Photo of Isabella Boylston by Rosalie O'Connor.
A man in a dog costume. Another man comically gliding by on a bike. The sound of an audience laughing and cheering. You might think I was at the circus. But I wasn’t. This was American Ballet Theater’s “The Bright Stream,” complete with cross-dressing dancers and much, much more.
This comic ballet running through June 15 at the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center is quite different from a traditional ballet like “Swan Lake” in its bold and humorous storytelling. It takes place in Northern Russia, specifically, during a harvest festival on a Soviet farm in the 1930’s. An arrival of artists and dancers stir up lighthearted drama, reunion of friendships, and lots of celebrations. In the manner of a Shakespeare comedy, the characters switch identities to reveal infidelity in marriages and simply to have fun.
It is different than what people usually think of as a ballet. [click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Alexei Ratmansky,
American Ballet Theater,
Lincoln Center,
Metropolitan Opera House,
The Bright Stream
Lincoln Center is a safe place to spend St. Patrick's Day in NYC, right?
New Yorkers have a knack for infusing everything with an overdose of cynicism. We convolute Valentine’s Day into a greeting card company scam; we twist Thanksgiving into an all-you-can-eat buffet. And we take no greater jaded creative license than in the case of Saint Patrick’s Day. The yearly spectacle takes New York City by a storm: half-asleep subway riders wear sequined shamrock headbands; slurred, muddled song lyrics become the sidewalk soundtrack; crowds of tipsy folks shout obscenities in broad daylight, leaning on one another to keep from toppling over. Amid the neon-green lit taverns and shamrock-sporting restaurant signs, Avery Fisher Hall stands strong, classy, and composed. What better place to sit out the Saint Patrick’s Day festivities than in the Upper West Side’s sleek classical music giant? [click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Avery Fisher Hall,
Crowd noise,
Lincoln Center,
Music Teen Reviewers and Critics,
New York Philharmonic
Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Running in late, I must take in the wonder of Avery Fisher Hall more briskly than preferred. I dash up to the fifth floor, only to find that I must miss the Philharmonic‘s first song. Luckily, a large screen is provided showing the concert live. I wait on the outskirts of the very top level in the concert hall. When I am finally allowed in, I am disappointed to find I have missed the first of four songs, thus missing one quarter of the show. Yet my anguish is soon abated as I am stunned by the following number.
John Adams’s The Wound-Dresser begins. This is the first and only piece to include a vocal part, naturally making the music that much more relatable. Further, the lyrics are in English. The lyrics are given, translating through the barrier of operatic singing. This is not a long aria; it is a contemporary piece. The words are those of Walt Whitman as recorded in his collection Specimen Days, an account of the Civil War.
The phrasing is made very clear, musically manifested as a series of unconnected lines. [click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Avery Fisher Hall,
Lincoln Center
Walking the normal route to Lincoln Center, I found myself taking a detour away from the main plaza bringing me into Damrosch Park. The first thing I saw there a crowd gathered around the bell of a large sousaphone. These sights were accompanied by the sounds of loud, fast and powerful marching music. However, there was no parade, there were no colorful military uniforms, instead there were the fun-loving folks of Slavic Soul Party. They rallied a crowd around them with their melodic horn lines and solid drum beats. After joining the crowd and dancing around rubbing elbows with spectator and musician alike, we all found ourselves slowly grooving toward the large stage of the Damrosch Park Band shell. [click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Auktyon,
Damrosch Park Bandshell,
John Medeski,
Lincoln Center,
The Plastic People of the Universe
Seeing the 
$5 Tickets
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