader whining to the press about such a matter. Good to hear that Martins will be working for the Trust. I expect that will also give him something to do and get him out of town for long stretches, which will likely be beneficial for all concerned until things have settled. I'm sorry for Hyltin.

True. We know more about Anita, actually. Speaking of Anita, Rita Moreno is going to play Doc in the new version. She mentions that the Spanish in the screenplay needs work. Jeez, I hope they're not going to burden us with subtitles in the name of realism. I'm afraid the more I think about this project the more depressed I get. They must have cast Elgort to make Richard Beymer feel better.

Thanks, lmspear. Did anyone go? Would love to hear from you.

Nice interview in The Deseret News:

I think the piece is primarily intended as a recap – explaining the story-so-far to readers of the magazine who haven’t been following it closely, or at all. Even so, Acocella had surprisingly little to add.

Good points. (In the movie, “One Hand, One Heart” was shifted from “Act One” to “Act Two,” giving Maria a little more. I think the dramatic juxtaposition of “A Boy Like That” and “I Have a Love” is effective, rendering the sentiments of the latter song much less sappy than they might be. I could certainly do without “One Hand, One Heart,” although I recognize the need for another song for Tony and Maria. (Somebody, I think it was Sondheim, said that Bernstein loved “One Hand, One Heart” and would listen to his own composition with tears in his eyes, while Robbins, Laurents, and Sondheim stepped out for a smoke.)

Thanks for posting, Petra. I haven't seen it yet but it's on my list. I too would be interested in hearing from others who've seen it.

Thank you for posting, Neryssa. Sorry to hear that. As people who have seen "Tanaquil Le Clercq: Afternoon of a Faun" know, she was close to Le Clercq. In interviews she had many interesting insights to share about Le Clercq and life in the company in that era. RIP.

Craig Russell. Those were the days.

So sorry to hear this. My condolences to her family and friends. Her invaluable "Dancers and Choreographers: A Selected Bibliography" is on my bookshelf. RIP.

I’d say both of you have a point. I’d also add that Channing played her cards better than many one or two hit wonders in terms of keeping her name before the public, although as time went on – and on, and on - I’m sure even her biggest fans probably wished she would just pack it in already. It sounds as if she was hooked on the attention, though, an occupational hazard for performers. The cast of the current "Hello, Dolly!" pay tribute.

Thank you for posting, ABTFan. Interesting to reflect that Channing had only two major Broadway roles to her credit, Lorelei and Dolly. An appreciation by Sylvie Drake in The Los Angeles Times:

Deborah Zall died last December, aged 84. RIP. Related.

It's great. Truly, they don't make them like that any more.

Don McKay, who played Tony in several early productions of "West Side Story," died last month at age 93. Related.

Overripe, but still tasty. :) Well, yes. Not to mention that in several of those pictures Caron played teenagers or very young women.

Minnelli gave new meaning to the term "color man." I love the red and the greens -- and those antlers - WHAT are they doing there !?! Marge and Gower in a lighter vein, same picture:

Whelan is not closely identified with Balanchine roles although of course she danced many with distinction. Understandably, she tends to talk more about the people who made ballets on her rather than the heritage side of the repertory. But Balanchine is the reason for this company. Whelan has little demonstrated affinity for the Balanchine repertoire, and given that there are still age-appropriate people around who were with the company while Balanchine and Robbins were still active, she’s not really that obvious a choice, particularly given her relative lack of experience in administration. I presume one of her chief advantages in the current environment is her gender, but Whelan’s public statements to date on the question of female choreographers, for example, haven’t exactly been progressive. Robert Gottlieb weighs in:

As you no doubt know, at this time Wilding was also Mr. Elizabeth Taylor and 20 years his wife's senior. He also appeared with another MGM musical lady closer to his age, Joan Crawford, in the deathless Torch Song (wonderfully burlesqued by Harvey Korman and Carol Burnett as Torchy Song). I didn't know the recording existed. Thanks for the heads-up.

I'd suggest there's a considerable difference. Nijinsky was at least an honorable try at telling a true story and it depicted a gay love affair with a frankness and sympathy very unusual for its time. (And it was, if anything, decorous to a fault; a little trashiness might have livened proceedings up a bit.) Dancers' brand of heterosexuality would have been retrograde even at the time. Any ballet fan will want to see it for the reasons mentioned, but that doesn't take away from how weak it is. (IMO Dancers owes its long-suffering audience a better Giselle than it gets.)