"A Dancer's Dream" at the New York Philharmonic
At the end of each of his first two seasons as music director of the New York Phil, Alan Gilbert staked his claim as an innovative, boundary-busting programmer with semi-staged performances of Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre (2010) and Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen (2011). Gilbert worked in collaboration with director Doug Fitch and videographer Edouard Getaz, whose production company, Giants are Small, specializes in what they call "live filmmaking," using puppets and miniature sets to project large-scale tableaux on a massive screen above the stage.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to see either of those first two productions, but I was in town this year for the third collaboration between Gilbert, Fitch, and Getaz: A Dancer's Dream, featuring NY City Ballet dancers Sara Mearns and Amar Ramasar performing Stravinsky's Le Baisee de la fee (The Fairy's Kiss) and Petrushka. Mearns, whom the New York Times calls "the most powerfully Romantic classicist in dance today," was a marvel of elegance and precision, her golden locks and youthful features belying her stamina and ability. Ramasar made the most of the cramped Avery Fisher stage, flying athletically through the air while somehow avoiding the 100-plus puppeteers and musicians also onstage. (Karole Armitage provided the choreography.)
But, this was no ordinary night at the ballet. Besides the puppets and miniature sets, Gilbert dressed the orchestra in Russian costumes for Petrushka, in an attempt to "reflect a new idea of what an orchestra can be while staying true to what makes the NY Phil great." Unfortunately, that ended up being only half true, as the orchestra seemed to struggle balancing their playing while engaging in onstage tea parties and dancing like cossacks. At one point, Gilbert—wearing a long blue satin coat—leapt off the podium and into the audience, for no apparent reason other than to cause a commotion. Instead of helping to break down the orchestral fourth wall, Gilbert and the Phil succeeded only in making themselves look awkward, even silly.
But the Phil did manage to bring in a refereshingly young audience for these performances, who filled every seat and screamed with delight at the end of each ballet. On the cusp of summer, who doesn't mind a little youthful joy and abandon—especially in a place that too often takes itself far too seriously?
More pics on the photo page.
Speaking of summer fun, a reminder that the Phil's free Concerts in the Parks series kicks off tonight in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, with additional performances later this week throughout all five boroughs. The program is all warhorses—Dvorak's Cello Concerto (with Carter Brey) and Tchiakovsky's Fifth—but give Gilbert props for going out of his way to conduct all of them himself.
Oh, and if you like a little diva with your orchestra, there's this show on Saturday.