papeetepatrick

Indeed it is, and now I can know the home of this ballet, which I enjoyed perhaps 10 times in 1979 at the Met. Several performances by Mme. Alonso as well, as Carmen among other roles. Good for you.

'The Wayward Bus' is worth it too. I only got to it in 2005, only Steinbeck I've read in the last couple of decades. A bonus was that the library copy had a picture that I was sure was Joan Collins on the front, and sure enough I look it up and that's who was in the movie (which I've never seen.)

Enjoyed this report as well as the others, but disagree on the 3 great Tchaikovsky scores. I love all 3, but think 'Sleeping Beauty' is the greatest, followed probably by 'Swan Lake'. I was startled at the Miami Herald reviewer calling this 'some of Tchaikowsky's 'least charming music'. I wonder what he thinks charm is, if this isn't it. Also love the Black Swan Music as it begins in that Champagne-like Waltz in most versions (I remember Nureyev in one that used only other music), as well as many other parts of 'Swan Lake'. Love 'Nutcracker' too, but it doesn't have any 'adult entertainment' music in it. No fairy in it is like the Lilac Fairy because that probably would be going toward some aspects of the celestial that children don't dwell on in their contemplation of these ethereal beings, at least Christmasy ones. I've looked at Russian scores from 1950 for both 'Swan Lake' and 'Sleeping Beauty', and used them while watching productions on tape--there are all sorts of re-arranging and re-ordering, of course, but only the Snowflake music do I find really transporting in 'Nutcracker', and that's mostly a simple tune repeated over and over (fortunately, it's lovely enough to get away with this without becoming boring.) Last night I watched 'Pique Dame' with the Kirov/Gergiev. After watching some more of his DVD's with the Kirov, I'll do a post on some of the operas and perhaps some of the recordings, because the sound was simply sumptuous, and Tchaikovsky's genius seems only to enthrall more with each new piece gotten under one's belt (I am only now getting to know Tchaikovsky's operas.) Hearing Gergiev's miracles with the Kirov Orchestra will make it all the more wonderful to hear them in April when Kirov comes to City Center. Hardly the Mariinsky, I daresay, yet I am sure it's going to be the best ballet conducting I will have ever heard. There are DVD's of Glinka's Ruslan and Ludmila, and also Mazeppa, I believe, probably Eugene Onegin as well, I'm going to get hold of some of all of these. Some of the courtier and crowd and gaming table scenes in 'Pique Dame' actually reminded me of some of the pomp scenes in the 3rd Act of Sleeping Beauty, and some of the dancing with Cupid and Hymen (that gilded ballet dancer is there in this production) was light and lilting, echoing the Garland Waltz a bit.

Yes, that wouldn't be nearly as effective as just old-fashioned classism and perhaps some of the 'clad in snobbery' that the New Yorker Magazine recently told us ballet is simply riddled with-- although I think we need not picket (their specialty, and apparently anything is a worthy subject of picketing, if dead soldiers and little girls killed in buses are.) Anyway, I doubt they have the wherewithal to find the location of the funeral, which I noticed yesterday was being kept secret (I doubt they needed bother, considering that the mega-rednecks probably also have not the wherewithal for the Trailways tickets.) To wit, this is hilarious from the article: "Last year a Baltimore jury determined the Westboro Baptist Church was too vulgar and offensive to be covered by the First Amendment."

I feel the same way. Just as you were posting that, sandik, I found this wonderful gesture from Daniel Day-Lewis, which I want to place here for some balance after those creeps. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080128/ap_en_...g_awards_ledger

Agree to some degree, but it's more comparable to 'Evita', which has but one song to relieve the endless monotony of the Lloyd Webber shtick. Once was enough 'Dreamgirls' for me, but I enjoyed it as this sort of ephimeral bauble (like 'Hairspray' in that sense, which is more than I can say for 'Evita': I think it's a disaster, including its leading lady, who is incapable of going far enough.) I expect little from Broadway shows, on stage or screen, at this point. Musically, any song on the Dixie Chicks 'Taking the Long Way' album (one rare example of a pop awards getting it exactly where the greatness lies IMO) is better than anything I've heard from Broadway, with the one or two exceptions I've mentioned before--and even those two or three ('The Life', 'City of Angels', 'Urinetown') are sporadic.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/st...3635&page=1 This is amazing even by nutter standards.

