Mark Kappel

Swept Away

Longacre Theatre

November 15, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Making its way from the Arena Stage in Washington DC, where it had a successful out-of-town engagement in 2023, the new musical Swept Away has now made its Broadway debut at the Longacre Theatre.

With music and lyrics by The Avett Brothers, and a book by John Logan, Swept Away has its roots in Neil Hanson’s book, The Custom of the Sea, chronicling the shipwreck of the British yacht, Mignonette, which left the crew having to use extreme methods to survive, after the crew was stranded off the South African coast.

This story was subsequently adapted by the distinguished Avett Brothers in a concept record album, Mignonette, which was released in 2004, and now is adapted to the stage with more of an American perspective.

Circa 1888, Swept Away tells the story of four survivors of the shipwreck of a whaling ship off the coast of New Bedford, Massachusetts. This sea saga focuses on the crew’s instincts for survival, what they will do to stay alive, and will they face any consequences and reckoning for those decisions.

In the time and space of 90 minutes the story is told, the decisions are made, and the survivors of the shipwreck wrestle with their ordeal – and their conscious — as they make their momentous decisions about survival, and life and death.

Bookending Swept Away’s narrative is the presence of the spirits of the surviving crew members – and encouraging the 2^nd Mate of the whaling ship (played by John Gallagher, Jr.) to both account for, and tell the tale of the sinking of the ill-fated ship, losing most of its crew, and what the survivors faced tossing and turning in the open sea in a life boat.

In his book, John Logan provides the back stories of the surviving crew members. Two were farmers, Big Brother (played by Stark Sands), and Little Brother (played Adrian Blake Enscoe), the latter eager to seek adventures, and experience exotic locales, and the former seeking to “rescue” Little Brother from the ship and return him to the family farm – while winding up being shanghaied on the ship’s long voyage – noting that neither one of them were natural mariners.

Then there is the Captain of the ship (played by Wayne Duvall), proud of his seamanship but understanding that the voyage of this whaling ship may not have much value as whale oil was becoming obsolete as kerosene was now being used instead – and that this would be his last voyage as he was missing his family, and was growing tired of these terror-filled voyages which might result in sickness and death.

The Mate has his own doubts he wrestles with as he tries to mentor Big Brother and Little Brother through the unpredictable experiences they may face during a sea voyage.

After the shipwreck, in their lifeboat, they all look back on their lives, their failings, and ultimately make a moral decision in order to survive – a decision in which one of them dies before being rescued. And those three that survive live out the remainder of their lives with that decision haunting them.

This tale is enhanced by the effective designs of the ship and the lifeboat by Rachel Hauck, and how the Avett Brothers’ signature music is incorporated into the sometimes meandering book by John Logan. The latter imposing a rather long epilogue to this musical in which Mate rejoins his shipmates in eternity in a heavenly tableau that might have had more of a catharsis if it was shorter, and its rambling had been diminished.

In spite of a few qualifications, Swept Away is carefully fashioned with a large ensemble acting as a chorus, and tells a compelling story that is well-navigated by director Michael Mayer, and performed by the excellent cast of John Gallagher, Jr. as Mate, Stark Sands as Big Brother, Adrian Blake Enscoe as Little Brother, and Wayne Duvall as the inimitable Captain – a seafaring tale that chronicles what human beings can learn from both battling, and appreciating the sea’s power.

Maybe Happy Ending

Belasco Theatre

November 10, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

A much-anticipated addition to the current Broadway season is the new musical, Maybe Happy Ending, which recently opened at the Belasco Theatre.

Written by the team of Wil Aronson and Hue Park, with superb and pitch perfect direction by Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending is set in Seoul, Korea, at a future time, and is a love story between two very unusual people — rather one would describe them as robots. Maybe Happy Ending may be more appropriately described as a rom-com for robots – but the connection to the human world is self-evident.

In the midst of a vibrant city with technology taking over in every aspect of its citizens’ life, we find Oliver (played by Darren Criss), a retired HelperBot3 robot, who is musing, and amusing himself in his small apartment listening to the music of renowned American recording stars of an earlier time. The only relationship he has is with HwaBoon, a plant. However his rather uneventful life is significantly changed when his doorbell rings, and ultimately he initiates an awkward relationship with a fellow Helperbot neighbor, Claire (played by Helen J. Shen).

Claire persuades Oliver to return to the real world – a world that has changed since his “retirement,” and changing his state and status after he lost his coveted place with his employer James (played by Marcus Choi). With Claire’s help, Oliver sets on an adventure to visit his former employer who he believes will to take him back into service – but finds out from his former employer’s son, that James is now deceased. Somewhat dejected Oliver and Claire return to their routine life, but decide not to allow their romance to blossom. They erase all memories of the relationship. However the relationship is rekindled anew tracing the same initial steps that kindled the relationship when they first met – but there is the uncertainty where it may wide up.

Through the course of Maybe Happy Ending, Claire and Oliver experience the same emotions and attachments that humans do – along with the faulty disconnections that occur in human relationships.

Inspiring this relationship is the song stylings of Gil Brentley (played by Dez Duron) – a Frank Sinatra-like crooner, who inspires Oliver to pursue Claire, and also creates the romantic atmosphere for this relationship to grow.

Aptly reminded of Alan Ayckbourn’s Comic Potential, inspired by science fiction, in which a young writer falls in love with one of his robot co-stars, Maybe Happy Ending tells its story in the environment and atmosphere of high-tech lights, and gadgets as depicted in scenery designed by Dane Laffrey, and video and projection design by George Reeve with Dane Laffrey. It makes for a highly striking visual experience for this sympathetic story to be presented in.

Maybe Happy Ending’s score is melodic and memorable, and attuned to the story being presented. Most notable the book, and the story itself, is very appealing to a youngish demographic – who might consider seeing Maybe Happy Ending on a date night.

The incomparable performances of Darren Criss as Oliver and Helen J Shen as Claire are compelling and enigmatic at the same time. They do shine in Maybe Happy Ending.

Maybe Happy Ending is many things but most importantly it is a sophisticated and charming new musical which breaks some barriers in how it is visually presented – and well performed by a cast who sings well and who are unrivaled taking on the characters they are portraying. And why not a romantic comedy for robots – it is the 21^st century.

A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical

Studio 54

November 9, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

A Broadway season would not be complete without a biographical musical, and filling that bill is A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, which just opened at Studio 54.

Louis Armstrong is musical icon of the past – but it is from what seems to be the distant past. Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans in 1900, and his rise to becoming an influential musician in American culture can be credited to his life in New Orleans, and the musicians he was exposed to as his musical career blossomed. He became best known as a trumpet and cornet player, and ultimately as a vocalist and recording artist, being recognized as an influential pioneer in the development of American jazz.

In this bio-musical, Armstrong’s life is presented through the prism of his four wives, Lucille Wilson (played by Darlesia Cearcy), Alpha Smith (played by Kim Exum), Daisy Parker (played by Dionne Figgins), and Lil Hardin (played by Jennie Harney-Fleming) who all played a part in supporting Armstrong’s rise to stardom, and supported him through the ups and downs, and crises during his life and career.

The story as written by Aurin Squire with the collaboration of the co-conceivers Christopher Renshaw and Andrew Delaplaine, takes Armstrong (played by James Monroe Iglehart) from his musical roots in New Orleans, and developing his talent, resulting in his influential stature as a jazz musician. He also developed a stage persona that was uniquely his own – and imitated by others. But he was the original.

Although A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical is spotty in terms of presenting the details in Armstrong’s life that influenced his talent and his career, it does manage to reveal Armstrong’s experience in facing racism as his career was flourishing as a performing artist, in Hollywood appearing in films, and eventually as a recording artist.

Armstrong’s well-known hits, signature tunes, and songs identified with the important sign posts in his life are included in this musical’s score, and they were performed with gusto and style by a superlative cast. The highlights of which were those of “Kiss of Fire,” “Up A Lazy River,” “Avalon,” “Black and Blue,” “It Don’t Mean a Thing,” “Some of These Days,” “After You’ve Gone,” “Oh, When the Saints Go Marching In” – and “Hello, Dolly!,” and “What A Wonderful World.”

A large collaborative team of co-directors, Christopher Renshaw, James Monroe Iglehart, and Christina Sajous, — and a special note for Rickey Tripp credited for the choreography and musical staging, and DeWitt Fleming, Jr. for the tap choreography — piece together and solidify Armstrong as the legend he was – and is.

The telling the story of Armstrong’s life is in the hands of a superlative cast including James Monroe Iglehart in the role of Armstrong, who paints a personal portrait of Armstrong rather than imitating him – and showed off what a versatile musical theater performer he is. The same could be said for Darlesia Cearcy, Kim Exum, Dionne Figgins, and Jennie Harney-Fleming as Armstrong’s wives. And then there is the band that plays the wonderful standards that Armstrong became known for.

A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical is a fitting tribute to a stellar entertainer, and enabling me and all of the audience to get know Armstrong a little better than we thought we did.

Ragtime

City Center

November 2, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

For its Annual Gala Presentation, the City Center is presenting another touchstone of Broadway musical history as part of its series – and I think one of Broadway’s best American musicals — Ragtime from October 30-November 10, 2024. And this performance of Ragtime was breathtaking, emotional, and literally raised the roof.

Ragtime, with music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and book by Terrance McNally, is a classic musical based on a classic American novel, E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime, which, in fictional terms, examines social injustice, and political issues in the United States in the early years of the 20th century – the age of ragtime – and focuses on the message that we haven’t yet resolved these issues more than 100 years later.

Ragtime first premiered on Broadway in 1998, and a Kennedy Center revival was presented on Broadway in 2009. It is a sprawling musical with a sprawling story encompassing the lives of many fictional characters, and also historical figures of the time. Perhaps it is not feasible to present Ragtime in its full glory on Broadway these days, and in this instance, in a concert version directed by Lear deBessonet, audiences can experience more than the essence of this musical as it is now being presented on the City Center stage.

Ragtime focuses on a typical wealthy white family with Father (played by Colin Donell) as the family’s patriarch, Mother (played by Caissie Levy),  Mother’s Younger Brother (played by Ben Levi Ross), Black pianist Coalhouse Walker, Jr. (played by Joshua Henry) and his love, Sarah (played by Nichelle Lewis), and the Latvian immigrant Tateh (played by Brandon Uranowitz) – comprising three different fictional families and how their lives intersect – and also intersect with the celebrities of the day, Booker T. Washington (played by John Clay III), Harry Houdini (played by Rodd Cyrus), Emma Goldman (played by Shaina Taub), and Evelyn Nesbit (played by Stephnie Styles). Combining the historical with the fictional underscores Ragtime’s sentimental, and heartwarming aspects, but also underscores the combustible atmosphere of the time the story is set in.

The story begins in 1906 – in New York – settled in New Rochelle, New York, Father is about to set off on one of his amateur explorations – to the North Pole this time — and Mother now making family decisions, finds an abandoned baby in the garden – abandoned by Sarah, a servant employed in a neighboring house, and deciding that the family must be the caretaker of this baby. The baby’s father, Coalhouse Walker, Jr., may not be the most trustworthy but he desires to prove himself to Sarah. In trying to do so Walker sets off a series of vengeful events that change the lives of many. Tateh finds that his silhouette pictures are not selling and is tempted to join the union movement – but plan or by accident he “discovers” the moving book which leads to a successful career as a film director. And every plot point is a hint of what is to come.

The score is a pastiche of the trending music of the time in which Ragtime’s story takes place – including ragtime influences, spirituals and anthems – here played by an orchestra of 28 musicians – and guided expertly by conductor James Moore.

As moving as the story is and how all of the loose ends are tied up to conclude this musical, it is also the individual performances of the wonderful songs in this musical that made this performance of Ragtime as stirring as it was. Those performances included Caissie Levy’s emotional rendition of “Back To Before,” Joshua Henry’s uplifting and optimisc interpretation of “Wheels of A Dream,” and the anthem, “Make Them Hear You,” and Nichelle Williams’ mournful “Your Daddy’s Son.” All of these songs, and how they were performed speaks to the fact that Ragtime’s score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens is memorable and enduring.

There isn’t a weak link in the cast, and I hope that Ragtime, poignant and emotionally shattering at times, will be seen beyond these performances at the City Center. It is a musical of our time, as well as for the ages, and generations to come.

American Ballet Theatre – Crime and Punishment

David Koch Theater

October 31, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

From October 30 through November 3, 2024, American Ballet Theatre is presenting the world premiere of Helen Pickett’s dance theatre interpretation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, a psychological tale that has its roots at around the mid-19^th century in Russia – a time of political and social turmoil – with its people victimized by poverty and political oppression.

Although American Ballet Theatre has acquired many full-length ballets since its founding, many of them, had been created on other ballet companies – and American Ballet Theatre has only commissioned a handful of original full-length ballets. Up until the premiere of Crime and Punishment all of them had been choreographed by male choreographers. Crime and Punishment marked the first time that a female choreographer, American choreographer Helen Pickett, had been commissioned to take on such a project.

We are in the new age of how full-length narrative ballets are structured. For most of the 19^th century and 20^th centuries, these ballets focused on the narrative which was represented in the choreography and gesture – and important collaborators were composers, and costume and scenery designers. Already bubbling over at the end of the 20^th century, and now into the 21^st century, the formula for creating a narrative ballet is different.

One of the choreographers specializing in narrative ballets, and who has straddled both the 20^th century and the 21^st century, John Neumeier alternates narrative vignettes with the dancers in period costumes, and plotless abstract dance moments. One strains to find any connections with the story – and then there are narrative ballets which favor more abstraction and fewer narrative details as the ballets are based on stories that are familiar to audiences – and audiences can fill in the gaps based on that familiarity.

Pickett, not only as choreographer, but also creatively involved as a co-director and treatment author – in collaboration with British theatre director James Bonas – heads a creative team that also includes composer Isobel Waller-Bridge, costume and scenery designer Soutra Gilmour, lighting designer Jennifer Tipton, and video artist Tal Yarden. In choreographing an edited version of Dostoyevsky’s novel. the story has been adapted, characters eliminated, and their roles in the narrative diminished. Even the protagonist, Raskolnikov, is a role performed in alternation by a female and male dancer which also offers a different interpretation of this story.

The central character in Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov (danced by Herman Cornejo), is an intellectual and a student who must give up his studies because of the impoverished state he lives in. Because he has represented himself as a person of compassion towards his family and friends, when he commits a murder it all seems out of character.

In this 20-scene dance theatre piece, which is bookended by a Prologue and Epilogue, this epic tale begins with Raskolnikov murdering the elderly pawnbroker Alyona, and her sister Lizaveta. In coming to terms with his crime, Raskolnikov wanders through his now fugitive life, first attempting to hide the evidence of his crime, and eluding his nemesis Porfiry, a police detective (danced by Jarod Curley), who haunts him through his turmoil and his adventures.

Among those Raskolnikov offers compassion to is a prostitute, Sonya (danced by Skylar Brandt) yet he also finds himself estranged from his family when he disapproves of his sister, Dunya (danced by Catherine Hurlin) being forced into a marriage with a wealthy suitor, Luzhin (danced by Jacob Clerico). Dunya rejects Luzhin’s marriage proposal, and she and her mother face eviction. That puts her in the position of being a target for the grifter Svidrigailov (danced by Patrick Frenette) who proposes marriage to her as way of evading ruin – but with Svidrigailov knowing where the evidence of Raskolnikov’s crime is hidden, he has more to hold over Dunya – and ultimately when Sonya persuades Raskolnikov to confess to his crime, Svidrigailov has no power over them – and he, himself, commits suicide.

Forced to serve his time in prison Raskolnikov still has hopes for the future which he expresses in the Epilogue of Crime and Punishment.

From the opening moments in Crime and Punishment, when the curtain rises we see a large ensemble of dancers in repetitive movement – parting ultimately to reveal Raskolnikov among them – writhing in the middle of the stage in a pool of light – presumably wrestling with his acts of murder, and his moral compass. It is a highly visual and impactful moment that Pickett has created to open Crime and Punishment, and the only theatrical moment in this dance piece – a dance piece diluted by a lack of stage craft.

Walls on wheels serve as the primary element of scenery delineating changes of place, and locale of each scene, and there are supertitles projected for the audience’s benefit to have some understanding of the narrative, and reveal the emotions and drama that should be reflected in the choreography.

There are other characters who play small roles in this drama including Ruzumikhin, Raskolnikov’s friend played by Aran Bell, and the aforementioned Porfiry, the detective (danced by Jarod Curley), and like all of the dancers playing characters in this dance version of Crime and Punishment they give their all but even they are not able to rise above what is not there in the choreography to support what characters they are portraying and the plot points.

In evaluating a work of art it is necessary to answer three vital questions. What was the purpose of creating the work of art, did the creator of the art succeed in that purpose, and was the work of art worth creating in the first place. Helen Pickett’s Crime and Punishment attempted to meet many of the original source material’s challenges, but overall did not succeed. These questions are those that should be pondered when any ballet or dance company commissions a major full-length narrative work.

MasterVoices – Strike Up The Band

Carnegie Hall

October 29, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Opening its 2024-2025 season at Carnegie Hall, MasterVoices presented a new version of Strike Up The Band, the first of three satirical musicals that were composed by George Gershwin (music), Ira Gershwin (lyrics), George S. Kaufman (book), and Morrie Ryskind (revised book).

It was the idea of producer Edwar Selwyn to enlist George S. Kaufman to collaborate with the Gershwins on an anti-war satire – in 1927 – at a time when it was common for plays and musicals, that were not only satirical — but also tackled political content and the social issues of the day—were frequently produced on Broadway.

Here with a new adaptation by Laurence Maslon and Ted Sperling combining the 1927 and 1936 versions of this musical – and also including the dance sequences that are featured throughout this musical – the score includes the familiar title song as well as “The Man I Love” and “I’ve Got A Crush On You”.

Strike Up The Band focuses on a businessman, Horace Fletcher, CEO of Fletcher’s American Cheese Company based in Hooray, Wisconsin, who instigates a tariff on Swiss cheese in order for him to dominate the cheese market in the United States. However Switzerland declares war in retaliation, and Fletcher is willing to underwrite the war himself as long as the war is named after him. In the original 1927 version of Strike Up The Band the war was about cheese – and in the 1930 version the war was about chocolate.

Complicating matters is local journalist Jim Townsend, who is a pacifist and whistle blower, who reveals that Fletcher’s cheeses are being made with Grade B milk – and the bigger reveal is that Fletcher’s Cheese’s general manager C. Edgar Sloane, was involved in this conspiracy, and also undermined the war effort against Switzerland.

Originally conceived as an anti-war satire, Strike Up The Band also wrestled with, and examined the issues of big business, and pacificism, Its original version closed in Philadelphia – then revised with less emphasis on the politics of the original, having a deserved success on Broadway in 1930.

You can feel the influences on the plot, style and score from such sources as Gilbert & Sullivan, and Kaufman’s and Ryskind’s collaboration on the Marx Brothers’ classic, Animal Crackers.

Besides the aforementioned “The Man I Love” and “I’ve Got A Crush on You,” there is also the wonderful duet, “Hoping That Someday You’d Care” sung by the love interests in Strike Up The Band that of Fletcher’s daughter, Joan, and Townsend – all worthy to be heard and experienced in the grand style that MasterVoices imparted in this concert version of Strike Up The Band.

Casting is key in every MasterVoices presentation – besides its magnificent chorus – which included superb performances by John Ellison Conlee as the pompous Fletcher, the unflappable Victoria Clark as the philanthropist Mrs. Draper, Shereen Ahmed as Joan Fletcher, Bryce Pinkham as Jim Townsend, Claybourne Elder as G. Edgar Sloane, Phillip Attmore as Timothy Harper, Lissa deGuzman as Miss Meade, and the comedic efforts by Christopher Fitzgerald as the mysterious George Spelvin, and David Pittu as Colonel Holmes.

Besides this stellar cast in Strike Up The Band much credit goes to Ted Sperling at the helm as both musical director and director of this concert.

All combining for an excellent concert performance of Strike Up The Band.

American Ballet Theatre Welcomes Back La Bayadere and Other Revivals

David Koch Theater

October 26, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

During its fall season American Ballet Theatre has offered several mixed-bill programs which have included a variety of works – some of which have not been danced by the company in quite a few years. Also some of them benefit from being performed in the more intimate setting of the David Koch Theater rather than the Metropolitan Opera House.

Opening the mixed-bill program at the matinee performance on October 26, 2024, American Ballet Theatre revived Natalia Makarova’s staging of The Kingdom of the Shades from Makarova’s full-length production of La Bayadere, which has not been danced by American Ballet Theatre in New York since 2018. Missed from the company’s repertoire – a ballet that has been re-examined in terms of stereotypical characters – The Kingdom of the Shades is a pure dance piece typical of Marius Petipa’s “vision scenes” that were part of the structure of his full-length ballets. In La Bayadere the warrior, Solor, imagines the spirit of Nikiya, whom Solor had once loved, and had been killed in a murder plot by Nikiya’s rival, Gamzatti.

This scene is notable for the mesmerizing and hypnotic ballet spectacle of the spirits of the Bayaderes descending from the Himalayas, one at a time, and in sequence, until there is a large corps de ballet filling the stage. In this performance, besides the wonderful performance by the corps de ballet, there were the equally wonderful and sophisticated performances of the Shades variations by Lea Fleytoux, FangQi Li, and Breanne Granlund, and Hee Seo as Nikiya and Isaac Hernandez as Solor rising to this special occasion. Makarova’s staging of La Bayadere brings out the best in American Ballet Theatre’s dancers.

What followed were bits and pieces – some of which were intended as choreographed as duets, and one that was excerpted from a longer work. The duet that fitted into the latter category was a Pas de Deux from Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s Great Galloping Gottschalk, choreographed to music composed by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and a work that was premiered by American Ballet Theatre in 1982. Not seen often danced here by American Ballet Theatre in some years, and during those interim years, this ballet has been danced in New York by BalletMet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.

Here danced for the first time by SunMi Park and Calvin Royal III, the youthful energy in the choreography was danced in a charming and joyous manner.

A novelty of sorts was Alexi Ratmansky’s Neo, choreographed to music by Dai Fujikura, and played by Sumie Kaneko. There are many dance styles referenced in Ratmansky’s choreography – even Russian folk dancing – as well as neo-classical references to Japanese dance styles that Balanchine had introduced in his Bugaku.  Included are complicated combinations with the dancers costumed in fiery red.

Although a bit of a throwaway piece it was well danced with a great deal of enthusiasm, and exactness by Catherine Hurlin and Jacob Curley.

Revived by American Ballet Theatre to celebrate the career of Maria Tallchief, who danced the ballerina role in this George Balanchine duet, was Sylvia Pas de Deux, choreographed to music from Leo Delibes’ score for Sylvia.  Sylvia Pas de Deux was added to American Ballet Theatre’s repertoire in 1964, and has only been intermittently performed by the company since its company premiere.

Balanchine choreographed this neo-classical style duet when he was at the top of his game working in this style with choreographic references to The Sleeping Beauty and others of the 19^th century classics. Requiring elegance and rock-hard technique both Chloe Misseldine and Aran Bell had the opportunity to show off they could handle these challenges.

This program closed with Twyla Tharp’s large ensemble work, In The Upper Room, choreographed to music by Phillip Glass, and costumed by Norma Kamali. This breathy and quick-moving idiosyncratic piece was accented by the misty and dusky lighting – atmospheric – injected with high energy – drawn from Glass’ high energy music.

In The Upper Room includes a series of group dances, But at this performance it was the male group dancer of only three dancers – Jake Roxander, Duncan McIlwaine, and Herman Cornejo – that epitomizes the energy generated in this dance piece. In The Upper Room is the sum of its parts, and there was a high energy ensemble of American Ballet Theatre dancers that brought life to this piece at this performance.

Left On Tenth

James Earl Jones Theatre

October 25, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Just recently opened on Broadway is a play that can be described as a slice of life, which also is the occasion for Delia Ephron to make her Broadway debut in adapting her novel, Left on Tenth, to grace the stage of the James Earl Jones Theatre.

Based on her memoir, Left On Tenth, Ephron, the novelist and screenwriter of You’ve Got Mail, makes a connection with a man from her past – a connection that occurs after Delia (played by Juliana Margulies) has first experienced grief after the death of her husband – then has the opportunity to make a connection with Peter (played by Peter Gallagher) via the internet.

The jumping off point in the play is a New York Times piece that Delia has written which more than just rants about the experience she has had in being put hold endlessly to restore her internet service after disconnecting her deceased husband’s landline telephone. As with any “customer service” telephone call one has ever experienced, it can be a frustrating nightmare.

However this story gets the attention of a psychoanalyst based in California, Peter, who Delia has met in an acquaintanceship some years before. An acquaintanceship that didn’t have much impact on Delia as she doesn’t have any memories of it.

Delia and Peter first initiate their relationship by e-mail – she in New York and he in California – until this relationship develops to the point of their meeting in person – and romance blossoms during what Delia describes as the fragile season in life.

Fate tests their relationship when Delia also fights a battle with cancer – which she wins with Peter’s solid support. In spite of what could devolve into a lugubrious struggle, Left On Tenth evolves into a romantic comedy in which Delia Ephron makes herself the heroine of her own story.

Rather than the complicated and twisting love story of two young people, Left On Tenth, is a romance involving two mature people and its special mishaps, misunderstandings, and sometimes its humor. This is a tale of the empathy between two people, and their very special and remarkable circle of friends who support each other during moments of crisis – a story of human resilience.

Throughout Left On Tenth both Delia and Peter break the fourth wall to self-narrate their own story, and have a dialogue with the audience about their emotions and experiences – and fortunately in this story there is a happy ending.

Left On Tenth is a story that is well told by two excellent story tellers in Juliana Margulies and Peter Gallagher, who are true to their characters, and achieve a special alchemy in their performances. The story may be sentimental but Margulies and Gallagher speak to the truth of their story throughout Left On Tenth.

Also exemplary are Kate MacCluggage and Peter Francis James, two extraordinary actors, who play what seem to be a myriad of characters from Delia’s and Peter’s close friends to doctors, and also those who could only be described as characters that are quintessential New Yorkers.

Susan Stroman has delicately guided this off-beat romantic comedy in the manner of a Broadway musical – even referencing the movie musical, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers — and Beowulf Boritt has created a scenic design that is imaginative, and seamlessly accomplishes the required changes to and from the many different locales in Left On Tenth.

Left On A Tenth is a distinctive romantic comedy that makes you think, makes you laugh, and makes you feel — making for a noteworthy theatrical experience.

Sunset Boulevard

St. James Theatre

October 18, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Billly Wilder’s film, Sunset Boulevard, which was released in 1950, is a Hollywood classic – a classic film noir that condemned the Hollywood Studio system in its negligent behavior of ostracizing the many successful silent film actors who made money for the studios – abandoning them when the talkies were developed, and became the next trend in the financially successful American film industry.

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, in collaboration with lyricists and book writers Christopher Hampton and Don Black, brilliantly adapted the film into a stage musical, which had its premiere in 1994, and was recently revived on Broadway in 2017. First produced in the grand manner with elaborate scenery and opulent costumes, Sunset Boulevard has returned to Broadway – again – but this time with a very different approach to this story. The concept is minimalist, and deliberately so, in communicating the story elements from this fabled film.

Whereas the original approach to the stage musical version of Sunset Boulevard was inspired by the original intent of the film in which Norma Desmond was a recluse, and was trapped with her enablers – and how the Hollywood studio system transformed her into the mad monster she became — British director Jamie Lloyd has re-imagined Sunset Boulevard creating a timely musical theatre piece that would be similar to an artistic statement out of today’s Hollywood or reality television.

Already having been a success in London, this revival of Sunset Boulevard, has now opened on Broadway in all its glory, in a very different interpretation of Billy Wilder’s film, testing the boundaries of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, and is being performed on Broadway with the original West End cast.

Lloyd’s concept – or conceit – is that it is the Jamie Lloyd Company performing Sunset Boulevard – which addresses the choices in this minimalist version of Sunset Boulevard – including what would have been each individual actors’ personal physical responses to this musical’s dramatic moments – and what would seem anachronistic references in this musical’s book.

There is less emphasis on the older silent film screen persona of Norma Desmond, and she is initially represented as a glamorous “star” referenced as being 40 and in her prime at 17, who might be on the verge of being tossed aside due to ageism. Played by Nichole Scherzinger, this is an alluring Norma very much in control of her life. Yet she is haunted by her past as revealed by the ghost-like appearances of a young Norma.

Norma attaches herself to a young screenwriter Joe Gillis (played by Tom Francis) in the hope that a new screenplay, with Norma playing the title role of Salome, might re-launch her movie career. Looked after by her former husband, butler, and Norma’s mentor as a film director, is Max von Mayerling (played by David Thaxton), and also an added component to this unique triangle of a relationship is young Betty Schaefer (played by Grace Hodgett-Young), an aspiring screenwriter who wishes to collaborate with Joe Gillis, only to find out that he is being “kept” by the sophisticated and dazzling Ms. Desmond.

The introduction of the actors playing the principal characters is revealed to the audience in film credit style projections on a screen – with hand-held cameras focusing on the faces of these actors in individual reactions to the plot changes, and also when in dialogues between them.

The cast is costumed in contemporary street clothes – and there are moments of coup de theatre as Lloyd opens Sunset Boulevard’s second act with a live video feed. Once the curtain goes up you are very much aware that this production of Sunset Boulevard is seen through the prism of Jamie Lloyd’s conception as a play within a play – and a movie within a movie. The story is told against the landscape of projections and videos that appear on screens or are also being photographed live as the story unravels. But Lloyd’s most personal responses to Sunset Boulevard are represented in his direction – primarily in how the actors read the lines in the book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton.

Norma is portrayed as a victim of ageism, mad and a predator – perhaps a reflection of the script of Salome that she hopes to launch her comeback to screen stardom – which is profoundly emphasized when she returns to Paramount Pictures to track down, Cecil B. DeMille, for his response to her script.

The only negative is that without knowing Sunset Boulevard’s story beforehand, you might not note the plot gaps, and the attempts to fill those gaps with alternatives – which are sometimes gimmicky, some tragic, and some ironic.

Lloyd Webber’s score is filled with a pastiche of movie scores and soaring ballads, “With One Look” and “As We Never Said Goodbye” gloriously and emotionally sung by Scherzinger as Norma looking back on her past days of success. Scherzinger’s performance is the heart of this revival of Sunset Boulevard, but there are exceptionally worthy performances by actors in the other principal roles in this musical.

Tom Francis is a manipulative and cunning Joe Gillis, David Thaxton is appropriately menacing as Max von Mayerling, and Grace Hodgett-Young is earnest and aware as Betty Schaefer. All of these actors are superlative singers. If nothing else it is worth experiencing this revival of Sunset Boulevard to hear the score superbly sung by these gifted actor/singers, and also played by a magnificent orchestra.

This revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard is emotionally charged, and provocative, and is an example of how a classic musical could be revived and revitalized.

American Ballet Theatre Opens Its Fall Season

David Koch Theater

October 16, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

American Ballet Theatre’s objective to commission or acquire new works had initially been to find dance pieces that would be showcases for the company’s dancers. As a result of that mission new choreographic talent was also discovered, and sometimes nurtured. When American Ballet Theatre began presenting performances in a fall season, the mission evolved into placing more emphasis on seeking out new choreographers to create works with some hits and misses as a result – and few of them that found a place in the company’s permanent repertoire.

The latter mission continues to be renewed every fall season. American Ballet Theatre opened its fall season at the David Koch Theater, on October 16, 2024, with a triple bill program which included two world premieres, and a vintage favorite that had been revived during American Ballet Theatre’s fall season last year.

Opening the program was the first of the two world premieres Gemma Bond’s La Boutique, a contemporary ballet choreographed to music by Ottorino Respighi after Gioachino Rossini – and to note that this is a ballet that American Ballet Theatre has invested in with opulent costume designs by Jean-Marc Puissant.

La Boutique is a bit of puffery and froth with many choreographic ideas that challenge a traditional structure of an abstract work. This is a work for a large group of dancers led by six principal dancers (Devon Teuscher, Aran Bell, SumMi Park, Cory Stearns, Skylar Brandt, and Carlos Gonzalez) with allusions from Frederick Ashton’s Scenes de Ballet, and William Forsythe’s The Vertiginousness Thrill of Exactitude. Although the foundation of the work is academic ballet, there are surprise directional changes in the choreography along with surprise lifts, and the use of arms and hands as well. If nothing else La Boutique is an apt display for American Ballet Theatre’s dancers.

More enigmatic was Kyle Abraham’s Mercurial Son, the second world premiere included in this opening night program. This was another plotless piece although there seemed to be a vague reference to a loner or a prodigal. Choreographed to Grischa Lichtenberger’s pulsating music there was a randomness in the choreography, and the sections of choreography in Mercurial Son, that did not link together in any linear narrative. Although Abraham also used contemporary ballet as his base line, Mercurial Son was a succession of short choreographic vignettes that also reflected influences from the creative process of modern dance improvisation.

Although fuzzy in and of itself, Mercurial Son did succeed as yet another showcase for American Ballet Theatre’s dancers in a cast that included Sierra Armstrong, Carlos Gonzalez, Catherine Hurlin, Joseph Market, Andrew Robare, Ingrid Thomas, and Cassandra Trenary.

Offering a rousing closer to this program was the crowd-pleasing display of classical ballet, Harald Lander’s Etudes, choreographed to music by Carl Czerny.

Originally choreographed for the Royal Danish Ballet in 1948, and staged for American Ballet Theatre in 1961, Etudes is an homage to the art form as it examines in detail academic ballet steps from basic exercises at the barre to technical displays, and neo-classical ballet composition.

Etudes is a company piece that is exacting on the dancers’ technique, showmanship, and bravura when called for.

This performance of Etudes was led by an excellent cast offering all of these qualities. Catherine Hurlin was precise and crystalline in the principal ballerina role, and also epitomized the Romantic style required in the focal pas de deux in Etudes. Jake Roxander, a superb technician, interpreted, and used the music to his best advantage as a jumping off point for an assured and exciting performance. New to the company was guest artist, Isaac Hernandez, who was a stalwart partner which was enhanced with his clean and polished footwork.

Time will tell if the new works by Gemma Bond, and Kyle Abraham will earn a place in American Ballet Theatre’s repertoire, but there was the exuberance and excitement displayed in Lander’s Etudes which made for a varied evening of dance.

National Ballet of Ukraine

City Center

October 15, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

After having already made its New York debut in the first program of the City Center Fall for Dance Festival in September, the National Ballet of Ukraine is appearing again at the City Center for a two-day engagement of its own on October 15 and 16, 2024.

It has only been following the declaration of Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, that the National Ballet of Ukraine began touring internationally. Now under the direction of Nobuhiro Terada, the National Ballet of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian folk-dance troupe, SHUMKA, based in Edmonton, Canada, shared the stage in a program that included divertissements from the 19^th century classics, new short works, and Ukrainian folk dances resulting in a program of dance that reflected the vicissitudes being experienced by Ukrainians during the current war, and also the joy of performing in front of an appreciative New York audience.

The program opened with film footage of the beautiful landscapes in Ukraine, and the people of Ukraine, which reflected optimism during the trying times that the country is experiencing.

All of the 19^th century excerpts had their roots in full-length ballets that had been originally choreographed by Marius Petipa although in some instances the versions of these excerpts were staged or revised by other choreographers.

The Kingdom of the Shades Pas de Deux from La Bayadere was danced by Anastasiia Shevchenko and Ivan Avdijevski in a version credited to Petipa, but also to V. Kovtun, which reflected the essential ghost-like atmosphere, and a poetic interpretation of the choreography.

Less familiar was the Pas de Deux from Harlequinade which was credited to Petipa and F. Lopukhov, and danced by Tetiana Lozova and Yaroslav Tkachuk. Lozova and Tkachuk emphasized the cheeky humor and pyrotechnics in this rarely performed piece – as well as portraying these Commedia characters with great spirit and charm.

In that same category was the Pas de Deux from Petipa’s Le Talisman danced by Kateryna Kurchenko and Daniil Silkin, which was also polished and spirited..

Remaining from the 19^th century divertissements was the Giselle Act II Pas de Deux which was danced by Nataliia Matsak and Sergii Kryvokon, and notable for the beautiful and appropriate 3D image of a church graveyard designed by Northern Gateway Films, and the Grand Pas from Act III of Don Quixote which included contributions not only from Petipa but also from O. Gorskyi, K. Goleizovskyi, in a version by V. Lytvynov, which included not only the Grand Pas de Deux but also the Bridesmaids’ variations. With the necessary contrast Matsak and Kryvokon danced the Giselle Act II Pas de Deux in a lyrical manner, Olga Golytsia and Mykyta Sukhorukov dancing the Grand Pas from Don Quixote danced a simple and straightforward performance of the choreography yet it was stylish with the appropriate pyrotechnics, elan and musicality.

Fokine’s The Dying Swan was danced by Anastasiia Shevchenko emphasizing the simplicity of Fokine’s choreography and its poetry.

There were also short pieces included in this program of dance. Among them were Mykyta Sukhorukov’s Melody in A Minor, V. Fedotov’s Prayer for the Fallen. V. Lytvynov’s Ukrainian Dance from Chasing After Two Hares, and the Adagio from V. Vronskyi’s and V. Lytvynov’s Forest Song. All of which reflected their Ukrainian origins, and in particular in the excerpt from Chasing After Two Hares was a comic vaudeville vignette with tongue and cheek humor.

SHUMKA danced the Ukrainian folk dances, Bukovynian, Zakarpatsky, and Verbunk, and danced the triumphant finale piece of this performance, the Hopak from the opera Taras Bulba with the dancers showing off their technique, skill, musicality, and enthusiasm.

All of the dancing was cleverly performed in front of a stage-filled LED screen with 3D video design and motion sculpting by the aforementioned Northern Gateway Films in place of traditional scenery – and there was also film footage of the destruction of Ukrainian cities caused by the current war – and speeches asking for encouragement and funding to assist the Ukrainians in the war effort.

This joint performance by the National Ballet of Ukraine and SHUMKA exhibited a great deal of optimism and determination, and encouragement by the audience that witnessed the performance.

Manhattan Theatre Club – Vladimir

City Center Stage I

October 13, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Opening its new season, the Manhattan Theatre Club is presenting the world premiere of Erika Sheffer’s Vladimir at the City Center Stage I. As you might expect by the title of the play, Vladimir Putin, is the focus of this play, and is omnipresent, but never appears as a character in Sheffer’s play.  Also noteworthy is that this new play is helmed by director Dan Sullivan.

The plot unfolds in Moscow at the time when Putin has risen to power. Some of the Russian people are expressing optimism that this change in political fortunes might result in a form of democracy being accepted in Russia with free speech and free voting.

The stage is set in a television studio in Moscow circa 1999. Described as an Old Man but presumably the then President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin – and his daughter dealing with an inebriated Gorbachev — announces his resignation as President, and his hand-picked successor is a young Vladimir Putin, who is already Prime Minister.

Jump ahead to 2004 when Putin has been elected for a second term as President, and journalist, Raya (played by Francesca Faridany) is experiencing her own personal professional struggles and emotions as she is coming back from a health issue. Raya still wishes to tackle two important stories – stories which she feels the Putin regime is lying about, and needs to be exposed. That of Putin’s war in Chechnya, and the bombing of a school resulting in the deaths of many children, and a tax fraud going up the ladder to the Ministry of Finance, and involving an American who operates a business in Russia – both stories putting Raya in physical danger, and her own sources putting their own freedoms in jeopardy.

Then there is Kostya, an editor of a major Russian publication, who sees his professional future at risk, and makes a major career change to be a director for a Kremlin-controlled television station – and then there is Raya’s daughter who is preparing for her wedding, and in an emotional state due to what she feels are her mother’s reckless professional decisions.

Raya does decide to move forward in authoring a book about the war in Chechnya – and then there is an American book tour – giving her the option to seek asylum and safety in the United States. But as she argues with herself about returning to Russia, she rationalizes that return by resolving that her allegiances are being in her home country, Russia.

Some of these same issues were adeptly elucidated in Peter Morgan’s Patriots which premiered on Broadway earlier this year, although the focus in Patriots was on the oligarchs that supported Putin in his political rise to power, and Putin turning on them when he reached the height of his power.

Vladimir is more focused on the emotional and personal issues that Putin’s rise to power had on the intellectual elites, and political activists who saw the handwriting on the wall that Putin was not a hope for democracy or optimism.

In guiding this story Daniel Sullivan’s light touch of direction was effective in some instances and not in others.  Sheffer’s play is filled with some extraneous plot points, and even characters, which do not illuminate the primary focus of the play.

However there are notable performances in Vladimir including that of Francesca Faridany as Raya, who wrestles with her gut reaction to the new political atmosphere and Putin’s propaganda. Norbert Leo Butz as Kostya paints a colorful picture of his struggles with the changing politics that were creating new truths in Russia. Also impressive was David Rosenberg as Yevgeny, the source for the tax fraud scandal that Raya is reporting on, and his struggles with possibly losing everything in making the choice to collaborate on this scandalous, and politically-charged story.

In the time space of about two hours the story elements in Sheffer’s play unravel with information about the characters, and then the complicated political history in Russia at the time – which has a universality that could be aligned with political changes in other countries. In that sense it makes Sheffer’s Vladimir relevant to current times and the moment.

Dancing With Diana

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Anne Allan’s career has been multifaceted. She began her career as a classical ballet dancer with Scottish Ballet after receiving her training as a scholarship at the Royal Ballet School.

The next stage of her career was as a dancer and later as balletmistress of London City Ballet, whose royal patron was Princess Diana, and then came the call and invitation to be Princess Diana’s ballet teacher in 1981, a relationship that continued for 9 years.

In Dancing With Diana, published by Sutherland House Books, Allan describes this relationship with Princess Diana that grew because of their mutual admiration for the dance world, and also what this relationship and friendship led to and how it blossomed.

Allan begins her story with the first interview with Anne Beckwith-Smith, one of Princess Diana’s ladies-in-waiting, expressing Princess Diana’s interest in having private dance classes, and ultimately arranging to use Merle Park’s private studio in Hammersmith in London to initiate her relationship with Princess Diana as teacher and student.

While also being Princess Diana’s teacher, she also developed her own career by working with Wayne Sleep and his various companies while also learning about dancers’ lives from the perspective of being a balletmistress. The education part was the care and feeding dancers under her guidance.

But between 1981 and 1989, except when Princess Diana was pregnant, when Allan was pregnant, or when they were on tour, Allan was Princess Diana’s teacher. Princess Diana did dance on the Royal Opera House stage with Wayne Sleep, a culmination of the classes over the year in 1985, and the story of how it happened is a good read.

However during that time period Allan had to adjust to the extra security that was required, and the attention that evolved when you are out and about with a public figure of Princess Diana’s status, and also how much Princess Diana was confiding in her about marriage to Prince Charles.

There were get-togethers that evolved into tearful confessions and confidences sharing her private feelings about the erosion of her relationship with Prince Charles. That also included Princess Diana informing Allan about her battle with bulimia. Yet at the same time there were Princess Diana’s efforts to make contact with all kinds of people through her day of royal responsibilities – particularly increasing the awareness of HIV/Aids and what could be done for the victims of this disease.

But in the development of Allan’s professional advancement was her engagement as Gillian Lynne’s assistant on her choreography for The Phantom of the Opera — where her focus was to be consulting about the authenticity of the ballet choreography during the era that the story takes place at the Paris Opera, — and also working with Sarah Brightman on the dance requirements in Phantom – and also Princess Diana wanting to observe rehearsals of Phantom. However Allan was regretful that she was not able to assist in the staging of the Broadway production of Phantom due to her own pregnancy.

However Allan was engaged to restage Phantom in Vienna and then later in Toronto. That engagement contributed to the end of her relationship with Princess Diana as Allan’s financial situation became cute which meant her moving back to Glasgow, and then taking on the responsibility of staging Phantom in Toronto.

Through out her relationship with Princess Diana, Allan became a confident in speaking about the problems in Princess Diana’s marriage with Charles, and then observing the relationship deteriorate from afar as they separated in 1992, divorced in 1996, and her death in 1997, all informed by newspaper and television reports.

Allan continued her career in connection with theatrical productions including Kiss of the Spiderman, Ragtime and others produced in conjunction with Canadian producer Garth Drabinsky as well as her time from 2004 and 2014 as artistic director of the Charlottetown Festival in Canada which was also associated with royal visits during her tenure in that position.

Dancing With Diana offers an intimate remembrances of Allan’s unique relationship with Princess Diana, and her heartfelt feelings as that relationship evolved into a special friendship. It is a unique story and uniquely told.

Fall for Dance Festival – Program 5

City Center

September 28, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

The City Center Fall for Dance Festival’s Program 5 proved to be the definitive definition of the Festival’s mission — presenting a diversity of dance experiences. The program included works familiar and unfamiliar, and one particular work that hadn’t been performed in New York since 1978. But this program veered in extremes and included a few surprises – among them casting and repertoire changes.

Opening the program was the Dutch National Ballet, currently directed by Ted Brandsen, a rare New York visitor, performing Hans van Manen’s classic, Four Schumann Pieces, which the company had danced in New York in 1978 with Rudolf Nureyev as a guest artist, and was previously performed in New York by the National Ballet of Canada in 1976 – also with Nureyev as a guest artist – but originally commissioned by the Royal Ballet in 1975 as a vehicle for Anthony Dowell.

Van Manen’s choreography is an example of pure balletic simplicity, clear line, filled with musicality, and a bit of deprecating humor — essential and notable for the performance of Jacopo Tissi leading the cast as he danced with finesse and artistry, and was more than ably supported by a small cast of 11 dancers that included Olga Smirnova among them.

The Dutch National Ballet’s performance of Four Schumann Pieces was the highlight of this program also underscoring the directorship of Ted Brandsen who has announced his intention to step down from his position of artistic director within the next two years.

What followed were two surprises due to the fact that Sara Mearns, principal dancer of the New York City Ballet, was not in fighting-fit condition. She was to have danced Molissa Fenley’s solo piece, State of Darkness, which is choreographed to Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring — danced in its world premiere by Fenley herself at the American Dance Festival in 1988.

Stepping in for Mearns was Cassandra Trenary, principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre, who met the challenge of dancing this iconic piece of Fenley’s choreography building on the momentum of Stravinsky’s music. Trenary’s performance was also heightened by David Mooney’s intrinsic lighting accentuating the stage space in which Trenary was performing in. A surprise but a notable one.

However Sara Mearns did participate in the program dancing in Christopher Wheeldon’s This Bitter Earth partnered by Tyler Angle, principal dancer of the New York City Ballet, adding a bit of glamour, and colored with emotion. Both dancers succeeded admirably in their interpretations of the choreography.

From the UK,, Gandini Juggling presented and participated in the closing piece on the program, excerpts from Smashed2. Having had its premiere in London in 2020, the companion dance works Smashed, and Smashed2 were inspired by the well-known German choreographer Pina Bausch. In this piece tribute is paid to Bausch’s iconoclastic style with its creation of a “juggling parade” in which the “performers” juggle their way through the piece – juggling oranges, watermelons – and at times themselves, the piece was meant to reflect Bausch’s own brand of humor and absurdity. In this instance more absurdity than humor.

Including both choreographers Sean Gandini and Kati Yla-Hokkala among its cast members, the piece has its struggles in defining itself as dance or theatre or performance art. In spite of the performers’ skills and theatrical sense, Smashed2 descends into confusion, and incomprehensibility, and one asks the question, what is it about, and does it have a place in the programming for Fall for Dance Festival – perhaps not.

In spite of the unexpected surprises and disappointments, this program accentuated a diversity of dance styles and choreographic voices – a suitable program concluding this year’s Festival.

Fall For Dance Festival – Program 4

City Center

September 27, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Fall for Dance Festival’s Program 4 featured two foreign dance companies, and one mainstay of the New York dance scene – and with all of the companies involved contributing to an all-contemporary dance program. Even though one of the companies that performed in this program was a classical ballet company, two of the companies that performed in this program not only had contemporary dance in common in each of the dance pieces that each company performed, but also that the choreography performed included different styles and perspectives of modern dance. The overall result was an unintentional sameness in each company’s presentation.

The mainstay of the New York dance scene was Kyle Abraham – his company A.I.M by Kyle Abraham danced Abraham’s MotorRover. MotorRover, which had its world premiere in 2023, is performed in silence, and was intended as a reflection and response to Merce Cunningham’s landmark work, Landrover.

The two dancers performing this work, Jamaal Bowman and Donovant Reed, danced in synchronized movement and often times moving in unison. Although characterization was minimal, the dancers portrayed themselves as being a bit self-involved, and expertly executed Abraham’s choreography which emphasized balances and control while also distinguishing the dancers as individuals.

Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, directed by Andre Lewis, has roots going back to 1939. In what was a rare New York appearance by the company, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet danced the world premiere of Segatam, a commissioned work by the City Center with the Bard College Center for Indigenous Studies, and choreographed by Cameron sinkwa Fraser-Monroe.

Fraser-Monroe has looked back on the history of Canada and its indigenous populations, and focused his inspiration on the Tia’amin National Elders who have had a reputation of exhibiting resiliency over time, and a sense of welcome to those who need help. The focus of the story in this group dance piece is a man who is facing burn out, and in wrestling with disappointments also must learn to seek help from the community he is living in.

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet dancers, Logan Savard, Julianna Generoux, Joshua Hidson, Tymin Keown, Michel Lavoie, Emilie Lewis, and Kyra Soo, enthusiastically took on the story-telling even though there is a sense of the abstraction in Segatam as the ensemble dancers moved like an amorphous assemblage.

In short Segatam proved to be a polished piece of choreography which made its statement in a clear fashion, and was interpreted well by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s well-trained dancers.

Closing the program was CCN/Aterballetto, based in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and directed by Gigi Cristofretti, a dance company which has a notable history evolving its dance style from a contemporary ballet company to, currently, a modern dance company.

At this performance CCN/Aterballetto performed the recent, and American premiere of Rhapsody in Blue, choreographed to the familiar music by George Gershwin, and choreographed by Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich, which was performed by a large ensemble cast. Also contributing greatly to the overall visual effect of Rhapsody in Blue was costume and scenery designer Fabio Cherstich who created a colorful atmosphere for the dancing.

This was another ensemble choreographic piece with a particularly personal response to Gershwin’s music – opening with a “song” by Bessie Jones – and opening with a full moon with the music and light inspiring the group of dancers.

No question that there were influences from Jerome Robbins, and reflected what was the enthusiasm of fans of an American sporting event. But there was a newness and theatrical impact in interpreting Gershwin’s music.

City Center Fall for Dance Festival’s Program 4 didn’t reflect a diversity of dance styles but did reflect a diversity of choreographic views of music, and how modern dance styles and idioms are being incorporated into current dance works.

Works & Process – American Ballet Theatre – Crime and Punishment

Guggenheim Museum

September 22, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

The Guggenheim Museum’s Works and Process programs are focused on informational presentations that reveal the behind-the-scenes stories of new works being performed in New York City and in other parts of the United States. The “process” is learning about the jigsaw puzzle, and logistics of producing a work of art in advance of seeing such a work in a performance or exhibition in its full fruition.

On September 22, 2024, Works and Process offered such a program focused on the full-length dance theatre commission by American Ballet Theatre, Helen Pickett’s Crime and Punishment, which will have its world premiere during American Ballet Theatre’s fall season at the David Koch Theater in October.

Based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s mid-19^th century novel, Pickett, wearing several hats as choreographer, co-director, and treatment writer, and director and treatment writer James Bonas are the collaborators in translating this unique story to the dance stage.

Pickett described her influences from German Expressionism, and distilling Dostoyevsky’s novel’ s plot points without restricting the artistic team to presenting the story in Russia in the mid-19^th century but could take place in any country and time. Further there was the gender question of casting both a male and female dancers in the leading role of Raskolnikov, the law student and murderer who is steeped in poverty, evading the law, and providing assistance to those he cares about. The theory is that Raskolnikov’s characteristics and flaws can be seen in both females and males, and therefore the character can be presented in a genderless fashion. These are the challenges as at the time of this event, there were still 3 weeks to go in terms of rehearsals of Crime and Punishment.

Putting all of this into practical terms, American Ballet Theatre dancers, Cassandra Trenary as Raskolnikov, Christine Shevchenko as Dunya, Calvin Royal III as Razumikhin,

SunMi Park as Sonya, Joseph Markey as Luzhin, and Ingrid Thoms as Pulcheria (Raskolnikov’s and Dunya’s mother) collaborated together in a scene from Crime and Punishment, and also received notes and changes from Pickett and Bonas. Also privileged to have lighting designer Jennifer Tipton to offer her perspective on her work for this dance piece – as part of a panel moderated by American Ballet Theatre’s artistic director, Susan Jaffe.

This all whetted the appetite for seeing this full-length dance piece when American Ballet Theatre presents its world premiere with all of the artistic teams’ contributions during the company’s fall season at the David Koch Theater.

Fall for Dance Festival – Program II

City Center

September 21, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Program II of the City Center Fall for Dance Festival, as performed on September 21, 2024, proved to be unlike Program I in including dance offerings that were similar in style, and also tone – with the one exception, that of the closing piece on the program, which was message driven.

Opening the program was the Complexions Contemporary Ballet dancing excerpts from Dwight Rhoden’s For Crying Out Loud, which was comprised of dance sequences in Rhoden’s signature style of contemporary ballet with a bit of modern dance, and even jazz styles thrown in – all reflecting the music of U2, which For Crying Out Loud was choreographed to.

The piece only recently had its world premiere last year, and is highly-charged with energy coming from the excellent ensemble of dancers – and although choreographed in the abstract, the excerpts from For Crying Out Loud indicated how theatrical this dance piece is.

Making one of its infrequent New York appearances, the Boston Ballet, under the direction of Mikko Nissinen, danced the New York premiere of an acquisition to its repertoire, Sabrina Matthews’ Ein von Viel. Canadian-born choreographer Matthews created Ein von Viel for the Alberta Ballet in 2001, and it was given its Boston Ballet’s company premiere in 2008.

Choreographed to nine sections from J.S. Bach’s The Goldberg Variations, Matthews’ piece is an example of the art of simplicity with only two male dancers, and a pianist on stage. The choreography sets itself up in counterpoint to Bach’s music and was the blueprint for the random choreography, and the crafted choreography in which the two dancers created a rivalry and competition – yet subtle and also complex – all in contemporary ballet and modern dance elements in a duet for two excellent male dancers, Jeffrey Cirio and Yue Shi, who dominated the stage with their presence.

The closing piece, Venom, choreographed by Roderick George, opened to Diana Ross’ pulsating signature recording, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” with a suspended sparkling disco ball above the performing space setting the stage for George’s choreographic statement of inclusivity – which culminated in a moving male duet making a profound statement to end this program.

Danced with commitment by an ensemble of dancers including George himself with Nazear Brown, Nouhoum Koita, Jordan Lang, Domonic Santia, Jeremy Villas, and Nat Wilson, Program II of the City Center Fall for Dance Festival culminated with sentiment, and a bit of gravitas.

Program II of the City Center Fall for Dance Festival presented a wide variety of choreographers at various stages in their careers – presenting an absorbing contrast of choreographic inspiration.

Fall for Dance Festival – Program I

City Center

September 19, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

This season’s City Center Fall for Dance Festival opened with its usual eclectic fare – and wide appeal. Notably Program I, performed on September 19, 2024, included two New York premieres.

Opening the program was the National Ballet of Ukraine, now directed by Nobuhiro Terada, and performing the New York premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s Wartime Elegy – an emotional response to the current Ukraine war, and also marking the National Ballet of Ukraine’s New York debut.

Created for the Pacific Northwest Ballet in 2022, and given its company premiere by the National Ballet of Ukraine in June of this year, Ratmansky has created a work that honors the Ukrainian heroes, and also expresses the spirit of the culture.

Choreographed to music by Valentine Silvestrov, with scenic design by Wendall K. Harrington, Matvyi Vaisberg, and Maria Prymachenko, Wartime Elegy begins the story with a group ensemble dance section which morphs into a solemn group of mourners. This followed by a second section which is a metaphor for the past which has precipitously changed, with folk dance influences, celebrating optimism, and resilience – and concluding with a somber dance exposing the emotions that encapsulate the ensuing war in the Ukraine.

The eight company dancers in this piece including Natalia Matsak, Olga Golytsia, Tetiana Lozova, Anastasiia Shevchenko, Mykyta Sukhorukov, Yaroslav Tkachuk, Sergii Kryvbokon, and Volodymyr Kutuzov captured the gravitas of the subject matter of this dance piece.

American Ballet Theatre principal dancer, Aran Bell, danced Tiler Peck’s solo work, Piano Songs, a co-commission of the City Center and the Vail Dance Festival. Peck chose Meredith Monk’s quixotic piano music for her solo piece – a piece that amply showed off Bell’s dancing talent but also his interpretative talents.  Certainly channeling Jerome Robbins, Peck takes advantage of Bell’s commanding stage presence, and evokes searching and emotional revelations. However by far it was the last section of the piece which had Bell in interactions with the two pianists, Derek Wang and Joel Wenhardt, that offered comic relief that was quirky and winning.

Closing the program was Andrea Miller’s Sama, choreographed to music composed by Nico Jaar, Vladimir Zaldwich, and Frederic Despierre, as danced by Miller’s company, Gallim. In this piece Miller displays her improvisational style of choreography, influences of Indian/South Asian motifs with large ensemble sequences in what is a dynamic and high energy dance piece – exuberance and spectacle.

This was a fitting opening program for the City Center Fall for Dance Festival.

London City Ballet Makes New York Debut

Joyce Theater

September 17, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

The Joyce Theater has opened its 2024-2025 season with the New York City debut of London City Ballet, a company that had been founded by South African-born Harold King (and former member of the Scottish Ballet) in 1978 and was disbanded in 1996 due to financial disruption. Princess Diana, was, in fact, the company’s patron which brought the company a great deal of attention as it intrepidly toured throughout Great Britain.

I had attended several performances of London City Ballet in London during its initial existence including Coppelia in 1994, and Matthew Hart’s production of Cinderella in 1996 — both performances at its then resident theatre — the Sadlers Wells Theatre.

London City Ballet has emerged again or as described as a resurgence – being re-formed in 2023 – under the direction of British-born, Christopher Marney, a former member of Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures among other dance companies in Europe, director of the Central School of Ballet in London, and most recently director of the Joffrey Ballet Studio Company in Chicago. The artistic image is somewhat different although there will be a continuing effort to revive dance pieces that the London City Ballet had danced in its previous life.

In its Joyce Theater debut beginning on September 17, 2024, the dance pieces presented were all American premieres, and represented a reflection of trends in the current British dance scene including one piece that Marney choreographed himself. However part of London City Ballet’s presentation included two short film segments which highlighted the company’s previous history – and emphasized Princess Diana’s affiliation as the company’s patron.

Included in the performance was Ashley Page’s Larina Waltz, which had premiered in 1993 – Page being a former principal dancer of the Royal Ballet, former artistic director of Scottish Ballet, and an established choreographer in his own right. Larina Waltz has been choreographed to the Act II waltz from Tchaikovsky’s opera, Eugene Onegin, and can be aptly described as an academic, classical ballet, yet every now and then the unexpected choreographic combinations surface, but was musical and showed off ten of the company’s dancers.

Former Royal Ballet artist-in-residence, Liam Scarlett, was represented in this program with his Consolations & Liebestraum, choreographed to Liszt’s familiar music which was performed on this occasion by Luc Xu Cheng.

Danced with substance by Ellie Young, Barbara Verdasco, Arthur Wille, Isadora Bless, Joseph Taylor, and Alejandro Virelles, the piece was simple and involving with emotion and expression, and certainly channeled Jerome Robbins’ In The Night.

One of the world premieres created for London City Ballet was that of Arielle Smith’s Five Dances which has been choreographed to John Adams’ quixotic musical piece, Book of Alleged Dances. Five Dances is a pure dance piece that was dynamic in its presentation with choreography that responded to Adams ever changing rhythmic mood changes – however that was a concern throughout this piece as the choreography was too attached to those quick-changes in musical phrasing.

The company’s artistic director Christopher Marney was represented on this program by his new work, Eve, that premiered in 2022, a modern-day version of the biblical tale of Eve and The Serpent – but from Eve’s point of view. Choreographed to music by Jennie Muskett, the interaction between Eve and The Serpent are crystal clear in terms of The Serpent’s intentions, but the question remained whether Eve’s bite of the apple enhanced her knowledge of life and the world – or not.

The principal roles of Eve and the Serpent were effectively danced by Cira Robinson and Alvaro Madrigal – as Marney also cloaked Eve in an assemblage of dancers representing Adams, and additional Eves.

London City Ballet took a bold step in performing in New York City at this stage of its new existence, and it will be interesting as to how the company will evolve and succeed in fulfilling its artistic intentions in the future.

Helen Morgan – The Original Torch Singer and Ziegfeld’s Last Star

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Christopher S. Connelly’s new book, a biography of Helen Morgan, is notable for its subtitle, The Original Torch Singer and Ziegfeld’s Last Star. Published by the University Press of Kentucky, up until the publication of Mr. Connelly’s new book, Morgan’s life has not been chronicled and examined in the detail that is presented in this monograph.

During her career Morgan sang in a variety of styles, but was known primarily as a torch singer – however her career included dancing in revues, performing in Florenz Ziegfeld’s lavish Broadway productions – was a recording star and popular on radio – acted in silent films and survived the transition to the talkies in 1929. However Morgan is best remembered for creating the role of Julie in the landmark Broadway musical, Show Boat.

But then there was her addiction to alcohol which she managed throughout career but ultimately caused the collapse of her career, and her death in 1941.

She was born in Danville, Illinois in 1902. Through childhood and beyond she survived the various marriages of her mother and father – with her father being mostly absent in her life – and she even temporarily lost her sight while a child.

Morgan married several times during her lifetime and had associations and flings with other men. But none of these relationships were solid nor offered her support in her chaotic personal life.

Morgan began her performing career early in life with her mother, Lulu, being her primary supporter, and companion.

In the early part of her career she was a contract player for Paramount at the Astoria Studio in New York City, and in 1920 appeared on Broadway in a musical produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, Sally, which she also toured in. She also studied opera but did not fulfill her ambitions in pursuing a career on the opera stage.

She also appeared in the pre-Broadway tour of Sigmund Rombert’s operetta, Louie the 14^th – and thereafter entered into a contract with George White – appearing in his Scandals – and also in the musical, Americana.

Throughout her career Morgan moonlighted in nightclubs while performing in stage productions in part to support a lavish lifestyle but also providing monetary support to people she felt needed a helping hand, and financially assisting troubled friends.

But 1927 was an important year in Morgan’s life when Florenz Ziegfeld was preparing to present the new musical, Show Boat, based on Edna Ferber’s novel – and in spite of Morgan’s minimal experience as a stage actress – but having a natural performer’s instinct – she was casted for the role of Julie – benefitting from rave reviews during its out-of-town tryout and when it opened on Broadway – and becoming known for her performance of the torch song, “Bill”.

Morgan also starred in a Broadway revival of Show Boat in 1930 after appearing in the film version in 1929. And she followed with more successes on Broadway in Sweet Adeline in 1929, and the Ziegfeld Follies in 1931.

Morgan also had a parallel career as a night club owner and performer during Prohibition days and those clubs were cited as violating prohibition laws – raids ensued, nightclubs closed, and Morgan was in and out of her night club work in between. However Morgan effectively used these raids for her own publicity.

However post-Prohibition, Morgan performed in nightclubs all over the country, and also in clubs that were especially designed and built for her as the star – including the House of Morgan in New York City – but many of these clubs failed miserably as Morgan became bored and uninterested in them, and took on outside engagements.

Soon after her success in Show Boat, Morgan’s film career blossomed, and she made a breakthrough film at Paramount, Applause, which was directed by Rouben Mamoulian – and later Roadhouse Heights.

In 1931 she appeared in Vitaphone’s sound short, The Gigolo Racket, and appeared in Ziegfeld’s troubled version of his Follies that same year. However Morgan had a success in a revival of Show Boat recreating her role of Julie, and also toured Show Boat in spite of the financial problems that were experienced during the tour.

A period of time in Hollywood resulted in a dramatic stage role in the play, Memory, and also signing a contract with the Warner Studio appearing in such films as You Belong To Me, in a dramatic role in a movie after the Production Code was put into place, as well as Marie Galante, Go Into Your Dance, and Sweet Music.

Morgan returned to Show Boat, in a Universal film remake in 1936 – playing the part of Julie – in which some of the racial slurs were removed from the screenplay.

After the Show Boat film remake, Morgan’s film career sputtered but she returned to the stage in a national tour of George White’s Scandals, tab units of musicals, shows in between movie showings, and vaudeville engagements which began to wane after the Depression years. She also continued to make recordings and often sang the songs she became famous for in Show Boat.

Helen Morgan was remembered even after her death with a film about her life starring Ann Blyth, and a television adaptation for CBS’ Playhouse 90 which starred Polly Bergen.

As detailed by Connelly in his book Morgan had a complicated personal life, and she also made more than a few bad decisions concerning her career. But while serving up the details of Morgan’s personal and professional life, Connelly also offers an appendix of Morgan’s stage and nightclub appearances, benefit appearances, and a discography making this biography of Helen Morgan a contribution in understanding the life and career of this pioneering entertainer.

Five Ballets from Paris and St. Petersburg

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

A new book authored by musicologists Doug Fullington and Marian Smith, Five Ballets from Paris and St. Petersburg – Giselle, Paquita, Le Corsaire, La Bayadere, and Raymonda, and published by Oxford University Press, explores the origins of these 19^th century ballet classics, and why these ballets have endured from the 19^th century to the 21^st century. What were the ingredients that made them successful in their era – and also their relevancy to 21^st century audiences.

In short this monograph is a must for any person who is planning to stage a production of any one of these ballets, and also dancers preparing to dance the principal roles in them – and is essential in understanding the history and back stories behind these ballets.  Also because of what are perceived as uncomfortable stereotypes of some characters in these ballets, Le Corsaire, Raymonda, and La Bayadere in their original productions, might not be seen very often in the future in spite of the efforts by present-day stagers to diffuse these characteristics.

Relying on oral and written sources – through repetiteurs, Justamant manuals, and Stepanov notation – it is revealed how the mainstay ballets of the 19^th century repertoire were created and how they have been preserved, and passed down from one generation to the next for what is nearly 200 years or more. Those ballets, Giselle (which premiered in 1841), Paquita (which premiered in 1846), Le Corsaire (which premiered in 1856), La Bayadere (which premiered in 1877), and Raymonda (which premiered in 1898) were given their world premieres either by the Paris Opera Ballet or what is now known as the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia.

A key question is answered in what made the 19^th century ballets enduring and popular with audiences. Plots and locations made it possible for audiences to be arm-chair travelers but also the depiction of people in different parts of the world and racial ethnicities – sometimes presented through the prism of the myopia of the times. Also the attractiveness of the leading ballerinas, female corps de ballet, and the novelty of women playing male roles.

Choreographic vocabulary was diverse including academic classical ballet, character dances, social dances, and mime. Characters would break the fourth wall in communicating directly to the audience about their personal emotions or motivations – and plot points.

Also explained are the origins of each of these ballets’ librettos, and an emphasis on the analysis of each ballet’s score. However not all of the blind spots and context that might have influenced the librettos were examined in depth as they might have been nor disputed issues fully resolved. One of the book’s shortcomings are the gaps in historical context – in terms of what was happening in the world – that influenced these ballets’ librettos and how they were produced.

Notably there was a continuum of mostly French choreographers during the 19^th century who created these works, and passed them down from one generation to the next. The authors conclude that the Paris Opera had the most important influence on ballet throughout Europe during the 19^th century and into the early 20^th century.

One of the links in the preservation efforts was the former Russian balletmaster, Nikolai Sergeyev, who transported the Stepanov notation for many of the great 19^th century classical ballets out of Russia, and staged many of them – in particular for what was the Vic-Wells (later to become the Royal Ballet) in London from 1931-1939.

Also notable in this book are small details that were customary in the time in terms of annotating the roles of male and female dancers – such as stage left being associated with power and stage right with its opposite, weakness – which were translated into these ballets in terms of blocking and stage direction.

Included information for each of these ballets are the notes concerning changes and action of sections – and choreography – as it specifically related to particular dancers taking on the principal roles in the ballets, and also exhaustive cast information for major productions of these ballets in the 19^th century and early 20^th century. Choreography was changed through the years, and spectacle and variety were very much in evidence in these ballets as well.

Of the ballets examined in detail the most familiar is Giselle while Paquita is the most obscure, and has not become a regular part of the regular repertoire of ballet companies with only the Grand Pas seen now and then.

Paquita premiered at the Paris Opera at a time when the enthusiastic support of Napoleon Bonaparte was acceptable – and also influencing how the French characters in the ballet’s story were depicted in a better light than the Spanish characters during what was French-occupied Spain.

The original French version of Paquita, which was choreographed by Joseph Mazilier, has been lost through the ages but when it was restaged in Russia in 1847, divertissements were altered and new dances were added. In 1881 Petipa revised Paquita with new music by Ludwig Minkus and the ballet remained in the Mariinsky Ballet repertoire until shortly after the 1917 Revolution.

Significantly Petipa added the Grand Pas which is primarily what today’s audiences are most familiar with in spite of complete and reconstructed versions of Paquita that have been presented in the last couple of decades.

To some degree just as obscure is Le Corsaire, created originally during the time period of Paquita, and heavily revised by Petipa when he re-staged it for the Mariinsky Ballet – including the Jardin Anime divertissement which was inserted into Le Corsaire’s revival in 1868.

La Bayadere is described as a “revenge drama” as the leading character Nikiya – as a spirit – seeks revenge as those responsible for her death and betrayals – in comparison to the title character in Giselle, who doesn’t seek that revenge.

La Bayadere has its roots in 19^th century Orientalist opera. In the West Nikolai Sergeyev staged a version of Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadere for the Latvian National Ballet in Riga in 1923 – before the Mariinsky Ballet performed the Kingdom of the Shades in Paris in 1961. La Bayadere has been subject to revisions – minor and major – through the 20^th century – in what few new productions of the ballet that have been performed.

Raymonda was Marius Petipa’s last major achievement, and in recent years productions of the ballet have attempted to overcome stereotypical characters and characterizations in the ballet’s libretto responding to current events of the day. The ballet premiered at the end of the 19^th century by the Mariinsky Ballet had one-foot in the 19^th century and one foot in the 20^th century.

Initial productions of Raymonda in Western Europe and beyond were mostly reduced versions with the most significant being that for the Ballet of the Lithuanian National Opera in 1933, and another one staged by George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1946.

Konstantin Sergeyev mounted a new production of Raymonda for the Mariinsky Ballet in 1948, and after his defection from the Soviet Union, Rudolf Nureyev staged a production of Raymonda for the Royal Ballet Touring Company in 1964, which had been re-staged for many other ballet companies in Europe and other parts of the world. However today – primarily because of the cost of such a production – you rarely see ballet companies perform a full-length production of Raymonda but for the occasional revivals of Act III of the ballet as a stand-alone ballet on a mixed-bill.

Also included in the book are a great many details about the origins of the ballet, Giselle, which is a ballet that has become a standard in most ballet company repertoires today – and endured through the ages. And even with its greater familiarity there are new details revealed in this monograph about Giselle’s sources and antecedents.

Five Ballets from Paris and St. Petersburg provides fascinating details about the origins of these significant 19^th century classics, productions that were performed shortly after these ballets’ premieres, detailed librettos, and musical passages, which will provide the references for future scholarship on these ballets and an essential guide for those who re-stage these ballets in the future.

Ballet Festival – Unite!

Joyce Theater

August 13, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

To end its 2023-2024 season the Joyce Theater is presenting unique programming which has been curated by American Ballet Theatre principal dancer, Calvin Royal III — who is also appearing as a dancer in both programs that are being presented from August 13-18, 2024.  Unique programming because dance programs such as these are rare which showcase the synchrony of dancers and choreography – and varied styles within the ballet idiom.

Program A of Ballet Festival – Unite! focused on contemporary dance pieces, and neo-classical ballets including the works of well-known choreographers such as George Balanchine, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, and Alonzo King, and also dancer choreographers such as Royal, and James Whiteside — as well as Duncan Lyle, Aleisha Walker, Jae Man Joo, and Adriana Pierce – some of these works seen on a New York stage before and others that had not been.

Opening the program was the Solo and Pas de Deux from George Balanchine’s Apollo choreographed to Igor Stravinsky’s commissioned music which was played here live by pianist Jacek Mysinski, and violinist Kobi Malkin.

These excerpts were Apollo’s solo just before his Pas de Deux with the muse, Terpsichore, and the Pas de Deux itself with Calvin Royal III in the title role and Chrstyn Fentroy, principal dancer of the Boston Ballet dancing the role of Terpsichore. In performing this “classic” piece of choreography both dancers relied on their classicism, and their mastery of the choreography.

Following was Duncan Lyle’s Night Pieces, a piano ballet, choreographed to music by Robert Schumann, and danced by Kyra Coco, Ingrid Thoms, Duncan Mcilwaine, and Tristan Brosnan – all members of American Ballet Theatre. Lyle’s piece was neo-classical in style with influences from Jerome Robbins – and danced neatly and cleanly by this cast of dancers.

Aleisha Walker of American Ballet Theatre danced her own solo, Impatiens, a world premiere, choreographed to Nathan Milstein’s musical oddity, Paganiniana (Variations) for Violin Solo which was performed by violinist Kobe Malkin as a participant interacting with Walker in her choreography, although the choreography as such was random.

Royal returned to the stage to dance his own atmospheric solo, Moonlight, choreographed to Claude Debussy’s Suite bergamasque, and Clair de Lune. Royal in both his dancing and choreography appropriately gave ample expression of the music, and darkish atmosphere of this dance piece.

Isabella Boylston and James Whiteside, principal dancers of American Ballet Theatre danced Whiteside’s Rozzi Suite performed to several songs about love composed and sung by vocalist Rozzi who also had a stage role in Whiteside’s piece. The choreography was spunky, cool, comedic, and showed off both dancers as well.

Sae Eun Park and Paul Marque, etoiles of the Paris Opera Ballet, danced the passionate Bedroom Scene from Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon which had immediacy and drama even on the small stage of the Joyce Theater. Both dancers interpreted the choreography with its innate recklessness of youth and innocent love – and dazzling partnering – and at least within the full-length ballet, a love that evolves into something very different.

Adji Cissoko and Shuaib Elhassan, principal dancers of Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, danced the enigmatic Epilogue Pas de Deux from Alonzo King’s Single Eye – emphasizing their flexibility and musicality.

Adriana Pierce was represented on this program with the world premiere, Petalwing, choreographed to music by David K. Israel, with the representation of only two female dancers, Ingrid Thoms and Kyra Coco supporting each other, and doing so with poise and some charm.

Herman Cornejo, principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre, in a star turn. danced excerpts from Jae Man Joo’s Flight. In this piece with a myriad of dance styles included in the choreography, Cornejo showed off his flexibility and his keen musical sense as he danced to musical pieces composed by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Closing the program were Chloe Misseldine, principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre, partnered by Royal, in Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, which was danced in bullet train speed with a strong sense of stage presence. An appropriate closing piece for this program.

I find such programs fascinating as they reflect the dancers’ tastes as much as the curator’s taste – what would they like to dance if they had the choice – with some of these choices aptly fulfilled and other less so. However there was the dancing, which overall, was excellent and audience pleasing.

Job

Hayes Theater

July 25, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Many of the early openings in the new theatre season are plays that have been transferred from off-Broadway to Broadway as there is the opportunity to do so with many small Broadway theaters becoming available. Having already played at the off-Broadway Soho Playhouse, and the Connelly Theater, Max Wolf Friedlich’s Job has been recently transferred to Broadway for a limited engagement at the Hayes Theatre.

This two-hander is about Jane (played by Sydney Lemmon), a suspended tech worker going through a personal re-evaluation of her life and her career in the industry, and Loyd (played by Peter Friedman), a therapist, who holds Jane’s future in his hands as he can or not certify her to be reinstated in a job at a tech company – a love/hate relationship that seems to be a conundrum for her.

Jane was compelled to take a leave from the company, User Care, because of the repercussions generated by a video of herself, in a state of mental distress, that went viral. Her desire is to return to the workplace as soon as possible whether this is a realistic possibility or not – or whether it would be detrimental to her own well-being. However Loyd is the person who must approve her return to work, and his instincts tell him that Jane’s work is doing more harm to herself – than good.

Job is a mystery and thriller which takes its audience to the dark regions of the internet. The play is combative with the flashpoints of the conflict heightened by photos of the two protagonists taken at intervals which are appropriately highlighted by the black outs on stage.

And then the questions come up. Among those questions was whether Jane’s presence at the therapist office was a cry for help — as she reveals her unhappy childhood, an unhappy love life which involved a traumatic abortion, and her job’s requirements to monitor the worst of human kind’s actions against other humans, which caused the trauma depicted in the viral phenomenon that resulted in her being suspended from her job.

And there is Loyd, Jane’s therapist, who holds Jane’s future in his hands. He describes the therapy session as a hostage situation, and through the course of Job there are the revelations of his own baggage that he carries – and even the suspicion that Jane may have chosen him as her therapist for reasons beyond the help she needs from him to be reinstated in her job.

With all of these ingredients including confusion, haze, and doubt, Job becomes more than just the depiction of a therapy session, but also the unravelling and revelations of a murky and highly-charged suspenseful mystery. And as the playwright doesn’t provide an ending to the play – it is up to the individual audience members to balance the facts and red-herrings, and decide for themselves what the play’s conclusion might be or could be.

Director Michael Herwitz is assigned the task for acting as a counterweight to tune in and tune out the arguments expressed by these two characters, and does so meticulously with timing the revelations in small and large doses, and the fits and starts of the play itself. And this “dispute” or “discussion” or “therapy session” is presented in a concise 80 minutes.

Sydney Lemmon and Peter Friedman are the superb actors who portray these complicated characters in a complicated situation, and do so giving a master class in acting.

Job is a thought-provoking play with the added responsibility of the audience to determine how it all ends — a play with a message for our time.

Elizabeth I: In Her Own Words

59E59 Theaters

July 27, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Concluding the East To Edinburgh 2024 presentations at the 59E59 Theaters is Carol Levin’s Elizabeth I: In Her Own Words. Produced by Flying Solo! Levin’s play, which has Tammy Meneghini portraying Queen Elizabeth I of England close to the end of her reign as Britain’s monarch in 1601, is one hour of frank and lucid emotional confessions as she contemplates her fears, and concerns — at a time of religious strife, international wars, exploring economic opportunities in the New World, and as a woman establishing herself in a position of authority in a male-dominated society.

We see Queen Elizabeth I in the contemplative state of reading before retiring to bed for the remainder of the evening. As she informs the audience, she has banished her ladies-in-waiting, and the audience members have now become her confidants. An intimate conversation that Queen Elizabeth I would not be able to have with her own peers at the time.

She sets the scene referring to William Shakespeare’s Richard II to allow her to ruminate about her life, loves, and triumphs – with particular focus on her feud with her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots including Mary’s self-generated conspiracies, and recklessness – and Queen Elizabeth’s struggles with her conscious about the Queen of Scots’ execution.

Queen Elizabeth also wrestles with her religious beliefs, how she survived the accusations of being involved in conspiracies against her sister, Queen Mary of England, as well as her passions, and also the intervention of weather that made the English victory over the Spanish Armada possible.

However what was most important was that Queen Elizabeth I was a brilliant tactician of state craft and diplomacy, and put her loyal country men first.

In Elizabeth I: In Her Own Words, Levin’s employs Queen Elizabeth I’s letters – and those letters written to her – references to Shakespeare as a willing propagandist for her regime – and what results is a portrait of a political savvy and brilliant ruler.

Lynn Nichols directs this personal story bringing out Tammy Meneghini’s dramatic gifts and the emotional outpouring that Queen Elizabeth I wishes to express, defiantly, and also with some regret.

Although most of the facts, and stories contained in this play are not new to aficionados of Queen Elizabeth I, this portrait of Queen Elizabeth I is uncanny, informative, and a wise look back on a historical figure who can provide guidance to those people who are making history today.

American Ballet Theatre – Like Water for Chocolate

Metropolitan Opera House

July 18, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Christopher Wheeldon’s Like Water for Chocolate was given its world premiere by the Royal Ballet in 2022, and in what is a co-production arrangement with American Ballet Theatre, American Ballet Theatre presented its East Coast premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House in June of last year. Like Water for Chocolate has returned to American Ballet Theatre’s repertoire for the last week of the company’s Metropolitan Opera House season.

Much anticipated when it premiered Like Water for Chocolate is a 3-act ballet based on Mexican writer Laura Esquivel’s novel which was published in 1989, and was adapted into a successful film in 1992.  Esquivel’s participation as a collaborator enhanced the realization of Like Water for Chocolate in its transition from the page to the ballet stage, along with the opulent costume and scenery designs by Bob Crowley, and the video designs by Luke Halls.

The complicated plot focuses on the love affair of Tita (portrayed by Skylar Brandt) and Pedro (portrayed by Carlos Gonzalez) with the theme of food as an important ingredient. The story is set against the chaos created by the Mexican Revolution in 1910 represented by flashbacks of past relationships, and flash forwards of weddings, the births of babies, deaths – much of which is communicated through the frequent appearances and re-appearances of ghosts.

Tita, the youngest daughter of the De la Garza household, is in love with Pedro, son of a neighboring rancher – but family tradition prevents their marriage as Tita is obligated to care for her mother in her old age. As Mama Elena (portrayed by Zhong-Jing Fang), Tita’s mother, disapproves of the match, she manipulates Pedro into accepting marriage to Tita’s sister, Rosaura (portrayed by Betsy McBride), which Pedro rationalizes in order to be close to the family, and most especially to remain close to Tita.

As marrying Pedro is out of the question, Tita develops a romance with Dr. John Brown (portrayed by Jarold Curley), a family physician, but she ultimately breaks the engagement. When Pedro’s wife dies, Tita and Pedro are united – finally but only after Pedro’s daughter is married to Dr. Brown’s son – providing one of the few happy endings in this story.

Throughout Like Water for Chocolate, it is Mama Elena, patriarch of the Dela Garza family, who sets these passions into motion – along with many sub-plots – even manipulating the family members from the grave as a ghost – and also reveals herself and her own insecurities when the content of her diary is read after her death. But Tita’s love for cooking provides her with the optimism to survive the many calamities that she is facing.

Christopher Wheeldon works within the familiar dance idioms of ballet and modern dance but the episodic nature of the story forces Wheeldon to create a series of dance vignettes rather than presenting a linear narrative story. Also as in other of Wheeldon’s full-length narrative ballets, composer Joby Talbot is a lynchpin member of the creative team.

Much of the ballet’s choreography is employed to bring clarity to what is a great deal of exposition, but there are divertissements and non-narrative sections as well.  But as noted at its East Coast premiere last season, Wheeldon’s strengths are in his choreography for the abstract moments in Like Water for Chocolate rather than in the narrative moments.

The ballet’s climax, which is the impassioned pas de deux danced by Tita and Pedro, however, represents Wheeldon’s best choreography in the ballet. During this pas de deux, there is the introduction of a song performed by soprano Kara Dugan, and ends with a scenic coup de theatre.

More than anything else an excellent cast brings Wheeldon’s vision, and Esquivel’s story, to life with fervent performances by Skylar Brandt as Tita, and Carlos Gonzlez as Pedro, and equally passionate and vividly fulfilled performances by Zhong-Jing Fang as Mama Elena, Betsy McBride as Rosaura, and Jarod Curley as the stoic Dr. John Brown. The dancers draw their characters not only in their dancing but also in the dramatic images that they create through their acting skills.

Creating a narrative ballet on this scale with such a complicated and mystical tale to tell, has its challenges in making for a compelling and memorable ballet. Unfortunately, even on this second viewing, Like Water for Chocolate does not fulfill its ambitions. However it does make for an excellent showcase for the talents of American Ballet Theatre’s dancers.

Smuin Contemporary Ballet

Joyce Theater

July 12, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

The Smuin Contemporary Ballet is based in the San Francisco Bay Area – where it performs and tours. Returning to perform at the Joyce Theater after an absence of about 20 years, the Smuin Contemporary Ballet is presenting a program of dance, from July 9-14, 2024, that represented choreographers whose primary artistic vision is contemporary ballet, and modern dance.

Named after the company’s founder, Michael Smuin, a choreographer and former artistic director of the San Francisco Ballet, the Smuin Contemporary Ballet was established to be a creative outlet for Smuin, and made its debut in San Francisco in 1994. Celia Fushille took over Smuin’s legacy in 2007, and added the works of other contemporary choreographers to the company’s repertoire. Later this year Fushille will be passing the torch of leadership to the Smuin Contemporary Ballet’s current associate artistic director, a choreographer in her own right, Amy Seiwert, who will take over the artistic direction of the company.

For this engagement by the Smuin Contemporary Ballet, in terms of repertoire, the references are a reflection of the company’s future rather than musing about its past as not one of Michael Smuin’s dance pieces was presented on this program. All three works presented on this program are New York premieres but the choreographers have had their works performed in New York frequently in the last few decades.

Val Caniparoli was represented by Tutto Eccetto il Lavandino, choreographed to music by Vivaldi and which had premiered in 2014. With the title that can be simply be translated as “everything but the kitchen sink,” Caniparoli has created a 15-dancer ensemble work that keeps moving – and moving – Caniparoli transitions from one style of ballet to another. There were ensembles dances, duets, and solos in which the dancers were compelled to keep up a high-energy level throughout this dance piece – and in the end – sliding on to the stage was a kitchen sink – offering a bit of irony and self-deprecating humor.

Following was a work choreographed by the company’s incoming artistic director, Amy Seiwert – Renaissance – with music by the Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble,

What followed offered an important punctuation to this program, and that Seiwert’s dance piece had premiered in 2019. Seiwert’s choreographic response to this special brand of “sacred” and ritualistic music offered an obvious and odd flavor of ritualism.

The structure of the piece was threading together the recurring ensembles, solos, and duets, which were non-stop and also made Renaissance seemed like it had a similar choreographic blueprint as Caniparoli’s piece seen earlier in the program.  Seiwert created a similar choreographic blueprint as Caniparoli had in his piece which was dancing with the speed of a demon with influences from distinguished masters of American modern dance. Renaissance was also an ensemble work although, in this instance, there was the couple of Terez Dean Orr and Tess Lane that possessed the distinctive dancing personalities to lead the cast.

In contrast was Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s recent work, Tupelo Tornado, which is inspired by the life of Elvis Presley. This “tribute” of sorts was choreographed to Presley’s recordings, snippets from documentaries, and a specially commissioned soundtrack, noting Presley’s drug use and his appropriation of the art of black recording artists. Tupelo Tornado was premiered in 2024, and had an ensemble cast led by Brandon Alexander as Elvis, who was more of a bystander than a participant in this piece.

As it might be with a non-American choreographing a piece like this, which is about a preeminent American icon, all seemed to be perplexing and out-of-place, with new choreography that didn’t even try to be a pastiche of dance styles that would be notable and identifiable to any audience member who would have been familiar with them during Presley’s Golden Age. Also in the costuming of Brandon Alexander mostly in Presley’s signature white jump suits – there was an odd use of a television set put over Alexander’s head. This added to the perplexing nature of Tupelo Tornado that contrasted with the reasons for Presley’s success – including his special connections with his audiences which made then die-hard fans for life, and his interpretation of both popular, and sacred songs.

I would propose that Ochoa’s Tupelo Tornado might have had more of a s success if Ochoa had done more research on Presley’s life and his contributions to American culture before embarking on this project.

The artistic direction and philosophy of the Smuin Contemporary Ballet has changed, and I hope that the company will perform in New York again without long intervals getting in the way in order to appreciate where the next chapter of this company’ artistic legacy will be.

American Ballet Theatre – Romeo and Juliet

Metropolitan Opera House

July 10, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Since 1984, Kenneth MacMillan’s production of Romeo and Juliet has been part of American Ballet Theatre’s bread and butter repertoire – remaining popular for decades. Before American Ballet Theatre’s acquisition of the ballet MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet was known to New York audiences by virtue of the frequent performances of this version of Romeo and Juliet danced by the Royal Ballet in the decades prior to 1985. It is fair to say that MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet has become a very familiar ballet in American Ballet Theatre’s repertoire, and has now been presented in the last three of the company’s Metropolitan Opera House seasons. This season from July 9-13, 2024.

MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet was choreographed to the score composed by Serge Prokofiev in a grand opera house manner. Beautiful designs by Nicholas Georgiadis, and appropriately dramatic choreography that created splendid choreographic tableau, and dramatic vignettes to tell Shakespeare’s familiar, and tragic story.

MacMillan, in his version, does include an added solo for Romeo to dance in the Act I Ballroom Scene. But for the most part he followed a similar blueprint and structure that have been embraced in other productions of Romeo and Juliet.

An added ingredient is that MacMillan effectively employs the darkness of Prokofiev’s score as a layering for his own dark interpretation of Shakespeare’s well-known tragedy.

At the July 10^th’s evening performance the roles of the star-crossed lovers were danced by Isabella Boylston and Herman Cornejo, who are seasoned artists. Boylston employing every aspect of her dancing, and acting skills by infusing every bit of narrative choreography into her characterization of Juliet. Other details in her performance included recklessness, and passion rather than caution. Cornejo’s emphatic, and romantic nature of his interpretation of Romeo – and being a supportive partner to his Juliet – were exhibited in Cornejo’s mature artistry.

Jake Roxander as Mercutio, infused comedy and wit into the interpretation of his character, as well his pin perfect execution of the choreography. Roxander also brought those same attributes to the pre-Ball Pas de Trois which was danced by Roxander, Cornejo, and Luis Ribagorda as Benvolio. Also notable were Roman Zhurbin’s commanding performance as Tybalt, and Andrii Ishchuk’s subtle performance as Paris.

When American Ballet Theatre performs Romeo and Juliet it is a company effort which was very much on display in this performance.

American Ballet Theatre – Swan Lake

Metropolitan Opera House

July 4, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

In the third week of its Metropolitan Opera House season, American Ballet Theatre is dancing its current production of the 19^th century classic ballet, Swan Lake – the current production staged by Kevin McKenzie with designs by Zack Brown – which has been danced by American Ballet Theatre since 2000. American Ballet Theatre continues to dance Swan Lake through this weekend, and it shouldn’t be missed as it is where the company as a whole puts its best foot forward.

McKenzie’s signature is all over his production of Swan Lake including the Prologue in which Von Rothbart transforms Odette into a swan, reordering of musical pieces, and combining the four acts of the ballet into two acts with only one intermission. But a great deal of Tchaikovsky’s glorious music is included in this production – a foundation for the story which is also in McKenzie’s generally traditional staging.

But any performance of Swan Lake is only as good as the principal dancers in the roles of Odette/Odile, and Siegfried which on July 4^th were danced by Catherine Hurlin and James Whiteside.

Dancers who dance the dual role of Odette/Odile either let the choreography tell the story, or some use their dramatic skills. But Hurlin combined both qualities in her performance. Hurlin proved to be eloquent as the White Swan, but her technical and dramatic strengths were most evident in her Black Swan – particularly in the Black Swan Pas de Deux’s solo variation and coda – where she played with Tchaikovsky’s music a bit for dramatic effect, and offered her own pyrotechnics.

James Whiteside was a stalwart partner, and a boyish Siegfried whose strength was portraying Swan Lake’s plot’s twists and turns – and surprises – which allowed the audience to experience the story of Swan Lake through Siegfried’s eyes.

Two different dancers portrayed the role of the evil Von Rothbart in this production with the guardian of the lake Von Rothbart suitably portrayed by Cy Doherty, as compared to Andrii Ishchuk who portrays more malevolent aspects of Von Rothbart’s personality – particularly in the Ballroom Scene as Odile’s mentor, and his flirtations with the female guests at the ball.

Fangqi Li, Sunmi Park, and Carlos Gonzalez literally sparkled in the Act I Pas de Trois, and Luigi Crispino and Melvin Lawovi offered a special brand of male dancer virtuosity in the Neapolitan Dance – and ABT’s excellent corps de ballet supported this performance of Swan Lake admirably.

Notably Swan Lake is the only 19^th century classic ballet that American Ballet Theatre is presenting during its Metropolitan Opera House season, and there is little time to catch a performance before this week’s performances come to an end.

American Ballet Theatre – Woolf Works

Metropolitan Opera House

June 27, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Wayne McGregor, recently knighted, is one of the Royal Ballet’s resident choreographers, and through his choreographic career his one-act works have been seen here in New York danced by his own company, domestic ballet companies and ballet companies from abroad. Those works have been choreographically influenced by Merce Cunningham and William Forsythe, and have their self-identification in terms of the music McGregor’s work is choreographed to, and its design. Recently McGregory has moved away from one-act pieces to full-length pieces with ideas that take up the width and breath of a large stage.

McGregor, like many choreographers today, is searching for a new structure in which to express narrative in a full-evening work. Yet at the same time McGregor focuses on grappling with abstract ideas. However with such a combination, an audience could be lost at sea without being familiar with the story that is being told.

In 2015 Mr. McGregor choreographed Woolf Works for the Royal Ballet, a full-length dance piece that was inspired by the novels, letters, essays and diaries of British writer Virginia Woolf – and her life – in collaboration with composer Max Richter. McGregor is credited with the concept, direction and choreography for Woolf Works, with assistance from dramaturg, Uzma Hameed.

Woolf Works has now been acquired by American Ballet Theatre which gave Woolf Works its company premiere in California earlier this year, and is now being performed by American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House in its New York premiere from June 25-29, 2024.

Woolf was among the foremost proponents of the narrative device of stream of consciousness – which in a sense McGregor is also evoking in his choreography in Woolf Works. Woolf is best known as a respected member of a group of writers called the Bloomsbury Group, and just as much for what was considered an unconventional personal life.

This 3-act full-length dance piece leads off in the first act titled “I now, I then” inspired by Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, where in this performance, Hee Seo played the roles of Virginia Woolf herself, and also of the Older Clarissa Dalloway in the novel with its plot taking up the time and space of 24 hours with parallel stories about a society hostess preparing for a party, and a war veteran, Septimus Smith (danced by Calvin Royal III), being given a psychiatric examination, and diagnosis.

“I now, I then” is the most conventional of the three acts of Woolf Works which has portrayals of characters from Mrs. Dalloway, among them, Richard (danced by Corey Stearns), Young Clarissa (danced by Fangqi Li), Peter (danced by Aran Bell), Sally (danced by Skylar Brandt), Rezia (danced by Breanne Granlund), and Evans (danced by Patrick Frenette). However these characters are not given choreographic leitmotivs, and even in the minimal references in terms of costuming fail to identify the conflicts and relationships between these characters. Most notably the stage is dominated by three moving frames which create more obstacles in knowing the characters, and their motivations, as the dancers hide behind them, and re-appear with no apparent effect.

Woolf’s Works’ second act is “Becoming,” based on Woolf’s novel, Orlando. The novel has an ageless hero that has a reference to changes of gender. But in “Becoming” McGregor goes for the totally abstract dance motif, where at this performance, a group of dancers led by Isabella Boylston and Skylar Brandt, appear first in period costumes – and those references to period are stripped away in a fast-moving plotless dance piece. McGregor’s abstract interpretation lends towards ambiguity, and no plot points.

The third and final act of Woolf’s Works, “Tuesday,” is based on Woolf’s novel The Waves, which opens with a recording of Gillian Anderson reading Woolf’s suicide note – in so doing fueling Woolf’s fear of madness. Woolf looks back on her life to some degree before coming to terms with her inability to cope with life. The only significant piece of choreography is in pas de deux danced by Seo and Bell – and ultimately Woolf succumbs to the unpredictable nature of the images of the waves and movement of water in the river Ouse.

Woolf Works is a complicated and confounding dance piece – and also haunting and ghostly which is appropriate for the themes of Woolf’s novels.

However the lack of narrative, and the McGregor’s repetitive choreography results in obscurity and not clarity – and in visualizing a story in dance, choreography, and design should be combining to illuminating the story rather than obscuring it.

