YouOverThere

I don't go to a lot of plays, but after debating whether I wanted to spend the $$ to see the national touring cast of Fiddler on the Roof I finally decided to go. Believe it or not, I hadn't seen Fiddler on the Roof in over 20 years. Unfortunately, by the time I decided the only performance with tickets still available at a price that I was willing to pay was a Friday evening performance. Regardless of how my week went (and this week was NOT a good one for me), I'm usually pretty worn down by Friday evening and often have trouble getting into concerts or shows. The reason for my hesitancy on going to this show was the fear that it wouldn't come off all that well in a large theater (it was held in the Colorado Ballet's home, the 2600-seat Ellie Caulkins Opera House). Though I had a decent seat considering the price I paid (front row in the lowest of the 3 balconies), I never did feel really connected. Perhaps if I had forked out $$$ for an upfront seat I would have connected more. This particular staging takes a somewhat light-hearted approach, almost a comedy. As a result, the somber scenes just weren't all that moving. When they left the village, it seemed more like people leaving a business that had gone out of business after only a few years than people leaving homes and friends that they had known for decades. It was as if they wanted the audience to be happy and didn't want any negativity to intrude. And there just seems to be something lost when the actors use microphones. The actors often faced the audience rather than the character to whom they were speaking. This company has been on tour for months, and I wonder if it's getting a llittle stale for them. None of the men were terribly convincing IMHO; the actor who played Perchik in particular struck me as mechanical. I didn't care much for Harvey Fierstein as Tevye. His raspy voice made him hard to understand and his singing was almost inaudible. The woman who played Golde was only an OK singer, so their duets, most noticeably in "Sunrise, Sunset", didn't have much impact on me. His attempt to portray Tevye's pain over letting his stubborn adherence to principle prevent him from saying a final good-bye to Chava was unconvincing.

The Colorado Symphony has provided free cough drops for years. Unfortunately, that didn't prevent someone from having a coughing spell Saturday evening that basically encompassed the entire final minute of Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending.

I stumbled on an interesting post from a few months ago by Donald Mahler of the Tudor Trust after his first trip to Denver to begin teaching Echoing of Trumpets: http://tudortrust.wordpress.com/2009/12/07...-donald-mahler/ There was a nice send-off for retiring soloist Janelle Cooke at the end of Sunday's final performance.

I pretty much agree with The Denver Post's review. This program is an emotional roller coaster that I found fatiguing to watch. Like The Denver Post reviewer, I felt that Eventually was lacking something. Eventually consists of 3 scenes, all centered around an elderly man (who through poor make-up didn't look all that old) making his way to mail a letter while 4 couples dance around him. It is organized like a concerto - scene 1 was moderately fast, scene 2 was slow, and scene 3 was faster than scene 1. As best as I could figure out, the first scene was supposed to represent carefree youthfulness, the second courtship and marriage, and the third the years passing by quickly. But my interpretation could be completely off. I didn't feel that the choreographer got everything out of the music that he could have. The dancing was pretty generic traditional ballet while the music was modernistic and somewhat dissonant. Echoing of Trumpets, on the other hand, just blew me away. To my eye, it contains an extraordinary match of choreography to music. Tudor's success at creating such an original and aesthetically pleasing work while portraying the tragedy of humankind's penchant for evil is so impressive. Celts seems to be generally considered to be a lightweight piece, and I suppose from an intellectual standpoint it is, but it is hardly a trivial piece for the dancers. It's vibrant, joy of living message served well in lifting the audience from the despair that Echoing of Trumpets left us in.

The Denver Post article only mentions one of the two "revivals" in the season opener, Lars Lubovitch's ,,,smile with my heart. The other one will be Edwaard Liang's Feast of the Gods.

I've already begun investing in garlic futures.

In keeping with the Denver tradition of arts company tripping over each other, the Colorado Ballet's production of Dracula will occur during the Denver Center Theatre Company's production of, yes, Dracula. The 2 theatres are in the same complex. It's disappointing that there won't be a Spring ballet next year. Unfortunately, "edgy" shows in which inventiveness reins over aesthetics don't do well in Denver. (After seeing a rehearsal of the definitely non-pretty Echoing of Trumpets, I wonder how well this year's Spring production will go over.)

