CriticalDance Forum

New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
September 30, 2010

“Serenade,” “The Magic Flute,” “Stars and Stripes”


“The Magic Flute,” which New York City Ballet returned to its repertoire last night, has a pedigree that seems to take longer to describe than the one-act piece itself. The ballet originated in the early 19th Century, and may trace its roots back to opera buffa, as a variation on a standard theme -- boy and girl are in love, girl's father wants her to marry a clownish rich old man, boy and girl outwit both of them and marry, and the town then celebrates the wedding. If the plot sounds similar to other comic story ballets, that’s because it is. The resemblance to sweet pantomime ballets from the same general period (e.g., “La Fille Mal Gardee,” “Coppelia,” “Don Quixote”) is not coincidental.

Choreographed to music by Riccardo Drigo (an Italian-born composer who did the bulk of his composing and conducting for the Russian Imperial Ballet), "The Magic Flute" has nothing to do with the Mozart opera of the same name. The initial production by Lev Ivanov debuted, according to the NYCB program notes, as a curtain-raiser for a performance of the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg on March 10, 1893, joined the Mariinsky Ballet repertory a month later, and, in various modifications was performed for many years thereafter. Its original performance included 13 year olds Michael Fokine and Stanilava Belinskaya (as the leads Luke and Lise), Agrippina Vaganova, aged 14, and AARP member Serge Legat, then 18. Since then, dancers who have appeared in one or another of its productions included Nicholas Legat, Enrico Cecchetti, Anna Pavlova (who created her own version, which was performed at the Met -the original - in New York in 1913), and George Balanchine, who danced the roles of Luke and the Marquis (the rich old man) with the Mariinsky before he moved on to the Ballets Russes.

Balanchine decided to reinvent “The Magic Flute,” and purportedly assigned to Peter Martins the task of re-choreographing it virtually from scratch, bound only by the story and the Petipa style, in order to force him out of his choreographic comfort zone. The piece premiered at a benefit for the School of American Ballet on May 9, 1981, and, somewhat revised, was given its NYCB premiere on January 21, 1982.

As I recall, Mr. Martins’s production opened to fair to middling reviews. I missed the original performances, and am not aware of any changes that may have been made between the initial performances and this revival. But I found the piece to be a delightful condensation of its full-length antecedents. Of course it’s silly, and of course it’s cotton-candy sweet, but it’s supposed to be, and it never takes itself too seriously. More importantly, it showcases some nifty choreography – particularly for Lise – that grafts the intricate Martins movement quality onto NYCB-style speed, all the while looking like Balanchine’s “Coppelia” choreographed with a Danish-modern edge.

Megan Fairchild danced Lise, the girl next door with a bit of Kitri in her, who also happens to be more clever than anyone else in town. Her stage personality, and her execution of Martins’s wickedly complex choreography for Lise, dominated the piece. Ms. Fairchild was superb in every way.

Andrew Veyette performed Luke as a charming nice guy who may have less between the ears than the girl he loves, but his Luke has a lot of looks and personality and can dance really well. More importantly, Luke is a good soul who’s nice to doltish people, animals, and ogres bearing unseen gifts (like a flute that, when played, makes those listening to it dance until they forget they want to hang him). Adam Hendrickson played the Marquis as a dandified lecherous old man, sort of a cross between Gamache and Dr. Coppelius. Henry Seth and Gwyneth Muller were appropriately cartoonish as the Farmer and his Wife (Lise’s parents).

And did I mention that there were 18 children from SAB appearing as, well, children? They appeared to range in ages from around 7 to 12 (but dancers always look younger than they are), looked great, and danced with typical SAB enthusiasm and competence.

All in all, “The Magic Flute” may not be the most important or most intellectually challenging of the works one will see in the NYCB repertory, but it’s well worth seeing.

“Stars and Stripes,” which was also revived at last night’s performance, and which, like “The Magic Flute,” is scheduled to be performed again later this fall and during NYCB’s winter season, is not one of Balanchine’s masterworks. Its unabashed jingoism isn’t the problem (choreographed to marches by John Philip Sousa, adapted and orchestrated by Hershy Kay, one would have expected nothing less); the fact that half of it looks like a tribute to the Rockettes is. But the piece is somewhat rescued by its second half, which added fireworks to what otherwise would have been the staged equivalent of a Fourth of July parade.

“Stars and Stripes” is divided into five “campaigns,” The first two, titled “1st Regiment: Corcoran Cadets” and “2nd Regiment: Rifle Regiment,” look like high class Radio City Music Hall. That’s not to say that the performances weren’t good – on the contrary, it was very well danced, particularly by Erica Pereira, who led the first campaign (except she should tone down the lipstick). The piece came to life with Daniel Ulbricht leading the third Campaign, titled “3rd Regiment, Thunder and Lightning. Thunder and lightning was exactly what it was, with Mr. Ulbricht and the corps of men behind him firing Balanchine’s choreographic ammunition. Mr. Ulbricht was simply awesome.

But Sara Mearns, partnered by Charles Askegard, as Liberty Bell and El Capitan in the piece’s Fourth Campaign, provided the piece’s firepower. The pas de deux is loaded with enough choreographic pyrotechnics to bring any ballet audience to its knees. But Ms. Mearns and Mr. Askegard delivered the punch. Ms. Mearns is an extraordinary dancer, with the ability to couple strength and power with typical NYCB speed. She dominates the stage whenever she’s on it, as she did last night.