Although American Ballet Theatre’s dancers make a commitment and present an earnestness in reflecting McGregor’s vision, it would take much more for Woolf Works to be the satisfying work it could have been.

American Ballet Theatre – Onegin

Metropolitan Opera House

June 20, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

American Ballet Theatre has opened its summer season at the Metropolitan Opera House with a revival of John Cranko’s Onegin, which was given its company premiere in 2001 — a ballet missing from the company’s repertoire for about 7 years.

Cranko is mostly known on American shores as the artistic director of the Stuttgart Ballet which provided Cranko with an atmosphere for his creative process. American Ballet Theatre has not taken many of Cranko’s works into its repertoire, but Onegin seems to be the Cranko ballet that has staying power with American Ballet Theatre audiences.

Onegin was created for the Stuttgart Ballet first in its original version in 1965, and then fully revised in 1967.  Cranko used the source of Alexander Pushkin’s narrative poem of the same name which had also inspired Tchaikovsky’s opera. However Cranko chose to use little known pieces of Tchaikovsky’s music for the score of this ballet version of Onegin which was expertly orchestrated by Kurt-Heinz Stolze. In so doing it sounds like the score was especially composed for this ballet.

The story focuses on Eugene Onegin, an arrogant and self-involved man, who is visiting the Russian country side with a friend, Lensky, a poet. As Tatiana notes in her letter to Onegin she questions why Onegin would want to visit what is described as a “backwoods habitation.” But the reason for the visit to the Larina Estate is that Lensky is engaged to the family’s younger daughter, Olga, However it is Olga’s older sister, Tatiana, who is attracted to this odd, and sophisticated man.

Tatiana amuses herself with romance novels, and she imagines a youthful infatuation for Onegin. Tatiana writes a “love letter” to Onegin, and Onegin’s first reaction was rejecting Tatiana’s affection, and then flirts with Olga, encouraging the jealously of Lensky. That breach of honor escalates to the point of Lensky challenging Onegin to a duel which results in Lensky’s death.

Many years later Onegin has been invited to Prince Gremin’s home, and is introduced to a grown-up Tatiana who is now Prince Gremin’s wife. Onegin has flashbacks to the past when he reacted negatively to Tatiana’s attentions, his duel with Lensky – all with regret — and attempts to win over Tatiana with his unrequited love all these years later. Whether in disgust or simply being empowered to make her own choices, Tatiana rejects Onegin.

In telling this story Cranko used concise gesture and choreography that moves the narrative forward at a quick pace in the space of three acts. Even in the ensemble dances plot points are revealed – and Cranko also imbues his choreography with the direction that one would aim for by a director of a play.

There are moments of high emotions in the story that are conveyed with equivalent emotional choreography, and humanity which are also underscored in the arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s music. Perhaps the most moving moments are in the Mirror/Letter Pas de Deux at the end of Act I, and Act III’s concluding Pas de Deux, both duets dance by Tatiana and Onegin, which provide the passionate and emotional climaxes in the ballet.

As ABT has not performed Onegin in about seven years, there are many dancers making their debuts in the principal roles. The performance on June 20^th, 2024 featured such a debut cast.

Young soloist, Chloe Misseldine danced the role of Tatiana showing artistic maturity as she expressed child-like qualities and evolved into a mature woman, while Thomas Forster danced the title role portraying Onegin as cold, moody, and calculating which made his desperate expression of love for Tatiana that much more effective. Aran Bell danced the role of Lensky with lightness and airiness, and besotted with love for Olga. Catherine Hurlin danced the role of Olga as a bit of a flirt and the feeling that all was right with the world until tragedy struck. Jarold Curley brought a great deal of regalness and maturity to the role of Prince Gremin which could potentially seem like cipher in this grand opera dramatic ballet.

For these performances American Ballet Theatre is employing the sumptuous costumes and scenery by Santo Loquasto that had been designed for the National Ballet of Canada’s production of Onegin.

Unfortunately the American Ballet Theatre’s Metropolitan Opera House season is only offering 7 performances of Onegin. This was a performance of here and now by the cast that danced it, and I hope there will be the opportunity for this cast, and other casts to grow in their roles in Onegin in the future.

Appraisal

59E59 Theaters

June 14, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

The 59E59 Theaters is now presenting another provocative play as part of its Brits Off-Broadway. From June 12-30, 2024, being presented is Tim Marriott’s two-hander, Appraisal in which Marriott co-stars with Alex Sunderhaus.

With the sponsorship of the Twilight Theatre Company and Smokescreen Productions, Appraisal offers a comic and witty sparring match which focuses on the uncomfortable situation all of us have experienced at some time in our lives when our employers evaluate our work performance – and in Appraisal there is a comic side and also a dark side.

Appraisal opens with Jo (played by Tim Marriott), a department head, practicing his golf strokes, and seems under prepared and flummoxed when Nicky (played by Alex Sunderhaus) arrives. Nicky being a middle management employee who is to be given her yearly review. After the niceties of tea being offered – and actually also alcohol – the conversation tends to move in the direction of an alphabet soup of business and analytical terms for evaluating an employee’s performance while the personal relationships of both Jo and Nicky, inuendo, gossip, and then Jo exercising his authority becomes combustible until the review becomes more supercharged.

What would seem to be a routine conversation in an office setting becomes far more complicated as Jo is trying to leverage Nicky out of her job to make room for a favorite employee. This process is also colored with charges of crossing the line between business and personal in their interactions – and sexism that exists in the work place. Confrontational it is!

The question then becomes who is reviewing the other in terms of this annual review as Jo and Nicky switch back and forth between positions of power, and being more subservient – and then there is the surprise ending, and the question is who has the most leverage over who!

Tim Marriott and Alex Sunderhaus aim their barbs and arrows with split-second precision, with director Margarett Perry keeping focus on the verbal tennis game that is occurring. In the short time space of an hour all is revealed – although there is the uncertainty of what will happen after the play-ending surprise.

Appraisal reflects the workplace of today with its systemic problems that come up between employer and employee – and in this case makes for an absorbing and cheeky angle on these relationships while also being a stimulating theatre entertainment.

Cranko – The Man and His Choreography

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Published by Matador, Cranko – The Man and His Choreography by Ashley Killar, examines and honors the choreographic career of John Cranko – a choreographer and his dance works perhaps somewhat loosing visibility as the decades go by and since Cranko’s passing in 1973 – in what was a short life and an even shorter span of his life as a choreographer.

In John Percival’s biography of John Cranko, “Theater in My Blood,” Cranko’s personal life was the focus, but Killar’s monograph reveals more biographical, and historical information, and also examinations of Cranko’s exemplary works from the point of a view of a dancer – and also a choreographer himself.

Killar danced with the Stuttgart Ballet from 1962 through 1967 and thereafter pursued his dancing career with Western Theater Ballet and the Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet. When Killar was associated with the Stuttgart Ballet, this was a pivotal point in Cranko’s career, and he was able to observe Cranko at work, and in the creative process. Besides writing this monograph with his unique observations also included are photos and letters that are interwoven into the narrative of Cranko’s personal and artistic life. Also there is the added bonus of a detailed catalogue of Cranko’s works

Cranko was born in South Africa and received his early training there before pursuing his dance career in Great Britain. He arrived in London in 1946, and became associated with the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet. During the time he was working with the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet, Cranko had the opportunity to observe Frederick Ashton as a choreographer, and also choreographed opera ballets. Ninette de Valois wanted to develop choreographers from within the company. Cranko was one of three anointed protegees – the others were Kenneth MacMillan and Peter Darrell. However reviews and arbitrary choices had impact on them being in and out of favor with the ballet’s management, and ultimately perceived by Frederick Ashton as threats to his own position at what became the Royal Ballet.

Shortly after arriving in London had significant choreographic commissions including The Witch choreographed for the New York City Ballet in 1950 – which was premiered at the Royal Opera House. In fact Killar’s book reveals that George Balanchine was Cranko’s idol and that he had a great influence on the choreography that Cranko created.

Other significant creations were Pineapple Poll in 1951, and The Lady the Fool in 1954 both created for the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet. Just as prestigious was Cranko creating the choreography for La Belle Helene at the Paris Opera in 1954, and creating the musical revue, Cranks, in 1955 which Cranko wrote and choreographed – a revue that also toured Great Britain, and was transferred to Broadway. And in 1958, a not well received musical, Keep Your Hair On!

In development over a period of years was Cranko’s major commission, the full-length ballet Prince of the Pagodas, based on a story inspired by The Sleeping Beauty, with a commissioned score by Benjamin Britten, and finally had its Royal Ballet world premiere in 1957. Although receiving a mixed reception, the ballet was performed during an American tour, and was acquired by La Scala and the Stuttgart Ballet. Ironically it was this commission that led him to the directorship of the Stuttgart Ballet.

A cryptic statement made by Cranko about his relationship with Ninette de Valois was that “Someone has to build a bicycle. Ninette built one and lots of us tried to ride it. Some stayed on, some fell off.” It was Killar’s interpretation that perhaps Cranko meant that he wobbled and had fallen off – and in so doing he fell out of favor with de Valois, and was encouraged to move on from the Royal Ballet.

Cranko had a negative experience in an interview with The Stage and his negative comments about the Royal Ballet resulted in hurting his reputation and no work was offered from the Royal Ballet in 1958. However in that same year he was invited to create a Romeo and Juliet for La Scala with Carla Fracci as Juliet, and Cat’s Cradle for the International Ballet of the Marquis de Cuevas.

In 1959 Cranko was arrested for homosexual soliciting and the story hit the major newspapers. Yet he also created Antigone for the Royal Ballet that same year, and a dance version of Sweeney Todd with music by Malcolm Arnold that was created for the Royal Ballet Touring Company.

Cranko also followed up on his revue, Cranks, with New Cranks, and what proved to be a rocky road as director for the world premiere of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Aldeburgh – but not being a success he wasn’t engaged to be the director of the Royal Opera premiere of this opera.

Although Cranko continued to be the Royal Ballet’s resident choreographer through 1960, the Royal Ballet’s lack of interest in commissioning work from him was influenced by the negative reaction to his dance pieces, and his arrest.

It was in 1960 that Cranko received the offer from the Stuttgart Ballet’s artistic director Nicholas Beriosov to restage his Prince of the Pagodas for the company. After the company premiere of Prince of the Pagodas, the general director of the Wurttenberg State Theatre, Walter Erich Schafer offered Cranko the directorship of the opera house’s ballet company resulting in the uncomfortable circumstance that Cranko was asked to replace Beriosov, who invited him to stage his major work for the Stuttgart Ballet.

Cranko served as artistic director of the Stuttgart Ballet from 1962, where he also served as choreographer, until his death in 1973. A short amount of time for any choreographer to make his mark in the dance world, but Cranko managed to do just that.

In Stuttgart, Cranko had his challenges in raising the standard of the dancers but according to Killar he didn’t have the inclinations of a teacher and his focus was on organization, and his own choreography – at a difficult time in Germany when it was still divided between East and West during the Cold War.

Cranko’s production of Romeo and Juliet was based on his production that he created for La Scala employing only 35 dancers – and by utilizing clever designs by Jurgen Rose, choreography and a feel for underlying aggression, this proved to be a major success.

Cranko also commissioned new works from Kenneth MacMillan – most notably, Song of the Earth, and Cranko created his own versions of Daphnis Chloe and the Firebird – and also added George Balanchine’s Apollo and La Valse to the company’s repertoire. There was also Cranko’s reinterpretation of The Nutcracker in 1966 which made only a few references to its original source, and was structured in three acts. It was described by those who had seen it as rather grim, and didn’t last long in the repertoire.

In his narrative ballets Cranko used minimum gesture and florid choreography in order to tell his stories. However the development of Cranko’s most notable work, Onegin, had a story of its own. Based on Pushkin’s narrative poem, this was an idea that Cranko had proposed to the Royal Ballet not once but twice. When he promoted Onegin to the Royal Ballet for the second time Cranko pitched the ballet as a star vehicle for Rudolf Nureyev in the title role with Antoinette Sibley as Olga and Anthony Dowell as Lensky.

However it wasn’t until he became artistic director of the Stuttgart Ballet did this project reach fruition although Cranko continued to make revisions in his version of Onegin after its premiere in 1965 through 1967. With an orchestrated score by Kurt-Heinz Stolze compromising mostly minor Tchaikovsky works, and Jurgen Rose’s evocative designs, all came together for a unique dance experience – and has proved to be a standard work in the repertoires of many ballet companies all over the world.

However Cranko felt restricted in his role at the Stuttgart Ballet, and in an effort to keep him in Stuttgart, an arrangement was developed for him to be artistic director at the Bavarian State Opera Ballet in Munich becoming Chief Choreographer in 1967 while also retaining his position as artistic director of the Stuttgart Ballet.

This latter development was also a reflection of politics in the German dance world, and also the dance world in Great Britain. Kenneth MacMillan became another defector from the Royal Ballet when he became the artistic director of the Berlin State Opera Ballet, and during his regime he was visited by the Royal Opera House’s David Webster, who promised him the directorship of the Royal Ballet succeeding Frederick Ashton. Cranko had ambitions for that same position and perhaps after his success in Stuttgart felt he deserved the opportunity. But now the door was closed to him.

Another one of Cranko’s full-length ballets was The Taming of the Shrew based on Shakespeare’s play – and at that time there were few, if any, dance versions of Shrew. Cranko conceived the ballet as a comic ballet but had to find a way to override its misogynistic tone. The verbal sparring in Shakespeare’s play was translated into the choreography as physical comedy. In the end Petruchio and Kate earn each other’s trust as the basis of their relationship. It has also been suggested that Cranko found his inspiration in Cole Porter’s musical version of Shrew, Kiss Me Kate – but as attitudes about misogyny have developed into the 21^st century, this ballet has virtually disappeared from ballet companies’ repertoires.

Also during this period of time Cranko created the plotless Brouillards, and Poeme de l’Extase as a vehicle for Margot Fonteyn – which was later danced by the Royal Ballet. However at the same time the friendship between Cranko and MacMillan was tested in the development of MacMillan’s new ballet for the Stuttgart Ballet, Miss Julie, over design costs – also Cranko loosened his ties with the Bavarian State Opera Ballet.

Towards the end of his life further creations included a 70-minute version of Carmen created for the demands for repertoire for American tours, Initials R.B.M.E. (a tribute to his closest dancers Richard Cragun, Birgit Keil, Marcia Haydee and Egon Madsen), Traces, and Song of My People for the Batsheva Dance Company.

The Stuttgart Ballet was offered touring engagements, and while performing in Vienna in 1966, Martin Feinstein of Hurok Concerts attended performances, and the American debut of the company took place three years later. The Stuttgart Ballet heralded Cranko’s work on the global stage in extensive American tours for what were regular visits to the major capital cities in North America – at least until 1979 – and thereafter more sporadically. However through those tours Cranko’s achievements were recognized.

Cranko died in 1973 on a flight from Philadelphia to Stuttgart. There was speculation about suicide being the cause of his death but the coroner’s verdict was that Cranko’s death was accidental caused by a mild drug to assist in sleeping.

Although Cranko’s full-length ballets, Romeo and Juliet, and Onegin are frequently performed by ballet companies all over the world, the one-act story ballets and contemporary ballets are rarely performed these days. All of these works have their charm, and challenges for the dancers, but also represent Cranko’s unique approach to choreography and his emphasis on story-telling.

Not to be forgotten is Cranko’s contribution to the development of a new approaches in creating story ballets, and Killar’s Cranko: The Man and His Choreography strengthens that legacy.

City Center Encores – Titanic

City Center

June 15, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

For its last presentation of the season City Center Encores has produced a concert version of the musical, Titanic, which had premiered on Broadway in 1997, and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. As conceived by composer/lyricist Maury Yeston, and librettist Peter Stone, this epic story was told with massive scenery and a large cast in its Broadway debut which would make it economically impossible for it be performed on Broadway in this day and age.

City Center Encores, in a concert adaptation directed by Anne Kauffman, has focused on Titanic’s essentials in this presentation – nearly all sung-through and operatic in its scope. The large cast of 32 plus 30 musicians in the orchestra, under the expert and masterful guidance of Rob Berman, playing Jonathan Tunick’s magnificent original orchestrations underlined Titanic’s grand proportions. This concert adaptation of Titanic is a stunning, and compelling success.

Yeston has focused on the British side of this disaster, and has researched the lives of some of the people who perished and those who survived when the Titanic hit an iceberg in the Atlantic in 1912. In so doing he has infused a great deal of humanity into his telling of this larger-than-life story – and attention-grabbing disaster – the sinking of the “ship of dreams,” an enormous accomplishment of human and scientific ingenuity that ended in disaster when the hubris, recklessness, and arrogance of the ship owner, the designer of the ship, and the captain of the ship took over, and couldn’t avoid what would be an inevitable tragedy. Forces were at play that would destroy the ship – speed, visibility, and ice. With 1,178 passengers on board the Titanic, there weren’t enough lifeboats to save all of those passengers – and the musicians played on until the Titanic sunk.

But Titanic’s passengers – in all classes – perceived a voyage on the Titanic as the early 20^th century equivalent of taking a space ship to the moon – and along with them they took their hopes, dreams, and optimism to make better lives for themselves.

Egged on by the competing Cunard Line on the same transatlantic route, the White Star Line’s owner, J. Bruce Ismay (played by Brandon Uranowitz) pushes Captain Smith (played by Chuck Cooper) to increase the Titanic’s speed so that the Titanic could make the voyage 1 day sooner. However at the end of Act I, the Titanic hits an iceberg, which begins the uncertainty, and the ultimate tragedy of the Titanic’s maiden voyage.

In the course of Act II, passengers come to terms with their fate – and those saved by the Carpathia, think about what if different decisions could have been made – Titanic might have lived up to its reputation as a “ship of dreams.”

But as Captain Smith stated, it’s only God who sinks ships.

Through the course of Titanic we meet the passengers — several of which reveal themselves in haunting songs. Most notably stoker Frederick Barrett (played by Ramin Karimloo), with radio man, Harold Bride (played by Alex Joseph Grayson), who wants to send a telegram to his waiting girlfriend back in England with the promise of marriage when he returns home in “The Proposal/The Night Was Alive”, and the farewell of Ida Straus (played by Judy Kuhn) and Isidore Straus (played by Chip Zien) who sing the showstopper “Still” –  and also the opening of Titanic with the company singing the Titanic’s praises in “Ship of Dreams”.

The score has influences from the musical style of Edward Elgar which lends an authenticity to the period in which the story unfolds. And in this production of Titanic, the focus is on Yeston’s magnificent score, and the representation of people on the ship from all economic classes – each song is a story unto itself — some expressing optimism, some regret, and some foretelling of the tragedy yet to come.

The optimism is expressed by passengers and onlookers singing “Godspeed Titanic” and in “We’ll Meet Tomorrow,” especially haunting and ironic when the passengers are coming to terms with their fate.

The City Center Encores cast is an embarrassment of riches from the portrayals of the smallest parts to the principal parts. Notable were Bonnie Milligan, with superlative comic timing, playing Alice Beane, a social climber wanting to experience what the upper classes do on the ship – supported by her passive and frustrated husband Edgar played empathetically by Drew Gehling — and Brandon Uranowitz as J. Bruce Ismay, in a sense the villain of the piece, who is among the survivors.

Then there are the Irish Kates seeking better lives in the States with Samantha Williams expressing her desires to be a lady’s maid in America – with Lilli Cooper and Ashley Blanchet.

However the performances of Ramon Karimloo as Frederick Barrett, Judy Kuhn and Chip Zien as the Strauses, and Chuck Cooper as the stalwart Captain Smith were the anchors in this remarkable and emotional story of tragedy, and disappointment.

Also plaudits to director Anne Kauffman whose simple and light touch allowed the music and the text to tell the story which emphasized the poignancy and ironic nature of the tragedy that has embraced the sinking of the Titanic.

If you haven’t planned to see the City Center Encores production of Titanic there is still a week of performances left – an experience of a life time to see this brilliant and impressive musical.

&Juliet – A Second Visit

Stephen Sondheim Theatre

June 4, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

The enjoyment of revisiting a play or a musical for a second or multiple times is having the opportunity not only to revisit the play or musical, but also to see new actors portraying pivotal roles – and what they bring to the roles. Replacements and understudies add dimension to these plays and musicals if they have extended engagements.

&Juliet, which opened in November 2022, at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, continues to be re-charged during its Broadway engagement with new cast members. With a score comprised of jukebox material by Max Martin, and a book by David West Red, who provides the winning comic lines and wit, &Juliet remains the entertaining, and witty musical that it has been at a time when Broadway is a bit crowded with new musicals.

The premise of &Juliet is what would happen if Juliet decided to make a different choice, and did not choose the same fate as her beloved Romeo. What would life be for Juliet had she decided to take control of her life.

In &Juliet, William Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway (played by Betsy Wolfe) persuades her husband, William Shakespeare (played by Oliver Tompsett) to take over the storytelling in his planned new play, Romeo and Juliet – and Anne Hathaway sets Juliet on a different course in her life.

Juliet, facing the grief of losing her husband, and her parents demanding that she be sent off to a nunnery, is given the choice of deciding what her life could be – making her own choices. With the support of her Nurse, Angelique, (played by understudy Megan Kane), her new found friend in Anna Hathaway, and May (played by Justin David Sullivan) – and with Shakespeare as the carriage driver – Juliet sets off for Paris to find her future adventures where she also meets a whole crew of interesting characters.

In the course of their travels Shakespeare and Hathaway spar as they re-invent the story of Romeo and Juliet – from a woman’s point of view.

In Paris Juliet befriends Francois (played by understudy Makai Hernandez), who is being pressured by his father Lance (played by David Bedella) to get married. It is Lance who is hopeful that Francois will find a suitable wife at the Renaissance Ball. Although Francois finds Juliet at the Ball and they enter into an engagement – Francois also meets May – and they instantly click as well.

To complicate matters Lane and Angelique, who were romantically linked in the past, rekindle their relationship, and there is the surprise of an important person in Juliet’s past who also reappears to add to the complications.

However Juliet realizes that she has settled on another relationship that is a bit reckless and without much thought.

To justify the many twists and turns in the story Anne Hathaway reminds William Shakespeare of Shakespeare’s plays in which men are dressed as women, women are dressed as men, and there are also mistaken gender identities – and mistaken tragedies.

But in incorporating the ingredients of love and mutual respect, Hathaway and Shakespeare can also explore a new chapter in their own relationship.

The story is told cleverly by David West Read with the insightful inclusion of Max Martins’ song catalogue with Luke Sheppard’s direction peppered with wit and perfect comic timing.

&Juliet remains as spontaneous and entertaining as when it premiered on Broadway with the outstanding performances of a new Juliet, Maya Boyd, and a new Lance, David Bedella, and a new William Shakespeare, Oliver Tompsett – the latter two having essayed these same roles in the London production of &Juliet – the mainstay performances of original cast members, Betsy Wolfe as Anne Hathaway, and Justin David Sullivan as May – the additional energy of understudies, Megan Kane as Angelique, and Makai Hernandez as Francois – and original cast member, Ben Jackson Walker as Romeo who mysteriously reappears.

Even if you have already seen and experienced &Juliet, it is worth a second visit if for nothing else to enjoy the performances of original cast members and the newbies in the cast who together create a high energy alchemy.

Watson The Final Problem

59E59 Theaters

June 1, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

The heroes of action movies and solvers of mysteries often have sidekicks – some remembered and some forgotten. Watson The Final Problem, a solo play written by Bert Coules and Tim Marriott, takes up the task of putting the spotlight on the famous sidekick of a famous and infamous mystery detective, Sherlock Holmes – and that is Dr. John H. Watson, who offered scientific insight into the mysteries that Holmes solved.

Given its American premiere as part of the 59E59 Theaters’ Brits Off Broadway, the Twilight Theatre Company’s Watson The Final Problem is directed with surgical precision by Bert Coules, and portrayed with equal precision and sensitivity by Tim Marriott.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story, The Final Problem, was to be Doyle’s last mystery novel in which Holmes was the protagonist. However public outcry changed his mind – but one problem — Holmes met his maker at the end of the story, and Doyle had to resurrect him.

In Watson The Final Problem, the intrepid Dr. Watson is living in London circa 1894 three years after Holmes seemed to have plummeted to his death in the icy and treacherous waters of the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland – along with Holmes’ nemesis Dr. Morarity – and their bodies could not be recovered. Watson returns to London in the aftermath of this tragedy, and now in flashbacks, Watson tells the tales of his adventures with Holmes, the death of Watson’s wife, Mary, and the pursuit of Holmes’ enemy Dr. Morarity.

A much younger Watson describes his return to London after his military service in Afghanistan to find his life quite at a loss until he has an unexpected meeting with a former colleague who happens to have a friend who needs someone to share his lodgings.  That “friend” is revealed to be Sherlock Holmes striking up a life-long friendship, and experiencing a multitude of crime-solving adventures.

Watson is caught up with Holmes’ cases, and Holmes’ constant battle with his criminal nemesis – Dr. Moriarty – the most notorious criminal in Europe. Watson is guilt ridden about Holmes’ mysterious demise in Switzerland because he felt partially responsible for leaving him alone at the Reichenbach Falls when he was surreptitiously called back to the local hotel to treat a sick hotel guest – which proved to be fraudulent, and set up by Dr. Moriarity.

The death of Watson’s wife, Mary, also adds to the grief that Watson is experiencing. Two of the most important people in his life are now gone – but Watson also wanted to refute the many false reports, rumors, and gossip that continue to harm his reputation.

Holmes always warned to expect the unexpected which reflects the cliffhanger ending of Watson The Final Problem – with an unexpected knock on the door.

Whether you are or not a Sherlock Holmes aficionado, or you are curious as to what happened to Holmes and Watson, you will be entertained and mystified by Watson The Final Problem, and how well Tim Marriott brings to life the quixotic fictional character that Dr. John H. Watson seems to be.

Chopped Liver & Unions

59E59 Theaters

May 25, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

The 59E59 Theaters’ Brits Off Broadway, through a presentation by the Blue Theatre Co., offered another lesson in history, and a multifaceted performance by an actor in J.J. Leppink’s Chopped Liver & Unions, a biographical mini-play with music focusing on Sara Wesker, a London-born trade union activist at a tumultuous time in British history during the 1920’s through the 1930’s. An age in Great Britain that has now caught the attention of many British historians.

Wesker grew up in London, and became an activist in the trade union movement, and organizing female garment workers. During strikes Wesker had the idea of the women workers singing “strike songs” as a means of raising money and awareness as the strikes were not recognized by the leadership of the unions.

In London the primary factory workers were women – coming from Jewish families, and Irish migrant families who lived and worked in the Hackney section of London. Some of these women had associations with trade unions, and would receive support from those unions during disputes which focused on the bread-and-butter issues of wages, work hours, and especially working conditions. The play reflected the usual platitudes about women – and women in the work force during that time period — and also the dignity of the workers. There was enough information and facts in Chopped Liver & Unions that revealed how extraordinary these women were.

Sam Elsbury and Sara Wesker were both officials of the NUTGW in Hackney, and they led a strike in 1928 against the owners of Rego Clothiers – the dispute related to a relocation of the factory. In response to new working conditions and other related hardships, 600 workers in the clothing factory participated in a 12-week strike.

Ultimately Wesker’s union work resulted in being elected to Great Britain’s Communist Party’s Central Committee, expressing a philosophy that Wesker believed in but did not result in fruition.

Wesker also took part in the Battle of Cable Street in October 1936, a clash in East London – with a large Jewish population – that was between the Metropolitan Police protecting a march by members of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, and demonstrators with competing interests which included trade unionists, Communists, anarchists, British Jews, and socialist groups.

It should also be noted that Wesker’s nephew, Arnold Wesker became a noted playwright, and in Chopped Liver & Unions, Sara Wesker mentioned that her nephew included remembrances of her, and the Wesker family in his plays.

Sara Wesker was an extraordinary woman among extraordinary women, and having passed on in 1971, she lived to see some of the goals she worked for – achieved.

In Chopped Liver & Unions, Wesker, as portrayed by Lottie Walker, tells her story through her own political lense, and also through the “strike songs” that were sung by the strikers – and strike supporters – through words and music. Walker’s performance told Wesker’s story with great wit, charm, and humanity which was guided by Laura Killeen’s keen direction.

Although a great deal of obscure British history is the core of Chopped Liver & Unions, the play is not a history lesson – but a lesson reminding us all that history repeats itself making it very relevant to the present time. The intimacy of the production of Chopped Liver & Unions was the equivalent of having Wesker sitting with you in a living room and engaging in a conversation with her listeners – and there is a great story to be told.

At the same time Chopped Liver & Unions is an engrossing and involving theatrical experience.

Just Another Day

Theatre555

May 11, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Rare it is for an actor to attempt writing a play much less starring in it as well. However that is what is the challenge facing actor Dan Lauria (known for being a star of the television series, The Wonder Years) who has written a new play, Just Another Day, and is also starring in it, at Theater555 in a limited engagement through June 30, 2024.

Just Another Day, co-starring Patty McCormack, is a two-hander about a comedy writer and poet in their seventies who form an acquaintanceship, and meet daily at a park bench to exchange their thoughts on what they see in the park – with the particular agenda of discussing the subject matter of old movies – and also realizing that they have a stronger bond than just an acquaintanceship – at least on the days that they get together – and during the time they spend together.

And setting the scene is Graham Russell’s especially composed song that opens Just Another Day and the projections of highlights of the movies that are mentioned and quoted.

However is this acquaintanceship merely an acquaintanceship? Do these two people, only identified as a Man and a Woman, know each other well or don’t they? Revealed through the course of Just Another Day is that these two characters have a remarkable command for remembering dialogue from their favorite movies, and also examining the universal truths in those dialogues. However is there more, and who is that bellringer who seems to interrupt these conversations.

It is ultimately revealed that these two characters are patients at a nursing home, beginning to suffer from dementia, who began their friendship in the home’s garden. In their conversations they recollect their former lives which they have had difficulty in remembering. However the bellringer is their nurse who beckons them back to the nursing home at various times of the day – somewhat intimidating, and reminding these two patients where they are.

Conversations run the gamut to the aforementioned movies to famous comedy routines, and creating one of their own. One of those creations was a parody of the television show, “You Are There,” which is “You Should Have Been There,” in which the pivotal character is Vito Bel Duce, who is God’s Special Effects Man.

But in all these instances the characters are taking their limitations in stride, and it is not maudlin. You feel like these characters are pondering rather than trying to hark back to their previous lives which is difficult for them to recall.

What is most important is that you are watching two acting pros acting their hearts out – and watching them is an acting master class – as they tell so well the bitter sweet and effecting story that Lauria has written in play form.

Director Eric Krebs has helped these two fine actors to find their characters and how to portray them – and then let the story-telling begin and unfold. In short you can’t get anything better than this as a theatrical experience – and it is worth exploring off-Broadway to get acquainted with these smart, and what seem to be ordinary characters – and played so genially and perfectly by Dan Lauria and Patty McCormack.

The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III,

King of Bulgaria

59E59 Theaters

May 5, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

As part of the 59E59 Theaters’ Brits Off Broadway, another unique piece of British theatre has reached our shores, the Out of the Forest Theatre’s production of The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria, co-authored by Sasha Wilson and Joseph Cullen, who both have pivotal roles in the performance of the play.

Back in the 19^th century when many of the European nations were finding their identities and mapping out their territories, they were ruled by absolute monarchs. However some of the royal lines of these countries died out or royal families abdicated, and the countries sought out princes from an alternate royal line to take over the existing monarchy. Many of those royal candidates came from the ruling families of Denmark and Germany – whichever had a spare prince around with not much to do – would be suitably appropriate.

Bulgaria was one of those countries, and found itself being ruled by the German princely line of the House of Saxe-Coburg Gotha that even had connections to Queen Victoria – who seemed to be connected to every Royal House in Europe.

Depicted in The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria, is Boris III (played by Joseph Cullen) who assumed the throne of Bulgaria in 1918 and was ultimately caught up in the Nazi invasion of Europe that evolved into World War II. Either being hapless or very cunning – or sometimes circumspect, and sometimes baffling and confused, King Boris III is portrayed of having prevented the Nazis from deporting all of Bulgaria’s Jewish population to concentration camps, facing many moral choices, and norms until his suspicious death after meeting with Adolf Hitler in 1943.

During the World War II years King Boris III played along with the Nazi games, bluffing antisemitism and loyalty to the Nazis, but as depicted in this play he managed to confront the major and awkward choices he had to make regarding compromise and appeasement, and also wanting to restore foreign territory back to Bulgaria.

In Great Britain and in other parts of Europe dictatorial predators are mocked in theatrical presentations rather than revered or feared as a method of ridiculing these creatures. Wilson and Cullen do absolutely that in this play when it comes to the expanding power of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi cohorts with Cullen playing King Boris III as if he is falling apart in a farce – yet manages to pull the wool over the eyes of the Nazis in the process.

This tale is told with wit and also music in a commedia dell’arte style – with the music inspired by Bulgarian and Jewish folk tunes – and superbly acted and performed by a gallant troupe of farceurs, singers as well as musicians that include Cullen, and Wilson (playing the three parts of Queen Giovanna, Dannecker, and Liliana Panitza) as well as Lawrence Boothman (playing Filov), Clare Fraenkel (playing Gobrovski and Anka Lazarov), and David Leopold (playing Belev, and Metropolitan Stefan) playing all of the key figures in this story about Boris III, under the watchful eye of skilled director, Hannah Hauer King. These are skilled farce performers while at the same time adeptly reveal an important historical story.

The question is what is history – that is history that is included within the covers of book or what is passed on from person to person through generations. The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria, has brought to light a key historical figure that would be unknown to most of us – not to mention his bravery at a time of crisis.

The combination of the story and how it is interpreted make for an ironic and clever theater experience – and even getting rave reviews from Boris III’s grandson, HRH Prince Kyril of Bulgaria, and great grandson, HRH Prince Boris of Bulgaria.

The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria is history, provocative, and entertaining – and also well-written and performed. The formula for a unique theatrical experience.

Windrush Secret

59E59 Theaters

May 4, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Being presented as part of the 59E59 Theaters’ Brits Off Broadway 2024 Season, Windrush Secret is a unique condemnation of a government policy that can be explained as bureaucratic bumbling, antiquated aspects of British Imperialism – or in simplistic terms — racism.

Between 1948 and 1973, more than a half million of people from the Caribbean were persuaded to migrate to Great Britain to add to labor force to rebuild British infrastructure after World War II. Although there was racism and discrimination in Britain over the years, these migrants became part of the tapestry of the British population – until 2018.

In 2018 new immigration laws were passed by Britain’s Parliament in what could only be described as disturbing, and a misuse of power. With the stroke of a pen thousands of who were described as the “Windrush” generation were suddenly subjected to possible deportation, lost their jobs, lost their homes, and denied their healthcare.

In Windrush Secret, written, directed, and performed by Rodreguez King-Dorset, the fictional characters of a black Caribbean diplomat from Trinidad, a white far-right party leader, and a white government official who is a special assistant to the Home Secretary – all played by King-Dorset – try to explain, and illuminate what had happened in creating this crisis, and the political and social outrage that resulted when this self-inflicted and newly-created problem was imposed on the “Windrush” generation – an unnecessary political blunder – either by accident or with intent.

Set in 2018 Marcus Ramsay, a black Caribbean diplomat, speaks to a large crowd in Parliament Square – speaking against the then Home Secretary Theresa May’s newly-minted policy to deport Caribbean Britons who had migrated to the United Kingdom after 1948. Ramsay questions this policy on the basis of how much Caribbean Britons had contributed to the United Kingdom after the war, and were being showed little gratitude by the British government.

Trevor Smith, a leader of the English for the English political party, speaks to a small crowd at a Woolwich social club – he spews the hatred of admiring slavery, Adolf Hitler, Oswald Mosley (British Union of Fascists leader), and quotes former Prime Minister Boris Johnson as well. The racial epithets flow, and ultimately Smith comes to terms with his own family connections.

And a government official, Charles Henry Williams, from the Home Office, who speaks to the even smaller audience of a House of Commons select committee made up of six British politicians – in which he defends the decision to deport British Caribbeans who cannot provide documentation of their immigration status – in spite of the fact that such documentation had been destroyed by the Home Office in 2010.

Although these three men are fictional, their thoughts and beliefs were taken from official documents and contemporary newspaper articles. But to appreciate Windrush Secret and King-Dorset’s performance one would have to do a little research about this unique British scandal – although not untypical of similar scandals in other Western countries.

King-Dorset, in playing all three men in Windrush Secret, assumes their profiles including their beliefs and entitlements – in a powerful and riveting performance.

Hell’s Kitchen

Shubert Theatre

April 30, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Recording star and composer, Alicia Keys, has now joined the Broadway community of composers – incorporating her music and lyrics – into an autobiographical musical, Hell’s Kitchen, with a book by Kristoffer Diaz, which had its Broadway premiere earlier this month at the Shubert Theatre.

Having already been acclaimed at its Public Theatre engagement, Hell’s Kitchen has now moved to Broadway, and is reaching a wider audience. On the day of the performance I attended Hell’s Kitchen celebrated its thirteen Tony nominations including one of them for Best Musical of the 2023-2024 Broadway season.

Following the best advice Keys has written about what she knows, and Hell’s Kitchen is a semi-autobiographical exploration of Keys’ childhood, and rite of passage – finding herself and discovering her passions in life.

It is the 1990’s, and 17-year-old Ali (played by Maleah Joi Moon) is living in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen. She feels constrained in her every day routine – including the contentious daily dinners with her over protective mom, Jersey (played by Shoshana Bean), and would rather be hanging out with her friends and flirting with an older friend, a drummer, Knuck (played by Chris Lee) – a relationship that is not approved by Ali’s mother nor any of the adults in Ali’s life.

As Ali takes her daily elevator rides in the Manhattan Plaza apartment complex where she lives, Ali hears opera and music emanating from the apartments at each elevator stop – and also knowing that poets and other artists are similarly at work. Confused about her relationship with her parents, and wanting to lead her life in an impulsive fashion, clearly Ali is the quintessential rebellious teenager.

But because her estranged father, Davis (played by Brandon Victor Dixon) is a musician, it is fate that Ali wanders into the Ellington Room in her apartment complex, when she is trying to cope with the crisis in her relationships with her mother, and her boyfriend Knuck, where Ali develops a relationship with Miss Liza Jane (played by Kecia Lewis). Miss Liza Jane gets Ali instantly, and she uses her persuasion, and her task master manner to get Ali to learn how to play piano, and develop her musical talent. Ali finds that music is a way of expressing her herself and her emotions. As Miss Liza Jane informs Ali, music is handed down from one generation to the next.

But Hell’s Kitchen is a story of a young woman coming of age with an organic narrative that is influenced from the atmospherics of living in New York City in the 1990’s, and provides a launching pad for Keys’ music. Key’s music is inspired by fire and emotion, and when appropriately sung and employed in the narrative of Hell’s Kitchen, makes for some stirring theatrical moments.

Moon generates those fiery emotions when she sings “Girl On Fire,” and in the inspiring finale, “Empire State of Mind,” Bean reaches emotional and dramatic heights when she sings “Pawn It All,” and Lewis brings passion and love to “Perfect Way To Die.” Unfortunately not all of Key’s songs are weaved well into the narrative.

Hell’s Kitchen’s director Michael Grief keeps a grip on the cast in focusing them on the story at hand, and Camille A. Brown offers her signature choreography to enhance the ensemble numbers.

Overall it is the high-powered performances by Maleah Joi Moon, Shoshana Bean, Brandon Victor Dixon, and Kecia Lewis that make Hell’s Kitchen come alive as a theatrical event not to be missed.

NT Live – The Motive and the Cue

Skirball/NYU Auditorium

April 28, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

There are times when you feel you would have liked to have been a fly on the wall during the rehearsal process of a major theatrical event. NT Live, at Skirball/NYU, presented such an opportunity in the screening of Jack Thorne’s new play, The Motive and the Cue, which focuses on the evolvement of the revered and controversial 1964 Broadway revival of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet which starred Richard Burton, and was directed by John Gielgud.

This historic revival of Hamlet starred a young Richard Burton at the beginning of his stardom – then married to movie star, Elizabeth Taylor – returning to Broadway in a revival of a classic play – a play that has catapulted many a British actor to major stardom and legend. A true test for an actor and a rite of passage as well. This production was guided and directed by another legend, Sir John Gielgud, himself an exemplary and opinionated Shakespearean. And therein lies the crux of this account of Hamlet – and also The Motive and the Cue.

This revival of Hamlet had 137 performances on Broadway, and The Motive and the Cue puts into context the production itself, and the contentious relationship between Burton and Gielgud in the evolvement of the revival.

American actor William Redfield, who played the role of Guildenstern, in this revival of Hamlet chronicled the tortuous rehearsals in his book, “Letters From An Actor,” and as a character in The Motive and the Cue, is a participant, and also an objective observer of those contentious rehearsals.

Gielgud’s intent was to stage this revival of Hamlet as it was during its last rehearsal, performed with the actors in street clothes, and in a rehearsal studio space. Established American actors were recruited to play supporting roles as it was thought this would be a great opportunity to learn from Gielgud, the master, but also to participate in what could be the glamour event of that Broadway season.

In The Motive and the Cue, one can witness the power struggles in the rehearsal room for this production with Gielgud and Burton testing each other – at first playing a polite tennis game with witty banter and degenerating into a verbal brawling – not bringing out the best out of them – the push and pull between director and actor was in evidence – as well as the jealousies and differences between a mentor and a mentee. Each of them brought their own emotional baggage into the rehearsal room.

In abundance were Gielgud’s clever, but hurtful put downs while Burton was taking the play’s emotional resonance to heart as Gielgud was providing Burton with subtle direction but not kindling the fire that Burton wanted to give to the role. Burton was trying to find the diffidence in the character of Hamlet, and trying to interpret it in his own manner – with Gielgud and Burton giving deference to Shakespeare in their familiarity referring to Shakespeare as Uncle Will.

The Motive and the Cue chronicles how this production came to be, as well as the battle between generations who had different points of view in interpretating the Bard’s work for present day audiences. With intermittent highlights from Hamlet, The Motive and the Cue is a play within a play.

Although the focus of the play are the sparring partners, Gielgud and Burton, it is how Burton contests Gielgud’s authority over him, and how Gielgud keeps a good face on in the course of the battle. Gielgud trying to do it with subtlety and some control, whereas Burton is portrayed as out of control – even incorporating alcohol into the rehearsal proceeding which sets off Burton and other cast members – and ultimately how there is a meeting of the minds between Gielgud and Burton in regard to the interpretation of the play that should be presented. And all of these battles take place while the ghosts of some of the great actors of all time are egging on the battle, and trying to influence the current day actors.

Gielgud also spars with Elizabeth Taylor, then Burton’s wife, who is the outsider looking in – and without being in the rehearsal room – is protecting her husband Richard Burton – and attempts to be the diplomat to try to resolve the problems that Gielgud and Burton are having.

The Motive and the Cue, aptly directed by Sam Mendes, is led by a cast of actors that perform well as an ensemble and also support the principal players, Mark Gattis (as Sir John Gielgud), and Johnny Flynn (as the young Richard Burton). Gattis and Flynn give epic yet also subtle performances in The Motive and the Cue creating electricity between these two great actors, and also notable Janie Dee as Eileen Herlie, Tuppence Middleton as Elizabeth Taylor, Luke Norris as William Redfield, and Allan Corduner as Hume Cronyn.

And if you want to know what The Motive and the Cue means, its relevance, and where the phrase comes from, you will have to see the play – an experience you would not want to miss.

Patriots

Ethel Barrymore Theatre

April 27, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Peter Morgan, who is best known as the writer of the mini-series, The Crown, has written an absorbing and complex historical play, Patriots, that has already been performed in London and has now made it to Broadway. The subject matter is far afield from The Crown but is a of significance – an attempt to explain the political realities now existing in Russia – and how it happened.

In 1991, the year of the fall of the Soviet Union, the only politically powerful assemblage was a loosely organized of Russian oligarchs who had amassed their fortunes during the Soviet regime. They were the power-brokers who could save what was left of the Soviet Union, and possibly realign the political will of the people to new leadership. Perhaps even a Western-style democracy

One of those power brokers was Boris Berezovsky, one of Russia’s oligarchs who made his money in cars, oil and television, and who had gained his political and economic influence during the presidency of Boris Yeltsin – by initially currying the favor of Yeltsin’s daughter. He became the kingmaker, when it was necessary to find a successor to Boris Yeltsin. To that end Berezovsky had been cultivating a relationship – and becoming a mentor to – the young deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin.

Through Berezovsky’s influence Putin was groomed for a greater role in Russia as Putin was placed in the powerful position of Prime Minister, and was positioned to succeed Yeltsin as President. Berezovsky increased his political ambitions further by running as a successful candidate for the Russian Duma.

Berezovsky also used his influence to increase his wealth through business partnerships with other oligarchs including Roman Abramovich – who was among the oligarchs who turned against him.

As soon as Berezovsky’s protégé succeeded Yeltsin, it became evident that Putin’s ruthless power grabs threatened Berezovsky’s own influential position setting off a confrontation between Putin and Berezovsky. Putin turned on all of the oligarchs who put him in power, and perhaps engineered an assassination plot against Berezovsky – and ultimately resulted in Berezovsky’s exile to England. Berezovsky and another key player oligarch Roman Abramovich, lived in the UK, and another Alexander Litvinenko, was killed in the UK. With so many exiled Russian exiles in England, London was often referred to with the moniker of being Londonograd.

Berezovsky saw himself as a patriot and so did Putin – but it was Putin, no longer a “little puppet” who won the power play.

Played like a human chess game, Peter Morgan sets the scene in a Las Vegas-style bar with appropriately illuminated neo signs of Russian power – that is the playing field and it all builds to a thrilling conclusion.

The theatrical impact of Patriots is Rupert Goold’s pinpoint direction and inserting some humor into this epic struggle between two men who wanted to succeed to and hold their political power.

Michael Stuhlbarg, playing Boris Berezovsky, and Will Keen as Vladimir Putin are both equal to the task in typifying the incremental moments that heightened the conflict between these two larger than life human beings who destroyed their alliance. A conflict that is the equivalent to a Shakespearean tragedy in a brutal battle for power. Also notable is Luke Thallon as Roman Abramovich, who reflected a young and idealistic interest in partnering with Berezovsky in his business deals, and then ultimately turned on Berezovsky.

Peter Morgan’s Patriots is a complex play about complex people who were making history while also solidifying their influence and political power – and making those conflicts come alive, explaining them in order to understand where such conflicts lead — the betrayal of betrayers. These are the ingredients for an electrifying, and exciting theatrical experience.

Lincoln Center Theater – Uncle Vanya

Vivian Beaumont Theater

April 25, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Performances of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya are popping up on stages all over the world. The Lincoln Center Theater is now presenting a production of its own that has been adapted into a new version by Heidi Schrek (author of What The Constitution Means To Me) with the intent of giving this classic play a modern-day slant.

Uncle Vanya was first produced by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1899, and as in the case with all of Chekhov’s plays, they are often focused on the lives of upper-class Russians who are landowners or in the professions or petty government officials, and the big question is whether they should be played as comedies or dramas – or a mix of both. Schrek’s version has chosen the comic route, and certainly not a traditional take on Chekhov’s play.

The play, Uncle Vanya, focuses on relationships that evolve through the course of the play but have their roots in the past — the place, a family farm (which seems to be in a generic geographic location in this new version), currently the home of Sonya (played by Alison Pill) and her Uncle Vanya (played by Steve Carrell) who find their lives upended when surprise visitors arrive at the farm.

One of them, Alexander (played by Alfred Molina), a retired university professor – and Sonya’s father – who had been living on the income of his first wife and living in the city — now wants to sell the farm in the hopes of using the money for a long-term investment that would increase the income for himself and his current wife, Elena (played by Anika Noni Rose). It seems Alexander has made this decision without much consideration of how this decision would impact Sonya and Vanya – as well as those working on the farm. And the indecision and procrastination represent the core of the play which at its roots is a family drama – or comedy.

Past relationships include those of romantic love, flirting, and unrequited love. Elena is attracting the attention of Vanya, and also that of the local doctor, Astrov – and Sonya has her own mysteries, and her feelings about Astrov that are not returned.

The dramatic thread of the play is that of talking and drinking – boredom – misplaced love. Vanya whining – while Astrov is focused on his patients, medicine, and saving trees. Even rain distracts from the boredom – which explodes when the family, and family retainers attack each other in Act II of the play.

The fact is that boredom is contagious, and all goes back to normal after the visitors leave – after the family drama, and Alexander’s plan to sell the farm was no longer on the table.

The setting for Schreck’s version of Uncle Vanya seems like a rural part of America with the language filled by American colloquialism. The only original Russian references from Chekhov’s play are the names of the characters. There are blanks to fill in in this version of Uncle Vanya as well.

Uncle Vanya is played wonderfully by the comic actor Steve Carrell – he has a natural feel for the stage, and is adept at the comic timing required in the title role in this new version of the play.  Sonya is played by Alison Pill, with earnestness – and Alexander is played by Alfred Molina with the appropriate arrogance and lack of awareness of how his decision would change the lives of Vanya, Sonya, and the family, as well as family friends, and the family’s loyal retainers.

The extraneous characters – but certainly important – are Waffles played by Jonathan Hadary, Astrov played by William Jackson Harper, Maria, Vanya’s mother, played by Joyne Houdyshell, and Marina, the household’s cook, played by Mia Katigbak – all trying to influence the decision that is to be made, and the impact on their futures as they await Alexander’s proposal and decision – and each character is played with the appropriate eccentricities that are required.

Wasn’t certain what journey director Lila Neugebauer wanted to take the audience on. I guess that was in the eye of the beholder

This new version of Uncle Vanya has all of the elements to illuminate this provocative new slant on Chekhov’s play. On the other hand the alchemy is not always consistent. But then again it is worth the journey.

The Wiz

Marquis Theatre

April 24, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Reviving musicals has now become a unique – and can be a magical  — artform, and has special challenges when reviving musicals that were products of the social and political times that inspired them. A case in point is the musical, The Wiz, based on L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which has returned to Broadway in a major revival at the Marquis Theatre.

A gloss on Baum’s book, but with an urban edge, and with a black cast, The Wiz had premiered on Broadway in 1975. With a score by Charlie Smalls including the memorable, “If You Believe,” “Ease On Down The Road,” and “Home” — and with an imaginative book by William F. Brown, The Wiz offered an alternative interpretation of Baum’s series of books.

This revival, with additional material by Amber Ruffin, and a somewhat different perspective from director Schele Williams, attempts to update The Wiz to make it fit into puzzle within the norms of the 21^st century while also retaining its energy and emotional power. In this larger-than-life revival, this new revival of The Wiz mostly succeeds.

Even in its original production The Wiz seemed to be a series of vignettes from the well-known source, and the story-telling aspects were diminished or felt to be unnecessary. The audience knows the story, and but for transforming The Wizard of Oz into a musical with an all-black cast, nothing more in terms of the story-telling was necessary.

In The Wiz, Dorothy (played by Nichelle Lewis) is an unhappy young girl, who had been living in a large city. She was orphaned when her parents were killed, and she was taken in by her Aunt Em, who owns a farm in Kansas. Dorothy feels she is not fitting in, missing her parents, and also her past life in the city. Knowing that there was something more out there in the world, Dorothy has aspirations beyond being limited to life on a farm no matter how much loving support she had living with her Aunt Em.

A tornado strikes, and Dorothy is transported to the land of Oz, and in the midst of doing so, her Kansas farm house topples on Evamean, Wicked Witch of the East, and that’s when Dorothy’s problems really begin.

With the advice of other Witches to ponder – including Addaperle (played by Allyson Kaye Daniel), the Good Witch of the North — and Dorothy’s desire to return home, Dorothy seeks out a means of getting back home. And the only way to do just that is to pursue the assistance of the Wizard of Oz. Her journey down the Yellow Brick Road offers her opportunities to meet up with a peculiar party of misfits who are also seeking out better prospects in their lives.

Dorothy meets up with the Lion (played by Kyle Ramar Freeman), the Tinman (played by Phillip Johnson Richardson), and the Scarecrow (played by Avery Wilson) in search of their own goals and needs from the Wizard in Emerald City. However the Wizard of Oz (played by Wayne Brady) proves to be a bit of a fraud, and requires Dorothy and her fellow travelers to kill the evil Evelline (played by Melody A. Betts), Wicked Witch of the West – and then the Wizard reveals his true self, abandoning Dorothy and her new-found friends, and also enjoying his freedom after feeling imprisoned under a spell he was placed under by Evelline.

Dorothy is encouraged by Addaperle to seek out the assistance of Glinda (played by Deborah Cox), the Good Witch of the South to find her way home. Glinda informs Dorothy that she always had the power to get back home and that was in the power of Evamean’s silver shoes – and by clicking them three times she is transported back home, although missing all of those friendly people she met in Oz.

This is a telling of the familiar story with more wit and street sense than is portrayed in Baum’s stories.

The Wiz is an unforgettable musical adventure as its score not only lends a hand in telling the story, but also provides star-powered moments for all of The Wiz’s characters. Dorothy has the emotionally and powerful song, “Home” to sing, Glinda has “If You Believe”, and even the Wizard has his own song to introduce himself and set up himself as the fraudster he turns out to be.

But the music cannot live on its on without the performers to make the music sing, and carry over the footlights to the audience, and the cast for this revival of The Wiz is superlative.

Nichelle Lewis’ emotionally charged performance as Dorothy – and also her adeptness in The Wiz’s comic moments – is a highlight of The Wiz – but also just as impressive are Deborah Cox as Glinda, Allyson Kaye Daniel as Addaperle, Melody A. Betts in the dual role of Aunt Em and Evillene, Avery Wilson as the Scarecrow, Phillip Johnson Richardson as the Tinman, Kyle Ramar Freeman, as the Lion, Wayne Brady as The Wiz, and the talented ensemble of singer/dancers who make this stunning and joyous revival of The Wiz, a revival of The Wiz for the 21^st century.

This revival of The Wiz is an unforgettable musical adventure, and gives an audience a great deal to celebrate.

Suffs

Music Box Theatre

April 20, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Unique among this Broadway season’s musical offerings is Suffs which tells the story of how the fight for women’s rights, and the right for women to vote, emerged in the United States in the early part of the 20^th century – and notably emphasizing that the fight continues.

Having had its premiere at the Public Theatre last season, the Public Theatre along with other producers — among them Hillary Rodham Clinton and Malala Yousafzai – have taken on the high risks to make it possible for Suffs’ to be transferred to Broadway this season. This major commitment, I hope, will make it possible for a wider audience to experience the embarrassment of riches that is Suffs’ gift.

Suffs, which recently opened at the Music Box Theatre, is the one-person artistic enterprise of Shaina Taub, who has composed the score and wrote the book for this musical – and she also appears in Suffs in the pivotal role of Alice Paul, one of the women’s rights’ leaders.

In 1913, with a women’s movement also emerging in Great Britain, the American women’s movement became energized – represented by the suffragists who were seeking a woman’s right to vote. In spite of President Woodrow Wilson’s reluctant support, the culmination of those efforts – and the right to vote– was the approval of the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920 which institutionalized a woman’s right to vote removing a patchwork of conflicting laws from state-to-state.

Unique in this social and political movement was that it crossed generational, economic, and ultimately racial lines – and Suffs tells the story of the fight, the struggles among the activists in the movement, and references the efforts still ongoing in terms of women’s rights.

As in any political movement there are conflicts within the movement, and the contrasts between Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul, represents the focus of Suffs, along with references to how black women would be involved in this complicated political and social equation. A story that has local connections as the women’s movement in the United States was spawned in New York State and New Jersey – it is our local history – but also national history.

You feel the seriousness and earnestness of this issue in Suffs’ opening number, “Let Mother Vote” which in plain terms cleverly sets the scene for the story being told in Suffs, as well as the conflict of the generations in “The Young Are At The Gates.”

The focus is the chess game between feisty Alice Paul (played by Shaina Taub) representing the younger generation, and the upper-class and lady-like Carrie Chapman Catt (played by Jen Colella), representing the older generation, in terms of the strategy, the methods, and sacrifices enshrined in Suffs about the road blocks and successes in reaching the goal for women to get the vote – with the ultimate and affirming vote by the Tennessee State Legislature approving the 19^th Amendment. Suffs also touches on the inclusion of black women in the movement – and overall, telling the story with humor and irony.

Shaina Taub’s score and book bring intimacy to this important story, and Leigh Silverman’s direction brings this compelling story to life. Those women portrayed in Suffs are unique in their own right which is reflected in the score, book, and Silverman’s focused direction.

The all-female cast is the life-blood of Stuffs, most notably Taub as Paul and Colella as Catt, but also the performances of Hannah Cruz as Inez Milholland and Kim Blanck as Ruza Wenclawska, bringing these unique characters to life. Additional standout performances are given by Anastacia McCleskey as Mary Church Terrell, Nikki M. James as Ida B. Wells, Grace McLean as President Woodrow Wilson, and Emily Skinner in the dual roles of Alva Belmont and Phoebe Burn.

Suffs is not merely a work of art that teaches us a great deal about American history, but also a moving, and stirring musical theatre experience.

Lempicka

Longacre Theatre

April 16, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Some of the new musicals during this current Broadway season have been inspired by romantic novels, life on the fringe, and historical events – and strong female figures in history. The new musical, Lempicka, which recently opened at the Longacre Theatre falls into many of these categories, but for certain it is a biographical musical about a cultural icon, a painter, whose work has been embraced by committed collectors and celebrity collectors. But remains an unfamiliar postscript from the past.

Lempicka is about the life and experiences of Polish-born painter, Tamara de Lempicka, who lived and worked in Europe, and ultimately migrated to the United States. She was known as a socialite, a personification of an artistic icon, and as a painter who was influenced by – and contributed to — the Art Deco movement.

She was born to Polish parents in the 1890’s and when in Saint Petersburg, Russia, she met and married a Polish lawyer, Tadeusz Lempicki. As depicted in Lempicka, Russia was on the brink of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1916 at which time Tadeusz was arrested by the Bolsheviks. Sacrificing her dignity and her morality – Lempicka was able to obtain Tadeusz’s release, and they escaped St. Petersburg travelling across Western Europe and finally settling in Paris in 1918.

In order to survive, Lempicka turned to her childhood talent for painting, and she began selling her paintings understanding the market for personal portraits, and also the trends in painting including Futurism and Cubism. In all instances her art reflected the times it was created in with Europe having survived World War I, and the rumblings of being on the brink of World War II.

Lempicka found the subjects of her paintings not only among the elite of Paris, but also in the underbelly of Paris which included her pursuit of her muse, Rafaella, who inspires her to paint female nudes with a unique perspective – opening up Lempicka’s proclivities as a bi-sexual, and also experimenting with the recreational drug use of the time.

Lempicka became the mistress of Baron Raoul Kuffner, and they eventually married. When war broke out in Europe in 1939, they moved to the United States at which time Lempicka pursued her art, and became known for her celebrity portraits.

As fashioned by Matt Gould and Carson Kreitzer, as composer and lyricists for the score, and as the book writers of Lempicka, Lempicka is book-ended by the older Lempicka looking back on her life in flashbacks, and have created a piece of musical theatre with a score that is a pastiche with soaring anthems and intimate inner dialogues that has grand opera proportions — after all Lempicka’s life certainly lends itself to grand opera treatment.

The musical, Lempicka, depicts moments from Lempicka’s life with a bit of fiction. Among them incorporating Lempicka’s relationships with prostitutes while living in Paris – all combined into the complicated character of Rafaella.

What is important is that Lempicka’s journey finds herself emerging from being a poor refugee to a star of the art world — finally being recognized in a field primarily dominated by male painters. Also Lempicka is a sympathetic character and heroine in her own story – and is a survivor in spite of the changing world she was living in.

Director Rachel Chavkin, who had directed the immersive theatrical piece, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, follows the themes and circumstances of importance in Lempicka’s life with a Brechtian style that captures the imagination of an audience that knows very little about this forgotten painter’s life work, and much less about her personal life.

Lempicka is also a unique showcase for Eden Espinosa, playing the title role, who breathes life into this extraordinary artist’s journey — along with Amber Iman’s larger than life portrayal of Rafaela, and Andrew Samonsky’s solemn and detached – and appropriate – characterization of Tadeusz Lempicki. These performances are stunning and compelling.

In a supporting a role, Beth Leavel as the Baroness commands the stage, and pulls your heartstrings in her interpretation of “Just This Way” which includes her stirring plea to Lempicka to paint her portrait, and also to take her place as the Baron’s wife.

Lempicka is musical theatre at its best which has an intriguing and involving story to tell, with a score that supports that story, direction that supports that story, and stellar performances by its cast members that dazzle combining the finest attributes of actors and story-tellers. This is what the best musical theatre can be, heartwarming and provocative, and it is in abundance in Lempicka.

Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition – Gala/Awards Ceremony

The Kaye Playhouse

April 12, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

The Valentina Kozlova International Competition was held again in New York from April 10-12, 2024 at the Kaye Playhouse – a series of performances and competition rounds – and recognizing that this was the 13^th year of the Competition.

A new category was added which is the “Free Style Dance” — new choreography in any dance style with suggested songs to choreograph to – and there was special recognition of the 45^th anniversary of Kozlova’s career in the West.

The list of jury members for both the classical and modern dance categories who adjudicated the competitors were:

Charles Jude (France), President of Classical and Contemporary Juries

Nina Ananiashvili (Republic of Georgia)

Chan Hon Goh (Canada))

Eva Jouralev (USA)

Sun Hee Kim (South Korea)

Aivars Leimanis (Latvia)

Rio Mitani (Japan)

Mikko Nissinen (USA)

Stephanie Roublot (France)

Ricardo Scheir (Brazil)

Sergei Soloviev (France)

Michail Zubkov (Poland)

Jury for Contemporary Dance:

Mi Sook Jeon (south Korea)

Andrei Jouravlev (USA)

Virginie Mecene (USA)

Steven Melendez (USA)

Melanie Person (USA)

Margo Sappington (USA)

Ricardo Scheir (Brazil)

Competitors in the classical ballet aspect of the Competition were required to learn and perform variations from Serge Lifar’s Suite en blanc.

For the Gala performance there was an enthusiastic audience – with performances by enthusiastic competitors – who performed contemporary and classical dance pieces displaying their preparation, and how adventurous and poised they were. All of them showed off their style and showmanship. Enthusiastic competitors were not only American but also from South Korea, Brazil, Japan, Chile, Canada, Cyprus, Bulgaria, New Zealand, Belgium, Italy, and Paraguay.

The award winners were:

Classical

Pre-Youth Division:

Female:

Gold: Olive Peterson – USA

Bronze – Helen Zeniou – Cyprus

Youth Division:

Female:

Gold:

Huihan Park (South Korea)

Bom Park (South Korea)

Silver:

Yewon Lee (South Korea

Eunbi Ko (South Korea)

Bronze:

Jim Gong (South Korea)

Clara Hacardiaux (Belgium)

Male:

Gold: Hyunwoo Lim (South Korea)

Student Division:

Female:

Gold: Sarah Kusek (Poland)

Silver:

Bianca Buback (Brazil

Luisa Costa (Brazil)

Bronze: Sophia Witherly (Canada)

Male:

Gold: Hyunjun Cho (South Korea)

Silver: Loren Hwang (Canada)

Junior Division:

Female:

Gold: Jaehee Byun (South Korea)

Silver: Malgorzata Wicinska (Poland)

Bronze:

Alyssa Morial (Brazil)

Vera Gaevsky (USA)

Male:

Silver: Enzo Moreno (Brazil)

Bronze: Aleksander Nawrot (Poland)

Senior Division:

Female:

Gold: Yunsun Park (South Korea)

Silver:

Yoonseo Jang (South Korea)

Hajin Joo (South Korea)

Bronze:

Andrea Licaj (Bulgaria)

Akari Kato (Japan)

Wakaba Nobuta (Japan)

Male:

Gold: Dohyun Kwon (South Korea)

Silver: Vinicius Freire (Brazil)

Bronze:

Felix Matheus (Brazil)

Rarufu Tsuchiya (Japan)

Lorenzo Pontiggia (Italy)

Free Style Dance Ensemble:

Gold: Brazil – New Chapter

Silver: Mixed Countries – Simply the Best

Bronze: USA – Autumn Leaves

Free Style Dance Solo:

Gold: Manuela Coelho (Brazil)

Silver: Clara Seller (Brazil)

Bronze: Luiza Murari (Brazil)

Contemporary Dance Ensemble:

Gold:

Japanism (Japan)

Outonal (Brazil)

Silver:

A Ultima Revoada (Brazil)

Um minuto de silencio (Brazil)

Bronze:

Insurreicao (Brazil)

Spectrum (Brazil)

Contemporary Dance Duet:

Gold:

Rodrigo Maia & Ivan Augusto (Brazil)

Bruna Siler & Luan Bergmann (Brazil)

Silver:

Amanda Estevam & Jonathan Souza de Silva (Brazil)

Bronze:

Flavia Moreira & Gabriel Ferreira (Brazil)

Sabrina Rodriguez & Gesnier Eliseu Sousa (Brazil)

Contemporary Solo Division I:

Female:

Gold: Clara Hacardiaux (Belgium)

Silver: Loane Mahieu (Belgium)

Bronze:

Alejandra Martinez (Paraguay)

Kyara Manno (Belgium)

Male:

Gold: Juan Furquim (Brazil)

Contemporary Solo Division II:

Female:

Gold:

YoonSeo Chang (South Korea)

Seoyoon Choi (South Korea)

Silver: Jeongyeon Shim (South Korea)

Bronze: Alice Cerca (Brazil)

Male:

Gold: Enzo Moreno (Brazil)

Silver: Natan Grzybowski (Poland)

Contemporary Solo Division III:

Female:

Gold: Jungyoon Kim (South Korea)

Silver: Yeeun Kim (South Korea)

Bronze:

Chae Won Seo (South Korea)

Jibin Park (South Korea)

Jinwon Kwon (South Korea)

Male:

Gold: Jihyuk Cha (South Korea)

Silver: Dae Gyu Moon (South Korea)

Bronze: Luan Bergmann (Brazil)

Dance Theatre of Harlem

City Center

April 11, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

The Dance Theatre of Harlem is celebrating its 55^th anniversary during the company’s annual New York engagement at the City Center. This engagement included a program presented on April 11, 2024 which featured four dance pieces, one of which was a company premiere and one that was a New York premiere.

The company has now been under the directorship of Robert Garland for about a year and he was represented, as a choreographer, on this program with a performance of his Nyman String Quartet No. 2, choreographed to Nyman’s music of the same name in what is Garland’s statement on his concept of a contemporary ballet. Premiered in 2019, Nyman String Quartet No. 2 is an ensemble piece with a small cast of ten dancers who perform in group dances, and one isolated solo.

Nyman String Quartet No. 2 is performed on a spare stage with Garland providing organic movement transitioning to classical ballet and back. The piece’s sections were divided by blackouts, culminating at the piece’s end by having the dancers stepping into darkness. The colorful costumes designed by Pamela Allen Cummings were in contrast to the dark sections of the piece.

Garland’s choreography punctuated Nyman’s music most notably in the solo danced by David Wright, in which the choreography reflected the music’s relentless rhythms.

The outstanding cast was Derek Brockington, Micah Bullard, Elias Re, Kouadio Davis, David Wright, Ariana Dickerson, Lindsey Donnell, Alexandra Hutchinson, Ingrid Silva, and Delaney Washington.

Also familiar was William Forsythe’s Blake Works IV (The Barre Project) which the Dance Theatre of Harlem presented in its company premiere during its New York season in 2023, and was a perfect closing piece for this eclectic program. Forsythe has choreographed a series of dance pieces to the music of James Blake fashioning them for each individual company.

Improvisational aspects of the choreography play to the dancer’s strengths and also to Blake’s evocative music – which in Blake Works IV, are highlighted by a series of solos at the barre accented by a handful of duets – culminating with the entire ensemble on the stage. The piece moves at the speed of a bullet train, and the enthusiasm pours over the footlights.

This version was particularly tailored to the cast of Derek Brockington, Micah Bullard, Amanda Smith, Kouadio Davis, Lindsey Donnell, Keenan English, Alexandra Hutchinson, Kamala Saara, Ingrid Silva, Delaney Washington, Stephanie Rae Williams, and David Wright.

The New York premiere was Take Me With You, a duet, choreographed by Polish dancer/choreographer, Robert Bondara, and employing the music of Radiohead’s piece, Reckoner. The music sets the stage for a cacophony of different sounds in which Elias Re summarily manipulates Amanda Smith’s body implying conflict rather than joy. Overall it was effectively danced by Smith and Re.

The classical piece on the program was the company premiere of George Balanchine’s Pas de Dix, one of several ballets that Balanchine had choreographed to music from Alexander Glazunov’s ballet score of Raymonda. Pas de Dix was premiered by the New York City Ballet in 1955 with Maria Tallchief and Andre Eglevsky in the principal roles. On this occasion the principal roles were danced by Kamala Saara, and Kouadio Davis.

This version of the Grand Pas Classique from this rarely performed ballet’s Act III is a challenge to a company’s abilities as a classical ballet company, and its choreography is unique in the inherent intertwining of classical etiquette with character dancing.

For the most part the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s dancers met the challenge in this staging by Kyra Nichols – most notably Saara who danced her solo in a regal manner.

This particular program presented by the Dance Theatre of Harlem was enthusiastically received for its variety, and its showing off the versatility of the company’s dancers.

K’Arts of Seoul Korea

The Kaye Playhouse

April 10, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

As a component of this year’s Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition at Hunter College’s Kaye Playhouse, Valentina Kozlova, and the Valentina Kozlova Dance Foundation presented the New York debut K’Arts of Seoul, Korea – organized by the Korea National University Arts’ School of Dance – on April 10, 2024.

Directed by Sunhee Kim, the troupe of 30 dancers ranging in age from 12 and up were represented in this program of dance performing in the works of Korean choreographers, and also dancing excerpts from the classics – totaling ten pieces in all that were danced.

Opening the program was Ballet Etudes 2024, choreographed by Hyewon Shim and premiered in 2024, is inspired by Harald Lander’s neo-classical master work, Etudes, and employing Knudage Riisager’s arrangement of Carl Czerny’s music.

This exhibition of basic ballet classicism showed off the dancers’ training, poise, and polish – as danced by HuiHun Park, Eunbi Ko, Jimin Gong, Bom Park, Yewon Lee, Hyunjun Cho, and Hyunwoo Lim.

This was followed by the Act 2 Pas de Trois from Marius Petipa’s Le Corsaire – danced by the characters of Conrad, Medora, and Ali, — offering polished dancing, suitable pyrotechnics, and pure technique by the accomplished cast of MinJi Son, Seungmin Lee, and Minchul Jeon.

Sung Hoon Kim’s Among the “Green Eyes” was a story of two people’s strained relationship reflecting angst, jealousy, and betrayal in modern dance vocabulary.  The choreographer’s purpose was aptly served by Jungyoon Kim, and Yeongbin Seo as they portrayed suspicion and distrust.

Choreographer Juhyun Jo was represented by two solos of contrast. But Now I’m Back, choreographed to music composed by Alex Marasian (of Pink Martini), and danced with self-deprecating humor and showmanship by Kangwon Lee, was a joyful expression of dance.

In contrast was the same choreographer’s Pearl, also a solo, choreographed to Janis Joplin’s rendition of Me and Bobby McGhee employing modern dance choreography that used every part of the dancer’s body to express Joplin’s emotional interpretation of this iconic County and Western Song – and was expressively danced by Sooyeon Yi.

Returning to ballet classicism was the spiritual and ghost-like performance of the Act II Pas de Deux from Giselle danced with artistic maturity by Yejin Joo, and Hyeongijin Lim.

Misook Jeon’s Bow employs the every day gesture in Korean tradition to note the act of respect of bowing – recreating patterns that were predictable and ritualistic filling the stage space as danced in this ensemble work choreographed to Jaedeok Kim’s music.

Juhyun Jo was also represented on this program with the rapturous duet, Westside Rhapsody, Tonight pas de deux, which was inspired by Leonard Bernstein’s music and Stephen Sondheim’s romantic lyrics from the Broadway musical, West Side Story. The Romeo and Juliet elements were captured by dancers, Joheun Kim. and Juhyeong Yu.

A classical ballet novelty that was included in this program was a pas de deux from Pierre Lacotte’s revival of Marco Spada, which had originally been an adaptation of Daniel Auber’s opera. This divertissement was focused on the Act 2 duet which was danced with flair by portraying Marco Spada and the daughter of a Roman governor, Angela – and all was confidently danced by Yun Ju Lee, Minchul Jeon, HuiHun Park, Eunbi Ko, Jimin Gong, Yewon Lee, Hyunjun Cho, and Hyunwoo Lim.

Closing the program, in a forceful and dramatic manner was Changho Shin’s No Comment, in its title using the nebulous response to questions from the media – a series of ensemble dances which literally stripped away details in repetitive modern dance movement – while also making an emphatic dance statement.

With certainty these young dancers made an exciting impression at this performance – a reflection of the dancers’ training, but also the boundless imagination of the choreographers’ dances represented in this program.

American Repertory Ballet

The Kaye Playhouse – Hunter College

March 30, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

American Repertory Ballet, based in Princeton, New Jersey, is celebrating its 70^th anniversary and in so doing, the company is expanding its performance schedule to include annual visits to New York City.

Now directed by Ethan Stiefel, former principal dancer of American Ballet theatre, American Repertory Ballet presented a triple bill program of contemporary ballets at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College on March 30, 2024.

As the company’s engagements become more frequent in New York City, it is easy to ascertain that the company is reaching for higher artistic goals, and visibility. This year’s program was discerning in being inclusive of different styles of dance, emphasizing the dancers’ strengths, and also creating new works.

Opening the program was Meredith Rainey’s Intrare Forma, a creation for the company choreographed to original music composed by Miranda Scripp. Rainey a former Philadelphia Ballet soloist, has created a made to order ballet for 8 dancers which follows the octet structure of the music, and divides itself up to trios, quartets, duets, and ensembles.

There was flow and articulation in each segment of Intrare Forma, and most notable of the performances in the piece were by Lily Krisko, Andrea Marini, and Aldeir Monteiro in Intrare Forma’s Trio.

Sight Line, choreographed by Amy Seiwert, artistic director of the Smuin Ballet in San Francisco, California, was an acquisition by American Repertory Ballet. Choreographed to melodies by Maria Tanase, which have been transcribed for a string quartet by Alexander Balanescu, Seiwert emphasized movement in the upper body of each dancer but clearly in the modern dance vocabulary – smokey, plotless – with the dancers costumed in black culotte pants with abrupt starts and finishes to each section – but kept the dancers moving at a quick pace.

The closing work on the program, Wood Work, was choreographed by American Repertory Ballet’s artistic director, Ethan Stiefel, and was created for the Washington Ballet in 2019. What proved to be Wood Work’s individuality and tone was the music this dance piece was choreographed to — contemporary renditions of Nordic folk tunes by the Danish String Quartet.

Immediately Stiefel established that the dancers were part of a “community” with familial connections, and connections with the earth, The choreography reflected a folk-dance motif, and allusions to the greats such as Antony Tudor, Agnes de Mille, and Jerome Robbins, and playing to the dancers’ strengths.

The result was a well-crafted piece which the audience responded to along with the showmanship of the dancers.

Needless to say there is creative dance activity taking place on the other side of the Hudson River that should be noted.

The Who’s Tommy

Nederlander Theatre

March 26, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

This Broadway season will see many more musicals – and even revivals – than we have seen in recent seasons past. Among the long-anticipated revivals is the iconic, The Who’s Tommy, which opened last evening at the Nederlander Theatre.

Pete Townsend, a member of The Who, who had been this musical group’s primary artistic force, wrote the music and lyrics for a narrative concept album, Tommy, which made record history in 1969 as part of a trend by many musical groups to use the concept album as an artistic statement. It was this recording that was later adapted for the stage by Townsend, and director Des McAnuff.

Crediting Townsend for the music and lyrics, there is additional music by John Entwistle and Soony Boy Williamson II, and Townsend and McAnuff co-wrote the book.

This compelling and vibrant musical returns to Broadway in a 30^th anniversary revival which was presented at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 2023, and has been described by its creators as newly re-imagined.

Tommy’s story focuses on the newly-married Walkers who have a whirlwind courtship shortly before World War II begins. With Captain Walker called to serve, Mrs. Walker has to face her own trauma of being the sole parent of a new baby on the way during the uncertain times in the 1940’s, and living in London during the Blitz.

After Mrs. Walker is informed that her husband is presumed dead – although he is really taken prisoner – Mrs. Walker picks up the pieces of her life having to raise a young son on her own – and takes up with a new boyfriend to fill the gap of losing her husband. However Captain Walker returns – very much alive – and Tommy is traumatized having witnessed Captain Walker killing Mrs. Walker’s boyfriend in a fit of jealousy and anger. The trauma’s effect is that Tommy is now deaf, mute, and blind.

Although the Walkers fall back on domestic life as normal, they face the many questions of what caused Tommy to cut himself off from the rest of the world – not to mention being abused by family members – and being put through the torture of unconventional therapies to resolve his psychological problems.

Captain Walker seeks out cures and treatment – even a visit with a Gypsy (also known as the Acid Queen) – but no success although his Cousin Kevin exposed Tommy to the enjoyment of playing pinball machines allowing Tommy to develop and bloom.  This is all celebrated in “Pinball Wizard” in which Tommy has become a celebrity from his wizardry when he takes over a pinball machine.

Facing continued frustrations of her own in not getting through to Tommy, Mrs. Walker smashes the mirror that Tommy gazes in on a regular basis. As a result Tommy regains the senses he has lost, and must cope with that along with his fame and fans. His less than modest behavior pushes away the people who love him most.

After being manipulated and abused Tommy comes to terms with what is most important to him. In an unconventional conversion he realizes that his home with his family is his safety net, and literally invites the world to experience his discovery. And he exults in his personal and emotional freedom in “I’m Free.”

This new revival of Tommy is filled with pulsating high energy coming from the staging by Des McAnuff, and the polishing of Townsend’s music and concept, and is enhanced by the excellent cast which brings this story to life.

Ali Louis Bourzgui gives a tour de force performance in the title role which is not to be missed.  Besides providing the vocal gymnastics that he displayed, he makes Tommy a sympathetic character from the moment he sets his foot on the stage.

Equally sympathetic are Alison Luff as Mrs. Walker and Adam Jacobs as Captain Walker, and notable are John Ambrosino as Uncle Ernie, Bobby Conte as Cousin Kevin, and Christina Sajous as the appropriately over-the-top Acid Queen – and also the scene stealers, Olive Ross-Kline as Tommy, Age 4, and Reece Levine as Tommy, Age 10, both of whom earned and deserved solo curtain calls after the other cast members were shown appreciation by the audience.

With the tweaking in this production, this revival of The Who’s Tommy stands the test of time, and is welcome back on Broadway for a new generation of theatergoers to experience.

Water for Elephants

Imperial Theatre

March 27, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

There is a recurring theme that has been revealed in some of new Broadway musicals premiering this season, and that is looking back on life choices, some with wonderful memories and some with regrets. Fitting into this theme is Water for Elephants, which is based on a novel by Sara Gruen, that has been adapted for a movie, and is now a stage musical version that had its premiere on March 21, 2024 at the Imperial Theatre.

Water for Elephants focuses on the memories of the elder Mr. Jankowski (played by Greg Edelman) who is a retired veterinarian. In his 90’s, and confined to a nursing home, he often muses about his life as a much younger man, ruminating about them, and his regrets. He also transforms himself into the narrator of his own story.

In his younger life Jankowski sought out adventure and was impulsive. At the height of the Great Depression he jumps on a train – a train which is the method of travel for the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. After what was a one-day commitment to earn money for food and to move on, Jankowski is adopted by the circus family which makes up for the recent loss of both of his parents in a car accident.

August Rachinger (played by Paul Alexander Nolan) is the owner of this circus which is on the verge of bankruptcy. But Rachinger allows the Young Jankowski (played by Grant Gustin) to continue to travel with the circus after being made aware that Jankowski had fulfilled most of his required education to be a vet – and assigns him the care of his show horse, Silver Star, who is the favorite of the circus’ headliner, Marlena (played by Isabelle McCalla) – who also happens to be Rachinger’s wife.

Although Jankowski finds a “new family” with the Benzini Brothers traveling circus, a love triangle develops that creates conflicts. As Marlena and Young Jankowski are thrown together all too often when caring for Silver Star, they realize how much they can offer to each other – Marlena finding a way out of a marriage filled with domestic violence and anger – and Jankowski fulfilling his love for caring for animals which ultimately results in Jankowski assisting Rachinger in purchasing a new star of the show, Rosie The Elephant, when Silver Star must be euthanized. The Benzini Brothers Circus thrives, and climbs it way out of its financial woes, but the wedge remains between Rachinger and Marlena.

The love triangle explodes and implodes with Rachinger seeking forgiveness from Marlena and revenge against Young Jankowski, as well as a few other circus employees who he feels are not fulfilling their roles within the organization. But as in most stories of this genre, there is a plot twist!

Puppets representing the circus animals are integral in the plot for Water for Elephants but so are the circus acts which are integrated into the narrative. Among the puppets Rosie The Elephant makes her presence known, while the circus performers provide the tumbling, the acrobatics, and aerial acts that enliven Water for Elephants, and are part of the story-telling.

Jessica Stone has directed Water for Elephants with profound nuance while also being a wizard in bringing the story to the stage incorporating the living and breathing actors’ performances, the puppets, and what is enhanced by the circus atmosphere created by the stellar troupe of acrobatic circus performers who inhabit this special world.

Supplying the score is the Pig Pen Theatre Co., a collaborative effort which results in a mixture of styles of music that comprise Water for Elephants’ score. One of the songs, “I Choose The Ride,” sets the theme for Water of Elephants as the song that encourages one to take the more adventurous road in life, and there is the emotional love duet, “Wild” sung by Marlena and the Young Yankowski, that is a dramatic dialogue unto itself.

Rick Elice has written a book adaptation that has great emotional impact, and keeps apace with the narrative – both in the present and in flashbacks.

Enlivening this musical are the stellar performances of Gregg Edelman as the elder Jankowski, Grant Gustin as the Young Jankowski, Isabelle McCalla as Marlena, Paul Alexander Nolan as August Rachinger, and the wonderful performances by the stalwarts in the Benzini Brothers Circus, Stan Brown as Camel, Sara Gettelfinger as Barbara, and the comic relief provided by Joe De Paul as Walter.

In spite of its twists and turns, which includes a few meanderings, Water for Elephants is an entertaining musical for the entire family, will put a smile on your face, and perhaps give you a taste for a little adventure in your life.

Make Me Gorgeous!

Playhouse 46 at St. Luke’s

March 23, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Can it be a trend – or not – that actors with multiple pronouns are making their way to the New York stage with great popularity and great frequency – no doubt due to the exposure that such artists are getting on television. One such artist, Darius Rose, aka Jackie Cox – a top five finalist from Ru Paul’s Drag Race — is gracing the stage of the Playhouse 46 at St. Luke’s in a new play written and directed by Donald “Donnie” Horn, with the long title of Make Me Gorgeous! The True Story of Kenneth “Mr. Madam” Marlowe.

This is the story of Kenneth Marlowe, who had faded into history, – an openly homosexual man living in mid-20^th century America. He took on many roles, and many professions in the entertainment industry, and in the gay underworld – and was even a mortuary cosmetologist, and a newspaper columnist.

Marlowe was born in Iowa in 1926, and in an effort to find himself and to make a living, he turned to stripping and prostitution – shifting back and forth from legitimate to illegimate careers – relocating all over the United States in the process – just ahead of the law and mobsters. Marlowe was drafted in the military – facing a dishonorable discharge for his homosexual activities – and then became hairdresser to the stars.

Marlowe survived because he had the knack for reinventing himself – and availing himself of the support and help given to him by an array of “characters.” There always seem to be people who would gladly help him.

Marlowe also published his autobiography in 1963 – along with other books about his life – and ultimately Marlowe had sex reassignment surgery transforming himself into Kate Marlowe.

Darius Rose takes on this 90-minute solo show with relish — taking place in Marlowe’s apartment in San Francisco in 1975. With Rose taking on Marlowe as a character through singing, dance, and comic acting. And he adeptly moves from one chapter to another in Marlowe’s life – with details – self-deprecating humor – and immediacy.

Rose makes the case that Marlowe should not be forgotten and is a memorable pioneer and historical figure. And Rose portrays Marlowe in a tongue in cheek manner but is always honest about Marlowe’s strengths and weaknesses.

Make Me Gorgeous makes for a charming entertainment, and makes one look forward to the next unique character that Rose will bring to life in the future.

The Notebook

Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre

March 22, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

One of the more anticipated new musicals of this Broadway season is The Notebook, based on Nicholas Spark’s novel, which had also been adapted into a successful movie in 2004. Having already opened at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on March 14, 2024, it was illuminating how this sentimental story had been adapted to the musical stage by composer/lyricist Ingrid Michaelson and book writer Bekah Brunstetter, and under the dual directorship of Michael Grief and Schele Williams.

The story focuses on a young couple’s romance that blooms in the 1940’s – that story being read by an elderly man – telling the story to a fellow nursing home resident. Through the story-telling in The Notebook, it is revealed that the elderly man is Noah, and Allie, the subject of his love and devotion – and his wife — who is also a resident in the nursing home, and suffering from dementia. The story from the notebook is read by Noah to restore his relationship with Allie, in the hope that she would come back to him and remember him.

In this musical stage adaptation, Allie and Noah, are represented by three different couples as they age through this relationship.

The romance begins in 1940 in South Carolina. Noah Calhoun is a lumber mill worker, and Allison “Allie” Hamilton is a 17-year-old heiress. Their love and relationship blossoms during a brief period when Allie is visiting to the chagrin of Allie’s parents. This is a wrong-side of the track and right side of the track romance that has its roots in the South during World War II.

Allie’s parents disapprove of the relationship, and to prevent the romance from developing any further, Allie’s parents whisk Allie away to Charleston. Allie intends to continue the relationship through letter-writing. However the war intervenes, and Noah’s voluminous letters to Allie are intercepted by her mother giving her the impression that Noah has forgotten her. Allie forms an attachment with Capt. Lon Hammond, a more appropriate beau – but after Allie reunites with Noah, she makes the decision to take her chances with Noah.

And that decision finds Allie and Noah later in life trapped in the nursing home mulling their regrets, and having enormous difficulties in reaching and communicating with each other. However after Noah recovers from a stroke, Allie and Noah unite again in a bitter-sweet ending.

Bekah Brunstetter’s book tells this story of nostalgia and regret in a non-liner fashion with the younger versions of Allie and Noah appearing and disappearing in flash backs and flash forwards. Ingrid Michaelson’s music is very listenable and well-sung by the cast members, but is minimally effective in underscoring the dramatic and pivotal moments often enough in The Notebook’s story.

Co-directors Michael Grief and Schele Williams do not always fashion Brunstetter’s book concisely although they do hit the mark in contrasting the humor and seriousness in the story.

What makes The Notebook a worthwhile addition to the Broadway season are the superlative performances by the cast members, the sentimental and earnest performances of Maryann Plunkett as the Older Allie, and Dorian Harewood as the Older Noah – as well as Joy Woods as the Middle Allie and Ryan Vazquez as the Middle Noah – and Jordan Tyson as the Younger Allie, and John Cardoza as the Younger Noah. Also notable is Andrea Burns in the roles of Allie’s mother and Nurse Lori.

It is refreshing to see a Broadway musical that has an involving story to tell that responds to humanity’s emotion and sorrows while being uplifting at the same. The Notebook has those elements in abundance.

Lincoln Center Theater – Corruption

Mitzi Newhouse Theater

March 20, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Playwright J.T. Rogers gave us the absorbing play, Oslo, which focused on Middle East peace negotiations. J.T. Rogers has followed up on Oslo with an equally absorbing and involving new play, Corruption, which is being presented by the Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater.

Corruption is a compelling and complicated examination of how the media and communications industry finds its stories, its reporting on stories, the internal conflicts within, and the collateral damage that is often a result in the corruption of how these stories are revealed – or in instances when the stories are invented.

Corruption focuses on the British media scandal in which it was revealed that staff members and reporters of News of the World – a Rupert Murdoch tabloid – were involved in the hacking of mobile phones of politicians, celebrities, and ordinary people, and using other questionable methods for getting stories.

J. T. Rogers’ program note aptly describes Corruption as, “A story about there and then that’s become here and now.”

Based on a monograph on the subject matter, “Dial M For Murdoch: News Corporation and the Corruption of Britain” by Tom Watson and Martin Hickman, Corruption provides the details of the scandal that emerged during the years from 2010-2011 – revealing the newspaper’s methods and the decision-making to use those questionable methods.

Toby Stephens plays Tom Watson, the Labour Party MP who helped reveal News of the World’s abuses, and Saffron Burrows plays Rebekah Brooks, the editor of News of the World, who survived the scandal, and remained within the Murdoch media empire in the UK.

Watson, an anti-hero of sorts, takes up the fight against Murdoch’s tabloid empire which, in hacking phones, not only develops the stories but also allows the Murdoch empire to blackmail politicians, and to put pressure on government officials to make business decisions in their favor.

But the overall theme of the scandal, and Rogers’ play, is that corporate interests were the primary factors determining the desired result to raise stock share value, and handcuffing government officials and politicians – putting the corporate interest needs above democracy.

This overpowering story of manipulation, miscommunications, and intent involved many different facets within the scandal – a huge cast of characters of politicians from both ruling parties in the UK, reporters from different UK media outlets, and the everyman person on the street – mostly unfamiliar to an American audience, who are revealed during the unravelling of Corruption’s plot.

Both Toby Stephens and Saffron Burrows are outstanding in their performances as the primary antagonists in Corruption, and an exemplary ensemble play multiple characters and roles.

Director Bartlett Sher, unfortunately, did not give Rogers’ play the focus and conciseness that it needed for its full effect, although he certainly got the best out of the wonderful acting ensemble that was assembled to appear in Corruption.

In spite of some flaws Corruption is an exciting and involving theatrical experience with a startling story to tell – current, thoughtful, and provocative.

Dongpo: Life in Poems

David Koch Theater

March 16, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

In a co-presentation with the American Dance Festival, and the China Oriental Performing Arts Group Co. Ltd., the Meishan Song and Dance Theatre is performing Shen Wei’s Dongpo: Life in Poems at the David Koch Theater from March 15-17, 2024.

Incorporating all of the visual arts including choreography, visual designs, scenery design, and costume design – all created by Shen Wei – and employing the music of various composers and Gugin music played live by Zhao Xiaoxia — and as conceived and created by Shen Wei — this theatrical dance piece has been inspired by the poetry and the life of Chinese poet Su Dongpo. In addition to the aforementioned creative team members, Guo Changhong is also the co-playwright.

The dance piece is divided into 12 sections which are inspired by Dongpo’s poetry — notable as Dongpo’s life span was from 1037-1101 A.D., and Meishan, the home of the Meishan Song and Dance Theatre, is also Dongpo’s home.

Performed by 24 dancers, this dance theatre piece follows Dongpo’s life journey as an older man returning to the memories of his youth. This story-telling device to reflect on Dongpo’s circle of life from his youth to his mature age is not a new method of conveying a story, but, in particular, Shen Wei employs this much-used theatrical convention in an effective manner.

Each section of this dance/theatre piece is inspired by quotations from Dongpo’s poems, and are fashioned in dance vignettes that express the themes and emotions in the poetry. Distinctive is that Shen Wei also emphasizes the relevance of Dongpo’s poetry and themes to contemporary life – assigning the dancers to ride on scooters, e-bikes, and skateboards is just one example.

Shen Wei’s movement style is a combination of ballet, and modern dance, and is noteworthy for its grace and stylization, and connection to its Chinese roots. Throughout the piece Shen Wei is often inspired by the costume designs for his movement.

Also bringing Dongpo’s poetry clarity are the visual designs, and lighting effects which also punctuate the grandness of the themes in this dance piece.

Dongpo: Life in Poems is a grand theatre piece that is reverential not only to the poet, but also as interpreted by Shen Wei and the dancers.  In particular the company’s dancers also show great respect for the audience which is part of the community experience. Shen Wei makes his points in a succinct and clear manner – and also in an entertaining manner.

DIARY

Ibsen’s Ghost

59E59 Theaters

March 9, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Charles Busch’s Ibsen’s Ghost: An Irresponsible Biographical Fantasy, which had its world premiere at the George Street Playhouse, earlier this year, follows the formula of Busch’s gender-bending plays. Sources are melodramatic and easy to parody. Being performed at 59E59 Theatres from March 2-April 4, 2024, under the auspices of Primary Stages, Busch’s Ibsen’s Ghost is aptly described as “The play that Ibsen never wrote – but with more laughs and a happy ending!”

Henrik Ibsen has been described as the innovator of the modern drama tackling social issues and political norms of the 19^th century – issues that are still being written about in the 21^st century. Among his best-known plays are Hedda Gabler, A Doll’s House, and An Enemy of the People. But much has been written about Ibsen’s Ghosts which was first published in 1881, and is a play that challenges the moral codes of the 19^th century. In Ibsen’s Ghost, Busch turns Ibsen’s play upside down, and sideways.

In Ibsen’s Ghost Busch documents events in Oslo, Norway in June 1906 after Ibsen’s death. Ibsen’s wife Suzannah (played by Busch himself) is attempting to persuade Ibsen’s publisher, George Elstad (played by Christopher Borg) to publish the letters between herself and her husband – while also re-inventing herself as her husband’s collaborator and muse.

Entering the fray is Suzannah’s stepmother, Magdalene Thoresen, a respected writer, (played by Judy Kaye), and Hanna Solberg (played by Jennifer Van Dyck), one of Ibsen’s protégées – who is making the claim that her own life story was appropriated by Ibsen for the plot of A Doll’s House – and to add to the scandal she is also trying to peddle her own scandalous diary to Ibsen’s publisher. Solberg’s works have been written under a nom de plume in order to hide her sex – and also to get her works published.

Also there is the surprise appearance by Wolf Dahlquist (played by Thomas Gibson), a sailor who presents himself as Ibsen’s illegitimate son. And ultimately Suzannah and Wolf enter into a secretive affair.

The play is peppered by the appearances of Gerda (played by Jan Cody), Suzannah’s outrageous maid, and the Rat-Wife (also played by Borg), an exceptional lady exterminator, and fortune teller.

These are the ingredients of Busch’s signature of the gray area of identity – and in this instance his own pre-disposition of putting a spotlight on the women in Ibsen’s life. And there are more ingredients including scandal, turning Ghosts into a comic melodrama – a great deal of mystery and plotting – suspicions about every character and what they are after – all with wit, a nod and a wink, rolling of eyes, and a surprise ending.

Director Carl Andress, Busch’s long-time collaborator and partner-in-crime, keeps this story flowing and apace. Shoko Kambara’s scenery design provides a welcoming, and realistic setting for Ibsen’s Ghost.

Although Busch has written Ibsen’s Ghost as a vehicle for himself, it is an ensemble piece with a superb group of comic actors – all with excellent comic timing – and with a great deal of subtlety in getting the story and the humor across. Busch takes on the point of view that Ibsen doesn’t have to be taken seriously! And you can have a great time in watching the antics on stage!

NT Live – Dear England

Skirball/NYU

March 10, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Skirball/NYU, through the auspices of NT Live, is presenting cinema screenings of significant new plays that have premiered during the current London theatre season. New York audiences can benefit by seeing these screenings for themselves which capture the immediacy of the live performances of these plays.

On March 10, 2024 NT Live presented James Graham’s Dear England, an homage to the legendary leader of the England squad, Gareth Southgate, and his impact on England’s national team. His leadership led the team to the semi-final of the 2018 World Cup, and more achievements after that.

Football, rather than what Americans describe as soccer, is the beautiful game that Europeans go wild about – and the fanship is worldwide. Those definitions and conditions set the stage for Graham’s Dear England.

