It can be a little slippery trying to converse around Lincoln Center this week – what with Tatiana appearing in a magnificent production on one stage while across the plaza Titania is appearing in another magnificent production on another stage. An excited moment of loose vowels could easily end up with one inadvertently gushing about how beautifully Tatiana danced with an ass. Let's be careful out there this weekend. Drink responsibly. Try not to say "I'll Have Another" more than once or twice. Keep the vowels taut when you're around Lincoln Center. Please.
Last evening Haglund enjoyed Balanchine's enchanting A Midsummer Night's Dream at NYCB. Maria Kowroski's Titania was a willful and of course beautiful fairy queen to Joaquin De Luz's masterful Oberon. They comically quarreled over what possibly was the tiniest Changeling ever to appear on a stage. Daniel Ulbricht's Puck was hilarious and brilliantly danced. The speed of all of his dancing, especially grand jetes, was phenomenal as was his level of energy all evening. Janie Taylor and Abi Stafford as Helena and Hermia with Robert Fairchild and Amar Ramasar as Lysander and Demetrius mixed it up nicely. Amar in his pageboy wig and Joaquin in his blond wavy 'do were curious sights. Erica Pereira as Butterfly was superb in her allegro variations and perfectly cast given her size and youthful appearance.
As a heads up - in Friday evening's performance, the much missed Kathryn Morgan is scheduled to return after a cruelly long absence and will debut as Hermia. Tiler Peck will debut in the Divertissement. Chase Finlay will perform Lysander for the first time.
Last evening Teresa Reichlen and Justin Peck as Hippolyta and Theseus performed their PdD exquisitely. A lady sitting next to Haglund remarked, "That girl's legs don't end, do they." They are indeed long, and some of Tess' grand jetes were on a trajectory that could have taken her into orbit. Wendy Whelan and Jared Angle in the Divertissement were dreamy and elegant in the PdD, but less so when dancing apart. Double pirouette shouldn't be an ongoing problem for a principal dancer. The Act I PdD by Maria and Jonathan Stafford, but for one messed up lift, was one of the most beautifully coordinated PdDs that Haglund has seen all season.
Of course, it's the littlest butterflies and fairies in Oberon's kingdom who contribute major charm to this production - all students from the School of American Ballet. They're all so damned good and so well rehearsed. Haglund just has to bestow the Alexander McQueen Fairy Winged Pump Bump Award upon all of them:
Comments