Thanks so much for calling attention to this, dirac. 1989 was all struggle for me, and I not only missed most things, but didn't even know what it was I missed. This is a quite wonderful movie in itself, because it treats such an unusual subject--small-time duo pianists whose time has come to an end, and as such reminds me of such diverse films as 'Bye Bye Braverman', of which I'm very fond, and 'Prairie Home Companion', of which I'm not at all fond (it's 1% Altman and 99% just Garrison Keillor, I was dragged to a live performance of his in 2002, and I just don't find any of it funny). But these are all about one-of-a-kind obscure things that disappear. This one even made me remember Ferrante and Teicher, who used to put out their duo-piano versions of 'Exodus Song' in sheet music. Still, the highlight was what you said--Michelle decides as a film actress to forget the small-time circuit of the character and goes up on the piano and gets as minxy and gorgeous as possible. The rest of the time, she sings well as in 'Hairspray', and what you have is primarily a voice which is very adequate for musical comedy, even though she's not a great singer-stylist, of course, and that little extra touch of energy that I keep wanting to see in certain other performers--well, on that piano, Michelle shows you exactly what that's all about. She is simply La Divina for me. Another version of that sort of 'just a touch more energy' was noticed by a friend of mine when we were re-watching 'Damn Yankees' a few years and Verdon/Fosse dancing together in it. I kept saying 'he's really a good dancer, but she's better, but I can't figure out why'. and she said 'hers has just a little bit more energy'. But that word hadn't occurred to me, because it was more in the domain of 'sharpness', and there was no huffing and puffing or even any show of effort you could see. Verdon simply had the energy inside her, and her dancing in that film is a pure pleasure to watch.

CAROUSEL lovers owe it to themselves to see 'Liliom', a beautiful poetic movie by Fritz Lang, starring Charles Boyer (before Hollywood) and Madeleine Ozeray as Julie. The play is the basis for 'Carousel' and Molnar is said to have liked the musical treatment of his work. I do, too, but I like this even more, and think this is one of the most wonderful films I've ever seen. Boyer is phenomenally handsome and sexy and Ms. Ozeray (with whom I'm not familiar) is exquisite as the wounded, fragile, birdlike Julie. This had made me watch a lot more Fritz Lang movies, all of which are excellent, and his versatility is fairly astonishing: 'Scarlet Street' and 'Clash By Night' (Stanwyck as stupendous as ever, but also Monroe in an early role, Paul Douglas in a much quieter tone than what I'd associated him with, and also Robert Ryan and Keith Andes), seem very different from 'M' and 'Metropolis'. 'Liliom', in fact, reminds me very much of Marcel Carne. There's a fascinating part for Antonin Artaud, the troubled writer and actor, as the Knife-Grinder in 'Liliom'. He appears twice, only ephimerally, but it's a crucial role. I believe this is supposed to be by far the best filmed 'Liliom', and it is indeed a great work of art. [Moved the 'Dreamgirls' comments to the old Dreamgirls thread] -- dirac

