dirac

Yup, he sure did. I'm sure he realized it later, or someone told him, and he'll apologize to Fairchild, who now joins Idina Menzel in the My Name Got Screwed Up On an Awards Show Club.

Also, Buddy, "An American in Paris" has pretty strong "art" credentials, and in spite of the well-received Paris production it wasn't necessarily clear at the outset that the show would be a big box-office draw, with its heavy dance emphasis and a couple of ballet dancers as the stars. From what I gather, AAiP would have been the "safer" choice for Best Musical, but a respectable one artistically as well. He did, Natalia, but unfortunately for Wheeldon (and any choreographers who don't also direct), Best Choreography is one of the awards that the broadcast now offloads during commercial breaks. This year they did show snippets of the acceptance speeches, but it's still ridiculous treatment.

I saw her too. Yes, she was beautiful and poised. The camera also cut to her in the audience at least once. Nice gig for Copeland.

A funny thing happened to me on my way to the Best Musical Tony. The ghost of Gene Kelly is not mocked......

I think The Turning Point did that for a lot of people, cobweb. God knows it's no masterpiece, but it's certainly watchable and it did present a lot of dance in well-chosen and well-shot sequences. The array of talent on display is just stupefying.

I did and I think you're right. Indeed. I was particularly bothered by the seeming implication that the movie is just a studio-bound piece of hack work. How lucky that Mr. Oken and his collaborators have redeemed this terrible source material! AAiP is not my favorite musical, but it deserves much better than that.

I quite agree that going to Black Swan is nothing like your parents taking you to The Nutcracker; it's a different kind of experience and two different works in different art forms. Black Swan has roots in art film as well as pop; many of The Nutcracker's tunes have passed into Muzak ubiquity, which doubtless helps newcomers to the ballet get their footing. It isn't for me to pass judgment on how individuals experienced the Canon; no doubt many enjoyed it in the way you described back when it was ubiquitous, but I do have knowledge of some very bright people who were led to classical music through listening to it, for whatever that is worth. Pretty much any movie has the potential to leave the wrong impression on viewers not familiar with ballet. Back in '77 Arlene Croce was wringing her hands about the misleading aspects of the plot of The Turning Point. No doubt some more literal-minded people went to see Swan Lake after Black Swan, were puzzled when the ballerina didn't sprout feathers, and came away disappointed. But perhaps some of those new people came back for more, and even if they didn't their mere presence was a box office boost for many companies. I would think it's also possible to use real performances of "Swan Lake" as teachable moments; this is what you saw in the movie, let us show you how the real thing is different and wonderful. I don't want to make any great claims here, and I'm not disagreeing with you on the nuttier aspects of Black Swan. I do think that Black Swan has been generally a Good Thing in getting ballet back into mainstream view (and I also think it is a better picture than many here give it credit for being).

Congratulations to Messmer. It is our loss here out west that things didn't work out in San Francisco, but it's definitely Miami's gain!

And even so, the Canon has served to introduce some listeners to classical music. Black Swan is a good movie, though, and was never intended purely as a dance film. cobweb writes: Thanks for putting in your two cents, cobweb. It is good to get all opinions, and you're not alone. From an article in the LA Times: The producers must be feeling pretty cocky. At least formerly the show's connections took care to pay lip service to the film. Patricia Ward Kelly should step in and kick this guy's butt.

It did put quite a few more butts in seats, in seats some of those butts had never before occupied, I believe. Generating a whole new audience for ballet is probably not something any movie could do these days, but the success of Black Swan did a fair amount to raise ballet's profile as a possible subject of mass interest - without it TV shows like Breaking Pointe and the new Starz series probably don't happen. With regard to AAiP, I question whether it will have any such larger effect, although perhaps NYCB might see more interest in performances featuring Fairchild, particularly if he wins the Tony(?)

They probably wouldn't, since companies aren't as desperate for men as they used to be, but on the other hand the training is in some ways more easily accessible now, and given improvements in nutrition and physical education, possibly the body shapes they had then would be different now. Massine's legs were bad even by the standards of the day - Diaghilev made nasty remarks about them after Massine left the troupe. But backs then there were many more character parts then where he could wear trousers, and of course as a choreographer he could custom-build roles on himself. Even so, he might still find work as a dancer and choreographer, although perhaps not in ballet. And as, say, a modern dance choreographer he could still find himself working with ballet companies. Partnering skills are indeed underrated but not totally unrecognized - Peter Martins was recognized as a superlative partner while he was dancing, and not only by his ballerinas. He was, however, also a great soloist. Certainly this is an area where audiences can and should be educated. Among the company of the unsung, Balanchine had Conrad Ludlow, to whom he entrusted Farrell in "Don Quixote." In defense of Nureyev, it should be said that in spite of all his stage hogging and fiddling with the choreography, many of the ballerinas he danced with found him to be a uniquely challenging and stimulating partner, if hardly the old ideal of the self-effacing porteur.

That's true. I thought that might be Vasiliev doing some damage control, but as you say, give the benefit of the doubt. And yes, a simple "I'd rather not discuss that, if you don't mind," would have deflected the query neatly. In any case, it's good that he and Osipova can still work together. Best wishes to the happy couple and all's well that ends well, etc....