I made a half-hearted, last second decision to take in the run-ending Sunday matinee. Much to my surprise, the show had actually sold out! Something that doesn't happen in Denver except for The Nutcracker. A lot of the credit for this probably belongs to the person who donated $100,000 to subsidize tickets for families.

A little research showed that there have been several choreographers who have choreographed Beauty and the Beast, so for clarification the CB's version used the choreography by Domy Reiter-Soffer, which was origionally created for the Hong Kong Ballet.

I've made my requisite 2 trips (last evening and today's matinee) to see the Colorado Ballet's production of Beauty and the Beast (shouldn't it be The Beauty and the Beast?). I had no idea what to expect, so I was pleasantly surprised that it was a serious work and not a kid-oriented piece (though it attracted lots of children, not all of whom were well-behaved ). For those who don't know much about it, Beauty and the Beast takes a quite large cast, so that even though there were 2 performances today there were only 2 significant alterations in the line-up for today's matinee: soloist Dana Benton subbed for principle Sharon Wehner as Belle and Luis Valdez stepped up from the corps to sub for principle Alexei Tyukov as Hercules. The Beast at all performances was played by soloist Dmitry Trubchanov, who appeared in the company roster just as mysteriously as Koichi Kubo disappeared from it. I would have thought that putting a newcomer in a featured role and pairing him with 2 different partners would be asking a bit much. Well, for the first time in my life I was wrong about somthing . I have mixed feelings about this ballet. Parts of it were very good, especially the last act when Hercules rounds up the villagers and heads out to get rid of the beast. The choreography for The Beast was universally excellent, with some interesting Chinese influences in it (the ballet was originally choreographed for the Hong Kong Ballet). But the program was overly long, with about 2 hours of actual show (plus 2 20-minute intermissions). In particular, the first act, which was nearly an hour long, contained a lot of what I consider to be filler. Lopping off 15-20 minutes from it would have made the show a better length and wouldn't have left anything important out. I didn't care at all for the music. It was mainly "atmospheric" music, without much energy or depth. Or as we used to critique music back in high school band, it "lacked moving parts" and "didn't have a solid middle". The music in the first act became somewhat repititious, as ifthe composer was having to stretch out the music to fit the length of the act. The dancing was high quality throughout, with the numerous difficult tricks handled without a hitch (though an unfortunately large number of those difficult movements seemed to have no purpose other than to allow the dancers to show off a little). Sharon Wehner was perfectly suited for her role. Overall, a worthwhile show but certainly not up to the standards of some of the other contemporary ballets that the CB had performed recently. I of course reserve the right to change my mind if I see it a 3rd time. My Sunday is now open because I won't be going to the symphony. Why? Well, my plan for today was to take in the CB matinee performance, swing by a mall to do a little shopping, and head up to Boulder for the organ recital performance from the Boulder Bach Festival. I was cruising around the mall and noticed that it was 6:30; time to get started towards Boulder. I then realized that I didn't know what church the organ recital was at. After 15 minutes of frantically trying to download info from the festival's website onto my cellphone, it had gotten too late to make a 7:30 show in Boulder. Since I was already dressed up, I headed back to downtown Denver and took in the symphony.

I hope that the conductor brought along an extra for the tour, because the person who ended up with it kept it as a souvenir.

...if you're in the audience. At tonights (2/24) performance by the Russian National Orchestra at the University of Denver, the conductor got so into the opening bars of their encore (Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila by Glinka) that he lost control of his baton and it ended up in the 4th row of the audience. The RNO is a pretty impressive ensemble, at least to someone who is not in one of the major arts markets. Their style was a little different than what I'm used to with the Colorado Symphony - more heavily accented and abrupt, which was especially noticeable in the first movement of Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony (their featured piece on this tour). This gave the 4th a little more Beethoven-like power and avoided the tendency to make especially the middle movements "syrupy" (is that a word)?