There are a thousand examples of why I take the Oscars seriously only as a ritual festivity, but the most recent one is in 2005. I recently got around to 'A History of Violence' and think it easily the best film not only of 2005 but of anything I've seen in the 00s, although I may have enjoyed one French film at least as much, but which received no attention at all. So this masterpiece, at least I see it as such, was nominated for one Best Supporting Actor award and one Best Adapted Screenplay. The pictures were 'Goodbye and Good Luck', 'Capote', 'Brokeback Mountain', 'Crash', and 'Munich'. 'Crash' won this and I could see a fairly good picture--no more. As moving as 'Brokeback Mountain' was, I don't see it as having as much merit as 'History of Violence'. And 'History of Violence' won nothing. If I took the Oscars seriously as being primarily about merit and not Industry politics, I'd have to be enraged all the time at how conventional they are at overlooking excellence and yet revving up such enthusiasm so that while it's going on it does not even seem as though anything nominated could be other than foreordained. So I just see it as a party and the Golden Globes are useful for 'not being as good as the Oscars', because nobody takes them seriously by the time of the Oscars. The Oscars do occasionally coincide with merit (or maybe even usually, just not necessarily the most meritorious), but I see them as being for fun and excitement. If I didn't have to worry about political impromptu speeches by some of the presenters, or tiresome protests by other stars who want to suck up about how Barbra Streisand wasn't nominated for 'Yentl', I might watch them if any of the Best Song Nominees were still good--but even there, the only really outstanding thing I ever saw was Ann Reinking dancing to 'Take a Look at Me Now' from 'Against all Odds' (it didn't win it, of course.) This year, we have yet more Alan Mencken songs to exult in! Yay!!! I'm not sure whether they are more politics-determined than in the past, because surely those were too, but they do seem smaller and more overly-cautious than they used to. Edited to add, January 26: Sorry for the negativism, others please enjoy the Oscars in whatever fashion, this will be my last post on the Oscars. Research I've done as a result of this thread has led me to find that the Golden Globes nominated 'Mulholland Drive', 'History of Violence', and 'Eastern Promises' for Best Motion Picture, plus several other nominations for these films. It's extraordinary to find that it would be the Golden Globes that would be the thing that made me lose what little respect I still might have for the Oscars, but they've done it by proving that the Oscars always play it safe. 'Mulholland Drive' was in my opinion and many others Lynch's best film (I don't care for 'Inland Empire', no matter how clever), and was the other best film I saw in the 00's besides 'History of Violence.' 'Mulholland Drive' got one nomination for Lynch himself, and one of the Best Picture nominees that year was 'Moulin Rouge.' That says it all for me.

http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/tr...amp;oref=slogin Here's the 1905 review of 'La Dame aux Camellias' when she appeared in it on Broadway. This is December 13, 1905. Here's a mirror of Bernhardt's 'La Dame...' that is currently available--I suppose that's the film. I did a search for it, but nothing for the actual film. This is nice though:" http://cgi.ebay.com/Sarah-Bernhardt-La-Dam...bayphotohosting

You get to see a little of Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt in 'Elizabeth the Queen' at the beginning of their one movie 'The Guardsmen.' The Broadway play by Maxwell Anderson had run 147 or so performances a year or two prior to the filming.

Oh please, my 'sensitive-type' period disappeared ages ago, it's the profound insights I cherish! I really think I must compare the 1998 Blanchett film automatically not with other films about The Virgin Queen, but rather with 'A Man for All Seasons' and 'The Lion in Winter'--and by the 90s, all sorts of styles were taking place in these 'history films'. I found it easy, in light of this, to skip (forever) 'Shakespeare in Love' and some 1996 movie about Thomas Jefferson, whose name I can't remember. Already by 'Ghandhi' I wasn't caring too much for these films.

Most probably have been keeping up with this story by now, but here's an update with some more details. Accidental overdose does sound more likely in his case, but almost as sad. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h_k1n_z...WLpDIgD8UCDQI80

She was sometimes very good in the film, better than in 'the Aviator', but I thought the 1998 'Elizabeth' very hokey, just a lot of cliches mostly. Would have been more interesting to see Elizabeth doing nothing but hammering out policy, instead of the usual beheadings and castle paranoia. I didn't really get excited about anybody in that but Fanny Ardant, though, who's always welcome as far as I'm concerned. I'm having a hard time even remembering it, and I didn't get to it till about 3 months ago. The face was good when made up for this one. They often do a Botticelli look for Elizabeth I, and I think in the 70s that's what Glenda Jackson's looked like. Now that I think of it, Glenda Jackson might be the way for Blanchett to go. Glenda always 'filled out' her roles, even if she couldn't do everything (who can? nobody), and Ms. Blanchett, though prettier, reminds me a bit of Jackson. This is just off-the-cuff, I just thought of it, and it could be off. I just don't think Blanchett quite fulfills the potentials as much as she implies are there, but 'The Aviator' was mostly a failure too. I wonder if Blanchett has potentials for Jackson-type roles like 'Women in Love' and 'The Rainbow' and also 'Return of the Soldier', which is very moving and not often seen (Jackson, Christie, Bates, Ann-Margret--and they're all good in it.) I'm with carbro, though, in never caring who wins, even though I watch more movies. Even though I wouldn't watch it, I hope the show happens, just because there's too much abnormal going on, and this is a national ritual--just like the Fourth of July, I guess. The writers' strike combined with the stock market and mortgage mess--we managed to do Xmas and New Year's, and now we need some other frivolities so we don't sink.

