dirac

The whole premise of the cosmetics industry is that women must work to look good/look younger/smell good, women's bodies in a more natural state being suspiciously hairy, smelly objects, and the products they are selling will solve those issues for you. Good to know these principles are being fed to girls at a properly impressionable age. Copeland is the first ballet dancer to get an endorsement deal with Lauder, so this is a pretty big deal. I think the last time a ballet dancer was able to cash in like this was back in the day when Misha was flogging clothes and perfume. The whole endorsement business is a racket, but that's capitalism, and if movie stars, athletes, and Jenners/Kardashians can get in on it, ballet dancers, whose livelihoods are as uncertain as an athlete's and poorly paid, certainly should be able to do so.

Le tourbillon de la vie Elle avait des bagues à chaque doigt, Des tas de bracelets autour des poignets, Et puis elle chantait avec une voix Qui, sitôt, m'enjôla. Elle avait des yeux, des yeux d'opale, Qui me fascinaient, qui me fascinaient. Y avait l'ovale de son visage De femme fatale qui m'fut fatale De femme fatale qui m'fut fatale On s'est connu, on s'est reconnu, On s'est perdu de vue, on s'est r'perdu d'vue On s'est retrouvé, on s'est réchauffé, Puis on s'est séparé. Chacun pour soi est reparti. Dans l'tourbillon de la vie Je l'ai revue un soir, aïe, aïe, aïe, Ça fait déjà un fameux bail Ça fait déjà un fameux bail Au son des banjos je l'ai reconnue. Ce curieux sourire qui m'avait tant plu. Sa voix si fatale, son beau visage pâle M'émurent plus que jamais. Je me suis soûlé en l'écoutant. L'alcool fait oublier le temps. Je me suis réveillé en sentant Des baisers sur mon front brûlant Des baisers sur mon front brûlant On s'est connu, on s'est reconnu. On s'est perdu de vue, on s'est r'perdu de vue On s'est retrouvé, on s'est séparé. Dans le tourbillon de la vie............

Very true, pherank. He could even bring something to generic roles like the dreamboat vet(erinarian) in "Baby Boom."

RIP. I didn’t know he had Lou Gehrig’s disease – apparently it was not publicly mentioned till now. It didn’t hurt that he was good-looking, and that his looks matched up with the way he wrote. The wonderful TV production of “True West” with John Malkovich and Gary Sinise is available in its entirety on You Tube.

This isn't the play, it's a dance staging of the story. Stagings of the original play can be justified. Recreating the story in dance form is not justified, no matter how many pretty dances or bits of business the choreographer thinks up.

Very odd review. Macaulay is complaining that the performance is timid and inoffensive. What exactly does he mean by that? Should we have been favored with "daring" scenes of Petruchio hauling Katharina around by the hair? "Petruchio subjugates his wife by torturing her." Fixed that for you, Mr. Macaulay.

Thank you for sharing your views, Fleurdelis. That approach has been tried before and it never really works, unfortunately, because it makes Petruchio look like an idiot, which he isn’t, and it also means Katharina is going to spend her married life dissembling and catering to this lummox (who's got her money, BTW). For some reason, it's not a resolution that leaves me laughing. Of course, I may change my mind after seeing the ballet.

De Havilland is asking for an early court date:

Tim Page reviews new books on Cliburn here. The Isacoff book sounds really good.

Thank you for starting the topic, Drew. I think it's perfectly safe to say Balanchine was looking to draw in a new and glitzier audience with "Jewels" and the Van Cleef & Arpels tie-in looks mighty like a marketing gimmick. In fact, these are not novel observations, as Judith Mackrell reminds us here. I don't think such considerations detract from the ballet as we see it now, nor should they. Yup.

The movie is a real high point for Ann Miller, who seems inspirited by the amazing dancers around her – Rall, Van, Fosse, Coyne, Haney, a real murderers’ row – and dances up a storm. As canbelto says, the score is from heaven. sandik, I did see some of it, but I don’t remember it at all, unfortunately. You make me wonder if it is out on DVD somewhere.

