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  2. American Ballet Theatre Curtain Calls

Jared Matthews

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Xiomara Reyes and Jared Matthews, Giselle, June 19, 2014
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Xiomara Reyes and Jared Matthews, Giselle, June 19, 2014

XiomaraReyesJaredMatthewsGiselle14d

From 2014 Met Season

  • Jared Matthews, Romeo and Juliet, June 14, 2013 <br><br> I thoroughly enjoyed ABT’s Romeo and Juliet on Friday, June 14 with Natalia Osipova as Juliet, David Hallberg as Romeo, Jared Matthews as Mercutio, Joseph Gorak as Benvolio, and Patrick Ogle as Tybalt. I haven’t seen Osipova in a dramatic role before and was impressed by her portrayal of the evolution of Juliet; in Act 1 Scene 2 she is a young, playful, immature little girl who gasps in amazement when the nurse points out her developing physique. Fast forward to Act III Scene 1. This is a particularly heavy scene as she refuses to marry Paris (Sascha Radetsky). She does a bourrée quickly away from him, much to the displeasure of her parents that threaten to disown her. In Osipova, there are traces of Giselle’s mad scene as the tension mounts as she rejects Paris and faces the severe consequences. <br><br> Hallberg portrays a playful, rebellious young man thoroughly transformed by his love of Juliet. He was in tune with MacMillan’s vision of Romeo as a young man swept off his feet by love, dancing in dizzy exultation. As usual, his dancing was solid and always in character, showcasing his long line and perfectly arched feet. Although a dramatic ballet, it has a number of technical elements that maintain my interest such as Hallberg’s nice double sauté de basque diagonal repeated effortlessly four times. The balcony scene pas de deux was intense and dramatic as the young lovers celebrate their union with reckless abandon. Osipova is criticized for her excessive expressiveness (mugging it up); I did not detect this trait and thought her portrayal of Juliet was always in character. <br><br> I was particularly impressed with Jared Matthews as Mercutio and Joseph Gorak as Benvolio. After seeing Gorak in Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes earlier this season, I asked the woman next to me “Who is that guy?” He has nice extension and turns and I ended up watching him more than the others in the Pas de trois. I liked Matthews as Mercutio more than his Conrad in Le Corsaire. His assemble combination, split jump over Hallberg’s head in the party scene, and turns with an indifferent wobble of the head were particularly notable Friday night. His dying Mercutio was performed well; it must be difficult to dance proficiently while portraying a dying person running out of breath and energy. <br><br> It was a packed Met Opera house Friday night without any empty seats in the orchestra. The dancers received multiple enthusiastic curtain calls. <br><br> Kenneth MacMillan’s version of Romeo and Juliet was first performed by The Royal Ballet in 1965 and entered ABT's repertory in 1985. According to a website by <a href="http://www.kennethmacmillan.com/ballets/all-works/1960-1966/romeo-and-juliet.html">MacMillian’s estate,</a> MacMillan had wanted to create his own Romeo and Juliet after seeing John Cranko’s version for the Stuttgart Ballet. Lynn Seymour performed the role of Juliet in 1964 and MacMillan choreographed the balcony scene for her and Christopher Gable to perform on Canadian television. The Royal Ballet wanted a new three-act ballet to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare; The Royal Ballet artistic director Frederick Ashton contracted MacMillan to complete the ballet in less than five months to include on its 1965 American tour. This was MacMillan’s first three-act ballet. <br><br> MacMillan first choreographed the key pas de deux in each act, which was the starting point which the rest of the ballet would be built. MacMillan, Seymour, and Gable worked on the characters in the ballet. MacMillan and Seymour created a headstrong, passionate Juliet who makes many of the key decisions such as the secret marriage, taking Friar Lawrence’s potion, and joining Romeo in death. Gable’s Romeo was a young man swept off his feet by love, dancing in dizzy exultation according to the website. <br><br> The website says that MacMillan avoided virtuoso steps because he thought they were too conventionally balletic. Only Juliet and her girlfriends are on point and their choreography is contrasted with character