Oberon's Grove

Ballet Wish List: TWILIGHT COURANTE

TWILIGHT COURANTE, the Stephen Baynes work set to Handel keyboard suites, was the ballet from the 2002 Diamond Project that drew me to every one of its four performances. Part of this was due to the presence of Wendy Whelan in the cast but also both visually and musically it was an unusually appealing piece: a tutu ballet set to baroque music which nonetheless had a contemporary feel. There was an enchanting moment when Wendy laid down on stage and went to sleep "dreaming about Nikolaj"; it was the ballet that first paired Abi Staffford  with Benjamin Millepied and they really brought out the best in each other. Rachel Rutherford {dancing with Alex Ritter for Mr. Baynes in the rehearsal photo above} also had a very attractive role. The piece vanished from the repertoire - too soon, in my view.

ZAUBERFLOETE At The Met

Monday October 29, 2007 - Originally this wasn't on my list of operas to see this season; I saw the fascinating Julie Taymor production three times last season (and loved it) so I thought I would give it a rest this year. But as the opening drew closer, the thought of seeing some new-to-me singers and of seeing Diana Damrau and Eric Cutler in the leads drew me down to the Met tonight. Damrau is making Met history this year by being the first soprano to sing both Pamina and Queen of the Night there in a single season. I didn't like her much as Zerbinetta in ARIADNE AUF NAXOS (her Met debut role) but her Aithra in THE EGYPTIAN HELEN  was one of the few bright spots in that dud. Her performance as Pamina was neutral; I think the role lies too low for her and sometimes the voice seemed to have an almost shrewish edge. For me, this music calls for roundness or sweetness of tone, whatever the size of the voice being offered, and I thought Damrau sounded a little dry.

I met Eric Cutler when he first moved to New York City to join the Met Young Artists Program after winning the Met Auditions in 1998. For the next few seasons while I was working at Tower I was able to keep up with Eric's blossoming career since he would always drop in when he was in town; that's the one thing I miss most about Tower: it was so easy to stay in touch with so many people while I worked there. He sounded really good as Tamino, the voice clear and well-projected; he seemed to have reserves of tone to call on when needed. There is a trace of vulnerability in the sound which makes it quite appealing to me. Eric's is a tall guy who moves comfortably onstage. He rightly makes Tamino the centerpiece of the opera.

We had a Met debut as Queen of the Night tonight, Anna-Kristiina Kaappola, and she scored a delightful success in both arias, the voice having a dizzy ping as it goes higher. She tossed off the top-Fs and dazzled in the roulades of the Queen's fiendishly difficult arias, the voice flying clearly out into the big house. Brava!

Another hit with the audience was the lively Papageno of Stephane Degout. He has a nicely modulated sound and sang a high percentage of the notes, steering clear of the little giggles and vocal fluffs that some singers apply to this music. He made the birdcatcher charming without being overly cute and took the physical demands of the production easily in stride, vastly annoying his attendant priest (Bernard Fitch).  Failing every test, Papageno nonetheless gets his reward in the spirited Papagena of Monica Yunus. Monica was among the many talented young singers I met at Juilliard in the late 1990s.

Eike Wilm Schulte (left) was back at the Met for the important though brief role of the Speaker. Schulte is a favorite of mine, his excellent Beckmesser a few seasons back  was one of the reasons I came to love MEISTERSINGER so much. Tonight, strapped with the one costume disaster in this fantasy production (I thought they were Masons, not Cubists?) Schulte impressed with the calm gravity of his singing. The scene before the temple doors has become my favorite in the opera; Tamino's world - his way of thinking - is transformed by the Speaker's words. After their exchange, Eric beautifully voiced the moving monolog which begins with "O ew'ge nacht!" and which leads him to use the magic flute for the first time.

Reinhard Hagen was a physically imposing Sarastro, on the young side. His sang well, with fine low notes, but the voice is not really distinctive. Dietmar Kerschbaum (debut/photo) was an incisive Monastatos, refusing to overplay the role. The three ladies (Wendy Bryn Harmer, Maria Zifchak and Wendy White) were vocally pleasing but they overdid the 'voices' in their dialogue, mugging and camping it up. The Armed Men (Michael Myers & Keith Miller) were strong in their chorale. The three boys were an improvement over last year's trio in terms of pitch and projection, though their vocal stamina seemed to lapse later in the evening. The ballerina/birds were again a lovely diversion and the crew of puppeteers won a strong round of applause for their efforts in creating the magical effects of the production.