. Massine plays the choreographer and he did do his own dances as the cobbler, but let's note he wasn't the choreographer of The Red Shoes Ballet -- that was Helpmann. Interestingly, Ashton wouldn't do Massine's dances for The Tales of Hoffmann, on the grounds that he couldn't do that for such a distinguished senior choreographer. I don't question Helpmann's historical importance or theatrical gifts, but I'll always have a hard time accepting him as the premier danseur in The Red Shoes. He could bamboozle a live audience, but the camera was less forgiving. In terms of stage presence Massine was once compared to Callas. Not so easy to fill such shoes, perhaps - he seems truly to have been one of a kind. Thanks for the history, AshtonFan. Massine's postwar stagings of Le Tricorne and La Boutique Fantasque at the Royal Opera House were hugely influential, and de Valois brought him in specifically to attend to the development of the men in the company, over Ashton's objections.

California, that's not quite the point, as I see it. It's absolutely no one's business who dumped whom, and there is no necessity to "correct the record" -- particularly by the gentleman involved, but ideally by both parties. I am perfectly willing to believe that there are two sides to a breakup, but I think it's the height of poor taste to announce an engagement and include such a "clarification." ("Hey, I dumped all over her, everybody!") Jeez. Most unfortunate that something motivated Vasiliev to abandon his original policy of discretion. '

Humph. Vasiliev announced the news while helpfully informing the world that he dumped all over Osipova. Well, IMO Natalia, you're well rid of Thunder Thighs.

Yeah, as you probably know, Shearer had to pose for some sexy shots by George Hurrell to get cast in The Divorcee, her Academy Award role, because her loving hubby didn't think she was hot enough for the role and initially refused to cast her. She was also away from the screen for prolonged periods because of pregnancies and Thalberg's ill health. On the other hand, MGM spent a lot of dough on Romeo and Juliet because Norma hankered to play it, and there is no question that Thalberg was tending carefully to his wife's career. She made some bad decisions after he died. And by the middle of the decade Shearer's vehicles were getting the Garbo treatment - usually one or at most two pictures a year, presented as Events. Most notable perhaps is the dominance of three giant female stars on one lot. There was Gable representing the menfolk, and then Garbo, Shearer, and Crawford (not necessarily in that order, I hasten to add, lest I offend any Hollywood shades). The competition was intense, but there was room for all of them, and they had clout.

A bit part in pop culture history is sometimes attained in mysterious and unexpected ways. Palmer also created the role of Virginia (no, not the Betsy Blair role, that's Clara) in Paddy Chayefsky's Marty, which originated as a play for television. Several of the TV cast members were also in the movie, but Palmer wasn't one of them. There's a lot of vintage TV to be seen on the telly these days, but none of those old playhouse series, so far. I'm sure some of them must have survived (?) There were some terrific writers and actors working in those shows. Queen Bee is great. I put it right up there with Female on the Beach.

I saw it originally because It had Bette Davis in a small role, when she was still very much the ingenue. I think the '31 Bridge is one of the most interesting examples of pre-Code license. It's frank, but not salacious, like Baby Face, for example. (Interestingly, although it was a pre-Code flick, the heroine's ghastly end is distinctly post-Code in tone.) Offhand I can't remember seeing a bad performance from Montgomery. He was a really gifted light comedian, but the competition at MGM was intense in that category in the 1930s. You should check out the Private Lives he did with Shearer if you haven't already. Eldridge could get a little hammy, like her husband Fredric March, but probably her best work never made it to the screen. It's too bad that March and she didn't get to recreate their stage roles as James and Mary Tyrone in the film version of Long Day's Journey Into Night. Not that Ralph Richardson and Katharine Hepburn are anything to sneeze at, but reportedly March and Eldridge were awesome - and perfectly cast in those roles, unlike Richardson and Hepburn.

I just love Norma in her naughty-modern-woman-of-the-world phase and she looks fabulous in those bias-cut frocks. She was never anything like a real actor but she was definitely a real star. Did you ever get around to checking out the 1931 Waterloo Bridge?

Not a good example. Fonteyn did not have particularly strong feet or a big jump, and tastes in the balletic female figure have changed since her day, but contemporary opinion considered that Fonteyn's proportions were perfect for ballet. It is true that nobody's perfect, and dancers with ideal bodies don't always become the best dancers. Nobody here is claiming the opposite, at least I hope no one is, and I don't think On Pointe was doing so.

A digression: Kenneth Tynan told a story about showing Un Chant d'Amour at a dinner party he hosted for the Snowdons, the Harold Pinters, and the Peter Cooks. For the uninitiated, the movie depicts, among other things, convicts fantasizing about disporting in their birthday suits amid the beauties of nature. The evening had got off to a frigid start when Vivien Merchant was pointedly rude to Princess Margaret and her consort, and the sight of nude gentlemen waving their johnsons about did not appreciably warm the atmosphere. Peter Cook saved the day, or the night, by improvising a commentary to the movie that treated it as an extended commercial for Cadbury's Milk Chocolate, I think it is worthwhile to seek out theater transmissions where they're available. You're seeing the movie as it was meant to be seen, and I think there's a certain intensity of attention that is paid. It does get harder when you leave college, though, and if you're not living in a city or very close to one. There used to be a repertory movie theater not far from me that would show three or even four Golden Age movies a day with serials and cartoons, in the old style. You could see Young Dietrich/von Sternberg, mid-period M/V, and decadent M/V, all in one day.

I think what On Pointe meant is fairly clear in the context of the original post (?)

Many thanks to you for speaking up, On Pointe. I did follow some of the press coverage at the time, but it's not always easy going by only press accounts in such cases to determine what went on (and I have not yet read Copeland's book).

This review of the POB in "Swan Lake" by Patricia Boccadoro for Culturekiosque has some comments on the casting.

Ballet dancers haven't had such a big night at the Tonys for some time: looks like Cope and both Fairchild siblings will be performing.