Found this link on the Ballet Bag today for Vogue's December article on ABT's new Nutcracker. The picture of Marcelo Gomes and Gillian Murphy taken in the Alvin Ailey studios is dreamy and reveals thoughtful detail in both dancers' costumes.
The picture is accompanied by text written by Gia Kourlas. It's mostly okay but for a few remarks like "ABT has never really been a contender in the Nutcracker game until now." Uh, for close to two decades, it was Baryshnikov's ABT Nutcracker production that played yearly on PBS with Gelsey Kirkland as a peerless Clara. Can't remember that? Go here. Gelsey's lightness, the exquisite delicacy of her tapered pointes, the articulate shape of her heels, the expressiveness of her upper body, the fantasy in her face - did Gia really miss all of that all those years? The Baryshnikov production should be required viewing for every aspiring Clara/Marie/Sugar Plum whether she has access to other live performances or not.
This picture in Vogue and the cover photo of the first Spring 2011 brochure show Gillian Murphy in understated makeup which allows us to really see her face. It is a wonderful revelation to actually be able to see Gillian through her makeup. The intense lipcolor and over-shadowed, over-lashed eyes that we're accustomed to seeing when she's on stage have always prevented us from really seeing her or the delicacy and fragileness of her characters. It's one of those less is more situations. Now, if we could just get her to put on a pair of flat, tapered, 3/4 shank Freeds...
This must be Vogue's ballet issue. Thumbing through the pages while standing in the Duane Reade after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Haglund saw a J.Crew ad that featured NYCB's lovely Janie Taylor in her glistening lime Sugar Plum costume. Turn the page, a ballet dancer in a Bulova ad. 'Tis the season.
Tomorrow NYCB opens its Nutcracker run (of course, Haglund will be there with bells on) and the Wall Street Journal, fast becoming THE place to go for newspaper dance critcism, has a charming article by Pia Catton about Jacques d'Amboise's family's total immersion in the holiday tradition:
Former NYCB principal Jacques d'Amboise and his wife, Carolyn George, both danced it. Their children—George, Christopher, Charlotte and Cate—all had roles. And now a third generation is set to take the stage: Mr. d'Amboise's granddaughters, Shelby, age 7, and Josephine, age 8, will make their "Nutcracker" debuts this season as a party guest and a toy solider, respectively.
The girls are the daughters of Charlotte d'Amboise, who's currently headlining "Chicago," and her husband Terrance Mann, starring in "The Addams Family."
Cute, right? But before you start imagining this showbiz family in a Norman Rockwell painting, considering the little issue of scheduling.
"It's a disaster—they are all onstage!" Mr. d'Amboise, now 76, said frantically. "I get these calls, 'Can you pick up the girls at rehearsal?'"
Cute, indeed.
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