Reviewing the Drama: Broadway, Off-Broadway, Ballet, Movies, and TV Reviews

History was made at New York City Ballet on Thursday (April 2 7 ) night as the venerable dance company presented its first–ever all–Peck program, an evening dedicated to ballet's golden boy, Justin Peck , a soloist with the company and its resident choreographer. It was a momentous occasion for the toast of the town, who, still under 30, is seen as a ballet wunderkind and, perhaps, the superhero who is going to bring ballet back to popular culture. Peck has been choreographing for NYCB (and others) for just five years, yet he's already created 13 ballets for the company (with a 14th set to premiere in May), including one that was the subject of the documentary Ballet 422 , his ode to his hometown, Paz de la Jolla . Peter Martins had his pick of Peck's many creations, but for the first all–Peck program, he chose four works: In Creases , the first ballet Peck made for NYCB; The Dreamers , a pas de deux; New Blood , one of Peck's collaborations with fashion designer...

Notes on the All Robbins program, featuring Glass Pieces , Moves , and The Concert . Glass Pieces : The first thing of note about this performance of the Jerome Robbins ballet was that New York City Ballet Orchestra's principal bassoonist, Harrison Hollingsworth , was the conductor. I don't know the Philip Glass pieces used in this ballet well enough to have noticed a difference in the way the score was played, but it sounded good to me! Elsewhere in the ballet, I noticed that the pas de deux wonderfully mirrors the oboe (you see the music, as Mr. B would so often say); it's restrained, controlled, precise, just as Amar Ramasar and Rebecca Krohn 's movements are. This wasn't the first time I'd seen them in the pas de deux , and they didn't disappoint. As for the choreography, I really like the way they enter and leave the stage, with the male partner carrying the female partner through the air. It's rather soft and graceful, juxtaposing it ...

NYCB's spring season continues. Saturday afternoon's program was All Robbins , featuring Dances at a Gathering and West Side Story Suite , two ballets I thrill over each time. The last time I saw Dances at a Gathering in full was January 2011 (an excerpt was presented during Wendy Whelan's farewell performance in October 2014), so while it felt familiar, it also felt fresh and new. I like the way Dances at a Gathering , set to a Chopin piano score, is an opportunity for the dancers to show off both their technique and their personality. This is also why I think Chase Finlay , dancing in blue, is so poorly suited for this; he hardly ever looks like he's connecting with his fellow dancers. On the other hand, it's why Robert Fairchild (in brown), back in the full NYCB swing after spending a year on Broadway with An American in Paris , is perfect for this ballet. I've always adored the way he brings a flair to his roles, and there was a special moment...

The New York City Ballet fall season has come to a close, but before it did, I got to see works by founding choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. First was George Balanchine 's two-act narrative ballet, Harlequinade . I tend to shy away from narrative ballets, as most of them have a lot of graceful gesturing and not a lot of dancing. I was pleasantly surprised, however, by the wealth of actual dancing in Harlequinade , which is Balanchine's tribute to Marius Petipa's Les Millions d'Harlequin and features a host of commedia dell'arte characters. (The ballet is set to Riccardo Drigo 's music, which he composed for Petipa's ballet.) The story is fairly simple. Columbine ( Ashley Bouder ) and Harlequin ( Andrew Veyette ) are in love but Columbine's father, Cassandre ( Giovanni Villalobos ), disapproves. He hires a few stooges to get rid of Harlequin, while bringing in Leandre ( Aaron Sanz ), his wealthy choice of suitor. Meanwhile, ...

My final ballet outing of the 2014-2015 season was a mixed repertory program that included my favorite, NY Export: Opus Jazz . But before that Jerome Robbins classic were works by Mr. B and Peter Martins. First up was George Balanchine's Raymonda Variations . In the program notes, Balanchine is quoted as saying the Alexander Glazounov score for the three-act Raymonda  ballet is "some of the finest ballet music we have," and Mr. B's adoration of the music shows in his choreography. In Balanchine's plotless ballet (having nothing to do with the original ballet), we are treated to, as the title suggests, variations on a theme. The piece begins with the curtain down and the orchestra playing the musical theme, an overture for the ballet, if you will. Once the curtain rises, the ensemble (all women) enter for a pretty group dance, and then soloist Erica Pereira and principal Andrew Veyette perform a nice pas de deux. Then come the nine variations, all bri...

I kicked off my New York City Ballet spring season with an All Robbins program, and it was a great one. First up was The Goldberg Variations , a Jerome Robbins ballet set to an 18th century Bach composition . One of the things I have always loved about Robbins's choreography is the way you see the music in his movements. His choreography is what the music dictates. The music for this piece has the published title of "Aria mit verschieden Veraenderungen," with "veraenderungen" typically translated as "variations." Repertory notes state that "veraenderungen" could also be translated as "alterations" or "mutations." Robbins's ballet plays with all three translations. The piece begins with Faye Arthurs and Zachary Catazaro appearing in baroque-period costumes and dancing the theme. After the theme comes, of course, the variations, split into two parts. Part one, featuring soloists (including Lauren Lovette and...

The New York City Ballet spring season is in full swing, and on Saturday afternoon, I settled in for an All Robbins program. First up was Glass Pieces , a 1983 work set to Philip Glass compositions. You might recall that I saw an excerpt from this a year ago at 2013's spring gala . After seeing that excerpt, I immediately called the box office and added Saturday's performance to my subscription because I knew I had to see the rest of the Glass pieces—and I'm so glad I did. The first movement, "Rubric," is almost constant motion, but it's really just a warm up for the final movement. It begins with the corps de ballet coming out and more or less exploring the space, literally walking around, and springing up here and there. It's an exercise in controlled chaos. "Facades" is the second movement, which is slower and darker (lighting-wise, not tonally; lighting design is by Ronald Bates). A never–ending row of women keeps a check on the ...