I didn't advocate or suggest suppression or a modern-style bowdlerization of the original play. If somebody wants to produce the play, that's fine, although it does seem to me there are better things to do. Companies that specialize in Shakespeare are probably obliged to do so and it does not hurt to show modern audiences a glimpse of the bad old days. It is far from its author's best and I can't say I find it that funny, personally. I certainly don't see any need for dance companies to produce new versions of it. (Off-topic -- not a fan of Zeffirelli movie. I find it tediously rumbustious and Mrs. Burton couldn't cope with even this less-than-demanding Shakespeare. I was interested by Jonathan Miller's old 70s version for the BBC, which Comcast currently has available on demand. The production values are what you'd expect from the period, but they suit Miller's Puritan-themed conception of the play. I liked John Cleese's Petruchio. Sarah Badel's Katharina is also unexpected casting, but she brings out the character's vulnerability well, and her account of Katharina's final speech is lovely. Petruchio tries not so much to dominate Katharina as to show her the damage that she is doing to herself and others - a tough-love intervention as we'd say nowadays. It still doesn't make the story acceptable but as I said, it was interesting.)

I know of no other pure dance versions, but there is "Kiss Me Kate," far more tolerable than the original. I certainly hope there won't be any more.

In the latest Ballet Review Jean-Pierre Frohlich has some cogent things to say about the limitations of video. It's a valuable tool, but only one tool. Thank you for those photos of the SFB R&J, sandik.

No, it isn't easy. On the other hand, few of them have been forced out there. You may receive a rapturous reception. The other side of the coin is that the audience may be audibly unhappy if they paid good money to see a poor or unprofessional performance. I have never had occasion to boo myself, but I can imagine circumstances where I might.

Thanks, Quiggin. I forgot to mention that SMTW deals with ballet. I see by Amazon that the paperback copy I picked up from a bin many moons ago for a couple of bucks is now selling for double digits. Scott also dipped into Zelda's diaries for earlier work like "The Beautiful and Damned," causing Zelda to joke that her husband seemed to think that plagiarism began at home.

I agree. I understand Balanchine, for one, would just start taking your roles away, and if confronted he was a lot less diplomatic. Martins didn't take away the part and let her stew, he called her in to tell her face to face what was going to happen and why. There is no way such a conversation is not going to hurt, but even by Whelan's own telling Martins seems to have done a difficult thing in a decent way.

Tomasson was hired specifically to break from the Smuin regime, so it’s not surprising that many of the works from that era fell by the wayside. And of course many ballets from a given era won’t survive. Probably quite a few of Tomasson’s house ballets won’t remain in repertory once he’s no longer around. However, I would expect more aesthetic continuity between Tomasson and his successor than between Smuin and Tomasson. I remember rather liking Smuin's R&J, although I haven't seen it for many moons and don't know if that impression would hold up.

A new piece on Zelda Fitzgerald's involvement with ballet in The New Yorker by Meryl Cates. Zelda also wrote a good first novel, "Save Me the Waltz."

I agree, and have written about that here on the board. I didn't mean to minimize the bad effects of the disappearance of staff critics. I just didn't care for Panero's tone. No, those checks from Conde Nast. are never going to be so fat again. Thanks for posting, Quiggin. I don't think the ombudsman spot was ever effectively used at the Times, but it's a real shame about the copy editors. Baquet refers to the need for speed, which seems ever more consuming....

I'll say this for Clement Crisp - he's perfectly willing to say that X is better than Fonteyn in such-and-such role if he thinks it's so. (On the other hand, those people grumbling that Ferri-Bocca weren't the second coming of Fonteyn-Nureyev maybe had a point?) Shearer did “Ballet Imperial” – I don’t think she ever did Theme, although it would have been fun to see her have a go at it. Off topic, and meaning no disrespect or offense to anyone, may I suggest courteously that the term “mistress” be retired from the board unless in direct quotation, as is being discussed elsewhere? The term is something of an anachronism and there is no male equivalent.

Panero seems to be complaining because he has to work harder for less money. You and most everyone else, buddy. Actually, some of the best writing in the paper, and elsewhere, is about television, which is generally regarded as experiencing a renaissance in serialized drama. The political commentary from late night TV hosts and the plethora of political satire shows in the era of Trump also seems worth noticing. As already noted in this thread and other fora, what’s killing arts criticism is the lack of clicks. The Times has held out against this trend longer than most. Edited to add: Adding to the foregoing that for me the Times' TV coverage satisfies a utilitarian need - clever knowledgeable people watching shows for me so I don't have to......

Reynolds' reaction might well have resembled that of Fisher's siblings and daughter. It's also possible that what she didn't know she may have guessed. Good luck and best wishes to Billie Lourd.

Thanks for the link, canbelto. ABT Fan flagged the "Feud" suit a couple of days ago in the thread devoted to the series, here. She has promised us a book, I hope she writes it.

The happy event was July 1. 101 and counting.....