dances and crowd scenes. “MacMillan broke the ballet conventions of the time by having the dancing evolve from naturalistic action. Unlike Cranko’s production, there are no picturesque poses for applause at the end of set pieces. Unlike the Bolshoi production, there are no spotlit entrances for the leading characters: Romeo is discovered in semi-darkness at the start of the ballet as Rosaline’s anonymous suitor; Juliet’s arrival at the ball in her honour goes unnoticed at first.” I note this last point because I can’t remember Osipova’s entrance Friday evening. <br><br> At the end of the ballet, there is no reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets in the manner that Shakespeare ended his tragedy. <br><br> Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev starred in the premier, which had 43 curtain calls. The safety curtain was brought down to persuade the audience to leave. Fonteyn and Nureyev performed in the premier because they were a bigger draw than Seymour and Gable. The ballet received rave reviews. The pair went on to perform in the U.S. tour and film of the ballet. It is interesting to note that the late former ABT ballet mistress Georgina Parkinson was in the original cast. <br><br> Romeo and Juliet is the signature work of The Royal Ballet’s repertoire. During his lifetime, MacMillan staged the ballet for The Royal Swedish Ballet in 1971, ABT in 1985, and Birmingham Royal Ballet in 1992.
  • Yuriko Kajiya and Jared Matthews, Le Corsaire, June 6, 2013 <br><br> I agree with The New York Times’ dance critic <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/arts/dance/le-corsaire-american-ballet-theater.html?hpw&_r=0">Alastair Macaulay</a> that ABT’s Le Corsaire is frivolous and superficial, with a ridiculous, nonsensical comedic plot. However, unlike Macaulay, I thoroughly enjoy this ballet that showcases ABT’s bravura dancing, having seen it more than dozen times over the past 15 years (Thursday and Friday performances this season). <br><br> The plot goes something like this: Conrad the pirate (Thursday: Cory Stearns, Friday: Marcelo Gomes) arrives at a bazaar (in Turkey?) where slave girls are being traded. Lankendem (Thursday: Jared Matthews, Friday: Sascha Radetsky) owns the bazaar. Conrad sees Medora (Thursday: Veronika Part, Friday: Paloma Herrera) and immediately falls in love. The buffoon pasha buys Gulnare (Thursday: Yuriko Kajiya, Friday, Stella Abrera) and Medora. Conrad commands his slave Ali (Thursday: James Whiteside, Friday: Ivan Vasiliev) to steal Medora and Conrad’s pirates kidnap Lankendem. <br><br> In Conrad’s hideout, Medora tells Conrad, in the name of their love, to free all of the slave girls. He agrees, but his friend Birbanto (Thursday: Luis Ribagorda, Friday: Joseph Phillips) rebels against the idea and persuades the pirates to riot against Conrad. Conrad fights the pirates and convinces them to give up their mutinous plan. Birbanto’s next scheme is to spray a rose with sleeping potion. Conrad is drugged to sleep. Birbanto attempts to capture Medora. She stabs him with a knife. In the confusion, Lankendem steals Medora back and escapes. <br><br> The pasha is happy that Medora has been recaptured and declares that she will be his number one wife. Medora is repulsed. Conrad, Birbanto, and the pirates storm the pasha’s palace and chase away the pasha and his men. Medora then exposes Birbanto as a traitor; Conrad shoots him and then escapes to the ship. On ship, there is a terrible storm. The ship sinks. In the Epilogue, Conrad and Medora cling to a rock and offer “…thanks for their miraculous survival, a testimony to the strength of their love.” <br><br> The plot is silly with, as Macaulay notes, no link to the original Byron poem. However, there is a lot of dancing, and depending on the cast, a very high level of dancing with plenty of opportunity to see something exciting. With all this great dancing, why worry about a silly plot? <br><br> Regarding the dancing, Cory was a confident and outgoing Conrad Thursday evening, paired with Veronika Part. Cory has had a good season so far. I enjoyed him in the Shostakovich Trilogy in which he held his own with the Russian all-star team of Natalia Osipova, Ivan Vasiliev, and Diana Vishneva. I particularly like his double saute de basques, which have nice air time and horizontal distance from takeoff to landing, and his double assembles, fully on display on a nice diagonal with Vasiliev in Shostakovich (see the <a href="http://www.abt.org/education/dictionary/index.html">ABT