ALL the arts are market-driven, even if not only market-driven--it's not a matter anymore of pop art and classical art in that sense. ABT and NYCB galas, fundraising, courting big donors, you can see the whole hierarchy of patrons in any Playbill, and the biggest contributors are favoured--purely on the amount donated, not on whether they are Old New York or vulgar nouveau-riche. I don't care for the awards ceremonies either, and don't watch them, but it should come as no surprise that many people do enjoy these, and they are certainly harmless. They are no worse than 'THE SOLD-OUT SENSATION RETURNS' which is about Balanchine and Martins at today's HOT NEW NYCB and is not 'esoteric ballet discussion'. All arts institutions are a part of capitalism, by the way, and I think we are not supposed to get into political theory on this board. There are plenty of hard-Marxist blogs for which I can even supply you with names if you want to talk about government funding in semi-Socialist nations in Europe, but ABT and other American ballet companies are into BIG MONEY.

They did that with Jake Gyllenhall too, and that was just as much a starring role as Ledger's. Cate Blanchett has a lot of talent, but I've yet to her see her really as sharp as she needs to be--a few more revolutions, a touch more energy and she'll be there. That Katharine Hepburn imitation didn't impress me that much, and this partly because Ava Gardner would be even harder to do--but I thought Kate Beckinsale really did get a lot of the quality. Never would have expected it.

Of course I get the drift, Leonid, but can you (or anyone else) specify NIFOM, I coudn't find it with the NQOCD's, etc., and I might wish to use it. The various glossaries for this sort of thing did not have anything but 'Naked in Front of Mirror', but feel free to PM me, as I would really like to know. We Americans don't know nearly all of these unless we're living in the UK. I thought it was possibly 'Not In Front of Me' or almost anything, but it's not readily available. What I see with Mezentseva may not be something as rare as I imagine it, but that I usually recognize as such, if for myself only--some sort of voluptuousness of movement I thought I saw in this Odile. Another time I thought I saw this was in the POB Jewels DVD, with Marie-Agnes Gillot in 'Rubies.' I believe I recall that most people thought this was not quite what was needed here, but I had liked it that way and thought M. Carbone brought the more overt kind of sparkle, since that was seemingly needed. In other words, it's a kind of using the body as another musical instrument that doesn't ignore the orchestra but doesn't seem to be 'keeping time' or dependent on the 'real music' either, maybe best said as 'two musics in a harmonious counterpoint or easy conversation' (if possible.) Anyway, I could well be missing some major point here, but this kind of musicality of dancing--a dancer with a partially independent music but which doesn't actually break away from the instruments playing--is what I used to think of as the most important characteristic of Suzanne Farrell's musicality when dancing. I hadn't ever thought I'd seen this in any Swan Lakes or Sleeping Beautys, though, so even if my impression is right in a literal since, it might be something considered too narcissistic (or something) for those ballets--perhaps self-indulgent and 'mannered', as you say (I'm quite capable of having a taste for the vulgar mannered, I imagine). But Odile to me is better the more seductive, though, and the costume she wore made me find her irresistible.

I was aware of that when I said 'another piece', but it turns out we most likely disagree anyway because this Odile was taped in 1986, and a search of NYTimes finds the 'Scotch Symphony' in 1989. Which means I thought there was something I used to find musical in Farrell in Mezentseva before 'Scotch Symphony.' I thought she was incredibly musical, although whether it's 'in the appropriate way' I wouldn't know. I would probably like her in this, although this is one of my least favourite Balanchine ballets, and I always find it boring, largely because of the music. As we've discovered, she couldn't have applied it directly, having gotten to 'Scotch' after this Odile I just saw, but again I find this thread interesting like the discussions of Sylvie Guillem, about whom people also seem very partisan. Obviously, I'm no purist, and if her Odette would not be so transporting, that wouldn't surprise me, given how luxurious she is, nor would it matter to me, since I see these old pieces mostly in fragments anyway. I don't look for 'complete Swan Lakes' as such, because they're almost never available, would be like waiting for Godot. But totally disagree with one commenter's remark on Mezentseva's 'total lack of sexiness'.