The England team was suffering from its inability to take advantage of penalty shots during its games which led to numerous games that were lost. A new coach was sought for England’s team, Gareth Southgate (played by Joseph Fiennes) who brought in psychologist Pippa Grange (played by Gina McKee) to work with the team players during the squad’s training sessions to dispel their fears and anxieties about their failures to win tied games with penalty shots, and to work out the team members’ off the field challenges. At the same time, this effort was also made in trying to change the culture of the England football team.

Southgate turned it around, and Dear England dares to explain how he managed this feat, and how important it was for the English public to learn to accept losing important matches in order to push forward rather than backward.

Although the England team didn’t completely overcome their fears and anxieties, they did come together as a team especially when fans shouted racially tinged insults at the black team members during their matches – and the team took up the fight together – and also injected into the mix were the failures of Brexit, and the policies of three failed consecutive Tory prime ministers.

But it is the test of the team’s psychological resilience and comradeship that is the heart of the play.

Directed by Rupert Goold, Dear England has all of the energy of watching a typical British football match, and presenting the squad’s team members as real-life characters, and putting them in situations one can identify with. And the players suspend themselves in the air during key plays combining their athleticism and the art of dancers.

Joseph Fiennes gives a towering performance as the inimitable, and formidable Southgate, and also notable is Gina McKee as Pippa Grange, as well as Will Close as the team’s captain, Harry Kane.

Although Dear England is more than a tad too long in telling this significant sports story, and getting to the pivotal events in the story, it is an engrossing theatrical experience whether you are a sports fan – or not.

A Sign of the Times

New World Stages

March 2, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

The York Theatre Company which develops and presents new musicals as part of its mission, has made a major leap by presenting a new musical, A Sign of the Times, which opened at New World Stages on February 22, 2024, seeking a wider audience for its presentations.

A Sign of The Times had its world premiere at the Goodspeed Musicals’ Norma Terris Theatre in 2016, and has been developed and revised in the years since.

A Sign of the Times is based on an original story by Richard J. Robin which has been adapted by Lindsey Hope Pearlman. The score is culled from pop hits from the 1960’s including those made famous by both American and British recording stars – all of which will be familiar and also nostalgic – not only to baby boomers who remember the 1960’s but for all ages. Many of the songs have been culled from Petula Clark’s many hit songs but many other important artists and composers from this time period are represented – all of which are conveying new meaning in terms of their lyrics, and are cleverly and neatly knitted into Robin’s story.

A Sign of the Times’ story focuses on Cindy (played by Chilina Kennedy) who hails from Centerville, Ohio, and seeks her fame and fortune as a photographer in New York City in 1965 – abandoning the traditional role of women at the time. She finds herself in a changing political and social atmosphere focusing on civil rights and feminism – and the chaotic years when there is an unpopular war taking place in Vietnam.

Cindy’s journey begins after her boyfriend Matt (played by Justin Matthew Sargent) proposes marriage at a New Year’s Eve Party – welcoming in 1965 – but Cindy turns down Matt’s proposal wanting to know more about herself, and her career ambitions before committing to marriage. She bolts and takes a bus to New York City to pursue her dream.

On the journey she meets SNCC activist Cody (played by Akron Lanier Watson), and during a tiring and exasperating search for a place to live in New York City, Cindy meets a kindred spirit, Tanya (played by Crystal Lucas-Perry) whose life goal is to be a professional singer – Cindy wins her over and Tanya invites Cindy to be her roommate.

After finding a place to live the next stop in pursuing her dream is to find a job. Having experienced frustrating job searches, Cindy has a chance meeting with an advertising executive Brian (played by Ryan Silverman) who offers to open doors to enable Cindy to pursue her professional ambitions – and in the meantime, Cindy’s ex-boyfriend gets drafted and is deployed to the Vietnam War.

The atmosphere of New York City in the 1960’s is filled with the changing norms in women’s rights, the Vietnam War, race relations, and general political upheaval. Through her journey Cindy finds her own clear ambitions, and succeeds in her own way to be on the road to being a professional photographer – in spite of an unfortunate affair with Brian. Although Matt comes back into her life again their reunion in New York results in a surprising twist. With certainty the many social and political issues that were wrestled with in the 1960’s are now re-emerging again for newer generations.

There are a multitude of songs culled from the 1960’s intertwined into the story which serve as The Sign of the Times’ song list. As the title of this musical indicates quite a few songs made famous by Petula Clark are included in the score (besides the title song, also included is “Downtown,” “Who Am I?”,” Round Every Corner”, “Don’t Sleep in the Subway”, “I Couldn’t Live Without your Love”, and “I Know A Place,”)  and other songs from the 1960’s including “Rescue Me,” “The In Crowd,” “You Don’t Own Me’ “The Shoop Shoop Song,” “I Only Want To Be With You,” “The Boy From New York City,” and the iconic “Eve of Destruction”. They all aptly find their places in the narrative, and they are all well sung by an excellent cast – and should be heard more often in live performance.

Director Gabriel Barre keeps the story moving while also injecting high energy into the musical numbers which are stylistically choreographed by JoAnn M. Hunter, which bring to mind the dance choreography from such 1960’s television shows such as Hullabaloo!

A Sign of the Times is a vibrantly entertaining musical — reflecting the atmosphere of the 1960’s but also has relevance for those living in the early years of the 21^st century – with the equally brilliant and dazzling performances by its talented cast.

What We Hold

Irish Arts Center

February 25, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Jean Butler, a former principal dancer of Riverdance, has turned to contemporary and modern dance to expand the style and vision of Irish Dance. In returning to her Irish dance roots, Butler has choreographed a piece for 8 dancers, What We Hold, which is being presented at the Irish Arts Center from February 13-March 3, 2024.

This new exploration of Irish Dance, which had its premiere at the Dublin Theater Festival in 2022, sets the piece in a theatre where 50 audience members can watch and experience 8 dancers in intimate spaces.

The participating dancers range in age from 15 to 70 – including four former Riverdance performers – representing dancers not only of different experiences but also at different stages of their lives. And the audience is as close to the dancers as they can be. The dance vocabulary is recognizable Irish dance steps but linked in a different and unique manner, and incorporating the styles of modern and post-modern dance.

What We Hold has mystery, and another worldly nature as it is performed in an immersive dance setting in three different performing spaces. Led by Butler’s invitation into the performing space, the first of the three sections in this dance piece is primarily focused on the essence of Irish step dancing featuring James Greenan, in a solo dance, creating a rhythmic pattern, performed in front of two mirrors with the audience seeing him perform from behind – and seeing Greenan’s reflection in the mirrors as he is dancing. The complicated steps create a symphony of sounds – and also images in the mirror.

From there you are led to a space where there is a table, and the audience is requested to sit around it while three dancers perform together and separately on the table to a soundscape of thoughts. It is face to face time with the dancers and what they are expressing.

The third section of What We Hold is in a larger studio space with constructed solos, ensemble dances, and a superlative duet danced by Jean Butler and Colin Dunne.  It is in this section that the dancers are also interpreting the music of composer Ryan C Seaton. All of the dancers express a sense of community as Butler draws herself and the other dancers into moving patterns.

Within the time span of 60 minutes you experience all that has been expressed in the choreography and also from the dancers themselves.

Besides the aforementioned Butler, Dunne, and Greenan, the other cast members, Maren Shanks, Kaitlyn Sardin, Marion Cronin, Tom Cashin, and Kristyn Fontanella put on display their formidable technique as dancers.

What We Hold looks back on the history of Irish Dance, and what is its vision for the future. It is worth the journey!

City Center Encores – Jelly’s Last Jam

City Center

February 24, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

On a roll, City Center Encores’ second smash presentation for the season is Jelly’s Last Jam being performed at the City Center from February 21-March 3, 2024. Jelly’s Last Jam has not been seen or performed on a New York stage since its Broadway premiere in 1992. After seeing this energetic production you wonder why it took so long for Jelly’s Last Jam to be revealed in all of its glory again in New York City.

Inspired by the life and music of jazz legend, Jelly Roll Morton, written by George C. Wolfe, with Morton’s own music adapted by Luther Henderson, and with lyrics by Susan Birkenhead, Jelly’s Last Jam is a memory play of sorts as significant incidents in Morton’s life are dramatically represented in his music, song, story-telling – and in dance – particularly tap dancing – all presented in dramatic vignettes and musical numbers.

Jelly’s Last Jam is about the life of Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, known as Jelly Roll Morton, with a deceased Morton looking back on his life as guided by the Chimney Man (played by Billy Porter). The Chimney Man is not an unbiased bystander in his assessment of Morton’s poor life choices, and   how Morton destroyed his friendships, and family relationships which were left in shambles. Also the questions in Morton’s life were unanswered as Morton and the Chimney Man challenged each other’s remembrances of the definitive moments in Morton’s life.

There were also the Hunnies, who offered additional commentary, on Morton’s life adventures.

From the beginning of his life Morton showed musical promise, all of which conflicted with his Creole family background in New Orleans, but allowed him to be recognized in a higher social stratum – a social status he denied and rebelled against during most of his life. His rebellion was to pursue his passion for music ultimately reinventing himself as a prominent composer and jazz musician which resulted in his family rejecting him. Through his life – his ups and downs were put under a magnifying glass – and he eventually ended his life from a knife wound he suffered from in an altercation in Los Angeles.

The story is a tale of a man’s hubris, denying his lineage, and leaving behind baggage, as he deceived his family, deceived his friends, and his professional colleagues – and in doing so he was the typical anti-hero. But that is the journey beautifully painted by George C. Wolfe in Jelly Last’s Jam, and in Robert O’Hara’s conceptual and meticulous direction.

The most important element in Jelly’s Last Jam is that much of the story-telling is interpreted through dance – tap dancing in particular – and the heavily and pointed dramatic scenes. In its original Broadway production, Gregory Hines, not only starred as Morton but also collaborated with Ted Levy on the choreography. So as in this production the choreography is by noted tap choreographer Dormeshia, and Edgar Godineaux. It is definitely dance, and the joyous dancing in particular, that sparks this production of Jelly’s Last Jam.

Portraying the people in Morton’s life – and Morton himself – was a stellar cast including Nicholas Carpenter in the title role, John Clay III as Jack the Bear, Joaquina Kalukango as Anita, Tiffany Mann as Miss Mamie, Billy Porter as the aforementioned The Chimney Man, Okieriete Onaodowan as Buddy Bolden, Alaman Diadhou as Young Jelly, and Leslie Uggams as Gran Mimi, Morton’s grandmother. Playing the Hunnies were the original Broadway cast members, Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, Stephanie Pope Lofgren, and Allison M. Williams.

Carpenter distinguished himself, as the man you prefer to despise rather than sympathize with, but rose to the occasion in his interpretations of Morton’s music with Birkenhead’s lyrics, most notably with Alaman Diadhiou as the Young Jelly in “The World’s Waitin’ To Sing Your Song,” and on his own in “That’s How You Jazz,” “Dr. Jazz,” and with Joaquina Kalukango as Anita in “The Last Chance Blues.” Also highlights were Tiffany Mann as Miss Mamie in her duet with Okieriete Onaodowan as Buddy in “Michigan Water,” and the legendary Leslie Uggams as Gran Mimi, in her dramatic, and contentious condemnation of Jelly Roll Morton in “The Banishment.”

Overall this was a dynamite and energized ensemble performance of a musical telling the story of an important musical pioneer in American history, as poignantly and empathetically written by George C. Wolfe – and is compelling, and entertaining at the same time.

This production of Jelly’s Last Jame is yet another presentation that City Center Encores can be very proud of.

Twyla Tharp Dance

Joyce Theater

February 13, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Returning to the Joyce Theater from February 13 through 25, 2024, Twyla Tharp Dance is performing a program of Tharp’s vision of dance which is representative of her choreographic past, and also her present thoughts of where the art of dance is headed. As had been the custom in past presentations of Twyla Tharp Dance, Tharp has recruited a group of dancers to create on, and for this program, she has also restaged one of her works from the past for this engagement.

From the past Tharp was represented by Ocean’s Motion which Tharp created in 1975, and is choreographed to music by Chuck Berry, one of the pioneers of American Rock n’ Roll music.

A work that followed up Tharp’s Deuce Coupe, Ocean’s Motion is another choreographic foray into the music of the 1950’s and the 1960’s – the era of James Dean – and typical gum-chewing teenagers of the era – and the Broadway musical, Grease – all on edge with teenage bravado.

Ocean’s Motion is framed by “Almost Grown” with Berry classics, “Deep Feeling,” “School Days,” “Nadine,” “Too Pooped To Pop,” and “Havana Moon” sandwiched in between. Tharp’s idiosyncratic choreography – in particular for “Havana Moon” – explores the rhythmic patterns set forth in Berry’s music and danced with confidence and grit – as if on a fast-moving train that one cannot afford to jump from.

Reed Tankersley and Daisy Jacobson give stand out performances in Ocean’s Motion – performances which are fused with showmanship.

The first of Tharp’s creations on this program was a solo, Brel, choreographed to five songs by the Belgian singer/composer, Jacques Brel – including “Quand On N’A Que L’Amour,” “Ne me quite pas,” “Amsterdam,” “Les Marquises,” and “Marieka.” Tharp employs Brel’s own live recordings of these songs which capture Brel’s passion and emotion. These are songs of love, unrequited love, regret, and irony.

Danced by Herman Cornejo, who is an ideal interpreter of Tharp’s choreographic ideas, Cornejo lends his range of showmanship, and intimate communication with an audience.

Closing the program was the ensemble piece, The Ballet Master, which was choreographed to Simeon ten Holt’s BI BA BO, and Vivaldi’s Per la Solennita di S. Lorenzo RV 562 in D Major. The first of the musical pieces is the soundscape for the first section of the piece – and the second, inspired by Vivaldi’s music, is when the hit and miss ideas come into play.

Balletmaster/choreographer (John Selya) is in the studio trying to find inspiration, and getting the best from the dancers no matter how frustrating that quest might be. Two male dancers repeat a competitive duet – and there are ghost-like appearances by Cassandra Trenary as a vision of Dulcinea – enforcing the Don Quixote theme of The Ballet Master.

The first section of The Ballet Master employs ten Holt’s score of vocal music which imitate the sounds coming out of a pinball machine. Those insistent sounds are used to emphasize and underscore the movements of limbs, hands, and heads – and facial expressions.

After seeing the visions of Dulcinea, Selya dons Don Quixote’s armor and Daniel Ulbricht dons a costume transforming himself into Don Quixote’s comical companion, Sancho Panza, and the changing back forth between these characters and the roles established in the first section of The Ballet Master continue through most of the second section of The Ballet Master. The random elements in the choreography illustrated the ultimate vision and themes of this dance piece.

To improve its impact The Ballet Master needed a bit more focus to comprehend.

But once again in this performance of Twyla Tharp Dance is the expression of the imagination of a unique choreographer – and that is Twyla Tharp.

City Center Encores – Once Upon A Mattress

City Center

January 28, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

The City Center Encores has opened its 2024 season with a blockbuster musical comedy, Once Upon A Mattress, which is being performed from January 24-February 4, 2024. So there is time to see it but don’t wait!

Once Upon Mattress opened off-Broadway in 1959 and transferred to Broadway that same year with the comedienne Carol Burnett as the star, who was making her Broadway debut.  With music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer, and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller and Marshall Barer, Once Upon A Mattress was guided by the hand of the legendary theater director George Abbott with choreography by Joe Layton. And there is the charm that Once Upon A Mattress is based on the 1835 Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea.

It may seem that Once Upon A Mattress has not disappeared from view as there were three television versions, and there was a Broadway revival in 1996 which starred Sarah Jessica Parker. And it is has also gained popularity in productions by community theaters and school performances.

In this clever concert adaptation by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Princess Winifred, the Woebegone, is back performed with aplomb, and perfect comic timing by Sutton Foster, supported by a brilliant cast.

We find ourselves in a fictional medieval kingdom to be informed by the kingdom’s inhabitants that there is “An Opening For A Princess.” An endless series of princesses have failed in seeking the hand of Prince Dauntless (played by Michael Urie) in marriage – his mother, Queen Aggravain (played by Harriet Harris) has made that almost impossible as she conjures tests for the Prince’s prospective brides to make sure that they are set up for failure — none of them would succeed.

However Sir Harry (played by Cheyenne Jackson) and Lady Larken (played by Nikki Renee Daniels) are anxious to have Prince Dauntless settled with a wife as they want to get married themselves, and for that and other reasons, the clock is ticking for them. Sir Harry feels so strongly about securing Prince Dauntless’ future that he offers his services to seek out yet another princess in the hope that she will have the ingenuity to succeed in passing the Queen’s most difficult test.

Sir Harry returns with a princess in hand, and after so many failures, the arrival of Princess Winnifred may be the blessing they have been waiting for. Afterall she swam the moat of the castle to arrive in time. But will she pass the Queen’s test, and with the help of a few friends in the kingdom, perhaps the Queen’s scheme may be unsuccessful this time.

That is the journey and fun of this comedic musical which is enhanced by this musical’s tuneful score – in particular “Shy,” “Sensitivity,” “In Little While,” “Happily Ever After,” and so many others which are not only memorable but provide the springboards for each character to be established.

The majesty and acuity of Mary Rodger’s music is evident when being played superbly by a 26-member orchestra under the expert guidance of Mary-Mitchell Campbell.

Director Lear deBessonet, who directed City Center Encores’ production of Into The Woods, has approached Once Upon A Mattress in a similar manner highlighting the comedy and wit in the score and the book, and also giving the superlative cast a free rein to play in this musical sandbox.

Besides Sutton Foster, who makes it clear why she is the versatile Broadway musical star that she is, there were the outstanding performances by Harriet Harris as Queen Aggravain, who chews the scenery but makes every joke and punchline land with the greatest of comic timing, Michael Urie as Prince Dauntless, Nikki Renee Daniels as Lady Larken, Cheyenne Jackson as Sir Harry, J. Harrison Ghee as the Jester, Frances Jue as the Wizard, and the meek, but roaringly funny performance of David Patrick Kelly as King Sextimus the Silent. Each of these wonderful actors had their moment to shine – and yes, they did.

City Center Encores’ production of Once Upon A Mattress is very welcome, and a magically entertaining theatre experience for all ages.

Days of Wine and Roses

Studio 54

January 26, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

Adapted from JP Miller’s teleplay and 1962 film, a stage musical version of Days of Wine and Roses has made its Broadway debut at Studio 54 after an off-Broadway engagement last season.

The creative team, Adam Guettel, who composed the score and wrote the lyrics, and Craig Lucas, who wrote the book, is the same team that had a great success with The Light In The Piazza. In Days of Wine and Roses, Guettel and Lucas have tackled serious subject matter telling a story that is a tragedy with a modest glimmer of hope.

Days of Wine and Roses chronicles the unstable relationship of Kirsten Arnesen (played by Kelli O’Hara) and Joe Clay (played by Brian d’Arcy James) who have a chance meeting that evolves into a whirlwind romance and ultimate marriage – while at the same time their lives are descending into alcohol addiction – and they enable each other in that addiction.

The story takes place in New York in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s reflecting that era’s social morays. Kirsten and Joe have their first meeting on a yacht cruising the East River. It is Joe, an ambitious public relations executive, who is the predator and enabler who persuades Kirsten, a secretary to Joe’s boss, to indulge in his own alcohol addiction. Revealed is Joe’s back story of losing his parents in a train wreck, and Kirsten losing her mother at an early age – and both describing themselves as orphans.

It is Kirsten’s behavior which changes the most under the influence of alcohol – leaving her child behind, and involving herself in extra marital affairs. While Joe finds his sobriety with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and eventually assumes the responsibility of raising their daughter Lila — Kirsten’s life continues to spiral downward.

The question is whether Guettel makes the story sing and does music enhance the story told in Days of Wine and Roses. Guettel’s score is influenced by the music of the time period in which the story of this musical takes place – classical music influences as well as that of the vernacular music of the time – and there are moments of emotions bursting into song — but most of the score is in short musical monologues or dialogues. The music is sophisticated, evocative, operatic and intense.

Director Michael Greif has expertly guided the story in this musical theatre format revealing the characters within the parameters of Guettel’s music and words, and Lucas’ dialogue.

One cannot fault the performances of Kelli O’Hara and Brian d’Arcy James who give powerful dramatic and vivid interpretations of these beleaguered characters whose lives are dulled by an addiction to alcohol – and are spiraling into self-destruction. These two consummate musical theatre stars are stretched to the limits in this compelling piece of heightened musical and theatrical expression which is most evident in O’Hara’s rendition of “There Go I,” and in d’Arcy James moving interpretation of “Forgiveness.”

Also Tabitha Lawing as Lila, and Byron Jennings as Kirsten’s father give notable and empathetic performances – characters who are caught up in the family’s collateral damage.

Down to the basics, Days of Wine and Roses is a love story although one that is tragic in its nature. But proves to be an unforgettable and moving musical theatre experience.

Dutch National Ballet – Giselle

January 2, 2024

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2024

American audiences will be in for a very pleasant and special surprise because cinema screenings of dance performances are coming back after a long wait that was vexing at best, and caused by the Covid lockdowns. One can now return to cinemas to view dance performances, and on January 21 and 24, 2024, Iconic Events will be presenting cinema screenings of the Dutch National Ballet’s Giselle in the United States.

The Dutch National Ballet, based in Amsterdam, has been directed by Ted Brandsen since 2003, and the company has been recognized for performing a diverse mix of ballet and contemporary dance pieces — but is also noted for its productions of full-length ballets.

The Dutch National Ballet’s production of Giselle was conceived by Rachel Beaujean and Ricardo Bustamante with inspiration from Marius Petipa, Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, and was premiered in 2009. Also this production of Giselle is danced to the music by Adolphe Adam that was originally composed for this classic 19^th century ballet.

The Dutch National Ballet’s production follows the blueprint of most productions of Giselle which is the story about a young villager, Giselle, who falls in love with a fellow villager, Loys, who ultimately is revealed to be Count Albrecht — and is affianced to Bathilde, the Duke of Courland’s daughter. This deception is revealed by Albrecht’s rival, Hilarion, a gamekeeper in the village, and the revelation of Albrecht’s deceit ultimately results in Giselle’s sudden death from a broken heart.

It is in the second act of Giselle, when Albrecht is paying his respects at Giselle’s grave, that Giselle appears to him in spirit form, and saves his life from the predators, Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis, and her entourage of Wilis. The story then ventures into the idealistic world of remorse and redemption.

Most of the dancing in Act I of Giselle is limited to a few ensemble dances, and in this production of Giselle, instead of the Peasant Pas de Deux is a Pas de Quatre. A great deal of exposition and story-telling mime becomes the focus of Act I. However pure dance is the centerpiece of Act II of Giselle.

For this cinema screening the principal cast for this production of Giselle is headed by Olga Smirnova (as Giselle), and Jacopo Tissi (as Albrecht) who had been dancing with the Bolshoi Ballet until they chose to seek out artistic opportunities outside of Russia upon the initiation of the Ukraine War.

Smirnova’s Giselle is innocent and passionate in Act I, and is an out of this world spirit in Act II expressing the ultimate style of Romantic ballet in her dancing and acting. Tissi is elegant in his dancing and in his interpretation of the role of Albrecht, and offered heartfelt empathy – and ultimately accepted Giselle’s forgiveness – and his own redemption. Their partnership was exemplary.

Also notable was Floor Eimers’ commanding performance as Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis, and the humanity of Giorgi Potskhishvili’s Hilarion.

Yuanyuan Zhang, Naira Agvanean, Edo Wijnen and Sho Yamada danced with precise and technical command in the Act I Pas de Quatre.

The Dutch National Ballet’s production of Giselle offers a village of young and old, with Toer van Schayk providing naturalistic scenic designs.

This is a traditional production of Giselle that is beautifully staged, conceived, designed, and danced.  This cinema screening offers a great opportunity to see a production of Giselle without any distracting interpretation – also poignant — and is danced with faithfulness, and style.

These cinema screenings of the Dutch National Ballet’s Giselle will give Americans opportunities to see one of Europe’s best ballet companies – a company that rarely performs in the United States.

New Jersey Ballet – The Nutcracker

Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown, New Jersey

December 21, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Fewer and fewer ballet companies around the world are presenting livestreams of their performances, and those that still do must be commended for doing so. The New Jersey Ballet has continued its policy of presenting an annual livestream performance of its production of The Nutcracker, and did so on December 21, 2023, from its primary performing venue, the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, New Jersey.

The New Jersey Ballet has been performing The Nutcracker since 1971 and its present production includes choreographic contributions by Joseph Carow, George Tomal, and David Tamaki, and it is being performed with musical accompaniment by the New Jersey Symphony.

The New Jersey Ballet has protected the heritage of The Nutcracker telling the traditional story as adapted from E.T.A Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker and The Mouse King in which there is an elegant Christmas Eve Party at the home of the Stahlbaum Family. Guests include many mischievous children. This gathering is enhanced by the presence of Herr Drosselmeyer who regales the children and their parents with magic tricks and gifts, and introduces his nephew to the Stahlbaum’s daughter Clara.

One of the gifts bestowed is that of a Nutcracker to Clara which sets in motion Clara’s dream of being saved by her Nutcracker Prince from the Mouse King and his Mouse Army, and then on to the Kingdom of the Snow King and the Snow Queen on the way to the celebrations in the Kingdom of Sweets which is reigned over by the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Divertissements include national dances and the Waltz of the Flowers, and the ballet culminates with the performance of the Act II Grand Pas de Deux danced by the Sugar Plum Fairy and Her Cavalier. At this performance the Cavalier was elegantly danced by Carlos Gonzalez of American Ballet Theatre.

At the conclusion of the festivities Clara makes her way home – on her own – leaving behind the celebrants who inhabit this special kingdom.

The New Jersey Ballet presents a production of The Nutcracker that is danced exuberantly – all the while maintaining a balance between story-telling and presenting how should 19^th century classics be danced. It is all part of a magical holiday evening.

Marymount Manhattan College

Presents Fall Repertoire

Theresa Lang Theatre

December 14, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

At this time of year the dance community tends to focus on performances of The Nutcracker but in a parallel universe many college and university dance departments are also presenting term-ending dance concerts which not only show off its students but also the work of choreographers.

Marymount Manhattan College is presenting its term-ending dance concert, Fall Repertoire, at the Theresa Lang Theatre on December 14, 15 & 16, 2023 in a program of dance that emphasizes a diversity of dance choreography, and a showcase for its dance students to show their stuff, and what they learned during the past term.

This dance concert featured the work of four choreographers who have been working with the students during the past school term. Their new dance pieces were created in an ensemble format, and showing off the students’ dance skills.

Ginger Thatcher, in Jamming with Voodoo Daddy, exhibited her skills in Broadway and theatrical choreography presenting an excellent match of a divergence of styles in Broadway dancing, and a keen connection with the music – it was a bright and energetic piece taking advantage of the music to the utmost, and was a driving force in the performances of the ensemble members.

In contrast Jamal White’s People In Your Neighborhood, presented a cast of characters you might know in your neighborhood with rough and tumble physical comedy which showed off the individual cast members. Depicted were what you might experience during a typical day – with the scenery elements of boxes and laundry in different colors as an urban landscape. The style was post-modern and organic at the same time, and the piece ended with a camera-ready tableau.

Sekou McMiller’s Flight Back Home, brought the audience back to theatrical dancing with particular choreographic and musical emphasis on Latin rhythms. This was another high energy piece which reflected the personalities of the student dancers whether in solos, duets, or ensemble sections of the piece.

Concluding the concert was Chanel DaSilva’s Borders which also employed a post-modern style in the choreography that had an emotional urgency, and depicted people trapped in a frightening moment.

All of the dance students were exuberant in their performances and reflected what they learned from working with these very individual choreographers – and also had the opportunity to dance in pieces with sophisticated choreography attuned to their strengths.

Lincoln Center Theater – The Gardens of Anuncia

Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater

November 29, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

The Lincoln Center Theater is currently presenting a new musical, The Gardens of Anuncia, which is being enthusiastically and artfully performed in the Mitzi E. Newhouse. A musical with book, lyrics and music by Michael John LaChiusa, and directed and co-choreographed by Graciela Daniele – an artistic combination that has previously collaborated on four other musicals in the past. Also an integral part of the artistic team is co-choreographer Alex Sanchez.

Based on Daniele’s life living in Argentina in the 1940’s at the time of Juan Peron’s regime, The Gardens of Anuncia looks back on Anuncia’s early life – her memories of the three extraordinary women who raised her. Those memories include the darker realities of living in Peron’s Argentina which were balanced out with the eccentricities of these three significant women in her life.

We find the older Anuncia (played by Priscilla Lopez) on the day she is to receive a lifetime achievement award for her contributions to the worlds of dance and the theatre. However her interest is more focused on talking to the tomato plants, and a deer or two that wander into the garden of her country house. She looks back and contemplates the memories of her youth and admits that she has the ability to change her memories. However, and most importantly, Anuncia acknowledges the strong-willed women in her life who supported her passion to be an artist.

This intimate story is presented in the intimate setting of the Mitzi E. Newhouse with Anuncia looking back on her early life with her mother, Mami (played by Eden Espinosa) who works in the Governor’s Office by day and enjoys dancing the tango in Buenos Aires’ dance halls by night, her Aunt Tia (played by Andrea Burns), and her Granmama (played by Mary Testa) who has an on-and-off relationship with her husband (played by Enrique Acevedo) – all of the women defying convention and who were mistreated by men – yet survived – and supported Anuncia’s ambitions in dance and the theatre during the politically turbulent years in Argentina under the regime of Peron.

The Peron regime has the most impact on Anuncia’s life when her mother is arrested and imprisoned, and after Anuncia has achieved some status in the dance world in Argentina, Anuncia’s mother encourages her daughter to leave Argentina to pursue her ambitions but also to leave for her safety. Yet with all of these challenges – there was the magic reality of optimism.

The older Anuncia admits that as a dancer she depended on watching herself in the mirror, and when she turned to choreography she was able to tear herself from the mirror and had a greater sense of reality.

Throughout The Gardens of Anuncia, Anuncia’s revelations and memories are seen through both the eyes of the older Anuncia, and also the younger Anuncia (played by Kalyn West). But it is the older Anuncia who grapples with the challenge of letting go, and risk being the only one left among her family members.

And then there is the random Reindeer (played by Tally Sessions) who visits the older Anuncia’s garden and provides the sage advice of dancing while you can with those thoughts musically expressed by LaChiusa in “Listen To The Music”, “Dance While You Can”, and Anuncia’s grandfather’s advice to experience the world in “Travel”.

LaChiusa’s music reflects the time and place that the story is presented in strongly influenced by Latin rhythms, and elements of folk music. LaChiusa provides each of these women an “aria” of their own to express their thoughts about life and how they are supporting Anuncia’s ambitions – or not. The music also relates to their own personal thoughts and emotions – in particular Eden Espinosa as Mami in her performance of “Malaguena.”

In The Gardens of Anuncia, Anuncia’s story is told by a superlative cast of musical theatre actresses and actors – all of whom are scene stealers. And this story about a unique family is worth telling, and is celebratory. In spite of the disappointments, the challenges, and how fate intervenes, The Gardens of Anuncia imparts a story of optimism.

Classic Stage Company – I Can Get It For You Wholesale

Classic Stage Company

November 22, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

The Classic Stage Company has chosen as its mission to present and produce classic plays and classic musicals, and from October 10 through December 17, 2023, the Classic Stage Company is presenting a revival of I Can Get It For You Wholesale, a musical which had premiered on Broadway in 1962. It was a mixed success at the time, and has only been revived off-Broadway in 1991, and was presented as part of the York Theatre Company’s Musicals in Mufti series in 2005.

I Can Get It For You Wholesale is probably best known as being the vehicle that propelled Barbra Streisand to stardom playing the supporting role of Miss Marmelstein, and earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical.

With a score by Harold Rome, and a book by Jerome Weidman based on his own novel — with revisions by John Weidman — one can revisit this musical which sets its story in the midst of the Great Depression in 1937 telling a story about greed and corruption in New York City’s Garment District.

In this revised version, there are plot points that are incorporated from Weidman’s novel including the theatrical device of the lead character, Harry Bogen, relating his story to the audience, and often breaking the fourth wall to plead his case.

I Can Get It For You Wholesale opens with Young Harry (played by Victor de Paula Rocha) returning home to his mother after experiencing bullying and antisemitism which sets the stage for Harry Bogen’s future life as an older Harry (played by Santino Fontana) scheming to quickly climb the ladder of success while betraying family, friends and associates.

Harry Bogen is a shipping clerk for a dress manufacturer which is located in New York City’s Garment District, and has the gift of gab and the ability to sell people a bill of goods. Daily he is conflicted by the choice of the comfort of his family and his community – and his own ambitious dreams. He is willing to do anything or whatever it takes to get ahead without much of a moral compass – and this Bronx-born hero has rationalized to do just that making it possible for him to stay ahead of getting ahead.

Harry sets up a scheme to get around a shipping clerk strike which is having a negative impact on his employer’s business. Harry then moves on to establishing his own dress house, Apex Mode. In the process of developing that business Harry makes the choice of fulfilling his ambitions and embezzles company funds, betrays his friends and his partners. Harry leaves his girlfriend Ruthie Rivkin (played by Rebecca Naomi Jones) to take up with Martha Mills (played by Joy Woods) who is interested in diamonds and money more than anything else.

Harry is repugnant – and in more ways than one. He loses the support of his newly-acquired business associates and friends when he is revealed as a swindler. Harry’s partners become suspicious with his over-spending – which culminates in fraud and bankruptcy. Harry prefers to respond to “The Sound of Money” which he sings about enthusiastically. Yet his mother (played by Judy Kuhn) and Ruthie stand by him. But it is a surprise ending that emerges with the late appearance of an ally from the past.  But what is unexpected is that you get a musical comedy with lots of humor but also a dark side.

Bringing Weidman’s story to life is a superb cast of musical theatre actors. Fontana gives Harry some credibility as a sympathetic failure while Judy Kuhn and Naomi Rebecca Naomi Jones draw their characters clearly as the long-suffering and supportive people in Harry’s life.

Also not unexpected Julia Lester stops the show playing and singing Miss Marmelstein – and doing the same in the song that aptly encapsulates the theme of this musical, “What Are They Doing To Us Now?.”

Director Trip Cullman has guided this cast well and brings out the most in regard to what Weidman’s story and Rome’s score have to offer.

I Can Get It For You Wholesale is not the happy Broadway musical that might be typical of its era. But seems a bit ahead of it time in tackling a subject matter that is of the serious variety with more conflict and emotional depth – the kind of musical that is now more commonplace.

The Classic Stage Company’s production of I Can Get It For You Wholesale is presented gloriously by a company of empathetic story-tellers who live inside the characters they are portraying. This kind of musical theatre is a rarity that should be seen for yourself.

Mind Mangler: A Night of Tragic Illusion

New World Stages

November 16, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

The sound of roaring laughter is the noise you will hear at New World Stages during the performances of Mind Mangler: A Night of Tragic Illusion – a comedy magic show inspired by Penn and Teller, and a spin-off from the Mischief franchise.

Mischief makers have brought another hilariously funny theatrical experience to New York written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields – enhanced by Hannah Sharkey’s split-second direction — which is being performed by the original company members Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer.

The source of Mind Mangler is based on a character originally created in Magic Goes Wrong by Penn Jillette, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields and Teller. With that character being larger than life yet at the same time in desperate need of an audience’s full attention.

The audience joins the “Mind Mangler”, a mind reader and magician, played by Henry Lewis, who is re-imagining his career leaping from mere aspirations to a show business superstar. Mind Mangler botches tricks but does so with elan – and then when they work he surprises himself as well as the audience.

He is also down on his luck, and has been side-swiped in a divorce.  And in his mind-reading efforts he is employing self-therapy to get through his professional and personal problems. The Mind Mangler carries a great deal of emotional baggage.

The Mind Mangler displays his “special senses” as he executes mind-reading tricks of the trade – some successful and others not so successful – illusion and slight of hand which becomes unpredictable with the added surprise element of audience participation. In fact the show is shaped by the audience members who are recruited to participate in this magic show.

The Mind Mangler’s willing but hapless assistant, and enthusiastic audience plant, Steve (played by Jonathan Sayer) is a participant and observer — and victim — in the Mind Mangler’s repertoire of magic tricks. He is also a purveyor of the expected and unexpected looniness.

It is working without a net – executed with Noel Coward’s sophistication and Monty Phython’s wit and satire – and a bit of physical comedy as well. And all descends into craziness and chaos as Mind Mangler attempts his magic tricks – particularly those tricks when Mind Mangler is trying to read your mind.

In short, Mind Mangler: A Night of Tragic Illusion is the antidote for taking ourselves too seriously.

Once you give yourself permission to laugh you won’t stop – and it is the fun innate in Mind Wrangler to witness Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer as masters of improvisation and comic timing.

Harmony

Ethel Barrymore Theatre

November 14, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

It has been a long journey but the Barry Manilow/Bruce Sussman musical, Harmony, has finally made it to Broadway this season having opened on November 13, 2023 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. It is a musical written and fashioned in the traditional structure of a Broadway musical of the Golden Age, but it also tells a story that is gripping, and has a message that is appropriate for the times we are living in. Most importantly it is a welcome addition to this Broadway season.

Manilow and Sussman were inspired to write this musical after seeing a documentary about The Comedian Harmonists, a singing group that was formed in Germany, whose members performed between the years of 1928 and 1935. This six-man group sung folk songs and classical songs, and became sensations in Europe. The group sold millions of records, starred in films, and reached the zenith of their success in the years after World War I, and through the era that Hitler’s regime came to power in Germany. The Comedian Harmonists even performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1933. As quickly as they achieved their fame, they lost it.

The Comedian Harmonists encountered problems with the Nazi regime as some of the group’s members were Jewish or of Jewish descent – and one was married to a Jewish woman. As Hitler broadened his power music by Jewish composers was banned – and ultimately the banning of Jews in all walks of life in Germany — which prevented the Comedian Harmonists from performing in public, and freezing their financial assets.

Harmony tells the story of the beginnings of this unique collaboration of singers, its road to success, the group’s struggles as performance opportunities in Germany were forbidden – and in the end the group breaking up to seek refuge outside of Germany – and ultimately their existence and successes being forgotten.

The story is told in flashbacks from the point of view of one of the Comedian Harmonists members, Rabbi (played by Chip Zien as his older self) who expresses his regrets about his decisions, and those made by group members, their chilling and bittersweet experiences – and particularly regretting that he was the only one of the Comedian Harmonists who had survived to tell their story.

In the course of their rise to fame, the Comedian Harmonists earned the esteem of such luminaries as Marlene Dietrich, Josephine Baker, Richard Strauss, and even Albert Einstein.

Act I of Harmony describes that rise to fame with their beginnings in Berlin in 1927, and Act II of Harmony tells the tale of the chaos that the Comedian Harmonists lived through in Europe to the time when the Comedian Harmonists had no choice but to disband, and go their separate ways.

Bruce Sussman’s book tells this remarkable and poignant story with compelling emotion amidst the landscape of the political and social changes occurring in Germany between World War I and World War II. He also provided the lyrics to Barry Manilow’s equally poignant music in the title song, “Every Single Day,” “Where You Go” – a moving duet sung by Mary (played by Sierra Boggess) and Ruth (played by Julie Benko), and the comic/novelty number, “How Can I Serve You, Madame?.”

Warren Carlyle, as director/choreographer, fueled the engine and provided the energy in Harmony, and also intuitively knew when the audience needed a moment to come to terms with how talented the Comedian Harmonists were, and also how much they had been victimized because of circumstances beyond their control.

Chip Zien gives a tour de force performance as Rabbi revealing his talents as an actor and singer, and a compelling story-teller.

In fact Harmony’s great gift is the cast that brings this story to life — particularly the Comedian Harmonists, Sean Bell as basso Bobby, Danny Kornfeld as Young Rabbi, Zal Owen as Harry (the founder of the group), Eric Peters as Erich (a wealthy medical student), Blake Roman as Chopin (who played piano in a brothel), and Steven Telsey as Lesh (a Bulgarian tenor).

Also contributing their huge talents were Sierra Boggess as Mary — Rabbi’s girlfriend – and Julie Benko as Ruth, Chopin’s love interest, who was a political agitator and activist.

Harmony is a backstage musical but it is painted in a unique manner because of how the political events in one country impacted people all over the world, and allows audiences to remember the forgotten The Comedian Harmonists whose story needed to be told. It is an enthralling and powerful musical that will move you, and entertain you at the same time.

MasterVoices – The Frogs

Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center

November 4, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

In his tenth season as MasterVoices’ artistic director, Ted Sperling made an auspicious start to his anniversary season with a concert version of Stephen Sondheim’s The Frogs at the Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center on November 3 & 4, 2023.

This musical was inspired by the Aristophanes play of the same name, premiering in 405 B.C., which in this concert production has been freely adapted by Burt Shevelove – and even more freely adapted by Nathan Lane – with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. And Lane came up even more prepared and off-the-cuff revisions for this concert adaptation which encapsulated the creative team’s wit, musicality, and on the mark – and most astute – observations of our time.

Ted Sperling also contributed as conductor and director of this concert staging of The Frogs.

The Frogs was originally presented in 1974, and performed by the students of the Yale School of Drama (including among its cast members, Christopher Durang, Meryl Streep, and Sigourney Weaver), and more recently the Lincoln Center Theater presented The Frogs in 2004.

Nathan Lane was the witty and acerbic Host for this concert staging as he distilled Sondheim’s The Frogs into 100 minutes of hilarity.

The premise of The Frogs is that Dionysos (played by Douglas Sills) is mourning the passing of his wife Ariadne, and observes that the world is at war and civilization is on the brink. He feels compelled to save the world – that is his quest. He journeys to the underworld of Hades (here described as Club Dead) with his servant Xanthias (played by Kevin Chamberlin) to find the world’s best playwright, George Bernard Shaw, and bring him back to life and to Earth – and it is through this quest they encounter writers, gods, and mythical characters.

Among the authors are George Bernard Shaw (played by Dylan Baker), and William Shakespeare (played by Jordan Donica), and the mythical characters are Pluto (played by Peter Bartlett), Charon the boatmen (played by Chuck Cooper), Herakles (played by Mark Kudisch), and Ariadne (played by Candice Corbin).

The familiar was Dionysus and Xanthias proclaiming the “Invocation and Instructions to the Audience,” and then on to Hades in word and song. Among the characters met along the way is Dionysus’ half-brother, Heralkes, who coaches Dionysus in the ways of Hades, and to give Dionysus the coping skills to conquer his fear of the notorious frogs – portrayed by dancers in geometric choreography by Lainie Sakakura – and then arriving in Hades to meet Pluto, the acerbic and caustic, host of Hades, who tries to influence Dionysus in his choice of playwright to take back with him to Earth. In fact Dionysus changes his mind about wanting to take Shaw back to Earth, and instead chooses Shakespeare in spite of Pluto’s proposed trade of throwing in Ibsen along with Shaw.

In Dionysus’ oration in the “Final Instructions” the world will hopefully be better by virtue of Dionysus’ final choice.

Supporting the stellar cast in this endeavor was the superlative MasterVoices Chorus and Orchestra which helped communicate the satirical social and political commentary in The Frogs.

I am bereft of vocabulary in describing what fun this concert version of The Frogs was – as well as its important message which was communicated with levity.

Pal Joey

City Center

November 4, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

It may seem that John O’Hara’s book, Pal Joey, and the story about Pal Joey that was told in his book – which had its genesis in fiction pieces that O’Hara wrote in the New Yorker and was published in 1939 — is a story that is not common knowledge. But actually the story was adapted into a stage musical on Broadway in 1940 with a book by O’Hara himself, and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart writing one of their most memorable scores. Gene Kelly became a star portraying the role of Joey Evans in that original Broadway production. However there seemed to be a problem about getting it right.

Pal Joey is the story of nightclub singer Joey Evans who had a questionable past and used his charm to get his way. He epitomized an anti-hero with his affairs, his cynicism, and always trying to find a scheme to make a buck.

There have been Broadway revivals in 1952 and in 1976, a City Center revival in 1963, a City Center Encores concert version in 1995, and a Roundabout Theatre Company revival in 2008 – the latter revival had been guided by a brand-new book adaptation. So the musical and the story seems to have been around – lurking.

For its City Center Gala Presentation from November 1-5, 2023, Pal Joey has been refashioned into yet another version with a new updated book by Richard LaGravenese and Daniel “Koa” Beaty.

The tale of Joey Evans, a small-time nightclub entertainer, has now been refocused. Joey Evans is not only a jazz singer but also a struggling black artist. There is a new character, Lucille, a club owner (played by Loretta Devine), and Joey’s love interest Linda (played by Aisha Jackson) has a relationship with Joey that is now more equalized. The story has been transported to Chicago’s jazz club district in the 1940’s, and the score not only includes Rodgers & Hart chestnuts (8 songs from the original score) but also 15 songs from other of Rodgers & Hart’s musicals including “Where or when”, “My Funny Valentine”, “This Can’t Be Love”, “The Lady is a Tramp”, and many others.

The narrative tool evolves from letters that Joey Evans has written – and from the very beginning of this new version of Pal Joey, Evans states his case that he has been a victim – including his most recent business relationship with a co-band leader – and attempts to audition his way into the Chicago club circuit without success. However along the way he meets an assortment of strange and predatory characters, wins the support of Lucille, who operates a club, romances a singer, and he has his expected affair with Vera Simpson, a married, older and rich woman – and in this instance a white woman – which adds another layer of intrigue in this version of Pal Joey.

The familiar and additional Rogers & Hart songs are inserted or used as fillers in this version of Pal Joey but rarely move the narrative forward – and the musical style that the songs are presented in is a bit jarring, and take directions of their own. It is a structure that is similar to a nightclub act with what seems to be a story-line taking place in the background rather than in the forefront.

Joey Evans seems to be portrayed as a victim, or selling out – and Vera is just as questionable in her own motives as Joey is in her morality, and as a grifter. Joey does find his pride in the end, and acts on it, but it doesn’t really seem like a fitting conclusion after all of the story-telling that has preceded it.

Also in this version of Pal Joey, co-directed by Savion Glover and Tony Goldwyn, is an expanded atmosphere of the plot and its twists and turns in dance – with choreography by Glover. Invented for this production of Pal Joey was the addition of the Griots – a dancing ensemble which appears and disappears like ghosts – which represents both a Greek chorus and the ancestors of the past who brought black culture to the masses.

What was notable about this production of Pal Joey were the performances by the actors in the principal and supporting roles.

Ephraim Sykes as Joey Evans is an amazing triple threat as a dancer, singer, and actor, and Elizabeth Stanley brings the proper socialite veneer and complexity in playing Vera Simpson. The character of Linda English doesn’t have much dimension in this version of Pal Joey, but Aisha Jackson brings charm and her excellent vocal abilities to the role. And Brooks Ashmanskas as Melvin Snyder, the society columnist, brought comedy and humor to a surprising turn in his interpretation of the show-stopping number, “Zip.”

As for Loretta Devine, one can only describe her performance as Lucille as divine. Devine brought out Lucille’s street smarts, but also a bit of the romantic within her – and she is a wonderful interpretative songstress. It was great to see her back on a New York stage again.

The creators of this new version of Pal Joey deserve some credit for trying to interpret O’Hara’s story of Joey Evans for a modern audience as perhaps Broadway was not ready for the type of anti-hero that was portrayed in the original Broadway production in 1940. Perhaps the timing is still not right.

The Great Gatsby

Paper Mill Playhouse

October 28, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

The Paper Mill Playhouse, in Milburn, New Jersey, has opened its 2023-2024 season with a new musical – a stage musical version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, The Great Gatsby, which is being presented from October 12 thru November 12, 2023.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, his third novel, was published in 1925, and was set in the Jazz Age in New York City. The novel tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire with his wealth derived from dubious business deals, and him being described as a bootlegger, and gangster, who decided to pursue Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy and elusive married woman Gatsby had loved in his youth. The story is told from the point-of-view of an onlooker and Gatsby friend, Nick Carraway – a story that explores themes of decadence, excess, jealousy and murder as well as defining what the American Dream is or if it actually exists – and has been described as the Great American Novel.

The Great Gatsby has been the inspiration for stage plays, films, an opera, and the first ballet version which Andre Prokovsky choreographed for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 1987. Now on the Paper Mill Playhouse is a stage musical version of this famous novel.

This version of The Great Gatsby has a book by Kait Kerrigan, and a score by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen – directed by Marc Bruni with choreography by Dominique Kelley. As program notes indicate this version reflects the United States suffering from four years of the pandemic Spanish flu, and returning to normal life after World War I. Also as described this is a version of The Great Gatsby that is intended is to connect with a present-day audience – and without Nick Carraway’s thoughts and reflections as he was observing events as they were happening. Carraway, in this rendering, is an active participant in the story.

Beginning with its opening number in Gatsby’s residence it is reflected how some people were getting richer, and some people poorer in the aftermath of World War I. It is an effort to get back what was lost during World War I.

In this adaptation of Fitzgerald’s novel the story has been distilled to focus on its important narrative elements.  It is the spring of 1922. Jay Gatsby (played by Jeremy Jordan) is ensconced in a mansion in West Egg on Long Island, and is visited by his friend, and fellow veteran, Nick Carraway (played by Noah J. Ricketts), while in East Egg, situated there is Carraway’s cousin, Daisy Buchanan (played by Eva Noblezada) and her old money husband Tom Buchanan (played by John Zdrojeski) – notably unhappy in his marriage – and we learn that Tom is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson, the gas station owner’s wife.

Unbeknownst to Carraway he was being used as a pawn by Gatsby to make it possible for him to re-unite with Carraway’s cousin Daisy Buchanan, and win her over – now that Gatsby has succeeded in life.  And Daisy is also participating in schemes herself trying to match up Carraway with her friend Jordan Baker.

Embroiled in what becomes a tragedy is Myrtle Wilson (played by Sara Chase), the unhappy wife of George Wilson (played by Paul Whitty), who is killed in a car accident caused by Daisy Buchanan. However Gatsby switches into the driver’s seat and takes the responsibility for the accident, and Myrtle Wilson’s death – and ultimately is a victim of jealousy and grief as George Wilson stalks Gatsby to seek revenge. Gatsby and Daisy are people who are wealthy, and do not have any qualms about other people cleaning up the messes they have created.

In this grand version of The Great Gatsby, the story is revealed within an opulent scenery design by Paul Tate dePoo III – with equally opulent costumes designed by Linda Cho – giving the story an added edge for spectacle.

The score by Howland and Tysen – who also gave us the score for Paradise Square – is grand in its eloquence, and reflected a wide range of musical styles but not much reflecting the musical styles of the 1920’s which is the time period of Fitzgerald’s story. Most of the songs are anthem-like, and don’t necessarily move the story forward. However Jeremy Jordan as Gatsby had his moments in “For Her’ and “The Past Is Catching Up To Me,” Eva Noblezada as Daisy had her moment in “Beautiful Little Fool,” and Noah J. Ricketts as Nick had his comic moments in “The Met.”

This version of The Great Gatsby had its weakest moment in revealing who Gatsby was until the very end of Act II – not even providing a few red herrings to reveal what a grifter and schemer he was. Also as the dramatic ending of The Great Gatsby was unravelling, the momentum was lost with still more exposition that was superfluous. In other words I hope that more conciseness and more work on The Great Gatsby could hone it and make it a more effective piece of musical theatre.

However even in the state it is in, it is definitely worth the trip out to the Paper Mill Playhouse to see The Great Gatsby, and experience what an entertaining and provocative piece of musical theatre can be.

American Ballet Theatre – Master Choreographers

David Koch Theater

October 26, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

During American Ballet Theater’s fall season at the David Koch Theater, there has been the running theme of presenting ballets that have had been out of the company’s repertoire for some years – in some cases decades – and among them the choreography of great masters of the 20^th century.

On October 26, 2023, American Ballet Theatre presented works by two distinguished choreographic titans of the 20^th century, George Balanchine and Frederick Ashton.

Opening this program was Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial, a work that epitomized Balanchine’s choreography as a neo-classicist, and had been premiered by American Ballet Carvan in 1941. Choreographed to Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 2, the ballet reflects the splendor and classicism of the Russian ballets of the 19^th century with all of its grandeur, and its allusion to the full-length ballet, The Sleeping Beauty. Yet is a a ballet with multiple anti-climaxes, and at this performance, erratic musical tempi at times.

The costumes and scenery by Rouben Ter-Arutunian set the stage for Balanchine’s original intensions, and Ballet Imperial is a work in the style of his other master works, Theme and Variations, and Symphony in C.

American Ballet Theatre acquired Ballet Imperial in 1988 in this original version – and not the version that Balanchine revised – which Balanchine retitled Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 and was premiered by the New York City Ballet in 1973 – in which the grandeur of the original version was minimized.

On this occasion Christine Shevchenko and Calvin Royal III led the cast with Chloe Missildine in the supporting female principal role. Misseldine danced with eloquence and was technically strong in this role, and Shevchenko and Royal made every step count in responding well to Tchaikovsky’s music.

Also on the program was Ashton’s The Dream, a ballet version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, that Ashton created for the Royal Ballet in 1964. Using Felix Mendelssohn’s music as arranged by John Lanchbery, costumed in the Victorian England period with designs by David Walker, Ashton encapsulated most of Shakespeare’s plot into this ballet version replete with the comedy and elegance that is Ashton’s style.

Although having several Ashton’s works in its repertoire, American Ballet Theatre did not acquire Ashton’s The Dream until 2002, and unfortunately has only sporadically danced the ballet.

The focus of the ballet is the battle between Titania and Oberson over a Changeling Boy – and Oberson taking revenge using his accomplice, Puck, who in his mishaps causes confusion in mismatching the lovers (Helena, Hermia, Demetrius, and Lysander), and then properly matching them up again.

It is a matter of Ashton employing theatrical humor to illustrate the story as much as the dancing – and observing the members of the Fairy Kingdom enjoying the humans’ foibles.

Daniel Camargo was majestic, musical and commanding in his interpretation of Oberson, and his fine dancing was on display in the Scherzo section of The Dream. Cassandra Trenary was feisty and charming as Titania, and Elwince Magbitang was elfin and mercurial as Puck. Also notable was Melvin Lawovi as Bottom who suitably expressed his surprise when he was transformed into a Donkey, and then when he was returned to human form.

The lovers, Betsy McBride as Helena, Virginia Lensi as Hermia, Patrick Frenette as Demetrius, and Sung Woo Han as Lysander were suitable masters of the grand gesture as they interpreted their characters’ distress and relief, and comic reactions while they were going through the ongoing confusion of mismatching.

So much can be learned by choreographers in observing and dancing in these masters’ ballets – and by dancers dancing them — but they also provide entertaining treats, and chapters in ballet’s history for audiences.

Fathom Events – Southwark Playhouse – Titanic

October 23, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic closed down theatres, cinema screenings and live streams were an important medium to make it possible for domestic and international audiences to view theatre, dance, and opera performances.

Although theatres around the world are now open, there is still an important place for cinema screenings and livestreams which make it possible for audiences to be able to experience arts presentations – it is a bit like armchair arts travelling.

On November 4 and 8, 2023, Fathom Events will be presenting cinema screenings of the Southwark Playhouse’s production of Titanic The Musical which was captured live on stage in London based on a production that premiered in 2013. These cinema screenings celebrate the 26^th anniversary of the Broadway production, and the 10^th anniversary of Titanic’s London premiere.

Titanic the Musical tells the story of the impregnable RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York which met with disaster when it collided with an iceberg. What was described at the time as a great human achievement and of engineering, the RMS Titanic, invincible, and unsinkable – a pinnacle achievement of the Industrial Age – sank with more than 1500 people losing their lives.

However in 1912 people of all economic classes thought of the RMS Titanic, owned by the White Star Line, as their way to fulfill their dreams and hopes, and every person who boarded the ship for its maiden voyage had their own individual stories to tell. The RMS Titanic was described as a floating city, and “Ship of Dreams.”

With a score by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone, Titanic the Musical premiered on Broadway in 1997, and won five Tony Awards including Best Musical. Even having earned awards and success it has yet to be revived on Broadway.

Peter Stone’s story and book finds its sources from the passengers on the Titanic – each character based on a true person who was aboard the ship, and brings these passengers from all economic classes during the Edwardian Age together to face this tragedy – and Yeston has composed music that allows these passengers to express their dreams and aspirations in an operatic score that is nearly all sung through.

There are many highlights to be noted in this score including “Godspeed Titanic,” the heart-breaking “The Proposal/The Night Was Alive,” “We’ll Meet Tomorrow,” and “Still.”

The production for the Southwark Playhouse, directed by Thom Southerland, is a smaller scale reproduction of the original with the cast being much smaller — only 20 voices as compared to the size of the Broadway cast of 38, and only 6 musicians as compared to Broadway’s full orchestra – but no less effective from a musical and dramatic perspective. Special credit goes to scenery designer David Woodhead who created spare scenery that was highly adaptable for the many changes of scene, and the ultimate sinking of the Titanic.

This production of Titanic The Musical reflects the aspirations and future plans for each of Titanic’s passengers as well as the over ambitious ship owner, the ship’s designer, and captain. Their hubris is revealed as it is stated in this intimate drama that it’s God who sinks ships not human beings.

The stellar cast features Martin Allanson as J. Bruce Ismay, Valda Aviks as Ida Straus, Graham Bickley as Captain Edward Smith, Sam Brown as Frederick Fleet, James Darch as Edgar Beane, David Delve as Isidor Straus, Adam Filipe as Frederick Barrett, Emily George as Kate Murphy, Luke Harley as Andrew Latimer, Emma Harrold as Lady Caroline Neville, Alastair Hill as Harold Bride, Abi Hudson as Maid, Barnaby Hughes as Herbert Pitman/Henry Etches, Paul Kemble as Joseph Boxhall, Niamh Long as Kate Mullins, Matthew McDonald as Charles Clarke, Ian McLarnon as Thomas Andrews, Danny Michaels as Joseph Bell, Janet Mooney as Head Maid, Chris Nevin as Jim Farrell, Jack North as Charles Lightoller, Joseph Peacock as Bellboy/Wallace Hartley, Billy Roberts as William McMaster Murdoch, Bree Smith as Alice Beane, and Lucie-Mae Summer as Kate McGowan.

This cast brought life to these unknown heroes and heroines in this tragedy, and celebrates the lives of those who were lost in this tragedy.

In this cinema screening version Titanic The Musical has been enshrined as the musical masterpiece that it is in the Southwark Playhouse’s production.

American Ballet Theatre’s Opening Night

David Koch Theater

October 18, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

American Ballet Theatre’s opening night performance of its fall season at the David Koch Theater on October 18, 2023, was a new beginning for the company while also look back on the company’s past.

This was the first season which had Susan Jaffe’s personal imprint on the repertoire as artistic director, and the three dance pieces on this program were evergreen dance pieces that hadn’t been performed by the company in years – and even a couple of decades – and why weren’t they performed by American Ballet Theatre at all in those intervening years is the question.

The program opened with Alexei Ratmansky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, which had been part of Ratmansky’s Shostakovich Trilogy, and had been given its world premiere by American Ballet Theatre in 2013.

Choreographed to Shostakovich’s blithe and energetic piano concerto the music offered the choreographer and the dancers a unique playing field with red objects suspended in limbo above the dancers. Ratmansky’s choreography included acrobatic lifts, moody yet solemn moments, and alluded to George Balanchine in its abstraction.

The second movement of the Piano Concerto No. 1 was dominated by the two principal couples in the ballet with Christine Shevchenko and Calvin Royal III dancing a languid duet with a great deal of lifting and carrying – which was followed by the allegro spirit in the second section of the movement danced with precision and clarity by Skylar Brandt and Jake Roxander.

Clearly Ratmansky hears music in a generally unique manner which he applies in the creation for this choreography for his ballets, and Piano Concerto No. 1 was a suitable opening ballet for this program.

Quickly following was Jiri Kyilan’s contemporary dance piece, Petite Mort, an ensemble piece that is only 17 minutes long and choreographed to the slow movements of Mozart’s Piano Concertos in A & C Major – constructing a musical base for courtly movement.

The piece opens with six men (Joao Menegussi, Carlos Gonzalez, Joseph Market, Herman Cornejo, Cory Stearns, and Joo Won Ahn) on stage brandishing swords as a canopy envelops them, and then the ladies (Erica Lall, Betsy McBride, Suni Park, Cassandra Trenary, Chloe Misseldine, and Hee Seo) appear – the ladies also later conceal themselves dancing behind dresses on wheels, and the piece is also highlighted by duets with Kylian’s signature clear and musical choreography in the contemporary vein.

Petite Mort’s effectiveness as a dance piece is its conciseness and the ensemble efforts by the dancers that dance this piece — and that was very much in evidence in this performance of Petite Mort.

Closing the program was Harald Lander’s Etudes, often described as the non-ballet ballet which had been premiered by the Royal Danish Ballet in 1948 and was given a company premiere by American Ballet Theatre in 1961. Lander was inspired to create this piece as a showcase for the technique standard of the Royal Danish Ballet’s dancers at the time, and also the Royal Danish Ballet’s Auguste Bournonville’s tradition.

Etudes traces the academics of ballet steps that are studied in ballet classes, and then are developed into a full-fledged neo-classical ballet meant to show off the technique and style of ballet dancers. Also included in the ballet is an homage to the Bournonville style in a pas de deux that is the core of Etudes.

The music is Carl Czerny’s who composed passages of music to test the technical demands of playing keyboard instruments, and in a production staged by Thomas Lund, this all combines into a test of a company’s dancers academically, and also in virtuosity.

Etudes is an applause machine as the audience recognizes the preciseness and virtuosity of the dancers.

Heading the cast of this performance of Etudes was Devon Teuscher, who succeeded in the grand manner, her attentive partner Joo Won Ahn, and Jake Roxander, who gave an extraordinary performance in the additional male role that calls for bravura, and mastery of the classical ballet vocabulary.

Missing in this performance of Etudes were the chandeliers and the grandeur even in the simple scenery designs that Etudes is normally decorated with – and also Etudes is a work that American Ballet Theatre needs to further grow into as it is not been danced by the company in some time.

However overall this performance and the programming combined for a laudable and celebratory opening of American Ballet Theatre’s fall season.

Works & Process – San Francisco Ballet – Mere Mortals

Guggenheim Museum

October 15, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Certainly a highlight of this season’s presentations during the Guggenheim Museum’s Works & Process was a preview of the San Francisco Ballet’s full-length modern dance piece, Aszure Barton’s Mere Mortals, on October 15, 2023. This project is being produced and curated by the San Francisco Ballet’s artistic director Tamara Rojo, who assembled the team of creatives to put this new dance piece on the stage.

Moderated by Doug Fullington, both Canadian choreographer Aszure Barton, and Tamara Rojo, artistic director of the San Francisco Ballet were present to introduce and provide background information about the preparations, the process of choosing the creative team, and the excerpts from this new work which has music by Floating Points (aka Sam Shepherd), and represented a reinterpretation of the Greek classic fable, Pandora’s Box for the 21^st century.

As expressed by Ms. Rojo the emergence and development of artificial intelligence is a concern of hers, and how it will be used for the betterment of society. To tell this story Rojo has put together a team of artistic collaborators who will bring this story to the stage for its world premiere in January, 2024. And also this will be the first full-length work that the San Francisco Ballet has commissioned from a female choreographer, Aszure Barton, being among the collaborators.

Other collaborators for the production will be a Barcelona-based design firm, Hamill Industries, which will create visual sound with computerized, robotic and video techniques, and Michelle Jank, an Australian couture and costume designer.

All of the San Francisco Ballet’s dancers will be involved in this production with principal dancers sharing principal roles – some being shared between both male and female dancers – and began with a development workshop, and many zoom meetings among the collaborators, and constant contact between those collaborators during Mere Mortals rehearsal period.

San Francisco Ballet’s principal dancers Jennifer Stahl and Wei Wang performed a solo each and a duet from Mere Mortals which is still in its rehearsal process as of this writing.

This thoughtful Works & Process event at the Guggenheim Museum allowed for a platform to describe the creative mechanics of how such a project of this magnitude is initiated from its first conceptions and inspirations to the stage where an audience can experience the piece.

This event I hope was a teaser for a future New York engagement by the San Francisco Ballet.

Bavarian State Opera Ballet – Alice

October 15, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Although the medium of streaming performances by American ballet companies has nearly disappeared, in other parts of the world, this medium has continued, and many companies are offering free, world-wide access to their streaming performances.

The Bavarian State Opera Ballet, now directed by Laurent Hilaire, and based in Munich, Germany is one of those ballet companies that is continuing this tradition, and did so on October 15, 2023 with a livestreamed performance of Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Drawing from Lewis Carroll’s well-known story, Nicholas Wright had created a libretto for this version of Alice that depicts people important in Carroll’s life and then transforming them into the characters in Alice’s wonderous tale. It is a theatrical convention that is often used in productions of The Nutcracker when real characters in Clara’s family come to life in her dream of the Kingdom of the Sweets.

Alice opens at a garden party during which Jack, the Gardener’s son, gets fired by Alice’s mother, and as Alice is depressed by her situation and surroundings, she follows the White Rabbit into the rabbit role and her adventures begin. Jack is transformed into the Knave of Hearts, the Magician becomes the Mad Hatter, Alice’s mother becomes the Queen of Hearts, and her father becomes the King of Hearts. Alice also meets many wonderous characters along the way, and even helps Jack survive a trial – and then returns back to the present – dreaming about her past adventures, it appears, while she was reading Alice in Wonderland – and all is back to normal.

Wheeldon’s Alice was a co-production of the Royal Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada, and has been acquired by several ballet companies in Europe with the Bavarian State Opera Ballet being one of them having presented its company premiere in 2017.

Wheeldon’s frequent musical collaborator, Joby Talbot, composed the score and elaborate and spectacle-like costumes and scenery have been designed by Bob Crowley. There are times throughout the ballet that the costumes and scenery take the focus away from Wheeldon’s choreography and the narrative he is following in his ballet. Also an important aspect of Alice are the films and videos designed by Jon Driscoll, Gemma Carrington, and Paul Kieve.

At times Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is more of a grand spectacle than a ballet.

The Bavarian State Opera Ballet provided an excellent cast to give life to Wheeldon’s ballet including Madison Young as Alice, Jakob Feyferlik as Jack, Shale Wegman as the White Rabbit, Elvina Ibraimova as the Queen of Hearts, Robin Strona as the Duchess, and Antonio Casalinho as the tap-dancing Mad Hatter.

City Center Fall for Dance Festival – Program 5

City Center

October 8, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Without being redundant, the City Center Fall for Dance Festival’s Program 5 was an excellent example of the Festival’s mission to present a variety of dance styles – and also international dance styles. It proved to be a rousing finale to a very successful City Center Fall for Dance Festival.

The program opened with an Indian dance piece, the United States premiere of the solo piece, Sitaharan, choreographed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and danced by a foremost master of Odissi, Bijayini Satpathy.

Sitaharan was danced to music by Pt. Bhubaneswar Mishra & Ashit Desai, which was adapted from an original composition by Pt. Raghunath Panigrahi, and was performed by four musicians. In this piece Satpathy made subtle references to characters in traditional Indian tales and legends – it was a virtuoso performance featuring Satpathy’s great skills as a storyteller, and an educational one as well.

Also part of this program was a choreographic jewel, Maurice Bejart’s Songs of a Wayfarer, choreographed to the music of Gustav Mahler, and danced by two etoiles of the Paris Opera Ballet, Germain Louvet and Hugo Marchand. This was a great opportunity for New York audiences to see dancers from this historic and esteemed ballet company – that much more because the Paris Opera Ballet rarely tours abroad these days.

Bejart had choreographed this piece in 1971 and it has aged well as this performance revealed. Bejart’s makes subtle references to the text — and the emotions in the text – that Mahler set to music. Louvet and Marchant were compelling but also empathetic as they portrayed two men preparing for a journey. They beautifully executed Bejart’s subtle choreography – with those references evident – and implied.

The program came to rousing conclusion with the performance of Grupo Corpo from Brazil – founded in 1975 – which performed Rodrigo Pederneiras’ Gira, which was choreographed to the music of Meta Meta and had premiered in 2017.

This large ensemble piece was relentless in its intensity, and gave a flavor for the folk dance tradition in Brazil, and how it is interpreted in the 21^st century.

The ensemble cast that whisked through solos, duets, and group dances all performed with heightened energy, commitment, high spirits, and enthusiasm.

The City Center Fall for Dance Festival’s Program 5 punctuated how unique this year’s festival has been.

City Center Fall for Dance Festival – Program 4

City Center

October 6, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Program 4 of the City Center Fall for Dance Festival featured a performance by one of Europe’s major ballet companies — although its appearances in New York have been infrequent. The last time the Birmingham Royal Ballet appeared in New York was at the Metropolitan Opera House participating in the Lincoln Center Festival’s Frederick Ashton Tribute in 2004. At that time the company’s artistic director was David Bintley, and with Bintley stepping down from that position, it is Cuban-born Carlos Acosta, a former principal dancer of the Royal Ballet, who was appointed the company’s artistic director in 2020. In the short time he has been the company’s artistic director he has put his imprint on the company’s repertoire. While preserving the company’s heritage of the 19^th century classics and 20^th century choreographers, Acosta has been expanding the company’s repertoire to include the works of young 21^st century choreographers.

For this engagement the Birmingham Royal Ballet performed a world premiere by the Brazilian choreographer, Juliano Nunes, commissioned for the Birmingham 2022 Festival, which is entitled Interlinked, and was choreographed to music by Australian composer, Luke Howard.

Interlinked is basically an ensemble piece with alternating group dances, solos and duets, but notable because the male dancers in Interlinked are costumed in tulle/gauze skirts, with the ladies in similarly costumed skirts and dancing in pointe shoes.

The choreography can easily be described as academic in this work as Nunes has fashioned complicated patterns for the dancers to execute on stage, and in some instances both the male and female dancers fashion a similar choreographic silhouette. That was particularly on display in a duet by two male dancers. The piece ends somewhat abruptly when the music runs out, and a pair of dancers dance off into the wings in darkness.

Leading the company in this ballet were Tzu-Chao Chou, Celine Gittins, Mikki Mizutani, Lachlan Monaghan, Yaoqian Shang, and Tyrone Singleton dancing distinctly and with clarity – and also with virtuoso elan. One would welcome the company back to dance more of the company’s recent commissions and repertoire.

The Jose Limon Dance Company, founded in 1946 by its artistic visionary Jose Limon was represented on this program with one of Limon’s masterpieces, A Suite from Choreographic Offering, which was created to honor one of the great modern dance masters, Doris Humphrey.

Choreographed to the music by Johann Sebastian Bach, A Choreographic Offering premiered in 1964, and in this performance one can analyze Limon’s masterful choreography. The choreography is earnest in its simplicity, musical, subtle, reverential, and filled with joy, and danced in colorful costumes.

Performing highlights from this piece was the excellent cast of Joey Columbus, Frances Lorraine Samson, Natalie Clevenger, Mariah Gravelin, Johnson Guo, Nicholas Ruscica, Jessica Sgambelluri, Eric Parra, and Savannah Spratt.

Closing this program was a world premiere commissioned by the New York City Center, The Center Will Not Hold, which was created and directed by Ephrat Asherie and Michelle Dorrance, with a long list of choreographers involved in the project including Ephrat Asherie, Manon Bal, Tomoe “Beasty” Carr, Michelle Dorrance, Fritzlyn Hector, Donnetta “Lil Bit” Jackson, Richie Maguire, Mike Manson, Charles “Lil Buck” Riley, and Matthew “Megawatt” West.

On what was mostly a darkly lit stage – interrupted by flashes of light or spotlighted spaces on the stage – the piece was danced to commissioned music by Donovan Dorrance which was dominated by percussion creating the atmospherics for this piece.

The piece opened with a female/female duet which was expanded with two more couples. However after the opening section it was all random. The choreography was a broad mix of hip-hop, break dancing, modern dance, and it wasn’t until about halfway through the piece that the piece was opened up to Dorrance’s signature brand of tap-dancing.

The ensemble cast included all of the aforementioned choreographers – including Asherie and Dorrance among them — and the creators, and the dancers brought The Center Will Not Hold to an exuberant climax.

City Center Fall for Dance Festival – Program Three

City Center

October 4, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

The City Center Fall for Dance Festival’s Program Three once again emphasized a variety of dance styles in the Festival’s programming. Also this program included two world premieres commissioned by the City Center which were created in very distinctive and different dance styles.

Opening the program was a return visit of the Houston Ballet, under the co-artistic directorship of Julie Kent and Stanton Welch, performing Welch’s Clear, a work Welch created for American Ballet Theatre in 2001, and was given its company premiere by the Houston Ballet in 2007.

Choreographed to J.S. Bach’s Violin & Oboe Concerto in C minor, and the first and second movements from the Violin Concerto in G Minor, Welch has responded to the music with influences from Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp — danced by a small cast of 8 dancers – and only one female principal dancer – combining humor and wit, and virtuoso dancing. In the end Clear reaches a climax with its final pas de deux – and soon after with a blackout.

Although Clear is an ensemble dance it is an excellent showcase for the Houston Ballet dancers collectively and individually – a cast which included Eric Best, Naazir Muhammad, Harper Watters, Yuriko Kajiya, Simone Acri, Rench Soriano, Song Teng, and Jack Wolff who acquitted themselves well with their polished dancing. It was great to see the Houston Ballet back on a New York stage again.

Jam on the Groove 3 for 30, directed by Adesola Osakalumi, was represented by world premiere construction, Concrete Jungle/Portrait of a Freeze/Moments in Motion, with original choreography by Ghettoriginal Products Dance Co. and with additional choreography and staging by Osakalumi.

With music by Steve “Mr. Wiggles” Clemente, and Antoine “Doc” Judkins what was created was an urban soundscape and urban landscape complete with police car sirens and flashing police car headlights, police radio transmissions, and gun shots which along with a hybrid of break-dancing and hip-hop dance stylings was to represent the theme of defining justice.

These combined theatrical pieces were danced and interpreted by a highly-skilled group of dancers who also had their moments to shine.

Closing the program was Kaleoolakaikahikinaokala, directed by Kaleo Trinidad, dancing the world premiere of Hawaiki (The Homeland), a collaborative effort of choreography by Kumu Hula Kaleo Trinidad with Randie Kamuela Fong, Kumu Maiki Aiu Lake, Kumu Edith Kanaka’ole, and Holoua Stender combined with traditional choreography.

Kumu Hula Kaleo Trinidad participated in the creation of the choreography for Hawaiki (The Homeland) but also was the costume designer — designs which enhanced the ritual-style choreography that dominated the piece. Trinidad was also the musician that played and chanted the music.

Danced by an all-male ensemble of dancers this was a hugely entertaining display of Hawaiian traditions on the City Center stage.

York Theatre Company – Golden Rainbow

Theatre de St. Jean’s

October 1, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

The York Theatre Company has continued its Musicals in Mufti series with another forgotten musical of the past, Golden Rainbow, which was presented at the Theatre de St. Jean’s from September 23 through October 1, 2023. The York Theatre Company has enhanced its reputation with this presentation of Golden Rainbow as it is truly a gem among gems.

Golden Rainbow premiered on Broadway in 1968, and ran for nearly a year – and provided a star vehicle for the husband and wife recording team of Eydie Gorme and Steve Lawrence. The musical was based on the play, A Hole in the Head, which was transformed into a movie version that premiered in 1959 and featured the Academy Award-winning song, High Hopes – and also starred Frank Sinatra. The film depicted Sinatra as a single-parent trying to cope with raising his son in the environment of a run-down hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, and while drowning in gambling debt sees his dreams for the future collapse.

The stage musical version was moved to Las Vegas, with Larry (played by Max von Essen) a single-parent, similarly owning a rundown hotel — but it his sister-in-law, Judy, a buyer for Lord & Taylor in New York (played by Mara Davi) who descends upon him hoping to obtain custody of her nephew, Ally (played by Benjamin Pajak) and raise the child as her own.

Her arrival in Las Vegas is a surprise, and in response to Larry’s hoax to get some money from Judy to pay the mortgage on his hotel. However in their short time together after many years – and what seems to be a rekindling of a romance from the past — a bond is formed between Judy and Larry – and also Ally. And in the atmosphere of Las Vegas where anything can happen, and is a city of dreams, it is a place where this family can put aside their feelings of distrust. Although Larry is charming, not always sincere, and a schemer, he has enough optimism to search for his own dreams and a golden rainbow. And by accident rather than by plan, those dreams come true for him and his family.

Larry’s dreams may be impossible to fulfill but Max von Essen portrayed Larry focusing on the possible, and the best of intentions. His rendition of “I’ve Gotta Be Me” was show-stopping. Mari Davi’s Judy was distant at first but you could see her heart melt when she sees her nephew Ally for the first time in some years, and also her disappointments in Larry as expressed in her emotional rendition of “How Could I Be So Wrong”? Then there is Benjamin Pajak who is a charmer as the all-knowing Ally who seems to be the only grown-up in the room.

Golden Rainbow has a score composed by Walter Marks, and a book by Ernest Kinoy, which has been tinkered with a bit in this concert version superbly directed by Stuart Ross. In fact Marks has composed five new songs for this production, and also excised a few from the original score. All of the new songs enhance the sentimentality and humanity of Golden Rainbow’s story – and also creates the empathy an audience can have for all of the characters.

In this concert version of Golden Rainbow the synergy and chemistry were there not only in the score, but in the revised book as well – and especially remarkable was the chemistry among the excellent cast members. Besides the aforementioned von Essen, Davi, and Pajak, also notable was Robert Cuccioli as the comical and sly Carmine Malatesta, the owner of the Tower of Babel Hotel.

This all combined for entertainment that made one forget one’s problems, enjoy the music, and involve one with the story.

Hopefully this production of Golden Rainbow will be seen by a wider audience who will be able to experience this most enjoyable and fun musical theatre production presented by the York Theatre Company.

City Center Fall for Dance Festival – Program One

City Center

September 28, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

This year’s City Center Fall for Dance Festival is notable because there is more foreign representation than in years before, and also reflected the Festival’s mission of presenting a variety of dance programming that would appeal to an audience that hasn’t had that much exposure to a variety of dance forms and styles.

Program One of the Festival on September 28, 2023, did not reflect a variety of dance styles, but certainly was jam-packed with distinctive dance performances. The focus was on modern dance, and post-modern dance, but bursting with imagination.

Opening the program was Ballet BC, which is now directed by Medhi Walerski, and is based in Vancouver, Canada. Founded in 1986, the company has had a history of evolving from a contemporary ballet company to a modern dance and post-modern dance company.  Ballet BC has created its own artistic space in the Canadian dance scene.

The company put its Canadian foot forward with a piece by Canadian post-modern choreographer, Crystal Pite, entitled The Statement, which the Nederlands Dans Theater had performed at the City Center in 2016.

The Statement provides the audience with an inside look at a heated display of corporate boardroom confusion and stress as its executives wrestle with a public relations problem that doesn’t have many easy answers or resolutions. Jonathon Young’s text references the problem, and Owen Belton’s pulsating score underscores the choreography and text.

Young’s text is channeled into dance, modern dance, and organic movement with the choreography matching the rhythms of Young’s spoken word. The four dancers in the cast (Patrick Kilbane, Sarah Pippin, Vivian Ruiz and Rae Srivastava) defend their territories, and their positions on an issue that is not quite clear. But being debated is who is to blame, who will take the blame, and who wants to take the blame for creating the crisis at hand.

The focus of The Statement is a boardroom table which references Kurt Joos’ The Green Table, and a huge chandelier that comes close to crushing the participants. It is all effective dance theatre.

Tap-dancing virtuoso Caleb Teicher created a piece to George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue which was danced by Teicher, with the soundscape of Gershwin’s music performed in an idiosyncratic manner by pianist Conrad Tao. In this interpretation of Rhapsody in Blue, Teicher, as dancer and master at tap, employs improvisation to enter into a conversation with the pianist playing a grand piano on stage. Both interpretated Gershwin’s music in counterpoint, in competition with each other, and poking fun at each other. Instrumentalist and dancer spoke to each other as they re-interpreted Gershwin’s music.

Not everything in Teicher’s Rhapsody in Blue was in sync, but the performances by both dancer and pianist were distinctive.

Concluding this program was the Gibney Company, a modern dance company, based in New York City, performing Sonya Tayeh’s Oh Courage!  Choreographed to music written and performed by The Bengsons, Oh Courage! had been given its premiere in 2021.

Oh Courage! is a piece about alienation, and outliers from a group, which was performed in the atmosphere of a light haze with the Bengsons’ music reverberating, and the choreography repeating itself to the music – music that included references that were not optimistic, and reflecting a dismal future.

The ensemble cast of Miriam Gittens, Eleni Loving, Jesse Obremski, Kevin Pajarillaga, Jie-Hung, Connie Shiau, Madison Tanguay, Jacob Thoman, and Jake Tribus performed with great commitment to Tayeh’s predisposed intentions.

Overall this was an attention-grabbing program of dance to initiate this year’s City Center Fall for Dance Festival.

Primary Stages – Dig

59E59 Theaters

September 17, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Primary Stages is the resident off-Broadway theater company at 59E59 Theaters, and from September 2 through October 22, 2023, Primary Stages is presenting the world premiere of a play, Dig, written and directed by Theresa Rebeck.

The story of Dig takes place in a struggling plant shop – which is named Dig — in a neighborhood that is also barely holding on to its life. Roger (played by Jeffrey Bean), the owner of Dig, routinely opens his shop, and the story unfolds as Roger has several unexpected visitors to Dig in a short space of time.

Roger has employed Everett (played by Greg Keller) as his truck driver, and the matter of concern is that Everett is battling substance abuse. Roger’s friend Lou (Triney Sandoval), who does the books for Roger’s plant shop, arrives unexpectedly at the shop with his adopted daughter Megan (played by Andrea Syglowski) in tow, who is just out of rehab after being accused of leaving her baby behind in a locked car – leading to that baby’s death – and has earned notoriety in the neighborhood but for all the wrong reasons.

Although Roger’s first instinct is not wanting to have anything at all to do with Megan, Roger allows her to insinuate herself into a job at the plant shop – and she succeeds in that job – but brings a great deal of baggage and chaos to Dig – which is Roger’s private oasis, and dream.

Megan is receiving therapy at AA, and even joins a prayer meeting being hosted by one of Dig’s regular customers, Molly (played by Mary Bacon). However Roger finds himself trying to cope with two very needy employees, and confronting his own life truths. Emotions are raw, and secrets are revealed – and all taking place in a small town where nothing is sacred or secret.

Although Roger takes it on himself to figure out who Megan is, and presumes that there is the slight chance that her life could be put back on track, almost everything that Megan touches becomes debris – and also debris that Roger is often in the midst of cleaning up that winds up on Dig’s floor.

As Megan’s personal journey and demons are revealed the question is whether she can be saved – and by whom – a question not quite answered in Rebeck’s play.

Rebeck has created carefully drawn characters with humanity in Dig. There is a great deal of empathy as they struggle with their problems, secrets, and their half-truths, and revelations. 

Christopher and Justin Swader have designed a shop environment with lush plants to serve as a playground for these misguided humans who are trying to find their truth through many twists and turns.

Theresa Rebeck’s Dig all adds up to result in a beguiling theatre experience which is unambiguously told by Dig’s excellent cast.

Vienna State Opera Ballet – Don Quixote

September 16, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

It is fortunate that the Vienna State Opera Ballet is continuing its policy of presenting livestreams of its performances. Fortunate because it gives an international audience the opportunity to see this company which rarely tours abroad, and to perform versions of the classics, and new ballets that are primarily performed by European ballet companies.

On September 16, 2023, the Vienna State Opera Ballet presented its production of Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote performed with its original designs by Nicholas Georgiadis.

Based on the Cervantes story, this ballet in a Prologue and Three Acts, begins with Don Quixote – sickly and doddering, and a handful for his long-suffering servants. Plagued by his hallucinations of seeing his vision of Dulcinea, he sets off on his quest to find her.

This leads Don Quixote and his companion, Sancho Panza, on an adventure as they meddle in the futures of Kitri and Basilio, who are in love, but Kitri’s father sees a better match with a local aristocrat. The comic antics are revealed, and protracted, as well as including a vision scene in which Don Quixote’s Dulcinea appears – but the ballet ultimately ends with wedding celebration – which is also the highlight of this full-length story ballet.

Nureyev’s version of Don Quixote is a bit eccentric in its choreography, and its relationship to Ludwig Minkus’s music. Aptly described some of the choreography is fussy but yet in the grand manner. Putting aside the story, Don Quixote is a display of high-energy comedy, and flashy dancing.

The high-spirited cast for this performance included Liudmila Konovalova as Kitri, Davide Dato as Basilio, Brendan Saye as Espada, Ketevan Papava as Mercedes, Olga Esina as Queen of the Dryads, and Ioanna Avraam as the Cupid. Also notable were the wonderful character dancers, Zsolt Torok in the title role, and Francois-Eloi Lavignac as Sancho Panza.

The combination of all of the elements from casting to production values resulted in a spectacular display of how the 19^th century classics should be presented, and danced – and acted with a commitment to the story.

York Theatre Company – How To Steal An Election

Theatre de St. Jean’s

August 27, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

The York Theatre Company has relaunched its Musicals in Mufti series after an absence of four years – and the return is very welcome indeed.

To some extent taken from today’s headlines the series’ first presentation is How To Steal An Election: A Dirty Politics Musical which is being performed at the Theatre de St. Jean’s from August 26 through September 3, 2023.

With music and lyrics by the esteemed folk singer and composer, Oscar Brand (who was also the composer for A Joyful Noise, and The Education of H*Y*M*A*N*K*A*P*L*A*N), and book by William F. Brown (who also wrote the book for The Wiz), How To Steal An Election opened at off-Broadway’s Pocket Theatre in 1968. There were plans to move this musical to Broadway but when it became known to the authors that the money invested in the show was mob money, that was the end of the deal, and the Broadway production.

The York Theatre Company’s Musicals in Mufti concert production is the first such production of How To Steal An Election decades after its premiere. And in making it possible for this gem of a musical to be put on a stage again, the subject matter can’t be more relevant.

Brand was an American who had been born in Winnipeg, Canada and among his songwriting output were at least 300 songs – some of them were Canadian and American patriotic songs – and also novelty songs – and songs that included social commentary. Brand often expressed his own political leanings and thoughts at a time of political and social upheaval in the United States. Therefore it would not be a surprise that he would be involved in the creative enterprise of How To Steel An Election, which in contrast to its title is an optimistic look at democracy in spite of its challenges.

How To Steal An Election presents a pragmatic, entertaining, and teachable moment as to how the political problems in United States in 1968 could have been solved – and as history repeats itself it is all relevant to any time period in American history.

The notion of the play is that Jazz Age President Calvin Coolidge materializes in what was the present day (in 1968) in an attempt to confront two protesters about how they can accomplish positive change. Coolidge, the 30^th American President was born on Independence Day in 1872 in Vermont – having been a Republican lawyer and Vice President of the United States. Coolidge was often described as cool and quiet or called “Silent Cal,” and known for seeking stability and coming to a consensus.

Coolidge (played by Jason Graae) confronts two young protesters, April (played by Emma Degerstedt) and Jerry (played by Alex Joseph Grayson) who have survived the chaos of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and Coolidge tries to persuade them that pragmatism rather than protest might be a better method of fixing what needed to be fixed in American politics and society.

Coolidge provides them with a series of history lessons presented in song and comic vignettes quoting from Presidents of the past who have a profound ability to predict the future – and can teach lessons in political imaging, and all is delivered with a bit of stinging political satire which seems to be a lost art at this time.

Director Joseph Hayward rediscovered How To Steal An Election and fashioned a theatrical framework for Brand’s multi-style songs, and Brown’s political anecdotes, along with quotes from the politicians that are mentioned in this musical – quotes that are revered, and misconstrued, and putting the spotlight on those politicians who gamed the system in the past. All of which is also enhanced and made transparent through Peter Brucker’s projections.

Most notably Jason Graae gives a masterful performance as Coolidge, as do Emma Degerstedt as the protester April, and Alex Joseph Grayson, as the protester Jerry – and Courtney Arango, Kelly Berman, and Drew Tanabe as the talented ensemble who play multi-roles throughout How To Steal An Election. In their versatility as performers they bring How To Steal An Election to life – in its broad and subtle nature.

The cast aptly interprets Brand’s music and lyrics in a perceptive fashion to get Brand’s point of view across to the audience, and we also get a better understanding as to the who and the why history is interpreted.

How To Steal An Election is an entertainment that is thought-provoking, and can also be experienced with a little wonderment. It prompts us to look at the past to understand the present — and once again the York Theatre Company’s Musical in Mufti is back in business!

Pay The Writer

Pershing Square/Signature Center

August 20, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

For what is a limited engagement, from August 21 through September 30, 2023, Tawni O’Dell’s Pay The Writer is being performed at the Pershing Square/Signature Center. The off-Broadway premiere of this play notably marks the return to the stage of several theatre actors who have gone on to careers in television and film.

Setting the stage for the plot of Pay The Writer, the play is a memory play that moves back and forth from the present to the past and back to the present. Bruston Fischer (played by Bryan Batt) is the narrator of a story that unravels minute by minute as he breaks the fourth wall informing the audience about his writer friend and client, but also expressing his emotions as the plot points are revealed. Fischer is not only the narrator, but an important participant is his own story.

In his salad days, Bruston Fischer, a young gay man who is an aspiring editor at a publishing house – and later to become a literary agent — meets Cyrus Holt, a gifted and confident writer (played by Ron Canada). Fischer and Holt form a relationship that lasts through decades – as Fischer steps up on the ladder of success as a literary agent, and has successfully guided Holt’s career as a writer – and Holt, himself, who besides having a blossoming career as a distinguished writer, also battles his own personal demons including alcoholism, unsuccessful marriages, and distant relationships with his children.

This all takes place in the bustling world of publishing in New York, and the back story is how Holt’s past as a Vietnam War veteran, and being allowed to have special rules for special talents had guided his life decisions. Painting the past is a young Fischer (played by Miles G. Jackson), and a young Holt (played by Garrett Turner), whose remembrances plant the seeds of distrust in the future.

With the prospect of meeting his maker, Holt tries to reconcile his mistakes in his life with one of his ex-wives, Lana (played by Marcia Cross), and his children – his son, Leo (played by Garrett Turner), and his daughter Gigi (played by Danielle J. Summons).

In the course of this intermission less two-hour play more and more questions come up as to whether Lana is the love of Holt’s life, and did Holt appreciate Fischer more than he was willing to admit. Some of these questions are answered, some remain vague or unanswered. There is lots of humor, as well as thoughtful moments in Pay The Writer.

In Tawni O’Dell’s Pay The Writer the characters are hauntingly familiar, and fully formed in scenes, and confrontations that are well-acted by this wonderful cast. Director Karen Carpenter brings out the best in this cast, as well as reflecting how well-timed her direction is.

Pay The Writer is a play of our time and for our time – as muddled as these times are – appreciating how important our relationships are, what art is, and what impact it has on society — and what impact each of us as individuals can leave behind as a legacy to our families and friends.

Pay The Writer is a nostalgic play but also expresses optimism for the future.

Eleanor Powell – Born To Dance

August 17, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Eleanor Powell – Born To Dance, by Paula Broussard and Lisa Royere, and published by the University Press of Kentucky, gives one the opportunity to reacquaint oneself with one of the greatest female dancers seen in film during Hollywood’s Golden Age, and written and researched by two people who have roots in dance.

Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Powell was brought up by a single parent, whose first husband and Powell’s father, was rushed into marriage at a young age, and was not up to the responsibilities of being a husband or a father. He disappeared from Powell’s life — a pattern repeated with her mother’s second husband.

Powell made her Broadway debut appearance at the age of 15. She was known for her performances in some of the great movie musicals of all time including Born To Dance in 1936, and Broadway Melody of 1940, in which she co-starred with Fred Astaire, and culminating in a career where she was a success on Broadway, and then on film.

In 1943 Powell married film actor Glenn Ford, and she retreated to a diminished work commitment in the entertainment field – a 16-year marriage that was described as tumultuous. However after their divorce Powell returned to show business performing in Las Vegas and the nightclub circuit.

Although Powell danced mostly solos in her movies, her partners included Fred Astaire, George Murphy, and Buddy Ebsen in an era of such contemporaries as Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers and Ann Miller.

Powell was enrolled in ballet classes at the age of six, and her first performance at 9 years old was in 1922. In 1925 Powell spent a summer in Atlantic City and took advantage of supper club and nightclub opportunities – and in 1927, with encouragement from the supper club and nightclub owners, Powell and her mother set off to explore performing opportunities in New York City.

Her big break was in the musical, The Optimists, which opened in 1928. However it became apparent that tap background was required to expand her dance repertoire. Powell began learning and then incorporating tap into her vaudeville and club appearances.

Powell made her uncredited film debut in the film version of the Broadway musical, Queen High, which was shot at the Paramount Long Island Studio in Astoria – the film was released in 1930. But she continued her work on Broadway and appeared in stage shows at the Roxy and the Radio City Music Hall.

Powell became a contract player at MGM with the primary goal of being engaged to be part of the cast of The Broadway Melody of 1936 which made her a bona fide film star. However she then made another film, Rosalie, and received the accolade of having her foot prints and handprints implanted in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.

In Broadway Melody of 1940, Powell co-starred with Fred Astaire. The producers of the film thought they wouldn’t match in terms of height – and ultimately after the film was released, when approached, Astaire did not want to continue his partnership with Powell in another film.

Powell went on to appear in the films Born To Dance, Lady Be Good, and Ship Ahoy, which was revised to reflect the American participation in World War II and premiered in 1942.

Powell’s last starring film at MGM was I Dood It which suffered from wartime cost-cutting and Powell was forced to change her creative input as warranted by MGM management which ultimately motivated her to leave MGM.

In 1942 actor Pat O’Brien played matchmaker enabling Powell and Glenn Ford to meet and begin dating. While filming I Dood It, Glenn Ford proposed to Powell before Ford set off for Marine boot camp.

However Powell did not stop working as she made her technicolor debut in As Thousands Cheer, one of the many Hollywood films made to support the war effort, and Broadway Melody of 1943 with Gene Kelly. Powell walked away from MGM in 1943 with the intention of retiring after marrying Ford – after World War II had concluded. However Powell and Ford decided to get married sooner than later, and married Ford in 1943.

After experiencing some health issues Ford was discharged from the Marines in 1944, and in 1945 Powell and Ford welcomed the arrival of their son. However marital problems emerged with Ford’s frequent infidelities – among them Rita Hayworth. Ford proved to be a serial philanderer and they divorced in 1959.

Powell had put her professional life on hold but she did appear in the film, Sensations of 1945 dancing with the legendary ballet dancer, teacher, and choreographer, David Lichine.

Also one of Powell’s pet projects was Faith of Our Children, a television program which was inspired by her religious and moral beliefs. It was created for children, and made its debut in 1954. During the run of the show, Faith of Our Children was a multi—Emmy Award winner.

At age 48 Powell re-invented herself – again – and she developed a night club act that featured dance numbers from her movies – traveling all over the country — and proved that tap dancing still appealed to audiences. However with her son facing adjustment problems, Powell took on the role of full-time mother while also pursuing her spiritual interests.

The success of MGM’s That’s Entertainment brought Powell back into the spotlight. During the last years of her life, That’s Entertainment generated many invitations for her to talk about her career in film, and she was the recipient of many awards. She succumbed to cancer in 1982, and in 1984, was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Throughout her career working as a contract player and film actress, Powell felt her creative contributions were getting obstructed by studio executives who didn’t appreciate her choreography, and herself, as a female choreographer.

However Powell would probably be very happy to know that the art of tap dancing has not disappeared from Broadway and concert stages, and she contributed much to the art form and keeping it alive as attested to in this wonderful biography of Powell by Broussard and Royere.

Small

59 East 59 Street Theatres

August 13, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Being presented by a team of producers that includes the Penguin Rep Theatre and Chita Rivera, Robert Montano’s Small, is a solo play written and performed by Montano, which is now entertaining audiences at the 59 East 59 Street Theatres through September 2, 2023.

Montano himself takes you through his life journey which has many twists and turns. However it isn’t too long before Montano explains the title of his play. Montano is a Puerto Rican/Italian kid from Long Island who was bullied in school because he was small!

It was by happenstance that Montano’s mother took him to Belmont Park, a wonderland of carefully manicured landscape, and proud beasts who walk and run – all of which captured Montano’s imagination.

Montano’s mother made the trip to the racetrack to place a bet on Mindy’s Patrol, being ridden by jockey Robert Pineda – a betting tip given to her by Pineda himself when he bought jewelry at Fortunoff, the store where Montano’s mother worked. And as so it goes as typical in that part of the world that it isn’t what you know, it is who you know that lays the groundwork for success. And Mindy’s Patrol was a winner, and Montano’s mother had in hand the money to pay for tiles for her home improvement project.

This visit to Belmont Park was a eureka moment for Montano as he felt he had discovered his niche in life which was to be a jockey. Deemed an exciting profession, and made for a small person, Montano becomes fascinated by it all – including the odd characters he meets when he pursues his ambition to be a jockey. But it is a world of questionable characters which balances out his admiration for horses as first-class athletes. Also fortunate that Pineda became Montano’s mentor.

Small follows Montano through this step-by-step process until he begins to be engaged for mounts at several different race tracks. But also realizes that he may not be small forever, and how he must suffer and put his health at risk in order to keep his weight down. Then there was the grief he experienced when Pineda is killed in a racetrack spill at Pimlico in 1978.

When in Saratoga Springs, by happenstance again, Montano saunters into a local disco and earns the recognition that he is a good dancer and a good mover. In a quick turnaround his sights move in a different direction. At 20 years of age Montano decided that he wanted to study dance, and he charmed the dance staff at Adelphi University in Long Island to accept him – and they did. The head of the dance department, Norman Walker, set up Montano to participate in an audition for Cats – and ultimately Montano also got to play the role he coveted in a major Broadway musical – that of Bernardo in West Side Story. It was Montano’s second act.

Montano’s tells his story with a great deal of physicality and athleticism, and charm as he plays all of the principal characters in the play including himself. He is an honest storyteller telling an honest story – with more than a dash of comic flair and emotion.

Christopher & Justin Swader have designed a realistic set to enhance Montano’s story, and Jessi D. Hill as Small’s director has provided the guidance to channel Montano’s story in an easily accessible manner.

Good to know that everyone can have a second act, and it is definitely worthwhile to take Montano’s journey with him in Small.

Let’s Call Her Patty

Claire Tow Theater

August 12, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

For what is perfect summer fare, the Lincoln Center Theater is presenting a new play – a comedy – that highlights self-deprecating humor, and realistic characters that most New Yorkers are familiar with – particularly Upper Westsiders in Manhattan. Zarena Shea’s Let’s Call Her Patty is being presented at the Clair Tow Theater — with Rhea Perlman in the title role – a perfectly enjoyable comic play which will be completing its limited engagement on August 27th.

Perlman plays the Patty in the title, who is a quintessential Upper West Side Manhattan dweller. She is a frequent navigator of the well-known shops in the neighborhood, and has set her own rules in her life. She is self-described as an Upper West Sider of more than moderate means whose daily life includes cooking for her dogs, going to exercise classes, and somehow keeps up a relationship with her husband – who is spoken of but doesn’t appear in Let’s Call Her Patty.

She is also a quintessential Jewish mother who shows how much she cares about her family even while having a kitchen knife in her hand and chopping vegetables – and is trying to find simple but trusted solutions to every day problems.

Patty must confront an unexpected family event. Her daughter Cecile (played by Arielle Goodman) is blessed with success and notoriety after being praised as a sculptor, but turns to cocaine to cope with the unexpected attention, and perhaps other problems.

Patty is out to fix the problem even though Cecile’s life is now becoming an endless merry-go-round of entering and leaving rehab institutions. And Patty questions whether she had caused her daughter’s addiction as well as enabling it – or is it Patty’s inability to recognize that she can’t solve every problem and needs to let daughter go to find her own answers to the problems she has.

Patty seeks support from her niece Sammy (played by Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer), who allies herself with Patty and proves to be the only adult in the room. But Sammy is also burdened with her own problems. And in Let’s Call Her Patty she is the observer and participant in what becomes a struggle and a conflict – which sometimes strains the relationship between Patty and the niece she literally brought up as her own child.

It is the converging of Cecile’s problems, and how Patty is trying to resolve them that provides some seriousness – but there also a great deal of comedy and humor as Patty is coping with the problems at hand. Patty doesn’t want to give up on her daughter but she may not have a choice.

Director Margot Bordelon keeps an eye on the train of thought in Let’s Call Her Patty with pinpoint accuracy knowing what to focus on and what to emphasize. And she has a cast of superb comic actresses who are experienced in comic timing – and how to land the more serious moments of this play.

Let’s Call Her Patty is diverting, humorous, and a remarkable reflection of the time we are living in.

The Shark Is Broken

Golden Theatre

August 5, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Among the recent offerings that have opened in the early months of the new Broadway season is The Shark Is Broken, a London import, co-written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon. The Shark Is Broken had its premiere at the Edinburgh Festival in 2019 – and was then transferred to London’s West End in 2021 – and now it has opened on Broadway. By virtue of the sound of laughter at the Golden Theatre, The Shark Is Broken may become the surprise hit of this new season.

The Shark Is Broken is a behind the scenes look at the making of Steven Spielberg’s landmark 1975 film, Jaws. The horror film of sorts was set in 1974, and included the cast of Robert Shaw who played the role of the professional shark hunter, Richard Dreyfuss who played the role of the marine biologist, and Roy Scheider who played the role of the local police chief, all embroiled in the local reaction and hysteria on Amity Island when a mysterious shark appears.

Books have been written, and documentaries have been made, about the behind-the-scenes backbiting, and anxiety that took place during the filming of Jaws – and despite the hazards, and being guided by a young director, the result was a very successful film – with additional sequels to come through the years.

The Shark Is Broken is based on Robert Shaw’s memories of working on Jaws which have been cleverly interwoven with humor, and a bit of nostalgia.

In The Shark Is Broken the aforementioned actors are thrown together in a small fishing boat, the Orca, in the ocean off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, where Jaws was filmed. Shaw, Dreyfuss, and Scheider are trying to cope with the constant break downs of the mechanical shark – named Bruce – which disrupts and delays the production of Jaws. There is a particular conflict between Shaw and Dreyfuss concerning Dreyfuss’ inexperience as an actor, and Scheider is the peacemaker when conflict erupts.

Through the course of this funny and timely comic piece there are revelations about these actors’ feelings about themselves as people, and as actors, as they are confounded in trying to come up with activities to participate in to fill the time while they are waiting to film their scenes in Jaws.

Exacerbating the frustration is that Robert Shaw (played by Shaw’s son Ian Shaw) is drinking heavily, Richard Dreyfuss (played by Alex Brightman) is battling substance abuse, and Roy Scheider (played by Colin Donnell), wants to get his sun rays, and is trying to keep a lid on the infighting.

Uncanny it is that Shaw’s son is a dead ringer for his father. His first appearance in The Shark Is Broken, playing his father, is stunning.

Within the time span of this 90-minute play, all involved are at each other’s throats, nervous energy all-around, while keeping their sense of humor as everything goes wrong, and is unmanageable. And the timely mentions of political figures, and the future of Jaws, and other films like it, portend the future of movie-making, and what film-goers prefer to consume.

Director Guy Masterson keeps control of the chaos being portrayed by the actors, and all three actors give virtuoso performances as their characters careen through the difficult problems they are facing – but are doing so with self-deprecating humor.

You can’t fault the performances of Ian Shaw, Alex Brightman and Colin Donnell. They are superb.

Whether or not you are familiar with the film, Jaws, you will enjoy the humor, the circumstances, and the fun that emerges in The Shark Is Broken.

An American Ballet Story

August 8, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Many documentaries have been written and filmed offering an archival record of the evolution of artistic endeavors. In the dance world some of them have been missed – and forgotten. The documentary, An American Ballet Story, written and directed by Leslie Streit, is filling one of those gaps, which is the story of Rebekah Harkness and the founding of her own ballet company, the Harkness Ballet, and ultimately when the company was forced to abandon operations.

The story actually begins in the 1960’s when Rebekah Harkness became a principal donor to the fledging Joffrey Ballet. Harkness, herself, was a musician and composer, and had also studied ballet, but most importantly she was the heiress to the Standard Oil fortune. One of her particular achievements was sponsoring the Joffrey Ballet’s tour of Russia.

However the relationship between Robert Joffrey and Rebekah Harkness deteriorated and soured in a short time when both felt slighted by each other – their relationship ended when Harkness wanted the Joffrey Ballet to be re-named the Harkness Ballet – not to mention Harkness’ wish to influence the Joffrey Ballet’s artistic vision which conflicted with Joffrey’s vision.

Harkness established her own company, the Harkness Ballet, with many of the Joffrey Ballet’s dancers joining the ranks of the new company. In the course of that transition, the Harkness Ballet took over the performing rights of many of the ballets commissioned by the Joffrey Ballet – there were machinations by Harkness regarding payments for choreography and design rights paid for by the Harkness Ballet Foundation – and ownership of those rights was passed on to the new Harkness Ballet.

Another aspect of the founding of the Harkness Ballet was establishing Harkness House for Ballet Arts which was an educational institution for Harkness to influence how dancers were trained and the curriculum that was to be taught. Patricia Wilde was appointed the school’s first artistic director.

Harkness’ philanthropic efforts in the arts were criticized by the arts critics of the day – including Clive Barnes of the New York Times – and mentioned in the documentary was that Harkness sent a huge silver spoon to Clive Barnes saying a silver spoon feeds a lot of hungry mouths.

From 1964 through 1970, artistic directors were in out of the Harkness Ballet organization as if propelled by a revolving door including George Skibine, Donald Saddler, Bertrand Castelli, Brian MacDonald, Lawrence Rhodes, and Benjiman Harkavy – all coming into conflict with Harkness’ artistic ideas including choreography and music.

Harkness assumed the directorship herself while curating a repertoire of contemporary ballet and modern works choreographed by American choreographers that were performed to the music of American composers. And she also established the Harkness Youth Dancers, a professional training ground for future dancers.

In 1970 Harkness combined hand-chosen dancers of the Harkness Ballet, and the Harkness Youth Ballet to form a new company – yet the company continued to be under fire by critics, and in particular for not having enough New York seasons. In 1974 Harkness renovated a theatre on Broadway in New York City – not far from Lincoln Center – renamed the Harkness Theatre with the intention of making it available as a venue that could be rented to other domestic and foreign dance companies. It was as grand a theatre that was inspired by the designs of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. However the costs were too expensive for other companies to rent.

That represented a downturn in the Harkness Ballet’s fortunes as with stock crashes causing Harkness own fortune to be diminished, it was in 1975 that the Harkness Ballet folded – but the school remained open until 1985, three years after Harkness herself had died.

For what might have seemed to be a vanity project from the beginning of its existence the Harkness Ballet – and Harkness herself – left behind an important legacy of new works and acquisitions by choreographers such as Agnes de Mille, Donald Saddler, George Skibine, Jerome Robbins, Jack Cole, Margo Sappington, Brian MacDonald, Alvin Ailey, and John Butler among the many (excerpts of these choreographers’ works are included in the documentary) – and based on the reminisces of some of the Harkness Ballet’s former dancers, the Harkness Ballet provided an opportunity to dance these new works, and their experiences to be passed on as dancers with other companies, as choreographers, and as teachers with ballet schools.

An American Ballet Story re-examines what was left behind by Rebekah Harkness and the forgotten Harkness Ballet, and should be seen by dance fans, and members of all artistic communities. This documentary has its premiere on August 8, 2023.

Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground

Theatre At St. Clement’s

July 29, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Tony Award-winning actor, John Rubenstein, has returned to New York City to grace the off-Broadway stage at the Theatre at St. Clement’s in a one-man play entitled Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground. Eisenhower: This Piece of Gound is a play by Richard Hellesen, with incisive direction by Peter Ellenstein, which gives an excellent insight into the life and thoughts of our 34^th President.

Setting the scene we find Dwight Eisenhower, a year and a half after leaving the office of the Presidency, and reacting with disgust that historians have placed him at the bottom of a long list of American presidents. Throughout Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground, Eisenhower defends his record based on his experiences in life, and how they influenced his decisions as President – and ultimately making the decision that a memoir should be written in defense of his two-term presidency.

The play’s narrative is adapted from General Eisenhower’s memoirs, speeches and letters, and the premise is that the audience is eavesdropping on Eisenhower at his farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Also the play itself is a defense – including some insightful insight – about how Eisenhower felt about his two terms in office. Among the achievements were interstate highways, his record on civil rights, keeping the United States out of a major war, and increasing the number of stars on the American flag from 48 to 50. Also as he examines his life he realizes that his greatest skills were conciliation and persuasion in getting things done.

Probably best known for his years as a general commanding American troops during World War II, Eisenhower in his domestic role as President of the United States faced a great many changes in American society as the United States was adjusting to its post-World War II years.

And then there were his regrets that he didn’t emphasize enough the need for the United States to pull down its wall of isolation and become a part of the world of great nation states that won World War II — and that he didn’t feel that he had effectively condemned the rhetoric, and the grandstanding of Senator Joseph McCarthy.

What is amazing is how much history has repeated itself as he speaks of the failures of the past and how they speak to the present. Not to mention that some of the same people who were pivotal in the politics of Eisenhower’s day, are still influencing the politics in our present day.

In Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground, Eisenhower is not only at ease at his home in Gettysburg but also with the symbols of his Presidency – a bag of golf clubs and a painting on an easel – representing his Midwest background and moral principals reflecting the American work ethic.

John Rubenstein inhabits Eisenhower as he is speaking to present-day audiences with Eisenhower’s wisdom – moderation – and also the fire in his belly. It is a masterful performance of theatricality, intensity, and passion.

Ironically historians’ judgement of Eisenhower’s Presidential years has changed over the years to describe, and embrace Eisenhower as one of the great American Presidents.

Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground explains why Eisenhower was grounded in his belief in American democracy, and it is a lesson coming from the historical past rather than being a history lesson.

With Rubenstein’s splendid performance as Eisenhower in Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground also provides audiences with a remarkable theatrical experience.

New York, New York

St. James Theatre

July 27, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

The last Broadway season provided a bountiful harvest of new musicals, one of which was New York, New York, inspired by the 1977 movie directed by Martin Scorsese which starred Liza Minelli and Robert de Niro.

This adaptation from screen to stage included the team of John Kander and Fred Ebb providing the music and lyrics, and Lin-Manuel Miranda providing additional lyrics, and David Thompson and Sharon Washington as the book writers – with Susan Stroman in the combined role as director/choreographer.

Catching up with New York, New York during what has proven to be its last week of performances, New York, New York is a nostalgic musical comedy that includes allusions to On The Town, and 42^nd Street – blending and combining to create a new valentine to New York City. As often chocolates are Valentine’s Day presents – not all of the chocolates in the box can be favorites.

New York, New York is set in post-World War II New York City in 1946 – at a time when New York is rebounding from the war years – and the focus is following the multiple stories of a group of musicians, singers, dancers, and composers trying to make it in New York.

Jimmy Doyle (played by Colton Ryan) is a jazz saxophonist, and Francine Evans (played by Anna Uzele), is a pop singer, and this musical focuses on their ambitions and efforts to make it in New York. A romance is kindled, and even though the romance results in marriage, the relationship has its ups and down as Doyle and Evans adjust to each other, and how their careers succeed at different times and create conflict.

Then there are the many threads of subplots that reflect the aspirations of new arrivals in New York including that of the Cuban musician Mateo Diaz (played by Angel Sigala), and violin protégée Alex Mann (played by Oliver Prose), and the mentor relationship he has with his teacher, Madame Veltri (played by Emily Skinner). With some patience one does see how many of these threads are sewn together in the end culminating in this musical’s finale. And despite the ups and downs of the Doyle/Evans relationship, there is a happy ending.

Kander and Ebb wrote several songs for the film version, and for this stage version those songs re-appear along with new songs and trunk songs that provided the patchwork for the score of New York, New York – including the title song, “Happy Endings”, and “But The World Goes ‘Round”, and the repurposed “A Quiet Thing” from Flora The Red Menace, and “Marry Me” from The Rink – more than 20 songs in all. Even the theme in Alex Mann’s violin solos comes from yet another musical, “Sometimes A Day Goes By” from Woman of the Year.

All of this emphasizing that New York, New York is a musical about music.

New York, New York’s cast epitomizes the best of what ensembles should be in a Broadway musical.

Beowulf Boritt’s evocative and authentic scenery designs are a major contribution to New York, New York. There is even an homage to Manhattanhenge.

Susan Stroman’s spot-on choreography enhances New York, New York as does the spectacular finale when the title song is sung by the whole cast, and the orchestra rises out of the orchestra pit.

Although not every part of the whole of what New York, New York is is as good as it could be – it is honest and entertaining.

American Ballet Theatre – Romeo and Juliet

Metropolitan Opera House

July 22, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

American Ballet Theatre closed its Metropolitan Opera House season with Kenneth MacMillan’s production of Romeo and Juliet which has been in the company’s repertoire since 1985. Although the Royal Ballet often performed MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet on its American tours, in a sense American Ballet Theatre has made this production its own over the years.

The performance on July 22^nd, 2023 was an opportunity to see Christine Shevchenko as Juliet, and Thomas Forster as Romeo, who both gave stirring and emotional performances in MacMillan’s grand opera version of this ballet contributing to the heightened drama in MacMillan’s choreography.

MacMillan’s version is the grand manner with a production of opera house size enriched by provocative and opulent designs by Nicholas Georgiadis. The only change that MacMillan made in his version of Romeo and Juliet was providing a solo for Romeo to dance in Act I. But other than that MacMillan tells this well-known story/tragedy of two young lovers succinctly employing the emotional depths of Sergei Prokofiev’s score, and provides a showcase for the style of dramatic dancing that is seemingly becoming a lost art.

In the atmosphere of the two feuding families of Capulet and Montague, Romeo and Juliet meet at a ball being hosted by the Capulets. This encounter sets the tragedy into motion as their reckless behavior is encouraged by Friar Laurence and they conspire together in a plan for them to marry, flee Verona, and pursue a life of their own in spite of the disapproval of their families for such a marriage.

The first act of the ballet is filled with opulence – in the ensemble court dances at the Capulets’ Ball — and the poignancy of the Act I ending Balcony Scene — and from there the emotions let loose and the tragedy unfolds.

MacMillan’s version is a challenge not only for the dancer’s technical abilities but also their acting abilities. One cannot be divorced from the other.

As Juliet, Christine Shevchenko, and as Romeo, Thomas Forster, brought their abilities to the fore in their performances. Shevchenko’s Juliet was youthful and vibrant, while Forster’s Romeo was ardent and a bit melancholy. In the Balcony Scene, Forster as Romeo, literally sweeps Shevchenko off her feet.

Carlos Gonzalez provided equally Mercutio’s humor and vulnerability, and Duncan Lyle’s Tybalt was determined.

American Ballet Theatre, with Romeo and Juliet, ended its Metropolitan Opera House season on a high note.

Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre – One Dance

David Koch Theater

July 20, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

As part of the Korean Arts Week being presented at Lincoln Center, the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre is performing One Dance, a unique collaborative dance effort by three Korean choreographers, at the David Koch Theater from July 20-22, 2023.

A key participant in this presentation, the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theatre was founded in 1974, and is the resident dance company of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. This company of well-trained and express dancers is currently directed by Hyejin Jeong.

One Dance, which had its world premiere in 2022, has been described as a contemporary reinterpretation of Korean traditional dance – employing traditional Korean court ceremonies being modified to allude to contemporary modern dance.

One Dance is divided into four acts with the first – Study of Ilmu – made up of four sections which celebrate civil servants, a tribute to the kings of the Joseon dynasty, and military servants.

Act 2: Study of Gungjungmu, employs, as its foundation, a court dance, which is then reinterpreted through contemporary music – and changes in formation as part of a large group dance. Act 3: Jukmu is a male group dance, and Act 4: Sin-Ilmu consists of an original dance – a contemporary choreographic variation on traditional Korean dance.

The choreography captures the essence of a ceremonial structure as well as stylized movement – and rituals – pictures and colorful images. Ever changing patterns were presented on stage – and all with precision, clarity, and elegance – and also responding to the music – which is primarily percussion. And it also has elements of pageantry and discipline.

The section with only three male dancers exudes, confidence, and pride, and also puts these elements under a microscope – confirming these elements work not only in large groups of dancers but also in the environment of intimacy with only three dancers on the stage.

One Dance is a 70-minute piece that is the collaborative choreographic effort of three different choreographers: Hyejin Jeong, whose expertise is in Korean traditional dance, and Sung Hoon Kim and Jaeduk Kim – both known for their work in Korea in modern dance. Jaeduk Kim, is also the composer of the music for One Dance.

Thirty-nine dancers are involved in One Dance, and the choreography is typified by military drill synchronization – with all of the dancers moving as one – performed in a space with minimal design.

One Dance is an example of how the subtle, and the spectacular can be mixed together resulting in an intriguing dance piece which is enhanced by a unique theatricality.

Also in conjunction with the Korean Arts Week, there is a contemporary art installation, Discovery: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea, being presented on the Rink Level of Rockefeller Center.

Sweeney Todd

Lunt-Fontanne Theatre

July 14, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

There had been nearly as many musical revivals this last season as new musicals, and many of these revivals were musicals that had creative teams comprised of Broadway musical masters.

Notable among these revivals was the revival of Stephen Sondheim’s epic and grand, Sweeney Todd, with a book by Hugh Wheeler, and based on an adaptation by Christopher Bond, which is being performed nightly at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

In this new production of Sweeney Todd, directed by Thomas Kail, an important component is the luxury of employing Jonathan Tunick’s full orchestration — and the new atmospheric scenery designs by Mimi Lien, costume designs by Emilio Sosa, and lighting design by Natasha Katz. But this revival is also performed by an extraordinary cast of Broadway veterans who bring Sondheim’s masterpiece to life.

Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd premiered on Broadway in 1979, and there have been subsequent chamber-size revivals presented on Broadway including the John Doyle-directed version in 2005 – and the New York City Opera has also performed Sweeney Todd as recently as 2004. All of these productions included star-studded performances in the title role, and also as Todd’s partner-in-crime, Mrs. Lovett.

In this adaptation of Sweeney Todd’s tale, Todd returns to Victorian London, in 1846, after 15 years in exile in Australia. His intention is to seek vengeance against Judge Turpin, who sent him away to be exiled on a trumped-up charge – and who also became the guardian of Todd’s daughter, Johanna, who is also the object of Turpin’s affection. And Todd – aka as Benjamin Barker – has a checkered past of his own.

Within a short time after his arrival in London, Todd forms a relationship with Mrs. Lovett – an unhinged owner of a failing pie shop — and they develop a scheme to seek Todd’s revenge.

Characters appear and disappear as in a Dickens’ novel all of whom have had prior connections with Todd in his previous life – and as the mystery of Todd unravels, the plotting and the planning bring out the best and the worst in Todd and Mrs. Lovett, who form an unconventional partnership.

Sondheim tells Todd’s saga in an operatic form and structure, and there are notable “arias” that are scattered throughout the score that not only fully describe the many people that Todd encounters but also thread their way through the narrative. Also Sondheim’s music is, once again, enhanced by Tunick’s orchestration, and the not to be missed opportunity to hear Sondheim’s music in the grand manner.

It cannot go unnoticed that this revival is a vehicle for recording star Josh Groban who inhabits the title role – and has his own interpretation of the title role. His frustration in not being successful – at first – in wreaking his revenge is not only apparent in his singing but also in his body language – but at the same time there is a distance that pervades Groban’s interpretation of Sweeney Todd – until this musical’s climax when Todd’s life falls apart yet again.

In perfect counterpoint is Annaleigh Ashford, as Mrs. Lovett, who is a shrewd comedienne and is a master of sharp comic timing.

But there is a host of other interesting characters including Anthony Hope (sympathetically played by Daniel Yearwood), Tobias played by Gaten Matarazzo, who becomes Mrs. Lovett’s protector, the evil Judge Turpin played by Jamie Jackson, and the snake oil salesman, Pirelli, played in a clever over the top manner by Nicholas Christopher, as well as Maria Bilbao as the frenetic Johanna, and Ruthie Ann Miles as the Beggar Woman, who all reveal themselves as significant people in Todd’s life. And it is a luxury of riches to be able to hear and see these actors in these roles.

Kail’s direction emphasizes the eerie, grotesque and gloomy elements in Todd’s story, and has guided the actors in an ensemble effort. Sondheim’s music is mystifying, enchanting, and hypnotic – bringing out the natures of the characters, who are tormented souls.

This revival of Sweeney Todd is what musical theatre should be – absolutely thrilling!

American Ballet Theatre – Swan Lake

Metropolitan Opera House

July 11, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Kevin McKenzie’s production of Swan Lake has now been in American Ballet Theatre’s active repertoire since 2000, and is frequently performed during the company’s Metropolitan Opera House seasons. It is the 19^th century ballet that the company is best known for having had a full-length production of Swan Lake in its active repertoire since 1967. The ballet also provides the opportunity to see the company’s seasoned principal dancers, and those debuting, in this challenging ballet.

McKenzie’s Swan Lake is knitted together in two parts with only one intermission which serves the dual purpose of reducing the running time and also focusing in on the story at hand. The core of the ballet’s story is about Odette, a princess who is cursed by von Rothbart to live her life as a swan and only emerging into human form at night. Siegfried, who is being pressured to get married, and assume his kingly duties, has a chance meeting with Odette at a lakeside. Upon explaining her predicament to Siegfried, he vows true love to her.

At the palace Siegfried must choose among the prospective brides that have travelled from afar, but does not find Odette among them – at least until von Rothbart arrives on the scene with his daughter Odile, disguised as Odette. Odile enchants and tricks Siegfried into thinking that she is Odette, and gets him to betray his vow of love to Odette. In despair Siegfried finds his way back to the lakeside where he encounters a distraught Odette who is aware that Siegfried has betrayed her. The only way they can break von Rothbart’s spell and be together, is by jumping into the lake, leading to their deaths.

This tragic is danced to one of Tchaikovsky’s beautiful ballet scores – actually his first – which includes themes that enhance this tale’s impact.

At this performance the pairing of principals was a combination of a seasoned artist being partnered by an artist with natural gifts who is still learning what the ballet, and his role in it, is about. Hee Seo essayed the dual role of Odette/Odile, and Aran Bell danced the role of Prince Siegfried.

Seo was appropriately poetic in the White Acts, and subtly seduced Siegfried in the Ballroom Scene. Bell was a youthful Siegfried – and devil may care – but is shattered emotionally by the tragedy he has caused. They both danced with preciseness and clarity in the show-stopping Black Swan Pas de Deux.

McKenzie’s production of Swan Lake uniquely has two different dancers portraying the evil von Rothbart – a monstrous creature at the lakeside danced by Cy Doherty, and the sophisticated seducer played by Joo Won Ahn who as von Rothbart dances to the Russian Dance in the Ballroom Scene in an attempt not only to seduce Siegfried’s prospective brides but also the Queen Mother.

Also any performance of Swan Lake is the sum of its parts and notable were Carlos Gonzalez as Benno, partnering Zimmi Coker, and Breanna Granlund in the Act I Pas de Trois, and Luigi Crispino and Tyler Maloney in the Neapolitan Dance – one of four national dances that was danced in a spirited manner.

Of course American Ballet Theatre’s corps de ballet of Swans rose to the occasion throughout the lakeside scenes.

There is a reason why American Ballet Theatre performs Swan Lake annually during its New York seasons, and rewards the audience accordingly.

American Ballet Theatre – Giselle

July 5, 2023

Metropolitan Opera House

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

American Ballet Theatre has consistently kept the 19^th century classic, Giselle, in its active repertoire for many decades. Last performed by American Ballet Theatre at the David Koch Theater in 2021, the company has brought back this ballet in all of its glory during this Metropolitan Opera House season with its production given a new infusion of energy and style.

American Ballet Theatre has been dancing Kevin McKenzie’s production of Giselle since 1995, and as a production of a 19^th century classic, it adheres to the original as much as possible, re-telling the story inspired by Heinrich Heine as adapted by Theophile Gautier.

The story of Giselle is a story of love and betrayal – and redemption. Count Albrecht forms an attachment to a local peasant girl, Giselle, but to do so he disguises himself as a peasant living in Giselle’s village. In fact, Count Albrecht’s servant, Wilfred (played by Luis Ribagorda) tries to dissuade Albrecht from moving forward with the ruse – to no avail. An admirer of Giselle, Hilarion, a humble gamekeeper, discovers and reveals Albrecht’s deception, and betrayed and in ill-health, Giselle descends into madness and dies.

The second act of Giselle, besides being a display of Romantic style choreography and dancing, is where Albrecht fulfills his redemption. Upon visiting Giselle’s grave, Giselle’s spirit appears to protect him from the vengeful Wilis, who have been jilted by men, and who kill them. It is only the woeful Hilarion who is killed, as Giselle protects Albrecht from the Queen of the Wilis’ power and lust for revenge, and is redeemed.

The ballet itself is a test of the dancers portraying the title role and Albrecht to master the Romantic style, and the virtuoso moments that also spark the ballet’s conflicts and drama.

Skylar Brandt portrayed Giselle as a genuine innocent – not reckless but with good intentions. Although Giselle’s mother relates – through mime – the tale of the curse of the Wilis, Giselle does not heed that warning which results in tragedy. But Brandt sincerely interprets Giselle’s denial and her love for what and whom she believes Albrecht to be. That is conveyed in her acting and in her dancing. She particularly blossomed in the second act of the ballet portraying Giselle’s spirit.

Herman Cornejo as Albrecht brought to bear his experience in the role, and his Albrecht is a traditional and old school interpretation. He is an aristocrat and does profess a true love for Giselle despite his deception. He brought a strong presence to the role throughout the ballet and explicitly portrayed the required dramatic arc as Albrecht searches for and succeeds in getting Giselle’s redemption.

Both Brandt and Cornejo as dancers were clear and precise in their dancing which contributed to the tragedy reaching its zenith at the appropriate time.

As portrayed by Andrii Ishchuk, Hilarion was a strong and persistent rival for Giselle’s affections and showed bravery when confronted by the Queen of the Wilis.

Also notable were Zimmi Coker and Jake Roxander for their classical refinement in the Peasant Pas de Deux, a divertissement pas de deux in Act I which is virtuoso and stylish in nature but even despite that the fact that it was inserted into the ballet, the pair of dancers represent the happy couple in love in the ballet in contrast to the tragic ending of the relationship between Giselle and Albrecht. They provide one of the few moments of pure dancing in Act I, but also represent a foreboding of what may or may not happen at the end of the ballet.

Chloe Misseldine was a commanding Queen of the Wilis – fully in control of her realm until Giselle’s spirit under minds her authority.

But, also, as in other performance of Giselle, the corps de ballet emerges as a star and that was not only in the ensemble dances in Act I but also as the Wilis in Act II.

Currently American Ballet Theatre is at the top of its game in its performance of this venerated 19^th century classic.

Like Water for Chocolate

Metropolitan Opera House

June 28, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Christopher Wheeldon’s Like Water for Chocolate was given its world premiere by the Royal Ballet in 2022, and is being presented by American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House as a co-production with the Royal Ballet — giving the ballet its East Coast premiere.

Like Water for Chocolate is a 3-act ballet based on Mexican writer Laura Esquivel’s novel which was published in 1989, and was adapted into a successful film in 1992. An important facet of this ballet adaptation was Esquivel’s participation as a collaborator in this ballet as its librettist.

The complicated plot focuses on the love affair of Tita and Pedro with the theme of food as an important ingredient, and set against the chaos of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, flashbacks of past relationships, and flash forwards of weddings, the birth of babies, deaths, and meandering and lurking ghosts.

Tita, the youngest daughter of the De la Garza household, is in love with Pedro, son of a neighboring ranchero – but family tradition prevents their marriage as Tita is obligated to care for her mother in her old age. As Mama Elena, Tita’s mother, disapproves of the match, she manipulates Pedro into accepting marriage to Tita’s sister, Rosaura, which he rationalizes in order to be close to Tita.

As marrying Pedro is out of the question, Tita develops a romance with Dr. Brown, a family physician, but she ultimately breaks the engagement. When Pedro’s wife dies, Tita and Pedro are united – finally but only after Pedro’s daughter is married to Dr. Brown’s son – providing one of the few happy endings in this story.

Throughout Like Water for Chocolate, it is Mama Elena, patriarch of the Dela Garza family, who sets these passions into motion – along with other sub-lots – even manipulating the family members from the grave as a ghost – and also reveals herself and her own insecurities when the content of her diary is read after her death. But Tita’s love for cooking provides her with the optimism to survive the many calamities that befall her.

Certainly any choreographer would be challenged by this complicated and often muddled story. Christopher Wheeldon works with a familiar team of collaborators including Joby Talbot, who has composed the score which includes guitars, percussion and Mexican instruments. With another one of Wheeldon’s frequent collaborators, Bob Crowley, designing the elaborate and epic scenery designs which are inspired by Mexican architect Luis Barragan, and also enhanced by Luke Halls’ video design.

Much of the ballet’s choreography is the tool for a great deal of exposition but there are divertissements and non-narrative sections as well.  The characters move in and out of the narrative scenes at length, and the abstract ones, and it is the abstract moments in this ballet in which Wheeldon seems more comfortable as a choreographer. The choreographic vocabulary is a mix of contemporary ballet and modern dance – and repetition for emphasis.

The ballet’s climax, which is the impassioned pas de deux danced by Tita and Pedro, represents Wheeldon’s best choreography in the ballet. During this pas de deux, there is the introduction of a song performed by soprano Maria Brea, and ends with a scenic coup de theatre.

More than anything else an excellent cast brings Wheeldon’s vision, and Esquivel’s story, to life with fervent performances by Devon Teuscher as Tita, and Joo Won Ahn as Pedro, and equally passionate and vividly fulfilled performances by Zhong-Jing Fang as Mama Elena, Betsy McBride as Rosaura, and Jarod Curley as Dr. John Brown. The dancers draw their characters not only in their dancing but also in the dramatic images that they create through their acting skills.

Creating a narrative ballet on this scale and with such a complicated and mystical tale to tell may not have all of the elements that make for a compelling and memorable ballet. Unfortunately Like Water for Chocolate does not fulfill its ambitions. However it does make for a showcase for the talents of American Ballet Theatre’s dancers.

The Light in the Piazza

City Center

June 24, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Closing its current season, City Center Encores presented a concert adaptation of the musical, The Light in the Piazza, from June 21-25, 2023 which featured a tour de force performance by Ruthie Ann Miles in the role of Margaret Johnson – leading a stellar cast who gave equally memorable performances.

With a breakthrough score by composer Adam Guettel, book by Craig Lucas, and direction by Bartlett Sher, The Light in the Piazza had its New York premiere in 2005 at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater.

Based on the novella, The Light in the Piazza, by Elizabeth Spencer, which was published in 1960, this musical which describes the experiences of Margaret Johnson, a middle-aged Southerner, who is chaperoning her daughter Clara on a tour of Italy during the summer of 1953. Clara has her own challenges as she suffered an injury from an accident at one of her birthday parties in her younger years which had already hindered her development as a normal child or as Johnson describes her, a special child.

Johnson, while being over protective of her daughter, still cannot prevent a relationship blooming between Clara and a local young Italian, Fabrizio Naccarelli, who does not speak much English but accepts Clara’s immaturity — and Clara is also embraced by the entire Naccarelli family which make up the proud proprietors of a tie shop.

A Light in the Piazza could degenerate into a cliché about ugly Americans invading Europe. However the time period of the story is an important moment for Europe, in general, as it began to rise like a phoenix after the devastation of World War II – also at a time when Americans were attracted back to Europe spending tourist dollars in that part of the world. Also as the story in The Light in the Piazza unfolds it is revealed that Margaret Johnson, and her husband Roy spent their honeymoon in Italy before World War II. Perhaps foreshadowing what will be their child’s experience in the future.

The score and the heightened emotions reach operatic heights when Johnson doubts her daughter’s relationship, and even her own with her husband – but despite those doubts Johnson eventually comes to terms with her daughter’s wishes. Her daughter’s dreams are more important than her own.

Concisely and subtlety directed by Chay Yew, this concert adaptation of The Light in the Piazza focuses on the story being told and its characters in an intimate manner – and reminds one how significant The Light in the Piazza is – with a fable worthy of being told – and is told employing the medium of music. This production makes it known how the rhythms and pulses in Guettel’s music underscore and propel Craig Lucas’ adaptation of Spender’s novella.

However Yew’s major contribution in terms of interpretating The Light in the Piazza was making it a story about a family with Korean roots – yet also an American mother and an American daughter — experiencing a foreign country for the first time, and that delicate tightrope walk is accomplished without any changes in The Light the Piazza’s score, lyrics, or book dialogue.

The minimal but suggestive designs by Clint Ramos and Miguel Urbino superbly set the scene.

Besides the involving narrative, The Light in the Piazza is a jumping off point for towering performances as it did in the original production when Victoria Clark essayed the role of Margaret Johnson.

In this production it was Ruthie Ann Miles who reached the heights in this role. It was a soaring, and triumphant performance that climaxed with her emotional interpretation of “Fable” but was also filled with nuance and subtlety at the same time – particularly apparent in her ironic reactions to where the story took place, and how the story evolved.

Anna Zavelson was empathetic and blossoming as Clara, and James D. Gish was romantically enthralling as Clara’s suitor, Fabrizio Naccarelli.  There were also excellent performances by Shereen Ahmed as Franca Naccarelli, Andrea Burns as Signora Naccarelli, and Ivan Hernandez as Signor Naccarelli. Also effective in the small role of Roy Johnson was Michael Hayden.

The orchestrations by Ted Sperling, Adam Guettel, and Bruce Coughlin were brought to life by the inspired City Center Encores Orchestra under the expert guidance of Rob Berman.

There was a moving immediacy in the City Center Encores presentation of The Light in the Piazza, and I hope that it will be possible, in some way, for more audiences to experience this very special musical – and this emotionally stirring production.

Kimberly Akimbo

Booth Theatre

June 6, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Fortunately I have recently been able to catch up with one of the much-praised musicals of this past season, Kimberly Akimbo, which tells a unique story – and in a unique manner. With music by Jeanine Tesori, and lyrics and book by David Lindsay-Abaire, based on Lindsay-Abaire’s play, Kimberly Akimbo, is a charming and sentimental theatrical experience as one observes an optimistic personage, her friends, and her family evolving before your eyes.

Set in 1999, most notably before kids had cell phones, in Bergen County, New Jersey, Kimberly is a fifteen-year-old going on sixteen who suffers from an aging condition which makes her look like she is 72 years-old. However she uses her condition to advantage even though her life may be shorter than expected — and coping with the usual coming of age experiences of a teenager but doing so in the body of an adult before her time.

Kimberly (played by Victoria Clark), in spite of her living with her disease, bonds with her friends Delia (played by Olivia Elease hardy), Martin (played by Fernell Hogan), Teresa (played by Nina White), and Aaron (played Michael Iskander) – and develops a special friendship with Seth (played by Justin Cooley) who is part of this out of sync group – with one of his special interests being creating and solving anagrams – hence the title of this musical, Kimberly Akimbo.

And all the while she is facing other challenges including her relationships with her alcoholic father Buddy (played by Steven Boyer), her indifferent mother Pattie (played by Alli Mauzey) and her scheming aunt, Debra (played by Bonnie Milligan) – a family with lots of secrets, and a family that cannot be mended.

And what a quirky – and sometimes honest – group of people they are!

The score by Tesori and Lindsay-Abaire serves the story well in reflecting Kimberly’s emotional ups and downs, and drawing the characters of Kimberly’s friends and family.  The enthusiastic and optimistic finale that is the culminating moment in this musical, “Great Adventure” is the key to what Kimberly Akimbo is about. Kimberly wants to see the world, and experience adventures knowing life will be shorter for her because of her disease, and everyone is persuaded to go along for the ride.

Director Jessica Stone gives all of the characters a meaningful place in this story – and in so doing they become the effective story tellers that they are.

Victoria Clark gives a stupendous and winning performance in the title role, which is matched by Justin Cooley as Seth, Steven Boyer as Buddy, Alli Mauzey as Pattie, and Bonnie Milligan as Debra. These wonderful performers light up the Booth Theatre.

Kimberly’s optimism, in contrast with the unpredictable world around her, means that a little optimism and confidence goes a long way – and we need a bit of that optimism ourselves. And in experiencing a performance of Kimberly Akimbo, you can join Kimberly, her friends, and her family in a great adventure.

Being Mr. Wickham

59E59 Theaters

May 27, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

From May 25 through June 11, 2023, the 59E59 Theaters Brits Off-Broadway Festival is presenting the Original Theatre’s production of Being Mr. Wickham.

Written by Adrian Lukis and Catherine Curzon, Being Mr. Wickham showcases British actor Adrian Lukis, who starred in the well-received BBC television miniseries adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and returns to that role to let the audience in on what happened to Mr. Wickham after he runs off with Lydia Bennet, and is ultimately compelled to marry her.

I am sure you may have wanted to spend some time with one of your favorite characters in your favorite book. Being Mr. Wickham allows one to experience that bit of fantasy, as you are able to have a one-way conversation with that character in a small and intimate theater setting. There is Mr. Wickham sitting in his drawing room, having a glass of sherry, and revealing his innermost thoughts about how he felt about his intimate friends and family associations from his childhood relationships with Darcy, his relationship with Darcy’s father, his childhood education, and then Darcy denying him his rightful legacy to have the living of a clergyman – yet at the same time admitting that he squandered what inheritance Darcy provided for him – 3000 pounds – only having the option to join the military.

A friendship with his comrade in arms, Denny, and seeing the death and destruction at Waterloo did not entirely change his character but had some impact. And Wickham continues to name-drop – including Lord Byron – and brag about his amorous adventures. Also through his family connections with Darcy making it possible for his own children to enjoy the company of their cousins.

Now on the eve of his sixtieth birthday, Mr. Wickham, the roguish and infamous villain of Pride and Prejudice, is here to testify on his own behalf trying to repair his reputation. Appropriately costumed, Mr. Lukis as Mr. Wickham, catches us up about what had happened in those thirty years after he married Lydia Bennet – and his rationalizations about important issues left unresolved in Austen’s novel.

Among them was what was really Wickham’s dispute with Darcy, what were his feelings for Elizabeth Bennet as just a flirtation – and was it the same with Darcy’s sister, Georgiana – and also what seems to have been a good marriage with Lydia Bennet. He comes to terms with his mistakes and misfortunes, and still seems to be having a good life.

Under the direction of Guy Unsworth, the story of Mr. Wickham is told a bit like a ghost from the past, but totally in tune with Austen’s novel.

Lukis lives and breathes Mr. Wickham, as a Mr. Wickham who is trying to persuade and convince those interested that Mr. Wickham was not that villain in Pride and Prejudice. In any case it is worth the time to find out the truth, and also enjoy Lukis being that roguish character.

Peter Pan Goes Wrong

Ethel Barrymore Theatre

May 25, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

There haven’t been very many comedies that opened on Broadway during this past season, and it is definitely welcome that Peter Pan Goes Wrong, by the creative team who brought The Play Goes Wrong to Broadway, is adding hilarity to the season. This is the same group of co-writers, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields, who are re-introducing us to the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, a group of well-intentioned, and sincere, but an inept and daft company of undisciplined, and inexperienced actors.

This time these amateur players are presenting their own version of J.M. Barrie’s famous play, Peter Pan, dating back to 1904 — about the boy who wouldn’t grow up – and being performed by these amateur players who battle all of their own self-created disasters and demons as they are as much the adults who wouldn’t grow up themselves.

Under the precise and clock-work direction of Adam Meggido, Peter Pan Goes Wrong was first seen in London’s West End in 2015, and is now playing a limited engagement at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre until July 23^rd, 2023.

With the flavor of Monty Python, and British farce – and a bit of Christmas pantomime – this version of Peter Pan is filled with color, and comedy – reinforced with excellent comic timing and physical humor – telling this story as these actors battle costume malfunctions, and scenery falling everywhere else but where it is needed. The antics on the stage includes an out-of-control turntable set, quick costume changes, an actor getting his lines through a pair of oversized headphones, a hapless narrator, and a lot of fairy dust. And at times in need of a paramedic on call.

Characters talk to the audience breaking the fourth wall, and audience members find themselves participating in the hysterics making suggestions to characters as to how they can get out of the jams they have created for themselves, as well as technical problems during the performance – and offering support or lack of support to the actors playing the principal parts. And somehow it still results in happily ever after – but it isn’t the end result but the comic journey to that end where we can enjoy the camaraderie of the actors and technicians alike. And Simon Scullion’s scenic designs are a character unto itself.

Participating in this non-stop farce are, co-writers Henry Lewis as Robert, Jonathan Sayer as Dennis, who are back again, and understudy Stephen James Anthony as Chris along with their cohorts Matthew Cavendish as Max, Bianca Horn as Gill, Harry Kershaw as Francis, Chris Leask as Trevor, Ellie Morris as Lucy, Charlie Russell as Sandra, Greg Tannahill as Jonathan, and Nancy Zamit as Annie who are comic warriors.

Best to check reality at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre’s door, and be open to the antics on the stage – and watching masters of comic timing and physical comedy at work. Join the hilarity in Peter Goes Wrong – we need the laughter – and it is unlike any other production of Peter Pan you might ever see.

Camelot

Vivian Beaumont Theater

May 20, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

The Lincoln Center Theater is currently presenting its long-anticipated revival of Camelot at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre – after opening on April 13, 2023. In spite of some flaws, it is a revival worthy of attention.

With music by Frederick Loewe, and lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner, Camelot hasn’t been too far from Broadway since its premiere in 1960 with Richard Burton starring as King Arthur, Julie Andrews as Guenevere, and Robert Goulet as Sir Lancelot. Although not deemed the success that Lerner and Loewe had with My Fair Lady, it ran for 873 performances on Broadway, successfully toured, and has reappeared in touring revivals – once at Lincoln Center’s David Koch Theater with Richard Burton recreating the role of King Arthur, and a concert version by the New York Philharmonic starring Gabriel Byrne. Revivals on Broadway in the past have starred Richard Harris and Robert Goulet – Camelot’s original Lancelot.

Camelot is based on T.H. White’s book, The Once and Future King, depicting a young but legendary King Arthur anticipating the meeting with his arranged for bride, Guenevere, a princess from France. This man-child Arthur also seeks assurances and knowledge from his mentor, Merlyn, who has the ability to see into the future. In an effort to make it known that he would use his power for good, Arthur brings together knights to fight for his idealistic goals – anointing them the Knights of the Round Table. However, one of his knights, Lancelot, betrays him.

Back in 1972 I attended a performance of London Festival Ballet’s new production of Swan Lake, which like many other productions of Swan Lake before then, and after, have placed the setting of Swan Lake in a mythical and medieval kingdom. Notable about this production of Swan Lake were the designs created by John Truscott, who had also designed the London production of Camelot only a few years before. And notably there was a meshing of time, place and sentiment that would have been appropriate for Swan Lake, and Camelot. Both take place in the Middle Ages but not year specific.

Camelot premiered on Broadway after nations survived another world war and there was some optimism with the formation of the United Nations that such wars might be prevented in the future. That optimism has evolved into cynicism as we have entered the 21^st century, and the question is whether Camelot is a concept from the 20^th century or whether it can be adapted for a more 21^st century cynical point of view. This view point is the definition of presentism in which we apply present-day experiences and attitudes to those of the past.

Under the directorial helm of Bartlett Sher, who has directed successful revivals of South Pacific, My Fair Lady, and The King and I for the Lincoln Center Theater, this revival of Camelot has been revised to appeal to 21^st century audiences with a new book adaptation by Aaron Sorkin. There are new definitions about the relationships between the principal characters which are skewed.

Although the power of good makes right is still the focus of this revival of Camelot, Guenevere is presented much more as a modern woman, and the evil character of Morgan Le Fey, has been transformed into a scientist – who promulgates how science will be more influential in the future than any other phenomenon. There is also the wrestling with human nature which responds positively to fear.

However Lerner and Loewe’s score shines being played by a full orchestra, and one hears the gems that are in the score including this musical’s title song, and the romantic ballad, “If Ever I Would Leave You”, and there are wonderful performances by all of the actors from the principal roles to the supporting roles.

At the performance I attended understudy Fergie Philippe assayed the role of King Arthur. During the course of this musical he does succeed in creating a dramatic arc as he grows up from a young man to a more mature man facing his responsibilities as a king, and real problems that need to be solved.  Phillipa Soo as Guinevere succeeds in fulfilling the new concept of Guenevere being a modern woman as she wishes to break out of the prison that can be created in an arranged marriage. Jordan Donica makes for a dashing romantic hero as Lancelot.

Also notable was Dakin Matthews in the dual role of Merlyn, and the doddering and absent-minded Pellinore portraying both with perfect comic timing, and Taylor Trensch as the child-like and villainous Morderd.

Missing from this revival of Camelot is the round table that is aspired to, and not physically represented on the stage. This revival seems to be square peg in a round hole – with the squared-off edges of the table not rounded off. However Camelot is a musical worth reviving – and especially to experience the entrancing Lerner and Loewe score.

“Women’s Voices” A Salon and Dance Concert

Martha Graham Dance Center

May 14, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Danse Lumiere, under the direction of San Francisco-based choreographer Kathryn Roszak since its founding in 1995, presented a program of dance entitled “Women’s Voices” at the Martha Graham Dance Center on May 14, 2023.

Beginning with a three-way conversation on women as choreographers and visual artists the panel included Kathryn Roszak, choreographer Gianna Reisen of the New York City Ballet, and visual artist Anna Sidana. The question asked was why there weren’t more women’s voices in these fields, and each participant had different perspectives why this issue has not yet been resolved. Yet in spite of the problems, and barriers, there was some agreement that women in the arts were gaining respect for their endeavors and there is optimism for the future.

What followed were four works – including two world premieres – that represented a diversity in styles, and voices by women choreographers.

Opening the program was the world premiere of a solo dance work, Dawn, which was choreographed and danced by Aoi Sato, a former member of the Martha Graham Dance Company. Choreographed to music composed by Oliver Davis, Sato responded to the shifting moods in the music with subtle contrasts in the first half of the piece, and joy and enthusiasm in the second half of the piece. Sato’s performance as a dancer reflected these moods in her execution of choreography that was modern in its vocabulary.

Following was an excerpted duet from Gianna Reisen’s Signs, choreographed to Philip Glass’ Six Etudes for Piano, and danced by Grace Scheffel and Charlie Klesa, students of the School of American Ballet. Reisen’s piece explored the signs of a relationship devolving – including possible violence – and the changes in how this couple felt about each other. Even in this short excerpt Reisen made a definitive statement.

Two Roszak’s own works were included in this dance program. The first of which was the world premiere of Contretemps, a solo work choreographed to music by Arnold Schoenberg, and Peeter Vaehi, in which Tiit Helimets, former principal dancer of the San Francisco Ballet, transforms himself portraying Leonardo da Vinci, Dr. Pozzi from John Singer Sargent’s painting of this enigmatic gentleman, and a contemporary man. Helimets inhabits these transformations in Roszak’s modern dance choreography with clever use of hand movements which help to define these characters.

Roszak’s second work, Undercurrent, choreographed to Ned Rorem’s Lions, was a work for four dancers — Rayan Lecurieux-Durival, Jared Stern, Gwen Ontiveros, and Aoi Sato — revealing abstract characters but yet are involved in clear, and complicated entanglements with each other. Roszak developed a specific choreography vocabulary to express the conflicts among these abstract characters.

As a result of presenting these works by women choreographers, there was the opportunity for these choreographers to tell their stories, and from their own perspective.

City Center Encores – Oliver!

City Center

May 6, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

City Center Encores has rarely presented British musicals in its series, and therefore it was a surprise that among this season’s presentations would be a concert adaptation of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! Also, this second offering during this City Center Encores season is being performed for two weeks from May 3-13, 2023.

After a very successful London premiere, Oliver! opened on Broadway in 1963 for what was a relatively short initial engagement of 174 performances – then going on national tour and returning to Broadway for another 64 performances. Oliver! was adapted into a hugely successful film, but hasn’t been seen on Broadway since a short-lived revival premiered in 1984 starring Ron Moody and Patti LuPone.

My own history with Oliver! is that I did see the original Broadway production with Clive Revill and Georgia Brown, as well as the ill-fated Broadway revival with Moody and LuPone, and a successful London revival in 1979 with George Layton and Helen Shapiro. But most would be familiar with Oliver! in its film version which starred Ron Moody and Shani Wallis. Oliver! hasn’t graced a Broadway stage in decades.

Oliver!  is Lionel Bart’s legendary musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist that has a score that is not only hummable but also enchants even as Dickens’ tale is less than savory. Dickens’ novels not only told stories that unraveled like mysteries, but they were diaries of life in Britain’s Victorian Age, and Britain’s coming of age during the Industrial Revolution. Bleak times!

Bart’s score is not like a conventional Broadway musical but much more influenced by the popular songs, and turns that would be presented in a British music hall. Yet Bart’s score has included many songs that have become musical standards. Deborah Stein’s concert adaptation of Oliver! is true to Bart’s intentions, and that is the shining aspect of City Center Encores’ production of this heart-warming musical.

Bart’s adaptation of Oliver Twist! focuses on Fagin (played by Raul Esparza) who is a king of thieves on the London streets, and recruits urchins to do his dirty work as pick-pockets – among them the Artful Dodger (played by Julian Lerner), and Oliver Twist (played by Benjamin Pajak). One of Fagin’s cohorts is the evil Bill Sykes (played by Tam Mutu), who is abusive towards his girlfriend, Nancy (played by Lili Cooper), whose softer side leads to Oliver being recovered by his family.

The plot’s twists and turns are typical of a Dickens’ novel with characters appearing, falling into the shadows, and reappearing in time to have a major impact on Oliver’s future. And along the way there are the wonderful songs including “As Long As He Needs Me”, “Consider Yourself”, “I’ll Do Anything”, and more. The music is under the capable and enthusiastic direction of Mary-Mitchell Campbell, and invigorated by Lorin Latarro’s roustabout-like choreography.

Besides the aforementioned cast in the principal roles, there was the wonderful Brad Oscar in the supporting role of Mr. Bumble, and Mary Testa as Widow Corney. Throughout a luxury of casting.

Under the sharp direction of Lear de Bessonet, Dickens’ tale comes to life in what is a depiction of the underbelly of Victorian England, and enlivened in having the score played by a large orchestra.

After seeing the City Center Encores production of Oliver! one questions why Oliver! has taken so long to be performed again on a New York stage. Hopefully this stellar production will have a life after this City Center engagement.

Cecil Beaton’s Diaries

59E59 Theaters
May 5, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

The 59E59 Theaters Brits Off Broadway Festival is offering unique one-man shows. One of them being Cecil Beaton’s Diaries, an adaptation of Beaton’s diaries by Richard Stirling, produced by Evergreen Theatrical Productions. Stirling is also taking on the role of Beaton himself, and this lively and lively intimate portrait of this intriguing personage can be seen from May 2-21, 2023.

Beaton’s diaries have been published, and have been described as both notorious and full of fascinating stories about Beaton’s career as a fashion, portrait, and war photographer, and costume and scenery designer both for the stage and film. He was a renaissance man of his time, and known to people who were fabulous and famous.

Beaton’s diaries were written from 1922 through 1974, and in Cecil Beaton’s Diaries, Stirling distills those diaries, and brings Beaton to life as a person, and social commentator – with an ample infusion of gossip.

As Cecil Beaton, Stirling begins his story at the time when Beaton is recovering from a stroke and tells his “story” in flash backs – with barbs and vignettes about his experiences.

Cecil Beaton was born to an affluent family, and rather than pursuing his education, he turned to photography as a profession establishing himself first in Great Britain, and early in his career at Vogue in New York. On a trip to Venice, he presented his ballet designs to the great Serge Diaghilev only to be rejected.

In 1937 he became Court Photographer to the British Royal Family, and was also employed by Britain’s Ministry of Information which took him to India and China during World War II.

Along the way in telling his story, Beaton drops the names of his intimate friends (Olivier Messel, Rex Whistler, and Noel Coward) and his frenemies – particularly with harsh words for Evelyn Waugh.

Beaton also opines about the loss of his brother, experiencing London during the blitz, and his relationship with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. He particularly notes being fired by Conde Nast when antisemitic words were found hidden in one of his drawings.

Although he developed an attachment to Greta Garbo, he saved his negative comments for Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, and Elizabeth Taylor – and distinctly negative thoughts about Katherine Hepburn when designing costumes for her in the Broadway musical, Coco.

Among the many people he photographed included Truman Capote, who commented that, “He gathers enemies the way other people gather roses.”

Beaton also was honored for his film designs for My Fair Lady, Gigi, and On A Clear You Can See Forever, and he also designed Frederick Ashton’s ballet, Marguerite and Armand. He won two Academy Awards – and many other awards – and he was knighted in 1972.

Stirling inhabits Beaton, and gets under the skin of Beaton without impersonating him, and embraces Beaton’s life with empathy. It is a perfect match of actor and what is now the historical figure he is portraying – and between Stirling and Beaton you have two excellent storytellers.

Beaton’s Diaries is mostly about Beaton’s memories and remembrances, and one of Beaton’s quotes about himself is apt, “Perhaps the world’s second-worst crime is boredom. The first is being a bore.”

However, Beaton was not a bore, and this marvelous solo show, Cecil Beaton’s Diaries is definitely not a bore either – it is aptly entertaining and informative about Beaton, the person and his persona!

The Habit of Art

59E59 Theaters
May 2, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

The 59E59 Theaters is back hosting its Brits Off-Broadway Festival, and one of its presentations is the Original Theater Company’s production of Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art. The Habit of Art was written by the same Alan Bennett who wrote the very successful plays, The Madness of George III, and The History Boys.

In 2009 the National Theatre presented the premiere of The Habit of Art, and just before the Covid-19 closures in the UK, the Original Theatre Company presented its own revival of Bennett’s play that was intended to be toured in the UK.

From April 29 thru May 28, 2023, one can see the American premiere of Bennett’s play in a new production stylishly and cleverly directed by Philip Franks.

The Habit of Art is set in a cluttered and shabby rehearsal room, where a company of actors is rehearsing a new play, Caliban’s Day. Therefore, The Habit of Art is presented as a play within a play with actors Fitz, Henry, Tim, and Donald, rehearsing a play which makes references to Shakespeare’s The Tempest. With their director not able to be present, the play’s run-through is overseen by the stage manager Kay (played by Veronica Roberts).

Auden and Britten had left England before World War II to pursue their artistic journeys in New York. Upon returning to England in 1942, their friendship ended abruptly.

And what is Caliban’s Day about. Circa 1972 there is a fictious meeting in the rooms of W.H. Auden (played by Matthew Kelly) at Oxford between Auden, in his later years, and composer Benjamin Britten (played by Stephen Boxer). Britten is auditioning boys for his new opera, Death in Venice, and arrives unexpectedly at Auden’s door for their first meeting in 25 years after they had a falling out over their opera, Paul Bunyan.

In the then present, Britten wishes to discuss with Auden his concerns about the pedophilic themes in his new opera, Death in Venice, but because of mixed signals, Auden thinks that Britten wants him to write the libretto for the new opera. Britten is concerned that the subject of his opera will reveal too much about his personal life, while Auden is desperately searching for employment.

In the shadows is Humphrey Carpenter (played by John Wark) who wishes to interview, and be the literary biographer for both of these men of the artistic nobility, and interjects where necessary to reveal facts, their concerns, and his own feelings about them.

The actors move freely in and out of Caliban’s Day, and discuss the play from the actors’ points of view, the playwright’s point of view, and the issues raised by both Auden and Britten. Their discussions reveal their own hidden insecurities, and why they wish to spend their lives creating art.

In the course of The Habit of Art, Bennett provides wit and savage barbs creating a circus of actors with large egos, a playwright feeling that he and his work are being threatened, and a stage manager who is the only grown-up in the rehearsal room.

Franks has brought together a tightly-knit ensemble cast who tell this story with honesty, and effectively communicate Bennett’s aforesaid wit and barbs – and the collision of the creatives in the play. All of the cast members, John Wark as Donald (who plays Humphrey Carpenter), Jessica Dennis as George, the assistant stage manager, Matthew Kelly as Fitz (who plays W.H. Auden), Veronica Roberts as Kay, the company stage manager, Benjamin Chandler as Tim (who plays Stuart – the rent boy sex worker), Stephen Boxer as Henry (who plays Benjamin Britten), and Robert Mountford as Neil, the author of Caliban’s Day, bring their excellent acting and comic skills into making The Habit of Art the ensemble piece that it was meant to be.

This intimate production of The Habit of Art reveals its core which is about making art and the people who make the art. This heralded American premiere of Bennett’s provocative play is definitely worth a look!

MasterVoices – Iolanthe

Carnegie Hall
May 3, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

MasterVoices, under the direction of Ted Sperling since 2013, has presented concert versions of operas, as well as neglected Broadway musicals. The focus has always been on the lesser-known of each genre.

MasterVoices has also turned its attention towards Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and on May 3, 2023, MasterVoices presented Iolanthe at Carnegie Hall with a cast that included many well-known Broadway performers.

Gilbert and Sullivan wrote fourteen operettas between 1871 and 1896, and their work is believed to be the forerunners of what we now describe as Broadway musical comedies. Their operettas are packed with political and social commentary, wit and humor, and tuneful tunes which were reflections of the age in which they were written — Iolanthe has its premiere in 1882.

Apparently, Victorians were consumed with an interest in Fairies, and on the political side of life, the House of Lords was under pressure to make needed reforms. In Iolanthe, Gilbert and Sullivan examined corruption in British politics, and how wealth was held by the privileged few. Many of the concerns in Iolanthe are certainly relevant today.

Iolanthe’s plot combines the spiritual world and the real world in that Iolanthe (played by Shereen Ahmed), a fairy, marries a mortal and is banished from the world of the fairies. Moving forward a quarter of a century, Iolanthe’s half-human, half-fairy son, and Arcadian Shepherd, Strephon (played by Schyler Vargas) wishes to marry a mortal, an Arcadian Shepherdess and a Ward of the Lord Chancellor, Phyllis (played by Ashley Fabian). But such a marriage would be a crime punishable by death.

Iolanthe becomes a political activist, and begins a crusade to change this law by challenging the members of the House of Lords – which could be described at the time as a collection of the privileged and dimwits. To add to the outrage is that the Lord Chancellor (played by David Garrison) – and the members of the House of Lords – are also in love with Phyllis. And what was initially a political issue now becomes an issue of Phyllis’s affections, and all of these characters make their affections known in peculiar ways.

In this satire of the British Government, and society in general, it still takes a change in the law for everyone to live happily ever after.

The story is told in funny and serious tunes, and large ensemble choruses with the accent on wit. In all, Iolanthe is a romp with the political barbs primarily coming to the fore in Act II.

There is also a plethora of characters who contribute to the merriment including the ditsy Queen of the Fairies played by Christine Ebersole, George, the Earl of Mountararat played by Santino Fontana, Thomas, the Earl of Tolloller played by Jason Danieley all of whom join the fun, and Phillip Boykin’s “proper” and subtle interpretation of Private Willis of the Grenadier Guards. And then there was the luxury casting of Tiler Peck, principal dancer of the New York City Ballet, as a Dancing Fairy.

Noteworthy was the performance of The Nightmare Song by David Garrison as the Lord Chancellor – a tour de force patter song – and costumed appropriately in his pajamas and bunny slippers.

Also praise for Ted Sperling as Iolanthe’s musical director and director.

This was a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe that didn’t take itself too seriously, and aimed, with an archer’s skill, for the hilarity and fun.

Dances I Love

Theatre At St. Jeans
April 30, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

Dances I Love, presented at the Theatre At St. Jeans, was a program of dance devoted to female dancers – and the works of female choreographers – and in some instances the female dancers who choreographed their own works that were performed in this evening of dance. This exceptional program of dance was produced by Audrey Ross, and represented a survey of new pieces and historic dance pieces in modern dance and postmodern dance styles that were performed at the Theatre At St. Jeans on April 29 and 30, 2023.

There were seven pieces that compromised this program of dance opening with Lorn MacDougal’s Glass, choreographed to percussion music by Collin Walcott, and the voice of Meredith Monk, which had premiered in 1974.

Glass, reconstructed and coached by Lorn MacDougal, featured tinkling bells, and dancer Ane Arrieta, of the Martha Graham Dance Company II, reaching – with her hands on her neck – and extended floor work – creating a mood with both sound and movement.

In contrast was former principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, and the New York City Ballet, Valentina Kozlova, dancing her own solo, Til Then, created to music by Alexander Scriabin which had its premiere in 2022. In the choreography Kozlova reflected a passionate response to Scriabin’s equally passionate piano music – along with a longing for empathy.

Christine Dakin, former principal dancer of the Martha Graham Dance company, recreated her premiere performance in Jaime Blanc’s Short Story choreographed to Luciano Berio’s Sequenza III for voice – a work inspired by Tennessee Williams’ Lady of Larkspur Lotion. Short Story responded to Berio’s music with Dakin having a conversation with herself which was reflected not only in her movement, but how she filled the stage space. It was a choreographic dialogue telling a short story.

On the historic side was Janet Collins’ Apre Le Mardi Gras, which had premiered in 1947. Choreographed to music by Kenneth Klaus, Apre Le Mardi Gras may be the only fully surviving solo choreographed by Janet Collins which for this occasion was reconstructed and coached by Yael Lewin, author of Night’s Dancer: The Life of Janet Collins, and danced by Daphne Lee, a member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Lee depicts someone who has been partying, who, perhaps, has been partying too much – and having too good a time – and the humor in the music’s mood of joy, and of the moment. Performed with self-deprecating drollness by Lee, this was a solo dance, like all of those presented on this program, which should be performed more in the future.

Margie Gillis, danced in her self-created piece, Bloom, which is set to Molly Bloom’s “Yes” soliloquy from James Joyce’s Ulysses, as narrated by Siobhan McKenna. As noted in the program, Joyce’s text was written by a man about a woman, and in Bloom, Gillis has re-interpreted the text and reclaimed it. Gillis portrays the nature of what might have been Molly Bloom’s life, routine, unsure and uncertain, and searching to be acknowledged.

Donna Clark, principal dancer, and artistic director of Alpha Mega Theatrical Dance Company, danced Eleo Pomare’s Narcissus Rising, a solo that Pomare created for himself, and had premiered in 1968—and in this performance it is a female dancer taking over this solo piece. In the atmosphere of strobe effects, and police car sirens, Clark emerges as biker – and asserting herself with her mere presence.

The only ensemble piece on the program was an excerpt from Lydia Johnson’s Clearing, which was danced by the members of Lydia Johnson Dance. This piece, choreographed for ten women, was choreographed to music by Philip Glass, with the members of the ensemble moving in counterpoint to the music, striking poses, and making gestures, and ultimately ending in the shadows.

Every dance piece included in this program was choreographed from a unique perspective – and was enjoyable for the manner and respect each piece was performed. And these pieces should be performed and kept vital for all audiences to see and experience.

Legally Blonde – Rethought

State Theatre, New Brunswick, New Jersey
April 29, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

From April 28-30, 2023, the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey is presenting a national touring revival of the musical, Legally Blonde. In spite of the fact that the original Broadway production of the musical stage version of Legally Blonde premiered in 2007, its subject matter is as relevant as ever. Based on the film that proclaimed girl power, the heroine of the film, and this musical, Elle Woods, succeeds in a world of “no”, and crashes the glass ceiling as she becomes a successful lawyer – but it is the journey, and the reason for the journey, that is the heart of Legally Blonde’s story.

This touring revival is not a re-production of the Broadway original but a re-think directed by Jeff Moss and choreographed by Bob Richard while retaining the score by Lawrence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and the book by Heather Hach. There are some updates with the mentions of new social platforms, technology, and the production is designed intelligently with video designs by Jonathan Infante that reference today – and as it does the Harvard Law Class of 2025.

Elle Woods is an unlikely candidate to be a law student at Harvard, but after being dumped by her rich boyfriend as being unsuitable as a spouse, she decides to show him up by studying for the law boards and gets into Harvard – where her now ex-boyfriend is also studying law. Elle accomplishes this all with the support of her sorority sisters at Delta Nu at UCLA – and achieves what would be considered impossible.

Elle has her ups and downs in dealing with professors, and new friendships but somehow rises above it all with a bit of humor, and intuition – and self-doubts that she must overcome – but overcome she does as she becomes the pivotal member of a law team for an indicted murderer – and solves the murder — in an especially funny courtroom scene. Elle triumphs, rejects her ex-boyfriend, and moves on with a new one, Emmett Smith.

A potent aspect of Legally Blonde is what the actors playing the pivotal parts bring to their roles without being cartoonish. Hannah Bonnett as Elle Woods, Woody White as Emmett Forrest, Ashley Morton as Paulette, Chris Carsten as Professor Callahan, James Oblak as Warner, and Lea Sevola as Vivienne are true to their characters in telling Legally Blonde’s story and don’t go over the top.

Particular plaudits go to Ashley Morton as Paulette who nails her fantasy and lament about an Irish boyfriend in the song, “Ireland”.

However, this revival of Legally Blonde is a revival of this musical for 2023, and is performed by an energetic and enthusiastic cast – and also performed with joy!

Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition

Kaye Playhouse
April 21, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

This year’s Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition was held from April 18-21, 2023 at Hunter College’s Kaye Playhouse in New York City. This Competition showcases performance, and choreographic opportunities for young classical ballet, and young contemporary dancers. But what is most important is that scholarships for further training, and company contracts are offered as prizes while also awarding medals for excellence.

For this year’s Competition, the President of both the Classical and Contemporary Juries was Charles Jude, former etoile of the Paris Opera Ballet, and former artistic director of the Ballet de Opera de Bordeaux.

Members of the Classical jury were Nina Ananiashvili (Republic of Georgia), Maurice Brandon Curry (USA), Jean-Hugues Feray (France), Chan Hon Goh (Canada), Gladisa Guadalupe (USA), Sun Hee Kim (South Korea), Brooklyn Mack (USA), Rio Mitani (Japan), Christopher Moore (England), Mikko Nissinen (USA), Bradley Shelver (USA), Adam Sklute (USA), Clotilde Vayer (France), Sabir Yapparov (USA), and Michail Zubkov (Poland).

Members of the Contemporary Dance jury were Mi Sook Jeon (South Korea), Virginie Mecene (USA), Steven Melendez (USA), Melanie Person (USA), and Ricardo Scheir (Brazil).

The culmination of the competitive rounds and Master Classes was the Awards Ceremony and Gala on April 21, 2023.

Appropriately opening the gala performance were Valentina Kozlova and Brazilian choreographer Ricardo Scheir dancing a tango duet choreographed by Scheir, entitled Don’t You Dare, and also included members of the Joffrey Ballet Concert Group dancing an excerpt from Bradley Shelver’s Random People with Beautiful Parts.

Also included in the gala performance were competitors dancing solos from the 19th century classics, and Serge Lifar’s Suite en blanc, and new choreography for contemporary solos.

The following are the award winners:
Classical:
Youth
Bronze:
Enora Robyn, Belgium
Stella Rodigari, Belgium
Lalie Archambeau, Belgium
Silver: Loane Mahieu, Belgium
Gold: Gabriela Caldeira, Brazil

Student
Girls
Bronze: Bianca Negrin, Brazil
Silver: Mariana Da Rosa, Brazil
Gold: Kiara Gouveia Fiorante, Brazil
Boys
Gold: Henzo Pietro Ferreira, Brazil

Junior
Girls
Bronze:
Liselotte Van Doorn, Aruba
Sadie Weintraub, Ireland
Silver: Beatriz Silva, Brazil
Gold: Luisa Lisboa, Brazil
Boys
Silver: Pietro Leopoldino, Brazil

Senior
Girls
Bronze:
Juliana Bryk, USA
Grace Bianchin, Canada
Silver: Seo Jisu, South Korea
Gold:
Rimi Nakano, Japan
Kim Joheun, South Korea
Boys
Bronze: Jung Eunjun, South Korea
Silver: Jung Sungwook, South Korea
Gold:
David Rocha, Brazil
Aidan Buss, Great Britain

Contemporary:
Ensemble
Bronze: Not Defeated, Paraguay
Silver: Point of View, Brazil
Silver: Catharsis, Paraguay
Duet
Bronze: Precisamos Falar Sobre O Ser, Brazil

Division 1
Girls
Bronze: Gabriela Caldeira, Brazil
Silver: Kiara Gouveia Fiorante, Brazil
Silver: Julia Florencio, Brazil
Boys
Gold: Henzo Pietro Ferreira, Brazil
Division 2
Girls
Bronze: Luiza Maylinch, Brazil
Bronze: Isabella Mota, Brazil
Silver: Luisa Lisboa, Brazil
Silver: Rita Zampieri, Brazil
Gold: YuEun Jeon, South Korea
Gold: Minji Kim, South Korea
Boys
Gold: Jin Hwan Seo, South Korea

Division 3
Girls
Bronze: Ji Eun Jung, South Korea
Bronze: Da Kyung Kim, South Korea
Silver: Hae-seung Shin, South Korea
Silver: JungWon Min, South Korea
Gold: Seohyun Baek, South Korea
Boys
Silver: Mingyu Kim, South Korea
Gold: David Rocha, Brazil

Dance Theatre of Harlem –

A Revival and New York Premieres

City Center

April 19, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

The Dance Theatre of Harlem’s annual engagement at the City Center was an occasion to say good-bye, and at the same time to look to the future. On April 19, 2023 the Dance Theatre of Harlem celebrated one of its founding members, and outgoing artistic director Virginia Johnson, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Resident Choreographer and incoming artistic director Robert Garland. Although Garland’s work was not represented in this particular program Garland’s dance pieces were represented during this City Center series

Appropriately the program included a revival, and two New York premieres. The revival was George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, choreographed to Tchaikovsky’s unfinished third piano concerto. Allegro Brillante was created for the New York City Ballet in 1956, and had been a staple in the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s repertoire since 1975.

It was danced with speed and precision by the principal cast of Amanda Smith and Christopher McDaniel – and the corps ensemble – dancing Allegro Brillante’s intricate choreography with enthusiasm.

After a pause presented was a familiar piece, Christopher Wheeldon’s This Bitter Earth, which Wheeldon created for the New York City Ballet in 2012. Choreographed to the haunting rendition of this song by Dinah Washington, Wheeldon’s duet was emotive, and moving as danced by Yinet Fernandez and Dylan Santos.

What followed were the two New York premieres. The first of which was Tiffany Rea-Fisher’s Sounds of Hazel, a dance piece in tribute to jazz pianist Hazel Scott. The performance of Sounds of Hazel was preceded by an informative film about its creation, and biographical material on the central character, appropriately entitled On Making Sounds of Hazel.

Scott’s life was unique, and she was deserving of the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s tribute. In Sounds of Hazel, her life was traced from the country of her origin, Trinidad, and the influences on her artistry from the countries she lived and worked in – and how she interpreted music was part of that journey.

Rea-Fisher’s dance piece was structured to interpret Scott’s interpretation of the music she played during her lifetime, the dance styles, and what were the cultural influences of each decade.  One of the highlights for me in Sounds of Hazel was Rae-Fisher’s interpretation of Scott’s unique approach to Chopin’s Minute Waltz.

This piece was danced by group of dancers who underlined their respect for Scott’s contribution to American culture.

The second New York premiere was William Forsythe’s Blake Works IV (The Barre Project), indicative of Forsythe’s style that places classical choreography in juxtaposition to contemporary ballet. One in a series of dance pieces choreographed to music by John Blake, and using a ballet barre as the central focus, this ensemble piece actually showcased each individual dancer. Dancers individually and in tandem assumed their places at the barre, and showed off what they could do as dancers and also interpreters of Forsythe’s choreography and Blake’s music. Each of the dancers had their moment to shine.

The program that the Dance Theatre of Harlem danced at this performance exemplified the continuing artistic growth of the company’s dancers, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s artistic identity. Dance Theatre of Harlem is now taking the next step in its creative journey, and into a new era for the company. It is finding itself again – and especially its spirit.

Broadway Bodies

By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

Ryan Donovan’s monograph, Broadway Bodies, A Critical History of Conformity, published by Oxford University, turns its attention to the problem of body image, and how it applies to the Broadway community. There have been body-image problems rampant in many sectors of the performing arts including the ballet world, and as Donovan stated in his acknowledgements that the problem of body image within the Broadway community received more prominence when Broadway theatres re-opened after New York City’s Covid-19 shutdown. Broadway Bodies explores that history and what is the currency of the problem.

Donovan explains that his book covers the evolvement of body politics from 1970 and the fifty years that followed – dealing with such exclusions as fat-phobia, homophobia, and disabilities.

As described there has been the dominance of the “Broadway Body”, a fit, muscular, tall, conventionally attractive and exceptionally able triple-threat performers (acting, dancing, singers). The recognition that the body image on Broadway had to be re-thought became apparent when Broadway shows re-opened after the Covid-19 shut down. Some actors were not recasted in the roles they had been performing – pre-Covid-19 – because they put on more weight – post Covid-19.

Donovan also argues that there have been financial, economic, political, and social issues that have had an impact on Broadway body images, and how actors are casted.

Donovan harkens back to the musical, A Chorus Line, in which performers deal with their body images, and personal stories as they are competing for employment in a fictional musical. However, what was particularly relevant in Donovan’s book is that A Chorus Line’s actors were real-life people with different body images, and ethnicities that had to be inputted into the casting choices for the actors who would portray them – then, and in the future.

Another example focused on was casting the role of Effie White in Dreamgirls, and how the character’s description changed through the casting process for the original Broadway production, touring productions that followed, and how the role has been casted recently – including the choice of actresses wearing padding or not.

Yet another example is the more recent role of Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray – and there are other examples of actresses who lost roles, and who were fired from roles because they were considered overweight.

Donovan’s book also covers the issue of homophobia within the Broadway theatre community, and how it was represented on the stage. Covered are the subject of plays and musicals, stereotypes being portrayed in them, and a breakthrough with the musical, La Cage aux Folles, which was based on a French play. But the issue of homophobia was exacerbated by the discovery of AIDS losing so many Broadway and other artistic creatives to this disease.

Before 1970 there were separate ensembles for dancing and singing. However, the triple-threat actor who acted, sang, and danced well was key in the changing Broadway economics as hiring performers with special talents also increased the number of people in a musical, and the costs. And these changing economic factors had to be considered when Broadway creatives had to keep this issue in mind when presenting projects to theater producers.

An additional cost-cutting measure is having members of the ensemble playing a “track” which means taking on as much three cameo roles in a musical which have different requirements, and there are also understudies, and swings who must take on these roles as well.

Another aspect of Donovan’s book is how people with disabilities have been casted in the Broadway theatre mentioning Deaf West’s productions of The Big River, and Spring Awakening, and including characters with disabilities in musicals and plays.

Donovan takes on this history in a detailed manner, and explains his views on how the Broadway body image may change or evolve in the future. Quite relevant because as I am writing this review, here in New York City, the City Council is considering anti-discrimination legislation based on height and weight that could have an impact on casting for Broadway in the future.

Shucked

Nederlander Theatre
April 1, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

An off-beat musical has recently premiered on Broadway, and that is Shucked, which is now playing and generating a little mayhem at the Nederlander Theatre. And it may be the sleeper hit musical of this current Broadway season.

Shucked, with a score by country and western composers, Brandy Clark and Shane McNally, and a book by Robert Horn, is a musical that makes us laugh at ourselves – and also has us chuckling and smiling with the brilliant cast of singers, and comic actors, who furnish the hilarious and quirky moments in Shucked.

Self-described as a “farm to fable”, Shucked is a celebration of corn – every definition of corn – as this farcical music’s plot speeds along at a quickened pace rather than at the speed of a farm’s tractor – or simply the process of growing corn.

Opening Shucked, two story-tellers (played by Ashley D. Kelley and Grey Henson)) inform the audience about the existence of the rural community of Cob County which has been isolated from the rest of the world by a wall of corn that surrounds it – and corn is also the engine of its economy.

A crisis occurs when the corn crop fails, and Maizy (played by Caroline Innerbichler) leaves behind her fiancé Beau (played by Andrew Durand) to find a “corn doctor” in Tampa who may be the only hope for this community’s survival.

Maizy finds Gordy (played by John Behlmann) – a con man/podiatrist – who markets himself as a “corn doctor”, and he believes that there are rocks in this county that are valuable – which is his solution to paying off his gambling debts.

In her amazing adventure outside of Cob County to find a “corn doctor”, Maizy discovers a world unknown to her, and also discovers herself. And that’s when the farce goes into high gear as there are mismatched lovers, marriage ceremonies that stop and start again – and you can join in the celebration when the antidote for the corn crop’s failure is discovered.

Along the way the story-tellers pose as a Greek chorus and often inject themselves into the comedy mix-ups and musical numbers – and then there is the endless stream of one line and double entendre jokes – it is impossible to keep up the count.

Shucked succeeds as it does under the expert direction of Jack O’Brien who seems to have the golden touch when it comes to getting the most comedy out of a musical comedy.

There are also derivative hints of Music Man, The Rainmaker, and also a bit of Lil’ Abner that are instilled in Shucked. But Shucked is unique unto itself.

What makes Shucked the surprising and satisfying comic musical that it is is owed to the comic timing, and singing talents of its cast including Caroline Innerbichler as Maizy, Andrew Durand as Maizy’s fiancé, Beau, John Behlmann as the “corn doctor” Gordy, Kevin Cahoots as Beau’s supportive brother, and Alex Newell as Maizy’s cousin who brings the house down when expressing emotions in song.

Shucked is in it all for the laughs, and gives you permission to forget about your problems for a few hours — and my kernel of wisdom is to see it as soon as you can. You won’t be disappointed!

National Ballet of Canada

City Center

March 30, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

The National Ballet of Canada had been a regular fixture of the New York dance season from 1972 onwards featuring frequent visits with Rudolf Nureyev as a guest artist and noted for performing full-length ballets. The New York visits have been less frequent, and in fact, the company last visited New York back in 2016 when the company danced Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale at the David Koch Theater.

Also, since the company last performed in New York artistic director Karen Kain has been succeeded by Hope Muir, previously the artistic director of the Charlotte Ballet, and associate director of Scottish Ballet, bringing a slightly different artistic aesthetic to the company’s repertoire in what has been a very short tenure.

In what is a return engagement to the City Center – after last performing there in 1998 – the National Ballet of Canada is performing a triple bill of familiar and unfamiliar dance works from March 30-April 1, 2023 – a decidedly short visit. However, one of the luxuries was the National Ballet of Canada’s orchestra which accompanied these performances.

The company performed two acquisitions to the company’s repertoire and one dance piece that the company had commissioned.

Opening the program was David Dawson’s Anima Animus which was given its world premiere by the San Francisco Ballet in 2018, and only recently has been acquired by the National Ballet of Canada.

Choreographed to Ezio Bosso’s Violin Concerto No. 1, the piece is a hybrid of many choreographic styles as well as channeling influences from George Balanchine, and Hans van Manen, which speak to Dawson’s experiences while a member of the Dutch National Ballet.

The predominant choreographic themes in Anima Animus are the male dancers manipulating female dancers while also seemingly floating and eating up the stage space which is literally framed, and also flooded in white light.

The cast of Calley Skalnik, Genevieve Penn Nabity, Harrison James, Ben Rudisin, Kota Sato, Naoya Ebe, Jeanine Haller, Koto Ishihara, Monika Haczkiewicz, and Clare Peterson executed Dawson’s demanding choreography with agility and ease – and provided the electricity.

Kenneth MacMillan created Concerto for the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1966 during his tenure with the company as artistic director. Choreographed to Dmitri Shostakovitch’s Piano Concerto No. 2 it has been described as MacMillan’s “Balanchine Ballet”. It was certainly influenced by that aesthetic yet at the same time the choreography reflects MacMillan’s classical ballet roots.

Notably Concerto had been acquired by American Ballet Theatre in 1967 and ABT had performed the ballet through the early 1990’s – and disappeared from the company’s repertoire.

Concerto is neo-classical in its nature, with MacMillan’s choreography interpreting Shostakovich’s music which reflects contrasting moods.

Divided into three sections the first section is led by a power couple – in this instance Koto Ishihara and Siphesihle November – who nimbly navigate the space through groups of corps de ballet dancers.

The adagio movement is a haunting pas de deux which focuses on the art of partnering – with three other couples represented in mirror image of the principal couple (danced by Tina Pereira and Peng-Fei Jiang), and the third movement is lead by yet another principal dancer (danced by Jeannine Haller) with all of the members of the cast joining together for a triumphant finale.

Concerto is a challenging piece for the dancers, and the dancers of the National Ballet of Canada rose to the occasion.

Closing the program was Crystal Pite’s Angels’ Atlas which the National Ballet of Canada had premiered in 2020. Pite known for influences from William Forsythe and other European contemporary choreographers emphasizes rituals and patterns in her choreography as well as employing the dancers in large ensembles. Angels’ Atlas’ soundscape included music by Owen Belton – and additional music by Tchaikovsky and Morten Lauridsen.

The ensemble of dancers seemed trapped in an icy and frosty, yet darkly lit, atmosphere with only four dancers breaking from that ensemble. The emphasis was on group movement, repetitive, and what seemed tortured – and hardly optimistic.

Jay Gower Taylor’s design concept assisted greatly in creating this forbidding ambiance.

Angels’ Atlas was danced with enormous commitment by an ensemble cast which featured Jenna Savella, Harrison James, Jordana Daumec, Jack Bertinshaw, Hannah Galway, Siphesihle November, Genevieve Penn Nabity and Kota Sato.

The National Ballet of Canada’s City Center engagement could not be more welcome, and I hope the company’s New York visits will be more frequent in the future.

Vanities – The Musical           

Theatre at St. Jean’s

March 28, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Continuing its 2022-2023 season, the York Theatre Company is presenting its revival of the off-Broadway musical, Vanities – The Musical, from March 21 through April 23, 2023 at the Theatre at St. Jean’s.

Jack Heifner’s play, Vanities, had its off-Broadway premiere back in 1976, and a musical version had its off-Broadway premiere in 2009, with Heifner adapting his play for this musical’s book with a score by David Kirshenbaum. As could be described as a revisal, this production of Vanities – The Musical has been developed over the years, with changes made along the way. This production represents a version that has absorbed changes and revisions but also the social changes and issues that have influenced the characters portrayed in this musical.

In the program one of the dictionary definitions of vanity is being guilty of being personally vain – but also can reflect emptiness, and a lack of reality. Those definitions are the reflections of the path that the three protagonists in Vanities – The Musical travel.

Vanities – The Musical focuses on three girls from Texas who bond together in high school as cheerleaders in the 1960’s. With their future in college, they lived together in the same sorority house. However, their lives diverged after college, Joanne (played by Hayley Podschun) getting married right of college and not being prepared for marriage or motherhood but feels that is her only path in life. Mary (played by Jade Jones), opens an art gallery and explores the sexual freedom of the time, and Kathy (played by Amy Keum) moves to New York and takes advantage of what New York has to offer becoming a published author who is not attached to a particular place or part of the world. They all have their individual journeys and how they evolve from the halcyon days of the 1960’s with signpost years being 1963, 1968, and 1974 through 1990.

When, in 1974, Joanne and Mary visit Kathy in New York conflicts emerge and they all express their regrets in life – however they do reconcile as best friends forever in an epilogue that takes place in 1990 when they come together to support Mary when her mother passes away.

Joanne, Mary, and Kathy express themselves together and individually as they evolve into young women who have achieved their success in life – which they can measure on their own terms. The score by Kirshenbaum expresses the emotions of the characters, moves forward the narrative, and in the finale song, “Letting Go”, these extraordinary women come to terms with their own lives and the choices they have made.

And the cast of Jade Jones, Amy Keum, and Hayley Podschun give superlative performances in portraying these women and their drive.

The story is told with clear direction by Will Pomerantz, within 90 minutes – to the point – and keeping one’s interest – yet it is also a period piece in its own way. Women have moved on, and society has moved on.

However, Vanities – The Musical, is not only a nostalgic look at what a woman’s life was and could be in a different time and place. It is pertinent to our current times as there are still glass ceilings that women have yet to break – and in this revival Vanities – The Musical is both poignant and  uplifting.

Life of Pi                                 

Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre

March 25, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

Lolita Chakrabarti’s stage adaptation of Yann Martel’s book, Life of Pi, has made its Broadway debut after a successful London engagement during which this imaginative and challenging play received the Olivier Award for Best Play in 2022.

Probably known best by the successful film, Life of Pi is both an adventure story, and a young man’s experiences in coping with forces he is unable to control – a rite of passage. But it is how the story is told, which is similar to unraveling a mystery, is what makes Life of Pi unique and extraordinary.

We first find Pi, a patient in a Canadian hospital, who is not coping well with health issues that were caused by a life-changing experience. His anxiety is increased during his questioning by a representative of a ship owner, and a local government official. Pi reveals his experiences shifting frequently between flashbacks and his confusion as to what his questioners want to hear.

Pi’s story takes place during the years 1976 through 1978 at a time of political unrest in India – geographically in the locales of Pondicherry in India, Tomatlan in Mexico, and in the middle of the expanse of the Pacific Ocean.

Pi’s family, which has connections with a zoo, is finding it more and more difficult to manage the zoo with the lack of government support for the caring of the animals, and a decision is made by the family patriarch to seek out approval to migrate to Canada.

Sixteen-year-old Pi, his sister and his parents set off on their voyage to Canada with several of the zoo’s animals including a Royal Bengal Tiger, a hyena, a zebra, and an orangutan in tow.

After their cargo ship sinks in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Pi (played by Hiren Abeysekera) is stranded on a life boat with four survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger – all of which are portrayed by beautiful and intricate puppets designed by Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell.

Pi survives through the vicissitudes of being 137 days at sea until being washed ashore and rescued.

But are the adventures described by Pi true – or are they conjured from his imagination or his hallucinations. And when questioned by his inquisitors it becomes unclear whether Pi’s story is the real story of the shipwreck or whether an alternative story offered by Pi, which he was pressured to tell to his inquisitors, is to be believed. Is the story Pi’s reality or a story conjured from Pi’s own imagination? Or is he still recovering from the shock he is experiencing after surviving his ordeal?

Abeysekera gives a superlative performance as Pi successfully creating the juxtaposition of reality and the imaginary – and whether Pi is telling the truth or simply his truth. In the course of doing so he gives a truly memorable performance.

Directed by Max Webster and designed by Tim Hatley, they have guided Life of Pi to the stage and created engaging images – that are feasts for the eyes – and creating an involving story for the audience. It is the audience’s decision to decide which story to believe – making for an absorbing and significant theatrical experience.

See it for yourself – and you decide!

Works & Process – Ballet West – Les Noces

Guggenheim Museum
March 26, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

A significant event for balletomanes was a presentation by Works & Process at the Guggenheim on March 26, 2023, which focused on the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Bronislava Nijinska’s Les Noces.

For this occasion, which was moderated by Linda Murray, Curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and featured the participation of Ballet West’s artistic director, Adam Sklute, and Lynn Garafola, who has authored a monograph about Nijinska. Also, Ballet West’s dancers performed excerpts from the ballet in preparation for the company’s performances of Les Noces in Salt Lake City, Utah beginning on April 14th, 2023.

Nijinska’s Les Noces was given its world premiere by the Diaghilev Ballet Russes in 1923 with costume and scenery designs by Natalia Goncharova, and choreographed to Igor Stravinsky’s striking and compelling score. Les Noces was also unique because it was a collaboration of a female choreographer and a female designer.

In the past Nijinska’s Les Noces has been performed by the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Joffrey Ballet in New York City, and other significant choreographers, Jerome Robbins and Jiri Kylian, have also re-interpreted Stravinsky’s music for this dance piece.

Ballet West’s production of Nijinska’s Les Noces has been staged by Howard Sayette, who has had vast experience in restaging Nijinska’s dance pieces. The presence of Ballet West’s dancers, Dominic Ballard, Jazz Khai Bynum, Jenna Rae Herrera, Vinicius Lima, Victoria Vassos, Jordan Veit and Ballet West’s acting principal rehearsal director, Jane Wood, proved engaging and demonstrative.

Les Noces is a dance piece in four tableaux which pictures a Russian peasant wedding at the beginning of the Christian era – embracing pagan rituals of the time – with arranged marriages that were part of family traditions.

Ms. Garafola provided a short biography of Nijinska, and in collaboration with Adam Sklute presented video clips from productions of Les Noces combined with live performances by Ballet West’s dancers to present excerpts from each of the four tableaux in Les Noces – noting the logistics of performing this piece with musicians and singers, and a cast of 36 dancers.

Nijinska’s choreography reflects folk dance influences and pointe work which was used in a non-traditional manner. Most important Les Noces was choreographed and conceived from a woman’s point of view.

This presentation focusing on Nijinska’s gem, Les Noces, was informative and welcome for dance aficionados.

American Repertory Ballet

Kaye Playhouse
March 25, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

American Repertory Ballet, based in Princeton, New Jersey, has performed occasionally in New York City but not often enough. On March 25th, 2023, the company performed a triple bill of new works at Hunter College’s Kaye Playhouse after many years absence, and notably this New York engagement was the first for the company under the leadership of Ethan Stiefel, former principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre, who was appointed the company’s artistic director in 2021.

For this engagement American Repertory Ballet performed a program of contemporary ballets and dances that the company had premiered in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 2022. The works had a commonality in style, as well as the fact that these choreographers – all of them – were still evolving in finding their choreographic voices.

Choreography is the life blood for any dance company and in this engagement American Repertory Ballet stepped forward in introducing three unfamiliar choreographic voices, and it was intriguing as to what the outcomes would be as these choreographers put their toes in the water as emerging choreographers.

Opening the program was J’ Malik’s Moving to Bach which was choreographed to Bach’s Sonata for Violin No. 6 – in which Malik choreographically expressed the style of Bach’s music. Moving To Bach was almost Balanchinian in its nature and symmetry using an ensemble of dancers in patterns on the stage that also reflected Bach’s music. This dance piece showed craft.

The ensemble cast of Andrea Marini, Aldeir Monteiro, Leandro Olcese, Clara Pevel, and Ryoko Tanaka stepped up to Malik’s challenges.

Following was Caili Quan’s Circadia, with the choreographer employing an eclectic choice of music from the Boban Markovic Orkestar, the Teskey Brothers, Betty Hutton, and Gabriella Smith. Similarly eclectic in her present choreographic signature Quan was expanding beyond the boundaries of classical ballet in combinations that were unexpected.

Dancers Tiziano Cerrato, Shaye Firer, Roland Jones, Aldeir Monteiro, Leandro Olcese, Michelle Quiner, Erikka Reenstierna-Cates, and Ryoko Tanaka were exploited for their strengths by Quan in this dance piece.

Closing the program was Claire Davison’s Time Within A Time which had Davison employing six songs by the band Fleetwood Mac. One male dancer was represented on stage as the loner, who observes rather than participates in the relationships that are represented in Time Within A Time until he is compelled to express his feelings in a solo in this piece.

The cast of Madison Elizabeth Egyud, Annie Johnson, Seth Koffler, Lily Krisko, Andrea Marini, Anthony Pototski, Matanya Solomon, and Nanako Yamamoto enabled Davison’s message to be understood in dance terms although more clarity was needed.

All of these pieces had the similarity of being ensemble pieces with evolving structures but fulfilled what should be the choreographer’s goal to show off the dancers – which all of the pieces successfully accomplished.

The program was an example of Stiefel’s artistic path for the company, and it is always important to have new works created for a company – and also works that showcase the dancers’ abilities and strengths. In these respects, the American Repertory Ballet made an emphatic artistic statement.

Bad Cinderella

Imperial Theatre

March 24, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

Over the past few decades there hasn’t been a time when an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical was not being performed in a Broadway theatre – and in some instances more than one. Lloyd-Webber latest creation, Bad Cinderella, his 13th musical, opened at the Imperial Theatre, and has his indicative signature.

Collaborating with Emerald Fennell and Alexis Scheer as book writers, and David Zippel writing the lyrics, Bad Cinderella is a re-interpretation of the age-old Cinderella story appropriate for its time and place – the topsy turvy world we are living in the 21st century.

This Cinderella (played by Linedy Genao) has an attitude, and is a bully of sorts, and doesn’t feel the need of a Prince to define her. However, there is the stereotypical, comic, and overbearing stepmother (played by Carolee Carmello) and the madcap Queen of the Realm (played by Grace McLean). There is a Godmother (played by Christina Acosta Robinson) as well, and she is not the garden variety Godmother that we would be familiar with.

The story takes place in the Kingdom of Belleville, voted the most attractive town in France 49 years in a row. This is a town where the people are obsessed with beauty, money, and power, and as often apparent in these fairy tale towns, there is a prince who needs to get married.

But in Belleville, the town’s inhabitants are a collection of unique characters, and putting them together in his version of Cinderella, Lloyd Webber gives the audience a non-stop farce, and parody of the Cinderella story with homages to British Christmas pantomimes.

Belleville’s heir, Prince Charming (played by Cameron Loyal) is believed to be dead. And because of this uncertainty his brother, Prince Sebastian (played by Jordan Dobson), is now recruited take over the family business. He has had a long-existing friendship with Cinderella, and he realizes that their friendship is more than a friendship – at least to him. He realizes this when pressed to choose a bride, a decision made in haste and confusion, and he did not choose Cinderella. Even though, with the help of her Godmother, Cinderella has transformed herself from a tomboyish misfit into a siren with sex appeal that is similar to Marilyn Monroe.

Fortunately for Prince Sebastian, his brother Prince Charming reappears before Prince Sebastian makes a commitment to marriage – and Prince Charming takes over as heir, and surprises all in his choice of a consort. And Prince Sebastian and Cinderella find each other again, and decide to pursue adventures on their own.

As in all of his musicals Lloyd Webber’s gifts the audience with superb melodies including in Bad Cinderella – “Only You, Lonely You”, and “Far Too Late”, and the comic duet of “I Know You”.

Although Laurence Connor’s direction is sometimes unfocused while JoAnn M. Hunter’s choreography is rousing and appropriately in waltzing style, it is the superb cast of Bad Cinderella that is like cream rising to the top – providing many over the top moments with wit, clowning, and humor.

Genao sketches an unconventional heroine, and commands the stage – her Cinderella is formidable — and Dobson blossoms through the story-telling. Carmello and McLean chew up the scenery in their scenes – but all part of an outstanding cast of musical theater performers.

Sometimes silly as well, but Bad Cinderella is a musical that takes one happily away from one’s troubles – and entertains – and entertains on a joyful note.

It has been stated before that any tale that follows the dramatic arc of Cinderella will be successful, Bad Cinderella doesn’t entirely fulfill that conventional wisdom. However, it is an entertaining and timely re-telling of the story — at a time when many familiar tales and stories are being re-interpreted and influenced through the prism of social and political change.

The Rewards of Being Frank

March 20, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

The New York Classical Theatre is presenting Alice Scovell’s The Rewards of Being Frank on stream, and also concurrently being performed at the Mezzanine Theatre at Art/New York Theatres until March 26, 2023.

Scovell’s The Rewards of Being Frank is a sequel to Oscar Wilde’s classic comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest, which premiered in 1895, and Scovell looks into the future to allow us to discover what happened to the hapless characters seven years later.

In this sequel Scovell focuses on the female characters in Wilde’s play affording them the opportunity to expand on what they have accomplished in the intervening years — and we see the familiar characters in a similar setting but pursuing their lives trying to cope with the “normal” vicissitudes of marriage, managing a household, and raising children.

Cecily, played by Tora Nogami Alexander, is revealed to be a successful writer, and Gwendolen (played by Kelly Mengelkoch) is revealed as a successful financial investor. Their husbands, Algernon (played by James Evans), and Ernest (played by Jeremy Dubin) seem as confused and hapless as ever – and both facing financial struggles. Lady Bracknell (played by Christine Pedi) is also omnipresent interfering in their lives.

The couples live next door to each other and Bracknell the same, who is not hesitant about giving advice – no matter what the subject – and there are cucumber sandwiches at stake as well.

However, a new character upsets the tranquility of these couples’ lives – and that is Frank (played by Mobuluwaji Ademide Akintilo) who is being interviewed to be a tutor for their children – and he cannot tell a lie. And his focus on being frank has its downside. He flirts with Cecily and flirts with Gwendolen. Who reciprocate initially and it takes long before Ernest and Algernon doubt their wives.

Just as in The Importance of Earnest there are twists and turns that make themselves known by letter, and a surprise romance develops. That’s the big reveal.

Scovell has managed to fashion a sequel with the veneer of a comedy of manners with its wit and surprises. And all is played by an excellent cast whose talent is for a little exaggeration and clockwork comic timing. And also, it is exceptionally entertaining!

City Center Encores – Dear World

City Center
March 18, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

Opening its 2023 season, City Center Encores is presenting Jerry Herman’s Dear World from March 15-19, 2023. In so doing City Center Encores is revisiting its original mission to present musicals in concert form – focusing on a musical’s score – and also meeting the criteria that a musical may not be viable for commercial reasons.

Dear World had a rocky road to its Broadway premiere in 1969 after going through multiple revisions, and with contributions by three directors. With music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, a book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee – and written as a vehicle for Angela Lansbury — Dear World was based on Maurice Valency’s adaptation of Jean Giraudoux’s The Madwoman of Chaillot, a classic example of the playwright’s style emphasizing wit and absurdity.

Dear World closed after 169 performances but Lansbury won a Tony Award for her performance as Countess Aurelia – and has become a cult musical favorite that is primarily known from its Broadway cast recording. The York Theatre Company’s Musicals in Mufti series presented a concert version in 2017 – not all that long ago.

The source play for Dear World goes back to 1945, yet has a forward-looking message. The story can be simply described as being about an old and dotty gentlewoman who saves her home and her neighborhood from greedy oil barons, while also encouraging the relationship of a pair of young lovers. It is also quirky, eccentric, and absurd. However, the story has much more substance while also requiring a suspension of reality. But with those basic themes in mind the City Center Encores’ concert adaption has been cleverly adapted by Sandy Rustin.

Dear World tells an intriguing story. Countess Aurelia (played by Donna Murphy) makes her home in a café in Chaillot – a quaint neighborhood in Paris. Countess Aurelia’s eccentricities are appreciated by the inhabitants along with her obsessions about a lost lover – and her past in general.

Employing a subtle mix of delusion and manipulation Countess Aurelia plots with the locals of Chaillot and her two confidants, Gabrielle (played by Ann Harada) and Constance (played by Andrea Burns) – and the Sewerman (played by Christopher Fitzgerald) — to foil the President’s plot.

A Prospector (played by Stanley Wayne Mathis) randomly searches out water in Paris that might have more meaningful value than just for drinking, and he tries to persuade the President of a corporation (played by Brooks Ashmanskas) that he has found drinking water that is laced with oil at a café in Chaillot. The President, in his greed, makes the decision to seek out ownership of the oil, and the method of doing so is to blow up the café. The President exploits a young executive, Julian, (played by Phillip Johnson Richard) to place a bomb in the café. However, in contemplating the dirty deed, he attempts to commit suicide – but is saved by the frequenters of the café, and he falls in love with the café’s waitress, Nina (played by Samantha Williams).

The strategy in foiling the plan is to lure the corporation’s executives into Paris’ underground sewer system never to be heard from again.

As mentioned during this performance’s post show talk back, the City Center Encore’s concert version of Dear World included an archeological musical search and discovery that harked back to the City Center Encore’s original mission and resulted in bringing Dear World back to life – with its timely message and excellent score.

From the opening number of “Through The Bottom of the Glass” the audience is informed about the special place it has arrived in – intersecting delusion and reality. And there are the contributions of the superb actors who portray and bring to life the array of eccentric characters in this musical.

Herman’s rich score includes “Kiss Her Now”, “I Don’t Want To Know” and the title song, “Dear World” – songs filled with emotion and regret – but also a bit of optimism.

Ashmanskas is suitably comic and obnoxious as the President. Christopher Fitzgerald’s The Sewerman conveys the everyday man, and gives a convincing rendition and re-interpretation of “Have A Little Pity On The Rich”. Samantha Williams gives a compelling interpretation of “I’ve Never Said I Love You”, and the Tea Party Trio was a master class in comic timing as performed by Donna Murphy, Andrea Burns, and Ann Harada.

Certainly, Donna Murphy’s touching and comic performance as Countess Aurelia was a performance for the ages not only for the intensity and drama she brought to “Each Tomorrow Morning”, “I Don’t Want To Know”, “And I Was Beautiful”, and ultimately, “Kiss Her Now”. She is a consummate musical theater artist.

Josh Rhodes, as director and choreographer, who was also at the helm for the City Center Encores’ successful concert version of Jerry Herman’s Mack and Mabel, has a great sense of Herman’s optimism for life and for the world in his many musicals. That was emphasized in his direction – and also one must note how he cleverly used though the character of Artiste (played by Kody Jauron) to comment on the action with his silence and subtle gesture – and also the choreography for the Artiste which was just as cleverly employed through the second act’s Entr’acte.

Also inspired were the minimal designs by Paul Tate Depoo III inspired by surrealistic paintings.

City Center Encores brought us the fading world of elegance in our world – and disillusion – in its presentation of Dear World, and we are thankful for it. Also, Dear World might give us a sense of optimism!

Hercules

Paper Mill Playhouse

March 4, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

The Paper Mill Playhouse continues its 2022-2023 season with its new stage musical production of Disney’s Hercules, the mythical musical adventure, which is being performed from February 16-March 19, 2023.

Most of Disney’s animated musical films depict a flawed hero or heroine who sets off on a journey to find a direction in life – and also learning life lessons along the way. Hercules is not an exception to this rule.

Featuring a score by Alan Menken and David Zippel with a book by Robert Horn and Kwame Kwei-Armah, Hercules had its stage premiere in 2019 at the Public’s Delacorte Theatre in Central Park in New York City. This interpretation of the familiar and legendary story of Hercules has a timely point of view with a great deal of tongue-in-cheek humor, and as directed by Lear deBessonet, Hercules is a spot-on amusing entertainment for the entire family.

Hercules (played by Bradley Gibson), son of the gods Zeus (played by Dennis Stowe) and Hera (played by Kristen Faith Oei) – grows up in the mortal world after his parents abandon him, and Hades (played by Shuler Hensley) banishes him to a life on Earth when only an infant. Hades is not pleased about the arrival of Hercules – and plans revenge.

Hercules is raised on Earth by the kind-hearted and practical Despina (played by Kathryn Allison) who recognizes Hercules’ strength, and other special qualities. However, Hercules proves to be a handful – even as he makes his first appearance carrying a bag of rocks to be sold in the village, and seems to be getting in the way of the villagers to the point that he has become a pariah rather than a god-like hero.

However, upon realizing that his powers may be inherited from the Gods, Hercules seeks to return to Mt. Olympus to rejoin his parents. But he must transform himself into a hero before doing so. He seeks out the help of Phil the Trainer (played by James Monroe Inglehart) who has shown himself to be a father figure, and has discovered and burnished successful method of transforming ordinary people into heroes.

Hercules succeeds in becoming a celebrity and achieves heroic deeds but that does not convince Hera and Zeus to welcome Hercules back to Mt. Olympus. Hades uses his powers to destroy Hercules with the assistance of the hapless pair of Pain (played by Ben Roseberry) and Panic (played by Jeff Blumenkrantz). But in the end Hades exploits his protégé Meg (played by Isabelle McCalla) to take advantage of Hercules’ weaknesses. Hercules ultimately gives up his strength to save Meg from a condemned life under Hades despotic powers – but Hercules rescues her, and his act of heroism proves he really is a hero, and his act of humanity restores his powers.

The question is what and where Hercules does with his life which is part of the journey.

Throughout Hercules’ rite of passage events are commented on and are the driving force in advancing the plot forward by the Muses (played by Anastacia McCleskey, Destinee Rea, Charity Angel Dawson, Tiffany Mann, and Rashidra Scott), who are the scene stealers in this musical.

Alan Menken and David Zippel provide a melodic score – noting “Go The Distance” among them, and Robert Horn and Kwame Kwei-Armah provide the clever jokes and physical comedy. Also much credit should be given to James Ortiz’s puppet designs for the many creatures that Hercules confronts.

Besides the aforementioned chorus of Muses, Bradley Gibson gives a winning performance as the hapless Hercules. James Monroe Inglehart is the showman that he is as Phil – particularly in his tour de force performance of “I’m Back!”, as well as Shuler Hensley as the villainous villain, Hades, and Isabelle McCalla as the self-confident and assertive Meg. This cast all possesses the vocal skills to send the music soaring throughout the theatre but are also adept at bringing out the emotions in the music – and also the comedy.

Hercules, as a musical, is not without its flaws as deBessonet’s direction could use more focus on the comic-timing of the jokes, and there could be more momentum and variety in the dance numbers.

No doubt Hercules is a work in progress during this Paper Mill Playhouse engagement. But even in this state there is to much to be enjoyed – and is a fantastically entertaining musical.

Pictures From Home

Studio 54
February 5, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

Sometimes families focus their whole lives on looking back on memories — especially viewing those memories through the photos taken in what seems to be filtered from the perspective of one’s distant youth. These thoughts of looking back are very much in evidence in Sharr White’s Pictures From Home which has recently had its Broadway premiere at Studio 54. And what a welcome addition it is to this Broadway season.

Photographer Larry Sultan, born in Brooklyn, created a photographic memoir of his parents – not only examining their years through photographs but also through audio recordings. These memories were published in a memoir, Pictures From Home (1983-92), in which Sultan examined his parents’ aspirations when they moved their family to Los Angeles in search of a better life after World War II – which also explored aspirations and what they thought was their own personal interpretation and truth of the American Dream – and in addition Sultan’s own self-examination.

This memoir has been adapted by playwright Sharr White for the stage – using Sultan’s photos not only as artwork but also as images that are more typical of America than we may like to think – and an audio diary of Sultan’s parents’ relationship – including the disagreements, the intimacy – and their eccentricities.

Sultan’s photos are used and projected on a screen located at the rear of the stage, and represent the insightful landscape of American life. There are memories of hope and optimism, but also depicted are the characters coming to terms with the reality and inevitability of when you might be facing the last years of one’s life. Sultan himself recognizes all of this and more through his interactions with his parents – coming to terms with his parents, and the fears he has of losing them.

Bittersweet memories and humor permeate Pictures From Home reflecting on the love in the relationship between Sultan’s parents – and ultimately Sultan follows his own journey in figuring out who he is – and his relationship with his own family.

Pictures From Home must be taken with some seriousness but also with a great deal of humor with the principal characters in this 3-hander play often breaking through the fourth wall, and speaking to the audience directly, asking questions – and also asking the audience for answers. The alchemy is that of an involving and touching comic drama.

Pictures From Home’s main assets are Bartlett Sher as director who has shaped Sultan’s memoirs and White’s adaptation into a coherent and effective theatrical experience. All distilled in about 1 hour and 45 minutes – so much is expressed in such a short amount of time.

And there is the superlative cast of actors who are giving a master class in acting – and also gifted with superlative comic timing – where the jokes land and are timed for the greatest effect – and express the emotions in the most touching moments of the play.

Those actors are Zoe Wanamaker as Jean Sultan, and Nathan Lane as Irving Sultan – the parents of Larry Sultan, played by Danny Burstein, who is both the narrator and participant in Pictures From Home. You couldn’t get better story-tellers.

The word “empathy” is an important one in Pictures From Home, and you will feel that empathically when connecting with the Sultan Family as depicted in Pictures From Home. And I can’t say more emphatically what a welcome addition Pictures From Home is to this Broadway season.

Memorial

Mezzanine Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres
February 4, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

The Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, directed by Tisa Chang, launched its 46th season with the world premiere of Livian Yeh’s Memorial at the Mezzanine Theatre at A.R.T/New York Theatres in New York City.

Memorial focuses on the Chinese American architect, Maya Lin, following her through the process of designing a memorial which commemorated the contributions of Vietnam veterans. Planned to be located in Washington DC’s National Mall, and complicated by a long decision-making process in choosing the design, Memorial contemplates the conflicts between the creator, and other important interested parties in the process – and the memorial itself.

Although Memorial is partially a fictional account of the story, it is a story that should be told, if only to recognize Lin’s contribution to this important memorial but also the complicated process that delayed its completion.

In 1981 Lin, while still an undergraduate student at Yale University, won the design competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial which was completed and dedicated in 1982.

With dark granite among its components, and a modern design, critics of the memorial felt that it reflected the negatives about the Vietnam War and did not honor the Vietnam veterans in a respectful manner. It was controversial enough that Lin had confrontations with Vietnam veterans, those benefactors who donated money to pay for the memorial, and members of Congress to the point that she had to go to Congress and defend her intentions and her design. A compromise of sorts was reached with the addition of The Three Soldiers, a bronze of Vietnam War soldiers, which was unveiled in 1984, and an American flag which was placed on the side of the memorial.

Described by the United States Department of Defense, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is the most visited memorial on the National Mall.

Wolf von Eckhart (played by Robert Meksin), a columnist for the Washington Post, and Colonel James Becker, a Vietnam veteran (played by James Patrick Nelson) were members of the selection committee for the memorial’s design but were at odds about the choice of Lin as a designer. Becker, in particular, felt the Vietnam Veterans were not represented as they should have been in the memorial’s design. The differences degenerated into a public relations war, and racial slurs directed at Lin – particularly that it was inappropriate for a designer of Asian descent to be chosen to envisage how the Vietnam veterans would be honored.

During this controversy, Japanese American architect, Hideo Sasaki (played by Glenn Kubota) offers support and guidance to Lin based on his experiences of having lived in a Japanese internment camp in the 1940’s, and also being the target of anti-Asian prejudice. Also Lin’s protective mother attempts to bring all parties together in the dispute but fails to do so. In the end, all parties agree to disagree for their own reasons.

In his direction of Memorial, Jeff Liu walks the tightrope of making certain that Memorial is not preachy, but Livian Yeh as playwright uses her bully pit to tell this compelling story which is not only of importance but also timely.

The cast of Angel Lin as Maya Lin, Robert Meksin as Wolf von Eckhart, James Patrick Nelson as colonel James Becker, Glenn Kubota as Hideo Sasaki, and Julia Lin, Maya Lin’s mother, played by Rachel Lu, give heartfelt performances – further supported by personal conviction. Nelson as Becker appeared to be the villain of the piece, but all of the actors portrayed their roles with the proper shades of gray.

Memorial is a spell-binding play, telling a story that must be told, with an excellent cast of story-tellers.

Cullberg

Joyce Theater
February 1, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

The Cullberg Ballet, which was founded by Sweden’s foremost choreographer, Birgit Cullberg, in 1967, and based in Stockholm, Sweden, made its New York debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1982. At that time Cullberg was the most important influence on the company’s artistic vision, and the works performed were those choreographed by her, and her son, Mats Ek, an important choreographic voice as well. The company has also been under the direction of many modern dance luminaries including Carolyn Carlson.

Renamed Cullberg, and now directed by Artistic Director Kristine Slettevold and Managing Director Stina Dahlstrom, this company of 17 dancers continues to evolve within the European contemporary dance scene.

In its Joyce Theater debut Cullberg is presenting a different artistic perspective than what the company presented in New York back in 1982 when it performed Birgit Cullberg’s Miss Julie, and Mats Ek’s Giselle.

The focus of this engagement was the presentation of Horse, the solos, choreographed by American post-modern dance choreographer, Deborah Hay. This collaborative dance piece was created with the Cullberg dancers on site in Stockholm, and Hay at her home in Austin, Texas during the pandemic lockdown, and was premiered in March 2021.

This series of seven solos, choreographed to music composed by Graham Reynolds, has been influenced by Hay’s feelings about climate change but also her theory of what the conception of the piece is as described in Hay’s choreographer’s note in the program, “Horse, the solos, relies on two common attributes of survival, risk and efficiency” – which are instrumental in the choreography of this dance – and the role of the soloist within an ensemble work which is also being questioned.

The work includes subtle movement referencing horses – a solo dancer in a herd – as well as a feeling of improvisation as each solo artist expresses his or her specialized movement – and in spite of being an ensemble work there is a feeling of spontaneity.

Sections of the piece were punctuated by blackouts but it was not clear when the point of this piece had been made – even at the end of Horse’s 1-hour duration. As a result Horse is not as engaging as it might have been.

However the performances of dancers, Adam Schutt, Anand Bolder, Elliott Marmouset, Freddy Houndekindo, Johanna Tengan, Louise Dahl, and Vincent Van Der Plas made a serious commitment to Hay’s style and concept.

During this Joyce Theater engagement Cullberg made a major artistic statement in terms of where its artistic vision is going – in the present and in the future.

My Fair Lady

State Theatre, New Brunswick, New Jersey
January 28, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

Continuing its Broadway series the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey is presenting the national touring company of the Lincoln Center Theater revival of My Fair Lady from January 27-29, 2023.

My Fair Lady is based on George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, and in this musical adaptation by composer Frederick Loewe, and lyric/book writer Alan Jay Lerner, My Fair Lady has been described as one of the greats of the golden age of Broadway. My Fair Lady premiered on Broadway in 1956, and has been presented in revivals on Broadway on several occasions.

It has been recounted by writers on the subject, and also by family members, that Lerner and Loewe had found the key to adapting Shaw’s play after having seen Gabriel Pascal’s film adaptation which provided Pygmalion with a happy ending.

This particular production was directed by Bartlett Sher, and in his pursuit of making this musical a bit less misogynist in terms of the plot, there is more than a subtle hint of independence expressed by this musical’s heroine, Eliza Doolittle – and less on the romantic aspects of the musical as Lerner & Loewe intended. Sher’s intentions were also supported by the casting of younger actors to play the principal protagonists.

The story of My Fairy Lady is that of linguist and an expert in the science of speech, Professor Henry Higgins, making a bet with his cohort Colonel Pickering, that he can transform a lowly flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, into a lady that would be accepted by Edwardian high society. With the story taking place in London in 1912, Higgins’ theory was that a person’s accent when speaking English can define that person’s class and position in society – at a time when a person’s class made the difference in succeeding or failing in life.

During the course of this “experiment” Higgins shows little restraint in taunting Eliza as he transforms her into the model young woman he wishes to create which makes for a frustrating situation for all concerned. Even so along the way Higgins is developing a romantic attachment to Doolittle. He even shows some respect for her but not overtly – as Higgins’ ego would not allow him to do so. That in spite of his mother’s objections to make his affections known. But Higgins doesn’t have much respect for anyone other than himself much less Eliza Doolittle.

Higgins arranges for Eliza’s “debut” at the Embassy Ball which is a complete success but neither Higgins nor Pickering give Eliza the credit she is due in making it the success that it was. In a confrontation with Higgins, Eliza opines over the fact that the transformation she has been involved in would make it difficult for her to return to her former role as a flower girl – and how she may be imprisoned by the new life that has been created for her.

Higgins thinks that transforming Eliza into a lady in the rarified world of British society is challenging norms – but My Fair Lady is a Cinderella story with a bit of romance – and no matter a director’s vision it is difficult to paint shades of gray in contrast to the creative team’s original intentions. In fact the coup d’état in this production is that Eliza and Higgins have a confrontation about their relationship and future, Eliza still returns to Higgins but walks out of the house to follow a life – without Higgins.

Lerner and Loewe provide a witty book, and a superb score to tell this story with memorable songs such as “I Could Have Danced All Night”, “On The Street Where You Live”, “Show Me”, “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face”, and “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly”. These songs can stand on their own but they all contribute to the narrative.

This touring production is enlivened by the young cast which gives My Fair Lady’s plot a slightly different slant. Madeline Powell was a stunning Eliza Doolittle with a voice to match, Jonathan Grunert was a younger Henry Higgins then one normally sees and makes this relationship a bit less misogynist, John Adkinson’s younger Colonel Pickering does the same. They all have commanding stage presence, and seem to have make these characters their own.

Michael Hegarty is a charming rogue as Alfred P. Doolittle – who is also changed by his circumstances, and ultimately feels compelled to conform to British middle-class society. Also outstanding is Becky Saunders as the aristocratic, and acerbic Mrs. Higgins, and Madeline Brennan as Mrs. Pearce, who keeps a lid on the antics and goings-on in the Higgins’ household.

My Fair Lady remains timely, entertaining, and has a stunning musical score – and in important story to tell. It still is magnificent and this national touring company lives up to the adjective of magnificent.

A Beautiful Noise

Broadhurst Theatre
January 24, 2023
By Mark Kappel
Copyright 2023

Although A Beautiful Noise had opened at the Broadhurst Theatre in December of last year, this will be a catch-up review as I wasn’t able to attend a performance until January 24, 2023.

A Beautiful Noise celebrates the life and music of one of our great American pop composers, Neil Diamond, who began his songwriting career in the 1960’s, rose to fame in the 1970’s, and had commanded the stage as a composer, singer, and entertainer until recently — now in his 80’s when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

Not only did Diamond write songs for himself but also for others, and one of his earliest hits was “I’m A Believer” which was written for The Monkees for their very successful television series.

Diamond spent a good part of his life as a devotee of psychoanalysis and that is the framework in how his story is told in A Beautiful Noise. As written by Anthony McCarten, this is a memory play as an older Neil Diamond (played by Mark Jacoby) looks back on his life as he is being questioned by his psychoanalyst (played by Linda Powell).

Very quietly A Beautiful Noise opens with the older Diamond sitting opposite his psychoanalyst – initiating Diamond’s journey through life, and seeking out clues in his lyrics as to the why and how Diamond’s emotional life may have been damaged by what became the new persona of Neil Diamond.

Diamond looks back on his younger self (played by Will Swenson) reliving his career, and also trying to dissect the failures of two of his marriages.

Diamond’s songs pour out of him as he looks back on the beginnings of his songwriting career, and his performing career – and his first and second marriages – touring, lots of money but his loneliness comes through in his lyrics – and the music and lyrics speak for themselves.

However through A Beautiful Noise, Diamond’s familiar music is celebrated and performed in musical numbers choreographed by Steven Hoggett. Director Michael Mayer interspersed these musical numbers with biographical information about Diamond in an equally fast-paced manner.

You definitely hear the hits made famous by Diamond including the familiar, “America”, “Brooklyn Roads”, “Love on the Rocks”, “Sweet Caroline”, and “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers’, and the less familiar, “Crunchy Granola Suite”, and “The Boat That I Row”, and as presented and performed they are surgically inserted to fit in with McCarten’s scenario for A Beautiful Noise.

Will Swenson, as the younger Neil Diamond, doesn’t attempt to create an impersonation of Diamond, but he provides Diamond’s essence in a multi-dimensional performance with Diamond’s signature gravel voice in his singing, and wearing more and more sequined costumes as Diamond’s new persona is crafted. Mark Jacoby also mines Diamond’s essence as the Neil Diamond of the present looking back over the years of his life and career. He spontaneously brings A Beautiful Noise to a cathartic ending with his unique performance of “I Am..I Said”.

Also a highlight of A Beautiful Noise is Robyn Hurder’s apt and sympathetic performance as Diamond’s outgoing and street smart second wife, Marcia Murphey.

There are also other important people in Diamond’s life who appear in A Beautiful Noise – even only briefly – such as songwriter Ellie Greenwich (played by standby Becky Gulsvig), Diamond’s long-suffering first wife Jaye Posner (played by Jessie Fisher), and a tireless ensemble, The Beautiful Noise, who represent a Greek chorus reacting to each plot point in Diamond’s story, and provide back-up for Will Swenson’s performances of Diamond’s hit songs.

Among the many things you will feel after experiencing A Beautiful Noise is energized and also nostalgic – it is definitely worth the journey.

This particular performance of A Beautiful Noise had an added bonus as the cast and audience celebrated Neil Diamond’s birthday.

Osipova – Force of Nature

City Center

January 21, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

New York has played host to a great many self-curated programs of dance by a great many international ballet stars. Some can be self-indulgent and others are self-revelations in regard to what artistic journeys these stars wish to experience.

Once such program of dance, Natalia Osipova – Force of Nature, was presented at the City Center on January 21, 2023, in which the balance of the content teetered more in the direction of self-indulgence rather than a self-awareness of what her fans would want to see her dance — yet also revealing what her artistic aspirations are at this moment in time. This didn’t mean that Osipova didn’t set a standard of dance that was anything less than what would be of expected of her.

Osipova was a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet and the Mikhailovsky Ballet in Russia before pursuing her career in Western Europe — in 2013 she joined the Royal Ballet as a principal dancer. She has also appeared as a guest artist with many other ballet companies all over the world including American Ballet Theatre in New York City.

Joining Osipova for this evening of dance was dancer/choreographer Jason Kittelberger, formerly of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and Reece Clarke and Marcelino Sambe of the Royal Ballet. In addition to these collaborators were Takumi Miyake and Yeva Hrytsak of the ABT Studio Company.

All told there were nine dance works presented in this program – Osipova dancing in seven of those nine works. Also if there was a guiding artistic style represented in this program it was that of the contemporary and modern dance works that Osipova is now interested in as an artist.

The program opened with the Giselle Act II Pas de Deux danced by Osipova and Sambe with Osipova projecting her own Romantic style, and a vital chemistry with her partner. These were moments in the ballet of regret, emotion and redemption and these moments were very much in the forefront in the performance of this familiar classical excerpt.

Takumi Miyake and Yeva Hrytsak of ABT Studio Company danced a flashy, but precise, performance of Vasily Vainonen’s The Flames of Paris Pas De Deux offering the only classical pyrotechnics on this program.

Osipova then stretched her dramatic skills with a playful performance of Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon Act I Pas De Deux partnered by an ardent Reece Clarke as the equally reckless Des Grieux. Besides the exhibiting the work of a master choreographer it was also quite evident that Osipova and Clarke had mastered what the choreography was stating dramatically even in this excerpt from this full-length ballet.

The first half of the program ended with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Pure, a moody modern dance duet danced by Osipova and Jason Kittelberger, choreographed to equally moody music by Tsubasa Hori and Olga Wojciechowska. Although not particularly distinctive, Cherkaoui showcased the talents of these two distinctive dancers.

A contrasting piece that opened the second part of the program was Frederick Ashton’s Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan – a very appropriate piece for this type of program – with Osipova in a less serious mood recreating Duncan’s essence.

Reece Clarke channeled Anthony Dowell in his interpretation and performance of Ashton’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits – danced with elegance and style.

The premiere on the program was Kittelberger’s Weight of it which featured Kittelberger and Osipova – once again exploring modern dance vocabulary – but the jewel of the piece was Sambe dancing a solo which seemed to be just added on for the occasion. 

It was the performance of Alexei Ratmansky’s Valse Triste, choreographed to the music of the same name by Jean Sibelius, a sophisticated neo-classical piece, that showed off Osipova and Clarke well – and played to the dancers’ strengths.

The final piece on the program was Kittelberger’s Ashes, choreographed to music by Nigel Kennedy and the Kroke Band – and danced by Kittelberger and Osipova –which brought the program to an intense and bold end. The focus was the interactions of both dancers with a chair placed on a rug, and reflecting what seemed to be terrifying moments. One could say this was a death-defying moment to end the program with.

Amazing how this diverse repertoire – and the performances of this repertoire – was put together for a program running about two hours. It gave Osipova’s fans a glimpse of how she has developed as an artist over the years.

The Sleeping Beauty

New Jersey Performing Arts

Center (Newark NJ)

January 15, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2023

The State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine had embarked on a short American tour last season and included an engagement at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey, dancing the company‘s production of The Nutcracker. The company, based in Dnipro, Ukraine has a history that goes back to the 1920’s, and is currently directed by Andrey Litvinov.

The State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine returned to perform at NJPAC on January 15, 2023 performing a production of The Sleeping Beauty which had been given its world premiere in Dnipro, Ukraine in 1989.

Based on the story by Perrault, and presented in a prologue and three acts, this production was choreographed to Tchaikovsky’s well-known and beloved music – often described as the best ballet score ever composed. This production’s choreography is credited to Marius Petipa with staging and additional choreography by Tatyana Linnik and Andrey Litvinov.

The original production of The Sleeping Beauty, given its world premiere by the Mariinsky Ballet in 1890, tells the tale of the birth of Aurora, and the blessings and gifts bestowed on her by a bevy of fairies including the Lilac Fairy. The Lilac Fairy intervenes when a distraught and angry Carabosse arrives at Aurora’s christening upset that she not been invited. She subsequently puts a spell on Aurora that upon her 16th birthday she would prick her finger on a spindle and die. 

However the Lilac Fairy is able to undermine this spell by informing the King and Queen that Aurora will only go to sleep until a Prince awakens her. That Prince does arrive after seeing Aurora in a vision, and the final act of the ballet celebrates the marriage of Aurora and Prince Desire – which includes dances by the familiar fairy tale characters, Little Red Riding Hood and the Gray Wolf, the White Cats, the Bluebirds and culminating with the Grand Pas de Deux danced by Aurora and Prince Desire.

With reduced resources in terms of dancers and what could be toured, this production of The Sleeping Beauty was performed to recorded music with abrupt changes in the musical score, which also disrupted the flow in telling the story. Cuts had to be made in the ballet in order to reduce the ballet’s running time which was performed in two parts in the time space of two and half hours. 

There were cuts in the Act II Hunt and Vision Scenes but as in Act II and other acts of this production of The Sleeping Beauty, the traditional choreography was in evidence. The mime sequences were performed at a slow musical tempi which made those moments easy to understand but slowed down the story-telling. Also there were the appearances of children in some of the set pieces in this ballet including the Garland Waltz which were charming but seemed under-rehearsed.

Although there was elegant dancing by the principal dancers in the main roles of Aurora, Prince Desire, the Lilac Fairy, and even the over-the-top performance of the role of Carabosse, as neither a cast list or an announcement of the cast members were provided, I am unable to mention them by name.

Although the State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine presented a production of The Sleeping Beauty that was comparable to other ballet companies with more resources, perhaps more thought should have been part of the process of  fashioning a production of one the great 19th century classics with reduced resources and using them more effectively.

Hong Kong Ballet – Romeo + Juliet

City Center

January 14, 2023

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The Hong Kong Ballet has sporadically appeared in New York City, at the City Center and also at the Joyce Theater – and the last time the company performed in New York City presenting a full-length ballet was in 1997 – dancing Wayne Eagling’s The Last Emperor.

Established in 1979, and now under the artistic direction of choreographer Septime Webre since 2017, the  Hong Kong Ballet presented the American premiere of Webre’s new production of Romeo + Juliet at the City Center on January 13 and 14, 2023.

In his version of Romeo and Juliet – which premiered in 2021 — Webre utilizes Sergei Prokofiev’s score. However he has set Shakespeare’s story in Hong Kong during the 1960’s – a tumultuous time in Hong Kong’s history. The libretto has not only been re-fashioned by Webre but was developed in collaboration with dramaturge Yan Pat To.  

Webre’s Romeo and Juliet is now set at a time when elite Hong Kong families were at war with each other, and as in Shakespeare’s play these family entanglements and family estrangements are pivotal in how this story is told. Although there are some inconsistencies in transporting Shakespeare’s story to the 1960’s, these revisions still allow for the story to be told with clarity.  

The heart of this version of Romeo and Juliet is the premise that Juliet’s father, a Shanghainese tycoon, wishes to marry off his daughter to a wealthy Caucasian, Mr. Parker (danced by Jonathan Spigner) which he believes will strengthen his power and increase his wealth. However the plan is turned upside down when Juliet meets Romeo by chance at a gala dinner. 

The story then moves quickly and impetuously as Juliet and Romeo marry. But after triad leader Tai Po, a member of the rival klan that is ruled by Juliet’s father, kills Little Mak, Romeo retaliates in killing Tai Po, and Romeo’s path changes to living the life of a fugitive. 

Juliet, still being pressured to marry Mr. Parker, seeks the assistance of Romeo’s Sifu – coming up with the plan for Juliet to drink a potion that would create the illusion of death – Romeo would be informed of this plot – and he would reunite with Juliet after her funeral allowing them to flee Hong Kong. However just as in Shakespeare’s play, Romeo is not informed of this ruse, and Romeo and Juliet meet their tragic death instead.

With this tale re-set in the 1960’s, the characters of Romeo and Juliet are not impetuous lovers but more sophisticated. Yet the story that is told still presents them and their actions as being reckless behavior, and stretching societal, and traditional boundaries.

Webre’s Romeo + Juliet is set against the neon signs, and advertising posters of the busy atmosphere in Hong Kong – its trends in culture and influences from other Asian countries — including those of popular films of the times reflecting what Webre stated in his before performance speech that Hong Kong has been a place where many cultures have been fused together. 

This atmosphere was reflected in the flashy and theatrical scenery designs by Ricky Chan – authentic to the time, and place for this newly-interpreted version of Shakespeare’s classic play.

References to Hong Kong’s film industry were cleverly represented in Romeo + Juliet’s Mandolin Dance in which a group of actors are filmed in a slapstick comedy sequence.

Most importantly is that Webre follows the blueprint of the Prokofiev score although the ballet is represented in two acts rather than being spread over three acts, and the tale is told expeditiously. There is nothing extraneous in Webre’s version, and the production’s strengths were in its theatricality, and showing off the talents of the company’s dancers.

Webre’s choreography combines many different dance styles. Putting further emphasis on its Hong Kong origins, the traditional street fights between the warring families was choreographed in Hong Kong-style kung fu.

The pair of star-crossed lovers were guest artist Taras Domitro as Romeo, and Xuan Cheng as Juliet. Cheng is currently making her transition from a principal dancer of the Oregon Ballet Theatre to the Hong Kong Ballet as a principal dancer and balletmistress.  They not only brought to life Webre’s choreography and intent, but they made you sympathize with the outpouring of grief that was displayed in the final Funeral Scene. Also notable were Albert Gordon as the comical and precocious Little Mak, Alexander Yap as the commanding and villainous Tai Po, and Yonen Takano’s effective characterization as Juliet’s domineering father.

Most importantly these performances by the Hong Kong Ballet were welcome during this current New York dance season, and in so doing showcasing the company’s dancers – both as dancers and actors – and also as entertainers and fine artists.

A Front Row Seat – Nancy Olson Livingston

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

A Front Row Seat by Nancy Olson Livingston, published by University Press of Kentucky, is an exhaustive, thoughtful, and absorbing memoir that examines life in Hollywood and Broadway at a time often described as a Golden Age. Subtitled “An Intimate Look at Broadway, Hollywood, and the Age of Glamour”, this is a monograph that gives the reader of today a fascinating perspective of those worlds.

Olson is best known for being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard in 1950, and also appearing in such movies as Union Station, Battle Cry, Pollyanna, and The Absent-Minded Professor. Olson also appeared on Broadway in The Tunnel Of Love, Send Me No Flowers, and Mary, Mary.

And she is also known for her marriages to Broadway legend Alan Jay Lerner, and Alan Wendell Livingston, former president of Capitol Records, who worked with notable and legendary recording artists.

Olson was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1928 – her mother was a pianist and teacher, and her father was a doctor. Olson pursued an interest in the arts in high school, and a pre-college program in the performing arts at Northwestern University. She then pursued a college degree at the University of Wisconsin but transferred to UCLA. At UCLA while appearing in performances of Molnar’s The Play’s The Thing, Olson was approached to set up a screen test at Paramount Pictures, and was offered a 7-year contract.

Olson’s first film was Canadian Pacific which was quickly followed by Sunset Boulevard. Olson’s analysis of Sunset Boulevard’s plot was incisive as she described all of the characters as being opportunists, and today joins the chorus of movie fans and critics who have lauded Sunset Boulevard as a masterpiece. She mentions that Mae West had been considered for the part of Norma Desmond – a role that was portrayed in the film by Gloria Swanson – and Montgomery Clift had been considered for the part of Joe Gillis – a role that was portrayed in the film by William Holden. 

But Olson does not give much background on the why and how she was chosen to play what became a pivotal role in her career. Her association with Sunset Boulevard was very much a part of her life as she was invited to provide a contribution of Directors Guild of America’s tribute to Sunset Boulevard’s director, Billy Wilder, and was invited by Andrew Lloyd Webber to attend the Los Angeles, London, and New York premieres of Webber’s musical version of Sunset Boulevard.

Olson met her first husband, Alan Jay Lerner, in 1949, with one of the Famous Artists’ literary agents, Alain Bernheim, as the go-between. At the time Lerner was in the midst of divorcing his second wife, Marion Bell. Throughout their courtship, and during their marriage Olson met the royalty of composers and lyricists. She ultimately deduced that because Lerner had come from a complicated and destructive background she might be destroyed by such a relationship – and in A Front Row Seat, Olson also described what was her painful marriage to Lerner.

In 1950 married Lerner when Lerner was involved with the film, An American in Paris, which was followed by some of his other significant achievements on the Broadway stage and on film, Paint Your Wagon, Royal Wedding, and My Fair Lady. 

There was an immediate strain at the beginning of Olson’s marriage to Lerner when Lerner had an affair with Olga San Juan, star of Paint Your Wagon. Yet the marriage endured. Lerner’s marriage to Olson was the longest of his marriages, and they had two daughters, Liza and Jenny. However their marriage ended when Lerner admitted to an affair with a woman he met in Paris during the filming of Gigi. They were divorced in 1958.

Olson commented and recalled that Frederick Loewe, the composer for many of Lerner’s Broadway successes, resented Lerner when he worked with other collaborators. Lerner’s partnerships with Burton Lane and Arthur Schwartz proved problematic and his relationship with Loewe was often tested.

An interesting quote from Olson included in the book was that:

“I don’t think that Alan (Jay Lerner) acknowledged to himself that he was truly a terrible book writer. He would never be a good playwright: his gift was knowing how to highlight the drama with music and songs, and nobody wrote better lyrics.”

After one of the difficulties in their relationship Lerner and Loewe came together to work on My Fair Lady, and found the key to making Shaw’s Pygmalion work as a musical – which was to focus on the screenplay of the film adaptation, with the happy ending, rather than the play.

Also no casting surprises in regard to My Fair Lady except that Mary Martin was offered the role of Eliza Doolittle and turned down the part not being impressed by the Lerner and Loewe score.

After her divorce from Lerner, Olson returned to making movies in Hollywood. She particularly mentions her positive experiences in making two Walt Disney movies, Pollyanna, and The Absent-Minded Professor – and later, Son of Flubber.

Her last time working on the Broadway stage was as a replacement for Barbara Bel Geddes in Jean Kerr’s Mary, Mary.

Olson mentioned that she felt a major snub, when after Alan Jay Lerner’s death, she wasn’t invited to Lerner’s tribute in New York.

A good portion of the book lauded her second husband’s achievements. Olson met her second husband, Alan Livingston, in what was a blind dinner date set-up by one of Olson’s friends. Ultimately, while working on a film in California, Livingston proposed marriage and they were married in 1962.  

As an important figure in the entertainment field Livingston rejuvenated the career of Frank Sinatra, transformed Nat King Cole into a legendary solo artist, signed on the Beach Boys and The Beatles to Capitol Records – created the television series Bonanza, and he was President of the Entertainment Group of 20th Century during the making of Star Wars.

Among Livingston’s accomplishments was an interesting oddity as he was involved in the design of the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles to resemble a stack of records and on top of the building was a flashing red light which sent the message of “Hollywood” in Morse code.  He also was responsible for recording Judy Garland’s legendary concert at Carnegie Hall in 1961, and he negotiated for Capital Records to release the best of the Russian classical artists on the Melodiya/ Angel Label.

Olson’s most important goals were to support her husband’s business activities and to keep her blended family together. Yet she was offered opportunities to work – especially in television — as she was considered to play the role of Laura Petrie in the Dick Van Dyke Show. But turned down  this opportunity and others.

Olson took great pleasure in her achievements when she became Executive President of Blue Ribbon in 1983 which raised money for the Los Angeles Music Center. During her tenure she expanded the Los Angeles Music Center’ educational “Children’s Festival” and after supervising the Los Angeles Music Center’s fundraising events in conjunction with its 25th anniversary, she made efforts to reveal mismanagement by important members of the Los Angeles Music Center’s administration.

With this memoir written when Olson was 93 years-old, A Front Row Seat is filled with fascinating anecdotes about Hollywood, the movers and shakers in the film industry, and the actors who were in the films during Hollywood’s Golden Age, and Broadway’s Golden Age, literally providing the reader with the best seat in the house.

New Jersey Ballet – The Nutcracker

Mayo Performing Arts Center (Morristown NJ)

December 22, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

During the restrictions that were imposed because of Covid-19, many ballet companies all over the world turned to livestream performances, and some of them have continued these livestream performances even as restrictions have been lifted. Last year the New Jersey Ballet presented its production of The Nutcracker in a such a performance, and this year the New Jersey Ballet continued this new tradition with a livestreamed performance on December 22, 2022, accompanied by the New Jersey Symphony playing Tchaikovsky’s well-known and beloved music, and providing spirited musical tempi for the dancers to dance to.

Performed at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, New Jersey, the New Jersey Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker is inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, and represents a choreographic collaboration with contributions by Joseph Carow, George Tomal and David Tamaki. The New Jersey Ballet has been performing The Nutcracker since 1971.

Act I finds us in the home of the Mayor and his family at his Christmas Party. An invited guest, Herr Drosselmeyer (played by Raynor Rubel) brings his magic to the party telling stories – including that of The Nutcracker Prince and the Mouse King — and giving gifts to the children including a Nutcracker doll to Clara (danced by Yuiko Honda). Unfortunately Clara’s brother, Fritz, has broken the doll in a scuffle with his friends, but Drosselmeyer , and his nephew manage to repair it.

Throughout Act I the children are suitably amazed and exhibited their spontaneous responses to Drosselmeyer’s stories and magic tricks, and playing with their Christmas toys.

Clara begins her dream with the Christmas tree growing as The Nutcracker Prince (danced by Felipe Valentini) commands the toy soldiers to defeat the Mouse King and his army of mice. The Nutcracker is transformed into a Prince, and after dancing a pas de deux of their own, he and Clara come upon the Snow King (danced by Akira Iida) and the Snow Queen (danced by Ilse Kapteyn), dancing the atmospheric Snow Scene, and then on to the Land of the Sweets where they are entertained by its inhabitants including the Waltz of the Flowers led by Denise Parungao as the sparkling Dew Drop. The divertissements culminate in the Grand Pas de Deux danced by the Sugar Plum Fairy and Her Cavalier. At the conclusion of the festivities Clara is transported home on a swan boat.

At this performance the roles of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Her Cavalier were danced by New Jersey ballet principal dancer Risa Mochizuki, and guest artist, Daniel Ulbricht, principal dancer of the New York City Ballet. Mochizuki being a letter-perfect and congenial Sugar Plum Fairy, and Ulbricht a perfect cavalier and escort.

The New Jersey Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker is faithful to its classical roots and is revealing in its story-telling – and most of all entertaining. And more importantly that the New Jersey Ballet continues to serve its community by making a streamed performance available.  

Ohio State Murders

James Earl Jones Theatre

December 15, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Adrienne Kennedy’s Ohio State Murders opened on December 8th, 2022 at the newly-renovated James Earl Jones Theatre, marking the auspicious Broadway debut of playwright Adrienne Kennedy – her debut at 91 years of age – and a play that had its world premiere in 1992 – and its off-Broadway debut in 2007. Better late than never as Broadway audiences can now, finally, experience Kennedy’s unique approach to storytelling.

Directed by Kenny Leon and starring Audra McDonald as the writer Suzanne Alexander, Ohio State Murders is an absorbing memory play during which a mystery unravels, memories that traumatize, and reveal a world that one hopes we can think of as being in the past that we have moved on from rather than a past we are holding on to today.

In this production of Ohio State Murders McDonald plays both the younger and older Alexander who is returning to Ohio State University to give a speech focusing on the violent imagery in her stories and plays. Memories come back as she rehearses her speech in a familiar setting where she is surrounded by the stacks of law books in the University’s library, imaginatively designed by Beowulf Boritt.

Taking place in the 1990s, in flashbacks and memories, Alexander relives her undergraduate year at Ohio State University – the school year of 1949-50 – and, in particular, her experiences as being one of a small number of black students attending the University.

One of her significant memories is that of a brief affair with one of her English professors, Robert Hampshire (played by Bryce Pinkham), after they discover a special love for the works of Thomas Hardy.  Looking back on what was a relationship that was meant to be would now been seen as a bad choice that eventually requires her to leave the campus, and changes her life forever. 

These thoughts and emotions come back during what is a snowy day in Columbus, Ohio – and also forcing Alexander to re-visit the impact of the tragic news of the murder of her twin daughters  – and who was the perpetrator.

Ohio State Murders captures Alexander’s journey which reflects a moment in time of American history that is still haunting us today. Within only a bit over an hour many more questions are asked than are answered. 

The Broadway premiere of Kennedy’s Ohio State Murders provides Broadway audiences with yet another tour de performance by McDonald as Suzanne Alexander taking an emotional and revelatory journey through Alexander’s personal tragedy.

McDonald is ably supported by Bryce Pinkham as Robert Hampshire, Iris Ann as Abigail Stephenson, David Alexander as Mister Fitzgerald and Val, and in multiple roles played by Lizan Mitchell.

Ohio State Murders is an experience that every avid theater-goer should not miss.

Some Like It Hot

Shubert Theatre

December 14, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Billy Wilder’s film, Some Like It Hot, is a classic. Starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe and Joe E. Brown, it was one of the great movie comedies of its era. In 1972  it was transformed into a musical, Sugar, which was written by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, and directed by Gower Champion. Sugar was not considered a success, and has faded into musical comedy history – although it did re-surface in a touring revival in 2002 with Tony Curtis playing the role of the eccentric millionaire, Osgood Fielding.

Some Like It Hot has returned to Broadway in a brand-new version with a new pastiche score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and a new book by Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin, which is based on the classic MGM film. Moving the story from 1929 to 1933 – and taking place in Chicago and California — Some Like It Hot now has a 21st century sensibility of inclusion,  but remains a comedy for the ages about people caught up in an impossible predicament, and trying to get out of it – or as Matthew Lopez stated in a television interview, the story of Some Like It Hot is about “idiots in trouble”, which is the universal element that sparks the comedy in this musical.

Two Chicago musicians Joe (played by Christian Borle) and Jerry (played by J. Harrison Ghee) are playing their hearts out in the band of one of Chicago’s speakeasys only to find themselves suddenly unemployed after a police raid. With no job and no money, they choose to be that much more adventurous by seeking jobs at a club owned by the notorious gangster Spats Colombo. Spats (played by Mark Lotito), makes it clear that he does not tolerate any nonsense from any of his “employees” but Joe and Jerry convince him that they will bring in the audiences to see their singing and dancing act. 

However Joe and Jerry find themselves in another jam when they are the only witnesses to a mob hit – the murder of Toothpick Charlie.

In an attempt to flee Spats and his henchmen, Joe becomes Josephine, and Jerry becomes Geraldine, and then Daphne, and they play a mean trick on two musicians who were recruited for an all-ladies band – getting the jobs themselves – and they are off by train to California where the band has been engaged to play at the Coronado Hotel in San Diego.

Once Joe arrives in California he pursues a romance with the band’s singer, Sugar (played by Adrianna Hicks), exploiting the persona of Kiplinger Von Der Plotz, an Austrian screenwriter, in order to appeal to  Sugar’s ambitions to be a movie star. Jerry, now very comfortable in women’s garb, and is self-assessing his own sexual identity, is romanced by the millionaire Osgood Fielding (played by Kevin Del Aguila), who we find out has had his problems with his own social adjustment as a millionaire, and coming to terms with his Mexican heritage.

Yes, the mob does catch up with the errant musicians, and a mad chase is presented on stage as a brisk-paced and funny farce. The chase scene in Act II, “Tip Tap Trouble”, is one of the highlights of this musical – sheer madness created by director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw – an intricate and farcical tap dance number.

But how it all ends up is for you to discover when you attend a performance of Some Like It Hot yourself. You can enjoy the journey and be surprised by the ending.

The score has many glorious moments, and the team of Shaiman and Wittman are very adept in having composed a pastiche score that suits the times, and the plot twists in Some Like It Hot.  Book writers Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin highlight the humor that the characters face as the plot alters into becoming more and more complicated.

Director/Choreographer Casey Nicholaw keeps this farce, and the magical musical numbers, moving at a quick pace – and what wonderful musical numbers they are. And keeps the surprises coming.

Much of the success of Some Like It Hot can be attributed to the dynamite performances of Christian Borle, Adrianna Hicks, J. Harrison McGhee, and Kevin Del Aguila – the latter is a particular scene stealer.

Adrianna Hicks as Sugar was most impressive singing “A Darker Shade of Blue” and “Ride Out The Storm”. Also notable was Kevin Del Aguila as Osgood in his comic turn in “Fly, Mariposa Fly”. Just as notable were Christian Borle as Joe/Josephine and J.  Harrison McGhee as Jerry/Geraldine in “Vamp”, Borle and Hicks singing the dream number sequence, “Dance The World Away”, McGhee as Daphne in “You Coulda Knocked Me Over With a Feather”, and Natasha Yvette Williams as Sweet Sue leading the opening number, “What Are You Thirsty For?” and the title number “Some Like It Hot”.

All of the cast members are superb comic actors, singers, and dancers, and they are showcased in the beautiful costumes designed by Gregg Barnes, and the dancing scenery designs by Scott Pask.

Some Like It Hot is a re-thinking and celebration of how marginalized communities are presented on a Broadway stage, and a throwback to Golden Age Broadway musicals. And if you are craving to see a real musical comedy, Some Like It Hot is the ticket for you.

The Sound of Music

Paper Mill Playhouse

December 10, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

For its seasonal holiday presentation the Paper Mill Playhouse, in Milburn, New Jersey, is presenting a revival of the Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II classic, The Sound of Music, from December 2, 2022 through January 1, 2023 – and it is a revival that should not be missed.

The Sound of Music has taken its place in musical theatre history and spans generations of audiences since its Broadway premiere in 1959 – winning the Tony Award for Best Musical. This classic musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse has been a popular title for community theaters, high school and college productions. But it has only been given a few professional revivals in New York City. To its credit the Paper Mill Playhouse has revived The Sound of Music on many occasions.

There was a revival produced by the New York City Opera in 1990, and a Broadway revival in 1998. There was also a distinguished London revival of The Sound of Music that starred Petula Clark that had a year-long engagement beginning in 1981. An interesting note about that revival was that June Bronhill, an Australian opera and stage star, played the role of the Mother Abbess, and she had been the original Maria in the first Australian production of The Sound of Music, performing opposite American television star Peter Graves, known for starring in Mission Impossible, as Captain Von Trapp.

In short the Paper Mill Playhouse revival is very welcome and especially so since this revival was under the able direction of Mark Hoebee, the Paper Mill Playhouse’s artistic director. Hoebee has directed  this production of The Sound of Music with great respect and reverence, and allowing the music and the story to speak for themselves.

The story of Maria Rainer begins in 1938 just before the German invasion of Austria. A postulant at the Nonnberg Abbey, she is engaged as a governess for the Von Trapp Family children by the patriarch of the family, Captain Georg Von Trapp. 

Maria wins the confidence of the Von Trapp children in spite of the fact that she is not confident herself. Even though Captain Von Trapp has intentions of marrying Baroness Elsa Schrader, it becomes evident that Von Trapp has fallen in love with Maria. However what creates the suspense is the Von Trapp Family’s escape from Austria as Captain Von Trapp comes into conflict with the new political authorities in Austria after the Anschluss – a planned escape after performing at the Kaltzberg Festival.

Although the impending horrors of World War II are an important and potent ingredient in The Sound of Music, it is the love story of Maria and Captain von Trapp that dominates the plot of The Sound of Music. And it also has a memorable and winning score that includes the standards “My Favorite Things”, the inspirational “Climb Every Mountain”, “Edelweiss”, and the title song.  Also added to revivals of The Sound of Music are the songs, “I Have Confidence” and “Something Good” which Richard Rodgers composed for the screen version of The Sound of Music which have found their own place in the score.

Ashley Blanchet as Maria sang a profoundly beautiful rendition of the title song, and added to the humanity and fun in “The Lonely Goatherd”, and Caitlin Burke as the Mother Abbess gave a heart-wrenching performance of “Climb Every Mountain”.

The world represented in The Sound of Music is an innocent world that was about to change – and it is sentimental and nostalgic – but very timely.

Most important is that you fall in love with all of the characters represented in the story of The Sound of Music and those actors who play them – Ashley Blanchet as Maria, Graham Rowat as Captain von Trapp, and Caitlin Burke as the Mother Abbess, as well as Emily Borromeo as Elsa Schraeder, Gavin Lee as Max Detweiler, Analise Scarpaci as Liesl von Trapp, Andrew Alstat as Rolf Gruber, and the precocious Von Trapp children, Coleman Simmons as Friedrich, Jacey Sink as Louisa, Cody Braverman as Kurt, Tara Rajan as Brigitta, Austin Elle Fisher as Marta, and Charlotte Sydney Harrington as Gretl. 

The Paper  Mill Playhouse production of The Sound of Music is the perfect treat for the holiday season – and bring the children as they will love it.

Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust Road

Theatre St. Jeans

November 27, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

From November 22 through December 31, 2022, the York Theatre Company is presenting a limited engagement of Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust Road, a celebration of the music of Hoagy Carmichael, at the Theatre St. Jeans.

Conceived by Susan H. Schulman, Michael Lichtefeld, and Lawrence Yurman – and developed with Hoagy Carmichael’s son, Hoagy Bix Carmichael — Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust Road includes Carmichael’s classic songs as well as more than a few undiscovered gems.

Indiana-born Carmichael was a notable tunesmith of the 20th century specializing in popular songs and songs for musical films. Among those songs were “Stardust”, “Georgia On My Mind”, “The Nearness Of You”, “Skylark”, “Heart & Soul”, “Two Sleepy People”, “Lazy River”, and “In The Cool, Cool of the Evening” which won Carmichael an Academy Award in 1951. All of which are included in this tribute to one of America’s best tunesmiths.

As referenced in the title of this musical, there was a collection of Carmichael songs entitled “Stardust Road”, which linked the stories of six friends through Carmichael’s well-known songs.

Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust Road is divided into five parts taking the audience from the Stardust Roadhouse – somewhere in Indiana – to Club Old Man Harlem – in New York City – to the USO Canteen, to the Club Heart and Soul in Hollywood – and culminating in a reunion/memorial at the Stardust Roadhouse many years later.

Carmichael’s songs are performed by Markcus Blair as Buster, Sara Esty as Clara, Dion Simmons Grier as Max, Danielle Herbert as Bessie, Kayla Jenerson as Gloria, Cory Lingner as Charlie and Mike Schwitter as Wallace in solo turns, duets, and ensembles giving a new context to Carmichael’s songs exposing the emotions and anxieties of these characters, and also playing to each actor’s strengths. Each member of this exceptional and extraordinary cast has a moment to shine on their own, and in Part Five they take the time to celebrate an absent friend, Max, in “Serenade To Gabriel” and “I Walk With Music”.

Among the discovered gems was “Don’t Forget To Say No” which was staged as a playlet unto itself. But all of the songs were successfully presented in rich vocal arrangements – by Lawrence Yurman — and choreography to express the emotions and stories in each of Carmichael’s songs. These songs might not be in fashion now but they should be as they express the innocence and honesty of other simpler times rather than the complicated times we live in.

Director Susan H. Schulman has expertly helmed Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust Road, and choreographer Michael Lichtefeld has created entertaining musical numbers to show off the multi-talented cast of Markus Blair, Sara Esty, Dion Simmons Grier, Danielle Herbert, Kayla Jenerson, Cory Lingner, and Mike Schwitter.

Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust Road is a musical journey first and foremost, and how great it is to hear and experience Carmichael’s standards once again in a new context – but there are also gems revealed in this enjoyable and engaging tribute to one of America’s best songwriters.

KPOP

Circle in the Square

November 17, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

KPOP is a music phenomenon that has its roots in South Korea. It is a genre that has fused many different musical styles while also emphasizing fashion and dance – and besides expanding its popularity throughout Asia, it has now become a world-wide success story. And it is now taking another big step in widening its audience in KPOP — a new musical — which opened at the Circle in the Square on November 27, 2022. KPOP, the musical, is about KPOP, KPOP music, and an insightful look behind the scenes in what is the KPOP experience.

With a concept by Woodshed Collective, a score by Helen Park and Max Vernon, and a book by Jason Kim, the premise of KPOP is the behind the scenes look at the preparations for a one-night only concert featuring solo artist MwE, and the boy group, F8, and the girl group, RTMIS.

Seizing this opportunity is Harry (played by Aubie Merrylees) a documentary film maker who dares to use his camera to pull the curtain open to reveal the disagreements between Ruby (played by understudy Marina Rondo) who is a former recording artist in her own right and now runs a record company, and MwE (played by Korean singing and stage star, Luna), for whom Ruby has been a mentor since she was single digits in age, and groomed her to be the big star she has become. 

Ruby has not only been MwE’s mentor but also her substitute mother. The issue between Ruby and MwE is that Ruby was exercising too much control over MwE – not only in her professional life  but also in her personal life.

Through the course of KPOP the differences between them are expressed by MwE in  “Wind-Up Doll”, as well as the revelations of in-fighting and ego-clashing within the boy group F8, and the girl group, RTMIS which Ruby has been fostering.

It is not clear in the book that the disputes and differences have been resolved. However it is in “Phoenix” that MwE rises to the occasion and asserts herself. This is the highpoint of KPOP.

The story that is told in KPOP is told in flashbacks as components of a relatively thin book. However KPOP shines, sparks, and excites in the many musical numbers – highlighted by Jennifer Weber’s choreography – culminating in “Blast Off”.

These elements all combine into a multimedia spectacle – with emphasis on the entertainment value, and the extraordinary talents of KPOP’s young and versatile cast. Director Teddy Berman employs his ability to keep the action moving at a fast pace, and the performances of the musical numbers on a high energy level.

There are standout performances by the entire cast – particularly Luna as MwE — which keeps the momentum up and grabs one’s attention. 

What is important is that this aspect of Korean culture is now being represented on Broadway in KPOP, and can be experienced by a wider audience. Take up this opportunity to experience KPOP for yourself.

Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish

November 20, 2022

New World Stages

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Are we ready for another revival of Fiddler on the Roof – but most importantly a revival of the very successful production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish – and I would say theatre audiences definitely are. Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish opened its first off-Broadway engagement in 2019 entertaining audiences for nearly a year – all before the Covid-19 lockdowns. This wonderful and engaging revival is back again for a limited engagement at New World Stages until January 1, 2023. In short if you haven’t seen it you should, and if you have seen it you may want to see it again.

Fiddler on the Roof opened its Broadway engagement in 1964, and has been revived on Broadway on a regular basis through the decades. This musical with music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and a book by Joseph Stein, speaks to the generations with its universality of how the world around us changes and evolves, how people adapt to that changing world, and how difficult it may be to hold a family together and uphold traditions.

Fiddler on the Roof, based on the stories of Sholem Aleichem, was fashioned by Jerome Robbins into a major Broadway hit, and is one of the greatest musicals of Broadway’s Golden Age. However the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene presented a production of Fiddler on the Roof which was unique – it was performed in Yiddish (with a translation by Shraga Friedman) , and it was directed by Broadway veteran, Joel Grey – which added more layers of humor and emotions – and especially so in the present day with new generations of migrants fleeing their homelands.

Fiddler on the Roof focuses on Tevye, a milkman living in a Jewish village in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in the early part of the 20th century — and the story of the future of his daughters – in marriage, in migration, and breaking traditions. During the course of making his way through a normal day, Tevye regularly has con-versations with God, in the hope that he might receive some guidance as traditions are being challenged. Tevye yields to breaking traditions when it comes to two of his daughters’ marriages – but he cannot yield to one of them when one of his daughters marries outside of his religion.

This account of the daily lives of these people all takes place in the small village of Anatevka, where the Rabbi has a prayer for everything, and even the arrival of a sewing machine in Motl, the tailor’s shop, is a major event. The existence of that village is being challenged on a daily basis ultimately forcing the citizens of Anatevka to migrate and end life-long relationships to seek lives in other parts of the world.

Grey has sympathetically directed this version of Fiddler to accentuate and focus on Tevye’s family and allows Fiddler to tell its story through Stein’s book and the wonderful songs in the score including, “Tradition”, “A Sabbath Prayer”, “Sunrise Sunset”, “Matchmaker, Matchmaker”, and “Far From The Home I Love”.

Choreographer Stas Kmiec has paid homage to Jerome Robbins’ original choreography, particularly in the Wedding Bottle Dance which was superbly danced by Jonathan Quigley, Nick Raynor, James Monroe Stevko, and Ron Tal.

This particular production is notable for the dramatic intensity of the book scenes, and also injecting more charm and humor that are part and parcel of Sholem Aleichem stories. Also this Fiddler is favored by having some members of the original cast of the off-Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish with perfect performances by Steven Skybell, exemplary as Tevye, and Jennifer Babiak, sympathetic as Tevye’s wife, Golde, as Tevye and Golde strengthen the bonds of their marriage through the trials and tribulations that they are experiencing – which is underscored with a bit of humor as well.

But this production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish is the sum of its parts and every role is represented with emotion and gusto as represented by the performances of Stephanie Lynne Mason, Rosie Jo Neddy, and Rachel Zatcoff as Tevye’s daughters, Ben Liebert as Motl the Tailor, Drew Seigla as Pertshik, Michael Nigro as Fyedke, Bruce Sabath as Leyzer-Volf, and Lisa Fishman as Yente the Matchmaker.

As this production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish is presented with English Supertitles you don’t need to know a word of Yiddish to appreciate this intimate production of Fiddler with its utmost sincerity, humanity, and joy of life.

Two Jews, Talking

Theatre at St. Clement’s

November 19, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

What could happen when two Jews start talking – at any time in history, and in any geographic location? That is explained in Ed. Weinberger’s Two Jews, Talking, which is story-telling at its finest in two short one-act plays, which are being performed at the Theatre at St. Clement’s.

Weinberger wrote for the Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi, and he is an old hand when it comes to writing situational comedy. In Two Jews, Talking, two short plays are separated not only geographically but also by 3500 years – but somehow the humor is not much different.

The first of the two one-act plays bring together the characters of Lou (Josh Mostel) and Bud (Richard Masur) – who remind one of  the comedy team of Abbott and Costello – in a Waiting For Godot moment — as they get together to talk about the past, present, and future in Biblical times – at around 1505 BCE in the desert, late afternoon, on a Tuesday. 

Lou is complaining about having to walk in the desert in boots, and he can’t seem to find a pair of sandals in his size – and he is also questioning the word and intentions of God – while Bud takes most of God’s word on faith. Lou and Bud have been following Moses as they have been wandering through the desert, and question as to whether the Promised Land that they are travelling to actually exists, and whether it is worth the trouble – and the big question is why Moses didn’t stop, and ask for directions. Yet they make the decision to continue the quest.

In the second play Phil  (Richard Masur) and Marty (Josh Mostel) bring us up to the present in contemporary Long Island – a con-versation on a  bench in a cemetery where both  Phil and Marty are paying their respects to loved ones — after Marty has been visiting with a dying friend at Mt. Sinai Hospital. These are two strangers who meet at a strange time in their lives, and also in a strange, but appropriate, place.

Besides talking about their history, and their loved ones that they have lost, there seems to be an instant friendship that has been formed. The conversation isn’t maudlin as they connect with jokes, and realize that they might have met at the right time in their lives – they have connected to create a friendship that could be long-lasting.

What both plays have in common is that these two sets of companions are ageing men but who are not ageing in place – and when they are honest with each other they express it with self-deprecating humor.

Under the direction of Dan Wackerman, Josh Mostel and Richard Masur – two skilled comedy actors — perform on stage as if it is their playground. You can laugh at them and with them – and pass 70 minutes very quickly with the sense of fun that they are having.

&Juliet

Stephen Sondheim Theatre

November 12, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

There have been more than a handful of Broadway musicals that have been created to ruminate upon, and to discover distinctive points of view of William Shakespeare’s plays, and have reinterpreted them for contemporary audiences. This season Broadway is playing host to &Juliet which takes on a 21st century sheen  in re-thinking Shakespeare’s best-known play, Romeo and Juliet – transforming it from a tragedy to an uplifting musical with a surprise happy ending – and appropriately it had to come from the UK – and it has. 

&Juliet, which made its Broadway debut at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on November 17, 2022, is a West End import that has re-worked the libretto of Shakespeare’s play into a musical  — a musical that ponders a new sensibility of how women can be empowered, and definitely, a sense of the evolvement of women in the 21st century. It just had to be.

David West Read, who is known for writing the successful television series, Schitt’s Creek,  has flipped Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and asks the question, what would have happened if Juliet had lived – and what would Juliet’s life be like, her adventures, future romances – with the result  turning Romeo and Juliet into a romantic musical comedy that takes unique twists and turns. 

That is the alchemy of &Juliet which is musicalized with a catalogue of songs written by Swedish pop composer Max Martin  — from which Read ably borrows the first phrase of lyrics from Martin’s songs to incorporate into this new adaptation  of the Romeo and Juliet story. And this new interpretation of Romeo and Juliet is further enhanced by the innovative and intuitive direction by Luke Sheppard who ably guides the audience down a new path in experiencing the Romeo and Juliet story being told for the age we are living in.

Raising the hypothetical question of what might have happened if Juliet decided not to take her own life when she found Romeo dead in her family’s crypt, William Shakespeare (played by Stark Sands), and his wife, Anne Hathaway (played by Betsy Wolfe) collaborate in conjuring up Juliet’s fate if she had been able to make such a decision. After all Juliet was a prisoner of her own time, and man’s limited world view.

Upon deciding to choose life, Juliet (played by Lorna Courtney) initially embarks on what seems to be an uneventful adventure with her nurse, Angelique (played by Melanie LaBarrie), her best friend May (played by Justin David Sullivan) – and even Anne Hathaway inserts herself into this adventure as  another one of Juliet’s best friends, April.

Their adventure takes them to Paris where they meet Francois (Philippe Arroyo) who creates more drama than anything else – and also wins Juliet’s affections – but ultimately stands his ground in expressing his own real affection for May. Juliet also has a jolt when she finds out that Romeo had many girlfriends before she came along, among the many secrets revealed to her at Romeo’s funeral.

While these plot changes are being inserted because of Anne Hathaway’s influence, Shakespeare makes his own changes in the libretto – taking advantage of Anne Hathaway’s absence while on her adventure with Juliet – including Romeo returning from the dead. And in this A Midsummer Night’s Dream-type comedy, Angelique, the Nurse, rekindles her romance with Lance, Francois’ widowed father.

Martin’s songs are surgically inserted into the libretto, and the styles in which they are performed in hint at the identities of the artists who made these songs famous. This all adds to the satire and comedy that &Juliet spins.

The exemplary cast of &Juliet provides the high energy that lifts this musical into orbit, and blasts the roof off the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. The cast of Lorna Courtney as Juliet, Paulo Szot as Lance (Francois’ father), Betsy Wolfe as Shakespeare’s wife, Anna Hathaway, Stark Sands as Shakespeare himself, Justin David Sullivan as May, Philippe Arroyo as Francois, Melanie LaBarrie as Angelique, Juliet’s Nurse, and understudy Daniel Maldonado as Romeo, not only conveyed this new story of Romeo and Juliet to the audience, but used their comic talents to make &Juliet an ironic and satiric journey – and their vocal performances of Martin’s songs take them to a higher level.

If you wish to take this one of kind, and entertaining journey, be prepared for the energy boost that &Juliet generates.

Bavarian State Opera Ballet – Cinderella

November 13, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Many ballet companies in Europe have been streaming performances for years – even before the Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions. One of the ballet companies that has continued to present livestreams on a world-wide basis has been the Bavarian State Opera Ballet which is based in Munich, Germany.

On November 13, 2022, hosted by the company’s artistic director Laurent Hilaire, the Bavarian State Opera Ballet presented a livestream performance of its production of Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella which the company had first performed in 2021.

Wheeldon’s version of Cinderella employs the well-known Sergei Prokofiev score, but differentiates itself with a new libretto by playwright Craig Lucas, and opulent designs by Julian Crouch, and puppetry by Basil Twist.

Wheeldon focuses on Cinderella’s resilient relationship with her mother – which upon her death – finds Cinderella crying at her grave – and her tears allow for the growth of a large tree that is the principal design signature in the ballet. 

Cinderella also meets Prince Guillaume at her house when he disguises himself as a poor peasant – Cinderella provides him with food – while the Prince’s companion, Benjamin, is disguised as the Prince. This act of kindness by Cinderella is not, as in other versions of Cinderella, made to a Fairy Godmother. There isn’t a Fairy Godmother in sight in this production. Instead Cinderella’s fate is guided by a group of four male dancers who act as a Greek chorus in observing and guiding Cinderella through her adventures.

Also nerdy stepsister, Clementine, forms an attachment to the Prince’s companion, Benjamin, so it is not only Cinderella who lives happily ever after.

Wheeldon’s choreography is not consistent in quality throughout the ballet – particularly when elements are the story are preceded and end with black-outs. However the story is told in a manner that any audience would be able to understand the themes in Cinderella’s story.

Madison Young portrays Cinderella in an empathetic and touching manner, and Julian MacKay is attentive as Prince Guillaume. However exhibiting the depth of talent in the company there are exceptional performances given by Shale Wegman as Benjamin, Maria Chiara Bono as Hortensia, the formidable stepmother, and Elvina Ibraimova as Edwina, and Bianca Texeira as Clementine, Cinderella’s two step sisters.

I hope that this won’t be the last world-wide livestream performance that the Bavarian State Opera Ballet will be presenting this season.

She Remembers her Amnesia

Arts on Site

November 9, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Versatile modern dance artist Janis Brenner, former soloist of the Murray Louis Dance Company, and artistic director of Janis Brenner and Dancers, is now performing in yet another of her outstanding and informed one-woman shows, She Remembers her Amnesia (based on true stories) on November 9 & 10, 2022 at Arts On Site in New York City.

Described as a personal narrative, a dance-opera-play, and a comic drama, Janis Brenner is responsible for the concept of this piece including direction, choreography, improvisation, text, lyrics, vocals – and most important — performance. Besides Brenner’s contribution to this piece, Jerome Begin’s especially composed vocal narration and original arias have an important place in She Remembers her Amnesia as does the enhancement of Mitchell Bogard’s succinct and expert lighting design.

In the intimate space of Arts on Site Brenner relates her true stories associated with a medical incident that she had experienced — and that in spite of what caused her temporary amnesia — motivated her to look back on the history of connected medical incidents. In fact in the Folk Song section of this piece, Brenner sings of a description of TGA, and the alphabet soup of tests, medical conditions and treatments – and in Concussion Aria connects the dots of the many incidents of minor concussions she experienced in her lifetime – even going back to her childhood. Also depicted was a doctor’s visit which explains what TGA is, what treatment might be suggested – but filled with vagueness – and in all of this chaos Brenner looks upon this with comedy and humor. Definitely, Brenner’s piece is not maudlin.

The fact is that Brenner feels the need to speak, sing and dance about these experiences, reflecting on how dancers are trained to dance through pain and discomfort, and to power through it all in order to make it possible for the show to go on. In fact it is in Brenner’s movement that she cleverly expresses how she feels going through this process and where she is now – and how effectively she tells this involving story.

Brenner’s She Remembers her Amnesia can be described as the link of bizarre incidents or merely fate. But for Brenner it is in the telling of the story and how it makes for an involving entertainment – while also being thought-provoking – that is Brenner’s art and when she is at her best.

Tootsie

State Theatre (New Brunswick, New Jersey)

November 5, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

From November 4-6, 2022, the State Theatre’s Broadway Series presented the national touring company of the musical, Tootsie, based on the iconic film, and on a story by Dan McGuire and Larry Gelbart. 

In the film version Dustin Hoffman starred as Michael Dorsey, an actor who couldn’t seem to land an acting job. Ultimately he disguised himself as a woman, creating the new persona, Dorothy Michaels, which launched him into super stardom – but also complicated and sabotaged his life by virtue of self-inflicted wounds.

In this musical stage version, Dorsey is also the most difficult actor to work with on earth being scorned by directors, his agent, other actors he was worked with, and creating a muddle of his personal life. It is not clear in this musical stage version how Dorsey comes up with the idea of transforming himself into Dorothy Michaels, but the situation emerges when he is informed about his then girlfriend’s audition for the part of the Nurse in a revised version of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet’s Nurse, and Dorsey decides to try out for the part – and gets it in his new persona of Dorothy Michaels.

From there the character of Michaels takes over as she battles with the director, writers, actors, and producer of Juliet’s Nurse – ultimately re-fashioning the musical to make sure that she is the star – and possibly being tied up with a major success for years. When Dorsey realizes that he could be trapped in the persona of Michaels for  years to come, he begins to evaluate what he has done to his career as an actor and questions the relationships in his personal life.

This set of circumstances creates problems and comedy situations that come up with this success including a new romance that Dorsey is developing with a fellow actor, Julie Nichols. But the comedy is in the journey from the beginning of Dorsey’s scheme and how it unravels.

From the start of Tootsie in “Opening Number” the series of Dorsey’s bad auditions, and run-ins with directors and actors are depicted with Dorsey at his worst. And Dorsey often assesses why he hasn’t achieved his goals in the entertainment profession.

Also, by accident, his transformation into Dorothy Michaels has the unexpected effect of empowering women as Michaels calls the shots in the creative decisions for Juliet’s Nurse.

A lot of the success of this  musical stage version of Tootsie can be credited to Robert Horn’s clever, witty, and satiric book including many inside theatre jokes, which also transforms the story of Tootsie into a very funny farce, yet moving as well, as the characters evolve through the course of the flabbergasting twists and turns that come to pass.

David Yazbeck, whose previous Broadway successes include The Band’s Visit, The Full Monty, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, provides the off-beat and comic score for Tootsie. For just as much for its staging the musical number, “Unstoppable” which highlights the transformation of Michael Dorsey into Dorothy Michaels, is one of the memorable songs in Yazbeck’s score.

Director Dave Solomon  keeps the comedy apace and Denis Jones provides the choreography that is crafted to link up the narrative.

And Tootsie is a traditional musical comedy in the best sense, and performed by a cast of talented comic actors and singers.

Stealing the show is Drew Becker playing the hapless and confused Michael Dorsey – and offers a cogent, funny, and assertive alter ego as Dorothy Michaels. In fact the quick changes are miraculous as Becker moves between these two characters.

But special mention should also be made of Ashley Alexandra’s funny, and compassionate, performance as Julie Nichols as that character evolves into accepting Michael Dorsey for what he is.

You can’t describe them as supporting players because of their exemplary performances of Payton Reilly as Sandy Lester – Dorsey’s zany girlfriend – who is then attracted to Dorsey’s roommate and would be playwright, Jeff Slater, who is played with savvy and eccentricity by understudy Matt Kurzyniec.

And then were the suitably over-the-top comic turns by Matthew Rella as the reality star Max Van Horne playing Craig, Romeo’s brother in  Juliet’s Nurse, Kathy Halenda as Rita Marshall, Juliet’s Nurse’s producer, and Adam Du Plessis as the director/ choreographer of Juliet’s Nurse.

Hard to believe that Tootsie opened on Broadway in the spring of 2019 and closed by January of 2020. Fortunately Tootsie is having an extended life – and also reaching a wider audience – on national tour.

Parade

City Center

November 4, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

For its annual gala presentation the City Center produced a concert version of the musical, Parade, which will be performed from November 1-6, 2022. Parade, a musical exploring the racism and antisemitism in the southern part of the United States in the early years of the 20th century, is as relevant as it was then, and also when Parade was premiered on Broadway a little over 20 years ago. Parade may have found its moment in time with this concert production.

Parade, with a score by Jason Robert Brown and a book by Alfred Uhry, had been given its Broadway premiere at the Lincoln Center Theater in 1998, under the guidance of Harold Prince, and although it had a run of only 84 performances, it won the Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score.

Program notes indicated that Parade has undergone revisions since its premiere, and there was a special note thanking Rob Ashford for his contributions in rewriting and restructuring Parade for its London premiere at the Donmar Warehouse in 2007.

This concert version has grand operatic pretenses in the manner it was directed and staged, but the story that Parade tells is an epic story. This is a story about real people, their difficulties, and their challenges. And it has its horrifying aspects as well.

Guiding this concert version is director Michael Arden, and all performances were under the musical direction of Jason Robert Brown as conductor, and co-orchestrator.
Parade tells the story of the 1913 trial of Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-born Jewish superintendent of the National Pencil Company factory in Atlanta, Georgia, who found himself accused and convicted of  murdering a thirteen-year-old employee, Mary Phagan. Also arrested was the night watchman of the factory, Newt Lee, but he was only used as a corroborating witness to the crime. 

Frank had been married to Lucille, portrayed as a Southern Jewish belle, who seemed oblivious of the atmosphere of prejudice and hate in Georgia. The Franks had a quiet domestic life yet Leo Frank was a fish of water and an outsider living in the South. 

After Frank was arrested for this crime, his trial achieved celebrity status and was the fodder of a tabloid newspaper – and it was a trial that exacerbated antisemitic feelings in Atlanta and the state of Georgia. 

Frank was convicted after what is depicted as a sham trial with witnesses lying about the details of the crime after being placed under the pressure of the prosecutor, and succumbing to the menacing atmosphere that had been created by local law enforcement, and local politicians. Yet the story is told with some humor and a great deal of irony – and is uplifted by a score of soaring songs portraying the dignity of Leo Frank, and the doubts expressed by the many witnesses.

In 1915, after a review of the trial testimony and documents which took place because of the efforts of Lucille Frank, the then Governor of Georgia, John Slaton, commuted Frank’s death sentence to life imprisonment – and was transferred to a prison where, unfortunately, a group of men kidnapped him and then hanged him from an oak tree. 

In Parade, the likely culprit was the janitor of the factory, Jim Conley, who was also a key witness at Frank’s trial. However, the local officials who contributed to the tragic outcome of Frank’s death were the prosecutor Hugh Dorsey — who later was elected Governor of Georgia – and the antisemitic newspaper publisher, Tom Watson — who also pursued a political career becoming a U.S. Senator.

The intensity of the trial and how Frank’s life evolves and unravels was enhanced by the projections of original photos of the pivotal actors, and witnesses involved in the trial, and explains how the jury reached the verdict that it did.

Although this historic trial is the focus of Parade, Brown and Uhry also portrayed the burgeoning and evolving relationship between Leo Frank (played by Ben Platt) and his wife, Lucille (played by Micaela Diamond) as they are challenged by the uncontrollable events that changed both of their lives. Parade’s content strikes an emotional chord.

Brown provided a listenable and compelling score, and Uhry an equally compelling book, telling this complicated story and attempting to find answers why this historical incident occurred – and why it might manifest itself in the future. 

Michael Arden has skillfully used the elements in the book that he had to work with to bring out the details of this adapted version of the facts in what were the darkest of times.

The cast for Parade was an embarrassment of riches down to the small supporting roles. However, the weight of Parade falls upon Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond as the husband and wife coping in this human drama. In particular their performance of “This Is Not Over Yet” is one of the showstoppers in Parade.

Frank was granted a posthumous pardon in 1986, and the investigation was re-opened in 2019 transforming the hundred-year-old story depicted in Parade into a story of our time. However relevant Parade’s story and message was in 1998, Parade is even more relevant today.

The powerful story in Parade is told superbly by a wonderful cast, focused direction, and hearing Jason Robert Brown’s score at its best – and should be seen by all – and perhaps a Broadway transfer should be seriously considered so that more people can see this masterful production of Parade.

Almost Famous – The Musical

Bernard Jacobs Theatre

November 2, 2022 

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Almost Famous joins an illustrious group of Broadway musicals that have been adapted from successful, and iconic films. Unlike other such adaptations, the writer who wrote the screenplay for the film version of Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe, is heavily involved in this musical stage version, which has opened at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre,  and has Crowe’s personal stamp.

Crowe won an Academy Award for his screenplay which was inspired by his exploits as a writer for Rolling Stone in the 1970’s. The 2000 film fixated on 15-year-old William Miller who ingratiates  himself enough to be employed by Creem Magazine and for Rolling Stone to write articles on what is his passion, the rock music of the time. He suffers through rejection and embarrassment when security guards prevent him from accessing the rock band he wants to interview, but is assisted in getting backstage by Penny Lane, and her cohorts, the Band-Aids, and fellow groupies and hangers on. However Miller is sidetracked – yet persistent – and persuades the members of the rock-band, Stillwater, to be the focus of his article for Rolling Stone.

Miller winds up touring with Stillwater in spite of his domineering mother’s objections, exploring the relationships of the bandleader Russell Hammond and Penny Lane, as well as coming to terms with his own feelings for Lane, and also his puzzling relationship with Hammond – and conflicting advice from Rolling Stone’s editors and the new “family” that he has recreated around himself.

What is told is a coming-of-age story of its time — at the juncture of political derision, rock music, awkward admiration of celebrities – and a great many other distractions that a 15-year-old might be intrigued by and also confused by. And how to be cool or be described as uncool, and whether he should have no attachments and no boundaries.

In this musical version of Almost Famous Crowe has written the book adaptation, and has written the lyrics, in collaboration with composer Tom Kitt, for new songs which are combined with  familiar songs of the 1970’s  — including Tiny Dancer, one of the film’s signature songs. 

And the theme that is contained in Crowe’s adaptation of Almost Famous is that what is most important is that you follow your dreams.

The story is guided well by director Jeremy Herrin who has focused in on the important elements in Crowe’s story, and providing the pace, and harnessing the vitality that energizes Almost Famous as a musical.

What are the most impressive elements of Almost Famous are the performances by the actors playing the pivotal characters. Casey Likes makes his Broadway debut as William Miller, and fills the stage with his winsome innocence and steadfastness – and also a bit of knowing much more than would be appropriate for someone of his age. Just as winning were Chris Wood as Russell Hammond, Solea Pfeiffer as Penny Lane (particularly in  her rendition of “Morocco”),  DrewGehling as the Stillwater band’s lead singer, Jeff Bebe, and Rob Colletti as Miller’s confident, Lester Bangs, who provides encouragement and spot-on advice in an acerbic and targeted manner.

Also Anika Larsen gives a standout performance as Miller’s domineering mother, Elaine. She reluctantly allows her young son to pursue his dreams while lamenting that rock stars have kidnapped her son – and she also provides the story’s moral stability.

The energy is measured at a new high in the concert form ending for the curtain calls.

This is not a story for our time but from a time not so long ago – a story that one can relate to and is told in a manner that lights up the stage with the many star performances by the actors in the cast.

Whether you have nostalgia for the 1970’s or if you are interested in an entertaining adventure, Almost Famous is for you!

American Ballet Theatre – Mixed-Bill

David  Koch Theater

October 28, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The second mixed-bill, being presented during the final week of American Ballet Theatre’s fall season at the David Koch Theater, defined the word mixed in terms of dance styles, as well as familiar and unfamiliar dance pieces. On October 28, 2022, American Ballet Theatre presented the revival of a major work, and a world premiere.

The major work was Jiri Kylian’s Sinfonietta which had been premiered by Netherlands Dance Theatre in 1978, and was acquired by American Ballet Theatre in 1991 – and sporadically revived. Sinfonietta was choreographed to the music of the same name composed by Czech composer, Leos Janacek, and is an ensemble work – one of Kylian’s best.

With the opening notes of the brass instruments there is the announcement that the audience was not only going to experience a significant dance work, but also the excitement that comes with it. Kylian choreographed Sinfonietta as if he was knitting together the music with fluid movement interwoven with calculated entrances and exits, and danced in the setting of Walter Nobbe’s impressionist backdrop.

Although on its surface Sinfonietta is an ensemble work, the work is the sum of its parts with the excellent cast of Eric Tamm, Jarod Curley, Patrick Frenette, Carlos Gonzalez, Roman Zhurbin, Joao Menegussi, Sung Woo Han, Isadora Loyola, Zhong-Jing Fang, Breanne Granlund, Luciana Paris, Fangqi Li, Katherine Williams, and Catherine Hurlin adding their own artistry to the performance of Kylian’s piece.

Jessica Lang’s Children’s Songs Dance had been created for the ABT Studio Company in 2021, and American Ballet Theatre presented its company premiere of this dance piece in August of this year adding new costume designs by Jillian Lewis. And it should be noted that cast members from the original ABT Studio Company premiere have since joined American Ballet Theatre, and participated in this performance.   

Lang has often been engaged to create new works for both the ABT Studio Company and American Ballet Theatre in the past, and knows the dancers well. This was reflected in her choreography set to selections from Chick Corea’s “Children’s Songs” which were played by a solo pianist on the stage.

As the music selected was composed in short vignette form, so was Lang’s choreography — but unfortunately were not linked. But Children’s Songs Dance is dance pieced filled with youthful energy, and impressions of children’s games in the choreography – and dancers in flight.

That energy was expressed by the cast of  Sun Mi Park, Yoon Jung Seo, Camila Ferrara, Tristan Brosnan, Cy Doherty, Elwince Magbitang, and Andrew Robare.

The world premiere on this program, Lifted, was choreographed by Christopher Rudd, who chose music composed by Carlos Simon to express his movement choices and the overall visual image of Lifted. Lifted was the collaboration of black artists and was danced by the cast of Erica Lall, Courtney Lavine, Calvin Royal III, Jose Sebastian, and Melvin Lawovi.

The curtain opened with Royal alone on the stage surrounded by movable mirrored walls. The question was whether his movement represented his self-involvement with his image or did he feel imprisoned by the walls – which also gave the impression of many more dancers in the cast even before Lall Lavine, Sebastian and Lawovi appeared on stage, who seemed less interested in their images reflected in the mirrored walls.

Rudd’s choreographic vocabulary was a mixture of classical ballet, contemporary ballet, and modern dance as the dancers interacted with each other – in some instances forming living tableau – however there were many anti-climaxes and false endings to the piece which diminished its impact.

Overall American Ballet Theatre presented a survey of how choreographers have been influenced by modern dance through the past decades and will continue to be in future decades.

American Ballet Theatre – The Dream

David Koch Theater

October 26, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

During American Ballet Theatre’s second week of its fall season at the David Koch Theater, the company is performing mixed-bill programs with a wide variety of revivals and premieres.

On October 26, 2022, American Ballet Theatre presented a revival of Frederick Ashton’s The Dream, a ballet that the Royal  Ballet premiered in 1964, and was acquired by American Ballet Theatre in 2002 – and a ballet that American Ballet Theatre doesn’t revive often enough.

Ashton’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a distillation of the play’s plot in the course of about 60 minutes, and is choreographed to Felix Mendelssohn’s glorious music – as arranged by John Lanchbery – that had been composed for a theatre production of this beloved comedy by the Bard. 

Familiar in the story is how Oberon (danced by Daniel Camargo substituting for Cory Stearns) tricks Titania (danced by Gillian Murphy) into believing that she is in love with Bottom, one of the Rustics, who has magically been transformed into a donkey – while Oberon’s protégé, Puck (danced by Herman Cornejo) must match and unmatch two sets of lovers who have wandered into Oberon’s forest domain.

Ashton cleverly incorporated gesture and mime into the choreography – while also setting the ballet in Victorian England — and David Walker’s scenery designs created a magical and mystical atmosphere. In short, it’s all in the details,  and the dancers being in the moment – in particular Gillian Murphy and Daniel Camargo bringing a regality to their characters – and culminating in a beautifully danced penultimate love duet at the end of the ballet.

Ashton’s approach to Shakespeare’s sex comedy is emphasizing light comedy touches, and conductor David LaMarche provided brisk musical tempi which helped to emphasize the comedy in this ballet’s plot.

Closing the program was Alexei Ratmansky’s The Seasons, choreographed to Alexander Glazunov’s music of the name, which had been created as a ballet divertissement depicting the seasons that are reflected in the music. It has found its own place in American Ballet Theatre’s repertoire since its world premiere in 2019.

The Seasons is a high energy romp with the dances choreographed to represent the joyousness of the changing seasons. The ballet appeals to all of the senses with Glazunov’s exquisite music, and the dancers showing off a little with their fluid execution of the complicated choreography – the featured pas de deux in the final section of the ballet – which is the highlight of The Seasons – a divertissement chock full of many styles of dance.

Although it is primarily an ensemble work notable in the principal roles were Joo Won Ahn, Katherine Williams, Chloe Misseldine, Sunmi Park, Luciana Paris, Thomas Forster, Zimmi Coker, Breanne Granlund, Isabella Boylston, Carlos Gonzalez, Catherine Hurlin, and Calvin Royal III.

This mixed-bill program presented by American Ballet Theatre offered an important revival, and showcased the company’s dancers.

Twyla Tharp – In The Upper Room & Nine Sinatra Songs

City Center

October 20, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Last season the City Center initiated a relationship with Twyla Tharp in which Tharp created new choreography and revived her earlier works that were danced by an especially hand-picked group of dancers. After that successful collaboration the City Center is renewing this relationship for the 2022-2023 season.

There is no better prism for an audience to experience the work of master choreographers when they are in the process of curating and re-examining their own work. 

This program, being presented at the City Center from October 19-23, 2022, has allowed Tharp to take a new look at two works she had created in the 1980’s and also was danced by a group of hand-picked dancers – from American Ballet Theatre, the New York City Ballet, the Bavarian State Opera Ballet, the Martha Graham Dance Company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, LA Dance Project, and freelance principal dancers who have danced previously with Miami City Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet.

In The Upper Room, which premiered in 1986 and Nine Sinatra Songs which premiered in 1982 were juxtaposed on this program. In what could be described as traditional programming, Nine Sinatra Songs would be considered an opening dance piece while In The Upper Room would be considered a closing dance piece. Perhaps reflecting on a world turned upside down, Tharp chose to flip these works with In The Upper Room opening this program of dance, and Nine Sinatra Songs chosen to close the program.

In The Upper Room, choreographed to music by Philip Glass, is a non-stop athletic piece of choreography that is enhanced by lighting and other effects that combine both music and dance. Certainly Glass’ pulsating music influenced Tharp’s fast-paced and relentless choreography reflecting energy with the pattern of dancers moving on and off the stage at a blistering pace.

Notable for the female dancers dancing in white sneakers (the stompers) and red pointe shoes, and wearing Norma Kamali’s pajama-like costumes, In The Upper Room still comes across as a bit quaint.

However any performance of In The Upper Room is only as good as its cast. The cast of Jeanette Delgado, Benjamin Freemantle, Jada German, Kaitlyn Gilliland, Daisy Jacobson, Lloyd Knight, Marzia Memoli, Stephanie Petersen, Reed Tankersley, Cassandra Trenary, Daniel Ulbricht, and Richard Villaverde gave their all – energy-wise and being committed to Tharp’s choreographic intent.

In contrast was Nine Sinatra Songs created the primary intent of entertaining an audience and being a laudable tribute to one of America’s great singers. Nine Sinatra Songs has morphed into many versions in which Tharp employed the recordings of crooner Frank Sinatra – a series of songs from the American Song Book, and Sinatra’s hit recordings. Those other versions including Sinatra Suite, and her Broadway revue, Come Fly Away, which has a permanent place in the Royal Danish Ballet’s repertoire, represent how Tharp evolved in approaching her own choreography – and changing its emphasis.

For this City Center presentation, Nine Sinatra Songs is presented in a nightclub/ballroom atmosphere credited to Santo Loquasto. There is a bit of romance, and some tongue and cheek humor but most importantly creating a showcase for individual dancers to shine.

Although the entire cast of Jaquelin Harris, James Gilmer, Marzia Memoli, Richard Villaverde, Stephanie Petersen, Julian MacKay, Daisy Jacobson, Reed Tankersley, Kaitlyn Gilliland, Lloyd Knight, Jeanette Delgado, Daniel Ulbricht, Cassandra Trenary, and Benjamin Freemantle connected with both Tharp’s choreography, and the songs sung by Sinatra, notable were the performances of Jacquelin Harris and James Gilmer in “Softly As I Leave You”, Daisy Jacobson and Reed Tankersley in “Somethin’ Stupid”, Kaitlyn Gilliland and Lloyd Knight in “All The Way”, and Jeanette Delgado and Danny Ulbricht in “That’s Life”.

