cargill Posted April 12, 2002 Share Posted April 12, 2002 Alexandra, I hope no one was thinking I was being critical! The thought just struck me as funny. I knew exactly what was meant. Link to comment
Alexandra Posted April 12, 2002 Author Share Posted April 12, 2002 Thanks, Mary. I'm sure no one meant to be critical. But I wanted to stop the thread from being focused on this, and I really wasn't sure how it would be interpreted. Link to comment
Michael Posted April 13, 2002 Share Posted April 13, 2002 I'm not sure it was Bruhn's production of Sylphide you saw at ABT in 1970 Glebb -- Now that you mention it, the Sylphide and her confreres (or consoeurs) fly in the Bruhn production, but I do not remember any broomsticks. It is played rather straight. I saw the Bruhn production at ABT two seasons ago in NY when they gave it three or four performances -- The Sylph was either Julie Kent or Yan Chen, and James was either Belotserkofsky (sic, spelling?) or Malakhov. Kent was the superior Sylph and both Jamess were very good. The reel, above all, was well performed. The production generally suffered from a loss of (or lack of) important detail. And It was never quite made clear who and what the Sylph was and why and how James's effort to possess her and to know her, and his lack of appreciation for the freedom and otherness of her nature, inevitably caused her destruction. But even diminished in that way, it was still a beautiful ballet and better to see than 9/10ths of what I see on that stage and elsewhere. Link to comment
Victoria Leigh Posted April 13, 2002 Share Posted April 13, 2002 The witches flew on broomsticks in the Lander production, which was staged in '64 I think. They might have still been doing that one in '70, Glebb. Link to comment
Alexandra Posted April 13, 2002 Author Share Posted April 13, 2002 I'm sure they were, Victoria. The flying on broomsticks were one of Lander's comic inventions put in in the 1930s -- like making Gurn an old, red-haired clown instead of a younger man -- I'm told. Link to comment
Michael Posted April 13, 2002 Share Posted April 13, 2002 Which staging of Sylphide was it for the Kirkland/Baryshnikov performances? Link to comment
Alexandra Posted April 13, 2002 Author Share Posted April 13, 2002 An earlier staging by Bruhn, very much "after Lander" -- Gurn was a comic character, although not a middle-aged one. I think Bruhn staged and directed it without "rethinking" (think of that! How revolutionary!!!) although there are a lot of details missing. The Met production (which I have to say I do not like at all) where James now lives in a grand house, was done because the other designs, and the scale of it, were just too small for the Met. Link to comment
atm711 Posted April 13, 2002 Share Posted April 13, 2002 Manhattnik--I liked your list. I saw Tudor's R&J danced by Markova and Kaye--but it is Hugh Laing's performance that has stayed with me. At the time, I found it too slow moving and I wasn't thrilled with Delius' music---However, having matured much since then I would love to see it again--but I don't know where they could replace Laing's brooding performance. As to Berman's "Giselle"---no! All those blues and blacks made for a very cold atmosphere--I like my "Giselle" to be bathed in the warmth of autumn colors. Link to comment
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