There are at least eight reasons not to miss this Friday's performance which will repeat tonight's: Simkin, Dvorovenko, Reyes, Zhurbin, Kajiya, Salstein, Riccetto, Matthews.
It was another remarkable debut this evening in Prodigal Son. This time it was Daniil Simkin in the title role for the first time with Irina Dvorovenko as the Siren who clearly had plenty of experience. Don't pay any attention to the poodley foo-foo my anti-friend Alastair may squeal about regarding major mistakes. There were a couple of real doozies tonight, but it honestly did not matter as this turned out to be a riveting, at times startling in its clarity, performance by two artists thrown together on relatively short notice.
Simkin's first 30 seconds on stage were somewhat reserved, but then he kicked into high gear and had no trouble finding within himself the wayward, spoiled rich kid who spun and spent himself out of control and ultimately in way over his head. His final scene as he crawled toward forgiveness was astonishing and moving. Simkin's performance tonight was brilliance in its infancy in more ways than one.
It was evident from Dvorovenko's entrance onto the stage tonight that she was going to be a most aggressive Siren. During her initial steps, she could barely control her own force, but she didn't let up. It was a thrilling performance. When Dvorovenko wrapped her Siren legs around the extremely young looking Simkin it was a most troubling image. When she was held horizontally over Simkin who was lying prone on the table, it was another troubling image created as a result of his youthful innocence colliding with her Siren's sexual appetite.
Simkin and Dvorovenko were brilliant together and individually tonight. There were a couple of problems, but you can read about that elsewhere. As far as Haglund is concerned, given the overall strength of the performance, it's not news that's fit to print.
Desir with the same cast as Tuesday evening was even more enjoyable. Roman Zhurbin has made such strides in the past year and to see him partnering Xiomara Reyes with such skill and confidence and joy was truly gratifying. Salstein & Kajiya and Riccetto & Matthews were sublime.
See this cast Friday night. It's your last chance.
And oh, if it wasn't a good enough night already, the current casting sheet now shows STELLA ABRERA as Myrta for the Saturday matinee of Giselle. Boy, she owes us a lot of performances.
A silver satin corsage Pump Bump for Prodigal Son and Desir tonight!
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