kfw

Over on danceviewtimes, Alexandra has a review of this program, and George Jackson has one of the other. Alexandra writes that I miss the days of imported stars too. But the current company has dancers (Holowchuk, Angelova, Cook, Mladenov and Henning) that I’m always eager to see, and to my far less experienced and discerning eyes Natalia Magnacaballi has earned the ballerina label and had authority to spare in any number of things since she joined in ‘99, including Sonate No. 5 on this program, and Monumentum/Movements and Eight by Adler on the other this weekend. A woman I talked to yesterday remembers crying at the premiere of In Memory Of . . . at NYCB in 1985, with Farrell, Luders and Duell. I was moved yesterday not just by the tragedy and images of community, but by the fine acting of all three leads (Holowchuk, Mladenov, Cook). I enjoyed this music. My well-mannered wife, sitting on the aisle with me, said she seriously considered slipping out of the theater!

And then Renko made us laugh by saying he sometimes has "three Cokes, a couple of candy bars . . . and a small salad."

Thanks as always for your reviews, Jack. Monumentum/Movements was thrilling at the rehearsal yesterday afternoon, and the fact that the orchestra (led by Emil de Cou), the pianist Glen Sales, and the dancers had some understandable coordination problems in the latter meant we had the chance to see it all twice. Magnicaballi marked a lot of it the second time through, but that hardly mattered because the choreography for the corps is as interesting as that for the principals.

I never saw Kent and Villella, but I thought both Pickard and Magnicaballi looked properly and movingly anxious and vulnerable. And it didn't hurt that Magnicaballi is so small.

Paging Alexandra, but I think she wrote somewhere (DanceView?) that the original name of this site, Ballet Alert, derives from the Arlene Croce column of the same name on that fictional phone tree which she (and I and may other readers, I'm sure) took to be real.

Lebrecht was interviewed about Mahler recently on NPR by Tom Ashbrook for his show On Point.

Yes. I saw him do 'Mozartiana' with Farrell and later 'Valse Triste' with McBride. As well as many other times as well, but those I remember best. He had this very understated sensuality. I remember being captivated by him in "Opus 19/The Dreamer" with Saland during the Robbins Festival.

Speaking of editing Austen, our rector today cited the Book-A-Minute website's version: Now that's a little too severe for me!

Former Washington Post classical music critic Tim Page talked about Sutherland to NPR. An old criticism, from what I've read.

On his blog Unquiet Thoughts, New Yorker music critic Alex Ross has put up an excerpt of Eric Owens as Albericht.

What a privilege indeed. Farrell set the ballet for her own company in 2007 (yikes, was it that long ago?). Alexandra's review is here. I remember two very different but equally compelling leads. I also remember a NYCB rehearsal and performance with Darci Kistler and Albert Evans. If astute NCYB watchers care to bring that duo to memory, I'd love to read your impressions.

Tannhäuser: La Scala, Milan, 27th March 2010

Who knows if by the time of the performance they were still scared, but as the documentary intro film showed, they sure were when first presented with Lepage's concept. Lisette Oropesa's expressions of fear and disbelief drew laughs. ETA: Well I guess they were still scared: Athletic Rhinemaidens Dangle 30 Feet Above Met Stage: Interview: They sure are pros.

Also as Calliope in a truncated Apollo during NYCB's Balanchine Celebration in 1993.

The Washington Post's Anne Midgette asks if the production was Cast for Simulcast?.

Thanks for the explanation and thanks for the laugh!

I can understand his perceiving it that way, and perhaps others at the Met did as well. On HD, contextualized by the acting during the close-up shots, they were clearly swimming. The falling and sliding did elicit laughs, as did the moment when Alberich as toad was captured and potted with the flick of a sword. Being new to the Ring I was puzzled by the way Loge, in his first few moments on stage, walked backwards up the inclined set in an insecure, effeminate way. I was thinking "fop?," but I couldn't make sense of that characterization from what I knew of the plot. Was that walk supposed to reinforce the fact that he's only half divine, or reinforce his being untrustworthy by making him seem eccentric? Or is that just how Croft moves? The other moment that struck me as a little off, but may have been intended, was that when Wotan reminded Fricka of his blinded eye, that was the one time we in the HD audience could actually see it through the hair covering it. (He made us laugh during the bows when he pointedly flicked that hair off his face). Like Helene I thought the rainbow effect depicting the bridge to Valhalla was underwhelming, but for me it was largely because the set had been so impressive earlier on, especially in the opening scene when it depicted the Rhine. Poor critic and new to the Ring that I am, I'm better at saying what I didn't like than what I did. But I was very much impressed with the singing and acting of Eric Owens, who I remember from Doctor Atomic a couple of seasons ago. I loved his costume as well. I don't know how Albericht is traditionally played, or if there has been a range of interpretations. But Owens made the character appropriately crude, yet sympathetic as well.

No I'm not posting to announce the imminent publication of the book, sorry. Given how long we've waited, who could believe it if I did? It's just that I've just been reading an interview with Robert Gottlieb in the Paris Review. The intro says he has been working on "Arlene Croce’s study of Balanchine." The date the interview was published? Fall 1994.

I read "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter" about 20 years ago and loved it. But I had no idea it was based in part on his own life.

If anyone in the Charlottesville, Virginia area is interested, "Black Swan' will be the opening night film at the Virginia Film Festival on Thursday, November 4. I may skip it!

Thanks for that mini-review, Natalia. Nice to see you posting again!

Don't apologize, vipa! Criticism mixed with praise and praise mixed with criticism enlivens a review and helps us picture the ballet as if we were there. Thank you. I'm smiling now too.

Thanks for alerting us to the broadcast, Jack. I wasn't able to see it live, but it's now available on the Kennedy Center's site.

Yeah, they throw them, jump up with their legs back, and the frame freezes. The lead couples are Soto/Roy, La Fosse/Saland, and Boal Alexopoulos.

Martin's book Far from Denmark has photos of Martins dancing Margic Flute with Kistler, and photos of him rehearsing the work with Shawn Stevens, Deidre Neal Jock Soto, Stacey Calvert and Patricia Tomlinson. Martins notes that there were two casts of principals. ETA: the photo of Martins and Kistler is from opening night. Far from Denmark also lists the casts: