New York City Ballet Returns This Fall 2010

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Tuesday, 28 September 2010 06:46

Written by Jack Angstreich

After an extended period of financial uncertainty, New York City Ballet returns to a season which opens in this fall 2010. On offer in the coming months are much of the venerable company's established repertory as well as re-plays of premieres from last season as well as a few brand-new works. A new effort is being made this year to further familiarize audiences on the principal dancers.

On Thursday, September 16th, the company presented a program of three ballets by the late great choreographer Jerome Robbins. The program began with Interplay, a ballet that debuted in 1945, which was Robbins' follow-up to his extraordinary Fancy Free (seen a few months ago here as well as at American Ballet Theatre). Interplay is delightful but this performance lacked some of the bounce of the presentation I saw last season. The lovely Tiler Peck was a standout however, even in the sections where she played a supporting role -- indeed, she is the perfect Robbins dancer. Morton Gould's witty score sounded especially crisp under conductor Andrews Sill's direction. Interplay repeats in the spring.

Opus 19/The Dreamer finds Robbins working in a mode closer to that of George Balanchine, choreographing to the excellent Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1, with the Russian composer having employed a more accessible, less forbidding register. This ballet features two principals, Wendy Whelan and Gonzalo Garcia. All the dancers were good but this viewer missed some intensity, especially that of Whelan at her best but Robbins' beautiful conception, rendered here, remains splendid. Opus 19/The Dreamer repeats on October 2nd, as well as in the spring.

Thursday's program closed with The Four Seasons, set to Giuseppe Verdi -- primarily to his enjoyable music for the ballet for the third act of I vespri siciliani, an opera known mainly for its often-played overture. Robbins' The Four Seasons is in many ways something of a synthesis of the styles of the two other ballets that were on this program -- it has much of the puckish humor that was a trademark of the choreographer combined with the formal elegance and underplayed romanticism that Robbins may have appropriated from Balanchine. This ballet is a glorious showcase for 10 of the corp's principals, all very fine in this performance -- despite some rough edges -- supported by an energetic company which exuded enthusiasm. The Four Seasons repeats in the winter.

At the Saturday, September 18th matinee, City Ballet presented Balanchine's Serenade, set to Tchaikovsky's enchanting Serenade for Strings. This work -- Balanchine's first original American ballet -- is the choreographer at his most transporting, although at this performance there were some errors of timing in the company; however, the female principals -- Megan Fairchild, Sara Mearns and Janie Taylor -- were all excellent, with Mearns a particular standout, especially in the opening movement. Serenade repeats this month on Sept. 30th and on October 2nd.

Serenade was followed by a repeat of Interplay, with a different cast and with similar weaknesses to that of Thursday night's performance. There  was more roughness in this iteration; most dismaying, however, was the absence of Peck -- but the sheer American-ness of Robbins' creation was still evident.

The program closed with Balanchine's Who Cares? set to Hershy Kay's enjoyable arrangement of several classic Gershwin songs. While likable enough, this ballet has never had the excitement for me of, say, Western Symphony, to take another Balanchine work scored to music from American popular songs. At this performance, I would have liked a little more discipline in the ensemble, especially in the early sections but Peck triumphantly brought eroticism and poise to her "The Man I Love" duet and she also shone in her solo to "Fascinatin' Rhythm." Noteworthy too was Ana Sophia Scheller in her duet to "Embraceable You" and in her athletic solo to "My One and Only."

At the matinee performance on Sunday, September 19th, I saw Alexei Ratmansky's thrilling Namouna, A Grand Divertissement, set to a truly fabulous score by Edouard Lalo --  which deserves repertory status in the concert hall. Namouna premiered at City Ballet this spring but is proving to be popular and I would predict that it will endure.

This ballet seems to disavow meanings for forms but the forms are beguiling and it appears to be paradigmatic of nothing so much as postmodern art in its combination of classical elements with very contemporary stylings, giving the ballet an effect of pastiche. But such theorizing distances a viewer from the direct experience of the work itself which is a feast of visual excitement. I would have preferred more discipline in the timing and synchronization of the corps at this performance. While the impressive cast of featured dancers seemed less remarkable than one might ideally like, these infelicities matter less in a ballet of such grandeur.

The repeat of Who Cares? which closed the program was similarly captivating. Again, there were many imprecisions in the ensemble segments -- but the energy of the dancers brought the requisite ebullience to Kay's clever orchestration of Gershwin melodies. Again, the featured principals -- with the definite exception of Peck, who fetchingly recapitulated her Saturday performance -- fell short of the pure charm the ballet demands -- but the inspiration within Balanchine's conception was effectively transmitted.

On Tuesday, September 21st, I attended an enthralling re-play of Namouna. At this performance, the tempos were accelerated to excellent effect, bringing in their wake more dynamism. The abundant comic dimensions of this ballet also received more emphasis and this aspect too was successfully conveyed, especially as it corresponds so fittingly with the Gallic wit of Lalo's extravagant score, despite its many stirring, Wagnerian inflections. And, for all the pure pleasure aroused, the experience was oddly moving -- I look forward already to seeing Namouna again at City Ballet.

Also repeated on this program was Robbins' The Four Seasons, which too boasts a strong cast of featured dancers -- I enjoyed this ballet very much as well. The first section, "Winter" was splendid but the energy seemed to flag a little in the "Spring" and "Summer" movements. However, that energy returned in "Fall" with the arrival of Antonio Carmena and Joaquin de Luz -- but even here, Peck was again outstanding in her technical assurance and spark and she was received by the delighted audience with the enthusiastic response she deserved.

On Wednesday, September 23rd, I saw a repeat of Robbins' Interplay. This performance was a little more disciplined than the one I attended the week before but it still lacked the jazzy electricity that I witnessed in its appearance last season. Most notable this evening was Sterling Hyltin in the third section, "Byplay", who danced elegantly.

The repeat of Opus 19/The Dreamer seemed both less disciplined and less energetic than last week's performance but there were lovely moments. The estimable Whelan was most impressive in her duet in the second movement.

The replay of Who Cares? was the most successful of the evening -- what the dancers lacked in precision they compensated for in dynamism. Several of the ballerinas were standouts here, notably Amanda Hankes in "'S Wonderful" and Teresa Reichlen in "Embraceable You" and "My One and Only". Balanchine's choreography here is a true pleasure.

For more info or to book tix go to: http://www.nycballet.com/nycb/home/

New York City Ballet
Fall Season (September 14 - October 10, 2010)
The David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex
(at Columbus Avenue & 63rd Street)
New York, NY