This performance of Nine Sinatra Songs showcased the artistic instincts of the work’s choreographer, the interpretation of songs by one of the singing greats, and the dancers who interpreted and danced the choreography.

With the unique combination of Tharp’s two works  a dance audience would be able to appreciate both works from different points of view – and that is what art is all about.

On Your Feet!

Paper Mill Playhouse

October 15, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The Paper Mill Playhouse opened its 2022-2023 season with its own production of On Your Feet!, from October 7-November 6, 2022, the autobiographical story of the recording industry legends Emilio and Gloria Estefan.

With a book by Alexander Dinelaris and the score utilizing the many hits songs that were produced, written and recorded by Emilio and Gloria Estefan, and the Miami Sound Machine, On Your Feet! had its Broadway premiere in 2015.

However the Paper Mill Playhouse is presenting a new production of On Your Feet! which has been directed and choreographed by Alex Sanchez – with a special emphasis on choreography – a bit of camouflage for the musical’s rather disjointed book. All the same it is difficult to remain in your seat during this entertaining and dazzling musical.

The story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan is that of Cuban immigrants who made their new home in Miami, Florida – they fall in love with each other and their music, and also had their struggles as they began their careers. But their vision and musicianship established a unique Latin musical style that received worldwide recognition. 

On Your Feet! chronicles the Estefans’ family challenges, their struggles in persuading the powers that be in the recording industry that their “sound” was unique and would have universal appeal – and also the catastrophe of Gloria Estefan’s debilitating injuries in a freak bus accident. In fact the musical ends with Gloria Estefan’s appearance on the American Music Awards which seals the deal on her recovery, and the high esteem she had earned from people in the recording industry and her fans.

Throughout this journey the Estefans’ hit songs are interwoven in what has become a jukebox biographical musical formula.  As represented in On Your Feet! included are the familiar hits such as “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You”, “Conga”, “1-2-3”, “Get On Your Feet”, and “Coming Out of the Dark” among others – and most importantly it is a celebration of people who followed their dreams.

Linedy Genao plays Gloria Estefan, after understudying this role in the original Broadway cast – and who will be starring in the Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical, Bad Cinderella — and Brandon Espinoza plays Emilio. Genao lights up and commands the stage, and Espinoza, equally commanding on stage, is an empathetic hero in this story. Also notable were Francisca Munoz as Gloria Fajardo, Luis Villabon as Jose ajardo, and Yajaira Paredes as Consuelo.

However the entire cast was made up of powerhouse singers and they had the chance to fly in the On Your Feet! spectacular finale  megamix which had the whole audience on its feet.

On Your Feet! has all of the ingredients of what good musical theatre is about, and is as an entertaining a theater experience that any audience could want. This was a splendid musical to open Paper Mill Playhouse’s new season.

City Center Fall for Dance Festival – Program 5

City Center

October 2, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The City Center Fall for Dance Festival’s Program 5, the final program of the Festival, as performed on October 2, 2022, exemplified great diversity with three very different dance companies, performing works choreographed in distinct dance styles.

Opening the program was a work that was a collaborative effort of the Chitrasena Dance Company, and the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble dancing in the New York premiere of Surupa Sen’s Poornarati, a work that had its world premiere in 2019. In this piece the two companies joined forces with specialties in different forms  and styles of dance from their parts of the world.

Poornarati was an example of how a dance piece can be refined and ritualistic at the same time with the dancers well-rehearsed and in tune with the music. Notable were the performances by the Odissi Dancers of The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble – Pavithra Reddy, Abhinaya Rohan, Anoushka Rahman, and Rohini Banerjee — and the Kandyan Dancers of the Chitrasena Dance Company – Thaji Dias, Amandi Gomez, Kushan Dharmarathna, and Geeth Premachandra – and adding to the performance was choreographer Surupa Sen on stage as the Lead Voice among the musicians. 

Overall Poornarati was danced with skill and finesse in an absorbing collaboration by these two dance companies.

Also included in this program was the Dutch National Ballet, which hasn’t performed in New York in several decades. Four dancers from the Dutch National Ballet, which is directed by Ted Brandsen, danced a recent work choreographed by one of Holland’s master choreographers, Hans van Manen, Variations for Two Couples. Having had its world premiere by the Dutch National Ballet in 2012, the San Francisco Ballet also performed this work at the City Center Fall for Dance Festival in 2014.

Van Manen choreographed to the music of an assortment of composers to represent the moods of each section of the piece drawing on the music of Benjamin Britten, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer, and Astor Piazzolla. Also notable were the simple and refined designs by Keso Dekker which included in the background a steel-like half-moon and simply-colored costumes. Van Manen’s choreography was danced with precision and reflecting the different moods of the music – and also a bit of sexual tension between the dancers. 

Van Manen is a master of simplicity in his choreography – and a direct response to the music he has chosen to be the platform for his choreography.

A stellar cast danced van Manen’s piece including Maia Makhateli, Constantine Allen, Olga Smirnova, and Jakob Feyerlik – particularly notable for the excellent partnering skills of Allen and Feyerlik. And there was also the surprise appearance of Hans van Manen taking a bow with the dancers during the curtain calls.

Israeli modern dance choreographer, Hofesh Shechter, was represented by his work, CAVE, which had been co-produced by Studio Simkin and the Martha Graham Dance Company, and had been given its premiere earlier this year. For this performance the Martha Graham Dance Company danced CAVE with Daniil Simkin as a guest artist, who had inspired this dance piece. 

CAVE duplicates the trendy club culture and dance flash mobs that dominate the dance club scene — in a frenzied dance work with music by Ame and Hofesh Schechter. 

Schechter’s work tends to focus on recurring and rhythmic movement executed by groups of dancers,  and CAVE was no exception.  CAVE opened on a high energy level which never seemed to dissipate – and was notable for the excellent ensemble dancing by the company – it was the perfect closing  piece for this program.

Once again the City Center Fall for Dance Festival has shown its resilience and its popularity with audiences.

City Center Fall for Dance Festival

– Program 4

City Center

September 29, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The City Center Fall for Dance Festival’s Program 4, presented on September 29, 2022, was another example of the diversity in programming that the Festival is known for – providing a rare performance by a modern dance company based in the Midwest of the United States, and the New York debut of a ballet company that had been based in the Ukraine until recently. And there was  local representation from the New York City Ballet – and a former member of the New York City Ballet.

Presented as a virtual premiere at the 2020 City Center Fall for Dance Festival, and now presented in a staged performance,  The Two of Us, was choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon for current New York City Ballet principal dancer Sara Mearns, and former New York City Ballet principal dancer Robbie Fairchild. 

The inspiration for Wheeldon was not only Mearns and Fairchild but the music of Joni Mitchell whose songs are wistful and thought-provoking. The songs, “I Don’t Know Where I Stand”, “Urge for Going”, “You Turn Me On, I’m A Radio” and “Both Sides Now” are unfamiliar and familiar, and they served as a musical foundation for long solos and the final duet. Although the choreography didn’t make references to the lyrics of Mitchell’s songs, the one exception was for the final duet choreographed to “Both Sides Now” which captured the song’s melancholy and regret.

Both Mearns and Fairchild gave strong and thoughtful performances – which made Wheeldon’s choreography resonate.

The Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, directed by Debbie Blunden-Diggs, made one of its rare New York appearances dancing Abby Zbikowski’s Indestructible.

Choreographed to music by Death Grips and having its premiere in 2018, this ensemble piece opens to a bare stage – and although there is music Indestructible’s soundscape is dominated by silence or rhythmic counting.

The choreography is focused on street dancing and other vernacular dance styles – with great athleticism – and fittingly in tune with the company’s mission to develop works that reflect the African-American experience.

Much credit goes to the ensemble of Devin Baker, Qarriane Blayr, Alexandra Flewellen, Robert Pulido, Quentin Apollovaughn Sledge, Sadale Warner, and Countess v. Winfrey for their commitment to Zbikowski’s vision.

Closing the program was the Kyiv City Ballet, a ballet company from the Ukraine that was stranded in Paris after the war in Ukraine began, and has now returned to touring. The company was founded in 2012 by its current artistic director Ivan Kozlov.

In its participation in the City Center Fall for Dance Festival, the company performed excerpts  from Vladyslav Dobshynskyi’s Thoughts, and Pavel Virsky’s Men of Kyiv.

Thoughts, which had its world premiere in September of this year, is a large ensemble piece with these excerpts choregraphed to music by Nils Frahm. Somber in tone and performed by a large ensemble cast, Thoughts’ focus is on two central figures supported by a large ensemble. Although Frahm’s music dominates, central to the theme of this work was the whispering and loud utterances – of thoughts and secrets – and notable choreographic influences from Maurice Bejart and Jiri Kylian.

In contrast was Pavel Virsky’s Men of Kyiv, performed by an all-male cast costumed in blue and gold t-shirts reflecting the colors of the Ukrainian flag – separated in two groups. The choreography’s core is that of the Gopak, a Ukrainian dance tradition, which in Men of Kyiv is danced in variations to that choreographic tradition in group dances,  and each of the male dancers competing in virtuoso solos.

The boisterous and appreciative  audience reaction was generated by the performances of this dance piece’s cast of Volodymr Bukliev, Mykola Chebotarov, Vladyslav Dobshynskyi, Nazar Korniichuk, Oleksandr Moroz, Danyil Podhrushko, Yevhenii Sheremet, Mykhailo Shcherbakov, Vladyslav Surdu, and Arno-Stin Tsembenhoi.

In all, the Kyiv City Ballet made an effective New York debut. This was all part of another Fall for Dance Festival program that offered dance pieces that can be appreciated by all segments of the audience.

City Center Fall for Dance Festival

– Program 3

City Center

September 28, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The City Center Fall for Dance Festival’s  Program 3, presented on September 28, 2022, included a return performance of the San Francisco Ballet at the Festival after a long absence – with a balance dance fare including modern dance and flamenco to lend variety.

Presented as a virtual premiere at the 2020 City Center Fall for Dance Festival, Jamar Roberts’ Morani/Mungu (Black Warrior/Black God) was choreographed to music by The Last Poets, John Coltrane, and Nine Simone. This solo, wonderfully danced by James Gilmer, reflected on the many “black warriors” who fought for their rights during times of oppression. Gilmer in Robert’s piece transforms himself into an activist, advocate and story-teller bringing attention to the political and social issues of the day. The choreographic language was modern dance and intelligible in its aims and interpretation. The third and final section choreographed to “You’ll Never Walk Alone” was most poignant.

The San Francisco Ballet performed Jerome Robbins’ In The Night, which the company had performed at the Festival in 2008. Created for the New York City Ballet in 1970 – in a series of ballets that Robbins created to Chopin’s piano music – In The Night represented a strong contrast in mood to Robbins’ Dances At A Gathering which Robbins created for the New York City Ballet only a year before.

In The Night outlines the relationships of three couples which vary in mood and in conflict reflecting the changing themes and moods in Chopin’s music, wonderfully played by pianist Mungunchimeg Buriad.

The San Francisco Ballet was represented by the exemplary cast of Elizabeth Powell, Joseph Walsh, Sasha Mukhamedov, Tiit Helimets, Dores Andre, and Luke Ingham, who danced in  costumes designed for this ballet by Anthony Dowell – and brought emotion and passion to Robbins’ choreography.

Closing the program was Tangos & Alegrias, choreographed by Manuel Linan and Maria Moreno, which featured Moreno as a dancer, and Maria Terremoto as a singer telling their stories and expressing their emotions through their art and artistry to communicate in conversation. As would be expected in a flamenco dance piece both commanded the stage, and in particular Moreno presented small details, and explosions of emotions and feelings – employing a dancing technique that was honed for effect but seemed spontaneous.

The City Center Fall for Dance Festival’s Program 3 fit right into the Festival’s mission to present a variety of dance styles – but this program also exhibited excellent dancing and expression by all of the dancers who participated.

City Center Fall for Dance Festival

– Program 1

City Center

September 22, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Opening this year’s City Center Fall for Dance Festival, the participants and repertoire presented on Program 1 on September 22, 2022, was an example of the variety of dance styles that are the hallmark of this annual New York dance event.

Compagnie Herve Koubi performed what was the New York premiere of excerpts from Boys Don’t Cry, which was co-choreographed by Herve Koubi and Faycal Hamlat. Compagnie Herve Koubi is a French-based dance company of male dancers adept in martial arts, hip hop and other dance styles, and these were on display in this piece which was choreographed to music by Diana Ross, Stephane Fromentin, Oum, and traditional Eastern and European music, and had been given its premiere in 2018.

Boys Don’t Cry examines the relationships between sons and fathers which contrasts playing soccer to please a father and earning a father’s respect as a dancer. In a combination of dance and spoken word, soccer is portrayed as a game of intimidation, and compares soccer and dance – their differences and what they have in common. These subjects are presented in an entertaining dance piece which some seriousness and some humor.

Compagnie Herve Koubi is comprised of dancers who show off their physicality and expertise in telling their individual stories in these excerpts from Boys Don’t Cry as danced by Mohammed Elhilali, Abdelghani Ferradji, Badr Benr Guibi, Bendehiba Maamar, Nadjib Meherhera, Houssni Mijem, and El Houssaini Zahid.

The second piece on this program was a bit of an anomaly as repertoire from the 19th century classics is rarely performed at the Festival. But on this occasion the Bavarian State Ballet, of Munich, Germany, which is directed by Laurent Hilaire, was represented by its award-winning Portuguese soloists, Margarita Fernandes and Antonio Casalinho in the virtuoso Le Corsaire Pas de Deux, in a staging credited to Maina Gielgud. Fernandes and Casalinho brought a great deal of excitement, and flair to this program in their performance which reflected their sophisticated stage presence at such a young age. Lots of youthful exuberance which exhibited potential which is to be realized with more performance experience.

The Bavarian State Ballet was only represented by a pair of dancers but I hope we might be seeing more of the company in New York. Its one and only New York visit was back in 1993, and they are over due to perform here once again.

Closing the program was the recently organized Gibney Company, directed by Gina Gibney, which presented the North American premiere of Swedish choreographer’s John Inger’s dance piece, Bliss. Such a presentation was a huge step for the Gibney Company in terms of what repertoire the company has been dancing – and at the same time making a big splash in its Festival debut.

Choreographed to music by Keith Jarrett, Bliss had been given its world premiere by Aterballetto in 2016.

The opening sequence of Bliss was focused on the lighting design by Peter Lundin with stars in the midnight sky as dancers walked across the stage in silence before Jarrett’s music went into gear. There was a juxtaposition of Jarrett’s improvisational music and the formalistic choreography that Inger had created. The piece emphasized the theme of people trying to make connections – often with a bit of humor.

In what was a well-rehearsed performance of Bliss the ensemble cast of Alexander Anderson, Scott Autry, Alicia Delgadillo, Miriam Gittens, Zultari (Zui) Gomez, Eddieomar Gonzalez Castillo, Eleni Loving, Jesse Obremski, Kevin Pajarillaga, Jordan Powell, Jie-Hung Connie Shiau, Jacob Thoman, and Jake Tribus did justice to Inger’s concept.

This was only the first program of the City Center Fall for Dance Festival with more to come.

Burn

Joyce Theater

September 20, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

To open its 2022-2023 season the Joyce Theater is presenting a unique dance theatre piece that had been premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival earlier this year – Burn, a solo theatre-dance piece created by actor Alan Cumming, and choreographer Steven Hoggett – with Vicki Manderson as co-choreographer. Burn is a collaborative production through the cooperation of the Joyce Theater, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Edinburgh International Festival, and provokes and challenges one’s definition of how dance and theatre can be blended together.

Burn, a 65-minute piece, compresses and presents the highlights of Burns’ life, the 18th century poet and lyricist – who also wrote many musical compositions and collected folk songs. 

With the source material being intimate letters and thoughts, Burn depicts the little-known details of the life of Scottish poet, Robert Burns, here played by Cumming, which is enhanced by the music of Anna Meredith setting the moods and atmosphere of this piece.

Burn focuses on Burns’ early life as a farmer as part of a farming family that moved from farm to farm to find work as well as his relationship with Jean Armour – mother of nine of his twelve children – his affair with Mary Campbell and others, poverty, depression, and how his stories were inspired by Scotland itself. Burns poems and compositions were published at an early age as part of a short life as he died at the age of 37.

Burns pursuit of a life as a farmer could have been a destiny that would have led him to poverty, and obscurity. However he did achieve much more even in his brief life.
Burn presents Burns’ life in non-linear form but initially it was the crashing effects of a typical Scottish rain storm that confront the audience as soon as they arrive in the Joyce Theater that established the backdrop for the tale that Cumming and Hoggett were to tell. With only a desk and a chair as the initial props – and later ladies shoes to represent the ladies in his life, Burn delves into Burns’ career ambitions, his complicated love life and family life, dabbling in hypochondria, and anxieties and depression.

Cumming conjures Burns’  life – and his thoughts from his poetry and song lyrics – in spoken word and dance – which was punctuated by video (designed by Andrzej Goulding), sound (designed by Matt Padden) and lighting (designed by Tim Lutkin). Hoggett’s choreography was tailored to Cumming’s abilities and means of expression, and the result was that Burn proved to be more theater than dance.

However Cumming brings Burns to life in both spoken word and movement, and at the end of his curtain calls, he gives a toast and leaves us with a few phrases from Burns’ best-known song, “Auld Lang Syne”. This set the tone for a remarkable and virtuoso performance by Cumming as Burns in Burn.

Kinky Boots – Off-Broadway – A Second Look

Stage 42

September 4, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

I was given the chance to return to attend a second performance of the off-Broadway revival of Kinky Boots, at Stage 42, on September 4, 2022, to see Callum Francis in the role of Lola.

It is rare to have such an opportunity to see a play or a musical more than once within a week’s time, and worth the time to have seen how two actors interpret the same character. But also to note that the marvelous cast members in this revival of Kinky Boots never flagged in terms of the energy and electricity that they generate on stage on a performance-to-performance basis. At this performance the energy and electricity level that was generated by the Kinky Boots cast could have lit up New York City.

British-born actor Callum Francis has played the role of Lola in the Broadway, London and Australian productions of Kinky Boots. Clearly he has this role in his bones and bloodstream, and has a great command of the stage whenever he is present. Francis’ Lola is a formidable one. His Lola is brash and confident – although Lola’s vulnerable moments are also well-acted – and there is also Francis’ singing abilities and how well he interprets Lola’s songs in the show.

Francis gives a star performance in tandem with Christian Douglas as Charlie Price, who as characters in Kinky Boots develop a unique friendship as they face their fears, come to terms with their relationships with their fathers – and culminating in a successful plan to save the Price & Son, shoe factory. Francis and Douglas evolve together in their roles through the course of telling the story to the audience which is wrapped up in Harvey Fierstein’s compelling and humor flavored book, Cyndi Lauper’s tuneful and emotion-filled score – and also ramping up the energy level with Jerry Mitchell’s direction and choreography.

Kinky Boots’ story revolves around the ambitions set out for Lola and Charlie by their fathers’ expectations – Lola to have a “normal life” as opposed to a drag entertainer, and Charlie to take over his father’s shoe factory. They form an unbeatable team that surmounts the hurdles placed before them – and also bond with each other, and the people in their lives.

In this performance of Kinky Boots, Danielle Hope, as Lauren, brought the eccentricities and comic humor to “The History of Wrong Guys”, and Christian Douglas as Charlie and Callum Francis as Lola rise to the occasion of the emotional heights in “I’m Not My Father’s Son” – and there is the uplifting finale, “Raise You Up” which brings the audience to its feet.

Also plaudits to Brianna Stoute as Nicola, Marcus Neville as George, and Sean Stelle as Don who add to the pizazz and vitality of this off-Broadway revival of Kinky Boots.

Kinky Boots – Off-Broadway

Stage 42

August 28, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

As an antidote to brooding over the end of the summer, an off-Broadway revival of Kinky Boots has opened at Stage 42 giving us an energy boost, a distraction, and a full dose of pizazz.

This revival reacquaints ourselves with the original Broadway production of Kinky Boots that premiered in 2013, and is electrifying a New York stage again as guided by the direction of Jerry Mitchell – and includes his exuberant choreography – and Cyndi Lauper’s signature score filled with uplifting production numbers and heart-tugging ballads. Also to mention  Harvey Fierstein’s clever – and timely —  book. Kinky Boots  is a gift we really needed to have back even though the original Broadway production closed as recently as 2019.

The story told in Kinky Boots focuses on the chance meeting, and flowering relationship, of two very different young men. Set in Northampton, England, the heart of the shoe-making industry in that part of the world, Charlie Price (played by Christian Douglas) has found himself returning to his roots to take over a shoe factory, Price & Son, left to him by his father. Price & Son is a struggling enterprise, and as Charlie Price has established himself in London with his girlfriend Nicola (played by Brianna Stoute), he is ambivalent whether this is where he wants to be.

He has a chance meeting with Lola (played by understudy Ernest Terrelle Williams), a drag entertainer, who seems to have the vision and inspiration that complements Charlie. Both Charlie and Lola have had their own complicated relationships with their fathers – but as a “dream team” Kinky Boots reveals a success story that is told with emotion, empathy, and joy. Charlie and Lola develop a niche product, Kinky Boots, gambling on the success of new product in order to save the shoe factory and the employees their jobs – and also Lola has the chance to become a shoe designer.

Kinky Boots imparts how both Charlie and Lola are being pushed out of their comfort zones, coping with change, and are also evolving themselves. They develop a close friendship that changes both of their lives – and a ripple effect that changes the lives of those around them.

Lauper provides a score that includes a comic song or two – “The History of Wrong Guys” sung with irony by Danielle Hope as Lauren – emotional ballads such as “I’m Not My Father’s Son” sung by Christian Douglas as Charlie and Ernest Terrelle Williams as Lola,  and the uplifting “Raise You Up” – and there is Fierstein’s clever and insightful book, and Jerry Mitchell’s sharp direction and entertaining choreography – and it all has a happy ending.

The wonderful cast of Christian Douglas as Charlie, Ernest Terrelle Williams as Lola, Danielle Hope as Lauren, Brianna Stoute as Nicola, Marcus Neville as George, and Sean Stelle as Don are versatile musical theater actors who bring this heart-warming story to life. But they are also supported by an equally as talented supporting cast.

At a time when LGBTQ rights are being challenged, this revival of Kinky Boots, has even more relevance and resonance than when Kinky Boots made its Broadway debut. As stated in Lauper’s lyric, “you change the world when you change your mind”.

Certainly Kinky Boots gives us a needed a boost and a statement about how wonderful the world could be in these difficult and challenging times. We need the joy, the pizazz, and the energy!

 Sarasota Ballet Returns To The Joyce Theater

Joyce Theater

August 16, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The Sarasota Ballet has been a regular visitor to the Joyce Theater, but its last visit had to be cancelled due to the continued Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns.  However the Sarasota Ballet has returned to the Joyce Theater from August 16-21, 2022 to close the Joyce Theater’s 2021-2022 dance season.

With Iain Webb as the company’s artistic director, the focus of the company’s repertoire still remains Frederick Ashton’s ballets – well-known ballets and forgotten gems. And for this Joyce Theater engagement the Sarasota Ballet is presenting two Ashton’s works, one of which was specifically created for a special celebration in the Royal Ballet’s history, and another work, a star vehicle, and both being described as apiece d’occasion. Besides the two Ashton works, there is the world premiere of a work by Jessica Lang which appears to be a work that the Sarasota Ballet might describe as a signature work of its own in the future.

First on the program was A Birthday Offering which Ashton choreographed to celebrate the Royal Ballet’s 25th anniversary in 1956. Choreographed to music by Alexander Glazunov – orchestrated by Robert Irving – the music is culled from The Seasons, Concert Waltz No. 1, Scenes de ballet, and Ruses d’Amour – and is a work in the neo-classical style – and also in the grand manner. A Birthday Offering was not only created to celebrate the Royal Ballet for its anniversary but also to celebrate its roster of ballerinas.

But for the Royal Ballet dancing A Birthday Offering during its past New York engagements – most notably the Pas de Deux from A Birthday Offering when it participated in the Lincoln Center Festival’s Ashton tribute in 2004 — the only other recent performances of A Birthday Offering in New York up until now were those performed by American Ballet Theatre which gave its company premiere of the work in 1989. The Sarasota Ballet presented its company premiere of A Birthday Offering, with the ballet’s original designs by Andre Levasseur,  in 2013.

Opening A Birthday Offering is a grand entrance danced by the entire cast of seven couples followed by the ladies dancing seven variations – variations that celebrated the specialties of each legendary dancer who danced each variation. These variations are followed by the men dancing the mazurka, the principal couple dancing a pas de deux, and the ballet ends with all of the dancers in a final waltz.

In this performance the pas de deux was elegantly danced by Macarena Gimenez and Ricardo Graziano – Gimenez also dancing Margot Fonteyn’s Solo – with Emelia Perkins dancing the Elaine Fifield Solo, Danielle Brown dancing the Rowena Jackson Solo, Gabriella Schultze dancing the Svetlana Beriosova Solo, Anna Pellegrino dancing the Nadia Nerina Solo, Dominique Jenkins dancing the Violeta Elvin Solo, and Marijana Dominis dancing the Beryl Grey Solo. In support and also dancing the Mazurka were Ricardo Graziano, Thomas Leprohon, Richard House, Maximiliano Iglesias, Daniel Pratt, Josh Fisk, and Samuel Gest. This was a superb cast and a cast to be proud of.

Following A Birthday Offering was the world premiere of Jessica Lang’s Shades of Spring which is a contemporary ballet for seven dancers,  and choreographed to piano trios composed by Joseph Haydn.

With the enhancement of Roxane Revon’s visual art and projection designs of flowers – given movement and illumination – Lang created the image of an English country garden presented in vignettes with the dancers participating as assorted invitees to what seemed like a garden party – as friendships and attachments change.
As interpreted by the cast of Ricardo Rhodes, Richard House, Marijana Dominis, Acadian Broad, Yuki Nonaka, Emelia Perkins and Lauren Ostrander, these vignettes, structured in group dances and duets, brought Lang’s vignettes and images to life.

Closing the Sarasota Ballet’s program was the rarity of seeing a performance of Ashton’s Varii Capricci, which was choreographed to William Walton’s music of the same name, as a vehicle for Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell. 

Varii Capricci was given its world premiere by the Royal Ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1983, and but for later performances by the Royal Ballet in London that same year, Varii Capricci has not been seen since. It was taken into the Sarasota Ballet’s repertoire in 2019.

Ashton focused on what was a carefree holiday in an Italian resort depicting, in a shorthand version, the relationships of its two principal characters, La Capricciosa danced by Danielle Brown and Lo Straniero danced by Ricardo Rhodes – the latter a bit of a lothario – and the former a flirt.

In this short, but effective piece, Ashton’s showed his skill in creating a dance play while also employing musicality in how he created his choreography — which stated so much in a simple gesture. Varii Capricci is more than a bit of fluff. And the cast of Brown and Rhodes brought out the comic flair in Ashton’s dance piece.

It should also be noted that Margaret Barbieri staged A Birthday Offering with care – and a care for detail – with that same care in staging and rehearsing Varii Capricci with Grant Coyle.

If you are interested in experiencing two Ashton rarities and a notable world premiere by Jessica Lang, the Sarasota Ballet is a must see – and a wonderful way to end the Joyce Theater’s 2021-2022 dance season.

The Butcher Boy

Irish Repertory Theatre

July 30, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

From July 21 through September 11, 2022, the Irish Repertory Theatre is presenting the world premiere of a new musical, The Butcher Boy, based on Patrick McCabe’s novel which was published in 1992. With book, music and lyrics by Asher Muldoon, and directed by Ciaran O’Reilly, The Butcher Boy marks the world premiere of a new musical by a young, and upcoming musical theater artist.

The story of The Butcher Boy takes place in the village of Clones, Ireland in the 1960’s where Francie Brady (played by Nicholas Barasch) lives in his own fabricated dream world – with his parents, and his best friend Joe Purcell (played by Christian Strange) in what seems to be an idyllic existence. 

That idyllic existence is turned upside down when Mrs. Nugent (played by Michele Ragusa) and her son, Phillip (played by Daniel Marconi) arrive in town. Mrs. Nugent targets the Brady family denouncing the family as pigs –bullying Francie and everyone else in the village. As a result of this toxic atmosphere Francie’s life crumbles, and he turns to subterfuge, hostility, and violence to resolve the issues between the feuding villagers.

Francie Brady, with his alcoholic mother (played by Andrea Lynn Green) and despondent father (played by Scott Stangland), has grown up in a troubled home environment which results in Francie retreating into a violent fantasy world which is also inspired by the many 1950’s and 1960’s television series and comic books that Francie has seen and read — from Westerns to science fiction. Brady’s life is filled with  fantasies in his head, and day dreams as he lives his daily life. From the moment that Francie steals comic books from Phillip, and he is haunted by a Greek chorus wearing pig’s masks, the story of The Butcher Boy is set into motion.

When betrayed and bullied by Mrs. Nugent, and losing his best friend Joe to Mrs. Nugent’s son, Phillip, Francie’s life falls apart. Running away to Dublin, Francie cons a trusting family to being a substitute for his own dysfunctional family only to be brought back to reality when his father tracks him down in Dublin and informs him that his mother has committed suicide. With Francie out of control, The Butcher Boy culminates in a destructive conclusion. Yet in spite of its disturbing story The Butcher Boy is a dark comedy of contrasts and pipe dreams, and is empathetically musicalized to highlight the ever-changing circumstances and emotional swings in this compelling adaptation of Cabe’s novel.

Nicholas Barasch portraying Francie Brady acts as both the narrator and protagonist in The Butcher Boy’s story,  and commands the stage. Also notable are Andrea Lynn Green and Scott Stangland as Francie Brady’s parents, Daniel Marconi as Philip Nugent, Christian Strange as Joe Purcell, and Michele Ragusa as Mrs. Nugent. But this excellent ensemble cast, often playing multiple roles, brings McCabe’s complicated and jarring story to life.

Muldoon’s score was at its best in “Snowdrops” (Francie Brady’s fanciful thoughts on his life), “Those Were The Days” (Francie’s father’s look back at his younger days), and the concluding “The Color of Oranges” (an ensemble of the people and voices from the past and present in Francie’s life).

O’Reilly’s carefully crafted direction brings the diversity of these characters in The Butcher Boy to life. You feel you know them, and their thoughts, and how emotionally complicated their lives are.

The Butcher Boy, as a story, is provocative and disturbing, but is interpreted by a composer/book writer with promise, and an especially talented cast.

Notre Dame de Paris

David Koch Theater

July 17, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Although it seems like the epic sung-through musicals are no longer in fashion on Broadway, they are popular in other parts of the world. Making its New York debut at the David Koch Theater from July 13-24, 2022, is Notre Dame de Paris, an imported production of a musical theater piece based on Victor Hugo’s well-known novel.

Hugo’s novel has inspired adaptations for films, operas, and ballets, and this musical stage adaptation represents the collaboration of Richard Cocciante as composer, and Luc Plamondon as author, which combines musical theatre, dance, and acrobatics. Since having its world premiere in Paris in 1998, Notre Dame de Paris has been presented in major cities all over the world.

Whether you define this version of Notre Dame de Paris as musical theatre or spectacle – it may not be definable – it tells Victor Hugo’s story expeditiously with pop-inspired songs, and also delivers a political point of view through themes that are interwoven into Hugo’s fable of love, betrayal, and jealousy.

This production is performed in French with English supertitles, and is performed by a cast of 30 performers and a live orchestra with direction by Gilles Maheu, and choreography by Martino Muller.

Taking place in Paris – in 1482 – Gringoire – the poet and troubadour – sets the scene singing “Le Temps des cathedrals” – as workers are in the process of building the Notre Dame Cathedral. The stage comes alive with living pictures in a cinematic style.

The story focuses on the gypsy girl Esmeralda (played by Hiba Tawaji), who has several swooning male suitors including Frollo (played by Daniel Lavoie) the villainous archdeacon of Notre Dame, Quasimodo (played by Angelo Del Vecchio), the hunchback, and Phoebus (played by Yvan Pedneault), Esmeralda’s rich suitor, who is also engaged to another woman. Add to the mix is that Gringoire, the observer and narrator of Notre Dame de Paris, is Esmeralda’s husband.

Frollo, Quasimodo, and Phoebus express their conflicted feelings about love in one of the show’s  hit songs, “Belle”, with compelling lyrics, and in haunting music that provokes the suitors’ emotions.

The story is told in fleeting episodes that include exposition, and are linked together with acrobatic sequences and dances, conveying the story in split second timing. Although Quasimodo attempts to prevent Esmeralda from meeting her ultimate  doom, her other suitors are the ones who control her fate. 

And the politics are reflected in the opening song for Act II, “Florence” and through most of Act II, depicting Esmeralda and her followers as outcasts and, in their frustration, the criticism of the leaders in government and in the Catholic Church. There was definitely a questioning about how world problems can be resolved, and fairness as the guiding factor in living our lives. These universal thoughts are relevant to any time in history as well as in the present.

Notre Dame de Paris stars Angelo Del Vecchio as Quasimodo, Hiba Tawaji as Esmeralda, Daniel Lavoie as Frollo, Gian Marco Schiaretti as Gringoire, Yvan Pedneault as Phoebus, Jay as Clopin, and Emma Lepine as Fleur-de-Lys – all of whom have excellent singing voices, and are extraordinary story-tellers. They command the stage during every moment of Notre Dame de Paris. And even in some of the abstracted thoughts in Notre Dame de Paris, they communicate with the audience well.

Notre Dame de Paris has a story to tell that connects with audiences of today, and also does so in a manner and style that is theatrical and spectacular. It is an alternative to how musical theatre is produced on Broadway – and is involving and worthy of an audience’s attention.

American Ballet Theatre – Romeo and Juliet

Metropolitan Opera House

July 13, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

For the closing week of its five-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House, American Ballet Theatre is presenting performances of its production of Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet.

MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet was given its world premiere by the Royal Ballet in 1965,  and was frequently performed by the Royal Ballet in New York, until American Ballet Theatre acquired MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, for its company premiere in 1984. With new designs by Nicholas Georgiadis, choreographed to Sergei Prokofiev’s legendary ballet score, and produced in the grand manner, American Ballet Theatre has continued the tradition of presenting performances of MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet ever since.

Divided into three acts, the exposition is presented in Act I where the conflicts between the warring families, the Capulets and the Montagues, are revealed which culminates in a sword fight in Verona’s market square. Romeo, a member of the Montague Family crashes a ball at the residence of the Capulets and meets Juliet, a member of the Capulet Family – and it is love at first sight and the recklessness of youth quickly evolves into to a tragedy. 

Although Romeo and Juliet meet in secret for the famous Balcony Scene which ends Act I, in Act II, they are secretly married by Friar Laurence. But Romeo is banished from Verona after he kills Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin. When the Capulets confront Juliet with a marriage arrangement with Paris, Juliet and Friar Laurence come up with the scheme for her to drink a sleeping potion which creates the impression of death – and the scheme is for Romeo to be informed about the scheme, finds her when she awakes, and they are to leave Verona to pursue their lives. However Romeo is not informed about the scheme and believing that Juliet is dead, he commits suicide, and  upon re-awakening Juliet does the same – hence the unexpected yet inevitable tragedy.

Prokofiev’s moody and somber music underscores and effectively predicts the tragedy that is being revealed. 

American Ballet Theatre’s dancers have grown into this production of Romeo and Juliet over the years, and have assimilated into the grand manner of MacMilan’s approach to the story. The stage is populated with the citizens of Verona, the warring families, and many on-lookers. However every cast member is totally involved in the story, and marvels as the story unfolds. The impression is that of animated choreographic pictures capturing each important moment in the story.

In this performance Isabella Boylston as Juliet and guest artist Daniel Camargo as Romeo, portrayed and effectively danced the roles of the doomed lovers. Boylston was suitably effervescent and spirited in representing her youth and impetuousness – and determined, in spite of the hurdles she must face. Camargo with his matinee idol demeanor portrayed Romeo with a little swagger and being a bit of a rogue. This was a romantic relationship and not reckless – a climax of a tragedy – and also representing a great deal of chemistry in the partnership of Boylston and Camargo.

Jonathan Klein was both quirky and charming in the role of Mercutio, and led the Mandolin Dance with aplomb and confidence.

However the effective reflection of the dramatic underpinnings in this performance of Romeo and Juliet were exemplified by the wonderful character dancers who portrayed their roles with their acting and dancing skills – most notably Zhong-Jing Fang as Lady Capulet, John Gardner as Lord Capulet, Carlos Lopez as both Escalus and Friar Laurence, and Nancy Raffa as the Nurse.

Romeo and Juliet marked an important moment during American Ballet Theatre’s Metropolitan Opera House – noting that it holds an important place in New York City’s dance season.

American Ballet Theatre – Single Eye

Metropolitan Opera House

July 7, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

During its brief five-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House, American Ballet Theatre is offering only one triple bill program. But the one triple bill program being offered includes an assortment of short dance pieces that would justify a dance aficionado’s interest.

The triple bill opened with one of George Balanchine’s signature works, Theme and Variations, which was  created for American Ballet Theatre in 1947 – and these performances mark the 75th anniversary since its world premiere. Choreographed to the fourth movement of Tchaikovsky’s Third Orchestral Suite, Theme and Variations reflects the grandeur of the  Imperial Russian Ballet with music that find its roots in Tchaikovsky’s score for The Sleeping Beauty.

This is one of Balanchine’s best neo-classic ballets, and fortunately American Ballet Theatre has performed it on a continuous basis since its premiere.

Balanchine’s choreography requires precision, clarity, and musicality and not all of these elements had been perfectly polished in this performance. The Pas de Deux was elegantly danced by Devon Teuscher and Joo Won Ahn, however, and I hope that Theme and Variations will be performed by American Ballet Theatre on a regular basis – resulting in a finely honed performance.

It was the middle piece on this triple bill program that was of the most interest as it was a New York premiere, and represented a first-time collaboration between the choreographer and American Ballet Theatre’s dancers.

That dance work was Alonzo King’s Single Eye, which was choreographed to music by Jason Moran, with atmospheric costume and scenic designs by Robert Rosenwasser, and had its world premiere earlier this year at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

King’s choreographic style and vocabulary favors contemporary dance, and in Single Eye, King has created an amorphous work that is defined in seven short vignettes reflecting somber moods. King has his own unique approach to moving groups of dancers on a stage and this aspect of King’s signature is evident in every aspect of Single Eye.

King utilizes the attributes of the cast of Isabella Boylston, Thomas Forster, Calvin Royal III, Herman Cornejo, and Skylar Brandt who infused King’s choreography with commitment – creating the images that King had intended.

Closing the program was Jessica Lang’s Zig Zag which is a musical and choreographic tribute to recording artist and singer Tony Bennett. In Zig Zag Lang has choreographed a series of dances to Bennett’s recordings  — which also channels the styles of well-known theatrical choreographers – with a décor incorporating Bennett’s own artwork.

The songs from the American Song Book lend themselves to theatrical entertainment – and the enthusiastic cast of Isabella Boylston, Aran Bell, Katherine Williams, Eric Tamm, Catherine Hurlin, and Calvin Royal III wended their way through Zig Zag interpreting Lang’s choreography and the lyrics that Bennett was singing.

American Ballet Theatre’s triple bill program provides a well-balanced variety of works by choreographers who have worked in a diversity of choreographic styles. Variety and entertaining are the words that best describe this program of dance.

American Ballet Theatre Dances Swan Lake

Metropolitan Opera House

June 29, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

A feeling of stability has been felt during American Ballet Theatre’s Metropolitan Opera House season – in particular with the company’s performances of Kevin McKenzie’s production of Swan Lake – a production of this classic ballet that has been danced by the company since 2000 – and also has been an important bread and butter 19th century classic that New York ballet audiences have been able to revisit regularly during American Ballet Theatre’s Metropolitan Opera House seasons. This was a welcome return.

McKenzie’s production, opulently designed by Zack Brown, compresses the ballet’s four acts into two parts with only one intermission which moves the narrative forward with dramatic impetus.

Swan Lake’s classic story focuses on Prince Siegfried who is advised by his mother that he must marry – a choice that he is not happy about making. He becomes part of a hunting party and near the lakeside he comes upon a swan who is transformed into a woman in the night time hours. How Princess Odette was condemned to this existence, being put under a spell by the evil sorcerer von Rothbart, is explained in the Prologue of this production of Swan Lake. Prince Siegfried vows eternal love to Odette, and it is hoped that their love will break von Rothbart’s spell.

In this ballet’s ballroom scene Prince Siegfried is introduced to possible brides – rejecting all of them – but sets his sights on a surprise guest, Odile, von Rothbart’s daughter disguised as Odette. Odile manages to fool Prince Siegfried into believing that she is Odette, and encourages him to vow eternal love to her – tricked – Prince Siegfried realizes what he has done. The culmination of the ballet is Prince Siegfried finding Odette and apologizing to her for what he has done. However Odette, condemned to be a swan forever, chooses suicide – as does Prince Siegfried – and ultimately their love breaks von Rothbart’s spell.

Effectively underscoring this story is the symphonic ballet score composed by Tchaikovsky.

Besides the addition of a prologue, this production also divides the role of von Rothbart – the evil sorcerer who appears in the lakeside scenes (portrayed by Roman Zhurbin), and the von Rothbart who appears in the ballroom scene who dances his own dance of seduction – trying to seduce the Queen Mother, and four princesses who are seeking Prince Siegfried’s hand in marriage (portrayed danced by Gabe Stone Shayer) – danced to the usually cut Russian Dance.

There is also new choreography for the ensemble dances in the first act of the ballet, and choreography created to effectualize the transition between the two scenes in the second part of this ballet from the ballroom to return to the lake. There are elements included to give the male dancers in the company more to dance, and ease the transition from one act to another in an effort to reduce the running time of the ballet. All within the discretion of McKenzie’s production.

As in any performance of Swan Lake, the alignment of the music, staging, design and the presentation of the dancers in the principal roles makes or breaks this haunting story.

In this performance Skylar Brandt took on the dual role of Odette/Odile with Herman Cornejo as Prince Siegfried. Cornejo exemplifies his experience being a traditional classicist and providing a traditional interpretation of the role of Prince Siegfried. Brandt was poetic as Odette and fiery as Odile – not a total break with tradition but stretching tradition, and giving her interpretation room to grow.

Also notable were Zimmi Coker, Breanne Granlund, and Patrick Frenette in the Act I Pas de Trois. And American Ballet Theatre’s corps de ballet meeting the demands of the swan ensembles in Act II and IV.

These performances of American Ballet Theatre’s production of Swan Lake are offering many debuts in the principal roles. All that much more satisfying when experiencing this well-known full-length narrative ballet.

Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition Gala/Awards Ceremony

Symphony Space

June 24, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Featuring participants from around the world the Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition was held at Symphony Space in New York from June 20-24, 2022.

Participants were judged in two rounds of classical variations, and contemporary dance  and choreography, and the Competition culminated with awards bestowed at the Gala/Awards Ceremony on June 24, 2022.

The competitors were judged by the jury of:

Classical Ballet:

Charles Jude (France), President of the Jury

Nina Ananisashvili (Republic of Georgia)

Patricia Aulestia de Alba (Mexico

)Cervilio Amador (USA

)Chan Hon Goh (Canada)

Gladisa Guadalupe (USA)

Olga Guardia De Smoak (Panama)

Sun Hee Kim (South Korea)

Paul McRae (USA)

Christopher Moore (England)

Mikko Nissinen (USA)

Nell Shipman (USA)

Sergei Soloviev (France & Russian Federation)

Contemporary Dance:

Charles Jude (France), President of the Jury

Mi Sook Jeon (South Korea)

Virginia Mecene (USA)

Steven Melendez (USA)

David Parsons (USA)

Melanie Person (USA)

Ricardo Scheir (Brazil)

Before the awards were announced the audience was treated to a gala performance which included Valentina Kozlova, who danced in a solo of her own creation, “Et si tu n’existais pas” choreographed to music by Beethoven, and was followed by a guest group of dancers dancing Kozlova’s staging of the Marius Petipa divertissement from Glinka’s opera, Ruslan and Ludmila.

Also among the guests performing were medalists from previous competitions including Nikita Boris (currently with the Cincinnati Ballet) dancing Reverie Interlude, Jillian Schubert dancing a variation from Paquita, and Mari Sugawa and Humberto Teixeira dancing Ricardo Scheir’s Rumai.

But there were also notable performances by participants and medal winners including Sarah Kusek (dancing Rapport), Ekaterina Pichkova (dancing a variation from Paquita), Mary Elsener (dancing Corrida), Liselotte Van Doorn (dancing the Lilac Fairy variation from The Sleeping Beauty), Vitor Braz (dancing the male variation from the Bluebird Pas de Deux), Vitoria Caloni (dancing Walpurgis Nacht), Michaela Fairon (dancing Reverie), Chaewon Lee (dancing Beautiful Beast), Yejin Joo (dancing a variation from Talisman), Min Seo Kim (dancing Act 3 Chapter 3), Clement Guillaume (dancing the male variation from Diana and Acteon), Sadie Weintraub (dancing Fremd), Eunmin Yoon (dancing a variation from The Sleeping Beauty), and the ensemble from Italy (dancing Unison).

These competitors represented the high caliber of  ballet and modern dancers who participated in this year’s Competition.

The following are the award winners:

Youth Girls

Gold: Ekaterina Pichkova, USA

Silver: Sarah Kusek, Poland

Bronze: Ana Luiza Marquez, Brazil 

Youth Boys

Silver: Vitor Braz, Brazil

Bronze: Aleksey Kutsenko, USA

Student

Gold: Linzi Huang, USA

Silver: Marina Galon Brunetti, Brazil

Bronze: Liselotte Van Doorn, Aruba & Valerie Sokolenko, USA

Junior

Gold: Vitoria Caloni, Brazil & Sadie Weintraub, Ireland

Silver: Michaela Fairon, South Africa,  Elodie Lefebvre, Belgium & Emma Tatum, USA 

Bronze: Giovanna Gomes, Brazil, Mary Elsener, USA, & Christie Anderson, Great Britain 

Senior Girls

Gold: Yejin Joo, South Korea & Seo Yeon Kang, South Korea 

Silver: Minjin Lee, South Korea

Bronze: Eunmin Yoon, South Korea & Sydney Henson, USA 

Senior Boys

Gold: Clément Guillaume, France

Silver: JunHyoung Yoon, South Korea & je Jeong Yong, South Korea 

Bronze: Chanju Jung, South Korea &  Seungkyun Park, South Korea 

CONTEMPORARY MEDALS

Division 1 Solo

Gold: Linzi Huang, USA & Ekaterina Pichkova, USA 

Silver: Sarah Kusek, Poland 

Division 2 Solo Girls

Gold: Michaela Fairon, South Africa 

Silver: Sadie Weintraub, Ireland 

Bronze: Christie Anderson, United Kingdom 

Division 2 Solo Boys

Silver: Victor Sampaio, Brazil 

Division 3 Solo Girls 

Gold: Riha Kim, South Korea

Division 3 Solo Boys

Gold: MinSeo Kim, South Korea &  Chaewon Lee, South Korea

Contemporary Duet 

Gold: Barbara Dias, Marcos Silva, Brazil 

Contemporary Ensemble 

Gold:Ensemble Italy

Bronze: Ensemble USA 

Pacific Northwest Ballet Celebrates

Its  50th Anniversary

David Koch Theater

June 25, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

In an engagement presented by the Joyce Theater, Pacific Northwest Ballet celebrated its 50th anniversary performing at the David Koch Theater in New York  from June 22-26, 2022 – the company’s first New York engagement in six years. 

Pacific Northwest Ballet was founded in 1972, and has toured nationally and internationally. Since 2005, Peter Boal, former New York City Ballet principal has been the company’s artistic director, and the programming for this engagement was a reflection of his artistic vision for the company. The triple-bill program presented on June 25, 2022 included the dance works of three contemporary choreographers – one of those works a creation for Pacific Northwest Ballet.

The focal point of the triple bill was Twyla Tharp’s Waiting At The Station which was choreographed to music by Allen Toussaint and had its world premiere by Pacific Northwest Ballet  in 2013. 

This narrative ballet is set in 1940s New Orleans with a story that follows the adventures of a man, accompanied by his son, coming to terms with his life before he must surrender to the three gilded fates that are pursuing him. Through the course of this narrative dance piece, Father and Son experience and participate in many adventures as they encounter the diverse people in New Orleans – and also to make peace with each other.

Tharp’s style here is signature. However she does channel her experiences working in the Broadway theatre in her choreography, and also in her story-telling. This is a big company piece with elaborate scenery and costume designs by Santo Loquasto. And also big and expressive performances by Ezra Thomson as the Father, and Kuu Sakuragi  as the Son.

Waiting At The Station is a dance piece that showed off Pacific Northwest Ballet’s dancers, and amply filled the large David Koch Theater stage.

Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite was represented by Plot Point which was premiered by the Netherlands Dance Theatre in 2010. This dance piece is a post-modern choreographic exploration of the movie score from Psycho – a dance interpretation of film noir — expressing narrative through movement employing still photographs and video clips as scenery – and two sets of dancers – one in white from head to toe – looking like ghost images – in comparison to the more conventionally costumed other set of dancers.  In this piece those conventionally clad dancers represent the primary characters in the narrative of this dance piece while the other set of dancers reflect contrasting images of these same primary characters.

Besides Bernard Herrmann’s haunting music, there was also a sound track of voice audio, the sounds of a busy city, with Pite presenting the very thin plot in a linear – and at times – non-linear form. It is a murder mystery which does keep up suspense for a period of time but doesn’t develop towards the climax it should have had.

Plot Point was  an ensemble effort, and offered a very different,  yet organic, choreographic vocabulary for Paific Northwest Ballet’s dancers to dance.

Pacific Northwest Ballet’s resident choreographer – and now artistic director of the Charlotte Ballet – Alejandro Cerrudo – turned to the abstract in his piece, Little mortal jump, which is sourced through its variety of choreographic styles ,and  unexpected turns in direction. Unexpected is the word as in Little mortal jump, a male dancer runs through the audience, rips off his mask, jumps on the stage – and ultimately jumps into the orchestra pit. Two dancers are attached to two vertical cubes struggling to remove their clothes, and struggling to get off the cubes – and this dance piece ends with the ensemble pushing the cubes around the stage.

Created for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in 2012, Cerrudo has employed the music of Zach Condon, Andrew Bird, Alexandre Desplat, , Philip Glass, Hans Otte, Max Richter and Kathleen Brennan which provides an eclectic soundtrack for his dance piece.

The word eclectic can be overused in describing dances and dance programming but Pacific Northwest Ballet’s triple program was exactly that. The programming provided a window into the company’s style and artistic vision at the moment, but perhaps didn’t show off the company’s dancers in the best light. 

However as our domestic ballet companies rarely perform in New York, this was a welcome opportunity to observe for oneself what road Pacific Northwest Ballet has taken in its artistic development.

American Ballet Theatre – Of Love and Rage

Metropolitan Opera House

June 20, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

One of the focal points of American Ballet Theatre’s Metropolitan Opera House season is the New York premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s new full-length ballet, Of Love and Rage, which had its world premiere in California in March of 2020. Also to note that Of Love  and Rage is a co-production with the National Ballet of Canada and will be reaching a wider audience in the future.

Visiting the Ancient World, Of Love and Rage, is a 2-act narrative ballet based on one of the oldest novels known to history, Callirhoe by Chariton of Aphrodisias, with an adapted libretto by Guillaume Gallienne.  The story is set within the opulent designs by Jean-Marie Puissant taking place in various locations including Greece, Italy, and the Middle East.

Ratmansky has set his adaptation of the story by employing the music from the ballet Gayaneh, a score composed by Aram Khachaturian in the 1930’s – as adapted by Philip Feeney. All of these elements would have the ingredients for an intriguing full-length ballet.

This 2000-year-old story takes one on an adventurous journey within the Greek Empire starting in Syracuse (modern-day Sicily), then on to Athens and Babylonia. Callirhoe was a novel written between 1st Century BC and the Second Century AD – but the story is set in 4th Century BC – at the time of Alexander The Great.

Callirhoe is a young noblewoman making her home in Syracuse, Sicily. Her love for Chaereas is intense, and they are married in spite of the objections of their families. Callirhoe’s former suitors persuade Chaereas that Callirrhoe has been unfaithful to him.

Their relationship becomes combustible and tragic when Callirhoe collapses after being con fronted by Chaereas with these accusations and seemingly has died. This pivotal moment in the ballet takes place offstage which decreases the intensity of the moment.

Although Callirhoe is entombed, pirates burst in and abduct her when they realize she is alive. She is sold into slavery to Dionysius, who falls in love with her. Being pregnant with Chaereas’ child and wanting to protect herself and her child, she agrees to marry Dionysius.
Upon finding the tomb empty Chaereas seeks out Callirhoe and upon reuniting in his kingdom, Dionysius encourages Callirhoe to make the choice between him and Chaereas – and she chooses Chaereas who vows to make amends to Callirhoe. However this denouement to Of Love and Rage evolves after Callirhoe is prized and romanced by several suitors including Mithridates, and the King of Babylon. 

The plot is filled with quarrels and duplicity – and adventurous journeys – in a plot that is similar to Giselle, Shakespeare’s A Winter Tale  and Othello, and other classic tales of jealousy.

Ratmansky’s greatest challenge was to make this complicated plot understandable and clear. Unfortunately Ratmansky doesn’t depict the many plot twists nor the emotions between the characters in a crystal-clear fashion in his choreography.  The plot is sketched rather than fully drawn. His interpretation of the story is made even less apparent without mime or narrative choreography.

The choreography reflects tableau that seem to be images from Greek art – with dancing ensembles that intrude on the complicated plot rather than illuminating the plot. Callirhoe is desired by every man she meets – some times even mauled by them – and somehow the battle between Chaereas and Dionysius is epic but also exaggerated and overblown. The end of this 2-act ballet seems anticlimactic. Unfortunately the music didn’t provide dramatic underscoring to heighten the emotions during the numerous important plot points.

In Ratmansky’s choreography and concept for Of Love and Rage, there are a great many references to the familiar full-length ballets in the repertoire of the Bolshoi Ballet, among them Spartacus, and Legend of Love. Of Love and Rage offers a journey into the exotic but seems like familiar territory.

American Ballet Theatre’s dancers rose to the occasion in displaying virtuoso, and bravura dancing even in the ensembles.

Catherine Hurlin does wonders with the thankless title role while Aran Bell is charismatic as Chaereas, and his bravura dancing is one of the highlights of Of Love and Range. However transporting the emotions were the performances of guest artist Daniel Camargo in the role of Dionysius, Jarod Curley as Mithridates, and Roman Zhurbin as the King of Babylon. Katherine Williams makes the best out of the role of the put-upon Queen of Babylon.

However Of Love and Rage needs the representation of greater narrative details – the plot and the characters – that would allow this enigma of a ballet to be communicated to an audience. American Ballet Theatre’s dancers were trying to do just that and came close – but Ratmansky was not close enough — even as provocative as Of Love and Rage is.

Metropolitan Opera House

American Ballet Theatre Returns to the Metropolitan Opera House with Don Quixote

June 15, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

There is much to celebrate about American Ballet Theatre’s summer season at the Metropolitan Opera House. Simply the return to the Metropolitan Opera House to perform after what seems to be a long gap in years, and the announcement that Susan Jaffe will be succeeding Kevin McKenzie as the company’s artistic director – and Kevin McKenzie’s tenure as artistic director.

Opening American Ballet Theatre’s Metropolitan Opera House season is  a week of performances of Kevin McKenzie’s production of Don Quixote which has been a mainstay in the company’s repertoire. Although not the first American ballet company to acquire Don Quixote for its repertoire, American Ballet Theatre has consistently performed this ballet during its Metropolitan Opera House seasons, and it is a welcome return.

McKenzie’s production is traditional and follows the narrative of an eccentric Spanish aristocrat who seeks out his ideal love, Dulcinea, but in the end is a by-stander as he meddles in a local tavern keeper’s marriage plans for his daughter, Kitri, with one of the local aristocrats, Gamache. Kitri prefers to wed Basilio, a lowly barber, and it is only with a little cunning and trickery that Kitri’s father is persuaded that she would be better matched with Basilio.

Don Quixote has its roots in the Cervantes novel and also in the choreography by Marius Petipa, and then as adapted by Alexander Gorsky. Most of the exposition is presented in Act I, there is a vision scene in Act II, and then the culminating wedding celebration divertissement to end the ballet in Act III. Along the way there is a showcase of comic and classical dancing, but it is left to the dancers dancing the principal roles to set the tone for the performance and create their characters.

In this performance American Ballet Theatre’s dancers took this production of Don Quixote to a much higher level than in years past. The dancers seemed to be enjoying themselves on the Metropolitan Opera House’s stage, felt free to express themselves, and making the entire performance entertaining and fun for the audience.

Catherine Hurlin took on the role of Kitri, partnered by Joo Won Ahn as her Basilio, both making their New York debuts in these roles. Their performances were perfect balances of technique and acting – comic timing and technical virtuosity. Hurlin played the flirtatious Kitri with flair and style. Ahn, an excellent partner, had extraordinary chemistry with Hurlin, and held his own in terms of exhibiting his bravura technique. This was a high energy performance that even culminated in the audience giving them a standing ovation at the end of their Act III Grand Pas de Deux.

Zhong-Jing Fang displayed her outstanding elegant classical dancing as Queen of the Dryads which was contrasted with her street-wise Mercedes. This was a challenging contrast but she pulled it off with ease and confidence. Blaine Hoven was strikingly elegant and vain as Espanda providing an excellent foil for Fang.

Also notable were Cy Doherty as the towering Don Quixote, and John Gardner as the hapless Sancho Panza – also the amusing performance of Gamache by Duncan Lyle. Excellent examples of the talent within the company were reflected in the performances of Chloe Misseldine and Sunmi Park as the Flower Girls, and Erica Lall as Amour.

This was a spirited performance of Don Quixote  and a wonderful beginning for American Ballet Theatre’s Metropolitan Opera House summer season.

Boston Ballet – Swan Lake

June 10, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

During the 2020-2021 season arts organizations all over the world experimented with the technology of streaming performances in an effort to continue their connections with audiences who were home bound due to Covid-19 restrictions or unable to attend performances in theatrical venues. This expertise enabled these arts organization to reach out to both domestic and international audiences, and many American ballet companies were at the forefront in experimenting with this new technology.

The Boston Ballet was one of those ballet companies, and having achieved a success in those experiments has decided to offer both live performances – now that restrictions on live performances have been removed – and streamed performances to continue to connect with its loyal home-based audience and also reaching out to a much wider audience.

In ending its 2022-2023 season the Boston Ballet revived Mikko Nissinen’s production of Swan Lake which had its world premiere in 2014 boasting new designs by Robert Perdziola. The Boston Ballet is offering a live capture of one of those performances from the Citizens Bank Opera House in Boston, Massachusetts that can be streamed and available from June 9-19, 2022.

Based on the production choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov in 1895, Nissinen has provided additional choreography but most notably he has added to his production of Swan Lake a Prologue, during the ballet’s short overture, in which Odette is reading a book while there are activities all around her. She is approached by Von Rothbart who abducts her and places a spell on her – she is then transformed into a swan.

Thereafter the plot points of Swan Lake follow in a traditional manner as Siegfried is imposed upon to marry but upon meeting Odette by the lakeside, he vows his commitment to her in spite of her being under the spell of the evil Von Rothbart. Siegfried meets several prospective brides but is happily surprised by the appearance of Odile, Von Rothbart’s daughter, who is disguised to look like Odette – and successfully fools Siegfried to encourage him to break his vow to Odette. Siegfried seeks out Odette and expresses his sorrow about his decision but ultimately their relationship ends in tragedy.

This story is told with the musical backdrop of one of Tchaikovsky’s ballet scores, and Nissinen has staged a production of Swan Lake that balances both the dancing and the storytelling. Neither gets in the way of each other, and the production is presented in the grand manner with polished classical ballet dancing – and this streamed performance is well filmed and photographed.
The corps de ballet is as much the star of this ballet as the principal dancers, and this is notable in their committed and animated performances in both of the party and ballroom scenes.

Lasha Khozashvili as Siegfried is an accomplished dance actor which is emphasized in his performance of the contemplative solo that ends Act I. However he also matches the poetry in the lakeside scenes and the virtuosity required in the ballroom scene with Victorina Kapitonova in the dual role of Odette/Odile. Kapitonova infuses the poetry one would expect as Odette, and the seductress as Odile. Tigran Mkrtchyan is suitably sinister as Von Rothbart, and Ji Young Chae, Derek Dunn, and Chisako Oga are notable for the clarity in their dancing in the Act I Pas de Trois.

The Boston Ballet is making it possible for a wider audience to see a production of one of the major 19th century classics that the company has in its repertoire – and this opportunity should be taken advantage of during this limited streamed engagement. 

English National Ballet Dances Khan’s Giselle

Brooklyn Academy of Music

June 8, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The Brooklyn Academy of Music is currently presenting the English National Ballet in performances of Akram Khan’s personal re-interpretation of the classic 19th century ballet, Giselle, from June 8-11, 2022.

Significant in that the English National Ballet hasn’t performed in New York since 1989 – and now under the directorship of Tamara Rojo, who commissioned this significant work, danced the title role, and by the end of the year will be taking over the artistic direction of the San Francisco Ballet.

Giselle is a quintessential ballet from the Romantic Era of early 19th century ballet, and had its premiere at the Paris Opera. It has survived in the classical repertoire until the present day, and is a staple in the repertoire of most ballet companies.

The ballet is best known from Marius Petipa’s production of this ballet for the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia, and over the years there have been adjustments and adaptations  in productions of Giselle, including interpretation, and style. However for the most part productions of Giselle are not reinterpreted. It is a ballet about class distinctions and deceit – and revenge – and redemption.

Khan’s Giselle may be haunted by other productions of Giselle that have been presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. During the period from 1982 through 1984, three different dance companies performed versions of Giselle at the Brooklyn Academy of Music – Peter Wright’s production of Giselle for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Heinz Spoerli’s production of Giselle for the Basel Ballet, and a third production of Giselle which is closer to Khan’s Giselle in both spirit and in the deconstruction of Giselle’s libretto.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music presented The Cullberg Ballet in Mats Ek’s deconstructed version of Giselle in 1982. Ek examined the ballet from a 20th century prism using contemporary dance as its medium and by default examining the ballet’s concepts as well. Giselle truly goes mad, and Act II of Ek’s version takes place in an insane asylum.

Akram Khan, whose training has been in Kathak, a dance style of Northern India, has collaborated with dramaturg Ruth Little  in creating a new interpretation of Giselle which had its world premiere in 2016.

Commissioning a new score by Vincenzo Lamagna, adapting Adolphe Adam’s original score, with costumes and scenery designed by Tim Yip, and employing a dance vocabulary being drawn on kathak, ballet, contemporary dance – and colloquial gesture – Khan’s Giselle focuses on a Giselle captured in  21st century life rather than life in the 19th century.

In Khan’s version of this dance piece, Giselle is a garment factory worker – one of a group who has organized a camp within the walls that surround an abandoned garment factory where they had previously worked. They comprise a group described as The Outcasts. Albrecht is a man of wealth and is part of the opposition to The Outcasts, a group described as The Landlords. His  deceit is that he pretends to be one of The Outcasts. In so doing this production of Giselle retains the themes of betrayal and death from its original libretto – but with more contemporary overtones. Included are the larger economic and political issues that separate The Outcasts and The Landlords.

While Albrecht is insinuating himself with Giselle, Hilarion is a strong rival for Giselle’s affectations as a “fixer” who collaborates with The Landlords, but ultimately locks horns with Albrecht when his deceit is revealed. Albrecht’s fiancée, Bathilde, is a member of The Landlords, the ruling class and overlords over the garment factory workers. Upon meeting Bathilde, Giselle recognizes Bathilde’s dress as a product made at the garment factory.

Bathilde’s father forces Albrecht to keep his promise of marriage to Bathilde after which Giselle is driven mad. Upon the command of The Landlord, The Outcasts encircle Giselle only to disperse to find Giselle’s lifeless body.

The story unfolds at an abandoned factory – Albrecht condemns The Landlords but faces the wrath of the Queen of the Wilis who leads the ghosts of factory workers who seek revenge against The Landlords and other oppressors. Hilarion comes to mourn Giselle and is subsequently killed by the Wilis.

Albrecht and the spirit of Giselle are reunited, and Giselle forgives Albrecht. But having defied The Landlords, Albrecht is now doomed to be an outcast himself.

There are choreographic patterns from traditional productions of Giselle included in Khan’s Giselle. Although Giselle and her female colleagues do not dance in pointe shoes in Act I, notably in Act II, Giselle and the Wilis dance their roles in pointe shoes. It is a contrast that is emphasized in the many ritualistic choreographic images that Khan has created, and also represented in the surrealism that is present in this re-interpretation of Giselle. Unfortunately the characters are not consistently established throughout this dance piece which weakens its impact.

However in this New York debut of Khan’s Giselle, the English National Ballet presented an extraordinarily talented group of dancers to dance and act this dance piece’s principal roles. It was their expressiveness as actors that brought this provocative interpretation alive. The cast was led by Tamara Rojo in the title role, Isaac Hernandez as Albrecht, Jeffrey Cirio as Hilarion, and Stina Quagebeur as Queen of the Wilis.

Khan’s Giselle is a challenge for the English National Ballet’s dancers, and a test for an audience to re-think 19th century classics. 

Valentina Kozlova Studio Company

Symphony Space

June 4, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

On June 4, 2022 Valentina Kozlova’s Studio Company made its debut at Symphony Space in New York. Consistently Valentina Kozlova has provided live performance opportunities for her school’s students, and this showcase was meant to focus on her students’ achievements during this past year of training. At the same time the repertoire also reflected the impact of world events.

Notably there was an historic item that was included in this performance and which was enriched by Valentina Kozlova’s roots with the Bolshoi Ballet. This was the staging of a ballet sequence from Glinka’s second opera, Ruslan and Lyudmila — based on Pushkin’s poem — which had been choreographed by Marius Petipa. Ruslan and Lyudmila had its premiere in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1842.

Led by three female soloists (Jillian Schubert, Aubrey Stevenson, and Katherine St. Jean) with an all-female corps de ballet, this divertissement had choreographic references, and antecedents, to Petipa’s later works – including The Sleeping Beauty. La Bayadere, and his staging of Giselle. The choreography had the usual Petipa musicality and these dancers danced Petipa’s creation with confidence and polish.

Also notable were the performances of Mary Elsener and Albert Davydov in the Act I Pas de Deux from Don Quixote which not only focused on the technical pyrotechnics in the dancing but also in portraying the characters of Kitri and Basilio – and also conveying the comedy. Equally notable were Katherine St. Jean and Clement Guillaume dancing the Classical Graduation Pas de Deux.

Reflecting on recent world events was the performance of Valentina Kozlova’s Overcome, which had been originally created in response to 9/11 – and its emotion is timely. Choreographed to Gospel music and divided into the four sections of “Trouble”, “Trapped”, “Hope”, and “Overcome”, the choreographic vocabulary puts this ensemble cast in pointe shoes but primarily is dancing a pastiche of modern dance and contemporary ballet. The emotions were there and the commitment was there in the performance of Overcome – a fitting work for the times.

This performance by Valentina Kozlova’s Studio Company was welcome in seeing the progress of these students’ training but also a bright spot in being able to see repertoire that had diversity – and relevance.

San Francisco Ballet Celebrates 

Helgi Tomasson

Chelsea Factory

May 23, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

As it seems that the San Francisco Ballet will not be performing in New York before Helgi Tomasson cedes his role of artistic director to his successor, Tamara Rojo, on May 23, 2022, a celebration of Tomasson, sponsored by the San Francisco Ballet, was held at the Chelsea Factory here in New York City.

This event included the premiere of MacKay Productions’ documentary, “Helgi Tomasson: Reaching Harmony”, in which Tomasson told his back story about growing up in Iceland, studying ballet, and pursuing a career in dance in the Untied States at the Joffrey Ballet, the Harkness Ballet, and the New York City Ballet – and his path to becoming artistic director of the San Francisco Ballet, where he has been artistic director for 37 years.

Among those providing tributes in this documentary were two former principal dancers of the San Francisco Ballet, Ashley Wheater, now artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet, and Mikko Nissinen, now artistic director of the Boston Ballet, representing Tomasson’s legacy to the dance world.

Excerpts from three of Helgi Tomasson’s ballet were presented in live performances danced by six of the San Francisco Ballet’s principal dancers.

Chaconne for Piano and Two Dancers, which had premiered in 1999, and was choreographed to music by Handel, was performed here by Frances Chung and Wei Wang.

Misa Kuranaga and Max Cauthorn performed a duet from Harmony, which had premiered in 2022, and was choreographed to music by Jean-Philippe Rameau. This piece is significant as it was the last ballet that Tomasson created on the San Francisco Ballet’s dancers.

The third piece on the program was a duet from The Fifth Season, choreographed to music by Karl Jenkins, and was premiered in 2006 — and was danced by Yuan Tan and Tiit Helimets.

All three of these pieces were romantic, and elegant, understated, contemplative and beautifully danced and interpreted by all six dancers.

Concluding this event was Words On Dance,  a panel discussion which was moderated by Kay Mazzo, and besides Tomasson also included Edward Villella, and Mark Morris. Tomasson had the opportunity to speak of his own path he took in his dancing career and all participants offered their comments about the responsibilities of directing their own artistic organizations.

Overall this was a thoughtful and appropriate overview of Helgi Tomasson’s career in dance.

Romeo & Bernadette: A Musical Tale of Verona & Brooklyn

Theater 555

May 21, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Although the official Broadway theatre season has come to an end with the announcement of the Tony Award nominees, one can now turn to off-Broadway to find imaginative and entertaining theater performances. Recently having its opening on May 16th, 2022 at Theater 555, is the comedic gem, and hilarious, Romeo and Bernadette: A Musical Tale of Verona & Brooklyn, a musical comedy spoof of the well-known William Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet – and in this instance turning a tragedy into a frantic farce.

The premise of Romeo and Bernadette begins at the outset when a young Italian-American man is attending the Brooklyn Community Players production of Romeo and Juliet – a date to impress his girlfriend – and he is impatient for the play to an end as both Romeo and Juliet take too long to die. 

To further impress his girlfriend the young man volunteers to tell the “more” of this story beginning with the undiscovered fact that Romeo actually took a sleeping potion provided by Friar Laurence, and did not kill himself. Romeo survives and awakes in 1960’s Verona – where quite displaced and bewildered – Romeo comes into contact with Bernadette, the daughter of an Italian-American crime family boss, who Romeo perceives to look like Juliet, but is the exact opposite in terms of personality and attitude. This is where this new interpretation of Romeo and Juliet has a connection with another Shakespeare play, The Taming of the Shrew. Romeo follows the family to Brooklyn, New York, and that is where this musical comedy takes off.

Through music and the dialogue, Romeo and Bernadette transforms itself into a comic opera with the book and lyrics written by Mark Saltzman, who sets his lyrics to familiar Italian songs and melodies – you will probably recognize the melodies composed by Leoncavallo, Rossini and Bellini — and Justin Ross Cohen, as director and choreographer, who sets into motion the boulevard comedy, and the twists and turns in the plot.

The plot focuses on the blossoming romance between Romeo and Bernadette in the midst of warring Italian-American crime families with tempers flaring, lots of surprises, with an excellent group of actor/singers who bring these quirky characters to life.

Nikita Burshteyn, brings the hapless Romeo to life as he tries to fit into 20th century life – and also into the lives of people living in Brooklyn in the 1960’s. Cleverly trying to transform himself from the Renaissance Romeo to the Brooklyn street-wise Romeo is one of the components that makes Romeo and Bernadette the comic farce that it is. Anna Kostakis is the stereotypical spoiled young Italian-American woman who knows what business her family is involved in, and also knows where and when to shop.  And there is Bernadette’s fiancé, Tito, who is played with the appropriate arrogance and self-deprecating humor by Zach Schanne.

Also contributing to the comedy are Michael Notardonato (playing the dual role of the Brooklyn Guy, who brings his date to see Romeo and Juliet, and Dino Del Canto, a member of the Del Canto crime family), and Ari Raskin (playing the dual role of the Brooklyn Girl, and Donna Dubachek, who becomes Dino’s girlfriend). Completing this superlative cast is Carlos Lopez as Sal Penza, Judy McLane as Camille Penza, Michael Marotta as Don Del Canto, Viet Vo as the security guard Lips, and Troy Valjean Rucker, who plays multiple roles including a gun-toting dance teacher, who channels Martha Graham, while trying to teach Tito how to dance.

If you want to forget the problems of the day Romeo and Bernadette is the antidote.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

State Theatre New Brunswick New Jersey

May 14, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

In what was a bit of magic, and certainly good feeling, that surrounded the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey when it presented the national touring company of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory from May 13-15, 2022. A magical and fantastical musical for both children and adults.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is based on Roald Dahl’s novel of the same name which was first published in 1964. Dahl was the author of other children’s books – another one of which was Matilda, which was also adapted into a stage musical.

This stage musical has a score with music composed by Marc Shaiman, and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and a book b y David Grieg. In addition to the contributions of Shaiman and Whittman also included in the score are songs by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley which were composed for the 1971Warner Brothers motion picture. I guess such a musical adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory wouldn’t be the same without such songs as “Pure Imagination” “I’ve Got A Golden Ticket”, and “Candy Man”.

Unfortunately the songs by Shaiman and Wittman, with the exception of “The View From Here”, are not of the same quality but well serve this adaptation of Dahl’s book.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had its premiere in London in 2013, and with new direction by Jack O’Brien, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opened on Broadway in 2017. Since,  it has been produced all over the world – in particular on national tour in the United States for which Matt Lenz has reproduced Jack O’Brien’s direction, and Alison Solomon has reproduced the choreography based on Joshua Bergasse’s original choreography for the Broadway production.

Setting the scene we find Willie Wonka expressing his boredom for being a chocolatier and his desire to find a protégé and successor. In order to discover that special someone, Wonka creates a contest and marketing scheme for people around the world to buy his chocolate creations, and hope for getting a golden ticket that will include them in a special tour of Wonka’s factory – and perhaps a prize in the end.

This whimsical journey becomes the obsession of Charlie Bucket, who admires Wonka’s genius, although he doesn’t understand Wonka’s eccentricities. With luck he does win one of the golden tickets, and with the encouragement and support of his Grandpa Joe – Charlie follows his dreams, participates in a tour of Wonka chocolate factory, and ultimately receives an unexpected prize.  

Charlie goes along for the ride even as competitors are eliminated as they succumb to their own weaknesses – primarily for candy — and he also comes into contact with the mysterious Oompa-Loompas who assist Wonka in putting up hurdles for the competitors to jump over.

In this version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dahl’s story is enhanced by the designs by Mark Thompson, the projection designs by Jeff Sugg, and the puppet and illusion designs by Basil Twist. This all adds to the fantasy of this familiar story.

Cody Garcia as Willy Wonka is a superb ringmaster of the unexpected, and  unexplained events, and illusions that are surrounding him – and also displaying Wonka’s eccentricities with a grain of salt. Kai Edgar as Charlie Bucket is an excellent foil – and their chemistry is appealing.  Just as appealing is the endearing performance of Steve McCoy as the crusty and charming Grandpa Joe who has many tall tales to tell.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a timely musical theatre  piece that allows the audience to take their minds off the problems of the day and re-visit our inner-child.

City Center Encores – Into The Woods

City Center

May 8, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

With the recent passing of Stephen Sondheim, his musicals continue to be even more revered, and worth exploring for his intent and inner-meaning.

One of the projects that was planned while Sondheim was still with us was the City Center Encores   concert version of Into The Woods, a collaboration of Sondheim and book writer James Lapine – their second of three collaborations – which had its Broadway premiere in 1987.

New York has seen other productions of Into The Woods since its Broadway premiere including a Broadway revival in 2002, in 2012 the presentation of London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre revival at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, and the Roundabout Theatre Company presenting the Fiasco Theater’s inventive  improvisational production in 2014.

Being presented from May 4-15, 2022, as the last presentation of the City Center Encores current season, this concert production of Into The Woods has been directed by Encores! Artistic Director, Lear de Bessonet with music direction in the capable hands of Rob Berman, and choreography by Lorin Latarrro. 

Although a classic and traditional production of the Sondheim/Lapine musical, nevertheless there were distinct moments of new insights into Into The Woods, and to delight in the new interpretations of the characters portrayed by the stellar cast. Certainly this is the best of the three City Center Encores presentations this season, and for good reason.

Into The Woods can be appreciated on many different levels. Its premise fractures familiar children’s fairy tales, but also examines how a community faces crises and threats – and somehow still survives.

In Into The Woods fairytale characters’ stories intertwine and unravel – familiar and unfamiliar. The premise of Into The Woods unfolds with the comic and droll prose spoken by the Narrator (played by David Patrick Kelly) who describes the offer of the Witch (played by Heather Headley) to remove the spell she has  placed on the Baker (played by Neil Patrick Harris) and the Baker’s Wife (played by Sara Bareilles) which made their marriage a barren one. In order to cajole the Witch to grant them their wish to have a child, the Baker and his Wife must journey through the scary and dark woods to find the ingredients for the potion that the Witch needs to break the spell – a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold. 

As the Baker and his Wife set of on this quest their search is both guided and stymied by a Mysterious Man (also played by David Patrick Kelly) — and then there are the fairy tale characters that they meet along the way, con and befriend to fulfill the Witch’s demands. Those characters are also carrying their own emotional baggage. Each character expresses wonderment as they form friendships and empathy, and confront the problems they must face together – and they learn a great deal about themselves in so doing.

Act I fulfills expectations with a happy ending but the second act gets dark in tone as these fairy tale characters collide with unexpected conflicts, realities, and face real and imagined threats as a community. Although dark to begin with there is a glimmer of hope.

The stories presented in Into The Woods are also told within the simply sketched out scenery designs by David Rockwell with tree trunks, moonlit nights – and three doll house miniatures representing the houses of the principal characters.

This concert production of Into The Wood includes a stellar cast of experienced Broadway performers – equally at adept at singing, acting, and dancing – and also masters of comic timing. Their performances are the most significant ingredients that result in the joy of this production of Into The Woods.

Neil Patrick Harris as the Baker beautifully and emphatically captures the dramatic arc of his character as he takes on life’s responsibilities, and Sara Bareilles as the Baker’s Wife expresses the confidence of this character and a bit of this character’s naivete equally and brilliantly. The chemistry and comic timing between them is exemplary.

Heather Headley chews the scenery as  the Witch – but she also expresses the mixed emotions she feels as her hopes and dreams fall apart around her.

Harris, Bareilles, and Headley also give their own personal interpretations of these characters which provides a different slant on Sondheim’s and Lapine’s creation.

Also notable in this cast were Denee Benton as Cinderella, Gavin Creel and Jason Forbach as the Princes, Anna Harada as Jack’s Mother, David Patrick Kelly as the Narrator/Mysterious Man, Julia Lester as Little Red Ridinghood, Shereen Pimentel as Rapunzel, Cole Thompson as Jack, and Kennedy Kanagawa as the puppeteer who brings Milky White to life.

Into The Woods is as captivating as ever in this City Center Encores production as Sondheim’s music comes to life, and whether you are a Sondheim aficionado or not, Into The Woods will captivate you.

Hairspray

State Theatre, New Brunswick, New Jersey

April 30, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Continuing with its Broadway series, the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey, had been presenting performances of a touring revival of Hairspray from April 29 through May 1, 2022.

Hairspray is a stage musical adaptation of the offbeat John Waters’ film of the same name, with a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and a book by Thomas Meehan and Mark O’Donnell, which opened on Broadway in 2002. Hairspray has since been adapted for a filmed version, and also for a live television production. However what was presented at the State Theatre was a new national touring company – a revival – which included Jack O’Brien’s original direction and Jerry Mitchell’s original choreography – duplicating the spirit and energy of the Broadway production.

Hairspray chronicles life in Baltimore in the 1960’s, a time of political and social change. Tracy Turnblad (played by Niki Metcalf) is an intense and loyal fan of the local teenage dance show, which is hosted by Corney Collins (played by Billy Dawson), and it is her ambition to – in spite of her size and weight – successfully audition for the show and become  a “star”. Besides actually fulfilling that ambition, she also succeeds in breaking down racial barriers which makes it possible for a representative group of teenagers to appear on the show.

Tracy’s nemesis is Velma Von Tussle (played by Addison Garner) who is the television station’s manager and doesn’t approve of Tracy participating in the television show as she might be a rival for her own daughter, Amber Von Tussle (played Kaelee Albretton) This is not to mention that Tracey has a crush on one of the teenagers on the show, Link Larkin (played by Will Savarese), who has ambitions of his own to be a recording star – and then there are Tracy’s supportive parents, Edna Turnblad (played by Andrew Levitt) and Wilbur Turnblad (played by Christopher Swan) who rekindle their own romance as they support their daughter in fulfilling her dreams.

There is also Motormouth Maybelle (played by Sandie Lee) who inspires Tracey’s activism and her friend Penny Pingleton (played by Emery Henderson) who falls for a young black teenager, Seaweed J. Stubbs (played by Jamonte D. Bruten), a relationship that adds more spice to the chaos and enthusiasm that Tracy has inspired.

Shaiman and Wittman have created a score that is a reflection of the style of music of the 1960’s and Meehan and O’Donnell have written a book that allows the audience to participate and be surprised as this Broadway musical unfolds. From “Good Morning Baltimore” to “You Can’t Stop The Beat” this is a great ride.

You can’t help getting involved in the heart of the story, and the spirit of the actors playing the principal roles in Hairspray.

Nikki Metcalf plays Tracey Turnblad in an infectious manner as an outsider trying to fit in, and in becoming her own  heroine and exhibiting her fortitude she changes the world – transforming Hairspray into a modern-day Cinderella story. Also Andrew Levitt is a triple threat as a singer, a dancer, and an actor – and certainly not self-conscious in performing the role of Edna Turnblad. But all of the cast members turn in high-powered performances often touching the hearts of audience members preparing them for the uplifting and appealing finale of Hairspray. 

Most of all Hairspray is a feel-good musical with a feel-good score – and an off-beat Cinderella story – much needed in these strange times we are living in . And after all you can’t tamp down the enthusiasm and you can’t stop the beat.

Lincoln Center Theater –

The Skin Of Our Teeth

Vivian Beaumont Theater

April 28, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The Lincoln Center Theater is currently presenting an unconventional and provocative  play in an unconventional style and manner – that is Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, The Skin Of Our Teeth, which had its original Broadway production in 1942. The added unconventional aspect of this revival is revealed in the additional material by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, and the conception of this revival’s director Lileana Blain-Cruz, who also happens to be Lincoln Center Theater’s resident director. And conveniently this revival also celebrates the 125th anniversary of Thornton Wilder’s birth.

Thornton Wilder was a novelist and playwright best known for his plays, Our Town, and The Matchmaker – the source for the musical, Hello, Dolly! – and The Skin of Our Teeth. In all his writing he had a sense of the American psyche that dominated when he was writing these major plays – and his novels.

The Skin Of Our Teeth is a theatrical allegory about the history of mankind – as seen and heard through the experiences of the Antrobuses, an American family living in the fictional suburban town of Excelsior, New Jersey. The Antrobus Family is the archetypical American family. Mr. Antrobus is the inventor of the wheel and the alphabet, and birthdays and anniversaries are calculated in thousands of years. The Antrobuses have been married for more than 5000 years.

The Antrobus Family are followed as they survive a new ice age, a great flood (before which Mr. Antrobus channels Noah in selecting animals to be saved from the flood), and a war. They even have prehistoric animals as pets. In this revival Blain-Cruz has added an extra layer to the play by the depiction of The Antrobus Family as a black family which gives The Skin Of Our Teeth a different spin.

This epic story is presented with the theatrical convention of allowing the actors to portray themselves as well as the characters they are portraying in The Skin of Our Teeth which allows the audience to play along with the dualities in the play.  Some of the characters break the fourth wall and speak to the audience, and also break from their characters as they comment on their surroundings, frustrations, and fellow actors.

Wilder presents this all with influences from the Expressionist theatrical movement, farce, burlesque and satire.  Yet another added layer are the Biblical references as Mrs. Antrobus represents Eve, Mr. Antrobus represents Adam, and there are also representations of Lilith and Cain (a reference to Henry Antrobus, one of the Antrobus children, who is really Cain – and who has killed his brother Abel) . Overall the theoretical and philosophical foundations of The Skin of Our Teeth are represented by the survival instincts of the human race – and its sense of community.

Adding to chaos of the Antrobus Family is the character of Sabina, the Maid, who is an ageless vamp, and chameleon, who keeps the extremes of the Antrobus Family in line, and informs the audience where the title of the play evolved from – we came through the Depression by the skin of our teeth. 

The first act takes place before the earth is to be facing an ice age during which the Antrobus Family opens its house to the community’s population to provide them with food and shelter, and also protects their prehistoric pets. 

In contrast, somewhat in normal circumstances, the second act takes place in Atlantic City where Mr. Antrobus has been elected President of the Order of Mammals, and resolves to save both humankind and the animal kingdom in bringing together all of the inhabitants of the earth in anticipation of a Noah-like flood. 

The third act sees Mrs. Antrobus and her daughter Gladys facing the world at the end of a 7-year war – the outpouring of thoughts about the world explained by Mr. Antrobus, and the family conflict created when their son Henry returns home from the war and the truth is faced that Henry had been fighting for the “other side”. The debate is how human beings will be able to start over again from yet another major crisis – to be motivated to do so – and giving people a second chance.

In order to appreciate how timely The Skin Of Our Teeth is – which was before its time and is now timely – one must give in to fantasy, and an imagination gone wild.

This revival’s success definitely rests on the shoulders of the talented group of actors who explore their way in finding the characters they are portraying, and are adept at telling Wilder’s story. The Antrobus Family is made up of James Vincent Meredith as Mr. Antrobus, Roslyn Ruff as Mrs. Antrobus, Paige Gilbert as Gladys Antrobus, and Julian Robertson as Henry Antrobus – and then there is Sabina, superbly played by Gabby Beans, who often steals the show with her disruptive and reality show comments as the Antrobus Family’s maid. In a small but not unimportant role is Priscilla Lopez as the Fortune Teller, who in a monologue, foretells the future for mankind in both words and the physicality of a dancer.

Adam Rigg must be credited for the scenery designs providing these actors with a visually-striking playground to play in.

The Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth may be a once-in-lifetime opportunity to see this imaginative, poignant, and fanciful play – and also providing some moments of escapism and entertainment.

How I Learned To Drive

Samuel Friedman Theatre

April 20, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The Manhattan Theatre Club is offering a unique theatrical event in its revival of Paula Vogel’s How I Learned To Drive which is currently being presented at the Samuel Friedman Theatre. 

How I Learned To Drive was premiered at the Vineyard Theatre in 1997, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the following year. At that time Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse starred in the play and they are repeating those roles in the Manhattan Theatre Club’s revival which has been directed by its original director, Mark Brokaw.

Taking its place as a Broadway theatre production How I Learned To Drive has put together an A-List creative team to take a look back – and forward – at Vogel’s provocative and intensely relevant play.

How I Learned To Drive is structured as a non-linear memory play in which Li’l Bit (played by Mary-Louise Parker) comes to terms with her unhealthy and complicated relationship with an uncle and father figure, Uncle Peck (played by David Morse). Through the course of the play it is revealed that Uncle Peck has had an impact on Li’l Bit’s past and present, and presumed future life.

The beginnings of How I Learned To Drive take place in suburban Maryland in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and Vogel used the driving lessons that are given by Uncle Peck as a metaphor for how he establishes his relationship with Li’l Bit – with overtones that revolve around power, control, manipulation, and sexual abuse. 

This abusive relationship with Li’l Bit’s alcoholic Uncle is enabled through the generations of Li’l Bit’s family – and she develops problems with alcohol herself. Going back and forth through time clues are planted that explain how Uncle Peck established a rapport with Li’l Bit which evolved into a bond between them – a connection that developed with deliberate speed, and in fits and starts.

Often Uncle Peck rationalizes  his abusive relationship with Li’l Bit, and putting into simple terms that his drinking problem was being perpetuated by a “fire in his heart”. As their attachment becomes increasingly uncomfortable for Li’l Bit, she ultimately rejects Uncle Peck, and as he deals with his own demons, he drinks himself to death. 

How I Learned To Drive chronicles Li’l Bit’s abusive involvement with Uncle Peck, her maternal aunt’s husband from age 11 to her college years – revealing Uncle Peck’s behavior as a predator and manipulator – but then again Li’l Bit has also been a participant in this relationship somewhat as a manipulator herself.

How I Learned To Drive is both haunting and disturbing as the play reveals how destructive sexual abuse  is. 

In what are acting tour de forces, Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse delineate their characters with detail – and at times understatement – in depicting how complicated the emotional connections are between Lil’ Bit and Uncle Peck. The story-telling is also enhanced by a Greek chorus including Johanna Day, Alyssa May Gold, and Chris Myers who play multiple roles, and also comment on the action.

This is an excellent revival of a deliberately disturbing, powerful, and perplexing play that was relevant when it premiered in 1997, and is even more so today.

Waitress

State Theatre, New Brunswick, New Jersey

April 16, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

As part of its Broadway series, the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey presented the national touring company of Waitress from April 14-16, 2022.

Waitress, The Musical, is based on the 2007 independent film of the same name which follows the life of a conflicted waitress at a diner – and her skills at pie-making – but not equally skilled in life.

Waitress was adapted into a musical by composer Sara Bareilles with a book by Jessie Nelson, and was premiered on Broadway in 2016. This touring production recreates the original direction by Diane Paulus, and the choreography by Lorin Latarro. In particular Paulus’s direction is a major contribution to the success of Waitress.

Waitress is the story of Jenna, who is a waitress at Joe’s Pie Diner and is an expert pie maker. Pies, and the ingredients to make them, are metaphors for her life. She is mired in the life of a small town in the American South, and a loveless and abusive marriage with her husband Earl.

A series of life events, including an unexpected pregnancy, gives Jenna the freedom to have an affair with a married man – her doctor, Dr. Jim Pomatter – which counterbalances her ups and down with her husband. Supported by her fellow waitresses, Jenna has her baby, leaves her husband, benefits from winning a county pie-making contest – and upon the passing of the diner’s owner, Jenna now becomes the owner of Joe’s Pie Diner, renaming it Lulu’s Diner after her daughter.

Jenna’s life is conveyed to the audience in a comparable balance of music and dialogue as vignettes – some with stylized movement — which makes those life changing moments more comprehensible and understandable than they might have been otherwise.

Jenna, played by Jisel Soleil Ayon, is a citizen in a community of an eccentric group of characters. The awkward Dr. Pomatter, played by David Socolar, is an inexperienced philanderer with a wife of his own. Jenna’s husband Earl played by Shawn W. Smith, is the stereotypical abusive husband.

And then there is Ogie, played by Brian Lundy, as the even more awkward and introverted love interest of the equally introverted and quirky Dawn, one of Jenna’s co-workers at the diner (played by Gabriella Marzetta), becoming an oddly matched pair. Another one of Jenna’s co-workers, Becky (played by Dominique Kent) has her entanglements as well. There is also Joe, the diner’s owner, played by Michael R. Douglas, who can be sour but underneath is a softy, and it is Joe that supplies one of the big surprises and reveals in this musical.

All of these superb singers and comic actors brought these characters to life and made them relatable with humor, and expert physical comic timing.Bareilles’ score, as Waitress’ heart, embraces a variety of musical styles, character descriptions, and inner monologues – surprising and unconventional – but for a modern-day Broadway musical it works.

Uppermost Waitress is sentimental. and that is reflected in the eleven o’clock number, “She Used To Be Mine” sung in a heartbreaking fashion by Ayon as Jenna.

If life was as simple as making a pie — as in Waitress it seems so – it would be a more sensible and caring world that we could live in. And also a more joyful one. In all, Waitress was an entertaining theatrical experience. 

Compania Nacional de Danza

Joyce Theater

April 13, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Making its Joyce Theater debut, on April 13, 2022, the Compania Nacional de Danza from Spain is performing a week-long engagement of a full-length dance piece, Carmen, choreographed and reimagined by Swedish choreographer, Johan Inger. Inger created his version of Carmen for the Compania Nacional de Danza in 2015.

The Compania Nacional de Danza was founded in 1979, and has been directed by former New York City Ballet principal dancer Joaquin de Luz since 2019. The company dances a repertoire including a range of choreographic styles. However the repertoire leans towards the contemporary and modern dance direction.

In his version of Carmen, Inger has stripped down the narrative to its primary sources and frames the story to be seen through the eyes of a child – through contemporary eyes – and also using plot elements from Prosper Merimee’s novel. The second act takes place in Don Jose’s head elucidating his pent-up emotions as he plans to take his revenge against Carmen – who, in this version, is a woman of power and freedom. This Carmen is choreographed to the often-used arrangement of Georges Bizet’s familiar music from his opera, Carmen, by Rodion Shchedrin, with additional original music by Marc Alvarez.

The atmosphere is an open stage with lighting images creating the time and place – at first a tobacco factory in Seville, and then on to other locations where the plot takes Inger’s interpretation of Carmen. There is also the use of concrete, a mirror, and black materials that also set the scene – with the story, at its end, erupting into violence. 

Inger’s approach to Carmen is a psychological examination – culling the plot elements from the familiar 19th century story and transporting those elements to the 21st century. Certainly the constant observation of this dance piece’s action by the boy/child is a striking difference from other dance pieces inspired by Carmen.  In addition there is the boy/child’s fantasy that there could be a family unit of himself, Carmen and Don Jose, and watches that dream and illusion dissolve against the striking background of passion and violence.

This Carmen is obsessed with power and control – and ultimately whatever relationships she enters into is dominated by her self-interest. Passions escalate as Don Jose realizes his own relationship with Carmen is never going to succeed – and the frustration of his own jealousy in observing Carmen’s behavior in initiating relationships with other men. Also in the background are ghosts and shadows who are haunting all of the characters – a Greek chorus of sorts – who foresee the tragedy yet to come.

Inger’s choreographic vocabulary derives from many dance styles — from modern dance  to postmodern, and simple organic movement – and unexpected symmetry.He also creates effective stage pictures. 

However what brings Inger’s Carmen to life is the Compania Nacional de Danza’s dancers. In particular Kayoko Everthart in the title role, Alessandro Riga as Don Jose, Shani Peretz as the Boy, Isaac Montllor as Escamillo, and Toby William Mallitt as Zuniga. Inger’s Carmen is a showcase for the company’s dancers making for an intriguing and welcome Joyce Theater debut for the Compania Nacional de Danza. 

Harmony

Safra Hall Theatre – Museum of Jewish Heritage

April 10, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage’s Safra Hall Theatre, is presenting a long-awaited musical, Harmony: A New Musical, which has been written by the creative team of composer Barry Manilow, and Bruce Sussman, as both lyricist and book writer.  

Long-awaited because this musical has had buzz for some years and now it is finally making its New York debut for what is a limited engagement through May 8th.

Harmony is the story of the Comedian Harmonists, a group of six young comedy performers, some Jewish, some of Jewish descent, and also Gentile, who achieved success in Germany first, then in Europe and the United States between 1928-1934 – being one of the most successful musical groups in Europe – with repertoire including folk and classical songs as well as popular songs of the era. They also appeared in more than 20 films.
Harmony opens with the American debut of Comedian Harmonists in 1933 at Carnegie Hall – presented by Sol Hurok – and then the story begins with how the Comedian Harmonists came to be.

Chip Zien plays Rabbi, one of the Comedian Harmonists, looking back on the origins of this extremely talented group of performers – and the individuals who auditioned for and formed the group. Six in all, among them a rabbi, a doctor, a bordello pianist, and opera singers – and not all Germans – and not all Jewish. They sing, they dance, they play instruments, and become known for their keen musicianship and their comic timing.

