Sunday December 27, 2009 matinee - Is there a name for the phenomenon of stars shining during broad daylight? That's what happened at today's NUTCRACKER matinee at New York City Ballet where the casting included four top principals: Wendy Whelan, Philip Neal, Ashley Bouder and Teresa Reichlen.
Clothilde Otranto gave us a brisk-tempo party scene in which Ellen Bar's gracious Hostess and Henry Seth's expansive acting as the good Doctor welcomed the truly magical Andre Kramarevsky as Drosselmeyer; Krammy made quick work of repairing the broken Nutrcacker and then commenced to cast growing spells on the tree, furnishings and toys. He should be on the faculty at Hogwart's. There was improvising among the party guests, and it's fun seeing the young dancers practicing the old social customs: "I think everyone should curtsey, don't you?" as Woolly said to Mrs. Durham in MAURICE. Lively dancing from Sarah Villwock, Kristen Segin and Vincent Paradiso as the dolls. The Snowflake set piece, led off by Ms. Villwock, was again exhilarating.
Photo of Wendy Whelan and Philip Neal in CHACONNE by Gene Schiavone. How many times do you suppose Wendy Whelan has danced the Sugar Plum Fairy? She doesn't just dance it here at Lincoln Center but each year she takes her toes shoes and hits the road: I think this season she's had three guest stints doing the SPF hither and yon. So the opening variation of Act II must be old hat to her by now, but watching her today you'd think that Mr. B had just created it on her and she was showing it for the first time: so fresh, elegant and detailed. Later, in the pas de deux, Wendy and her cavalier Philip Neal treated us to some grand dancing which thrilled the crowd as Wendy took flying leaps to Philip's shoulder and later appeared to glide magically across the stage. In the coda Wendy came zooming down the diagonal in a flurry of tricky turns and Philip then swept her into the final fish-dive.
No two Ashley Bouder Dewdrops are alike. Oh, the steps are the same but what she does with them is something else. She might linger on a particular balance one time, vary the velocity of her turns another: this variety of phrasing means you can see her in the role two or three times a season and always be bowled over by her. She was on peak form today and the audience loved her, showering her with applause after each solo passage and with a big cheer for her at the end. Photo of Ashley in BALLO DELLA REGINA by Paul Kolnik.
Still in full bloom as their strenuous demi-Flower season draws to an end, Kaitlyn Gilliland and Gwyneth Muller danced with serene grace this afternoon.
Teresa Reichlen with her hypnotically long limbs and lush style was a queenly Arabian; in the long solo she kept the audience completely under her spell. Maya Collins was simply delicious in Hot Chocolate with the polished Christian Tworzyanski. Antonio Carmena was first-rate as Tea and Craig Hall's highly accomplished, crowd-pleasing Candy Cane was a treat - but both these guys should be doing the Sugar Plum cavalier. Ashley Laracey was again the charming Marzipan. Was that really Andrew Scordato as Mother Ginger? It didn't really look like him but then - with that makeup - it could have been anyone. Whoever it was had the novel idea of turning Mother G's hand mirror into a mandolin.
During the intermission I had the pleasure of meeting Jeremy Wong who played Fritz in Act I. Jeremy is nine years old and is at SAB where he takes class from Philip Neal. Today Jeremy had a double-header of performances, at 2:00 and 6:00 PM. In talking with him, I found that we have something in common: we both love opera. Jeremy is a polite and well-mannered guy: the exact opposite of his very naughty stage personality as Fritz.
And always a pleasure to see Rhona and her daughter, down from Saratoga for this starry afternoon.
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