Kirill Petrenko conducted and, after a stately opening theme, seemed to be in something of rush. Orchestral unity faltered from time to time and the singers seemed sometimes to be scampering to keep up. But overall I thought it was pretty exhilarating. During the act I finale, one of the chorus members had a coughing spell; in 40+ years of opera-going, I've never seen  that happen. It's distracting enough when  audience members cough, but this could easily have been avoided - he was in the back row and could simply have stepped offstage. But he stayed on, punctuating the beautiful music with his hacking.

Julie Taymor's vividly visual production is a joy from overture to final curtain. If you live in the NYC area and haven't seen it, it's really worth the trip.

ABT SWAN LAKE on DVD

We finally watched the ABT SWAN LAKE on DVD; it served as a reminder of everything I dislike about full-length story ballets. People complain that City Ballet's production of SWAN LAKE by Peter Martins is too pared-down but for me it is all of SWAN LAKE I'll ever want to see. And I love Peter's staging of the ending: a real human tragedy.

The ABT version features such superb dancers as Gillian Murphy as Odette/Odile, Angel Corella (Siegfried) and Herman Cornejo (Benno) and they all deliver the goods with total assurance and brilliance. As Odette, I thought Murphy lacked that poignant mixture of fear and longing that should colour the swan queen's slow journey to trusting Siegfried. On the other hand, as Odile, her fouettes are stunning: quadruples thrown in...we saw her in this ballet at the Met a few seasons back and she stopped the show, literally. Corella is so handsome, such an easy virtuoso, and he seems involved in the drama - sometimes there have been complaints about him in that regard - but there doesn't seem to be much chemistry between Gillian and Angel, and she is a bit too tall for him. Cornejo is just plain brilliant.

The performance meanders, bogged down by sluggish tempi from the pit with the occasional eccentric acceleration. The sets are cheesy, with spangles on the lake. The swans dance nicely. The would-be brides get lost in the shuffle of the national dances. Just as I was about to nod off completely, the doors to the ballroom fly open and Marcelo Gomes arrives to save the day. As Rothbart, Gomes is given an expanded dancing role in this production; a lesser dancer might have made this interpolation seem endless but Marcelo has the breathtaking line and amplitude to make the slow solo mesmerizing. And also - let's face it - he is a gorgeous guy. He puts the princesses under his spell and even makes the Queen hot under her bejeweled collar. Having been lured in by Marcelo, we were ready to enjoy the excellent Black Swan pas de deux which Gillian and Angel delivered. {Photographs are by Roy Round from his wonderful book ROUND ABOUT THE BALLET}.

But over by the lake, Rothbart is back in his swamp-creature guise; I didn't really feel the tenderness and desperation of Siegfried's remorse or of Odette's forgiveness and resignation. They fling themselves into the lake, somewhat comically, and then there is the most god-awful pink & pouffy sunrise apotheosis as the ballet limps to its close.

When we last saw this production in the theatre, Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes had the leads and the power of their personalities and the perfect dove-tailing of their interpretations overcame the dismal aspects of the staging and it was a memorable night. The video presentation force-feeds us the production's overblown and garish aspects so that, as wonderfully as Gillian and Angel danced, it seemed endless.   

Tennis Twins

The tennis season is winding down; today I came across this dramatic photo of the Bryan brothers, Bob & Mike, who are doubles specialists.

BLACK BOOK

We watched Paul Verhoeven's excellent film, BLACK BOOK. Carice van Houton stars as a Jewish woman, Rachel aka Ellis, a singer who has fled West from Germany and is now living in the Netherlands as World War II draws to a close. The film is populated with double agents and hidden agendas; no one is who he or she seems to be. At times the lines between good guys and bad guys are severely blurred. Ellis/Rachel survives several harrowing betrayals on both sides as her double life closes in on her. Just when you think you have figured out which side everyone is really on, there is another twist. Ms. van Houton is a really engrossing actress, beautiful and candid, and she can sing, too.