Comedian Harmonists became  famous the world over. They were described as “hot as horse radish”. However they were caught up in the changing political climate that culminated in the emergence of Nazism in Germany, and making the fatal decision to return to Germany after touring abroad. The Nazi regime in Germany prohibited the Comedian Harmonists from performing in public and the group had no choice but to break up. They were not all able to escape Nazi oppression by immigrating to the United States. Some were deported to the countries they came from before their success in Germany.  Somehow their story had been lost or forgotten, and now lives again in Harmony.

The older character of Rabbi wrestles with what could have been if he had persuaded the Comedian Harmonists to remain outside of Germany – and as the last survivor of the group and living in the United States he does come to terms with that fatal decision. This all combines to make the story of Harmony both comic – and heartbreaking – and in its own way, a profound backstage musical.

Manilow and Sussman provide  Harmony with a solid score including the title song, “This Is Our Time”, “Stars in the Night”, and “Where You Go” all stirring, and emotionally wrenching when required, and broadening and painting the picture of all of the principal characters – and also creating the oppressive atmosphere that hangs over the story of the Comedian Harmonists.

Wonderful and clever dance numbers have been created by Warren Carlyle as choreographer, and pinpoint coming timing and heart as Harmony’s director.

Although Chip Zien as the older Rabbi anchors Harmony, Harmony is enriched by the performances of Blake Roman as Chopin, , Steven Telsey as Lesh, Zal Owen as Harry, Danny Cornfeld as Young Rabbi, and Eric Peters as Erich, and Sean Bell as Bobby, portraying the Comedian Harmonists as well as the heartfelt and well-sung performances of Sierra Boggess as Mary (Young Rabbi’s wife), and Jessie Davidson as Ruth (Chopin’s wife).

Harmony speaks of  and to the horrors of the past, and that hopefully, the world will learn from those horrors — and they won’t come back to haunt us in the present and the future. It makes Harmony a provocative musical with a compelling story to tell that will make you laugh and cry at the same time. And will also entertain  you.

The Little Prince

Broadway Theatre

April 7, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s novella, The Little Prince, tells a story that has been embraced by children and adults all over the world. It had been adapted into an unsuccessful Broadway musical back in 1982, but recently opened on Broadway is a production of The Little Prince, premiered in Paris, which presents this story in a “spectacle” form with dance, acrobatics, gymnastics, video technology – also a hint of the circus — which tells the story in a unique fashion. This version of The Little Prince  is now being performed at the Broadway Theatre from March 29 through August 14, 2022.

The creative team for this imaginative interpretation of The Little Prince is director and choreographer Anne Tournie, and co-director and librettist Chris Mouron, who also appears in this production as The Narrator.

In her biography Tournie states that contemporary dance is based on energy and emotion – and those elements are in abundance in her choreography for The Little Prince. Her work integrates aerial choreography along with dance, gymnastics, acrobatics – and dance theatre.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, an exiled French author and aviator, wrote and illustrated The Little Prince in 1942 while living in Manhattan and also at the Delater-Bevin Mansion in Long Island. He arrived in New York City just before Europe was on the verge of World War II – and this classic novella was published in the United States in 1943.

The heart of this story is a friendship that is formed between an aviator, who crashes his plane in the desert, and The Little Prince, who is in the midst of exploring the world. The Little Prince (portrayed by Lionel Zalachas) appears in his bare feet and sporting blond hair – walking on a large rubber ball — after travelling from his miniscule asteroid where he tends to a rose that he is enraptured by. He is now exploring the world and his travels take him to his adventures in meeting with an arrogant king,  a questionable businessman, and other assorted characters before arriving on Earth. But it is the bond between The Little Prince and the aviator that teaches us about friendship and trust. 

Before The Little Prince leaves his asteroid, the relationship between himself and his Rose is represented in a child-like yet rapturous farewell duet which is grounded at times and other times, in the air.  The Little Prince also encounters a businessman who is caught up with following the stock market, a lamplighter, a switchman – with a visual design of a busy train station to enhance the dancing and the story on the stage. Then there is The Little Prince’s encounter with the snake – temptation and fear – and perhaps a child-like lack of fear.

When The Little Prince meets the Aviator, he requests that he draw him a picture of sheep – and then they appear. And so the friendship blossoms.

The story is told in choreographic vignettes with decorative details in song and word by the Narrator, Chris Mouron.

Choreography in many different styles is tailored to each unique character in this story, and overall the intent is to create a spell and challenge the audience’s imagination. Composer Terry Truck is noted for promoting chanson and cabaret songs and the score for The Little Prince emphasizes that influence in many of the songs sung by Chris Mouron. Also the video designs by Marie Jumelin and the lighting design by Stephane Fritsch are feasts for the eyes.

The story comes to life through the artistry of this wonderful company of dancer/actors. Besides aforementioned Lionel Zalachas as The Little Prince,  also outstanding were Aurelian Bednarek as the Aviator, Laurisse Sulty as the Rose, Adrien Picaut as the Businessman, Marcin Janiak as the Lamplighter, Srilata Ray as the sensuous Snake, Dylan Barone as the cute Fox, and William John Banks as the Switchman.

Yet to enjoy this production of The Little Prince one must suspend adult cynicism and appreciate it all through a child’s eyes in what is a unique and entrancing theatrical adventure.

The Wanderer – A New Musical

Paper Mill Playhouse

April 9, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey is more than halfway through its current season – fully re-opened with vaccination protocols – but re-opened after nearly two years. From March 24-April 24, 2022, the Paper Mill Playhouse is presenting a new musical, The Wanderer, which had been postponed from previous seasons due to the pandemic. And The Wanderer may have pretensions to move on to Broadway in the future.

The Wanderer is a song made famous by one of the significant singing groups that emerged during the 1950’s and 1960’s, Dion & the Belmonts – Dion being Dion DiMucci, Bronx-born, who became a teenage heart-throb during the height of his stardom. He defied the odds and he also had staying power.

This account of Dion’s life is told through songs made famous by Dion and also by his contemporaries in a workman-like and engaging book by Charles Messina, which tells Dion’s story in a frank and no holds barred manner.  

The Wanderer focuses on the period from 1958 through 1968 – a decade of political and social change in America – noting that Dion’s musical tastes were very different from those of his family and friends. In fact his biggest musical influence was country singer, Hank Williams.

Dion formed the Belmonts singing group with himself as the lead singer in the late 1950’s and was known for several hit records including The Wanderer, Runaround Sue, Where or When, and A Teenager in Love. In 1960 he began his solo career, and in 1968, he recorded the song he is most remembered for, Abraham Martin & John, which was an emotional response to the changing moods for social change in the 1960’s, and appropriately was the final musical number of The Wanderer.

The story begins reflecting on the essence of Dion’s life growing up under the influence of his parents – his father wanting stardom for his son, and his involvement in managing his son’s career in music – and his private life. However Dion has striking differences with both his father and his manager as to what he wants from his career and the trajectory of his career. Then there is the mysterious and rather ghostly figure of Johnny (played by Joey McIntyre) who exerts both good and bad influences over Dion regarding his personal life and his professional life.

One of Dion’s pivotal ideas was to form a singing group with a few of his neighborhood friends which became Dion and the Belmonts – choosing the name of the Belmonts after Belmont Avenue in the Bronx neighborhood where Dion and his friends lived. 

As Dion’s recording career flourished, he had to cope with the problems of what seemed to be instant stardom – and then the major problem of drug addiction – a problem that is exacerbated when Dion doesn’t board a chartered plane with his tour mates, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper, who were lost in a fateful plane crash.

Dion also initiates a relationship with a neighborhood girl, Susan (played by Cristy Altomare) and there is a host of other friends who try to influence Dion’s musical career and also help him get over his drug habit. The tragic event of the plane crash haunted Dion for many years after which made his drug habit more difficult to control. Although Dion marries his beloved and understanding Susan, it takes his whole family to support him through his recovery from his drug habit in the end.

In The Wanderer Dion defies the odds and achieves star status – a combination of bad choices, fate, and his persistence to survive.

Director Kenneth Ferrone has fashioned The Wanderer not merely as a jukebox musical relying on nostalgia. The Wander is a biographical musical – about Dion – that is kept in context. Sarah O’Gleby’s choreography is also attuned in style to the times when the story takes place. With Dion’s story set in the Bronx, scenic designer Beowulf Boritt effectively recreated urban life as a living painting. 

The aforementioned Christy Altomare and Joey McIntyre give star performances in their roles along with other members of this versatile cast. However Mike Wartella, in particular, gives a masterful and virtuoso performance as Dion.

The Wanderer is both entertaining and engaging, and how wonderful it is to hear the music of the 1950’s and 1960’s performed live in front of an audience – and performed so well by this terrific cast. I trust that if its goal is to make it to Broadway that a few fixes are made to make The Wanderer more than it already is.

Dance Theatre of Harlem

City Center

April 8, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

During this current dance season there have been many reunions between dance companies and their audiences – embracing them like long lost friends. And it was so with the Dance  Theatre of Harlem’s engagement at the City Center – in particular the performance on April 8, 2022,  which featured three New York premieres.

Opening the program with an explosion of energy, and spirited music, was the New York premiere of Higher Ground, choreographed by the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s resident choreographer, Robert Garland, which was choreographed to songs made famous by Stevie Wonder – composed by him in collaboration with Gary Byrd, Michael Sembello, and Syretta Wright. Higher Ground was not a nostalgia trip but drawing in the mood of the music that Wonder made famous, and how it is relevant today.

The concept was a search with the energy revving up to the song, HigherGround, which is a celebration. The energy and spirit came from the ensemble cast of Amanda Smith, Daphne Lee, Alexandra Hutchinson, Anthony Santos, Micah Bullard, and Kouadio Davis danced,  in this dance piece which had its premiere earlier this year.

Claudia Schreier’s Passage, featuring live music by Jessie Montgomery, was the second of the New York premieres. This work had been commissioned by the Virginia Arts Festival in 2019 and has finally been given its New York premiere. Passage has been influenced and inspired by the enforced travels of African slaves across the Atlantic to the New World in the 17th century. Although there isn’t any narrative in this contemporary ballet piece, the message is very clear.

The patterns in Schreier’s choreography reflect restrictions, ritual and an ultimate celebration. It is only in the final moments of Passage that you do see the symbolic leap to freedom.

The message was convincingly communicated by the cast of Anthony Santos, Derek Brockington, Amanda, Smith, Ingrid Silva, Crystal Serrano, Kamala Saara, Yinet Fernandez, Delaney Washington, Christopher Charles McDaniel, Kuadio Davis, Keenan English, and David Wright.

One of the three weeks on this program was partially familiar as it was an extended version of  Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Balamouk, which originally had its premiere at one of the City Center Fall for Dance Festival in 2018. This extended version, which premiered in 2019, featured live accompaniment by The Klezmatics playing the music of Rene Aubry, Lisa Gerrard, and Les Yeux Noirs.

Similar to the other dance pieces on the program, Balamouk, is an ensemble piece emphasizing recurring stylized movement but is also celebratory. Balamouk’s momentum was boosted by the performances of the cast of Ingrid Silva, Yinet Fernandez, Crystal Serrano, Daphne Lee, Lindsey Donnell, Dylan Brockington, Keenan English, David Wright, and Christopher Charles McDaniel.

All of the three pieces presented on the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s program reflected positivity and Dance Theatre of Harlem’s statement that it is back – and it’s great that they are back.

York Theatre Company – Penelope

Theatre At St. Jean’s

April 3, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The York Theatre Company is presenting a world premiere musical this spring, Penelope or How The Odyssey Was Really Written, at the Theatre at St.  Jean’s  from April 2-24, 2022.

Taking place on the Greek island of Ithaca in the Ionian Sea in 1174 BC, Penelope is loosely based on the Greek myth, The Odyssey, and the story is reinterpreted from Penelope’s point of view with a 21st century boldness, and with a bit of a wink and a nod.

The Royals are  Penelope (played by Britney Nicole Simpson) who is married to Odysseus (played by Ben Jacoby), the King of Ithaca. Odysseus left Ithaca – and Penelope – to pursue fighting the Trojan Wars. The years have tested Penelope as she has taken on the affairs of state and the government bureaucracy in addition to motherhood, and the wait had been twenty years.

On the assumption that Odysseus will not be returning to his kingdom, suitors have sought Penelope’s hand and have gathered at the palace  hoping to marry her and to rule over the kingdom. However Penelope chooses the strategy of not making a decision about her choice of a suitor she wishes to marry. Her deception is that she writes letters to herself pretending they are from Odysseus – the letters are filled with mythical adventures and battles – and in spite of these delays in his return to Ithaca, the letters always declare Odysseus’ wish to make his way home to Penelope soon.

The pretense is that Penelope’s letters are creating the story of The Odyssey – an explanation that is a departure from the source of this Greek myth. The self-involved suitors, who are patiently waiting for Penelope’s decision to accept their proposals, have little else to do but enjoy the amenities at the palace  — eating, drinking, enjoying the beach – and they even form an acapella group taking full advantage of the acoustics in the palace’s Great Hall.

Then Telemachus (played by Philippe Aroyo), the King’s and Queen’s son, is beginning to find and assert himself as a future ruler.  He becomes enraptured with a farm girl, Daphne (played by Maria Wirries) – who succeeds in supporting Telemachus’ search for his self-esteem and also resolving his fear of blood – a fear no soldier should have.

The suitors Antinous (played by Cooper Howell), Mileter (played by David LaMarr), Bassanio (played by Jacob Alexander Simon), Haius (played by George Slotin), and Barius (played by Sean Thompson) enter into fights among themselves as they become rivals for Penelope’s hand in marriage and also uncover Penelope’s deceit about the mysterious letters. Penelope’s solution to assuaging the suitors, while continuing to put them off, is inventing a contest. The suitor who wins the contest would also win her hand in marriage. This contest is interrupted by Odysseus’ surprise reappearance on the shores of Ithaca. Odysseus and his son Telemachus conceive a scheme to use as a clever deception and their bravery with swords to kill all of the suitors.

Also trying to keep a lid on the hysteria, and deception is Eurycleia, Penelope’s reliable retainer and servant who is a Greek chorus unto herself, and an adept comedienne as played by Leah Hocking, who is trying to explain the ins and outs, and surprises of the schemes as they progress.

There is also a sentimental and conflicting reconciliation between Penelope and Odysseus at the end of Penelope or How The Odyssey Was Really Written. The theme of that reconciliation is that change can sometimes be good.

Peter Kellogg, writing both book and lyrics, and Stephen Weiner composer of the music provide humor and wit in the score (in many musical styles including a bit of Gilbert & Sullivan), and dialogue – with the belief that many authors contributed to The Odyssey. Those liberties are taken in Penelope Or How The Odyssey Was Really Written,  and Emily Maltby as director and choreographer enhances it all with physical humor.

All of the cast members are experts at comic timing and in glorious voice –making Penelope an entertainment filled with fun, comedy and wit an appropriate way to bring in the spring!

Paradise Square

Ethel Barrymore Theatre

March 31, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The creative team for the new Broadway musical, Paradise Square, is an exceptional one. Moises Kaufman is at the directorial helm, choreography is by Bill T. Jones (with additional choreographic contributions of Irish and Hammerstep dancing by Garrett Coleman and Jason Oremus), musical staging by Alex Sanchez – conception by Larry Kirwan — with a book by Christina Anderson, Craig Lucas, and Larry Kirwan, music composed by Jason Howland – with additional music by Larry Kirwan inspired in part by the songs of Stephen Foster – and lyrics by Nathan Tysen and Masi Asare — all together collaborating on a provocative new musical being presented at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

Paradise Square’s central focus is that of  an historical event which is depicted in this thought-provoking and ambitious musical. The time and place is New York City in 1863 while the American Civil War was still raging. The co-existence of Irish Immigrants, who fled Ireland due to the Great Famine, and free-born Black Americans and those who escaped from slavery – arriving by means of the Underground Railroad — co-exist in the Lower Manhattan slum tenement houses of Five Points. The families intermarried, and were described as Amalgamationists.

In uniting the cultures of these communities there were dance contests that took place in bars and dance halls. However racial disharmony evolved in Five Points – pitting the Irish immigrants against the Black population — when the first Federal Draft for the Union Army was implemented fomenting the deadly New York Draft Riots of 1863.

Paradise Square premiered at the Berkeley Rep in 2019 and undoubtedly there have been many revisions made by many hands after that initial engagement. Perhaps that is the reason why this earnest and sprawling musical proves to be as complicated as it is with many sub-plots – enhanced by epic music – and with a story that should be told, but perhaps needed to be more concise and centered.

The heart of Paradise Square’s story is Nelly O’Brien (played by Joaquina Kalukango),  who is the owner of the local saloon, Paradise Square, and who is married to an Irish immigrant, Willie O’Brien (played by Matt Bogart) who is fighting on the Union side in the American Civil War. Nelly O’Brien is the matriarch and problem-solver for many of the inhabitants of Five Points.

Also there is the feisty Annie Lewis (played by Kennedy Caughell), who is Nelly O’Brien’s Irish-Catholic sister-in-law, and her Black minister husband, Reverend Samuel Jacob Lewis (played by Nathaniel Stampley) who is a stationmaster for the Underground Railroad. Integral to the sub-plots is the character of Owen Duignan (played by A.J. Shively) a newly-arrived Irish immigrant and nephew of Annie Lewis, and Washington Henry (Sidney DuPont), a runaway slave who has been accused of murdering a plantation owner. The nemesis for all of these characters is Frederic Tiggens (played by John Dossett) who is the local political boss, and then there is Milton Moore (played by Jacob Fishel), a pianist with an ambiguous past, who insinuates himself into being engaged as  a pianist at Paradise Square. Moore uses this experience to absorb the music of the regulars at the saloon – whose reveal is pivotal in how these characters’ lives are intertwined.

As the plot of Paradise Square unravels there are moving moments, and educates one about a story of the American past that is even haunting today. Unfortunately our past may be our future.

These thoughts and emotions are expressed in Paradise Square’s score which reflect that when you can’t use words, you must sing. Particularly in Kalukango’s stunning performance of  “Let It Burn”.

Unity in Five Points is exemplified in the dance contests between the Irish immigrants and the Black residents in the local watering holes. Bill T. Jones has mixed Hammerstep Irish dancing with African Juba – with the Hammerstep Irish dance choreography contributed by Garrett Coleman and Jason Oremus – communicating the emotions and aspirations of these two ethnic groups in lively and entertaining dance numbers.

Paradise Square is a musical with an important story to tell created by a team of artists which supports the story-telling in word and song – and is performed by a superlative cast. But Paradise Square could use judicious trimming to emphasize what is already a fulfilling and entertaining evening in the theater to make it an even better one.

La Nijinska

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

La Nijinska – Choreographer of the Modern by Lynn  Garafola, published by Oxford University, is an extensive and detailed study of the life and work of the pioneering choreographer, Bronislava Nijinska. A first-time biography of a dancer, dance educator, and choreographer whose artistic legacy has not been lauded as much as it should be.

Bronislava Nijinska had an illustrious career breaking the glass ceiling as a female choreographer, and how she confronted sexism among the decision-makers of dance companies of the early and mid-20th century.

She also lived in the shadow of her legendary brother, Vaslav Nijinsky. As described by Garafola, there was a strong sibling rivalry between Vaslav and Bronislava, and to a degree a rivalry of cruelty, jealousy, and harshness. 

Born in Minsk (in Belarus) in 1890, it was when her father left his family in 1897 to pursue a relationship with another woman when Nijinska’s life had its major change. By that time her family was living in St. Petersburg, and both Vaslav and Bronislava began studying at the Imperial Ballet School.

Nijinska joined the Mariinsky Ballet’s corps de ballet in 1908, and in 1911 she joined Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes as a full-time member. In 1912 she married her first husband, Alexander Kochetovsky, a fellow dancer, who had many of the attributes of Nijinska’s father in that he was a womanizer. After dancing in the works of Mikhail Fokine and her brother’s works, she returned to St. Petersburg in 1914 where she began making dance pieces – and in 1919 she established her own school in Kiev. 

Working in the “provinces” Nijinska made her living dancing in and also restaging the Ballets Russes repertoire – and upon pursuing her career in Moscow many opportunities abroad were lost as the Bolshevik Revolution took hold – to the point that she was unable to join her brother in Western Europe.  Even upon returning to Kiev she decried the dance establishment in Russia as she searched for new movement forms that were evolving in the avant garde. Her husband accepted an engagement in Odessa while Nijinska adapted to the political changes made by the Soviets.

Ultimately when her school in Kiev was destroyed, she and her immediate family members decided to flee from the Soviet Union making their way to Warsaw.

In 1921 Nijinska returned to the Ballets Russes as a dancer and choreographer in the hope that she could help her brother though his battle with mental illness.

Her first assignment with the Ballets Russes was a revival of The Sleeping Beauty, rechristened The Sleeping Princess, for which Nicholas Sergeyev was engaged to stage –however his expertise and musicianship was questioned, and Diaghilev felt that the production needed to be adapted to appeal to a modern audience with he, himself, editing the score and production. Nijinska’s contributions were in some of the Act III divertissements, the Hunting Dances in Act II, Aurora’s variation in the Vision Scene and the Prologue Fairy/”Finger Variation” which was ultimately taught to Ninette de Valois in 1923, and was included in one of de Valois’ productions of The Sleeping Beauty for the Royal Ballet. Nijinska danced the Lilac Fairy among other roles in The Sleeping Beauty. The Sleeping Princess premiered in London and later it was performed in an abridged version in Paris under the title Aurora’s Wedding. Through Nijinska’s career she restaged Aurora’s Wedding on a regular basis.

This time period was also of consequence as Nijinska’s husband Kochetovsky joined the Ballets Russes for The Sleeping Princess, and Kochetovsky and Nijinska agreed to divorce. Nijinska’s second husband was Nicholas Singaevsky, a pupil of hers from Kiev who danced with the Ballets Russes in 1919, the 1920-21 season in Poznan, and then rejoining the Ballets Russes in 1921 – and he and Nijinska were married in 1924.

It was in this creative period, in 1923, that Nijinska created her best-known work, Les Noces, choreographed to Igor Stravinsky’s music, and in 1924, she created Les Biches. Garafola has devoted individual chapters to these major works – with the works described as theater of action. In Les Noces, which was inspired by Russian folk traditions, and Garafola noted that the power is in the choreography rather than in the scenario – as Nijinska ignored Stravinsky’s song text. Les Noces and Les Biches are detailed in these chapters from their birth, working with the composers, delays in getting them produced, and how Diaghilev brought together the collaborators.

When Nijinska contemplated resigning from the Ballets Russes – and eventually did – one of the main reasons was the heated company politics as Diaghilev played favorites with the male dancers, and as he did with her brother, Vaslav, they were offered choreography projects and her authority was undermined. With George Balanchine, Leonide Massine, and Serge Lifar ready to take over choreographic projects for the Ballets Russes, Nijinska’s opportunities were reduced.

After resigning from the Ballet Russes, she pursued a career as a freelance choreographer and also established her Theatre Choreographique employing dancers from various companies and toured Europe. Diaghilev didn’t appreciate the competition that this company represented and compromised those Ballets Russes’ dancers’ visas if they participated. However Nijinska was invited back to choreograph a short version of Romeo and Juliet for the Ballets Russes.

Because she didn’t get along with her sister-in-law, Romola Nijinsky, it was ironic that Romola became her agent with the pitch being not only being a choreographer but that she was also able to restage Vaslav’s ballets. However that did enable Nijinska to work with some of the major opera houses in Europe.

Nijinska was engaged for two seasons in 1926 and 1927 as choreographic director for the Teatro Colon in Buenos Argentina to which Garafola credits Nijinska for bringing European modernism, new Ballets Russes works, and works of her own to the company’s repertoire, and also employing her talents as an administrator to bring a higher standard of dancing and production to the Teatro Colon.

Just as interesting was Nijinska’s engagement as artistic director of Les Ballets de Madame Ida Rubenstein, the vanity project of  Ida Rubenstein with whom Nijinska worked with at the Ballets Russes. Although the company lasted only 15 months due to Rubenstein’s lack of management skills, Nijinska created several dance pieces including Bolero and La Valse which were not only notable for their choreography but also her collaboration with new and noted composers.

From 1930-33 Nijinsky was engaged as the overall director of the Vienna State Opera Ballet with the portfolio of modernizing both the company and the school. Although there were disagreements between herself and the company’s management over intellectual property issues and her juggling many engagements at the same time, she did fulfill a year’s worth of the obligation where she reproduced Ballets Russes ballets and her dance pieces of her own for the company. At the same time she also was engaged by the Opera Russe which was based in Paris, and also juggled a return engagement with Ida Rubenstein.

And in 1934 she returned to Monte Carlo – and attempted to establish Les Ballets Russe de Bronislava Nijinska for which she created her version of Hamlet – a company that was short-lived due to financial problems.

Also in 1934 Nijinska traveled to the United States for the first time, ultimately travelling to Hollywood to choreograph the dance sequences in Max Reinhardt’s screen version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Also confirmed was a contract with Hurok Concerts for an 8-week American tour the Nijinska Ballet during the 1935-36 season and was also engaged for a commission, Les Cent Baisers, by de Basil’s Ballets Russes.

In 1936 Nijinska headed back to the Teatro Colon to curate a Stravinsky Festival, and in 1937 she was engaged by the Markova-Dolin Ballet to restage her ballets and coached the 19th century classics — and then on to Poland to establish a national ballet company to perform in Poland and tour Europe.  

In spite of the many commitments Nijinska had in Europe, the continent was in the midst of war and Nijinska decided  that she and her family must leave Europe seeking refuge in New York City.

Upon arrival in the United States, she was engaged to stage La Fille Mal Gardee – with music by Peter Hertel based on Lev Ivanov’s choreography – for Ballet Theatre in 1940. It was well received but debt caused the company to suspend operations, and Nijinska headed out to Hollywood to teach. Among her students were Cyd Charisse, and Maria and Marjorie Tallchief. Upon returning to New York she worked with Ballet Theatre, took on local teaching positions – among them teaching at Jacob’s Pillow.

For the 1942-43 season, Nijinsky created The Snow Maiden for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. In 1943 Nijinska attached herself to Ballet International Marquis de Cuevas, and also choreographed for other companies as engagements came up after World War II.

Nijinska returned to the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas in 1947, at which time Nijinska restaged two of her works and initiated an up and down relationship that lasted through 1960. Nijinska was unwilling to tour with the company, and there were debts to her which were not resolved until after the company had disbanded.   

Nijinska returned to Ballet Theatre in 1951, and created a new work and restaged others – and was also engaged to direct the Ballet Theatre School – a relationship which didn’t last long.

Moving to the 1960’s Nijinska came into conflict with the ambitions of a nemesis from the past, George Balanchine. With the support from the Ford Foundation there were plans formulated to establish professional ballet companies in major American cities. The mechanics of doing so was for Balanchine to bring to these cities teachers, choreographers, dancers, and even technicians – and his ballets. The consensus was that Balanchine’s centralized plans seemed to demean local dance organizations – and in reference to founding a ballet company in Los Angeles – Nijinska described this whole plan  as a ”monopolistic dictatorship.”

In a major breakthrough in her career,  in 1964 , Frederick Ashton invited her to restage Les Biches and Les Noces for the Royal Ballet which resulted in offers from other  European ballet companies to acquire her ballets.

In 1968 she formed an association with the Kathleen Crofton’s Ballet Center of Buffalo (New York) for which she staged her own ballets and Aurora’s Wedding – after getting much attention if not the best reviews, the company was abandoned in 1970 when its patron withdrew financial support.

Nijinska died in 1972 from a heart attack and although her ballets lived beyond her life, they are rarely performed. 

It is fortunate that this titan of the ballet world has been remembered and her artistic legacy is chronicled in Garafola’s well researched, well-referenced, and readable book. Bronislava Nijinska deserves an important place in dance history, and La Nijinska confirms that place in dance history.

City Center Encores – The Life

City Center

March 19, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The City Center Encores’ second presentation of this season, performed from March 16-20, 2022, was a concert adaptation and reinterpretation of the musical, The Life.  City Center Encores’ mission has been radically changed with the new prism being reimagining neglected Broadway musicals in the hope that they might be more relevant to 21st century audiences. The message is primary and the music is secondary.

Premiered on Broadway in 1997, The Life focuses on the lives of prostitutes, drug dealers, drug addicts, and other inhabitants of the Times Square theatre district in the 1980’s before Times  Square was redeveloped and rehabilitated – devolved into Disneyfication. This was the seedy side of New York at the time and The Life, with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Ira Gasman with a book by David Newman, Gasman and Coleman, depicted this time and place in an effective and self-deprecating manner that is still relevant today.

In engaging Billy Porter as director and adapter, The Life has been given a fusion of contemporary relevance and an effort to see the lives of the characters through a less critical lens, with the plot points that were hinted at in the original production, are now more developed. In a talk back after the performance I attended Porter revealed his association with The Life as an actor who auditioned for the original production – but was not given a role –yet was invited to participate in backers’ auditions. His heartfelt feeling was that the truth of the lives of the people who were depicted in The Life was not presented with dignity and acceptance in the original version of The Life – as well as concerns about social issues which are also concerns of today.

With these apprehensions in mind there were many revisions in The Life from changes in story lines, lyrics, positioning and cutting of songs, adding speeches about social issues, and current political and social references. And there was also the channeling of Bertolt Brecht in transforming The Life from a musical comedy to a musical drama. A point made was that the humor was taken out of The Life as part of the surgical procedure in revising this musical – even a reorchestration of Cy Coleman’s music to reflect the musical styles of the time.

These elements were revealed in the Prologue in which the Older JoJo (played by Destan Owens), as narrator, looks back on his life after having left New York for Los Angeles where he is a press agent in Hollywood. His younger self (played by Mykal Kilgore) is an opportunist who meddles in the lives of pimps and prostitutes for profit — making it a dangerous world to live in. 

A drug addicted military veteran Fleetwood (played by Ken Robinson)  is trying to make it as a pimp and only has Queen (played by Alexandra Grey) in his stable. He then targets a blonde newcomer to New York City, Mary (played by Erika Olson),  to make money – it turns out Mary is not as innocent as she seems to be – and Queen leaves him when she finds out that Fleetwood’s involvement with Mary is not merely business. Then there is Memphis (played by Antwayn Hooper), the controlling pimp who recruits Queen displacing his main squeeze Sonja (played by Ledisi). All of the characters are survivors and also have aspirations to leave this life that they are leading, and as the plot evolves — emotions are high and out of control — it is not going to be a happy ending for them.

Cy Coleman’s score for The Life was his last one for Broadway and was composed with a big band era style. In this reorchestrated version Coleman’s music is more than just obscured, it is overwhelmed – and that’s even with some of the excellent vocal performances given by the cast members.

The showstopper of the performance was Ledisi’s performance of “The Oldest Profession”, which has been moved to the second act. But all of the cast members give well-intentioned and committed performances.

Unfortunately this City Center Encores production of The Life gets bogged down into a nearly 3-hour long piece that is filled with many ideas that are not fulfilled. One can only evaluate this production of The Life as to whether The Life needed to be re-interpreted in this way or not – or if Porter’s intentions might have been better expressed and served in an entirely new musical work. 

Unfortunately the net result of the City Center Encores production of The Life is well-intentioned, but baffling.

Royal Winnipeg Ballet – The Sleeping Beauty

February 26, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet  has been facing hurdles in terms of dancing live performances and curtailing its touring due to Covid-19 restrictions. Fortunately the company is presenting a digital presentation of its production of The Sleeping Beauty from February 25 – March 13, 2022 which is accessible to all audiences.

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, currently directed by Andre Lewis, has performed its production of The Sleeping Beauty since 2002. It had been staged by Galina Yordanova with additional contributions by Anna-Marie Holmes using Marius Petipa’s blueprint for this classic 19th century ballet.

Choreographed to Tchaikovsky’s ballet score, considered to be the best ballet score composed, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s production of The Sleeping Beauty is rooted in the Russian traditions of this ballet.

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s The Sleeping Beauty is not a reconstruction or deconstruction, and does not stray from the original fairy tale story. At birth, Princess Aurora, is cursed by the evil fairy Carabosse to sleep for 100 hundred years until a stalwart and brave  Prince seeks her out with the assistance and magic of the Lilac Fairy. There are adventures and visions, and many familiar fairy tale characters who are participants in this story.And there is lots of classical ballet and character dancing.

In this production of The Sleeping Beauty the corner stone is the story-telling which is enhanced by the scenery designs by Michael Egan, and the costume designs by Shannon Lovelace and Anne Armit. There is a unity of style in the dancing, and the mime is delivered with the same speed and intensity of real conversations.

Elizabeth Lamont elegantly rules this fairy-tale kingdom as the Lilac Fairy, and Stephan Azulay is suitably evil as Carabosse – this is the battle of good over evil. Alanna McAdie as Aurora and Yue Shi as Desire dance with confidence, and charm. Also notable were Emilie Lewis and Yosuke Mino in the Bluebird Pas de Deux.

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s production of The Sleeping Beauty is danced with spirit – also with clarity. This is the way this ballet should be danced and produced with a little understatement in the designs, and focusing on the dancing and the story.

Intimate Apparel – A New American Opera

Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater

February 11, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

One of the Lincoln Center Theater’s presentations, that had been postponed because of the pandemic shutdown of New York City theatres, is not a theatre piece but an opera, Intimate Apparel. This new and involving opera, being performed at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, is based on Lynn Nottage’s play (which premiered in 2003). Intimate Apparel is the first opera that has been produced through a collaboration between Lincoln Center Theater and the Metropolitan Opera as part of the Met/LCT New Works Program – dedicated to developing new opera and music theater works.

Lynn Nottage’s play, Intimate Apparel, is inspired by the life of Nottage’s great grandmother, and in this opera adaptation, with a score by Ricky Ian Gordon and libretto by Lynn Nottage, this opera version of the play has a new life as a chamber opera focusing on a slice of  New York City life at the beginning of the 20th century which reveals the story of beautifully drawn characters.

Set in 1905 – in New York City – Intimate Apparel tells the story of Esther, a hard-working, lonely and single African-American woman who has earned her reputation for her sewing skills – for making corsets and ladies’ undergarments.

She is surrounded by the upper crust and the ugly elements of New York City society, and through her hard work she is saving her money to open her own beauty salon where she hopes to serve black women on an equal status with her mostly white clientele. 

Esther also aspires to a bit of love and romance for herself,  although the options that are presented to her are not practical. One of them, the Jewish owner of a fabric store, Mr. Marks, seems like a dream match but for the issues of race and religion getting in the way. 

Esther’s landlady, Mrs. Dickson, who has been successful in making matches for her gals, wishes to take on the role of a matchmaker on Esther’s behalf.

Esther receives encouraging letters from George Armstrong, a Barbados-born suitor who is a laborer on the Panama Canal. Armstrong describes himself as a friend of the church deacon’s son. 

Being illiterate Esther seeks the help of two of her customers Mrs. Van Buren, a lonely member of New York City society, and Mayme, a prostitute and best friend in reading and interpreting Armstrong’s letters and responding to Armstrong’s letters in a proper manner. Both ladies, who are involved in unhappy relationships of their own, live vicariously through the letters they are writing to Armstrong on Esther’s behalf. And ultimately not only was Esther misrepresenting herself in these letters but Armstrong was doing the same as he had a friend who was “ghost writing” his letters.

Armstrong suggests marriage to Esther, sight unseen, and travels to New York to marry Esther. To Armstrong’s credit, perhaps with some good motives, Armstrong enters into this surprising marriage. However Armstrong gambles away Esther’s savings, and has his affairs. Ultimately this leaves Esther alone when she returns to her life at the boarding house – complicated by her pregnancy.

Ricky Ian Gordon’s music is easily accessible with the inclusion of many musical styles among them syncopated ragtime and other musical forms fashionable and trendy in New York City in the early 20th century. Nottage’s libretto is filled with beautiful poetry and conveys the story coherently.

Director Bartlett Sher focuses in on Intimate Apparel’s dramatic point plots in this opera adaptation which is presented simply on a turntable set which also includes video projections and photos of New York at the turn of the century. The story is told in an intimate manner with only two pianos playing Gordon’s score.

The cast of singers in Intimate Apparel represents this production of the opera’s greatest asset. 

Kearstin Piper Brown gives a compelling performance as Esther – expressed with great nobility, dignity, resilience and you feel she is strong enough – in spite of her disappointments – that she will be okay – even though she has been betrayed by all.

Justin Austin gives a formidable performance as Esther’s suitor, George Armstrong – not a likable character in this opera – but his performance portrays well his dramatic arc being a kindhearted  suitor to a man who decides to and succeeds in gambling away his future.

The role of Mayme, one of Esther’s best friends, is that of a prostitute, but is a role that has a range from the comic to despair, which proved to be a vehicle for yet another compelling performance. This one coming from Krysty Swann who heightens both the comic moments and dramatic moments in her singing and acting displaying her versatility.

Sympathetic was Arnold Livingston Geis as the Jewish fabric seller Mr. Marks, and the performance of the motherly and experienced landlady Mrs. Dickson by Adrienne Danrich.

Another featured performance of note was that of Naomi Louisa O’Connell as socialite Mrs. Van Buren, another one of Esther’s allies in her search for love, who successfully portrays another indifferent character in a benevolent manner.

Intimate Apparel is a noble effort and for opera lovers and theater lovers it is essential to experience. It is a new American opera with a great story to tell which is told well in this opera’s music, libretto, and its production by the Lincoln Center Theater.

 City Center Encores – The Tap Dance Kid

City Center

February 3, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

It’s back! After two years of hibernation due to Covid-19 lockdown and cancellations, City Center Encores opened its 2022 season with the first of its offerings which had been postponed from a previous season. The opening production is The Tap Dance Kid, a musical that premiered on Broadway in 1983, and is being presented in an energized and highly entertaining concert version from February 2-6, 2022.

The Tap Dance Kid came to be noticed not only because of its Tony nominations but also because several young actors – Alfonso Ribiero and Savion Glover among them – appeared in the role of the young Willie during its Broadway engagement – and many of them have achieved stardom in the entertainment field.

The creative team for The Tap Dance Kid is composer Henry Krieger, lyric writer Robert Lorick with a book by Charles Blackwell based on Louise Fitzhugh’s novel Nobody’s Family Is Going To Change. For this City Center Encores presentation this concert version was adapted by Lydia R. Diamond with new choreography by Jared Grimes and all under the direction of Kenny Leon.

The story takes place in the 1950’s and focuses on Willie (played by Alexander Bello) who wants to become a professional tap dancer like his uncle, Dipsey (played by Trevor Jackson) and his grandfather, Daddy Bates (played by DeWitt Fleming Jr.) who all before him were part of the family legacy. However Willie’s father, William (played by Joshua Henry), a lawyer and civil rights activist, has different plans for his son. 

With both William and his wife, Ginnie (played by Adrienne Walker) having to struggle through poverty, William getting his education and succeeding as a lawyer, they didn’t want their children to have that same struggle.  This upper middle class black family had its own journey, and in particular, William as an authoritarian father, has specific ideas about how his children will take their places in society. Besides young Willie’s dreams and ambitions, there is also William’s daughter Emma (played by Shahadi Wright Joseph) who finds herself ignored by her father yet she has ambitions to be a lawyer herself following in her father’s footsteps.

The Tap Dance Kid has many thematic threads including racism, a coming-of-age story, how people follow their dreams – and also a highly-charged family drama. The story is told effectively through the Henry Krieger/Robert Lorick score, and the choreography by Jared Grimes which takes the audience through a history of the art of tap dancing.

Every member of the talented cast on stage offers a major contribution to the success of this concert version of The Tap Dance Kid. But, in particular, Alexander Bello as Willie and DeWitt Fleming Jr. as Daddy Bates – Willie’s grandfather – in “Tap Tap”, Trevor Jackson as Dipsey in “Something Better” and “Fabulous Feet”, and Joshua Henry as William in his reading and performance of “William’s Song” in which William comes to terms with not fulfilling his own dreams and his goals for his family – and allows his son, Willie, to shine his own light to pursue his dream of being a professional dancer.

There is also much to say about hearing Harold Wheeler original orchestrations played by the Encores! Orchestra under the guidance of guest music director and conductor, Joseph Joubert, and Kenny Leon’s focused direction.

At the show’s end you can feel the love between the cast and the audience – and although The Tap Dance Kid is not a diamond that has been revealed in this concert version, it is a Broadway musical that deserves attention. 

Prayer for the French Republic

Manhattan Theatre Club – Stage I

January 28, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Here we are in 2022 and we are still discussing how the world has not evolved over decades – politically and socially – and Joshua Harmon’s play, Prayer for the French Republic is the thought-provoking play that our times call for. Now being presented by the Manhattan Theatre Club through February 27, 2022, Harmon’s play is truly a saga – as well as an historical survey– which reflects how much has changed but more so how little has changed.

Prayer for the French Republic begins its story-telling in 1944, in France, where a Jewish couple – the Salomon family — anticipates news about their family’s fate. The Nazis are occupying France and the Vichy French Government is weak and powerless, and after that occupation has ended refugees have been scattered all over Europe who are trying to reconnect with family and friends and don’t know where to turn. All that they can hang to is the speculation, fantasizing about good news, and hoping for the best for their children, grandchildren, sisters, brothers, cousins, and parents. A challenging time when so many people’s lives were irrevocably changed by events not in one’s control.

This couple was able to remain in Paris during the occupation by pure luck and were the scions of a family business – making and selling pianos – pianos which were in the homes of families all over France. The wife, a prize-winning pianist, supports her husband in the family business. And the safety of their children and grandchildren are constantly on their minds.

Jumping forward from the past, Prayer for the French Republic picks up again 70 years later when this Jewish couple’s great grandchildren – the Benhamou Family — are facing the same question as to how they fit into French society of the present. At a point in time when being confronted by terrorist and antisemitic acts which are resurfacing in Europe and making it an uncomfortable place to live for ethnic and religious minorities. Where or how do they turn in determining their future life in France.

Harmon takes up this topic in Prayer for the French Republic in family debates in both eras and depicting a similar atmosphere in which these decisions were made and were being debated – with the ghost of past family members haunting present members as they confront the issues of whether they are safe or need to leave for a safe haven in Israel.

Harmon depicts, expresses, and explains both sides of these complicated debates and predicaments for those who have to make life-changing decisions – some in comic dialogues and monologues, and also in similar dialogues and monologues of anxiety and concern. And these debates continue on into eternity.

There are moments that Harmon gets a little preachy – and sometimes the debates become too complicated to comprehend in this nearly three-hour play. However, director David Cromer has skillfully honed and drawn the pictures created by the families in each era, and highlight the inner anxieties of the members of each family.

It is Richard Topol as Patrick Salomon who narrates this compelling story and also often acts as a devil’s advocate and as an advocate for his loyalties to his homeland, France. Topol is part of an excellent and sensitive ensemble of actors, which also includes Betsy Aidem as Marcelle Benhamou, Jeff Seymour as Charles Benhamou, Francis Benhamou as Elodie Benhamou, Yair Ben-Dor as Daniel Benhamou, Pierre Epstein as Pierre Salomon, Nancy Robinette as Irma Salomon, Kenneth Tigar as Adolphe Salomon, Ari Brandt as Lucien Salomon, Peyton Lusk as the Younger Pierre Solomon – and Molly Ranson as Molly, a distant American cousin who acts as a catalyst in the debates focused on by the Benhamou Family.

Sadly, history repeats itself – the question is whether we learn from history or not. That is the crux of Harmon’s Prayer for the French Republic – which is applicable in these times that have been described as chaotic. Prayer for the French Republic is a provocative play that is engaging and timely – it is an absorbing and involving theatrical experience not to be missed for all who are seeking answers to these terrifying and thought-provoking questions.

Everything Is Choreography – The Musical Theater of Tommy Tune

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

Kevin Winkler has written a monograph which is about everything that is Tommy Tune in Everything Is Choreography – The Musical Theater of Tommy Tune, which has been published by Oxford University Press.

Born in Texas, and growing up to be six feet six tall Tune was in a category of his own.  At the age of 26 Tune was a seasoned and well-known Broadway performer having won a Tony Award as a Featured Actor in a musical for Seesaw in 1973 — for which he also created choreography. 

Preceding that Broadway success, Tune landed the first job he got in New York after auditioning for a summer stock tour of Irma La Douce, and in 1965 he made his Broadway debut in the musical, Baker Street. He then transitioned to be co-director and co-choreographer in 1978 for his first Broadway outing in those roles, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Tune had dual careers as a performer and director/choreographer and also in different mediums. As a performer Tune appeared in two major films, Hello, Dolly, and The Boyfriend, and thereafter television variety shows. Tune also directed two plays off-Broadway, Eve Merriam’s The Club, and Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine. He also appeared in a successful national tour of Bye Bye Birdie.

What followed was a string of Broadway successes including Grand Hotel, My One and Only (which he also performed in), A Day In Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, and The Will Rogers Follies.

In addition he also earned a reputation as a show doctor salvaging Broadway musicals that were in trouble.

Winkler describes Tune’s lineage following that of Jerome Robbins, Gower Champion, Bob Fosse and Michael Bennett as a director/choreographer. Winkler believes that Tune went a step beyond focusing on spectacle by employing state of the art stage technology with seamless staging effects to accomplish that spectacle – and Tune is still influencing current Broadway director/choreographers. In fact Winkler describes Tune as of the last of the great director/choreographers.

Notable that Tune made the remark that every show he had ever directed had been, in his creative mind, a ballet.

Winkler describes in detail the evolution and development of Tune’s major Broadway successes including The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Nine, My One and Only, and The Will Rogers Follies.

Most interesting to me were the details of the development of My One And Only, based on the Gershwins’ Funny Face, and pioneering the form of a jukebox musical using songs from the Gershwins’ catalogue.

My One and Only evolved originally under the guidance of director Peter Sellars, known for his avant garde and experimental theatre and opera productions – and conflicts began early between creators Sellars and Craig Smith (a frequent Sellars’ collaborator who became a team member to adapt the songs taken from the Gershwins’ catalogue) – being described as the forces of Brecht – and Tune and the forces of The Pajama Game. Sellars was fired before the first public performances of My One And Only at which point Tune was asked to take over the show while starring in it, and it was his vision that was chosen over Sellars’ vision. Tune called in some of his notable theatrical friends including Mike Nichols, and Peter Stone to provide him with help on this musical’s book – and later Michael Bennett was also brought in to make further changes but was fired after making those changes.

My One and Only focused on the relationship of champion swimmer Edith Herbert, played by Twiggy, and aviator Billy Buck Chandler, played by Tune dancing through the Gershwins’ musical catalogue.

I remember seeing a preview of My One And Only and Tune’s pre-performance curtain speech in which he apologized for the fact that newly-built scenery had not yet arrived at the St. James and the performance would be played with what was at hand. In many respects Tune saved the show, made a performance commitment to it, and also appeared in the show on tour – a commitment of nearly five years.

How The Will Rogers Follies evolved seemed to be similar to My One and Only. A collaboration of a familiar team of people and the delegation of aspects of the production to them. The Will Rogers Follies started out with John Denver as its star. Denver was also engaged to compose the score only for him to withdraw from the project. Alternative stars being considered were Gary Busey, Treat Williams, Mac Davis, and Bill Irwin before Keith Carradine was chosen to play Will Rogers. The Will Rogers Follies evolved into a financial success after a successful Broadway run and made back its investment due to its financially lucrative national tour.

Winkler’s detailed analysis of My One and Only and The Will Rogers Follies emphasized how many of Tune’s successful musicals were true collaborations.

However there was a period of time when Tune found himself associated with less successful projects. The sequel to the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas – entitled The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public – which proved to be misguided and hampered by the fact that Tune had made a commitment to supervising a revival of Grease at around the same time period — which was no better received on Broadway than The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public, but became a financial success on Broadway and on a national tour.

Tune participated as a performer in a new musical that was headed to Broadway, which had many titles, but which will be referred to here as Busker Alley, a musical adaptation of the film, St. Martin’s Lane, written by the Sherman Brothers. Initially this musical was to be directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun with Tune making contributions. But during a financially unsuccessful out of town tour, which included revisions and changes, Tune broke his foot on tour and Busker Alley’s road to Broadway had ended.

Another ill-fated project was a stage musical of the film,  Easter Parade, which Tune was to co-star in with Sandy Duncan , which wound up in development hell due to withdrawals of funding and the stars taking on other projects. Soon after Tune took over revising a stage adaptation of Dr. Doolittle which he also starred in but did not develop to the point where it could be presented on Broadway. It was unfortunate that Tune was involved in a myriad of projects which seemed ill-chosen and mis-directed at this point in his career.

In recent years Tune has returned to performing in cabaret shows and one-man touring shows.

Winkler traces the genealogy of director/choreographers who followed Tune to Broadway and how much they owed to him. Not quite clear if Tune missed Broadway or whether Tune felt that musicals he wished to create were not what Broadway audiences wanted to see.

However Winkler’s book gathers the details of Tune’s many careers in one place and is an absorbing read.

Vienna State Opera Ballet – Liebeslieder

January 15, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

During this current season the Vienna State Opera Ballet has had few cancelled performances due to the ongoing pandemic and has continued to present not only live performances but also streamed performances to reach a wider audience. The most recent of these streamed performances was a triple bill of dance pieces with the overall title of Liebeslieder.

This program included a company premiere and revivals which resulted in a varied and entertaining program of dance.

Opening the program was of Jerome Robbins’ Other Dances which premiered in 1976 as a vehicle for Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov – one of several Robbins’ ballets choreographed to music by Frederic Chopin. This was a quiet and auspicious beginning for this program as it was elegantly danced by Hyo-Jung Kang and Davide Dato fully filling the stage space and capturing the folk elements in the choreography – with nuance and speed.

In a contrasting style was the company premiere of Concerto, a ten-minute piece choreographed by an American modernist, Lucinda Childs, and choreographed to music composed by Henryk Gorecki. In spite of the modernist and contemporary choreographic vocabulary, Concerto was conceived with symmetry rather than dissonance or disunity. Included was sharp and delineated angular movement – and to the point.

The ensemble cast of Marie Breuilles, Natalya Butchko, Laura Cislaghi, Sveva Gargiulo, Francois-Eloi Lavignac, Duccio Tariello and Daniel Vizcayo executed Childs’ choreography with exactness and precision.

The third and closing work on this program was a revival of George Balanchine’s Liebeslieder Walzer, a work that the Vienna State Opera Ballet has been dancing since 1977 yet a ballet rarely danced around the world.

A salon entertainment is set in a room in an elegant home with Johannes Brahms’ lieder sung by a quartet of singers accompanied by two pianists. The choreographic signature is variations on the waltz and it feels as if one is eavesdropping on each couple’s intimate moments throughout this dance piece.

Liebeslieder Walzer is divided into two parts with the ladies changing from regular shoes to point shoes for the second half – with the second half being somewhat dream-like as the couples are left to their own thoughts as they are listening and interpretating the music.

The cast of Claudine Schoch, Roman Lazik, Elena Bottaro, Denys Cherevychko, Liudmila Konovalova, Zsolt Torok, Maria Yakovleva and Masayu Kimoto gave animated and poetic performances in this ballet’s principal roles.

The Vienna State Opera Ballet’s Liebeslieder, offered a well-balanced and involving program of dance.

Flying Over Sunset

Vivian Beaumont Theater

January 11, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

All new musicals that open on Broadway are much anticipated because one, or every one, of them could be an historic moment for the musical theater. One of the new musicals rescheduled for this season, after being postponed due to Covid-19 lockdowns, was the Lincoln Center Theater’s Flying Over Sunset which premiered back in December at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.

The creative team has a great track record of past achievements with James Lapine as both director and book writer, and Tom Kitt and Michael Korie writing the score. Then there is the story that is being told.

The audience is transported to Hollywood in the 1950’s where four people are depicted searching through their lives and trying to find answers to questions focusing on political and social issues to problems in their personal lives. Ultimately all of them meet together at a beach house overlooking the Pacific Ocean to experiment with the hallucinatory drug of choice, LSD.  

The participants in this fictional meeting are well-known film star Cary Grant, novelist Aldous Huxley (an English writer and philosopher who is best known for Brave New World, a rather scary philosophical tome about the world’s future and the people who live in it), playwright, U.S. Ambassador and politician Clare Booth Luce, who espoused conservative political leanings and would be known to the theatre community for writing the Broadway play, The Women, and Gerald Heard, a British-born American historian and philosopher, who acts as a guide and mentor to them all.

In the 1950’s psychedelic drugs were tools of psychotherapy and a trendy bit of amusement for many in Hollywood.

The stories about these participants are represented in the first act of Flying Over Sunset which primarily is that of exposition. For Huxley, who is going blind, the experience allows him to see colors. For Luce she relives memories about her late daughter and her late mother. And for Cary Grant it is reconciling his experiences as a child, coping with poverty, and his unconventional parents. 

At Luce’s invitation, there is a gathering of Huxley, Grant, Heard and herself at her Malibu home where they experiment using LSD – during which memories and emotions are triggered.

There are moments throughout Flying Over Sunset that makes one question if it is a musical or a play with music. But it is definitely an intriguing piece of musical theater.

In Flying Over Sunset you have an example of an enigma wrapped in an enigma as to whether the creative team and the cast achieved the alchemy to make an interesting and involving musical. Some of the alchemy works and some of it doesn’t.

In an exhibition of Michelle Dorrance’s unique approach to tap dancing, and perhaps the most compelling and entertaining moment in Flying Over Sunset, is the scene in a California psychiatrist’s office in Act I when Tony Yazbek as Cary Grant sings and dances with his younger self, Atticus Ware, in “I Have It All” and “Funny Money”. It is a showstopper.

And giving equally compelling performances are Carmen Cusack as Clare Booth Luce, Harry Hadden-Paton as Aldous Huxley, and Robert Sella as Gerald Heard.

Beowulf Boritt’s minimalist scenery design employing video and projections is atmospheric and  fills the Vivian  Beaumont Theater’s unique stage well.

James Lapine, along with his collaborators Tom Kitt and Michael Korie, has brought to the stage a provocative and hypnotic piece of musical theater, and I would give it a tentative yes in terms of Flying Over Sunset being worth a viewing.

La Scala Ballet – La Bayadere

January 6, 2022

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2022

With continuing corona virus surges, cancellations of performances are rampant throughout the world and in Italy there have been no exceptions. A company premiere of Rudolf Nureyev’s production of La Bayadere was to have taken place in December – but only one performance was filmed – and the remaining performances are to take place later in January if restrictions are lifted.

Fortunately the filmed performance of La Bayadere was streamed to enable audiences in Italy and other parts of the world to view it for themselves. This was seen on January 6th, 2022 with Manuel Legris, formerly of the Paris Opera Ballet and now director of La Scala Ballet, and Florence Clerc staging Rudolf Nureyev’s production of La Bayadere.

Nureyev’s staging of La Bayadere is not much different from productions being danced by many Russian ballet companies. Its roots come from the 19th century in which the ballet’s creators imagined about what life might have been like in India without having visited the country. Marius Petipa, and composer Ludwig Minkus created a style and atmosphere that was a pastiche and imagining of what they thought was how people lived in India.

The tale is that of Solor, an Indian Warrior, who is engaged to marry the Rajah’s daughter, Gamzatti, but his affections are directed towards Nikiya, one of the temple dancers. The Brahmin informs the Rajah that Solor and Nikiya have been meeting in secret – which Gamzatti overhears – and efforts are made to persuade Nikiya to release Solor from his commitment to her. Nikiya refuses to do so, and a plot is put into action for Nikiya to be bitten by a poisonous snake in the course of her dancing turn in celebration of the marriage of Gamzatti and Solor. Even though the Brahmin offers an antidote to the poison, Nikiya refuses and her spirit haunts Solor thereafter. What follows is the famous Shades Act in which Nikiya’s spirit appears to Solor and offers most of the dancing in the ballet, and also resolves that although Solor still has a life to lead after Nikiya’s death, he feels remorse about what has transpired.

What makes Nureyev’s production of La Bayadere distinctive is its opulence and grandness which is enhanced by the colorful and extravagant designs by Luisa Spinatelli. These designs emphasize the inherent sense of the spectacular in this production.

Nicoletta Manni dancing the role of Nikiya, Timofej Andrijashenko dancing the role of Solor, and Maria Celeste Losa dancing the role of Gamzatti, all rose to the occasion in their performances along with the formidable performance of La Scala’s corps de ballet in the Shades Act.

Fortunate to have had the opportunity to see La Scala Ballet dance Rudolf Nureyev’s production of La Bayadere and to see how the company put its own stamp on this ballet.

Joburg Ballet – The Nutcracker

December 26, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Streaming technology has now made it possible to view dance and theater performances from all over the world and in the comfort of one’s home. It creates opportunities to see performances that you might not be able to see otherwise.

From December 22, 2021 through January 5, 2022, the Joburg Ballet (based in Johannesburg, South Africa) is presenting video on demand performances of the company’s production of The Nutcracker which had been filmed at the Joburg Theatre on October 13, 2021.

The Joburg Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker was produced and choreographed by the company’s artistic director, Iain MacDonald with the assistance of ballet mistress Lauren Slade, and Nicole Ferreira-Dill, Bruno Miranda, and Thabang Mabaso, who choreographed a sections of the production. The essence of this production of The Nutcracker is less is more, simple in its presentation, and not only includes the company’s dancers but also children from the Joburg Ballet School.

The story, as presented, is traditional with a few minor changes and twists. The audience is able to peak into the Stahlbaum household for its Christmas Eve Party, and Drosselmeyer brings his Columbine and Harlequin mechanical dolls to amuse the children and the party guests. He gives Clara the gift of a Nutcracker and when she falls asleep her dream begins. The slight twist is that Clara also has fallen in love with Drosselmeyer’s son, Karl, and Clara is played by an adult dancer.

In Clara’s dream the Nutcracker defeats the Mouse King and his army of mice, and Drosselmeyer takes Clara on her journey into the Land of Snow where a Snow Cavalier waits to escort her and dance through the Dance of the Snowflakes, and then on to the Sugar Plum Fairy’s Kingdom. The Nutcracker is transformed into the Sugar Plum Fairy’s Cavalier and although the Waltz of the Flowers is not included in this production, many other Act II divertissements are including the Chinese, Spanish, and Arabian Dances – and the Grand Pas de Deux danced by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier.

Gabriel Fernandes portrayed Drosselmeyer with the required charisma, Chloe Blair as Clara portrayed Clara’s journey and coming of age experience in both in her acting and dancing, and Raun Galdino was a supportive Snow Cavalier. Nicole Ferreira-Dill as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Armando Barros as Her Cavalier danced the Grand Pas de Deux with assurance and propriety.

Fortunately the Joburg Ballet is presenting hybrid performances both live and streamed, and to gain further support and enlarging its audience, it is important for the company to continue to present its performances in both formats in the future.

Nashville Ballet – The Nutcracker

December 25, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

The Nashville Ballet, founded in 1986 and currently directed by Paul Vasterling, has, along with several other American ballet companies, presented a readily available streamed version of The Nutcracker for the holiday season. On December 25, 2021, Vasterling’s production of The Nutcracker was presented through local Nashville television auspices in a made for television version.

The Nashville Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker, which premiered in 2008, was inspired by the Tennessee Centennial Exposition which in 1897 celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the state of Tennessee.

Employing this jumping off point Vasterling used moments in Nashville’s history to be highlighted in his production of The Nutcracker. A concept that was enhanced by Campbell Baird’s costumes and Shigera Yaji’s scenery designs.

In keeping with tradition Act I takes place in the Stahlbaum’s family home but prior to the guests arrival, there is a Prologue during which Clara is introduced to the many participants in the exhibitions at the Exposition by Drosselmeyer. These meetings are recorded in sepia still photographs. Among the party guests were the founder of Vanderbilt University, a Hollywood actress, and notable Nashville business men.

Drosselmeyer brings a dancing bear and also a toy doll to the party. But most important he brings Clara the gift of The Nutcracker. In Clara’s dream The Nutcracker comes alive to fight the Mouse King and his mice army, then accompanies Clara through a forest of snow, and then on to the Kingdom of the Sugar Plum Fairy. However before arriving in that Kingdom, Clara and the Nutcracker arrive at Nashville’s Parthenon Gardens to participate in the Waltz of the Flowers, and ultimately arrive in the Kingdom to be the audience for the traditional Nutcracker divertissements in Act II of this ballet.

Notably both the Sugar Plum Fairy and Her Cavalier dance their variations early in Act II and return at the end of Act II to dance the Adagio and Coda – leading the finale of the ballet.

For this season’s performance, Clara is danced by an adult dancer, Molly Sansone, and the Nutcracker was danced by Noah Miller. Because of their experience, their participation in the Waltz of the Flowers heightened the effect. Lily Saito as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Nicholas Scheuer as Her Cavalier danced the variations, adagio, and coda of the Grand Pas de Deux with aplomb. Drosselmeyer, played by Jon Upleger, provided the magic in this production of The Nutcracker with the unique use of colored lights to make that magic.

Fortunate that the Nashville Ballet was not only able to offer live performances of The Nutcracker this year but also presented this made for television version which allowed a larger audience to see it.

New Jersey Ballet – The Nutcracker

December 22, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Although many arts organizations are back to presenting live performances and not relying on stream technology, there are just as many arts organizations that are presenting both live performances and streamed performances for the convenience of its audience and also to make it possible for a wider audience to see their performances. The New Jersey Ballet is one of the ballet companies in the United States that is presenting both live and streamed performances during the current season, and made one of its performances of its production of The Nutcracker available through stream technology.

This streamed performance was hosted by the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, New Jersey, which is one of the New Jersey Ballet’s performing venues. The company is based in Florham Park, New Jersey and has recently announced the appointment of Maria Kowroski, former principal dancer of the New York City Ballet, to be its Acting Artistic Director. This streamed performance of The Nutcracker was presented on December 22, 2021 with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra providing the wonderful live music.

The New Jersey Ballet has been performing The Nutcracker since 1971 and its current production includes choreographic elements by Joseph Carow, George Tomal, and David Tamaki.

The New Jersey Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker begins with a Christmas Party in the home of the Mayor and his family, with one of the guests being Herr Drosselmeyer, who is accompanied by his nephew. Drosselmeyer brings with him a porcelain doll and a soldier doll to entertain the children, and gives Clara the special gift a Nutcracker doll. Unfortunately Clara’s brother, Fritz, grabs the doll and breaks it. However Drosselmeyer’s nephew and Clara manage to save the doll, and tuck the Nutcracker into Clara’s doll bed.

Clara falls asleep and her dream begins with mice appearing as the Christmas tree grows, and the Nutcracker leads the toy soldiers in defeating the Mouse King and his army of mice. The Nutcracker is then transformed into a Prince, and he and Clara travel through the forest where they come upon the King and Queen of Snowflakes, and then on to the Land of Sweets where they are entertained by the kingdom’s inhabitants. The divertissements culminate in the Grand Pas de Deux danced by the Sugar Plum Fairy and Her Cavalier – and upon conclusion of the festivities, Clara is transported home in a swan boat.

Notably the New Jersey Ballet dancers create a sense of community in the Act I Christmas Party, and Paul McRae as Drosselmeyer provides an animated and naturalistic interpretation of this odd man who brings magic into Clara’s young life.

The Grand Pas de Deux was stunningly danced by Se Hun Jin as the Sugar Plum Fairy, and guest artist Brooklyn Mack as her Cavalier – dancing with elegance and virtuosity. Also in command of the stage were Risa Mochizuki as the Snow Queen and Yuuki Yamamoto as the Snow King. Charming were Yuiko Honda as Clara, and Jacopo Sensoli as the Nutcracker Prince.

This was a welcome return of the New Jersey Ballet’s live performances of The Nutcracker but also providing the rare opportunity to view a performance in one’s living room — if that is what you prefer — to bring in the holiday season.

Valentina Kozlova’s

Dance Conservatory of New York

– Nutcracker Suite

Symphony Space

December 18, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

This year after nearly two years’ absence, Valentina Kozlova’s Dance Conservatory of New York, was back on the Symphony Space’s stage to present its annual performances of Kozlova’s staging of Nutcracker Suite.

Presented on December 18, 2021, the Dance Conservatory of New York’s students collaborated to perform Nutcracker Suite, which in its one-hour length, included variations and ensembles from The Nutcracker among them all of the Act II divertissements, and other solos carved out of the score for the Conservatory’s students.

The performance featured students who have studied at Kozlova’s ballet school in Norwalk, Connecticut, with Kozlova’s staging based on the choreography of the Russian masters including Vassily Vainonen.

The Nutcracker Suite opened with the dance of the Angels from the second act of The Nutcracker with the students in a procession holding candles in the darkness – certainly giving the impression that the candle light was guiding our way to the light and also representing absent friends that have been lost. The audience is then transported to see snow in the forest and to the Land of the Sweets.

The students exemplified style and musicality from Katherine St. Jean as the Sugar Plum  Fairy, Shae McGraw as Clara, and Solenne Barclay as the Christmas Star, and the ensemble dancing the Waltz of the Flowers.

This was an occasion to welcome back the students of the Dance Conservatory of New York to the Symphony Space stage, their determination to do so, and that they will continue their training and artistic growth through more performances to come.

State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine –

The Nutcracker

New Jersey Performing Arts Center

December 11, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Our performance-attending experiences changed when a lockdown and restrictions were put into effect in 2020. We are now in the process of such restrictions being revised or removed. That has allowed for performances to take place – in particular dance performances – and in particular of the annual holiday performances of The Nutcracker.

On December 11, 2021, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey presented the State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine in a new production of The Nutcracker, danced to Tchaikovsky’s familiar score, that was staged and adapted by the company’s artistic director Andrey Litvinov. This new production had its premiere in Dnipro, Ukraine in December 2020.

Adapted by Litvinov from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, Litvinov has incorporated choreography by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, Alexander Gorsky, Vasili Vainonen, and Anatoly Yemelyanov into the State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine’s production as well. In spite of the numerous choreographic contributions to this production of The Nutcracker it is quite traditional in its presentation – including a Christmas tree that grows – and was performed to recorded music.

The libretto still  focuses on the toymaker Drosselmeyer (portrayed by Eygenii Kuchvar) who brings his creations to the Silberhaus Family’s home to celebrate Christmas Eve – offering his  Columbine and Harlequin mechanical dolls. As in other productions of The Nutcracker Drosselmeyer presents a Nutcracker doll to the Silberhaus’ daughter, Marie, and after falling asleep in an armchair, Marie’s dream begins.

The Mouse King sneaks into the Silberhaus home and lies in waiting for the Nutcracker while Drosselmeyer makes his magic while the Christmas tree grows. Ultimately the Nutcracker defends himself against the Mouse King and his army of mice with the help of the intervention of both Marie and Drosselmeyer.

The Nutcracker is transformed into a Prince and he accompanies Marie in her journey first to a snow-covered land where the Prince and Marie dance a romantic pas de deux to be followed by the dance of the snowflakes – and then on to viewing a series of divertissements from many lands which is hosted by Drosselmeyer. The culminating divertissement is the Grand Pas de Deux danced by Marie and her Prince.

However in the end Marie wakes up from her dream – noting her Nutcracker doll beside her.

This production was notable for having adult dancers dancing the roles of the children at the Silberhaus Family’s Christmas Party, and a young, handsome and energetic dancer portraying the role of Drosselmeyer – with a great deal of charm and flair. The Arabian Dance, which was danced by Iona Baetler and Alexey Churich, had choreography that was infused with gymnastics and acrobatics which tested the dancers’ athletic skills, and the Spanish Dance, danced by Luminita Bivol and Dmitry Sitkevich, had all of the virtuosity of a performance of Don  Quixote Pas de Deux. Both were clearly meant to rouse the audience which they did.

The role of Marie was danced by Alina Veretina, and The Nutcracker – transformed into a Prince – was danced by Sergei Zdansky. They both danced the Grand Pas de Deux with classical elegance and finesse.

What is most important is that the State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine’s The Nutcracker brought back the joys and of the holiday season which have been missed.

Mrs. Doubtfire – The Musical

Stephen Sondheim Theatre

December 10, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Among the musicals whose openings were put into doubt when New York’s lockdown took place was the musical version of the film, Mrs. Doubtfire. Fortunately Mrs. Doubtfire has survived and re-opened at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre to be part of Broadway’s new season – at last. And it has added a great deal to this Broadway theatre season with a bit of hilarity, heart, and pure family entertainment.

Based on the 1993 film that starred Robin Williams,  Mrs. Doubtfire follows the path of Daniel Hillard, an out-of-work actor who loses custody of his three children in a messy divorce. In an effort to remain in his children’s lives he has created an alter ego, Euphegnia Doubtfire, a Scottish nanny, a character which takes on a life of its own and in so doing Hillard becomes the nanny to his own children. Mrs. Doubtfire helps Hillard to re-discover the life he had lost with his family, to take charge of his directionless career as an actor, and most importantly appreciating the children that he loves.

With a score by Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick, and book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell, Mrs. Doubtfire comes to life in song capturing the essence of the film while creating new dimensions of the characters as well. This is the same creative team that gave us, Something Rotten, a very different slant on life on the Renaissance and William Shakespeare as a celebrity of the time.

Mrs. Doubtfire’s opening number, “What’s Wrong With This Picture” sets up the image of the Hillard Family as a family in crisis – dysfunctional and chaotic – with Miranda (played by Jenn  Gambatese) and Daniel Hillard (played by Rob McClure) butting heads blow by blow with their three children, Natalie (played by Avery Sell), Christopher (played by Sam Middleton), and Lydia (played by Maria Dalanno) feeling that they are outsiders. The only alternative for some peace in the family is for the Hillards to divorce, and as a consequence Daniel is only given limited visitation with his children.

However when Miranda decides to hire a nanny Daniel’s brother Frank (played by Brad Oscar) and his significant other Andre Mayem (played by J. Harrison Ghee) transform Daniel into “Mrs. Doubtfire” in “Make Me A Woman”, a hilarious take on the disco era and magically styles Daniel into being a Mrs. Doubtfire modeled after Julia Child, Margaret Thatcher, and Eleanor Roosevelt – as compared to Cher, Jackie O or Princess Diana. And Mrs. Doubtfire gets the job of the nanny!

During the course of Mrs. Doubtfire, the musical, Daniel learns how to appreciate his children, enjoys them, becomes a better parent – and respects his ex-wife Miranda for all she has contributed to the family. Then there is the big reveal which is executed with the precision of a French farce, in  “He Lied To Me” a lament sung by a Flamenco Singer (played with suitable style and comic timing by Alexandra Matteo), and throughout are the inclusions of witty and satiric observations from book writers Karen Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell.

The score also includes witty lyrics and musical numbers that represent a new definition of variety in styles to enhance the comic moments and farce in Mrs. Doubtfire.

Arguably one can say why create a stage musical of Mrs. Doubtfire that wouldn’t include Robin Williams who created the title role in the beloved movie. However in the hands of Rob McClure, in the dual role of Daniel and Mrs. Doubtfire, he gives a tour de force performance, and he has put a personal stamp of his own on this dual role which is enhanced by his own comic talents and those as a singer and dancer. You also feel his transformation and emotions as he realizes how important his children are in his life.

Jenn Gambatese infuses the character of Miranda with emotion – which makes Miranda a more sympathetic character – in “Let Go”.

Also notable are Brad Oscar as Frank, J. Harrison Ghee as Andre, Mark Evans as Stuart Dunmire (Miranda’s new love interest), and even in his brief cameo moments, Peter Bartlett often stops the show as Mr. Jolly.

Recognizing and appreciating new and different relationships as families bring Mrs. Doubtfire to a poignant conclusion with “As Long As There Is Love”.

 Jerry Zaks, who is a master of musical comedy and farce, helps to bring this story to life – with lots of  humor, and a tug at the heartstrings.

The score itself is a series of numbers and dance sequences which also include a great deal of satire and hilarity made so in the hands of choreographer Lorin Latarro.

Broadway has managed to survive after a very difficult time and as often is the case when audience members are going through difficult times, Broadway comes through with a musical that boosts the spirits as well as being entertaining. Mrs. Doubtfire is that musical!

Anastasia – The Musical

State Theatre

December 4, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Theaters have not only re-opened on Broadway but also in New Jersey. The State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey is once again offering its Broadway series with the State Theatre adhering to Covid-19 protocols.

Among the State Theatre’s many offerings is the national touring company production of Anastasia which is based on the 1997 animated film of the same name. This musical opened on Broadway in a stage version in 2017, and created by the exemplary team of Lynn Ahrens as the writer of the lyrics, Stephen Flaherty as the composer of the music, with a book written by Terrence McNally.

Anastasia focuses on the premise that the Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia, one of the Czar of Russia’s daughters, escaped execution during the chaos of the Bolshevik Revolution. Years later Anya, an orphan who is suffering from amnesia, wishes to reconnect with her family and friends in a pilgrimage that has taken her to St. Petersburg. Rumors abound in St. Petersburg about the Duchess’ survival and two con men, who discover Anya’s likeness to be that of the Grand Duchess Anastasia, persuade Anya to become part of their ruse to obtain a reward for the Duchess’ recovery.

The story begins in 1906 in St. Petersburg where Anastasia is upset about the departure of her grandmother, the Empress, who is leaving for Paris. Eleven years later the Romanovs, the ruling monarchs of Russia, are captured and executed by the Bolsheviks. It was noted by Russians that the common people in Russia experienced the same conditions before and after the Bolshevik Revolution. Yet the ghosts of the Romanov Family haunt the Russian people.

About ten years later two con men, Dmitry and Vlad hear rumors that the Grand Duchess Anastasia may have survived and plan to groom Anya, the orphan they come upon, to impersonate Anastasia in order to extort money from the Dowager Empress.

The villain of the piece, Gleb, a Bolshevik revolutionary intends to arrest Anya for impersonating Anastasia, motivating Anya, Dimitri and Vlad to flee St. Petersburg and escape to Paris. 

Adventures in Paris lead to reunions — Vlad with the Dowager’s Lady in Waiting, Countess Lily among them — and the plot moves forward in persuading the Dowager to meet Anya and recognize her as the Grand Duchess Anastasia. Anya’s impression from the Dowager seems like that the Dowager would recognize her as the Grand Duchess. But rather than facing the notoriety and chaos that comes with Anya being recognized as the lost Grand Duchess, Anya decides to give up her quest and realizes that her destiny is with Dmitry.

The score, which tells this story, includes soaring music and comic turns. Highlights are “Once Upon A December” and “Journey To The Past” sung by Anya, the comic turn of “The Countess and The Common Man, sung by Countess Lily and Vlad, and the “Quartet At The Ballet” (which includes excerpts from the ballet, Sawn Lake).

Kyla Stone gave a virtuoso performance as the young Anya displaying her vulnerability, her persistence, and someone in control of her wits.

Also outstanding were Sam McLellan as Dmitry, Bryan Seastrom as Vlad, Madeline Raube in an over the top performance as Countess Lily, and Gerri Weagraff as the regal and noble, Dowager Empress. Brandon Delgado played Gleb, the villain of the piece, with a dramatic arc in which he redeemed himself in the end, and offered his soaring voice in several musical sequences and songs in Anastasia.

Giving the audience the illusion of Anastasia being a theatrical spectacle was the amalgamation of the scenery designs by Alexander Dodge, the costume designs by Linda Cho, and the lighting design by Donald Holder – and projection designs by Aaron Rhyne.

Anastasia is certainly a Cinderella story of sorts  — it is a fairy tale that gets its unique spin — but here Anya, an endearing heroine, is able to make her own choices about her future life – and puts her happiness ahead of wealth and power. The story is told in an imaginative and involving way – and what is important is that Anastasia is an uplifting entertainment for the audience.

York Theatre Company Presents Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood

The Theatre at St. Jean’s

November 28, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Performing at its temporary home, The Theatre at Jean’s, the York Theatre Company is presenting the world premiere of Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood, a celebration of Irving Berlin’s music from Hollywood films, in a limited engagement from November 24, 2021 through January 2, 2022.

With music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, a book by Barry Kleinbort, with direction and choreography by Randy Skinner, Cheek to Cheek is not only a celebration of Berlin’s music but particularly Berlin’s penchant for composing danceable music which contributed to memorable dance sequences in such well-known Hollywood films as Top Hat, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Holiday Inn, Easter Parade, and White Christmas. Also not surprising was that Berlin’s music was influenced by the dance crazes of the day.

During Berlin’s 60-year career as a songwriter he wrote about 1500 songs among them included in scores for 20 Broadway musicals and 15 Hollywood films – and for his songs, Berlin was nominated for eight Academy Awards. 

With Randy Skinner at the helm of Cheek to Cheek as choreographer and director there were many numbers in the show that were choreographed for tap but as Berlin was a composer whose songs were not only meant to be sung but were also utilized as backdrops for dancing in many films, Berlin’s music was appropriate for many dance styles.  Skinner showed his ingenuity  appropriately in choreographing in a diversity of styles matching Berlin’s musical sensibilities.

As Berlin’s music was composed with singing and dancing in mind Skinner skillfully employed both of those elements in Cheek to Cheek which was also enhanced by Kleinbort’s informative narrative. One gets to know a lot more about Berlin’s personal life than one could have known before.

If Cheek to Cheek has a point of view and focus it was to re-discover the elements of singing and dancing in Berlin’s songs, for his Academy Award nominated songs to be sung, and also to include a few songs that were less well known but worth singing out of the 1500 songs that Berlin composed during his lifetime. The sense of humor and optimism was evident in the way these songs were performed – both sung and danced – and were also left in the hands and feet of a versatile cast. They not only performed the songs but also interpreted them, and danced to them, illuminating Berlin’s intent.

Setting the tone Cheek to Cheek opens with newsreel film of Al Jolson singing Berlin’s Blue Skies in what was among the first musical movies – and then on to the opening number of Let Yourself Go from Follow The Feet performed by the entire cast — and you know you are in for a lively, optimistic, and entertaining performance.

Participants in this celebration are the singer/actor/dancers Phillip Attmore, Jeremy Benton, Victoria Byrd, Kaitlyn Davidson, Joseph Medeiros, Melanie Moore who contributed greatly individually and as an ensemble in Cheek to Cheek.

There were notable ensemble and individual performances of Berlin songs in Cheek to Cheek by this cast. Among them was that of “I Used To Play It By Ear” – circa 1965 – which was re-discovered from Berlin’s last movie musical that never happened – given a wonderful performance by Kaitlyn Davidson and Joseph Medeiros. Also there was Davidson’s moving performance of “Be Careful, It’s My Heart” from Holiday Inn, and the ensemble performance of “I Poured My Heart Into A Song” from Second Fiddle performed by Davidson, Jeremy Benton, Phillip Attmore, and Melanie Moore. 

From White Christmas’ score was “Count Your Blessings” (sung and performed by Medeiros and Victoria Byrd), “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing” (featuring Benton and Moore), and Davidson singing “Love You Didn’t Do Right By Me”. Also Attmore, Benton and Medeiros lent their personalities and dancing skills to “Drum Crazy” from Easter Parade. 

Berlin wrote for the actors who would be performing them – customized and tailored to their talents – and Skinner cleverly chose which cast members would be most suited to the Berlin songs presented in Cheek to Cheek.

And all is performed in a jam-packed 80 minutes with energy and charm – an antidote for the winter blues if you have them.

Twyla Now

City Center

November 20, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

From November 17-21, 2021 the City Center is celebrating the 50th anniversary of  Twyla Tharp’s choreographic debut on the on the City Center stage. This series of performances is entitled Twyla Now, a significant artistic statement that Tharp remains an important choreographic and artistic voice.

This program of dance included two familiar Tharp pieces, and two world premieres which were danced by members of the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and all of these pieces exhibiting Tharp’s signature on them. The overall artistic character of this program was Tharp reaching into the past and also choreographing new works for the future – and also dancers for the future as she has recruited a group of young dancers to appear as part of one of the world premieres. But most of all it states that Tharp is not only a significant contributor to the art of dance – in the past and present – but she plans to be an active contributor to the art of dance in the future.

The performance also had the added enhancement of live music which was very welcome.

The program was dominated by three duets which represented a survey of Tharp’s work – but also included a world premiere.

Opening the program was Cornbread, danced to music by Carolina Chocolate Drops, and danced by Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia of the New York City Ballet.

The music set the tone of the piece as it was a little bit of country and a little bit of western with banjo instrumentation and vocals – representing different moods – but happy and positive predominating. The intricate choreography which included intricate partnering filled the stage with expansive and playful dancing.

Peck and Mejia danced Cornbread with a bit of swagger and assertiveness, and their performances jumped past the footlights to the audience.

The first of two world premieres was Second Duet which was choreographed to music by Thomas Larcher and Aztec Camera, and was danced by Cassandra Trenary and Aran Bell of American Ballet Theatre.  Performed to live music – Stephen Gosling playing a prepared piano and Gabriel Cabezas playing cello – this was modern and post-modern choreography progressing in an erratic manner ranging from comic to despondent – clingy – and often exhausting to watch. 

Primarily Bell’s function was to lift and carry Trenary throughout the piece executing pretzel-like shapes wrapping around each other – and a little bit eerie. One has to admire a different direction in Tharp’s choreography and also how the dancers successfully interpreted Tharp’s choreographic thoughts.

The third duet, Pergolesi, was choreographed to music composed by Giovanni Pergolesi, and danced by Sara Mearns of the New York City Ballet, and Robbie Fairchild, formerly of the New York City Ballet. 

Tharp choreographed Pergolesi for Mikhail Baryshnikov and herself, and in this version the roles were gender switched — Mearns danced Baryshnikov’s role and Fairchild danced Tharp’s role. In switching these roles Pergolesi was effectively transformed with the humor portrayed with a wink and a nod. The piece is filled with self-deprecating humor and is a conversation in dance. The added sense of intrigue is that the dancers never touch each other.

In this Tharp environment both Mearns and Fairchild brought their personalities into these roles and as Peck and Mejia did in Cornbread, projected their performances beyond the stage’s footlights.

The largest piece on the program – in terms of participating dancers – was the world premiere of All In. Choreographed to music by Johannes Brahms for clarinet and piano, in this dance piece Fairchild, Bell, Mearns, Mejia, Trenary and Peck were joined by Jacquelin Harris and James Gilmer, and Tharp’s six young recruits, Brady Farrar, Savannah Kristich, Zoe Leibold, J’Var Martin, Gabrielle Rembert, and William Woodward. 

All In came across as a predictable piece of choreography with the mature dancers co-mingling with the young aspirants, who were primarily used in counterpoint to the other dancers on stage. They quickly emerged as being out of place but also reflected the random nature of Tharp’s choreography not only for these young aspirants but also for all of the cast members.

Whether you are a fan of Tharp’s choreographic voice or not, Twyla Now, fills what has been a dance vacuum that has been created by the ongoing pandemic. It’s important to know that Tharp’s work can be appreciated looking back on past creations, and also that she is looking forward into the future.

Baby

Theatrelab

November 13, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

In 2019 Out of the Box Theatrics had presented a unique revival of Baby, a musical which had its premiere on Broadway in 1983. After this revival’s success there were plans to re-open this revival of Baby in 2020. But that revival had to be postponed indefinitely until after the pandemic lockdown. The hiatus caused by the pandemic lockdown has made it possible for Out of the Box Theatrics to work with Baby’s creative team to update this musical to the present. Fortunately Out of the Box Theatrics’ new revival has been re-opened at Theatrelab  — from November 5 through December 12, 2021 — giving a wider audience the opportunity to see this revision of Baby and enjoy its story – and relevance to today.

Baby’s book by Sybille Pearson, and the music by David Shire and lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. shares the experiences of three couples on a university campus coping with the emotions, conflicts, and rewards of planning to be, wishing to be, and what it is like to be parents. One of the couples is struggling to have children. Another, a young couple, who are coping with an unexpected pregnancy, and a third couple also having to make the choice about having a baby late in life after having raised four children already.

This revival offers the unique perspectives of a what is now a same sex couple, and a younger couple in which the partnership is that of a man with a hearing disability – whose passion is music – and a legally blind woman, which presents a very different slant on how the stories are told.

These couples are now modern couples – based on the lives that couples live in 2021 rather than in 1983 — and their journeys are that much more relevant as presented in this intimate and immediate production which has been skillfully and imaginatively directed by Out of the Box Theatrics’ Associate Artistic Director Ethan Paulini.

Lizzie (played by Elizabeth Flemming) and Danny (played by Danny Link) represent the youngest of the couples with Lizzie having a sight disability, and Danny having a hearing disability, and how they cope in this unconventional relationship with their concerns about parenthood, and having their baby.

Pam (played by Danielle Summons) and Nicki (played by Jamila Sabares-Klemm) are the same-sex couple who have been experimenting with invitro and other methods of having a baby, and after the emotional hills and valleys of going through this process ultimately decide to continue with their efforts to bring a baby into their lives.

Arlene (played by Julia Murney) and Alan (played by Robert H. Fowler) make up the mature couple who had four children during their 20’s, and now this unexpected pregnancy – which unfortunately results in a miscarriage.This emotional tragedy triggers questions that both Arlene and Allan have about the health of their marriage.

David Shire and Richard Maltby, Jr. have provided a wonderful score as the foundation for Baby which moves the story forward and also provides insightful thoughts about how each individual character is feeling about what they are living through, and how they are navigating through their emotions during these difficult time periods.

The cast is made of excellent actor/singers and they all give notable and moving performances of every song in Baby’s score. But one must single out the performances of “Patterns” sung by Julia Murney as Arlene, “The Story Goes On” sung by Elizabeth Flemming as Lizzie, “And What If We Had Loved Like That” sung by Murney, and Robert H. Fowler as Alan, and “Fatherhood Blues” sung by the fathers to be.

Baby could be a musical that may only be described as charming and somewhat innocent. However in this version it is also poignant and more involving for the audience. This is especially so in this production that Paulini has directed, and in the intimate theatrical space it is being performed in where every audience member is experiencing what these three couples are feeling and living through their journeys on every emotional level.

Even if you don’t have a child or haven’t thought about parenthood there is much to enjoy in this revival/revisal of Baby.

Trevor: The Musical

Stage 42

November 6, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Based on the Academy Award-winning film, Trevor, Trevor: The Musical has opened off-Broadway at Stage 42 and has come at a time when audiences are searching for entertainment and a story that tries to help us cope and explain our complicated lives. And there is lots to enjoy here as the story told is about the obstacles inherent in the process of coming of age, rites of passage, and other familiar challenges of being an outlier and trying to fit in. 

With book and lyrics by Dan Collins and music by Julianne Wick Davis,  Trevor: The Musical tells the story of a 13-year-old teen who has an expansive imagination and has the lofty ambition of making it in show business. Along the way he deals with the changes in life that come when aging into a teenager, fitting into the world around him, and negotiating a truce between himself and his parents.

Portrayed by Holden William Hagelberger, Trevor finds himself in American suburbia in the early 1980’s. He is stage struck, reflects in his own aura, and also has an obsession for Diana Ross – and most importantly — pursuing a career in show business. His hopes are dashed when he is not chosen to participate in Lakeview Junior High School’s talent show, and Trevor comes up with a scheme to get involved which is persuading Pinkie Farraday, the hero athlete at Lakeview, and his football teammates to appear in a song and dance number in the talent show – staged and conceived by Trevor – with the end result  to improve his own reputation at school, and fitting in. But the effort is sabotaged by Lakeview’s version of the mean girls.

Trevor’s rite of passage is unique, and he is publicly embarrassed and ridiculed when he is betrayed by Farraday and his teammates, and his charm doesn’t save him. The most serious aspect of Trevor: The Musical is that Trevor attempts suicide because he cannot cope with how he has been victimized by those around him. However in the end his friends, classmates, and his parents accept him, he accepts himself, and he defines for himself a path for his own future.

The score wonderfully reflects Trevor’s ups and downs, and successfully and poignantly reveals Trevor’s inner self – as well as the stories of his friends and classmates. The score also comingles new songs with bits and pieces of Diana Ross’s greatest hits.

The core of Trevor’s success as a musical is not only the compelling story which is so well told, but also the energy level of the young cast. 

Newcomer Holden William Hagelberger gives a star performance in the title role as do Sammy Dell as Pinki Faraday – who is Trevor’s crush – Aryan Simihadri as Trevor’s best friend Walter, Isabel Medina as Frannie, who betrays Trevor in order to retain her place in the middle school’s popularity hierarchy, Sally Wilfert as Trevor’s Mom who is obsessed with the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, and Jarrod Zimmerman as Trevor’s perplexed Dad.

Also much credit must be given to director Marc Bruni who has a fix on telling Trevor’s chronicle of his own life – and fairy tale — and choreographer Josh Prince who ups Trevor’s energy level.

What is enjoyable is to take the journey that Trevor is taking – both as a charmer, idealist, and coping with the confusing world around him – and Trevor: The Musical has heart. Not all of the questions are answered, but Trevor provokes us to think about the world the way it is, and what it could be. 

Dance Theatre of Harlem – A History

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Dance Theatre of Harlem by Judy Tyrus and Paul Novosel, published by Kensington Publishing, has a significant subtitle: A History A Movement A Celebration. That subtitle represents the point of view of this book written by Tyrus, a former principal dancer of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, and Novosel, as the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s assistant archivist.

From the moment that the Dance Theatre of Harlem was established in 1969, with Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook as co-artistic directors — at the height of the American civil rights movement — this was an historic moment. It was also inspired and it was a movement unto itself. 

This book provides an all-inclusive history of how Dance Theatre of Harlem was established, the people who planted the seeds for the company initially, and how the company has reinvented itself over the years in order to overcome economic and artistic struggles.

Among those details include those about Mitchell’s career with the New York City Ballet and other companies he danced with – and his dance training – and biographical background about Karel Shook, and his mutual relationships he had with Mitchell before they began their co-artistic directorship of the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

An important aspect of the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s story is about how the company’s repertoire evolved. Works by George Balanchine, Geoffrey Holder, Glen Tetley were among those acquired by the company in its early days, and then adding John Taras’ Firebird, Valerie Bettis’ A Streetcar Named Desire, and Agnes de Mille’s Fall River Legend – and its own version of Giselle staged by Frederic Franklin which revised the ballet’s libretto and set the story in Louisiana. Franklin also staged other 19th century classics for the company and other additions to the company’s repertoire included Mikhail Fokine’s Scheherazade.

One of the more interesting anecdotes in the book was about Arthur Mitchell’s – and the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s – dilemma in acquiring ballets choreographed by George Balanchine after Balanchine’s death. At that time the Dance Theatre of Harlem then needed to negotiate with each ballet’s heir about performing rights – which could be more expensive than anticipated – and also the requirement of engaging a stager to re-stage the work at intervals. After Balanchine’s death when a stager might be restaging a work that Mitchell created a role in, he found himself intervening in regard to the staging when it came to the original choreography which could have put him on the wrong side of whoever was the rights holder for that ballet.

Also important in the company’s history were domestic and international touring engagements – a particularly important international tour was a tour of South Africa but there were many other breakthrough tours to the Soviet Union and China. And of course there were the times of ups and downs when it came to the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s finances which on a few occasions required the company to suspend operations.

The Dance Theatre of Harlem’s most significant hiatus was from 2004 which lasted for six  years. In one of the few instances in the book, the authors questioned Arthur Mitchell’s leadership ability before this hiatus and during the hiatus with the focus on a solution being that there had to be a rethinking of how the company was led, its finances, and its general operations in order for the company to return to dancing. The authors contend that what wasn’t thought about was retrenchment, rethinking, and recognizing the changes taking place in the dance world.

When the Dance Theatre of Harlem restored operations in 2011 it was without Arthur Mitchell as the artistic director. Virginia Johnson, one of the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s leading principal dancers, succeeded Mitchell as artistic director. With the company performing again there was a strong sense of survival, and the need to move forward – and constant reinvention and evolving.

In this book the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s history is told with photos, backstage stories, portraits of dancers and staff tracing the important movers and shakers who influenced the company’s visibility and its artistic legacy – and it is all encompassing. Also this story is told in the context of the social and political issues facing Americans during the company’s formative years and beyond.

Written in easy to read prose and thorough in highlighting biographies of artists who influenced Mitchell and Shook, also included are comments by dance critics observing the company’s development. 

This book on the birth of the Dance Theatre of Harlem is a guide for establishing and building any arts organization, literally from the ground up.

Boston Ballet – reSTART

November 1, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

The Boston Ballet had an online presence last season producing a series of streamed performances which allowed balletomanes all over the world to view the company’s performances. For the 2021-2022 season, the Boston Ballet is presenting a hybrid season of live and streamed performances.

The first of the streamed performances is entitled reSTART being presented from October 28 – November 7, 2021 which is a hybrid unto itself with one work created for the film medium, and other works — new and familiar — that were videoed in versions supervised by Ernesto Galan.

The filmed work is Yin Yue’s A Common Movement which was choreographed to music by Bobby Timmons, Lee Morgan and Alice Coltrane, and filmed in outdoor locations in Boston Common in the city of Boston.

Divided into five sections – with the first section danced by a full group of dancers – and following were the sections of Bridge Dancers (danced by Maria Alvarez, Louise Hautfeuille, Lauren Herfindahl, Sangmin Lee, Ao Wang, and Patrick Yocum), Willow Trees (danced by Ji Young Chae, Tyson Clark, Haley Schwan, My’kal Stromile) Bandstand (a large ensemble section), and Swing Pas de Deux Couples (danced by Paul Craig, Sage Humphries, Abigail Merlis, Gearoid Solan, Nikolia Mamalakis, and Schuyler Wijsen).

Seen throughout A Common Movement were groups of dancers on green lawns celebrating the reduction of restrictions, and stating clearly that the Boston Ballet was back.

Following was the Balcony Scene from Romeo and Juliet danced by Soo-Bin Lee and Seokjoo Kim, two Korean dancers now members of the Boston Ballet. This was a balcony scene without a balcony but not lacking in heightened dramatic tension and the dancers reflecting the love between these two characters. Although the choreography was credited as traditional there was the expected ebb and flow in the choreography that was in Prokofiev’s music.

As a preview was an excerpt from Jorma Elo’s Ruth’s Dance, choreographed to Bach’s Widerstehe doch der Sunde as transcribed by Vikingur Olafsson, which was danced by Lasha Khozashvili and Addie Tapp. Piano provided the musical backdrop for Elo’s choreography – an uncomplicated response to Bach’s uncomplicated music and expressed well by the two dancers.

In a staging by Sandra Jennings, the Boston Ballet presented George Balanchine’s Apollo which had been premiered by Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1928 – and was the first major collaboration between Balanchine and Igor Stravinsky. This ballet has also had an important role in Boston Ballet’s history with a company premiere in 1965. Presented in this streamed performance was Balanchine’s revised version from 1979 without the Birth Scene and the new ending.

In Apollo, the Greek God of Music (danced by Paulo Arrais) interacts with his muses, Terpsichore (danced by Lia Cirio), Calliope (danced by Viktorina Kapitonova), and Polyhymnia (danced by Chyrstyn Fentroy). Through the years of Balanchine’s life, Balanchine made revisions in his choreography for Apollo and also simplified the designs. In this revised version the pure essence of Balanchine’s choreography remains and in this streamed platform, the ballet is presented in an intimate setting which highlights Balanchine’s artistic intention. The spare modernism is emphasized as well as the dignity of Apollo and his muses which were exemplified in the solid performances by the dancers.

This streamed presentation ended with a full company Grand Defile danced to the finale movement of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.

reSTART has ushered in a new beginning for the Boston Ballet and its audiences – both in live performances in Boston, and streamed performances that can be seen all over the world.

American Ballet Theatre’s Triple Bill

David Koch Theater

October 29, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

During the second week of American Ballet Theatre’s fall season at the David Koch Theater the company has been presenting triple bills including a world premiere ballet, and ballets and dance pieces that American Ballet Theatre presented during its online streaming seasons while the company was on hiatus from live performances.

On October 29, 2021 American Ballet Theatre performed what was truly a mixed-bill program which included ballets and dance pieces in different styles but also vintage and new.

Opening the program was Lauren Lovette’s La Follia Variations which had been danced by the ABT Studio Company and seen during American Ballet Theatre’s online streaming season.

Choreographed to music by Francesco Geminiani, and for eight dancers, this piece’s choreography reflected allusions to Balanchine’s ballets, a repertoire that Lovette would be familiar with during her time as principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, and also with added influences from Twyla Tharp and William Forsythe. But the predominant style was that of neo-classicism with a twist.

