The Green Table Death breathes new life into ABT

It had to have been pure coincidence. It had to have been.

How could ABT have possibly scheduled so far in advance the opening performance of Kurt Jooss' timeless masterpiece, in which brainless and corrupt politicians blow their breath pointlessly across a table only to resolve nothing, on the same day that partisan, posturing Congressional nincompoops in Washington DC hovered over a table while blubbering Benghazi at and battering the next president of the United States? If this was actual planning on ABT’s part, we have to congratulate them.

We have to congratulate them anyway.

What a powerfully danced, powerfully acted performance of The Green Table on Thursday night. This dance theater piece born from German expressionism between World Wars I and II becomes more American with each passing decade. Haglund first saw it during the Vietnam War when his tender socio-political conscience was just developing. The Joffrey Ballet’s production exposed the spine of war with vivid, skeletal, nightmarish horror. Christian Holder's stomping and mechanical jerking of his limbs as the looming monstrous character of Death who touches everyone in war is probably the strongest image of dance that Haglund holds in his mind today.

Last night, Marcelo Gomes as Death carried within him the greatness of Jooss, Holder, and the powerful Chilean Maximiliano Zomosa (Joffrey’s first-cast) as he carried off his victims one at a time. First to die was The Old Mother, grippingly portrayed by Luciana Paris. Covered from head to toe in drab ordinary clothing and doubled over in aged grief, she could no longer cope. Death welcomed her, the forgotten ordinary mother in all wars, with opened arms.

Death took the soldiers methodically, relentlessly, and indiscriminately. Aaron Scott, Kenneth Easter, Gray Davis, Gabe Stone Shayer, and Sean Stewart were all outstanding. Blaine Hoven as The Standard Bearer was simply brilliant. Earlier Standard Bearers of the 20th Century have entered the drama with modest, perfectly placed jetes like they were dancing off to perform their patriotic duty. Blaine arrived like the 21st Century zealot-soldier with 21st Century force and confidence in victory. It’s the new age of war, but it always ends the same. This is Blaine’s season; his dancing and form have never looked better.

Devon Teuscher as The Partisan Woman, sometimes called The Guerrilla Woman – but in this production, simply The Woman – wrestled with her grief and disbelief in what the war was bringing, and in a brave but desperate moment, randomly killed one of the soldiers. Death immediately appeared, as we knew he would, and escorted The Partisan Woman to her execution. The final tableau of Death’s impassive face was, and always has been, chilling. Devon’s portrayal was knife-sharp, and we cannot wait to see it again.

Even though we knew it was coming because we’ve seen this dance so many times, it still sucked the breath from us. Sarah Lane as the The Young Girl danced with The Young Soldier (Arron Scott) as he prepared to leave for war. Death began stalking them. As he came closer and closer, one sensed the soldier’s impending death. But instead, Death scooped up The Young Girl in a brief but horrifying PdD in which there could be no mistaking of what occurred. As she lay dead on the floor, Death leaned closely to her body and ran his nose down the length of her torso, sniffing the way an animal sniffs a carcass, and then once again looked up at us impassively. Sarah’s dramatic performance had enormous depth and power, and exposed a layer of her talent that we want desperately to see more of in the coming season.

Herman Cornejo’s oily Profiteer was a masterpiece in itself. When performed properly, the viewer admires the character’s skill but still wants Death to catch him. It is always disturbing to see him get away after looting the corpses of war. Wearing his funny little bowler hat, Herman’s Profiteer slithered from victim to victim, picking their jewelry, and displaying smug joy with each find.

David LaMarche and Daniel Waite gave robust interpretations of the piano score by F.A. Cohen. They seemed to be living each note just like the dancers were living each step.

Cheers for the Gentlemen in Black, the politicians, who gave the choreography a vividness that we haven't seen in a long time.

The H.H. Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon the entire ensemble of The Green Table for bringing life and importance to the stage.

Comments

[Georgiann]

Haglund, it is great to read that ABT performed The Green Table exceptionally well. Like you, I first saw the Joffery Ballet perform it around the end of the Vietnam War, and I too have retained the image of Christian Holder's character and dancing long after. It was a powerful performance and a powerful ballet that made a great impression on my teenaged self. I believe Geoffrey Holder designed the costumes for that performance, though I'd have to verify that.

[Haglund]

The casts around that time also included the remarkable Gary Chryst and Beatrice Rodriguez. I also distinctly remember in those days that a couple of minutes before the curtain would open on The Green Table, the audience could smell a whiff of some chemical associated with, I believe, the masks. It was a little unsettling but put one in the frame of mind to see an unsettling performance.

[Ellen Mason]

Haglund,

i saw both casts of The Green Table. Like you, I saw Holder many times, and to me he is the definitive Death. Watching Zhurbin's debut, however, I realized that I never thought of Holder as dancing Death. He just was Death, in an acting, not a dancing sense, perhaps. Zhurbin made me see the dancing in the role; it was a revelation. As he grows into the role, I think he will become a superb interpreter. Gomes was fantastic, but in a different way, more in the Holder vein.

I'm normally not a Simkin fan, but I thought the Profiteer was a great role for him. He was wilder in his interpretation than Cornejo, but I really enjoyed it. There is nothing more to say about Cornejo; he is my favorite ABT male and can do no wrong in my book.

Now, where can I talk about the epic fail of the second cast in Monitones I? A certain AD should lose his job over that fiasco. Monotones II, even if not perfect, looked like a masterpiece in comparison.

[Haglund]

I too enjoyed Roman Zhurbin's interpretation of Death. I may try to catch it again later in the week in order to reflect more on what you said. I agree that Simkin was well-cast as the Profiteer. What was most interesting about his performance was that it made me wonder for the first time whether the Profiteer actually got away from Death in the end, which had always been my take on it.

Who would be surprised to hear about the epic fail in the second cast of Monotones I? I didn't see it and don't plan to. Feel free to elaborate either here or in the above post about ABT over the weekend.

[Ellen Mason]

Because of my schedule, this was my only chance to take in Monotones, and I love it so much I went anyway regardless of the suspect cast. It had bobble after misstep after hesitation after bobble..... You get the idea: never in sync, always struggling, looked totally under-rehearsed. Friend with me, who goes to dance a lot, but not necessarily to ABT, kept asking "Who's the short one? She's terrible." Sorry, Kochetkova, but you were terrible.

II, at least, looked sufficiently rehearsed, and while there may have been a bobble or two, it was very much more in sync from the beginning and managed to convey the style and feeling of the piece. The best II ever? Hardly, but next to I it was a triumph.

On another note, I want to go back to the spring, when I complained about the worst Bluebird I had ever seen, and you thought some of what I objected to (like his bent leg) may have been intentional choreography. Well, congratulations Gabe Stone Shayer, you are now off my ignore list. Your Tico-Tico in Company B was fabulous; I'm now looking forward to seeing what else you can do. Also loved Patrick Ogle (Oh, Johnny) and Cassandra Trenary (Rum and Coca Cola).

Also, forgot to mention that Lucianna Paris blew me away as the Old Woman in The Green Table in first cast. Why have I not been paying more attention to her before this?
(second cast Old Woman made no impression me at all.)

[Haglund]

I hope that Macaulay or the other NYT critics, who have embraced Misty's celebrity over others' artistry and cheer ABT's adoption of mediocre guest artists, had good seats at the Monotones performance with the alternate cast that you saw. It will be interesting to see how they put a positive spin on it - even more interesting if they choose to ignore it.