ABT Giselle 5/30 Marcelo's 20th Anniversary

Around 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon in Hell’s Kitchen, Goldie, the 12-year-old carriage horse got loose. She bolted from her stable and high-tailed it across W. 54th St. (of course, in the same direction as the traffic)  laughing all the way. No heavy harness, no blinkers, she was totally free and naked as a jaybird. She came to a red light at 10th Avenue and recognized that she should stop. Suddenly realizing that her hay was back at the stable and that she really didn’t need anything at the CVS across the street anyway, Goldie turned around and headed back to the barn to the relief and cheers of the startled humans chasing her.

A few hours later, our favorite middle-aged Albrecht, Marcelo Gomes, who is also 12 "in horse years", broke loose on the stage at the Metropolitan Opera House in a celebration of his two decades with ABT. Marcelo has been off-harness for years – to everyone’s complete delight – and like Goldie, has the sound judgement not to barge through red lights and, most importantly, always knows his way back home to the hay in Hell’s Kitchen.

On this night, Marcelo along with his lovely Giselle, Stella Abrera, and the commanding Christine Shevchenko as Myrta, gave a performance that we will celebrate for a long time – at least until they do it again, hopefully next year.

When Act I opened, we clearly had stepped into a scene where the romance was in full progress. This was not a boy-meets-shy-girl situation where suddenly love blooms. No. Giselle came skipping out of her little cottage in a sirens & lights kind of pursuit of Albrecht. She looked high and low all over the stage for him. She knew he was there somewhere. She had heard his teasing lip-smooches. Now she just had to find him. When she inadvertently nearly backed into him, it was only because he wanted to be found. This Albrecht had plenty of experience.

Giselle and Albrecht cavorted about with shooting jetes and springy ballonnes. When she doubted his love and decided to test it by pulling the petals out of a daisy (He loves me; he loves me not…), he wasn’t phased at all. He’d been in this scenario before and knew exactly what to do to come out a winner. Nobody plays this scene with greater wit and sincerity than Marcelo Gomes. His Albrecht cheated on the petal count by pulling on the blossom with the same ease as he cheated on Bathilde.

When Albrecht’s duplicity was discovered in a very public and embarrassing way, his reaction was both “Oh, no, look what I’ve done to these two women” and “Oh, no, I should have done it more skillfully.”

The dancing by our principals in Act I was mostly solid with a few disappointments. Thankfully, Giselle began her variation with pique arabesque to penche, but it had a very odd abruptness to it. The plie did not roll through the foot. It almost looked like a hop off with a battement of the arabesque leg. When it came time for Giselle to step up and dance her hops on pointe for Albrecht, there was a sudden look of death that came over her face after two hops. She put the other foot down to recalibrate and started anew. The hops made it to the end of the music but not very far along the diagonal. There was one other releve with the working leg in attitude front that looked less than 100%, too. And once again – which now confirms some kind of a management mandate – Giselle executed a beginner level single pique turn followed by a single stepover. Haglund’s grandmother could do that while holding her cane. Good grief. What next? Is McKenzie going to mandate that Devon Teuscher not do blistering fouettes so as to “level the playing field” for the company’s struggling Diva?

Other than those issues, this Giselle was extraordinarily well danced. Her mad scene of happy hallucinations followed by total breakdown and hysteria were rich with details. Albrecht’s own little mad scene wasn’t so bad, either.

At this point in the company’s history, there is no Giselle who has more classically pure lines and perfect placement than Stella Abrera. The stationary arabesque/penche in profile in Act II was the most beautiful we have ever seen, bar none. Her form in motion when dancing with the lilies, her arched jumps, arabesques, entrechats, tour jetes, and grand jetes are simply unalloyed balletic beauty – all accomplished while fully conveying the beauty of Giselle’s forgiving spirit.

Marcelo is but a notch off of what he was a decade ago in his technical matters. His jumps approximate what they have always been. His turns, the same, sometimes even better. Last evening, his 22 entrechats six were gorgeous even while they conveyed his growing exhaustion until he finally could do no more and collapsed.

