This afternoon we spent a couple of hours at the ballet. We saw the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Broadway Festival, featuring Broadway and Broadway-inspired ballets.
The main attraction was the final piece, the "West Side Story Suite" choreographed by Jerome Robbins from his Broadway choreography and to Leonard Bernstein's amazing music. But the rest of the program was equally intriguing: Balanchine's "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue" from Rodgers & Hart's 1930's musical "On Your Toes"; a ballet by Christopher Wheeldon to "Carousel Waltz" from Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Carousel"; and the Broadway choreographer/director Susan Stroman's "TAKE FIVE...More Or Less" commissioned by PNB and premiered last year.
Seeing "West Side Story" danced by ballet dancers was exciting, and interesting to see them step out of their comfort zone to do some singing and dialogue. The best, by far, was Carla Korbes as Anita, who was the only one who sounded and acted like someone who had stepped off a musical stage to perform, and really acted like a star. (Professional musical comedy singers filled in at other times, and provided entertainment in the lobby at intermission.) Equally as exciting to watch was Jeff Stanton as Riff. In the suite, Tony and Maria become secondary characters for a large part -- Riff and Bernardo take center stage.
Stroman's piece was witty, sophisticated and charming, enough to capture even my crabby-from-hunger 12-year-old. It started with the premise that artists, even when they "take five" never really take a break from their art, because it is always within them. This will be a ballet that other companies will start to perform. Hopefully not before it becomes a PNB signature piece.
But the big revelation was "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue." Choreographed as a performance ballet within a show, it is also tied in with the (albeit flimsy) plot of the show in a way that was never done before in the theater. Balanchine was hired to give the ballet legitimacy, but went far beyond into wonderful jazz ballet in a way that is in no way reminiscent of his standard ballet choreography. Gene Kelly choreographed and danced (with Vera Ellen) a clever, more modern excerpt of the ballet for "Words and Music," the Lorenz Hart star-studded biographical film.
When he pulled the ballet from the musical in 1967 to add it to the NYC Ballet repertoire, Balanchine created all new choreography; perhaps he took some inspiration from Gene Kelly? Regardless (or, irregardless as my old boss used to like to say), it was an exciting piece of ballet that was unanimously the favorite of the family. It was the ideal example of why live performance will never be replaced: nothing engages the audience like live theater, especially when it takes place amidst the audience.
The big star of the day was, without a doubt, Jeffrey Stanton. Known to many of us casual ballet goers as Patricia Barker's favorite partner, we haven't seen much of him in the past year because of injury, even leading to speculation that he was quietly retired or on his way somewhere else. But as the Hoofer in "Slaughter" and "Riff" in "West Side Story," he was the focal point whenever he was on stage, demonstrating every bit of experience, stage savvy and talent.
Not enough good can be said about the orchestra, either. A collection of music that would make a great symphony program, the ballet orchestra outdid itself as it played Rodgers, Brubeck and Bernstein with equal deft.
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