miliosr
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Posts posted by miliosr
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Premiere danseur Alessio Carbone has announced on Instagram that his last performance with the troupe will be on November 23rd. (He has reached the mandatory retirement age.)
More surprisingly, his fellow Italian, the sujet Simon Valastro, wrote this on his Instagram account: "Rehearsal of Body and Soul by #crystalpite. I couldn't expect better memories for the last year of my career." I don't think he's 42 yet. Retiring early?
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5FaA9MoO0r/
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Bolero (w/ Bolle), currently playing at La Scala:
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On 11/12/2019 at 3:28 PM, dirac said:
It is very well done. I also like Frid's canny use of the teleprompter.
The cast members themselves have said that they were always amazed at how Frid's desperate search for the teleprompter during taping took on a different dimension when the shows actually aired. On the air, Frid forgetting his lines and looking for the teleprompter came across as Barnabas lost in melancholy reverie.
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On 11/4/2019 at 5:31 PM, dirac said:
Hall is probably the most active actress I’ve ever seen. She has muscles in her face I didn’t know were there and boy does she ever use them. She’s awesome.
I think she pioneered the 'clutch the throat' acting technique.
Here's a sample of how moody Dark Shadows looked in black and white:
I would direct people's attention to the 7:00-10:00 mark where Jonathan Frid (as Barnabas) recounts the death of Josette DuPres in 1795 to the governess Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) and Carolyn Stoddard (Nancy Barrett) in what is now known in Dark Shadows fandom as the 'Josette Soliloquy'. What really adds to Frid's performance is the tremendous job the production staff did in lighting the entire scene. The set-up for Barnabas' speech is that there has been a power failure at Collinwood and the only things lighting the drawing room are candles, the fireplace and the flashes of lightning from the storm raging overhead. The lighting and sound effects work the crew did on this episode is worthy of anything Universal Pictures did with its horror movies of the 30s and 40s.
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Rizzoli has released a new book devoted to legendary M-G-M costume designer Adrian:
This is the third book devoted to Adrian in the last 20 years.
Lyons Press has also released a monograph anout legendary M-G-M art director Cedric Gibbons:
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Victor Ullate has announced that the company he founded 31 years ago is to close as it was no longer viable to continue. Ullate has been quoted as saying that despite alleged funding of one million euros from the Government of the Community of Madrid, he no longer has sufficient funds to pay for hotels when the company is on tour, or even food for his 25 professional dancers.
Source: Dance Europe
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30 minutes ago, ECat said:
So they get to choose their variations or are they assigned?
For the first round of each classification, there's an imposed variation. In the second round of each classification, each competitor gets to choose their own free variation.
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Fun fact: Nikolaus Tudorin, Thomas Docquir and Pablo Legasa all danced the Dancer in Brown's first variation from Dances at a Gathering, And they were all promoted!
Otherwise, the results weren't terribly surprising in the men's competition. Simon Le Borgne was the lead in Alexander Ekman's Play and Thomas Docquir was highly cast in the company's most recent revival of Swan Lake. So the competition results just caught up to events.
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Antonio Conforti and Nikolaus Tudorin promoted to coryphees
Florent Mélac, Simon Le Borgne and Thomas Docquir promoted to sujets -
From the competition program:
The women's field:
https://www.facebook.com/dansomanie/photos/a.383575178480097/1293924747445131/?type=3&theater
The men's field:
https://www.facebook.com/dansomanie/photos/a.383575178480097/1293925034111769/?type=3&theater
By my count, there are 32 women competing and only 24 men. Is the competition less of a "thing" for the men than the women? (Only 5 men competing in the sujet-to premiere danseur classification. Did all the male sujets over 30 just say: "To Hell with it"?)
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The annual competition for promotion is this week. Hopefully, some of our French correspondents will report!