Ellis enters into a passionate affair with Gestapo bigwig Ludwig Muntze (played by Sebastian Koch), partly to get inside information on police tactics and partly out of genuine passion. As Muntze, Koch reveals a gentle, introspective personality under his hardered, efficient exterior. He is a stamp collector and quite tender as a lover even while realizing that Ellis is really Jewish. Muntze betrays colleagues and is betrayed by them but stays faithful to Ellis until he meets his death in a shocking way. Koch, who we also admired in THE LIVES OF OTHERS, brings a wonderful human dimension to the screen; he can almost make you like this ambiguous character.

Photo: Waldemar Kobus & Halina Reijn sharing one of the good-times scenes in the film which take on an air of desperation as news of the impending fall of Berlin filters out to Holland. Mr. Kobus as Nazi thug Gunther Franken is truly scary, all the more so for his rather jolly outward persona which covers a dark and sinister reality. He has a courageously comic full-frontal nude scene at one point. Halina Reijn as Ronnie - a party girl doing 'secretarial work' for the Nazi command  - was really great to watch: so exuberant and trashy in an almost amoral way. By the sheer force of her sexy personality, Ronnie is able to swing to the side of the victors after the Nazis are overthrown, averting the horrible treatment meted our to other collaborators.

Halina Reijn is an actress new to me, and she was so outgoing and sexed-up in her role as Ronnie that I was surprised in the bonus features to find her looking rather different than she did in her 40s persona. The film opens with a scene where Ronnie, on a 1956 bus tour in Israel, happens upon her wartime colleague Ellis/Rachel who is living and teaching on a kibbutz. Their story is then told in retrospect. At the end of the film we are back on the kibbutz and the quiet life that Ellis/Rachel has chosen seems about to be disrupted as an attack is imminent.

There are many disturbing scenes in the film, including the degradation of collaborators after the war has ended. The traditional punishment for women who have slept with the enemy is to have their hair publicly hacked off as the crowd shouts "Nazi whore!". In the special feature about the making of the film, one of the extras prepares for the scene, fingering her blonde hair with a wistful smile. But after they've finished filming, the woman is shown in a fit of weeping: "They actually did this to people!"

MACBETH at the Met

Friday October 26, 2007 - The Met's new production of Verdi's MACBETH reminded me of an old folkie era song which began: "What's the difference being different when it's difference now that looks alike..."  Another updated production: and while it is a perfectly acceptable view of the opera, these things are so generic now. You could take these sets and costumes and pretty much stage anything from LA CALISTO to the RING Cycle on them.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't really memorable either. It works well enough for MACBETH but the chorus could just as well be Gibichungs or Biscayan gypsies as Scottish witches and warriors, and it's typical now to have a jeep in an opera production, whether it belongs to Sesto in GIULIO CESARE or to the smugglers in CARMEN.  The scene where Macbeth re-visits the witches began with the hags taking 'unholy communion" and then vomiting it up into a large goblet. From this goblet, Macbeth later drank and was provided with hallucinations. That was sort of gross.

I really liked Zeljko Lucic in his debut role as Barnaba in GIOCONDA last season. His voice is Met-sized and so is his personality. Passing thru the lobby last week, I heard a voice singing Macbeth's music and thought for a moment they were playing Sherrill Milnes - at his best - but it was Lucic from rehearsal footage being shown on the plasma screens. Lucic has the heft and the grand style that the best Verdi baritones have shown over the years. His voice 'speaks' perfectly in the house at every dynamic level; his "Tutto e finito!" after the murder of Duncan was beautifully sustained in piano. He developed the line and inflections of his great final aria with the right sense of tarnished grandeur and remorse.  There were passing flat notes  - a problem which Warren, MacNeil & Milnes all faced at one time or another - but overall I really liked Lucic very much.