It often seems that performing arts groups in Denver can't help tripping over each other. Tonight was a classic example. It was day 2 of the Colorado Ballet's run of Beauty and the Beast. At the other end of the block, the Colorado Symphony was presenting one of their more intriguing progams of the year, featuring the gold-medalist from the Van Cliburn piano competition. Denver's top amateur a cappella chorus, Kantorei, also had a concert, while the Boulder-based Colorado Music Festival was sponsoring a chamber concert. Down in Colorado Springs, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic was having a subscription concert. A few weeks ago, a couple of different sets of groups decided that it would be great to hold benefit concerts for Haiti. Guess which evening both of them selected to stage their concerts? Is it like this in other cities?

I attended Ballet Nouveau Colorado's Love, An Internal Affair last Saturday (Feb. 13). The "An Internal Affair" portion of the title stems from all 6 of the mostly very short pieces having been choreographed by the BNC's artistic director, Garrett Ammon, (2 of the 6) or by dancers in the company. One might think that a dance program about love would be filled with emotion. In this case, the expectation would not have been fulfilled. There wasn't a trace of emotion or sentimentality, other than some only partially successful attempts at humor. I don't know if it was out of modesty or company policy that none of the dancers appeared in their own works. When the Colorado Ballet presents dances choreographed by their own dancers (usually at special events for season ticket holders or patrons), the choreographer has always danced. Only the final dance, which was one of the two choreographed by Ammon, was classical ballet (his other work could hardly even be called a dance - more of a short pantomine). He used snippets of Tchiakovsky's scores for Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. This was the only one that I found at all interesting, though not interesting enough that I remember anything specific about it. They emailed a survey to me a few days after the performance. I gave it a '1'.

cont.: Intersection consisted primarily of solos and duets, as the various friends and family members either tried to deal with the boy's disappearance or reminisced. His best friend re-lived the day that the boy's mother died while his sister re-visited a trip to an amusement park. The highlight was a soft, romantic duet for his parents, which ended with his mother disappearing into the darkness (and the audience reaching for kleenex). The choreography to me seemed to be at a more appropriate level for a professional dance company than their previous program, Pop.

I made my second trip to see Ballet Nouveau Colorado's Intersection last night. This work, which was choreographed by their artistic director, Garrett Ammon, is by far the best thing that I've seen them do. It was one of those experiences that can keep you awake half the night pondering the questions that it raised. Unfortunately, it isn't doing well at the box office, a fate that frequently befalls serious, "heavy" productions, at least in Denver. Intersection deals with Ammon's favorite theme, which is does growing up mean accepting, and even embracing, the ordinariness of life. It is a "story" work (I would classify most of the choreography as modern dance rather than ballet) about a teen-age boy growing up in a boring suburban neighborhood who a month before his high school graduation decides simply to vanish. His father wonders what he did wrong, even trying to engage with the spirit of his deceased wife, while his sister grieves, his girlfriend tries to imagine what adventures he's undertaking, and the detective from the missing persons bureau is haunted by seeing a little too much of the boy in himself. Intersection was the continuation of Ammon's work in incorporating poetry as well as music into dance, first tried at last year's Love, A Joint Venture. At times, there was poetry reading as well as music accompanying the dancers. At other times, the dancers recited poetry on stage. There was also extensive use of video, sometimes accentuating the dance and sometimes being the central focus (I'm sure that those who hate miming in dance performances would cringe at this, but I thought that it was very effective). The videos generally featured the dancers in acting roles, e.g., the father walking the streets of the neighborhood reminiscing about the important events in the boy's life and hoping that somehow the boy's deceased mother would be watching. The poetry was written specifically for the production by a local writer named Michael Henry while the music consisted excerpts from piano works (only music performed on a solo instrument would have fit this piece) by Bach, Chopin, Debussey, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, and someone named Christian Sinding.

I went back Saturday for my customary second trip, and got the same cast. Things went more smoothly for the leads, while the rest of the ensemble again was right on. And once again there was a very large crowd. I gave up my plan to see one of the other lead pairs on Sunday after getting frustrated by the slowness of the folks in the box office. I wouldn't have gotten a ticket in time for the start of the performance. Why it takes 3-4 minutes per customer (yes, I was checking my watch) to get tickets sold is beyond me.

One interesting tidbit: she wore 4 different dresses (I think it was only 4) for the 5 pieces that she played at the concerts I attended (for some reason, I decided to skip the final program to attend a concert by The King's Singers, a decision that I regret.). On the nights that she played 2 works, she changed in between them. I'm speculating that she feels that each piece has a color to it, but I haven't been able to confirm that.