Here are the number of positions in play:
1 - première danseuse/3 - sujets (f)/3 - coryphees (f)
2 - premiere danseurs/3 - sujets (m)/2 - coryphées (m)
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Joan says . . . Happy Halloween!!!
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16 hours ago, dirac said:
It also attracted a different and younger audience from other soaps – kids could watch it when they came home from school, as you did. Eventually the plotlines got too far out for the show’s own good and also daytime advertisers realized that DS wasn’t helping them sell much laundry detergent. It was syndicated after its initial run ended, which likely saved the tapes from destruction by the network – many recordings of the soaps from that era have not survived.
What made Dark Shadows a pop culture sensation -- it's teenage and early twentysomething audience -- is also what killed it (haha - pun intended!). dirac is exactly right that the audience Dark Shadows had wasn't the audience advertisers were trying to reach. Advertisers of that era were trying to reach women who were at home during the daytime and were making the purchasing decisions for the home. (This was long before the all-important demos encompassing ages 16-24 had come into being.) The irony of it is that a show which had the kind of audience Dark Shadows had 50 years ago would run forever today.
Dark Shadows was very fortunate because producer Dan Curtis saw the value in maintaining the masters. It's possible to watch the entire run of the show, which is not the case for most other soaps of that era. For instance, ABC debuted All My Children in 1970 but didn't start preserving the masters until the mid-70s. So it's impossible to see much of a young Susan Lucci during her formative years on the show because very few episodes have survived. (Dark Shadows, in contrast, moved to network syndication, then to cable television, then to VHS, then to DVD and now to on-demand.)
One more thing: Dark Shadows died a quick death (in soap opera terms) because it became very repetitive. In 1968, the show had the ghosts of Quentin Collins and Beth Chavez possess the children, David Collins and Amy Jennings. In summer 1970, the ghosts of Gerard Stiles and Daphne Harridge (played by a very young Kate Jackson) possessed the children, David Collins and Hallie Stokes. It was the exact same story just with some name changes!
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On 10/28/2019 at 2:09 PM, dirac said:
Barnabas and Dr. Hoffman gave the show some much-needed zip (sorry, Joan Bennett), and it helped that Jonathan Frid and Grayson Hall were so good. I imagine they were quite the contrast to the customary daytime drama fare at the time. Hall’s Dr. Hoffman is really amazing – so much for medical ethics.
The introduction of Barnabas in spring 1967 and Julia in summer 1967 definitely saved the show, which had been on the road to cancellation. But I do like the look and atmosphere of the pre- and early Barnabas episodes. You really did feel like you had been transported to this rambling mansion perched above the perpetually storm-tossed fishing village of Collinsport.
I adore Grayson Hall but she would be a strong contender for the title of 'Most Theatrical New York Actress Ever,' especially for her portrayal of the gypsy, Magda, during the 1897 time travel storyline.
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On 10/26/2019 at 11:52 AM, canbelto said:
... but does anyone who "gets" Mark Morris choreography explain the appeal? I recently saw his production of Orfeo ed Euridice at the Met and his choreography just about ruined the evening for me. I've seen many of his other works and my reaction is the same. What am I missing?
If you don't have anything good to say, come sit next to me!
I saw the Morris company years ago. The bill consisted of My Party, All Fours, Silhouettes and V. Other than the costumes for My Party, my memory of that night is one of sameness in regard to steps. Actually, the most memorable part of the evening had nothing to do with Morris' movement vocabulary. Instead, the highlight was when the master himself bounded up on stage from the audience to take a curtain call worthy of a silent film comedian or any Broadway musical diva. I had the urge to sing, "Well, hello Dolly . . . it's so nice to see you back where you belong!!" but I constrained myself.
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5 hours ago, Deflope said:
I’ve been watching both the original and 1991 version of Dark Shadows and wow, the character of Barnabas Collins has not aged well. I get it, he’s a vampire and is supposed to be evil, but even in the moments where he tries to be “human”, he comes across as narcissistic and controlling. I actually started to wonder if Angelique was a victim of gaslighting.