Andrea Gruber was originally listed for Lady Macbeth in this production but reportedly Peter Gelb was so taken with Maria Guleghina's performance in TABARRO last season that he invited the Ukranian soprano (left, in rehearsal with Lucic) to step in to the first cast of the new MACBETH. I'm not a fan of either soprano so for me it was sort of irrelevant. In her recent performances over the airwaves, Gruber has displayed an unpleasant wobble and lack of support though there were a few moments in her TURANDOT last year that made me think she might be solving her problems. I loved Guleghina when I first heard her as Santuzza at the Met in 1994 but the voice has altered beyond recognition now. Guleghina has a sort of 'diva' presence that some people think is what being an operatic soprano is all about. It's theatrical and a bit campy. Quite honestly I had no idea what to expect from her as Lady Macbeth.

Of course, over the years, all manner of vocal garbage in the singing of Lady Macbeth's music has been charitably overlooked because of a letter Verdi wrote in which he said the voice of Lady M should be harsh and choked, 'the voice of the devil'. So when divas scream, cackle and boom their way clumsily thru the music, certain of their fans will proudly say "She's just what Verdi wanted!" On the other hand, if you look at the score, it is full of notes, phrasing, fiorature, dynamics...and the best Ladys deliver what is written, using their instruments to express her satanic qualities rather than smearing and plundering the vocal line. That is why Callas in the three arias recorded for EMI is so fascinating: harsh & choked? Yes. "...voice of the devil"? Yes. But all the notes are there, every nuance expressed musically and the dynamics craftily observed. We experience the character in full, no cheap shots or gratuitous huffing and puffing. Shirley Verrett at La Scala and the unusual and intriguing Cristina Deutekom in Hartford also found the key to making Lady Macbeth a musical as well as visceral thrill.

When I first heard Guleghina in 1994 as Santuzza I was truly bowled over: the voice was large and passionate, and she dug into her magically dark chest voice unsparingly to bring us Santuzza's deep-rooted anguish. I believe that Guleghina soon realized that if she was going to sustain her career she would have to back off the chest because it was dragging down the top. Had she continued to sing as she did in that CAV, she'd be singing the title role in PIQUE DAME by now. As the years followed on, she continued to tamper and tinker with the voice, pushing it up to E-flat as the middle became rather empty and the lower register is sometimes very weak - although tonight she used a bit of chest here and there. Her top is pressurized and often a shade flat. To her credit, she was in better voice tonight than on the webcast of the prima. I disliked her singing and acting and the way she milked the applause at her bow.         

John Relyea (Banquo) and Dimitri Pittas (Macduff) gave very solid performances of their rather one-dimensional roles. I have always loved the opening scene of MACBETH both for the infectious rhythms of the witches choruses, the musical simplicity of their prophecies, and the big duet for Banquo and Macbeth, which John and Zeljko delivered with real authority tonight. John's big aria went very well although Levine was dishing out bit too much orchestral volume in the final phrases. Dimitri's sincerity and warmth of tone won him a good volley of applause & bravos for his aria - one of Verdi's most melodic - but otherwise the role doesn't give him much chance to shine.

James Levine was on the podium and David Chan in the concert-master's chair. Levine seems a bit more physically animated than in recent seasons. He led a powerful and nuanced reading of the score and the orchestra played very well, with many individual voices making memorable effects, notably the clarinet and oboe in the Sleepwalking Scene - a scene which I think Levine took too rapidly. The chorus were a big factor in the performance and the wobbly women's voices were less distressing here than when they played geishas in BUTTERFLY.

"S'allontanarono!", the dance-like chorus of the witches which closes the first scene, is possibly my favorite of all the Verdi choruses. In the mid-1980s Ruccardo Muti led a concert performance of MACBETH at Carnegie Hall and he set such a rollicking tempo for this chorus that the vererable hall seemed literally to sway.   

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Amanda Edge was always one of my favorite dancers at NYC Ballet and I was really sorry to see her leave the Company in 2006. She danced in the Las Vegas production of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and last season she appeared in a solo dance role in City Opera's production of LA TRAVIATA.

I've been keeping tabs on Amanda via the internet since she left NYCB and was happy to find a story about her new association with Longview Ballet Theatre. She has worked with them in the past, but now it's official.

When I was working at Tower, the dark-haired and beautiful Amanda brightened my afternoons when she would drop in between rehearsals. The article says she will continue to live in New York City which means I might run into her again as I did one day this past July.