I made my first trip to CB's 2009 production of Don Quixote on Wednesday (10/21). There was actually a fairly large crowd, especially for a weeknight performance. But I managed to snag a good seat at a reasonable price anyway. The production was noteworthy mainly because it marks the first time that soloist Sayaka Karasugi has been cast as the leading lady (Kiri). This was her second performance, having also performed the previous Saturday evening. She has been cast as the #2 woman frequently in the past few years, doing IMHO a very impressive job. She was paired with principal dancer Alexei Tyukov (Basilio), who in the past has normally been paired with another principal, Chandra Kuykendall. The performance on the whole was very well danced, but there were a few rough spots between the leads. I actually can't remember them really having danced together even in small segments before, so it isn't surprising that they weren't exactly together 100 percent of the time. And I don't know that Karasugi quite reached her comfort zone; she just didn't seem as elegant and smooth as she has in the past. Don Quixote really isn't one of my favorites. For a performance that lasts well over 2 hours, it contains very little plot. And the music is generic and bland. I found myself wishing for at least a few bars that would make me think of Spain, especially when the toreadors were dancing. I'd have to say that the music is my least favorite ballet music.

After hearing 3/4's of pianist Olga Kern's Rachmaninoff marathon with the Colorado Symphony, I've run out of adjectives. I can't imagine anyone playing any piece of music any better. Actually, pieces. Tonight, she performed the 2nd sonata and the 4th piano concerto. Plus 2 encores. And she takes her encores every bit as seriously as the major pieces. Last Saturday, it was the 3rd piano concerto and Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. In the same concert! Last Friday, she just warmed up with the 1st concerto. What an unbelievable talent. She's one of those very rare musicians who have just phenomenal technique but still play with incredible emotion, and she can play soft and slow every bit as well as she can play loud and fast. Plus she gets bonus point by being so moved by the audience's response that she was on the verge of tears, tonight finally breaking down and shedding a few. The down side is that sandwiched between these concerts I went to see the Colorado Ballet's production of Don Quixote. After hearing Rachmaninoff's very colorful music, the dull, unimaginative score for Don Quixote was a distraction that detracted from the production.

P.S. I started off in a bad mood after having to pay a $3 service charge to buy a ticket at the box office.

The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields was totally in sync despite the lack of a conductor when I saw them in Boulder, CO last winter. On the other hand, one of our local chamber orchestras plays without a conductor and I've stopped going to their performances because they are so ragged (needless to say, they get great reviews).

Wouldn't this just mean that the conductor has the score memorized? It's not at all unusual in my experience. Yes, it would. So I guess YOT was joking, with the wink. According to the piece, it's possible or not to do this. Yes, I was joking. I've been to enough concerts to have seen the difference a conductor can make. All the musicians that I've been around have tremendous respect for the good conductors. One additional very important role that no one has mentioned yet is that the conductor is the one who decides what pieces will be performed. Putting together a coherent, interesting program can't be done by randomly selecting pieces.

I attended Ballet Nouveau Colorado's "POP" program on October 2. This program got great reviews, including in The Denver Post (I didn't see it in the "Links" forum - http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13455573?IADI....denverpost.com ) This was another case in which I apparently missed the boat. There wasn't much in the program that interested me. To this uneducated observer, there seemed to be little in the choreography (which was entirely modern dance) that would challenge a professional dancer.

Apparently he did not know, at least according to Nightline. Anyone can nominate a person for the Nobel (I've had a candidate in mind for some time; maybe 2010 will be the year I submit the nomination) and not necessarily tell the person, or maybe the message wouldn't get through layers of staff to the nominee. I believe that your statement that "anyone" can nominate someone for a Nobel Prize is incorrect. According to the Nobel Prize website, "Each year the respective Nobel Committees send individual invitations to thousands of members of academies, university professors, scientists from numerous countries, previous Nobel Laureates, members of parliamentary assemblies and others, asking them to submit candidates for the Nobel Prizes for the coming year. These nominators are chosen in such a way that as many countries and universities as possible are represented over time." Declining might also be taken as an insult by the country (Norway) that awards the prizes.