Watching Barnabas and his primary ally, Dr. Julia Hoffman, in their first months on the original show is a real eye-opener. You wonder how the characters became so popular because they do some horrible things -- like Barnabas killing Julia's medical school friend, Dr. Woodard, when he deduces Barnabas' secret, Julia hypnotizing the governess, Victoria Winters, to recoil from Barnabas, and Barnabas trying to gaslight the young boy, David Collins.
I do love the early episodes in black & white. The production staff were really able to make Collinwood look like a dark and foreboding place in black & white, especially whenever Collinwood lost power (which was all the time.)
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On 10/21/2019 at 11:30 AM, dirac said:
Well, having a woman alone in an isolated location is a classic threat situation for a horror film and given the central role Barbeau and her radio station play in the story, I’m guessing Carpenter felt the need to have something more happen at the lighthouse. Or maybe the sailors just lost count.
Or maybe because she was Mrs. John Carpenter at the time and this was her feature film debut!
Seriously, though, Barbeau's part in the movie is unique because she has no face-to-face scenes with any of the other primary cast members and only has phone conversations with Tom Atkins and Charles Cyphers.
On 10/24/2019 at 3:25 PM, On Pointe said:Because of his makeup and the masks his followers wear, I expect Joaquin Phoenix's Joker to be a popular Halloween character this year, although it's not a Halloween movie per se.
I don't know how I feel about the Joker movie. Does The Joker really need an origin story? For me, The Joker is best with no origin story at all: Bruce Wayne creates his Batman persona and this brings The Joker into existence.
6 hours ago, kylara7 said:I've never see The Fog, but now I'm going to seek it out based on this discussion
If you go into it without too many expectations regarding the coherence of the plot, you should enjoy it. The isolated northern California setting is very atmospheric and Adrienne Barbeau became a genre favorite in the early-80s because of her performance in this movie. (She would go on to work with her husband again in 1981's Escape from New York, with Wes Craven in 1982's Swamp Thing and George Romero in 1983's Creepshow.)
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The Royal Swedish Ballet (dir: ex-POB star Nicolas Le Riche) premieres its revival of Bejart's Rite of Spring tomorrow night on an all-Stravinsky bill which also includes Angelin Preljocaj's Noces and George Balanchine's Agon.
The Tokyo Ballet premieres its revival of Bejart's Rite of Spring on Saturday on a triple bill with Saburo Teshigawara's new work, Remains of a Cloud, and George Balanchine's Serenade.
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3 hours ago, dirac said:
SPOILERS:
There are a lot of plot points, insofar that there is a plot, and happenings with no follow up or explanation. This may bug you or it may not (it didn't bother me, but I would find it understandable it it bothered others). The actors are engaging and the Point Reyes locations are gorgeous. I will say that the ending is not as scary or boffo as it might be, and the timing is a bit off - the buildup seems to go on for too long, and then the movie ends too abruptly. Still very enjoyable.
The plot holes and inconsistencies in The Fog don't bother me much as I don't watch this type of movie for rigorous logic. But the holes and inconsistencies are noticeable. John Carpenter himself has said that, when he assembled his rough cut, he realized that the movie didn't work. The Fog wasn't scary, lacked gore (relative to the competition) and had too many dead (no pun intended) stretches. Carpenter went back, reshot portions of the movie and added new scenes (such as the intro with John Houseman). I think you can see the stitched together quality of the movie as there are parts of it which make little to no sense:
[Spoilers Ahead]
- At the beginning of the anniversary day, the undead sailor is about to kill the Tom Atkins character but the clock strikes 1:00AM and the sailor disappears. And yet, supernatural activity continues throughout the day. Who is causing it and why?
- At the coroner's office, how does one of victims killed by the undead sailors get off the table? (I wonder if Carpenter added this sequence because he found the middle part of the movie to be too slow.)
