Open your hearts to Alexei Ratmansky's new production Of Love and Rage, which is loosely based on the story of Chaereas and Callirhoe by the Greek novelist Charitan who wrote during the 1st century AD.
ABT doesn't have another ballet that so masterfully allows so many of its dancers to display their gifts. There are so many roles to fill that dancers sometimes have to play five roles in a single performance. Andrii Ishchuk, a young Ukrainian corpsman who danced his feet off on opening night in the major role of Polycharmus, on Wednesday had to perform as one of the Chorus Men, one of Dionysius' Soldiers, a Captive, a Babylonian Courtier, and finally fought a war as a member of the Babylonian Army. That's a lot of character switching and choreography to remember, not to mention costume changing. Even on Broadway where a swing has to learn a lot of different roles, he doesn't have to dance them all in one night!
Dramaturg Guillaume Gallienne simplified the story of Chaereas and Callirhoe and distilled it down to just a few important characters and episodes. Charitan, the author of what is purportedly the world's first ever romance novel, conceived a plot that has the density of a black hole. But fuggedaboutit! This new ballet doesn't strive to convey a story for the sake of conveying a story. The story is merely a vehicle to transport the blisteringly brilliant dancing of ABT's Corps de Ballet to the front of the stage. And for this, we thank Ratmansky who always seems to be able to recognize the talented artists who have otherwise been orphaned at ABT.
Thanks to this ballet, we got to see Ishchuk's beautiful, clear dancing in the role of Polycharmus, Chaereas' friend. The next night our longtime favorite Eric Tamm was back with a bang in the same role. His deer-like leaps with their ever-upward trajectory and his commitment to character have always been meant for the front of the stage, regardless of how the reality played out at ABT. At the Wednesday matinee, Jonathan Klein was superb in the same role - with a face that catches the light and reveals stirring emotion.
The dark, glowering Mithridates received an intensely theatrical and dazzlingly danced performance from Jarod Curley who got his corps contract a mere six months before the pandemic lockdown. We've seen basically nothing from this guy and all of a sudden he's in our faces dancing like a dramatic heavy-weight star at the Bolshoi. The normally blondish Curley was transformed by a nasty black wig and ill-kept facial hair through which his normally handsome smile became a relentless sneer. His use of the head to convey Mithridates' dangerous nature made for a commanding performance which was perhaps the highlight of the show. And Patrick Frenette was superb as well in the role at the matinee. Dark and cunning, Frenette made the most of his character through bold musical choices. His sudden pauses put the viewer on edge. When he leaned into the faces of other characters, it was with the smooth hostility of a serpent.
Where Ratmansky excelled beyond anything else that he has ever made for ABT was in the corps' choreography. It was highly imaginative, inventive, disciplined, and without arbitrary frenetic upper body and arm movements that have crept into earlier works. It looked less impulsive and more edited. In one instance the Chorus Ladies formed a tight triangle with the vertex downstage. While bourree-ing backwards, they expanded the triangle to gorgeous effect -- like air expanding the lungs -- while raising their arms in a V to create a large triangle made up of multiple triangles through port de bras. At another point they grand jete'ed right-left-right-left-right-left in a circle with such precision that they nearly sounded like a single pair of feet landing each time. At times their formations were broken down into smaller trios, duos, and soloists which had the effect of spotlighting so many individuals even though they were in the corps.
It was the same story for the men. They were all doing principal-level variations in unison, trios, duos, and solos. Groups traveled backwards in lightning fast jeté battu combinations, off-balance coupe jetés were thrown in like seasoning -- all of it was fast, fast, fast. Near the end of Act II, the Babylonian Courtier men appeared in brilliant blue costumes to accompany the gorgeous Babylonian Courtier women. All of a sudden, one of the men broke out into an insane variation that included sliding all over the floor and crazy turns -- we think it may have been Michael de la Nuez -- which made a point that we all need to remember: so much to dance, yet so little time. Were it not for Ratmansky, we likely would never have seen this man's valiant dancing.
Yes, there were lead dancers, but they were not the stars of this show. They were there to give the corps de ballet an occasional rest - that's all. But they all did well in choreography that was not as inspired as what was conceived for the corps de ballet. Tom Forster gave the biggest reading of Chaereas of the three performances that Haglund saw. His brilliance was marked by the velocity with which he executed the grandest of the grand allegro moments. His manege of coupe jeté went on for about an hour and seemed to accelerate right to its dramatic end. Forster was more theatrically invested than either Aran Bell or Calvin Royal III with whom he shared the role. Both Bell and Forster managed some epic torch lifts of their Callirhoes whereas Royal truncated his. All three seemed to get all of the steps but there were big differences in how they exploited them or simply did them.
Catherine Hurlin, Christine Shevchenko, and Hee Seo shared the role of Callirhoe. Until the third performance, Haglund was not convinced that this was a principal role. Part of the problem was Callirhoe's costume which was made of heavy-looking fabric that fell nearly to the ankles. She was made to look like the Chorus Ladies only in satiny white. The costumes worked for the Chorus Ladies but not for Callirhoe whose leg lines and choreography were often hidden or obscured by the costume. It needed slits in the skirt or perhaps a different fabric. It just didn't work. Nor did the one-armed tunics for the men. They just looked sloppy. Instead of tunics, they should have had tunic-like forms that hugged the torso.
Hurlin gave a lovely and honest portrayal of Callirhoe with admirable execution of the choreography. Shevechenko gave the strongest technical performance but did not read as dramatically as was needed. Seo had some technical slip-ups, and made some alterations, e.g., the fast stepping horizontal bourrees that changed from front to back to front to back became standard bourrees. However, her dramatic reading finally brought the needed depth. She has all that experience of portraying suffering heroines to fall back on -- Juliet, Giselle, Nikiya, Tatiana, Caroline -- and she used it very, very well. Haglund was completely shocked at how much he enjoyed Seo's performance and how well she pulled the viewer into her story.
All of the Callirhoes were more affecting emotionally when dancing Pas de Deux with the characters of Dionysius and Mithridates than with Chaereas. Daniel Camargo made a sensational debut as Dionysius on opening night. As soon as he strode onstage, the level of tension in the story increased exponentially. We can't say how well Camargo does in white-tights roles, but in this dramatic setting he was a dynamite performer. His allegro felt like it was the relief valve opening on his pressurized character. Both Blaine Hoven and Joo Won Ahn skillfully crafted their characters and danced well, but it was Camargo who, in the final moments, made us feel what he was giving up when he released the hand of the child he long thought had been his own but who was actually Chaereas'.
This production by Ratmansky came as a surprise. The strong elements eclipse the weak elements (costumes in Act I; mundane choreography for the leads) which can be revised over seasons. All in all, it is truly a gift to the hardworking corps de ballet dancers who deserve to shine like they are shining this week. The sets are neither over-stated nor inadequate; they are exactly what is needed to help move the story along without getting in the way. Khachatyrian's music is glorious, and the ABT orchestra is doing itself proud. My goodness it all sounds beautiful in the Met Opera House. The score doesn't have a lot of pauses where an audience can express appreciation and sometimes doesn't meet the drama of the choreography. In one instance of a PdD between Chaereas and Callirhoes, there is a phrase that ends in a spectacular upside down lift but the music doesn't match its potency. But these are trivial issues as is concern for the level of detail in the story. The whole thing works, and works well.
The H.H. Pump Bump Award, Versace's gold & silver stiletto, is bestowed upon the men and women of the Corps de Ballet who are the stars of this important new production.