dirac

I read the article and in fairness to Homans I don't think she suggested that or intended to. As pherank notes she does telescope the facts somewhat misleadingly in the sentence or two we're talking about (as you say, Neryssa, the article is mostly about other things), so that it's easy to get the impression that the marriage failed much more rapidly than it did. And she does note that the union was in poorish shape before Le Clercq fell ill. If Homans had gone into it in more detail he probably would have looked worse. Le Clercq was hurt and humiliated, sometimes in public. (Not to mention the earlier on-and-off Diana Adams complications.) Not his finest hour.

Biographies can be good in different ways. If Homans chooses an approach that's more accessible, that's fine too. It's possible to try to do too much - focus too much on analysis and argument and other things can get lost. Quentin Bell wrote a fine biography of his aunt Virginia Woolf that left such matters more or less alone, for example. Homans is a critic and one would expect her not to take that approach, but we'll see. I share the hope that it's thorough - we don't need another short biography.

What a life, indeed! He seemed indestructible. 98 years is a great run, though, and he was vital and energetic almost to the very end. RIP.

Really big rubber ducky floats into Hong Kong. Photo gallery, video. Next stop, United States. Related.

A quote from the article: The books are balanced, the article also says. So the company really is hanging in there, and a bit more than that. A home could only help.

Nominations and analysis. Nice to see that things are getting a little harder for the movie people. Until last year it was beginning to seem like a trend - swing by Broadway, pick up a Tony......

True, there's no reason the Queen shouldn't live as long as her mother. She looks more Hanoverian with every year, but I think she'll hang on to her marbles and even if she doesn't I suspect a regency is unlikely. On a related topic, Camilla looks quite nice in that blue number. I can't say I'm overpowered by the collective fashion sense on display, but Princess Marilène of Orange-Nassau, whatever that is, looked striking and I liked Princess Mathilde of Belgium's frock - on her.

True, Natalia. I thought of "Square Dance," myself.

Homer nods, what can I say? Sorry, pherank.

Thank you for the heads-up, abatt. Anyone who catches it, please report back in this space.............

Thanks for posting, Jayne. Nice to see Crown Princess Masako looking well and getting out and about again. I have limited use for royalty myself apart from thanking our country's founders daily for not foisting the system of titles on us, but she's got a tough row to hoe at the Japanese court and I wish her the best. That blue is a trifle intense for a solid color frock IMO but I agree Maxima manages it. The new royal family is an attractive bunch. I wonder what Charles is thinking? "Gee, a mother with the grace to get the hell out of the way. I'm going to be in a wheelchair before I get this gig."

It was well staged from that aspect. I never worried that Peck was going to pirouette into the string section.

Thanks, good interview. Stroman warned Peck that the repetition of doing a show would hurt her technique if she didn't also take class, a nice piece of advice to give a talented youngster.

Nice review, Barbara, thanks for posting. I'd say the characterization of "ne'er do well" is being rather kind to Billy in one sense and unfair in another. I hadn't heard Peck was in The Music Man, vipa, that's good to know.

Sounds like you mean Anne Bass? I had to refresh my memory on that. Some links for those who have to do likewise. Nutcracked Related. I tend to agree with you there, Dr. Steeg. Martins has had his rough patches but "stormy" is a bit much.

Thanks, California. Did anything in particular stand out for you regarding the performance?

I tuned in for Blythe singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" and for the last part, figuring that would be around the time Peck and Fairchild showed up. I sat patiently through "This Was a Real Nice Clambake," the kind of homey-folksy linsey-woolsey Rodgers & Hammerstein number that makes me want to toss my clams, cleanly if unidiomatically sung. Peck was as wonderful to watch as she was at the Kennedy Center tribute to Makarova, tossing off the tricky stuff as if rolling over in bed, and vividly suggesting an unruly spirit. The choreography was nothing to write home about, and there was a time when choreographers could suggest sexual congress without having the guy roll over on top of the girl. Fairchild looked great but as vipa notes above he had little to do. Anyone else see it?

Yes, I've seen these. Pity there's not more Farrell on YouTube. She looks particularly ravishing in the R&J pas, too bad there's not more footage of her from her Bejart days.

Great idea for a thread!

A Giselle can be both delicate and headstrong. It's not unusual for the chronically ill to react to their weakness with a determination not to be held back by it, and it's a very playable conflict in dance. I wouldn't rule a big hearty Giselle out of court - judging by the bits of surviving film, Spessivtseva was something like that - but I tend to agree with bingham on this one.

Sergei Grinkov had congenital heart disease and won two Olympic gold medals and had a flourishing professional career despite it until his heart gave out at the rink one day. Appearances can be deceiving. Absolutely, but conveying "congenital and previously undetected heart defect in otherwise robust person" is hard to do in ballet. Both Giselle and her mother know her heart is bad in most readings; from a theatrical standpoint it's easier to believe that Giselle has lived with this all her life if she isn't too hearty.

From Quiggin's post in the SF Ballet forum: Nicely put. The "Egyptian" hands are another connection to The Four Temperaments. Symphony belongs to the corps in a way that Four Ts doesn't, but there does seem to be a link between the pulsating finale of the older ballet and the propulsive mass movements of Symphony. But the feeling for me is less Army than NASA, as if watching beings who are not quite human - except for those bouncy ponytails.

vagansmom writes: Innocent, indeed, alas....

Thank you for starting the topic, Mashinka. Freeman seems to have a predilection for showbiz, not to mention Golden Girls. "Ten Awesome Women"? Did Bill and Ted think that up? (Seems like an odd business, anyway - would anyone publish a list of "Ten Awesome Men"?) Eleanor Roosevelt, natch.

Thanks for the pix, cubanmiamiboy. I think those scenes with Dolin, Tomasson and McBride were staged for the video but I could be wrong about that.