- Why do the sailors attack Adrienne Barbeau's character at the lighthouse when they've already killed 5 of the 6 people they need to achieve their revenge and the sixth -- Hal Holbrook's character -- is waiting for them at the church?
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As a youth, I enjoyed watching The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries with Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy as The Hardy Boys and Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew. The episodes that stuck with me over the years were the two-parter that opened the 1977-78 season. The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew meet for the first time in these episodes and head to Transylvania, where they encounter Count Dracula -- or do they?
I thought these episodes were so spooky when I was young and I was impressed that the episodes were taking place at Dracula's castle in Transylvania. Watching them again this month is a hilarious experience because the episodes aren't especially scary and "Transylvania" is obviously the Universal Studios back lot, where The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries were filmed. Still, both episodes are a lot of fun in a very 70s way.
The entire two-parter is online but the best parts are Nancy Drew fighting a fake-looking vampire bat:
And Shaun Cassidy singing:
And if any Ballet Alert members want to buy me a pair of those boots Dracula is wearing, I will be happy to provide my size!
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Happy 101st birthday to Rita Hayworth!
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14 hours ago, fondoffouettes said:
After hearing for years that Balanchine established the aesthetic for thin, willowy dancers, I was amazed when I first started watching old videos of NYCB and saw such a diversity of body types represented, and far fewer women who were stick thin than we might see today.
Even Suzanne Farrell has said that there's been too much sameness in body type since Balanchine died, which implies that there was more variety before he died.
12 hours ago, BLalo said:Honestly I don’t think “double-barreled” was meant as any kind of description for AD-W at all, I think “double-barreled” is just a term for that type of surname.
For example Jackson-Barrett is double-barreled surname.
When I read Danchig-Waring's reference to "double-barreled," I immediately though of "barrel-chested":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrel_chest
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Regarding this comment of Danchig-Waring's:
"What I do know is that, by ballet standards, I’ve always had more muscle mass than is “desirable” for the “lean style” advocated by George Balanchine."
One of the responders in the comments made this excellent reply:
"And, as for what Balanchine advocated in a dancer’s body, that’s always been overplayed. His principals and soloists, especially, were more physically diverse (though not racially so at the time) than people liked to think. Violette Verdy, Anthony Blum, Gloria Govrin, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Judith Fugate—all these brilliant dancers, and many more, didn’t fit the supposed mold. I watched the company when Balanchine was alive and selected his dancers, and he was never as myopic as people liked to think."
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55 minutes ago, dirac said:
SPOILER:
Why oh why did you let Mrs. Voorhees in, Alice? You’re supposed to be the SMART one !!!
And that's not even the dumbest thing she does!
[Spoilers Ahead]
- After Bill (Bing Crosby's son, Harry) and she find a bloodied axe in a bed, she goes to sleep on a couch.
- Then she makes herself a cup of hot chocolate.
- She also repeatedly drops the weapon she's holding or fails to pick up Mrs. Voorhees' weapons (until the fourth and final fight.)
I will say that my favorite scene in the entire movie involves Alice. After Crazy Ralph delivers his warning of doom to Alice and two other counselors, he races to his bicycle outside the cabin he was hiding in and cycles away. Alice is the only one to follow him out and it's such a creepy moment: the twilight, the wind picking up and, especially, the look of consternation on Alice's face. It's a great 'Last Girl' moment -- the most perceptive member of the group slowly realizing all is not as it appears.
"Dark Shadows," yesterday and today
in Other Performing & Fine Arts: Performances, Exhibits, Films, and Events
Posted
November 20th, 1967 was the first full episode set in 1795, which itself was the first of the show's multiple time travel storylines. (A séance held at Collinwood in 1967 hurls the governess, Vicky, back to the year 1795. a time when Barnabas was not yet a vampire, Josette was still alive , , , and a rather unusual maid servant named Angelique was about to arrive at the great estate.)
https://darkshadows.fandom.com/wiki/366