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

Spring ballet outing three of five was a success. The afternoon began with Peter Martins 's Barber Violin Concerto , a ballet I'd never seen before. Set to Samuel Barber 's "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 14," this ballet dazzles not just because of the dancing but also because of the music. The ballet begins with the curtain down while the solo violinist ( Kurt Nikkanen on Saturday afternoon) playing a few beautiful bars, setting the stage for the aural experience ahead. His virtuosity becomes even more apparent as the piece continues, with fabulous aggressive sections matched by the choreography. Martins created a ballet for four dancers, a classical couple and a modern couple. When I looked at the casting and saw Megan Fairchild and Jared Angle as one couple and Sara Mearns and Russell Janzen as the other, I thought I knew which would be which. I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was wrong. Mearns and Janzen enter first, playing...

It's almost unheard of for New York City Ballet to import a ballet, yet sometimes exceptions are made. This spring brought the premiere of La Slyphide , a seminal work from Danish choreographer August Bournonville , to City Ballet, under the vision of Ballet Master in Chief, and fellow Dane, Peter Martins. The Bournonville program began with Bournonville Divertissements , set to music by Edvard Helsted and Holger Simon Paulli . This iteration was staged by Nilas Martins , Peter's son and former NYCB principal, after Stanley Williams's staging of Bournonville's choreography. It includes four movements, and is a fairly typical selection of divertissements. Diversissements are meant to entertain; there's no story and no through line. Such is the case with the Bournonville Divertissements . Throughout, the scenery and costumes are rather drab and muted, as is the choreography in the first and third movements. (The first movement, Ballabile, was led by soloists...

Theatre Award Season News The Fred and Adele Astaire Award nominees were announced this week. (The awards honor excellence in Broadway dancing and choreography.) Best Female Dancer nominees include Leanne Cope ( An American in Paris ); Megan Fairchild ( On the Town ); and Annaleigh Ashford ( You Can't Take It With You ), Tony nominees all. Best Male Dancer nominees include Robbie Fairchild ( An American in Paris ); and Alex Sharp ( The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ), both Tony nominees . Best Choreographer nominees include Christopher Wheeldon ( An American in Paris ); Steven Hoggett ( The Last Ship ); and Warren Carlyle ( On the Twentieth Century ). Visit Theater Mania for the full list of nominees. Winners of the New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards were announced this week. Hamilton was named Best Musical and Between Riverside and Crazy (which just won the Pulitzer) was named Best Play. Bob Crowley received a special citation; he is rep...

Update : An American in Paris will launch a London production on 4 March 2017 at the Dominion Theatre. Broadway stars Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope will reprise their roles as Jerry and Lise. Visit the Dominion Theatre website for more information and to purchase tickets. Christopher Wheeldon never disappoints. The choreographer makes a triumphant Broadway directorial debut with this beautiful musical, inspired by the beloved and Oscar-winning Gene Kelly movie musical, and featuring a score of iconic George and Ira Gershwin songs and compositions. Set in post-World War II Paris, just after the liberation, the action centers on Jerry Mulligan (Robert Fairchild), an American soldier who, rather than returning to the States, decides to remain in Paris and explore all the romance it has to offer. He befriends a composer, Adam (Brandon Uranowitz), our narrator and a fellow American, and Henri (Max von Essen), a Frenchman who longs to break free from his family's expectatio...

Like all his other narratives, in Christopher Wheeldon 's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , everything is told through dance. As in Wheeldon's Estancia , These characters don't miss an opportunity to dance a feeling (to Joby Talbot 's score), making it a much more enjoyable and beautiful ballet. Moreover, since these are Alice's adventures in Wonderland, and the creatures she encounters are wondrous, the music and choreographic styles can vary and go almost anywhere. So we have, for example, a Mad Hoofer and Caterajah (those would be a tap-dancing Mad Hatter and an Arabian nights-ish caterpillar). There's also a brief dalliance into a Sweeney Todd –like sausage factory that is definitely more grim than wonderful, but throughout the choreography and vision is unified, imaginative and a feast for the senses. In particular, the garden scene that closes act two is visually stunning. After taking a bite of the mushroom given to her by the caterpillar, A...

My final ballet of the 2013-2014 season was one I was looking forward to for over a year, and it was a wonderful way to finish the season. (A noteworthy one, too, for it was a night in which only principals, save for one dancer in one ballet, graced the stage. There was no corps, which made for an interesting counterpoint to Justin Peck’s Everywhere We Go , which I, blissfully, can’t get out of my head.) First up was Christopher Wheeldon ’s A Place for Us . This is the beautiful pas de deux that premiered at the 2013 spring gala. Using pieces by both Leonard Bernstein and Andre Previn , the ballet is an homage to Jerome Robbins and was choreographed on engaged principal dancers Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild . As much as I loved it the first time I loved it even more the second time.  This time instead of having a partial view from the “arm” of the third ring, I was in my regular orchestra seat and could see everything. Every lighting change. Every hand gesture...

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 ...