While watching the strange little promo of Justin Peck’s new dance which was running on the screens in the theater lobby, we were reminded how his sloppy hunched-over shoulders, shuffling feet, and hanging-open mouth endeared him to us when he was dancing Balanchine works. The promo featured Peck dancing while wearing his “Think of me as the composite Steven Spielberg/Jerry Robbins” baseball cap instead of featuring the NYCB dancers dancing his choreography. The promo didn’t promote the dance or the dancers; it only promoted the already over-hyped Peck. So we sat down and opened the Playbill to see that being listed as the choreographer in the credits apparently was not enough for Peck; he needed to feature himself as part of the dance’s official title: Mystic Familiar, A BALLET BY JUSTIN PECK. In all caps. Why this? And why is Peck’s salary MORE than the artistic director’s and the associate artistic director's by large sums? Why does NYCB pay this guy $371,755 plus $54,223 in benefits? What benefit does the company get for nearly a half million dollars?
The choreography of Mystic Familiar was Peck’s repetitive, desperate effort to look cool & hip and ended up looking as stale as the words cool & hip are. We’ve already seen Peck capitalizing on the work of Agnes de Mille. Now we have a piece where he borrows Twyla Tharp for his own use. Maybe the section of Dan Deacon’s score that imitated Philip Glass’s minimalist brilliance sent Peck in the direction of Tharp. We sense that Peck knew how empty his own effort was going to be which is why there was such a heavy reliance on scenery and costumes—to look cool & hip. Bopping around — which aptly describes Peck’s style — in billowing white sleeves, green boxer shorts & undershirt, cropped athletic wear, and white overalls, the dancers did their best to sell Peck’s shallow ideas. It makes us think about inviting DOGE into the house to help cut the waste — make that DOBE Department of Ballet Efficiency. Peck would be out the door before a hinge squeak.
Which leads us into our review of the highlight of the evening, Balanchine’s Variations Pour Une Porte et Un Soupir… This avant-garde piece from 1974 utilizes Pierre Henry’s sonority as its score. No music per se, just creaking hinges, spooky sighs, and other noir effects with lighting that make this a one-of-a-kind Balanchine work whose only possible resemblance to his body of work is the black & white theme. Miriam Miller, debuting as the Door, was more alluring than dangerous. The prior interpretations by Maria Kowroski and Sara Mearns were quite a bit more aggressive and always conveyed a “Be careful what you ask for, little Sigh” message within their outsized glamour. Our sense was that Miriam should strive to add exclamation points to her phrases. But it was a very successful debut if a bit careful.
Daniel Ulbricht as the Sigh — oh lord — does he ever have this one down. The small Sigh was so hell-bent on getting through the Door that he failed to consider what might be on the other side. He was in a painful gymnastic panic from the first second to his last. A huge theatrical physical performance by Ulbricht who has come to specialize in them. Haglund would gladly sit through this performance again and again were it not sandwiched between such stale bread.
Opening the program was Wheeldon’s From You Within Me which is set to Schoenberg’s Verklarte Nacht, the music Antony Tudor used for his masterpiece Pillar of Fire. Unfortunately, Wheeldon’s piece just made us wish we were watching a few of the dancers in Pillar of Fire: Mearns as Hagar, Furlan as the Man in the House Opposite, Chan as The Friend, Fairchild as the Youngest Sister. What a cast that would be! Just think about it!
Schoenberg’s inspiration for his music was Richard Demel’s poem of the same title:
Two people walk through a bare, cold grove;
The moon races along with them, they look into it.
The moon races over tall oaks,
No cloud obscures the light from the sky,
Into which the black points of the boughs reach.
A woman’s voice speaks:
I’m carrying a child, and not yours,
The moon races along with them, they look into it.
The moon races over tall oaks,
No cloud obscures the light from the sky,
Into which the black points of the boughs reach.
A woman’s voice speaks:
I’m carrying a child, and not yours,
And so it goes… The poem ends with the man and the woman walking off together. Wheeldon’s ballet ended with a woman exiting alone. Unfortunately, the ballet didn’t rise to the dramatic level of the music, the poem, or the memory of Tudor’s masterpiece. It was very similar to choreography of Wheeldon's we’d seen before — like fillers in a sentence when the speaker didn't know what to say. “Like.” Tudor was proud to say that while he may not have made a lot ballets, he never repeated himself. Of course these days, choreographically repeating oneself over and over again seems to pay the bills.
Indiana Woodward made the most of her opportunities with her innate ability to make any choreography look natural on herself. There was something about the way her face caught the light right at the perfect moment that made what she was doing interesting and watchable. Very much looking forward to seeing Indiana in Paquita next week. In fact, we’re looking forward to seeing everyone and everything about Paquita next week. Save us a Paquita Margarita at the bar!
Unusually in Wheeldon’s works, the costumes were a complete miss. Red unitards of flimsy, transparent fabric that bagged in the knees and legs and unattractively emphasized the cracks in the dancers’ butts. They flattered no one. The skyscape scenery by Kylie Manning was pleasant and worked with the music and the poem but tended to overwhelm what was going on choreographically.
Our HH Pump Bump Award from Manolo Blahnik is bestowed upon Daniel Ulbricht for his diamond-encrusted performance as the Sigh in Variations Pour Une Porte et Un Soupir.