Christine Shevchenko’s Myrta was even stronger than on Saturday. Her eyes had a wild expression – torment one moment, hell bent on destruction the next. Fabulous. She took such delight in destroying Tom Forster’s Hilarion who danced for his life magnificently. Christine's dancing was solid and strong but with little sense of an angry flowing spirit. That will come; we are sure of it.

Much pleasure, much love, warmth, thankfulness, and much hope for a long-continued career were conveyed by the audience during the roaring ovation for Marcelo. He got the message. We’ll toss in a little Prada H.H. Pump Bump Award:

 

 

 

Comments

[Olivia]

Oh what an appropriate review. I've been seeing Giselle almost yearly at the Met for over 12 years, and yesterday's performance with Stella and Marcelo was the first time I had to fight back tears during both acts. I only managed out of a desire to not miss any steps. Stella's characterization of Giselle was a revelation to me. She and Marcelo had such playful energy, just wonderful chemistry. I loved the moment in Act I where Giselle coquettishly sat down and spread her skirt over the seat so Albrecht had nowhere to sit, so flirty. I have seen Stella dance Myrta before, and I think that her Wili-Giselle in Act II had a particular kind of quiet terrible power. It was clear with this Wili-Giselle that vengeance was a possibility and forgiveness was a choice. What a complex characterization by Stella, it resonated with me all the way up in the Balcony. And how special to see Marcelo showered with love for his 20th. May he dance for many years to come!! Thanks Haglund for the space to interact with other balletomanes :)

[Ellen]

Hi, Haglund,

After 4 Giselles, I am officially Giselled out, but I'm popping in to say that my favorite moment out of all the performances was when Marcello cradled that sheaf of lilies and laid his head against it with that look of utter remorse and devastation on his face.

What I learned this week: thanks to a discussion on that "other blog" and 1/2 a dozen clips on YouTube, I now know a pas de poisson when I see one. Thank you, Stella, yours were lovely, really lovely.

Oh, and yes, I am now totally spoiled. It's going to be hard to return to the Dress Circle after the delight of the Parterre.

The young lady who sat next to me tonight turned out to be a reader of yours. As soon as we exchanged names she asked if I was the one who had been posting here. It truly is a small world and we had a very nice time chatting at intermission.

Ellen

[Rachel]

The 20th anniversary performance proved so much about the unique talent that is Marcelo Gomes, not only as a dancer individually, but also that he is the consummate partner. Those press lifts in Act II looked more effortless than seems possible. The gentleness and control with which he lowered Stella was incredible to behold. And the warmth of the reception following the curtain demonstrated that not only is he a beautiful dancer, but a lovely person who is so loved by his colleagues, friends, mentors, and teachers.

I thought I counted 23 entrechat six!

Thank you, Haglund for providing these great reviews that you literally cannot find elsewhere. I thought the paper of record would have least done a retrospective piece on his 20 years. But I would have been wrong.

[K]

Thanks for this, Haglund. Stella was a revelation from the minute she came out of the house and jete'd around the stage. It felt like a real privilege to watch these two beautiful, fully developed artists share the stage for such a wonderful occasion-- both artists are already so genuine; their chemistry was so true. I literally gasped at the beauty and purity of the line when Stella bourreed into that perfect arabesque at Marcelo's back. Absolutely devastating. The Act 1 hops-- these things happen, and it was clear she stepped onto it funny from beginning and then knew exactly how to fix it to make it through the rest of the way. Unfair to judge on these merits when they only get one performance a year (ugh), and I'm glad that your review is focused on the incredible, incomparable other merits of her portrayal. Marcelo-- he is a national treasure. I am thankful for artists that can not only do the steps, but make us truly feel something.

[rosa]

Thank you for the excellent report, Haglund! Gomes is indeed a national treasure to ABT. I am glad I had the opportunity to see him perform once, a magnificent Siegfried opposite the gorgeous Veronika Part. Sigh.

[CM]

Ellen, it was a pleasure to meet you during Giselle! To feed your newfound addiction to the Center Parterre, note that some seats have just opened up in Box 29 (right in the middle!) for Devon's Swan Lake performance. I just bought one myself, so perhaps I'll see you there.