With the men costumed in red and the women in multi-colored costumes La Follia Variations was a bit of a confection. Throughout the piece Lovette responds choreographically to Geminiani’s music and serves as a showcase for its cast members including Kiely Groenewegen, Carlos Gonzalez, Lauren Bonfiglio, Tyler Maloney, Abbey Marrison, Joao Menegussi, Chloe Misseldine, and Jose Sebastian taken from the younger ranks of the company.

The vintage work on this program was Antony Tudor’s Pillar of Fire, a dance play, which tells the story of Hagar (danced by Devon Teuscher) as she discovers relationships with two different men, A Friend of the Family (danced by Thomas Forster), and the Man From The House Opposite (danced by James Whiteside). 

Facing what she believes might be the life of a spinster like her sister, and having experienced her straight-laced and Puritan upbringing, Hagar appears awkward and unsure as she must decide between idolized love and love that she might be fearful of. This story of sexual tension is choreographed to Arnold Schoenberg’s enigmatic music, Transfigured Night, and still has a dramatic punch since its world premiere in 1942.

Serving Tudor’s objective was Teuscher’s intense performance as Hagar in which she also emphasized the dramatic details in the choreography in drawing her character,  as well as Thomas Forster’s empathetic performance as the Family Friend, and James Whiteside’s subtle yet macho performance as the Man From the House Opposite.

Closing the program was a world premiere, Jessica Lang’s Zig Zag, a piece choreographed to the recordings of Tony Bennett (with a duet with Lady Gaga) buoyed by Derek McLane’s designs inspired by Bennett’s artwork – paying tribute to Bennett’s own interest in black and white line drawings which included a panorama of New York City landmarks, and portraits of musicians in Bennett’s band – with an overall Broadway inspiration.

Zig Zag, a work for 14 dancers, is very much an ensemble piece inspired by Tony Bennett’s interpretation of song standards and songs from the American Song Book. Although Lang’s Twyla Tharp’s influenced choreography does not always connect with Bennett’s unique renditions of the songs that were chosen, she has used the dancers she has chosen well, and Zig Zag is clearly entertaining – entertaining in a good way.

The large cast was led by Isabella Boylston, Aran Bell, Katherine Williams,  Blaine Hoven, Erica Lall, and Calvin Royal III who all had their moments to shine.

These pieces chosen for this triple emphasized variety in choreographic styles and proved to be an excellent display of the dancers dancing in them.

City Center Fall for Dance Festival – Program 5

City Center

October 24, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Program 5 of the City Center Fall for Dance Festival included both world and New York premieres choreographed in diverse dance styles and focusing on the talents of particular dancers. Also two of the pieces were given their premieres at the Vail International Dance Festival.

Opening the program was Alexei Ratmansky’s solo Fandango, which was danced by Roman Mejia of the New York City Ballet. Ratmansky choreographed his original version of Fandango as a vehicle for Wendy Whelan while this version was adapted for a performance by a male dancer.

Choreographed to music composed by Luigi Boccherini, there was a romantic feeling reflected in this piece but only a tinge of Spanish dance. However Fandango is a perfect vehicle for a virtuoso dancer – and Mejia is certainly that.

Mejia interacted with the wonderful musicians that were on the stage with him,  and exhibited his showmanship and stage presence – and a bit of virtuosity and his performance personality. 

Tiler Peck of the New York City Ballet and Herman Cornejo of American Ballet Theatre teamed to dance the New York premiere of Justin Peck’s Bloom. Bloom is choreographed to a commissioned score by Caroline Shaw, and its artistic and choreographic inspiration is George Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux. In fact you can hear a bit of Tchaikovsky’s music in the solo variations of this pas de deux which is constructed similar to a 19th century classical pas de deux – adagio, variations, and coda.

Also with the musicians on the stage, and the dancers interacting with them, Peck’s choreographic approach was Jerome Robbins-like – breezy and freeing – and virtuoso – and drawing on the best of both dancers.

To close the program was a City Center commission and world premiere, Where We Dwell, choreographed and performed by virtuoso tap dancer, Ayodele Casel, with the amazing cast of Jared Alexander, Amanda Castro, Kurt Csolak, Naomi Funaki, Quynn Johnson, John Manzari, and Dre Torres in support.

Where We Dwell was choreographed to music composed by Crystal Monee Hall – although there were a few familiar tunes by Gershwin among them that could be identified – and with Torya Beard credited for direction and staging.
Casel’s unique approach to tapping was evident in this piece – not only a showcase for her dancing but also of the incredible tappers that surrounded her.

I have used the adjective of virtuoso in describing the dancers participating in this program and it is for emphasis rather than being redundant. This was a fitting final program for this year’s City Center Fall for Dance Festival – creating a feeling of normalcy.

American Ballet Theatre Dances Giselle

David Koch Theater

October 23, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Fall in New York has made it possible for audiences to have reunions with their favorite dance companies which have not been able to set foot on the stages of theatres for the first time in 18 months. We can think about what has been lost or gained – but the conventional description and greeting would be, “Welcome Home!”, after what has been an overly long absence.

American Ballet Theatre opened its fall season at the David Koch Theater performing a full-length 19th century classic that has held a special place in the company’s repertoire, Giselle. A ballet that premiered in Paris in 1841, staged for American Ballet Theatre by Anton Dolin in 1940, and a ballet that American Ballet Theatre has danced in several different productions over the decades since the company’s founding. This was also the first time in decades since American Ballet Theatre performed a full-length ballet at the David Koch Theater.

American Ballet Theatre’s current production of Giselle is credited to Kevin McKenzie, American Ballet Theatre’s current artistic director, and is traditional in nearly every aspect. The story is told clearly, the choreography is familiar, and also the interpretations of the principal roles are traditional and familiar. However there has been additional interest in these performances as there have been many debuts by American Ballet Theatre dancers in Giselle.

Giselle’s story is that of a jilted peasant girl who is taken in by a cad of an aristocrat – Count Albrecht – who has disguised himself as a peasant villager in order to court her. This story of young love falls to pieces as another one of Giselle’s admirers, Hilarion, reveals Albrecht for what he is. This revelation results in Giselle’s death due to a broken heart. In the second half of the story, Albrecht mourns the loss of Giselle and imagines her spirit – that spirit rescues Albrecht from being danced to death by the Wilis who are the spirits of jilted lovers of the past. Although the story does not end well, there is the feeling that Albrechthas shown remorse in how he had treated Giselle.

Also important in any production of Giselle is capturing the romantic style inherent in the ballet’s choreography for the ballerina dancing Giselle – as a human and a spirit – to inhabit both aspects of Giselle as she forgives Albrecht for what he has done to her. There is also a bit of virtuoso dancing but the challenge for the dancers dancing this ballet is that of the adagio dancing in the ballet, and their abilities as actors to tell the story.

For the evening performance of April 23, 2021, American Ballet Theatre presented the debut of Christine Shevchenko in the title role and the New York debut of Aran Bell as Albrecht – with Devon Teuscher dancing the role of Queen of the Wilis.

Shevchenko successfully portrayed Giselle as the delicate and innocent young girl that she is, and was also successful in bifurcating the human Giselle and the spirit of Giselle as a Wili. Aran Bell played Albrecht as the disdainful seducer that he is. He is without shame in betraying Giselle.

Shevchenko and Bell were moving in their dancing and both are excellent dance-actors threading the needle to clarify some of the disparate narrative in this production of Giselle.

Teuscher was suitably imperious and commanding as Myrta, and Betsy McBride and Carlos Gonzalez gave fresh performances in their energetic and classically superb performance in the Peasant Pas de Deux.

An enthusiastic audience welcomed back American Ballet Theatre at this performance – and one looks forward to the remainder of American Ballet Theatre’s fall season.

City Center Fall for Dance Festival – Program 4

City Center

October 22, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Although a short program – even with a last minute addition – the City Center Fall for Dance Festival’s Program 4 was another presentation that emphasized different styles of dance and different styles in performing dance.

Opening the program was Philadelphia’s Ballet X with the New York premiere of Matthew Neenan’s Mapping Out A Sky. Neenan, one of the principal choreographers of Ballet X, choreographed this piece to instrumental arrangements of recorded songs from Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and Sunday in the Park in George by Nico Muhly, Steve Reich, Duncan Sheik, Thomas Newman, and Wynton Marsalis as played by pianist Anthony De Mare. The arrangements of Sondheim’s music reflected more about the arrangers than Sondheim as a composer and the melodies were obscured in the process. Often Sondheim’s music was transformed into pulsing rhythms more to suit Neenan’s contemporary ballet approach to the music.

Premiered earlier this year, Neenan interpreted these songs in a quirky manner which was not a fluid connection between music and choreography. But Neenan’s choreography was well interpreted by the ensemble cast of Shawn Cusseaux, Jonah Delgado, Francesca Forcella, Blake Krapels, Skyler Lubin, Alexandra Policaro, Ashley Simpson, Erik Trope, Pete Leo Walker, and Andrea Yorita.

Lil Buck returned to the City Center stage with his unique approach to dance and dance movement in the New York premiere of his solo piece, 38109, choreographed to music composed by Caroline Shaw and given its world premiere at the Vail International Dance Festival in 2018.

In this short solo Lil Buck was costumed in his signature white sneakers dancing to spoken word, music and sound – climbing and Lil Buck’s signature “walking choreography” as he effortlessly filled the stage space.

The City Center has commissioned several works for this year’s Fall for Dance Festival and on Program 4 of the Festival, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company presented the world premiere of Lar Lubovitch’s Each In His Own Time, which was danced by Adrian Danchig-Waring and Joseph Gordon of the New York City Ballet.

In this Jerome Robbins-like duet for two male dancers choreographed to piano music composed by Johannes Brahms and played by pianist Susan Walters, Lubovitch matched the rambling and romantic nature of Brahms’ music creating a mood of calm. This was truly a collaboration of a choreographer with the two dancers and the pianist.

An addition to the program was Caleb Teicher & Company dancing an excerpt from Caleb Teicher’s and Nathan Bugh’s Meet Ella – and both Teicher and Bugh were members of the cast along with Evita Arce and Macy Sullivan.

Choreographed to a recording of Ella Fitzgerald’s How High The Moon – an improvisation until itself – this excerpt from Meet Ella was equally an improvisation of choreography, comic movement, and the goal of entertaining the audience. The work not only celebrated the genius of Ella Fitzgerald but also her wit and humor – an unexpected surprise to end this performance.

City Center Fall for Dance Festival – Program 3

City Center

October 20, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

The City Center Fall for Dance Festival Program 3 was another program included in this year’s festival that reflected diversity – not only in terms of dance styles but also in the manner that the choreographers intended their voices to be heard.

Program 3 included a major American ballet company – the newly renamed Philadelphia Ballet — which danced the New York premiere of Juliano Nunes’ Connection. Choreographed to music by Ezio Bosso and premiering in 2019, Nunes’ choreography focused on fluid movement in response to Bosso’s music – sometimes channeling the styles of Jiri Kylian and Glen Tetley. With heavy partnering elements, manipulation, and constant movement, Connection had a continuous ebb and flow.

Connection was well danced by the cast of Thays Golz, Ashton Roxander, Zecheng Liang, Yuka Iseda, Arian Molina Soca, Lucia Erickson, Nayara Lopes, Jack Thomas, So Jung Shin, and Russell Ducker.

Micaela Taylor’s The TL Collective danced Micaela Taylor’s Drift, choreographed to a mish mash of music by various artists and spoken word, presented at the Festival as its New York premiere. Taylor’s choreographic and movement vocabulary is evocative and highly charged, and enhanced by the dancers often lip-synching the lyrics of the music pieces that Taylor interprets choreographically and in full body movement.

With a cast including Jennifer Lacy, Kaia Makihara, Jessie Lee Thorne, Gianna Todisco, and Taylor herself, these dancers articulated Taylor’s concept and choreography with great intensity.

Step Afrika! was founded by C. Brian Williams in 1994 and is the first professional company dedicated to the tradition of the dance form, stepping – a hybrid of choreography and dance that has been synthesized with many different percussive dance styles. There is also an emphasis on teamwork which was on display in the world premiere of Conrad Kelly II’s The Movement.

In his dance piece Kelly infuses a strong and passionate reaction to racial incidents and issues in the United States with the dance evolving from silence, words from speeches, and the projections of the names of victims.

The Movement never stops and was a high power closer for this program.

Kathryn Posin Dance Company

Gene Frankel Theater

October 19, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Returning to live performances, on October 19, 2021, the Kathryn Posin Dance Company performed at the Gene Frankel Theater in New York City. Making this performance possible was a  a City Artist Corps Grant with such grants assisting New York City’s performance arts organizations to continue their operations under the cloud of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a pre-performance curtain speech Posin viewed the purpose of this performance as an opportunity to showcase talent of the current generation of dancers and choreographers, and in that spirit there was much to experience in this less than 1-hour performance that was received by an enthusiastic audience. Like many other New York dance companies, it is great to have them back.

The program opened with Daniel White dancing Gerald Arpino’s solo piece, Touch Me, which Arpino created  in 1977 for then Joffrey Ballet principal dancer, Christian Holder. Inspired by the gospel music of James Cleveland and the Charles Fold Singers, Arpino exposed a different dimension in his own choreography at the time he created Touch Me. 

Daniel White seemed to be channeling Holder in his energetic and powerful performance – particularly in the manner of how he filled the Gene Frankel Theater’s small stage.

New choreography was showcased in Through You…, a duet that was a collaborative effort by Claire Mazza and Alejandro Ulloa as both choreographers and dancers. Choreographed to the music of Claire Valentine Silvestrov, Dustin O’Halloran, and Ernesto Lecuona, this piece delineated how a relationship can evolve from distant to romantic featuring strong partnering by Ulloa throughout the piece.

Posin’s new, fascinating and enigmatic choreographic contribution to this one-night-only performance, Postlude, was choreographed as a world premiere prelude to an excerpt from her Triple Sextet. Postlude’s choreography clearly depicted the restrictions caused by the pandemic as the dancers attempted to walk up the theatre walls – tools of coping – duly noting White dancing like a strutting peacock – one of many coping mechanisms during these unique times.

From there the dancers, White, Mazza, Ulloa, and Camila Rodrigues, transitioned to the Third Movement from Posin’s Triple Sextet, choreographed to Steve Reich’s rhythmic music, which was joyous – as if to say we made it through this difficult time as a high-note of this performance.

City Center Fall for Dance Festival – Program 2

City Center

October 15, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Diversity, again, was the theme for the City Center Fall for Dance Festival’s Program 2 presenting modern dance works and contemporary ballet as components of its performance. Also there was the sense of newness and its entertainment value that inspired the energy of this performance.

Opening the program was the Stephen Petronio Company dancing Petronio’s American Landscapes which had premiered in 2009. Choreographed to the music of Jim Jarmusch and Jozeg Van Wissem, American Landscapes grapples with the innate conflicts regarding political and social issues in the United States. Such problems as climate change, and American symbols were portrayed in striking slide images by Robert Longo which enhanced the debate. 

Petronio’s choreography depicted sadness as well as resiliency – but little conflict — with the dancers costumed in neutral colors. This ensemble piece was well danced and articulated by the cast of Larissa Asebedo, Jaqi Medlock, Tess Montoya, Ryan Pliss, Nicholas Sciscione, Mac Twining, Brandon Collwes, Kris Lee, and Tiffany Ogburn.

In contrast was the simple ballet classicism in Stanton Welch’s Sons De L’Ame in its New York premiere. Choreographed to piano pieces composed by Frederic Chopin, the work was given its premiere by the Houston Ballet in Paris in 2013.

Welch’s choreography reflected not only his classicism and fluidity, but an understated response to Chopin’s music in two pas de deux which were excerpts from this longer piece. The two pas de deux were danced with polish and emotion by Houston Ballet principal dancers, Karina Gonzalez and Connor Walsh.

Closing the program was Ephrat Asherie Dance in Ephrat Asherie’s ODEON: Redux, a work that premiered in 2018 and was choreographed to the music of Ernesto Nazareth. 

Asherie’s vim and verve dance played to the audience with street smart, and humorous and clever choreography – with the dancers dancing in sneakers and responding to the Latin rhythms of the music – resulting in an entertaining and high-spirited dance piece that stayed with one after one had left the City Center.

Contributing to the high energy was the cast of dancers, Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie, Manon Bal, Teena Marie Custer, Valerie, “Ms. Vee” Ho, Matthew West, and Omari Wiles.

City Center Fall for Dance Festival – Program 1

City Center

October 14, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

The City Center Fall for Dance Festival has shown its resiliency in returning to live performances this year. This season’s Festival is focused on domestic performing companies and presentations rather than being inclusive of international dance troupes. It hasn’t prevented the Festival from programming dance presentations that represent its mission as each program will include a variety of dance styles and dance troupes. Besides the announced Covid-19 protocols, the performances are taking place without intermissions.

Program 1, seen on October 14, 2021, opened with the Streb Extreme Action presenting three pieces choreographed by the company’s founder and choreographer, Elizabeth Streb.

Works performed included Molinette, Add/Pole Vaults, and Air  – with the music for Air composed by Freshbeatz.

On display was Streb’s signature movement – suspended and unsuspended – featuring dancers working with a horizontal pole (two women and one man turning on the bar in unison, alternating, out of sequence, primarily with their feet firmly attached to the bar) and a trampoline (with the dancer/athletes jumping and diving off in ever-changing dives on to a mat). Apparatus and equipment transformations were presided over by Emcee, Felix Hess, providing suitable banter encouraging the audience’s enthusiasm and audience participation.

In all, this was an entertaining display of athleticism, strength and daring – and no wonder that the dancers’ signature was that of Action Heroes – and those heroes were Cassandre Joseph, Jackie Carlson, Daniel Rysak, Tyler Duboys, Justin Ross, Brigitte Manga, Luciany German, and Loganne Bond.

Also on the program was A.I.M by Kyle Abraham which presented the New York premiere of Kyle Abraham’s Our Indigo: If I Were a Love Song, choreographed to six songs sung by Nina Simone. Abraham’s choreography expressed the raw emotions in these Simone interpretations of familiar and standard songs – good love and love gone wrong – in which Abraham exploited the best of the dancers, Tamisha Guy, Keerati Jinakunwiphat, Claude “CJ” Johnson, Catherine Kirk, Jae Neal, Donovan Reed, and Gianna Theodore, in solos and duets in what was an unchanged and subdued mood throughout the piece.

The closing piece on the program was unveiled under the title of The Verdon Fosse Legacy presenting a City Center commission, Sweet Gwen Suite. This was a world premiere trio of dances originally performed by Gwen Verdon on television – linked together – and was meant to give credit that is due of Verdon being a co-choreographer – with Bob Fosse. These dances were directed and reconstructed by Linda Haberman, who also provided additional choreography.

The first and third trios, and solo in between, were danced to Mexican Shuffle and Cool Hand Luke/Mexican Breakfast, with the dancers reflecting the style of the music wearing sombreros, smoking cigarettes, and a bit of macho. The Fosse signature was obvious in the choreography and these dances were representative of what was seen on television variety series in the 1960’s. The Sweet Gwen Suite was notably danced by Georgina Pazcoguin with Zachary Downer and Tyler Eisenreich.

The City Center Fall for Dance Festival’s Program 1 got the Festival off to a good start.

Six

Brooks Atkinson Theatre

October 7, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Long awaited the new Broadway season opened for me with the Broadway premiere of the new British musical, Six, which I “experienced” at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on October 7, 2021. And what a burst of energy to open the season!

Six originated at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and its Broadway opening was cancelled when Broadway’s bright lights were turned off in March 2020. But after much anticipation and persistence Six has now opened on Broadway at an energy level that would keep the power on all over New York City.

Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, and directed collaboratively by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage, Six tells the story of Henry VIII’s tragic wives, and in this instance these ex-wives compete to determine whose life was the most tragic. This parable is told in nine songs in the form of a concert, and in 80 minutes Six is a very concise and contentious rivalry among these wives with this 16th century story presented through the prism of the 21st century. Just think of The Real Housewives of Hampton Court Palace presented in a rollicking concert performance.

I, myself, felt I had lived with these intriguing ladies during my university undergraduate and graduate days researching their lives and their stories – viewing their portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in London to the point of them almost coming alive again – and their confrontations with Henry VIII and how they influenced the social, religious and political climate of 16th century England. However as Six relates, there was more to tell.

Divorced.Beheaded.Died.Divorced.Beheaded. Survived. put the lives of Henry VIII’s wives in perspective and each presented their defense in the music of styles of different ages – and do they tell them with sass, style, determination, and woman power. Rather than “history” this was “herstory”.

In “No Way” Adrianna Hicks as Catherine of Aragon tells her story about how Henry VIII persuaded her to get a divorce and turned England’s religious and political world upside down. In “Don’t Lose Ur Head”, Andrea Macasaet as Anne Boleyn bemoans her tragedy in not producing a male heir and losing her head. Mallory Maedke as Jane Seymour describes her suffering as she was Henry VIII’s true love but lost her life in producing Henry VIII’s much wanted male heir in “Heart of Stone”, and Brittney Mack as Anna of Cleves comes to terms that her life wasn’t that bad in “Get Down”.  Courtney Mack as Katherine Howard confesses her youthful mistakes in “All You Wanna Do”, and Anna Uzele as Catherine Parr pleads that she didn’t need Henry VIII’s love in “I Don’t Need Your Love” – describing her suffering as she was politically sacrificed in having to marry Henry VIII and giving her up her love match after a life of widowhood.

But in the end these diva Queens realize that their identities are primarily linked to their marriages to the same man rather than the achievements in their own right. This is “herstory”.

Besides singing their hearts out, these ladies also move about the stage with equal energy which is due to the excellent and exuberant and well-crafted choreography by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille.

It would be impossible to single out any of these talented ladies who played these distinct royals only to marvel at their talents. It isn’t an overstatement that Six is an entertaining theatre evening with its witty tongue and cheek humor, depicting these tough ladies, and these actress’ stature as entertainers. What a great way for the new Broadway theatre season to open!

Denishawn: Dances By

Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn

The Theatre at St. Jeans

September 30, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Produced by Audrey Ross, Denishawn: Dances By Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, is a program of rarely seen works choreographed by two of the pioneers of American modern dance, Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn.

Described as the mother and father of American modern dance, St. Denis and Shawn were innovators in regard to both choreography and the performance of choreography drawing from their own life experiences and dance history.

This program was inspired by Ross’ association with the Denishawn Repertory Dancers as a publicist and also to note the passing of Jane Sherman in 2010, at 100 years-old, the last living member of the original Denishawn Company. This was a program of dance that was meant to showcase these important historical works to a present-day audience and to appreciate how much St. Denis and Shawn contributed to how American dance evolved.

Assembled was a cast of notable dancers for their interpretation of dance pieces – from the modern dance and ballet worlds – and also representing the dancers of tomorrow with the participation of Limon2.

Opening the program was Ted Shawn’s Floor Plastique, which had its original premiere in 1916, and was choreographed for students at the Denishawn School in Los Angeles, California.

Appropriately this performance of Floor Plastique was danced by Lihong Chan, Erin Hollamon, Madison Marshall, Tess McCharen, Nicole Miera, Sabrina Olivieri, and  Ellie Swainhart, who are members of Limon2 – here staged and coached by Henning Rubsam. This dance is an example of less is more as these young dancers simply danced Shawn’s choreography to great effect.

Valentina Kozlova, former principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet and the New York City Ballet, performed one of Ruth St. Denis’ early works, Incense, which had its premiere in 1906. Based upon a Hindu ritual the sense of ritual and spirituality was beautifully danced, interpreted, and projected by Kozlova.

Bradley Shelver, a principal of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, performed Shawn’s Japanese Spear Dance, which was inspired by Japanese dance tradition and was premiered in 1919. In this piece Shelver portrays a warrior with great strength and fortitude – an exacting piece of choreography.

The trio from Ted Shawn’s Choeur Danse, was imagined as figures from a Grecian vase coming to life. Choeur Danse, which had its original premiere in 1926, was here taught and coached by Francesca Todesco. The performance of this dance had the ingredients of youth and spring as expressed by the cast of Rosy Gentle, Erika Langmeyer, and Kathleen Caragine.

Nina Jirka, a member of the Vanaver Caravan, performed Ruth St. Denis’ The Legend of the Peacock, which was staged by Jane Sherman and Livia Vanaver and inspired by St. Denis’ original choreography – and had been originally premiered in 1914. In this dance an admired and attractive woman is transformed into a peacock to punish her for her vanity. Jirka expresses regality, and in contrast, yearning and desperation, in this piece.

Arthur Aviles, former member of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance, performed Ted Shawn’s Danse Americaine, which was originally premiered in 1923. Aviles draws the character of a street dude who charms every one he meets – and danced by Aviles with wit and charm.

Ruth St. Denis’ A Javanese Court Dancer, had been premiered in 1926, and was created as an American expression of serimpi – a ritualized dance of Java associated with royal palaces. Pei-Ju Chien-Pott, former principal dancer of the Martha Graham Dance Company, presented an image of regality and femineity in this piece enhanced with the fluttering of her hands.

Ted Shawn’s The Cosmic Dance of Siva, which premiered in 1926, is described as a celebratory Hindu dance in honor of Siva. The ritualized dance and its theme of celebration was well expressed by Antonio Fini, a former member of the Martha Graham Dance Company.

The closing piece on the program was Ruth St. Denis’ Waltz/Liebestraum, choreographed to Brahms’ Waltz in A Flat Major and Liszt’s Liebestraum. Premiered in 1922, the dance’s origination was inspired by the moment when St. Denis began dancing at a party. The choreography captures the mood, airiness, and the poetry of the music, and was danced with great inspiration by Christine Dakin, former artistic director and principal dancer of the Martha Graham Dance Company.

The dances presented on this program were, for the most part, choreographed and danced by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn in their premieres which reflected their artistic aesthetic. Their solos tell a story – precise, concise – and to the point. In the hands of such wonderful artists, these works came to life again for another generation to experience and enjoy.

Anna Held – The Birth of Ziegfeld’s Broadway

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Published by the University of Kentucky Press, and written by Eve Golden, Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld’s Broadway, is a look back at what Broadway was before World War I – a very different Broadway from what it is today.

That history, represented in Golden’s book, is about Anna Held, a theater superstar during this period of time. Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld’s Broadway looks back on Held’s life from her theatrical roots in Europe and then upon her immigrating to the United States and her relationship with Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., her husband, mentor, and notable producer, and their many theatrical enterprises.

Born in Poland, Held was the only child in her family to survive. To avoid Czar Alexander III’s efforts to punish Jews in all countries under Russia’s control, the Held family left for Paris in 1881. Held worked in Paris’ garment industry, and struggled like other immigrants and the poor in Paris. But she became a self-styled Parisienne taking on all sorts of jobs in order to make a living.

Around 1884, after her father had passed on, her family sought out a relative in London only to find that relative didn’t live at the address they had. But they took advantage of contacts within the Jewish immigrant community living in London. Held joined Yisrol Gardner’s theater company as an actress. After her mother’s death, Jacob Adler stole her away to join his Smith’s Theater. In 1887 when Adler’s theatre was lost to a fire Held returned to Paris where she appeared with Yiddish theater companies, and also turned to Paris’ music halls to pursue her stage career.

She met her first husband, Maximo Carrera, in 1893 — he was known as a notorious playboy – perhaps marrying him because she was pregnant with her daughter.  Held converted to Catholicism and spun stories of a Christian life and memories in what was a hostile environment for Jews. Not believing in divorce, when Held and Carrera drifted apart, they didn’t divorce.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Ziegfeld, growing up with producing skills, traveled to Europe to search for acts for his productions in the United States, and during this search he crossed paths with Held.

It was in 1896 that Ziegfeld bought out Held’s contract with the Folies Bergères in Paris and contracted Held for an engagement in a revival of A Parlor Match in New York – which was also eventually toured in the United States. When Held arrived in New York for this engagement Ziegfeld initiated press promotions to enable Held to beat out her competition of the day – promoting her with the aid of a press agent, creating stunts including her infamous milk baths, and endorsing products.

Held and Ziegfeld developed a romantic relationship and taking advantage of New York State’s common law marriage laws, Held, didn’t have to divorce her husband – and Held and Ziegfeld were recognized as being legally married after 7 years.

Held returned to Broadway in La Poupe, an English version of a French farce and then on to vaudeville touring in a private railway car previously owned by Lillie Langtry. She also appeared in another English version of a French play, The French Maid, and spent her summers in Europe.

One of Held’s great triumphs was Papa’s Wife, which was created as a vehicle for her, and was a major test for her personal and professional life. Papa’s Wife received raves in its out of town tryout and opened in New York in 1899 as a smash hit – helped a great deal by Held’s recognition as a Broadway star and lots of chorus girls. Held’s next vehicle was Little Duchess which opened in New York in 1901 which was also followed by a successful national tour. As in the instance of Little Duchess Held’s vehicles were also known for its costumes, hers designed by Mme. Landoff of Paris.

The next Held/Ziegfeld extravaganza was Mam’selle Napoleon – based on a French play about Napoleon Bonaparte’s favorite actress. Presented in three acts taking place in different locations in Europe, there were 44 speaking parts, 100 chorus girls and the cost was a record at its time in 1903 of $100,000. Critics panned the show – an experiment in Held taking on a serious role which was not a success – Ziegfeld lost a boat load of money on this project.

In 1904 Held and Ziegfeld moved into a luxury apartment in the newly-built Ansonia on New York’s Upper West Side. Shortly thereafter Ziegfeld teamed with producer Joe Weber to present in one of Weber’s satires, Higgledy-Piggledy, which was not a success for Held, and also brought to its conclusion the producing team of Ziegfeld and Weber.

In preparation for these projects Held was unmasked as being born in Warsaw and Jewish which created a scandal – which was also duplicated when it was revealed that Held had a daughter with Held stage managing it all in a way that further estranged herself from her daughter.

In the meantime two warring groups of theater owners dictated Ziegfeld’s fortunes as he played one group against the other. In producing The Parisian Model – play that Held was to appear in – Ziegfeld went back to a successful formula of depending upon past success that emphasized the risqué and costume designs by the leading Paris fashion houses. Unlike the Weber/Ziegfeld theatrical enterprise, The Parisian Model opened in New York in 1906 and received good notices.

The Parisian Model proved to be the biggest financial success of any musical record in theatre history.

Also, Ziegfeld began developing what became his signature contribution to theatre history —The Follies of 1907, an idea attributed to Held, which evolved into a variety show with chorus girls – branded as the Anna Held girls – and renting the rooftop garden of the New York Theater (renamed the Jardin de Paris), the Follies’ home for the first five of its seasons.

Another change in Held’s life was the death of her first husband, Maximo Carrera, in 1908 and Held assuming full custody of her estranged daughter Liane. 

Held’s next project was another racy musical, Miss Innocence, and after opening in New York in 1908 it was another big hit that also had a national tour. Miss Innocence proved to be the last Held/Ziegfeld collaboration. Ziegfeld had an open relationship with one of his mistresses, Lillian Lorraine, which resulted in Held’s confrontation with Ziegfeld and his mistress. Being publicly humiliated Held left for Paris, splitting with Ziegfeld, making international headlines, and rumors about retirement. 

In 1910 Held returned to Europe to appear in a variety act in London and then an American tour of Miss Innocence – and a reconciliation of sorts with Ziegfeld – and also regular trips between Europe and the United States resulting in an engagement at the Folies Bergères in Paris. But Held finally divorced Ziegfeld.

Held pursued her career with the guidance of a new manager, John Cort, which resulted in Held appearing in a vaudeville show, Anna Held’s All-Star Variety Jubilee – which had a 5-month tour – which was not all that successful and after touring opened earlier in New York that had been planned.

However, another important event in Held’s life was coming to terms that a reconciliation with Ziegfeld would not be possible when the news was announced that Ziegfeld had married Billie Burke in 1914.

When Held returned to Europe for the last time to spend time in France, she also had plans to perform in Bucharest when the events leading up to World War I impacted her plans. The theatrical community did what they could to support the war effort and were among the war casualties as well. Held, herself, wired President Woodrow Wilson requesting him to involve the United States in the war effort in Europe – but did not receive a reply. However Held assembled a troupe of entertainers, equipped cars for the purpose and without government approval set off to entertain the troops, lend assistance at field hospitals, and put their lives at risk.

Held returned to the United States and returned to her vaudeville roots and engagements, and her first feature film, Madame la Presidente, which was shot in Los Angeles and released in 1916. Held then signed a contract with the Shuberts and was to appear in a show entitled Follow Me, for which she was also a prominent investor. Although Follow Me was a great success and Held’s last success, the Shuberts did not want to sponsor a tour. Held then took over that responsibility while also still supporting the war effort, when in 1917, the United States entered World War I.

Unfortunately, the extensive touring and war activities effected Held’s health preventing her from performing during the tour of Follow Me. Her daughter, Liane, stepped into the lead role for those tour dates. But Held’s health issues were so severe that the tour was disbanded, and ultimately she was diagnosed with a form of cancer which contributed to her death in 1918. Her memory was served at the time with appropriate arrangements made by her friend, Lillian Russell.

Golden has also provided numerous details about Held’s stage career and personal life that could not be covered in a review of Golden’s book.

Anna Held’s name has passed into memory although she was among the theater’s greatest stars – in fact, legend, and myth. Thanks to Eve Golden’s book, Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld’s Broadway, one can now get to know her, her fame, and her contribution to theatre history.

Irish Repertory Theatre Presents
Angela’s Ashes The Musical

September 9, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

The Irish Repertory Theatre is presenting a unique and special streamed event as part of its 2021-22 season. Being streamed on demand is Angela’s Ashes – The Musical, from Dublin’s Olympia Theatre, which began its presentations on September 9th and will continue until September 22, 2021.

Angela’s Ashes is Frank McCourt’s memoir of his early life in America and in Limerick, Ireland suffering through a life of poverty and facing the consequences being raised by an alcoholic father. As stated by the young Frank he survived his Irish Catholic childhood.

This compelling musical adaption of McCourt’s Pulitzer Prize winning memoir has been written by the creative team of Adam Howell, writing the music and lyrics, and Paul Hurt, writing the book.

McCourt’s experiences includes being surrounded by characters out of Victorian novel – and after those haunting, and challenging years, he ultimately decides to pursue a new life in America. McCourt’s story is seen from his perspective as a young boy and then into early adulthood.

Frank looks back on his childhood and young adult life through flashbacks describing the marriage of his father, Malachy, and his mother Angela, how they managed through poverty after immigrating to America and returning to Ireland, and losing some of their children to illness. The focus of Angela’s Ashes is Malachy’s battle with alcohol and how he failed in his fatherly responsibilities by not holding down a steady job, not contributing to the family’s well-being nor any money to survive on – and even though he left the family to find work in England, he reverted to his old ways when he returned to Ireland.

Frank, born in America, sees his life in Ireland as an outsider. Being teased by his peers and having difficulty in conforming to Irish Catholic life at a time of economic and political change. Benefitting from what education he had and also his talent, Frank parlays what he had financially and leaves his family behind to seek his fortune in America. Years lately the family is able to unite and the family also fulfills Frank’s mother’s request to have her ashes returned to Ireland.

Frank’s impressions are told and enhanced by Angela’s Ashes’ score which is filled with the rhythms and instrumentation of Irish traditional music that is familiar, and sentimental. The score is memorable not only for how it draws the characters in this musical but also how it sets the atmospherics that color Frank’s story.

Particularly notable were the performances of Jacinta Whyte as the long-suffering Angela, and Eoin Cannon as the young and adult Frank. Although the character of Malachi, Frank’s father, is not particularly empathetic, Marty McGuire brings realism to this role.

Thom Southerland, as the director of this production of Angela’s Ashes, guides this story with Irish charm as well as wit.

This musical version of Angela’s Ashes was premiered at the Lime Tree Theatre in Limerick in 2017, and these streamed performances of the Olympia Theatre production of Angela’s Ashes, sponsored by the Irish Repertory Theatre, make it possible for Angela’s Ashes to be seen in its North American premiere.

Angela’s Ashes is a story worth telling and is enhanced in this stage musical version with passion and empathy — with the addition of music.

A Star On Her Door – June Bronhill

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

A Star On Her Door, by Richard Davis, and published by Wakefield Press, examines the life of Australian opera and musical stage star, June Bronhill. Her name not be familiar in many parts of the world, but she played an important role in Australia’s musical theater history.

For four decades beginning the 1950’s June Bronhill earned recognition as an opera star in the United Kingdom and Australia singing roles in operas composed by Mozart, Donizetti and Verdi – and in operettas by Lehar and Offenbach – part of a varied career on stage including operas and operettas, Broadway musicals, as well as in straight plays, television and cabaret.

She was born in Broken Hill, Australia in 1929 – her name then – June Mary Gough – known later to the world as June Bronhill.

Her father emigrated from the United Kingdom to Australia taking on different career opportunities, and ultimately he became known as a unionist and was well respected in Broken Hill. Notably he courted and married Maria Isabella Daisy Hall. He also changed professions from working in the mines to an administrative position at the local hospital.

June was the youngest in the family – two of her sisters did not survive into adulthood. Her talent for singing was discovered when she was five years old. She got to display her singing talent locally, in fundraising concerts, at a local radio station and as a soloist with the local choir, and subsequently began her musical studies.

In 1949 she competed in the Sun Aria vocal competition placing third – the winner was Joan Sutherland – but the following year she came back and won first prize. In 1951 she married aspiring opera producer, Brian Martin, and they set off for the United Kingdom in 1952 to allow Bronhill to pursue her vocal studies and her career, and for Martin to pursue a career as an opera producer.

In London Bronhill studied with Italian tenor Dino Borgioli, and was offered a contract as a principal soprano at the Sadler’s Wells Opera joining other Australians on the roster – making her Sadler’s Wells debut as Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro.

Bronhill was invited to be an understudy for Covent Garden’s production of Lucia di Lammermoor by Franco Zeffirelli – and then was asked to sing the role on tour.
In 1960 Bronhill returned to Australia to sing the title role in The Merry Widow with the Sadler’s Wells Opera – and the same commercial producer, Garnet Carroll, who produced the tour, engaged Bronhill to appear in the Australian production of The Sound of Music. Bronhill  appeared opposite American actor Peter Graves (of Mission Impossible fame) as Captain Von Trapp.

During this time period Bronhill’s marriage ended in divorce with her husband to return to living in Australia, and she met and married her second husband, Richard Finny. During the Sydney engagement of The Sound of Music, Bronhill realized she was pregnant and after the birth of her daughter, she went back to performing – an Australian tour of The Merry Widow and Orpheus in the Underworld.

London called again for Bronhill to create a starring role in a new musical, Robert and Elizabeth, based on Rudolf Besier’s play, The Barretts of Wimple Street. With a score composed by Australian Ron Grainer and playing opposite Australian actor, Keith Michell, Robert and Elizabeth premiered in London in 1964 – then touring in this musical in Australia opposite English actor Denis Quilley. Although a Broadway engagement of Robert and Elizabeth was abruptly cancelled, Bronhill toured with this musical in South Africa.

Bronhill’s opera career continued with an engagement by the Elizabethan Trust Opera company to tour Australia in Don Pasquale and Die Fledermaus, and in 1968 she was off to London to appear in a revival of Ivor Novello’s The Dancing Years touring in the United Kingdom and a London engagement. She also appeared in a UK tour of Noel Coward’s Bittersweet.

In 1971 Bronhill  divorced her husband Richard Finny – however her performing did not stop. She also toured with Tommy Steele and appeared in two more Ivor Novello musicals.

She also appeared a prodigious number of opera performances with the Sadler’s Wells Opera in  The Merry Widow and La Rondine, and with the Australian Opera in Rigoletto, The Barber of Seville, Maria Stuarda, and Gilbert & Sullivan operettas.

Bronhill appeared in the role of Desiree Armfeldt in an Australian production of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music – in 1972, in Paris, she had unsuccessfully auditioned for the same role in the Broadway production – and she also appeared in Joan Littlewood’s Oh, What A Lovely War! Bronhill also starred in the Australian version of the BBC sit-com, Are You Being Served?

In 1981 Bronhill was invited to play the role of the Mother Abbess in the first British professional revival of The Sound of Music with Petula Clark as Maria. And I was honored to have seen and heard her in this role in London myself. This revival was successful enough to run for nearly a year in London’s West End. 

Bronhill’s last major role was that of Ruth in the Australian production of the Broadway version of The Pirates of Penzance in 1984. Other roles included Mrs. Pearce in the Victorian State Opera’s production of My Fair Lady, Nunsense, Arsenic and Old Lace, and her farewell musical stage appearance in 1993 as Miss Jones in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying – her actual farewell appearance was in the comedy Straight and Narrow.

In her later years Bronhill chose her projects with visibility and a paycheck in mind, and also in those years, she was losing her hearing, and was suffering from dementia and other medical conditions. But she did her write her own autobiography, The Merry Bronhill, before passing away in 2005.

Although most of Bronhill’s career was in Australia, she did become known in the United Kingdom and re-invented herself to make it possible for to appear in a wide range of entertainment media.

Mr. Davis’ biography includes an exacting number of notes for each chapter – which are of interest in their own right – a list of Bronhill’s appearances in opera and on stage, and also a discography – and it is worthwhile reading, A Star On Her Door, if only to discover a unique opera star, musical stage star, and entertainer.

Pick A Pocket Or Two

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

In his book, Pick A Pocket Or Two – A History of British Musical Theatre, published by Oxford University Press, Ethan Mordden traces the roots of British Musical Theatre – parallel to the development of the same genre in the United States.

Mordden defines American musicals as focusing on fulfilling ambition in comparison to British musicals which outline social boundaries and a person’s place in their individual world. Also British musicals were distinguished by their charm.

Mordden begins his story focusing on the roots of the British musical going back to John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera  — in 1728 – to the present day. Mordden explains that The Beggar’s Opera was not only an entertainment of its era but is also considered by Mordden to be stage worthy even today. Gay injected his own lyrics into well-known traditional ballads, and the story is about the criminal classes of the day which could apply to any historical era. Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera inspired The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht which had its world premiere in 1928.

Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas paralleled Offenbach’s operettas – all of which included social and political satire. The partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan was initiated in 1871 and lasted until 1896. Their works were political satires – spoofing the landed gentry and powerful – social commentary set in familiar settings, and foreign and exotic places – which could be described as comic operas and mastered the form of patter songs.

In his book Mordden described Sullivan as a romantic and Gilbert as the satirist.

Moving on from Gilbert and Sullivan, Mordden explores the influence of George Edwards, manager of London’s Gaiety Theatre, who “invented” what is known as the modern musical comedy during the Gaiety Era – from around the 1890s to 1915 – marking a different approach from Gilbert and Sullivan – with modern settings, emphasizing star personalities, and uplifting content in songs.

The term “musical comedy” first appeared in the billing of Cinderella At School in 1881 – used in American first – and an important example of this new form, Shop Girl opened in London in 1894 – focusing on a typical young woman of the time.

During the years from 1910 to 1920 this was an era during which productions were influenced by American styles and music – along with imported musicals by Irving Berlin and George Gershwin.

However an important success during that era was Frederic Norton’s Chu Chin Chow in 1916 with lyrics and book by Oscar Asche which had an engaging and involving plot.

Just as significant or more so was Mister Cinders in 1929, a male version of Cinderella, written by Clifford Grey and Greatrex Newman in its original version with songs by Richard Myers. During its 4-month out of town tryouts the creative teams and principal actors were changed and owed its international success to composer Vivian Ellis.

Ivor Novello, another major contributor to British musicals was known as a matinee idol and movie star, and authored the dialogue in MGM’s Tarzan & the Ape Man.

In his early work he used music quotations from known composers – songs for revues – and one of his best-known, “And Her Mother Came Too!” was composed during his early years.

However he was best known for his operettas, inventing plots for them, with Christopher Hassall contributing the lyrics for them. Novello wrote the scripts, composed the songs, played the leads – and supervised each production. His operettas were dominated by long book scenes and short scores which were added to by reprises. His works dominated the years from 1935 through 1949.

Mordden describes the years between the 1920’s and the 1950’s as a conservative period in British musical presentations. He states that the British musicals lacked ambition during this time – a time when both revues and book musicals were presented and produced by Charles Cochran and Andre Charlot.

Among the standout book musicals during that period were Ever Green with a score by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart starring Jessie Matthews, and Cole Porter’s Nymph Errant starring Gertrude Lawrence.

Having a unique impact on the British theatre scene in 1937 was Me and My Girl with Lupino Lane playing Bill Snibson, a cockney, who is confused as he is informed that he comes from a posh family and must give up his girlfriend – having to give up his individuality for the sake of fitting in with British upper crust society. Composer Noel Gay, and Arthur Rose and Douglas Farber writing the book and lyrics, profited when Me and My Girl had a second life when this musical was revived in 1984 and was even more successful than the original production in the 1930’s.

Also during this period was Vivian Ellis’ the Water Gipsies and Bless The Bride, both of which Ellis wrote with A.P.  Herbert.

From 1923 onwards Noel Coward wrote plays, revues, musicals, and popular songs – and he also acted in his own creations. Self-educated and demonized at times, and revered at other times. During his career he created eccentric characters in complicated relationships and his plays have been in and out of fashion, but have survived, and have been regularly revived.

Among Coward’s musicals or plays with music were Words & Music, Sight No More, Bittersweet (starring Peggy Wood), Conversation Piece, Pacific (produced in London and starred Mary Martin), Sail Away (starring Elaine Stritch), and The Girl Who Came To Supper taking Coward through his career up to 1963.

In the 1950’s among the imported American musicals was My Fair Lady – and there were the continued American influences on British musicals as many American actors recreated roles in the London productions of Broadway musicals. However a British musical that was very influenced by American musicals was Grab Me A Gondola, which opened in London in 1956, and Harold Fielding presented stage versions of American musicals written for television – Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella and Cole Porter’s Aladdin.

In 1959, Lock Up Your Daughters – based on Henry Fielding’s Rape Upon Rape – was given its London premiere notable for the creative team which included Bernard Miles, Laurie Johnson and Lionel Bart. And there were also notable musicals from the British colonies including Golden City, in 1950, which premiered in London but was written by John Tori of Rhodesia. Golden City was set in South Africa during the Gold Rush days. And in 1958 Lola Montez came from Australia, and from South Africa – and in 1958 – Lola Montez from Australia.  

In 1958 Expresso Bongo made a deep impression as it employed music from the pop world, and in that same year imported from France but Anglicized – and revised version for Broadway, was Irma La Douce.

But it was in 1960 that Lionel Bart’s Oliver! premiered in London, based on Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist, which became an international hit. Mordden also examined Bart’s later musicals, Blitz (about life in London during the Blitz),  and Maggie May – and the unsuccessful Twang! a satire of Robin Hood. Although Bart had only one major success during his career there is no doubt that he made his mark on the history of British musicals.

Mordden has paired off the work of Sandy Wilson and Julian  Slade for coming on to the scene in the early 1950’s – neither one of them influenced by American musicals but were also described as one-hit wonders – Wilson with The Boy Friend, and Slade with Salad Days – Wilson working on his own while Slade worked with collaborators. Slade’s musicals being innocent while Wilson was satirical and cynical.

Wilson’s The Boy Friend echoed the American musical, No, No Nanette – with a pastiche score – and an homage to 1920’s British musicals. Slade’s musicals are described by Mordden as unworldly and silly – including Salad Days – and a later success, Trelawney, a musicalization of Arthur Wing Pinero’s play of the same name which was launched at the Bristol Old Vic with Hayley Mills heading the original cast – then moving on to the West End with Gemma Craven as the star.

Mordden describes the 1960’s as a decade of contrast, re-invention, experimentation, and transition in terms of the development of British musicals. It was also a time of social and political upheaval in British society, and also the society at large responding to the Cold War. 

Described as “concept musicals” were three musicals by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse with Newley starring in all of them – the Marcel Marceau-inspired Stop The World – I Want To Get Off, The Roar of the Greasepaint, and in the early days of 1972, The Good Old Bad Old Days. Stop The World and The Good Old Bad Old Days made it to London while Stop The World, and The Roar of the Greasepaint made it to Broadway. What they all had in common was a score filled with “hits”, relatively simple production elements, and small casts – and insights into the social conditions and politics of the time. 

Even more in tune with the Newley/Bricusse musicals was the experimental musical, Joan Littlewood’s Oh What A Lovely War, which premiered in 1963, a cynical musical presented in a revue format which was very anti-war employing World War I as an allegory.

But the 1960’s were also full of traditional and conventional musicals such as Passion Flower Hotel and Canterbury Tales, and a spoof of James Bond movies, Come Spy With Me, and Charlie Girl, a modernized version of the Cinderella story that was a popular success. Also there was Pickwick (with Bricusse as one of the collaborators) based on the Charles Dickens’ novel, and in 1964, Robert and Elizabeth, based on The Barrett’s of Wimpole Street.

Revues dominated the 1970’s and the 1980’s with Cowardy Custard, Cole and tributes – Noel and Gertie, Betjemania, John Paul George Ringo & Bert, and Underneath the Arches – perhaps inspiring Songbook in 1979, a tribute to a fictional composer Mooney Shapiro with pastiche music inspired by the Cold War, World Wars, Broadway and Hollywood. A Broadway production in 1981 opened and closed within a short time period.

There were also adaptations including that of J.B. Priestley’s novel, The Good Companions, about a touring theatrical company with a collaboration by Andre Previn, Johnny Mercer, and book writer, Ronald Harwood. A little less conventional was the spoof of 1950’s sci-fi movies, The Rocky Horror Show, and other adaptations – Hans Andersen starring Tommy Steele, Busy Malone, Billy starring Michael Crawford based on the movie, Billy Liar, and Howard Goodalls’ and Melvyn Bragg’s The Hired Man – and Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers – which was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic – and a play with songs, Privates on Parade.

At the end of his book Mordden examines the development of the “Pop Opera” or “thru-sung British musicals” which have dominated British stages in the last several decades. Less known have been Stephen Oliver’s Blondel, Metropolis, based on Fritz Lang’s film, but better known are Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, and Martin Guerre by the team of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg.

Also included for examination is Chess, Tim Rice’s collaboration with Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus – as well as the use of the ABBA song catalogue for Mamma Mia!

However the strongest British proponent of this genre of musicals is home-grown British Andrew Lloyd Webber with Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph And His Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, Evita, and Cats among his best known musicals, collaborating with Tim Rice and other lyricists. Lloyd Webber’s choice of subject matter has been eclectic enough to also include The Phantom of the Opera, Aspects of Love, Sunset Boulevard, and the most recent, The School of Rock, which premiered on Broadway. And not all of his musicals have reached American shores.

Also mentioned were “new” composers on the British scene including Elton John – in particular Billy Elliott – the team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe from Honk to Marry Poppins to Peter Pan to The Wind in the Willows, Tim Minchin’s recent stage adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Matilda and Lucy Mass’ Six.

Enhancing Mordden’s Pick A Pocket or Two is an extensive and annotated discography – a roadmap to help discover some of these important musicals in Britain’s history.

Arthur Schwartz – Broadway Composer

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Tighe Zimmers has written a detailed and engrossing biography – That’s Entertainment – A Biography of Broadway Composer – Arthur Schwartz, which has been published by McFarland and Company.

Schwartz is one of many composers whose songs are at the heart of the American Song Book.

Schwartz was born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn in 1900. Having skipped a few grades he completed his elementary school studies at the age of 12 – then on to Boys High School graduating at the age of 16. Showing an aptitude for music, sneaking in practice on the family piano while lessons were reserved for his older brother William. He played by ear when in his single digit years and also began writing songs.

Schwartz earned his undergraduate degree in English Studies at New York University, then a Master’s Degree at Columbia University, and back to New York University to complete his law degree.

Schwartz’s first published song was in 1923 – “Baltimore, Md., You’re The Only Doctor For Me’, and as a counselor at Brant Lake Camp in the Adirondacks – he continued to write songs for the camp revues and activities – where he met and collaborated with Lorenz Hart.

After being in a law practice for a brief time, Schwartz decided to leave his law practice in 1928 to begin his full-time work in the theater as a composer – after which he would take on any theatrically-related work that he could – including contributing songs to revues which had mixed success.

In that same year, Schwartz formed a partnership with Howard Dietz – a collaboration that began in earnest with The Little Show as their first significant collaboration and in so doing revitalized the revue format.

In 1930, Schwartz worked on his first show, only as a composer. with a British lyricist which was produced in London that same year. It was Princess Charming, an operetta, written with other collaborators in London with Dr. Albert Sirmay, a Hungarian operetta composer, who collaborated on an American version of this operetta – with this new version premiering on Broadway in 1930 – at a time when the convention of an operetta was waning of interest to a Broadway audience.

During a short period of time, Dietz and Schwartz wrote several successful revues. One of them being The Band Wagon which was notable because all of the score was composed by Dietz and Schwartz, and George S. Kaufman wrote the script – with Fred and Adele Astaire as the co-stars.

Also a notable collaborator was Albertina Rasch and the employment of Rasch’s dancers in the show. Rasch was a business woman from Vienna and a founding member of the Russian Tea Room – and married to concert pianist/film composer, Dimitri Tiomkin. Also Viennese, Tilly Losch, who was Rasch’s principal dancer who earned her reputation as a dancer after training at the Vienna Opera School moving on to shows in London – then on to the United States as a dancer and choreographer for Max Reinhardt.

The Band Wagon was also notable for twin revolving stages – a first for a Broadway revue – which became an integral facet of The Bandwagon – also Beggar Waltz – which was a dream/dance sequence.

Flying Colors, a follow up to The Bandwagon, was produced in a larger and grander manner. Tamara Geva was engaged as a dancer for the show and one of the cast members was Buddy Ebsen. 

A breakthrough project for Schwartz was The Gibson Family, a radio serial which was intended as a weekly musical comedy on radio. Unfortunately it didn’t live up to the expectations of its sponsor, Proctor & Gamble, and came to quick end.

An important event in Schwartz’s life was in 1934 when he married actress Katherine Carrington.

In 1934, Dietz and Schwartz wrote their first book musical, Revenge With Music, which was based on the Spanish folk tale, Pedro de Alarcon’s The Three Cornered Hat, which was also the source material for Leonide Massine’s The Three-Cornered Hat for the Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes. First thought of as an operetta, it was later described as a “romantic play with music” and featured a hit song for Dietz and Schwartz, “You And The Night And The Music” and starred a friend of the composing team, Libby Holman. 

Another revue followed, At Home Abroad, in 1935, which starred Eleanor Powell, Beatrice Lillie and Ethel Waters. This was also Vincente Minelli’s Broadway debut for a full-length musical – the dialogue and skits were about travelling abroad in spite of turmoil abroad at the time. In that same year was another revue Follow The Sun – produced in London – for which the cast included American Claire Luce who had danced in Frederick Ashton’s The Last Shoot. 

Schwartz also contributed songs to several Hollywood films including That Girl from Paris starring Lily Pons, Under Your Spell, and The Mark of Zorro, which was never produced.
Also there were two other book musicals, Between the Devil in 1937, and the musical, Virginia, produced in the Center Theater at Rockefeller Center – and supported financially by the Rockefeller Family. The locale of that musical was in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1775 – the Rockefeller Family had financially supported the restoration of Williamsburg and the musical, Virginia, focused on the romance of the era more than the history of the era. 

Stars In Your Eyes was envisioned to be about leftists working in  Hollywood – and was meant to be a satire on Hollywood. It was an  opportunity to work with Dorothy Fields – with Ethel Merman and Jimmy Durante in the cast, and producer Dwight Deere Wiman’s protégé, Tamara Toumanova, who danced in two ballets in this show – with Alicia Alonso, Nora Kaye, Maria Karnilova, and Jerome Robbins as the dance ensemble.

Director Josh Logan thought the story was  overdone and reduced the story to sex in Hollywood. There was the hope that New York World’s Fair visitors would buy tickets to Stars In Your Eyes but that hope for a box success was never realized.

It was ironic that Schwartz’s next project, American Jubilee, would be presented as an entertainment for the New York World’s Fair. Schwartz collaborated with Oscar Hammerstein II – with events and personalities from American history to be included in this show.

Schwartz spent a great deal of the 1940’s in Hollywood collaborating with such musical greats as Johnny Mercer and Frank Loesser. Schwartz’s songs would be inserted into a long list of Hollywood movies and also sung by the great film singing stars of the day.

Schwartz was also engaged as a producer for two major films. The first of which, Cover Girl (1944), had a score written by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin with Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly as the stars – Kelly as choreographer as well. Cover Girl was successful enough that Schwartz was asked to produce Night and Day in 1946 which was a somewhat fictionalized biography of Cole Porter which included songs composed by Porter, and starring Cary Grant as Porter and Alexis Smith as Porter’s wife, Linda. Although invitations were sent out to the many performers who had associations with Porter’s music, the only star to appear on screen was Mary Martin who sang “My Heart Belongs To Daddy”.

Schwartz once again returned to Broadway in 1946 with Park Avenue, a collaboration with Ira Gershwin, with a book by George S. Kaufman adapted from a Nunnally Johnson’s “Holy Matrimony”.  Schwartz then returned to Hollywood to collaborate with Leo Robin on the film score for The Time, The Place and The Girl – resulting in another one of Schwartz’s songs being nominated for the Academy Award.
Schwartz returned to Broadway again to reunite with Dietz to work on revue based on John Gunther’s Inside USA – which opened with the same name as Gunther’s book in 1948 with Beatrice Lillie and Jack Haley as the stars. Inside USA was a great success on Broadway and on national tour.

Schwartz felt that musical revues could be easily adaptable to the new medium of television, and Schwartz adapted Inside USA with Chevrolet in 1949 creating songs and sketches set in many locations in the Untied States. In 1950 Schwartz produced Samson Raphaelson’s play, Hilda Crane with Jessica Tandy, and Hume Cronyn as director, and had also planned to be involved with a stage musicalization of Grand Hotel which was never produced.

1951 brought Schwartz together with Dorothy Fields as lyricist for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn based on the novel of the same name by Betty Smith. George Abbott and Smith co-wrote the book for this musical which starred Shirley Booth. It was a modest success on Broadway and on tour.

A return to films included contributions to Excuse My Dust, and Dangerous When Wet – collaborating with Johnny Mercer – and starring Esther Williams.

Arthur Freed, one of the master makers of movie musicals, wanted to produce another “song catalogue musical” having had successes with An American in Paris and Singin’ In The Rain. Freed and Roger Edens teamed up with Betty Comden and Adolph Green as screen play writers, Vincente Minelli as director, and Michael Kidd as choreographer to employ the Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz music catalogue to create such a musical – although not entirely based on the Schwartz and Dietz revue of the same name. The film starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse – and Schwartz and Dietz composed the well-known show business anthem, “That’s Entertainment” for the film.

However before The Bandwagon’s successful film premiere in 1953,  there was a personal tragedy as Schwartz’s wife, Katherine, died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Schwartz’s next Broadway project was By The Beautiful Sea which had its Broadway premiere in 1954. With a book by Herbert & Dorothy Fields, and Shirley Booth as the star, this musical also had its roots in Brooklyn taking place in Coney Island in 1907 – proving to be a modest success.

Only two months before By The Beautiful Sea opened on Broadway, Schwartz married May O’Hagan Scott, a Broadway actress, which not only was a marriage but also a professional marriage as Scott worked with Schwartz are several projects together.

In the mid-1950’s Schwartz turned his focus on television projects including a television musical version of the Maxwell Anderson play, High Tor, which starred Bing Crosby and Julie Andrews, and later a television musicalization of A Bell For Adano starring Barry Sullivan and Anna Maria Alberghetti.

The last two Broadway musicals that the partnership of Schwartz and Dietz worked on were not the successes that they could have been. As Zimmer pointed out both musicals suffered from weak books, difficult out-of-town tryouts, and problems behind the scenes that hampered their success.

The Gay Life which starred Barbara Cook and Walter Chiari, was based on Arthur Schnitzler’s 1-act play, Anatol, with a book by Fay & Michael Kanin. Gerald Freedman was the original director but was replaced by Herbert Ross (who was already this musical’s choreographer) during its tryout stop in Detroit. The Gay Life opened on Broadway in 1961 to a mixed critical reception and never caught on at the box office.

Jennie was created as a star vehicle for Mary Martin and was based on the life of the legendary Broadway actress Laurette Taylor. Zimmer stated in this biography that Mary Martin turned down the roles of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, and Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! to star in Jennie. Arnold Schulman wrote the book but through development, rehearsals, tryouts and performances, Martin’s husband, Richard Halliday, was interfering in every aspect of this musical. Its tryout tour was particularly rocky – it opened on Broadway 1963 to a modest critical reception and was the last of Schwartz’s Broadway musicals.

Thereafter Schwartz worked with many different lyricists on musicals that either languished or didn’t reach the point where they could be produced. Among them were stage musical versions of the film Casablanca, Charles Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby, and Graham Green’s Our Man in Havana. Reaching the stage was a revision, working with his wife, Mary O’Hagan, of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, re-titled Look Who’s Dancing, was presented at the Berkshire Music Festival in 1978.

Schwartz returned to New York in the 1980’s. He suffered a stroke and passed on in 1984.

It would be impossible to comment on all of the details, including Schwartz’s personal and professional life, that Zimmer has included in his biography of Arthur Schwartz in this review. In addition, Zimmer’s biography of Schwartz also includes exhaustive listings of Schwartz’s Broadway musicals and songs which make excellent reference.

Chichester Festival Theatre

Presents South Pacific

August 4, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

As the world is coming to terms with the effects of Covid-19 it is expected that streamed performances presented, on an international basis, will be fewer and far between in the future. Fortunately the Chichester Festival Theatre is currently presenting internationally streamed performances of its current revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific.

The esteemed Chichester Festival Theatre opened in 1962 with Laurence Olivier as its artistic director. Over the years the Chichester Festival Theatre has presented revivals of musicals and plays that have won acclaim and some of the productions have been transferred to London’s West End. Therefore it is fortunate, still to some degree in our Covid-19 isolation, that we are able to see one of its recent and ongoing productions. And I hope that the Chichester Festival Theatre will make its productions available to be seen in this manner in the future.

South Pacific opened on Broadway in 1949 just after World War II and proved to be a star vehicle for Mary Martin in the role of Nellie Forbush. The musical was inspired by James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific which told the stories of Americans in the military services who were based in the South Sea during World War II. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were responsible for this musical’s memorable and dazzling score, and Hammerstein also wrote the book in collaboration with Joshua Logan.

The story begins in 1943 and traces the encounters of two couples who face new experiences living in what is a very different place from the United States. Nellie Forbush, a Navy nurse from Arkansas, has fallen in love with Emile de Becque a French plantation owner, and their romance takes some strange turns as Forbush comes to terms with her prejudices concerning de Becque’s children born of de Becque’s native mistress. The second story line focuses on Lt. Cable, who is sent to this part of the world on a special mission to spy on Japanese ship movements, and comes in contact with a native girl, Liat — and realizes that he too has own prejudices. This is a story that doesn’t have a fulfilling happy ending but is certainly a learning experience for all  involved.

Director Daniel Evans (who is the Chichester Festival Theatre’s current artistic director) opens his version of South Pacific with a Prologue with a lone young local Polynesian girl (Sera Maehara who plays the role of Liat)) whose space is filled with invading soldiers amid the sounds and atmospherics of chirping birds and the sounds of airplanes in the sky – all the while the orchestra is playing excerpts from South Pacific’s score. The choreography for Liat, by Ann Yee, sets the tone that we are in an unfamiliar place in chaotic times. These opening minutes set the stage for a culture clash between the native inhabitants on this island in the Pacific and the military from the United States and Japan.

Also this is a teaser for Evans’ slightly different interpretation of this classic American musical which includes some of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s best songs including, “Some Enchanted Evening”, “Cock-Eyed Optimist”, “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Out of My Hair”, “This Nearly Was Mine” and the haunting, “Bali Ha’i”.

There was some risk-taking in the interpretation of “Happy Talk” which might seem frivolous but in this production the tone was much more somber as it seems Bloody Mary is praying to the Gods, and pleading with Lt. Cable for him to marry her daughter, Liat – prayers that are not answered.

In this production of South Pacific, Evans, has made some interesting directorial choices to scrutinize this mid-20th century story from a 21st century point of view.

Both Gina Beck as Nellie Forbush and Julian Ovendon as Emile de Becque give stunning dramatic and singing performances full of charm and romance. In particular Ovendon’s heart-breaking and passionate interpretation of “This Nearly Was Mine”, and Beck in her scenes when she realizes that she still loves Emile no matter what prejudices that she may have had – particularly when she is informed that Emile’s life is in danger.

Also impressive were Joanna Ampil as the exotic Bloody Mary, Keir Charles as the comic Luther Billis, and Rob Houchen as the somewhat innocent, yet urbane Lt. Cable. Sera Maeharu’s Liat is given more expression through the language of dance which was created for her by Ann Yee, and then there were the charming performances of Emile’s children, Ellie Chung as Ngana and Archer Brandon as Jerome.

Seen in context in its time South Pacific not only deals with prejudice and acceptance, but also the displacement of people in foreign lands –and what they experience — that will affect them for the rest of our lives.

Evans conveys that message so well in his revival of South Pacific, which is supported by this revival’s excellent cast.

A Conversation with James Lapine & Stephen Sondheim

Town Hall

August 3, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

In celebration of the publication of James Lapine’s new book, “Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created Sunday in the Park With George”, presented by Town Hall in New  York City, was a digital conversation with James Lapine, and Stephen Sondheim moderated by Christine Baranski (who was an original cast member of the off-Broadway production of Sunday in the Park With George) – and Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin, the two stars of the Broadway production of Sunday in the Park With George.

Sunday in the Park With George was the first of three Lapine/Sondheim collaborations and the Broadway production premiered in 1984. This musical was inspired by the art work of French pointillist painter, Georges Seurat, and in particular his painting, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”.

The focus of this conversation was how a musical evolves from the first discussion between the collaborators until it is being performed in front of a live audience – and in this discussion it was clear that collaboration was the word of the day. Sunday in the Park With George examines an artist and his work, and expressed in this artistic analysis how both Sondheim and Lapine look back on this musical with the wisdom of age.

In this 90-minute conversation included were few tidbits of note of how the Sondheim/Lapine collaboration worked. One of the more notable ones was Lapine employing tracing paper to trace Seurat’s painting and annotate that tracing with who the characters are that would evolve into the characters in the musical. Sondheim also mentioned that his music for Sunday was influenced by Benjamin Britten – but all of his compositions are influenced by French composers. And both of them noted that the live performance of a musical is actually where the magic is begins.

This chat emphasized that art isn’t easy but also emphasized that a creator or creators can have a meeting of the minds – and eventually result in a major musical masterpiece.

Although a 90- minute conversation between Sondheim and Lapine – and the added comments by Baranski, Peters, and Patinkin – is not enough for me – Town Hall should be proud to have presented this fascinating discourse among great artists.

Mean…Moody…Magnificent! – Jane Russell

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Author Christina Rice has written the very first biography of  movie star Jane Russell entitled, Mean…Moody…Magnificent! – Jane Russell And The Marketing of a Hollywood Legend, published by the University Press of Kentucky. And it is a good read about a film star that made her mark in the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Russell who was born in 1921 in Bemidji, Minnesota, lived the life of a major film star, theater performer, and activist until she passed away in 2011.

Her career in film was launched with an aggressive advertising campaign to promote the Howard Hughes’ film the Outlaw in 1943. Through the decade of the 1940’s she made very few films but ultimately she had a major film career working with the best of Hollywood’s film directors and worked with co-stars who were Hollywood legends in their own right – and Russell also managed her boss Howard Hughes who only wanted to exploit her as a sex symbol.

Starring with Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and appearing as a spokeswoman in Playtex bra commercials – her back story was having strong religious faith and later in her life she had a career as a Christian vocalist – and after experiencing the side effects of an abortion she had in 1942 – which prevented her from having children – Russell adopted children with her husband Robert Waterfield (a professional football player) – thereafter creating the WAIF foundation to raise money to lobby congress to change restrictions governing adoptions.

Russell’s mother, Geraldine, had a modest career as a stage actress – and as was to be, Geraldine and her husband pursued their lives and business on both sides of the United States and Canadian border. But when those ventures were no longer stable, they migrated from Vancouver to  San Francisco and then on to Los Angeles to seek their fortunes. The Russell Family wasn’t effected by the Wall Street market crash in 1919 as Russell’s father’s position with the Jergens Company gave the family financial stability. However there was the tragedy that Russell’s father died at 47 years old as a result of complications after a routine surgical procedure.

Russell took to drama at a young age and played the piano in a fashion. She joined her brothers and neighborhood kids in an orchestra that performed at ladies clubs, at the YMCA, and private parties.

Russell studied drama with  Hollywood character actress Maria Ouspenskaya. An opportune connection with local photography, Tom Kelley, allowed Russell to embark on a career as a model – and Kelley even arranged for her to have movie screen tests – which unfortunately were not breakthroughs for Russell to act in films.

However Russell’s career was to change when she was casted in the role of Rio, the Mexican/Irish girlfriend of Billy The Kid in the film, The Outlaw, which was produced by Howard Hughes, who would be an important force in her film career. Rice includes several different stories of  how Russell was casted in the film but it seemed to have been a connection to her modeling work with Tom Kelley, when an aggressive agent found Russell’s photo in Kelley’s studio – who then presented Russell as a possibility for the role. Russell was subsequently screen-tested and then landed a movie contract deal which was lorded over by Howard Hughes.

Howard Hughes challenged the movie production code of the time, and he also interfered in the making of The Outlaw. Only a few weeks into the shooting of the film, its director Howard Hawks was dismissed and Hughes took over as director.

In spite of Hughes control over Russell and the films she was in, when under the guidance of film director Howard Hawks, Russell learned that she could control her own destiny and not to be intimidated to do anything to promote herself that would be construed as being against her better judgment.

It took nearly five years for The Outlaw to be premiered because of Hughes’ insistence on challenging the Production Code Administration as the PCA found scenes in The Outlaw to be too erotic for American film audiences to see. Negotiating the cuts and also Russell winding her way through Hughes aggressive publicity campaign for the film – including photos by George Hurrell with Russell pictured erotically in front of haystacks – might have eventually been effective in selling tickets for The Outlaw but stalled Russell’s film debut. 

When the United States entered World War II Russell became a popular pinup girl so it appears that the publicity campaign had worked to her advantage – but The Outlaw was not perceived as a great screen classic.

While waiting for The Outlaw to be released Russell had a botched abortion which influenced her life in the future. There was some question as to who the father of the baby might have been – either her fiancée Robert Waterfield or a boyfriend in between relationships, John Payne – however the impact of it all was great. Russell believed that her not being able to have children of her own was due to the fact that she turned her back on her spiritual faith – the cause of her misfortune. Upon her own revelation, Russell proclaimed a renewal of her faith and beliefs.

Robert Waterfield, Russell’s first husband, was a high school athlete and subsequently pursued college studies at UCLA – and in 1941 he made the varsity football team. Russell finally married Waterfield in 1943 eloping to Las Vegas. Thereafter Waterfield was offered a contract to play football for the Cleveland Rams while Russell pursued her career in a fashion. Kay Kyser, the bandleader, gave Russell the opportunity to sing with his band and also a recording career.

Russell and Waterfield built a showcase home in California, and still on the coattails of the publicity that Hughes generated for The Outlaw, Russell appeared on stage as a variety act during time periods when she was on hiatus from making films.

In the 1950’s her film career resumed with His Kind of Woman, and Macao, and then came Son of Paleface – again with Bob Hope.

The motion picture that Russell was most known for was Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Most notably the film version of this Broadway musical didn’t include all of the music from the Broadway version – new music was written – and added were story-lines to bolster Russell’s part as Dorothy Shaw.

Jack Cole was the choreographer for the film and he had to deal with two leading ladies – Russell and Marilyn Monroe – who were not the best of dancers – and it was notable that Cole’s assistant on the film was Gwen Verdon who helped create the illusion that both Russell and Monroe were at home dancing and singing in a film musical. This same team came together for what was to be a sequel to this film, entitled Gentlemen Marry Brunettes – co-starring with Jeanne Crain – but without the same success.

After many years of association with Hughes, the film, Underwater, which was released in 1955, was her last film for Hughes.

Thereafter Russell organized a spiritual singing group that was signed on for a recording contract – and thereby launching yet another career. In 1957 Russell made her Las Vegas debut and in 1958 at the Latin Quarter in New York. She also appeared on television variety shows, talk shows, game shows, and in guest appearances in television series – she also toured the summer stock and regional theater circuit in plays. 

Russell’s husband, retired from football, then went into the movie business producing and developing films for Russell with their own film production company, and then returned to football as a coach.

Russell devoted time to becoming an activist for the international adoption of children, which was enabled in the 1953 congressional passage of the Refugee Relief Act. In 1954 after several government agencies had been realigned, Russell was elected to the Board of the International Social Service – a new division, WAIF, was founded with the purpose that it would be employed to cover personal and salaries and expenses to cover adoption reforms and activism – Russell used her celebrity status effectively in raising money and lobbying politicians.

In 1981 Russell testified before Congress on behalf of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 – and after further lobbying efforts the bill passed.

In the 1960’s Russell appeared in independent films. Her last film role was a cameo appearance in Darker Than Amber and her last television appearances were in Yellow Rose and Hunter.

In 1967 Russell filed for divorce from Robert Waterfield which proved to be an ugly mess that was not settled for more than 1-1/2 years. However after working with Roger Barrett while doing a play in the Chicago area, the whirlwind romance resulted in a wedding in 1968. After a few short months of marriage Barrett died of a heart attack – just before a planned road show production of Hello, Dolly!

Harold Prince, director of the Stephen Sondheim  hit musical, Company, was looking to replace Elaine Stritch in the role of Joanne who was to leave the Broadway production for the national tour. Prince saw Russell interviewed on the Dick Cavett Show and thought Russell would be right for the part. After having anxieties about preparing herself for the role, Russell took to drinking again, landed up in a psychiatric hospital, and her agent withdrew her from Company. But after second thoughts Russell wanted to do it if Prince wanted her to do it. Prince still wanted her and Prince signed her on again. Through the rehearsal process she realized that the character of Joanne was a kindred spirit – and she made her Broadway debut in May 1971 – receiving a warm reception from critics and audiences – however still having some anxieties she cut her Broadway engagement down to three months. However she continued doing limited engagements in stock productions – among them Mame.

Russell got married again in  1974 – to John Peoples, a retired military man – a marriage that lasted until Peoples’ death in 1999. However there were a few ups and downs in her personal life including her son Buck Waterfield being arrested for attempted murder, resulting in a trial, and he being convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to nine months in jail and five years’ probation. She herself was arrested for drunken driving. There was a positive move to Sedona, Arizona to spend more time with her family in the early 1980’s but ultimately returned to California. She kept on going until health issues slowed her down, and she passed away in 2011, after living her last years as a “Living Legend”.

Christina Rice’s book about Jane Russell includes many more details about Russell’s career than I could in a comparatively short book appraisal as well as details of her personal life and in all of the alternate careers that Russell was involved in after her film career faded. And also her controversial views on social issues. For those who are interested in Russell’s life, and career in entertainment, this is an important in-depth study.

Art Lab/Showtown Productions’ First Date

July 16, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

From July 23-25, 2021 there is a special treat for summer time streamers as result of the presentation of the Art Lab & Showtown Productions’ streamed production of the Broadway musical, First Date, which had premiered on Broadway in 2013.

First Date, with a score by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, and a book by Austin Winsberg, tells the story of the ups and downs of what might be a typical blind date for two 30-ish new New Yorkers who are set up by friends, relatives and co-workers – and more often than not, they don’t work out for many reasons.

Directed by Meg Fofonoff for this streamed performance of First Date, the audience is more than an eavesdropper on this intimate story of Aaron, an investment banker, and Casey, a free-spirited, cool, aspiring photographer who have been set up for a first date – with Aaron’s co-worker Gabe, and Casey’s sister, Lauren being the prime chorus and ghosts of the past and present who comment and support – and criticize – these first daters in the hope that this one might turn out well in spite of the personal and emotional baggage that both Aaron and Casey are carrying. And it all begins with drinks – and then dinner – and then…

This first date is immersed in misconceptions, dating mistakes, and off-key first impressions – Aaron stressed out and Casey rather cool yet unsure of herself. Both express their feelings and awkwardness in conversations and inner monologues – in spoken word and song – riding the roller coaster ride of what could be a momentous evening.

First Date has a listenable and charming score that moves the narrative ahead while not rushing the main characters’ thoughts and concerns. As this 90-minute musical moves forward the daters are caught up with the repercussions of Google searches about each other, past relationships, and breaking down barriers. And then the spontaneous and unexpected attraction that evolves between Aaron and Casey.

This particular streamed version featured former American Idol contestants – and married in real life – Ace Young as Aaron and Diana DeGarmo as Casey – and perhaps for that reason you have a feeling of where this relationship was going to wind up. Their chemistry together is evident. They are both in fine voice and adept at the comedy in First Date’s book.

Also notable were Kevin Massey as Gabe, and Jennifer Sanchez as Lauren, and also playing multiple roles, Vishai Vaidya, Aurelia Williams, and Nick Cearley.

First Date represents the kind of interaction that has been missing in this past year because of Covid-19 social distancing – and an entertaining and fun 90 minutes of theatre.

Fruma-Sarah (Waiting in the Wings)

The Cell Theatre

July 10, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Finally with theCovid-19 emergency now ended in New York State I had my first indoor theatre experience attending a performance of E. Dale Smith’s Fruma-Sarah (Waiting in the Wings) at the Cell Theatre on July 10, 2021.

And this involving and entertaining theatrical experience, conceived and directed by Braden Burns experience, makes a clever reference to one of our best known-musicals, Fiddler on the Roof.

The play focuses on a aging community theater star and real estate broker Ariana Russo, played by Jackie Hoffman, is playing the role of Fruma-Sarah in the Roselle Park Theatrical Society’s revival of Fiddler on the Roof. A production of Fiddler that is more of a revisal infusing current political figures and parties into the plot.

Fruma-Sarah is the dead wife of Lazar Wolf, the butcher, who appears in the nightmare sequence in Fiddler on the Roof. And as she does not appear for an hour into the first act, Arianna spends the time in the wings, and enters into caustic, witty, and humorous banter with Margo (played by Kelly Kinsella) the substitute crew member who is in charge of flying Fruma-Sarah high above the stage.

During the course of the play, these ladies, representing two different generations, let their hair down breaking down Ariana’s walls that she has placed around her. They share their experiences regarding marriage, raising teenagers, and their personal and professional successes – and disasters. Ultimately revealed is that Ariana has a problem with alcohol that is impairing her and is also causing damage to her reputation within the amateur theatre community in Roselle Park. She steals a drink – bourbon – to build up the courage to go on stage and bemoans the fact that so many of the leading roles she lost was collateral damage due to local politics, and favoritism – which somehow is also related to her failed attempts in securing real estate deals.

There are moments in this 80-minute play that descend into maudlin – but the humorous moments in the play more than balance out for the maudlin – and for regular theatergoers, the inside theatre jokes are worth this journey. Especially when Ariana realizes that life is worth living when she is encouraged to believe that she is being seriously considered to play Dolly Levi in the Roselle Park Theatrical Society’s upcoming revival of Hello, Dolly! There is good on the other side.

As for Jackie Hoffman as Ariana you are seeing and experiencing a gifted comic actress at work, and Kelly Kinsella as Margo is more than an actor who merely shepherds Ariana through the ups and downs in the plot lines of the play.

The theatre community in New York City has had a tough year and a half and it is now back , ready to entertain us out of the difficult time we have experienced. Fruma-Sarah (Waiting in the Wings) is the first volley in the game and we are eternally grateful.

Jayne Mansfield – The Girl Couldn’t Help It

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

Jayne Mansfield was an actress who was ridiculed by her peers and critics as it seemed she was more interested in seeking publicity rather than pursuing and honing her acting craft. She was one of the many blonde bombshells seeking stardom in the 1950’s who was not taking the “acting” part as seriously as she might have.

In her book, Jayne Mansfield – The Girl Couldn’t Help It, published by the University Press of Kentucky, Eve Golden sets out to reverse those impressions of Mansfield. Among them that she was determined to reach her goals, and would do anything to achieve them, and was recognized for her talent. Also the book further condemns the contract system in place at the major film studios in the 1960’s.

Mansfield was probably best known for playing the role of Rita Marlowe in the Broadway production of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? – a role she created in the film version later in her career.

But her goal was to be a film star. Mansfield made her film debut in a B-movie, Female Jungle, in 1955 before her starring role in The Girl Can’t Help It in 1956. Mansfield followed up with a dramatic role in the Wayward Bus in 1957 for which she won a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year. In that same year Mansfield appeared in the movie version of the Broadway play, Kiss Them For Me with Cary Grant.

But beyond the struggles in her professional life, her personal life was loaded with challenges. This is where Golden describes Mansfield’s childhood, her romances, among them her best known relationship with Miklos “Mickey” Hargitay – and her struggles with alcohol.
Ultimately her life ended at the age of 34 in a tragic car accident – and one can only imagine what could have been.

Golden admits that sourcing her facts about Mansfield’s story was complicated by the fact that incidents in Mansfield’s life were generated in unreliable press releases, columnists who focused on opinions, rather than facts, and the biographies of friends, family and co-workers that were flawed by individual agendas. However she does depend a great deal on press reports and the known gossip columnists of the day to tell Jayne Mansfield’s story.

Mansfield was born in Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania. She lost her father when she was three and was uprooted at the age of six to Texas when her mother remarried. She studied music and foreign languages during her school days – and although she auditioned for the drama club – Mansfield did not make the cut.

In 1942 Paul Mansfield came into her life and were secretly married when she was only 16 in 1950, and shared the birth of her daughter in the same year. At the University of Texas she pursued her acting ambitions and was given a start in the profession by the Austin Civic Theater where she acted with her husband. Leaving her child behind with her parents, Mansfield attached herself to her husband as she followed him around in his military career with the promise that her husband would take her to Hollywood to pursue a movie career.

At the same time she had her theatrical opportunities among them playing Reno Sweeney in a production of Anything Goes. Mansfield also took some time away to be a student at the University of California where she took drama classes. She returned to live with her parents once her husband completed military training and was shipped off to Korea in 1953. When her husband’s military service had ended, she held her husband to his promise to go Hollywood. But after struggling financially and trying to support Mansfield’s ambitions, Mansfield’s husband packed up and moved to San Francisco – abandoning her and also his child.

Mansfield’s movie career went forward – although not at the pace she wished – and upon auditioning for a Broadway play, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? her visibility improved. She manufactured her own publicity making herself available for supermarket openings, benefits and charity events – all in the media center of the United States – and could be described as making herself available for the opening of an envelope. She became well-known in New York and became a bonafide star.

Mickey Hargitay, described by Mansfield as the love of her life, immigrated to the United States from Hungary in 1947. Settling in Cleveland he earned his living in the building trades. In 1952 he won a weight-lifting contest, and in 1956 he won the Mr. Universe title. He appeared in Mae West’s plays and revues. Romance blossomed when Hargitay and Mansfield met – a relationship that West didn’t approve of. They both ultimately divorced from their spouses and got married. But their marriage and joint projects had their ups and down – not to mention trying to manage their dual and separate careers, and their children.

Mansfield not only collected boyfriends, she also collected a menagerie of animals. While in New York she appeared on television game shows, television variety shows and interview shows. Golden described Mansfield as “press-mad” and “professionally ambitious”. And also becoming well known for appearing as daffy and clueless in interviews.

Off to  Hollywood to recreate her Broadway role in the film version of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, she landed a multi-year contract with a major Hollywood film studio. 

Parallel to her movie career, Mansfield and Hargitay developed a Las Vegas act. Their first venture together was in 1957 performing in the Las Vegas revue – Tropicana Holiday – at the new Tropicana hotel which was the first of many. Notably Mansfield proved to be adept at setting up straight lines for comedy routines, and also to counterbalance the dumb blonde act she displayed in interviews and television shows – although she played both piano and violin during an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

One of her films, The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw, was filmed in Spain – released in the UK in 1958 and in the United States in 1959. Mansfield sang two saloon numbers and a love ballad, and was humiliated to find out that her singing was dubbed by a soon-to-be recording star, Connie Francis. Ironically Mansfield won a Museum of Modern Art Golden Laurel for Top Female Musical Performance for her role in The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw.

Mansfield made many films abroad and several of them were in Italy including The Loves of Hercules with Hargitay as Hercules and Mansfield as one of his lovers in 1960. Thereafter Hargitay appeared in similar epics and spaghetti westerns. Mansfield also appeared with Bob Hope in USA shows, guest spots in television series and a regular on quiz and game shows, and talk shows. There was also the unfortunate film, Promises…Promises! – a film described as a nudie film – and then Mansfield posing for Playboy.

Also Mansfield and Hargitay purchased and renovated what was called the Pink Palace, a show place, and also used it to promote their projects – and there were also Mansfield’s love affairs, breakups between herself and Hargitay — and reconciliations.

With the assistance of her third husband, Matt Cimber, Mansfield appeared in theatre tours – among them in Bus Stop and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – directed by Cimber – which led to other theatre tours, as well as appearing as a lounge singer in the United States and the United Kingdom – and pining over film projects that never happened – which led to problems with alcohol and divorce from  husband number three. However Mansfield never gave up the search for good-paying jobs to support her family and self-promotion. Because of her self-promotion, even after death she left a legacy behind her.

The tragedy is that Mansfield died in a car accident in 1967 near Slidell, Louisiana after visiting Keeler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, and fulfilling club date obligations.
Even after her death the Mansfield mystique continued and in 1980 the Jayne Mansfield Story was premiered with Loni Anderson as Mansfield and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Hargitay. Engelbert Humperdinck, who was one of the owners of Mansfield’s The Pink Palace, allowed some of that television movie to be filmed there including the heart-shaped swimming pool.

In Jayne Mansfield – The Girl Couldn’t Help It, Golden tells the story of a 1960’s American icon who made a name for herself in the entertainment industry and also in pop culture – and this was before the evolution of social media and more modern-day methods of self-promotion. She was a reality show unto herself. Golden’s book delves into the world of that self-promotion and also how relevant it is today.

Paper Mill Playhouse Ends

Its Online Season With Beehive

June 22, 2021

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

To end its online season the Paper Mill Playhouse is presenting streamed performances of the 1960’s  inspired musical, Beehive, from June 12 – 26, 2021.

The creation of Larry Gallagher, which premiered off-Broadway in 1986, Beehive focuses on six young women coming of age in the 1960’s featuring hit songs from that period that were made famous by individual female singers and girl groups. With direction by Casey Hushion and choreography by Jennifer Werner, this production of Beehive is an all-female entertainment not only represented by its cast but also with its all-female band.

The 1960’s was a decade of political and social changes with women making progress in breaking barriers in education, and in careers. But it was also a time of upheaval with protests against the Vietnam War, political assassinations, and struggles with racial issues. Some historians have described this period as a time when the United States lost its innocence – certainly it was not idyllic.

Gallagher cleverly injects the feelings of these women as they navigate this unique decade in American history while adjusting to the parallel social changes.

As for the music of that decade it was the beginning of rock and roll, folk and politically influenced songs, as well as women expressing their thoughts in regard to the issues of the day also issues as relevant as adjusting to boy troubles, the British invasion of British rock bands and Beach Party movies. The music of the era is as stylistically unique as it could be. Beehive highlights the female voices of the 60’s with songs made famous by Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, Connie Francis, and the girl groups – The  Supremes, the Chiffons, and the Ronettes. Literally covering the musical map of this time period.

Beehive’s versatile and superlative cast of  actress-singers, including Ashley Blanchet as Gina, Emma Degerstedt as Alison, Adrianna Hicks as Wanda, Isabelle McCalla as Patti, Anastacia McCleskey as Jasmine, and Mary Kate Morrissey as Laura, put their personal stamps on the music of this era.

You may well find  your favorite songs of the 1960’s included in Beehive or they will be your new favorites after you have seen Beehive!

With this rousing conclusion to the Paper Mill Playhouse’s streamed season, one looks forward to attending live performances at the Paper Mill Playhouse next season.

The Big Parade

By Mark Kappel

Copyright 2021

The Big Parade – Meredith Willson’s Musicals from The Music Man to 1491, published by Oxford University Press, by Dominic McHugh, is McHugh’s thoughtful and comprehensive examination of Meredith Willson’s four musicals in detail, and how his experiences in his professional life had an impact on those musicals.

In the 1950’s, a decade that is often described as part of the golden age of Broadway musicals, Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, Willson’s first musical, followed behind My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music, in becoming the third longest-running musical at that time.

Willson only wrote four musicals and only three of them, The Music Man, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and Here’s Love, made it to Broadway — and all of them were as American as apple pie, and also aptly described as Americana musicals.

In his examination of Willson’s career before The Music Man, McHugh has employed newly available source materials to tell Willson’s story.

Willson looked backward when he wrote The Music Man. With nostalgia in mind, as he set the story of The Music Man in Iowa, Willson’s home state, in 1912, and included in his score marches and barbershop quartets – and an example of “rap” in the chat and patter among Midwestern salesmen in “Rock Island” which opens the show.

Willson attended Juilliard and subsequently joined John Philip Sousa’s band as a flutist – and then on to the New York Philharmonic under conductor Arturo Toscanini. During the 1930’s Willson was the musical director for radio shows and in the 1940’s he composed the film scores for the Great Dictator, and The Little Foxes, both earning him Academy Award nominations.

Willson was a composer of popular songs including “May The Good Lord Bless and Keep You?, and “It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas”,  and he also composed two symphonies which were premiered by the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He also composed patriotic songs during World War II for various Federal Government agencies.

McHugh tells in detail the story of how The Music Man was developed and eventually brought to Broadway. That includes details about the early drafts for The Music Man which include input from Willson’s sister, Dixie, and Franklin Lacy. Those drafts also reveal the development of this musical’s characters including one who was descended from an immigrant family – which evolved into the role of Tommy Djilas —  and also a character who was disabled.

McHugh also analyzes in detail how the score for The Music Man evolved. Willson wanted the music in the score to represent what people in a Midwestern town – circa 1912 – might have heard. McHugh describes the rhythmic patter represented in the aforementioned “Rock Island” and also “Trouble”.

Six numbers in the Willson’s original version of The Music Man’s score made it to Broadway. Willson wrote almost 60 songs for the score – two-thirds of them were discarded. Also it was noted that Frank Loesser was the ghost writer for “My White Knight”.

There were many drafts of The Music Man that were written over the years – refining the book for four years before getting it ready for Broadway.

The Music Man opened on Broadway in 1957 with an estimated budget of $300,000. In 1960 The Music Man made history when Liza Redfield became the show’s musical director – the first woman to be engaged as a full-time musical director for a Broadway musical. The Music Man was received warmly by the critics and audiences.

John Chapman used an intriguing and revealing title to a profile of Willson in the Sunday News – “The Corn Belt’s Noel Coward”.

The Music Man headed to London and the stars didn’t align for Robert Preston to perform in the London production. Possibilities for the role of Harold Hill included Laurence Olivier, Sam Wannamaker, Max Bygraves, Alfred Drake, Gene Kelly, Peter Ustinov, Donald O’Connor, Gordon MacRae, and Paul Newman – but the role went to Van Johnson.

Then on to the movie version for which Doris Day, Shirley MacLaine, Mitzi Gaynor – Barbara Cook, Broadway’s original Marian was tested – but the role went to Shirley Jones who played opposite Preston recreating his Broadway performance.

McHugh also mentioned draft versions of a sequel to The Music Man about a concert pianist who falls in love with the daughter of a music publisher – the idea was not pursued but instead, The Unsinkable Molly Brown was Willson’s next project.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown began its journey to Broadway in 1959 with Richard Morris writing the book – although Irving Berlin had been the first choice for composer – to be co-produced by the Theatre Guild and Dore Schary – who eventually was assigned the directing duties for the show. Molly Brown began its successful Broadway engagement in 1960 – and in 1964 the movie version with Debbie Reynolds premiered.

This musical was based on the life of Margaret Brown, who married gold miner J.J. Brown, and in 1912 she was a survivor of the sinking of the Titanic. The musical’s story is that of people coming from humble means becoming rich, and trying to win the respect of Denver’s society.
In this musical Willson used some of the same dramatic and musical devices he used in The Music Man.

For the Broadway production, Kaye Ballard and Lisa Kirk, and Shelly Winters were considered for the role of Molly Brown – Tammy Grimes was chosen – and John Raitt was considered for the role of Johnny Brown – but Harve Presnell was chosen.

Comparisons were made to Annie Get Your Gun among other successful Broadway musicals and was not embraced by all of the theatre critics even though it was a Broadway success, on tour and in its movie version.

Willson’s third and last musical to reach Broadway was Here’s Love, a stage musical version of the 1947  film The Miracle On 34th Street. As was the case for The Music Man, Willson assumed the multiple roles as composer, lyricist and book writer. One of the major revisions made by Willson was setting the story in the 1960’s rather than in the 1940’s which necessitated changes in the story in its adaptation – and the idea of reformulating a movie for the stage was also unique at the time Here’s Love was produced – which had its Broadway premiere in 1963.

Contributions were also made by the musicals first of two directors, Norman Jewison, and producer Stuart Ostrow – who eventually took on the role of director when Jewison was removed from the project.

McHugh concludes that Here’s Love was not the success it could have been because of the changes in the storyline from film to stage, and because the principal characters of Doris and Fred were unlikeable – and in general suffered from a comparison to the movie. Also the music was weak because of the fact that none of the actors in the musical were strong singers.

Several actresses were considered for the role of Doris including Michelle Lee and Shirley Jones but Janis Paige was casted. Considered for the role of Fred were Jason Robards and Lloyd Bridges but Craig Steven was chosen – and as for the pivotal role of Kris Kringle, George Rose, Leo McKern, Barry Jones and Eddie Foy Jr. were considered but Laurence Naismith was engaged. 

In regard to the casting I saw a performance with Lisa Kirk as Doris and Richard Kiley as Fred towards the end of the Broadway engagement and both them gave effective – and well-sung performances in their roles.

Michael Kidd was noted for his dynamic choreography for the show and it should be noted that Here’s Love had a respectable run on Broadway and on tour.

Perhaps what hurt Here’s Love more than anything was that its story was seasonal and might have been less interesting for an audience to see during other times during the year.

1491 – which was Willson’s last staged work – was intended to be a fictionalized account of Christopher Columbus’ back story before he set sail for the New World. It received several tryouts on the West Coast in 1969 but never made it to Broadway.

McHugh writes of Willson’s story and facts that would have been seen as being reactionary when it came to racial issues – how the Latin culture was presented – and the collateral effects of the voyage which included enslaving and genocide of the Taino people of Hispaniola. It was thought that these problems would be resolved through more work on 1491 and also research.

1491 was based on an idea by Ed Ainsworth – and noted that 1491’s subtitle in the program for its world premiere was “A Romantic Speculation”.

1491’s initial production was presented by the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera and that company’s director, Edwin Lester, contributed a great deal in the development of the musical along with Ira Barmak as co-book writer, and the contributions of Richard Morris who was also this musical’s director. McHugh’s feeling was that there were great problems with the book that none of the contributors were able to overcome.

Often the casting process can influence the success or failure of a musical as often musicals are tailored to the talents of the actors who are appearing in them. Casting possibilities for the role of Columbus included Robert Preston, John Raitt, and Sergio Franchi – and the role was ultimately given to John Cullum. Elizabeth Allen, Joan Diener, Roberta Peters and Patricia Morrison were considered for the role of Queen Isabella, but the role was offered to Jean Fenn – Chita Rivera was casted in the role of Columbus’ love interest, Beatriz.  Danny Daniels was the choreographer.

1491 received mixed reviews during its West Coast tryouts which might have also contributed to the fact that 1491 didn’t make it to Broadway.

Through The Big Parade, McHugh, emphasizes the influence of Frank Loesser on Willson’s scores and also offered him advice in regard to the business of show business — and McHugh often quotes Loesser advising Willson that his legacy should be based on more than one hit show.

Perhaps Willson might only be remembered for The Music Man but that isn’t such a bad track record. What is paramount is that McHugh has given us a useful reference book to enable us to examine Willson’s professional life and his achievements – in a detailed, informational, and clear manner.