IN THE WINGS

When I think of Kyle Froman, I think of a very good-looking  young man with a perfect body, a great smile, nice hair, gallant stage manners and abundant youthful energy. Kyle views himself somewhat differently, as I found today when I began reading his new book IN THE WINGS.  I was first amused and then touched by the fact that Kyle seems to consider himself one of the 'grand old men' of the New York City Ballet and, after eleven years dancing there he looks on 'the younger generation' (his own words) and wonders how they feel about the senior dancers. He seems already to be looking ahead to a time when he won't be dancing at City Ballet any more.

When we attend a performance at City Ballet we see the finished product; it is easy to appreciate the beauty of the choreography and the dancers; and it is also easy for some people to find fault: under-rehearsed, lack of energy, out-of-sync. What we don't see is what has gone into putting the ballet onstage and in this book Kyle - in words and photos - gives us a look at the reality behind the illusion. He takes us thru a typical dancer's day at NYCB, from class to the final curtain at night. It is a day filled with sweat, pain, frustration, camaraderie, elation and exhaustion.

On the day described, Kyle is preparing for SQUARE DANCE and his whole day is focussed on the eventual goal of being 'on' for the performance. What he puts his body and mind thru as the day proceeds will make you think twice the next time you're sitting in the State Theatre watching a performance. Injury is almost routine, pain is part of the job. Kyle evaluates his tasks and the time available to him as the minutes tick by: countdown to curtain. Everything must come together for that time onstage.  The satisfaction of accomplishment at the end of the day is its own reward.

Kyle's photographs have graced the Dancer on Dancer pages of the NYCB website for a couple of years now and in the book he lets us see some of our favorite dancers in the course of their day's work. Opening a studio door, he might come upon something like the SERENADE rehearsal with Maria K, Stephen Hanna & Miranda Weese (left). He gives us a view of life behind the scenes and of the process of turning perspiration into poetry.

For me, huge Wendy Whelan fan that I am, the book is a delight: Wendy turns up on several pages and of the many photos I have seen of her, Kyle's instantly became favorites.

I know how much ballet fans love backstage photographs and for the NYCB crowd, Kyle's book is going to be a necessity. You can find out more about it, or order it directly from Wiley's here.

The other thing about Kyle Froman is, he's a married man. Reading about his marriage to Andrew Kirtzman a few years ago made me feel inexplicably happy even though I don't know either of them personally. Kyle dedicates IN THE WINGS to Andrew and his heartfelt appreciation is so beautifully expressed.  Maybe someday - if the world survives the current darkness - people will come to view marriage not as a political issue but as an act of love.    

Alert: MORPHOSES at The Winger

Please, everyone: take a trip to The Winger here for a really fascinating story by Christopher Wheeldon about his new company MORPHOSES. The photographs are super. If you've ever wondered why I am so madly in love with these dancers, the photos will say everything that my clumsy words can never express. Thank you, Christopher!

Ballet Wish List: CHICHESTER PSALMS

During intermission at one of the last performances of the Spring 2007 season at New York City Ballet, Susan and I were admiring some of the large photographs displayed on the various levels of the Promenade. When we came to the picture from CHICHESTER PSALMS, Susan said: "Now that's a ballet I'd love to see again."

PSALMS is unique in the City Ballet repertoire and for my money it's one of the best things Peter Martins has created.  It is not a 'step-oriented' ballet but more of a pageant. The Leonard Bernstein score is so appealing in its spiritual quality laced with rhythmic variety but avoiding the rather bogus 'pop' feeling Bernstein used in his awful MASS.

The work features a chorus ranged on risers at the back of the stage with a boy-soprano soloist. The dancers wear very unusual (for the men) long skirts. The women are in white with their hair down creating an angelic effect while the men in black seem somber and at times slightly ominous. A lyrical adagio is the centerpiece of the ballet.

Originally danced by two of the Company's most charismatic dancers, Carla Korbes and Amar Ramasar {in the Paul Kolnik photo above}, the principal roles were later taken on by Dena Abergel and Henry Seth
which was a treat for me as I love seeing favorite corps dancers in leading roles. {I really want to see Henry cast as Drosselmeyer in NUTCRACKER this season.}

I'm hoping for an opportunity to experience CHICHESTER PSALMS again.