The evening opened with Balanchine’s “Serenade,” which, as always, is alone worth the price of admission. Led by Jennifer Ringer, Ashley Bouder, and Rebecca Krohn, the piece could not have been danced better (which, I recognize, is what I say with every cast I have the opportunity to see). Ms. Krohn, who debuted in the piece last night, brought a lyrical emphasis to her role, matching the same quality in Ms. Ringer and Ms. Bouder. The result was a wonderfully well balanced performance of one of Balanchine’s masterpieces.

Leigh Witchel reviews the performance on Thursday, September 30 in the New York Post. "Serenade," "The Magic Flute" and "Stars and Stripes."

NY Post

Roslyn Sulcas reviews the same program in the New York Times.

NY Times

Robert Gottlieb reviews the Fall Season in the New York Observer.

NY Observer

NYCB's fall gala program on Thursday, October 8, 2010 included the premiere of Benjamin Millepied's "Plainspoken," Jerome Robbins' "I'm Old Fashioned" and Balanchine's "Tarentella" and "Western Symphony."

Leigh Witchel reviews the performance in the New York Post.

NY Post

Alastair Macaulay reviews the performance in the New York Times.

NY Times

Marina Harss in The Faster Times.

The Faster Times

New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theatre
Lincoln Center
New York, New York

October 7, 2010
“I’m Old Fashioned,” “Plainspoken,” “Tarantella,” “Western Symphony”


New York City Ballet held its first fall season gala last night. The evening was also the occasion for the New York premiere of Benjamin Millepied’s “Plainspoken.” The gala was the more significant event.

NYCB knows how to throw a party. Outside the theater, a photographer’s area was set up to capture the glitterati attending the performance, fenced in from the gawking general public. In order to get into the theater without circling around the Lincoln Center plaza, it was necessary to pass the through the phalanx of photographers – who somehow were able to separate the wheat from the chaff. It took Sarah Jessica Parker, newly appointed to the NYCB Board (and who looked much more glamorous than was captured in the published photos of her that I’ve seen), at least 15 minutes to walk the roughly 50 feet from the photoshoot area to the lobby of the theater. [ok – so she was also very accommodating to autograph-seekers.] All that was missing was the red carpet and Joan Rivers.

Inside the theater, the mezzanine area was tastefully decorated in black and white, and most of it was fenced off from the general ballet-going public. Inside this first-class section, the champagne flowed freely. Outside, the champagne also flowed – but you had to pay for it.

The events on stage were another matter. Just as the opening night of NYCB’s fall season was, as I previously reported, like a gala without the baggage, last night’s performance was (with a couple of exceptions) a gala with more baggage than substance.

After a delightful performance of “I’m Old Fashioned,” Jerome Robbins’s saccharin but sublime tribute to Fred Astaire, the evening continued with “Plainspoken,” which Mr. Millepied choreographed to a commissioned score by David Lang. The contemporary score, which for too much of its length sounded like a musical notation of the vibrating buzz made by a bumble bee when it flies too close to your ear, was not unpleasant to listen to. Unfortunately, however,the piece – at least at its beginning – was imprisoned by the music, with steps choreographed to slavishly hit each beat. The movement didn’t enhance the music or detract from it – it was just there. Unfortunately, the ballet concluded the same way. [I liked Mr. Millepied’s insertion of ‘slouching’ movement at various points (perhaps because, in hindsight, I saw it as a sort of ‘lean on me’ metaphoric connection with the theme of the rest of the piece), until it became overused.]

In between the beginning and closing sections there were signs of life. After the overly long beginning section of the piece (bound by the overly long beginning movement of the score), the cast broke off into pairs and trios, and the choreography seemed to spring to life as Mr. Millepied allowed the music to frame the movement rather than control it. And at that point, it finally became clear that the piece was not only movement to music – it had a definite ‘theme.’ It was, at its core, a series of edgy dances about relationships at a gathering of edgy young people. Yes, Virginia, another relationship ballet.

But, with one exception, the relationships displayed were not pleasing to watch. Particularly unpleasant – though crafted well and danced superbly – was a section for Sterling Hyltin and Tyler Angle, which was uncomfortably aggressive and violent. This theme carried over to a trio, with Ms. Hyltin being tossed from one man to another as if she were a piece of meat to be used and abused over and over again. The choreography was nicely done and intensely performed, but it was very uncomfortable to watch.

In terms of accessibility, the best of the pairings, and the most successful choreographically, was that of Janie Taylor and Jared Angle, whose cautiously sweet and commitment-wary performances brought to my mind Antony Tudor’s “The Leaves Are Fading,” albeit in real, contemporary (read, edgy) time, rather than as a sentiment-laden memory.

“Plainspoken” was followed by outrageously terrific performances from Ashley Bouder and Daniel Ulbricht in George Balanchine’s vibrant “Tarantella.” Both dancers pushed the performance envelope with gusto and exuberance, but never went too far. Their performance was a triumph, and easily the highlight of the evening. The closing piece was the final section from Balanchine’s “Western Symphony” led by Sara Mearns and Charles Askegard. It was a fun way to end the evening - although limiting the performance to a section of the piece seemed to be an unfortunate concession to the time needed to accommodate the post-gala performance gala celebrations.

Marina Harss summarizes the Fall Season at NYCB -- and the Fall for Dance series-- in The Faster Times.

The Faster Times

Robert Greskovic reviews the 2010 Fall Season in the Wall Street Journal.

Wall Street Journal