I just read a big slice of this thread after watching Mezentzeva's Black Swan with Konstantin Zaklinsky. 'Juicy thread', Old-Fashioned says. Yes, indeed. I liked her Black Swan better than any I've ever seen, because she's so creamy. Someone mentioned 'she's not very fast', but what is that anyway? It's not slow, is it? My impression was that she could open up very fast choreography and make it look leisurely, not clipped--I don't think she's literally slower. She's extravagant, and I think carbro said something about 'the Farrell touch' regarding another piece. And physically a MOST BEAUTIFUL BALLERINA to boot! And her partner Konstantin Zaklinsky is this dream! Oh yes, I find this interesting that there was such a divide, and yet I don't have any Peterburg training to be on this side of the divide at all...I dig this dancer, she has some nerve! And girl bear talks about her wondrous arms. Yes, these are marvels indeed, and may seem why she can give the illusion of slowing things when she might be opening up, but someone else who likes her would have to confirm that. All I know is I'd never heard of her and was watching 'Magic of the Kirov' to see Kolpakova, and I couldn't believe this kind of Odile.

Olsen's apt., at 421 Broome, is a few down from the taller looming one I've often seen walking from my place to Chinatown, and is one of the old Cast Iron District buildings turned into big condos. There were maybe 150-175 people with a good number of TV trucks, etc., about an hour ago. It was the top floor which probably takes up the whole floor and has a barely visible small penthouse or greenhouse on top. I never read any of his publicity and thought he was at least 7-8 years older (even in the younger scenes of 'Brokeback', I thought the actor himself seemed older, projected a much older persona than I associate with young actors.) I could never have imagined he was 25 when he made that film, and never saw any of the others, but actors can really fool you with their ages: I was equally startled that Viggo Mortensen is 48-49. Photos with today's news were much more young-looking, a little like DiCaprio, I thought. This is just pre-January thaw and cold and often dismal with the stock market instability going on especially palpable here, so the kind of atmosphere you wouldn't want to be depressed in about personal things; although since this is apparently suicide, there's more there and I know little about him. Passersby did mention he was dating Ms. Olsen, and his IMDb page has his relationship with Michele Williams, mother of his child, as ending mid-2007.

I liked that touch too, almost gives it a special flavour. And especially with the Grand Ole Opry House for Country Music there... but where Farrell, Baryshnikov, McBride and Martins recorded a PBS special, which I saw at the time, but believe is not readily available any more. I recall some of them were interviewed by Lynn Redgrave at the end. I, too, like the way the culture wars occasionally produce something really unexpected and special.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/...d/index.html?hp This is shocking.

I found this on Zizi Jeanmaire's IMDb page. It would be nice, but pretty ordinary, without the last part 'a way to grow old' as well as 'a way to go on...' That makes it wise and inspiring--and therefore not secretly slightly depressing. "As you get older you become more understanding. When I was young it was all about me. I was very egocentric. Now it is a pleasure to work with young people who have talent. It is a continuity for me. It is a way to go on...and, I think, a way to grow old."

Not nearly as often as I wish... Yes, I was thinking about these issues, and it has to be with male/female things eons old, and some of my most feminist friends (who claim to love Helen Mirren with no make-up) go on and use some lipstick. One time I made a slightly outrageous (though masculine) party costume for myself in the 70s, sort of a combination of Harlequin and Breughel. I modelled it for my girlfriend of the time and thought it needed a little lipstick for me as well. She said 'WHY did you put on lipstick!!!!???' Oh well, I bet you are, though! Anyway, however she got that way, I still agree that Patty MacBride is one of the most delicious-looking creatures I've ever seen anywhere. Nadja Auermann is fine with me as well, though. And dancers definitely would agree with carbro that they are the best-looking, as Peter Martins reassures us in 'Far from Denmark'. Many would love the 'civilians' nomenclature as well. I knew one choreographer who even told me he thought dancers had an especially keen 'existence awareness'. I hope they do, but that was still a bit