New York City Ballet: Opening Week, Spring 2007

April 29, 2007

Opening Week Programs for Lincoln Kirstein
New York City Ballet
New York State Theater
April 24, April 25, April 27, 2007

The View from the Fourth Ring is back after a brief hiatus, during which many NYCB performances were consumed. What were the highlights of the winter season? Kyra Nichols and Philip Neal creating a lovely dialogue in Mozartiana; Teresa Reichlin in Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 and Choleric in The Four Temperaments; Devin Alberda in Tribute; Jacques d’Amboise delivering a wonderful, touching remembrance of Melissa Hayden during the January 30 intermission, between Square Dance (what a ballet!) and Liebeslieder Walzer, and then seeing Wendy Whelan and Nicolai Hübbe dancing an exceedingly beautiful "Nein, Geliebter, setze dich"; Daniel Ulbricht in Stars and Stripes; Janie Taylor, back on stage in Afternoon of a Faun, with Sébastien Marcovici; Sara Mearns’s all-humanity-encompassing arabesque in Serenade.

What were the mid-to lowlights? A weak Agon; In Vento, which on a second viewing failed to resonate with me (Why is it so dark? What is the choreographer afraid we’ll see?); I am sorry to say that I fell asleep during my first viewing of the Dybbuk, but at a later performance at which I remained awake it wasn’t really too bad after all; some tepid dancing in Raymonda Variations; the too-often sorry playing of the orchestra (messing up Afternoon of a Faun, for example); unfortunate casting in the Sanguinic section of The Four Temperaments; the fact that Wheeldon’s Klavier is far more interesting from the third row of the orchestra, where I sat on a second viewing, than it is from the fourth ring. The cast (Whelan; Marcovici; Miranda Weese, dancing strongly in her farewell season; Albert Evans; Abi Stafford; Ashley Laracey; Tyler Angle; Craig Hall; Sean Suozzi; Andrew Veyette) was excellent. Perhaps the choreographer is unaware that all the detail and nuance that make it worth seeing are lost from far away, or maybe he doesn’t care; but tell me, what is the point of making a ballet that can only be enjoyed by the people sitting in the first 10 rows of the orchestra?

Well I can assure you that every single Balanchine ballet seen during the opening week of the spring season looked terrific from the fourth ring. Program One on opening night was The Four Temperaments, Pavane, Agon, and Symphony in C. The variations in the Four Ts were danced unevenly (this might sound like it should be praise, but it is not), but the Theme dancers were (and are) standouts: Faye Arthurs and Adrian Danchig-Waring; Amanda Hankes and Craig Hall; and Megan LeCrone and Seth Orza.

Regarding Agon, sometimes I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be; I thought it was a mostly good, strong performance, with Whelan and Evans (they make the pas de deux feral and dangerous, which seems right to me), and Reichlin in the Bransle Gay, but I heard Francis Mason’s brief review on WQXR, and he didn’t like it too much (and he’s seen it all, so what do I know?). Symphony in C, which is terrific in spite of itself, did not get a great performance; but on Friday all was much improved, with the entire company turning in a sharp, thrilling performance. Ashley Bouder and Joaquin de Luz were out there giving 110 percent in the pony section, and Tiler Peck and Tyler Angle were quietly great in the last movement (in fact, the soloist men in this section, Aaron Severini and Troy Schumacher, also danced very well). Ana Sophia Scheller (first movement, with Jonathan Stafford) got it together, after some mishaps on Tuesday, and Sofiane Sylve and Charles Askegard took on the second movement over Tuesday’s Maria Kowroski and Philp Neal. Sylve, looking like a ballerina, gave a strong, good performance.

Square Dance, danced on Programs Two and Four is one of those ballets that becomes more fascinating with each viewing. I’m not sure what kind of performance of this choreography I want to see; but I didn’t see it in these two performances. Hübbe, who does bring some gravitas to the piece, and Megan Fairchild, were the principals both days. Along with Square Dance, on a rainy Wednesday evening we saw a very beautiful Concerto Barocco with Whelan, Rachel Rutherford, and Albert Evans; Duo Concertant; and an electric Symphony in Three Movements with a first-rate cast: Bouder, LeCrone, Abi Stafford, Tom Gold, Danchig-Waring, and Jared Angle.

Romeo and Juliet is on for the next two weeks; we’ll see where we go from there.