Thank goodness these dancers deliver on weekends. How would we ever get along without our ballet Grubhub? Just open up the app on your phone and order up a crispy Firebird, a basket of 12-tone Epi-fries w/ricercata formaggio, some suds, and don't forget the Rondo snacks for Kitty.
It was quite the weekend feast at New York City Ballet. Saturday afternoon the company gave Jared Angle one heck of a toast to his 25 year stage career with a fantastic Firebird performance. Ashley Hod was our blazing bird, Miriam Miller was our eager bride, and Christopher Grant was our hissing Kastchei monster. Jared as Prince Ivan seized the magic red feather one last time before flying off to Denmark to be a Ballet Master at the Royal Danish Ballet. The final scene of this production gave Jared plenty of time to gaze around at the stage, his colleagues, and out into the house while thinking about having spent more than half his life there. We thought we saw the emotion rise in his face while the elf points of his boots curled a bit tighter.
Sunday afternoon's Fancy Free cast played to the Hollywood Bowl – a huge performance from sailors Roman Mejia, Harrison Coll, and Sebastian Villarini-Velez, and Passers-by Mary Thomas MacKinnon and Alexa Maxwell. Maxwell Read was the properly sober Bartender, and Nieve Corrigan waltzed on at the end to entice the sailors out the door. The whole cast deserved real suds in their mugs. Mejia let every turn and jump rip with his considerable maximum force. Coll and Villarini-Velez were so invested in their characters that we totally forgot that we were watching theater. MacKinnon and Maxwell enjoyed polished debuts and easily came off as being two who also were out on the town.
Olivia MacKinnon and Indiana Woodward had lovely debuts in Robbins' Rondo. This dance is interesting to watch for a couple of times, but it does not bear a lot of repeated viewings. Also we noticed that from the seats in the rings, Susan Walters' miraculous piano playing sounded like it needed a mic. We didn't think this when sitting in the front of the orchestra. The piano was stationed more toward the back of the stage from where the sound dropped off pretty quickly.
Episodes enjoyed a new cast. Isabella LaFreniere and Chun Wai Chan brought a depth to the first pas de deux that we hadn't noticed before. Her haunting eyes, his steady focus on her, their congruent lines – something was going on there but we didn't exactly know what. Ashley Hod and Gilbert Bolden III sliced through the second pas de deux while Emilie Gerrity and Taylor Stanley possessed a reserved beauty in the third. The Musical Offering as performed by Mira Nadon and Adrian Danchig-Waring was quite the relief musically speaking. We kept thinking, "Wow, reserve is really underrated." They just allowed the limbs, beauty of form, and the music carry us to the finale.
We have been meaning to mention how happy we've been to spot Savannah Durham back in the lineup. Jacqueline Bologna, Naomi Corti, and the elegant Olivia Boisson are also claiming our attention. During the run of Walpurgisnacht Ballet, Mimi Staker kept catching our eye.
So this coming week, we're taking a little breather until Friday. For some reason, when we come to the Ratmansky ballet, we keep hearing voices. At first we complained to the ushers that people were talking around us, but then we realized that it was all in our head. We're going to try to see somebody about it, though.
Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, a Dolce & Gabbana sailor sandal, goes to the Sunday cast of Fancy Free who were footloose fantastic.
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