ballet dictionary</a> for a description and video of the steps). Marcelo Gomes’ performance Friday night brought a new level of enthusiasm to the role, as his excitement during his bows after his solos in anticipation of Medora clearly showed. <br><br> Veronika Part radiated beauty during her barzaar entrance in which Conrad immediately fell in love. She has a long, beautiful, elegant line; a bit off on some of her turns in the first act but she pulled off the demanding fouette series in the second act. Paloma Herrera was in good form as Medora on Friday. <br><br> Ali the Slave doesn’t do much in this ballet except for the dance with Medora and Conrad at the opening of the second act. Ivan Vasiliev was amazing on Friday night; if there is a better dancer in this role today, let me know. His dancing style is all-out, full throttle all the way, but with very controlled turns on Friday. His solo was similar to this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXh3Wl08mW4 ">YouTube clip.</a> Notable are his forever hanging double pas de chat sequence (4:30), a funky step that I can’t begin to describe (4:41), nice controlled turns in attitude (4:54), very unique innovation on his double saute de basques (5:07) in which he shoots out his lead leg in a sweeping motion, 540 trick at 7:53, double assemble sequence at 8:00, and a nice turn sequence with pirouettes a le second followed by four turns in second, finished by multiple controlled turns at 9:07. <br><br> I also liked Ivan’s dancing in Shostakovich Trilogy but don’t think his style, gymnast body type, and line mesh well in more classical pieces such as Symphony in C. <br><br> James Whiteside was the slave on Thursday night. He is a former Boston Ballet Principal Dancer in his first season at ABT. His solo was a standard version, with very high diagonal split jumps. His pirouettes are very fast with arms tightly wrapped, the opposite of Jose Manuel Carreno. This was the first time I’ve seen him dance. It must be a nerve wracking experience doing the slave for the first time at the Met, but thought he pulled it off. <br><br> Corps members Luis Ribagorda (Thursday) and Joseph Phillips (Friday) played the role of Birbanto. Phillips impressed me in the role of the gypsy in Don Quixote and look forward to seeing him again. Nice to see that corps members are getting starring roles at ABT. Blogger <a href="http://haglundsheel.typepad.com/haglunds_heel/2013/04/abt-big-debuts-413.html ">Haglund</a> reviews ABT’s Washington Le Corsaire and was particularly impressed with Ribagorda and Phillips. <br><br> This year’s production features new costumes by Anaibal Lapiz. I am happy that Lankendem’s old costume that looked like pajamas that my 9-year old would wear has been retired. Macaulay calls the bikini tutus that the slave girls wear his least favorite form of dance apparel. I actually like the look, particularly on Simone Messmer, Luciana Paris, Isabella Boylston (Thursday night), Melanie Hamrick, Kristi Boone, Leann Underwood (Friday night). Any more comments on bikini tutus and I might get into trouble. <br><br> Although the orchestra area was full Thursday, audience response was muted during the curtain calls. The Friday cast received a more enthusiastic response.
  • Natalia Osipova and Jared Matthews, Manon, June 7, 2012
  • Jared Matthews, Sylvia, June 28, 2013 <br><br> Frederick Ashton of The Royal Ballet created the ballet in 1952 as a star vehicle for Margot Fonteyn and was performed until 1965. Léo Delibes' score is beautiful, a masterpiece of 19th-century ballet music. Tchaikovsky was so impressed with it that he once observed: "Had I known Sylvia existed, I would not have dared compose Swan Lake!" <br><br> A problem arose when The Royal Ballet and ABT agreed to co-produce the revival of Sylvia: the choreography was never notated and the only record was a poorly lit black and white film. Christopher Newton, ballet master under Ashton who danced Sylvia during the 1950s kept handwritten notes of the choreography and reconstructed the some of the steps from memory. In addition, costume designs were found in The Royal Ballet’s archives in a mislabeled box along with paintings and photographic records of the original sets. The World Premier of the revival of Sylvia was given by The Royal Ballet in 2004 while ABT debuted its version in 2005. See the <a href="http://www.abt.org/sylvia/">ABT website</a> for more detail. <br><br> ABT’s star power was on full display in Friday night’s Sylvia with Polina Semionova and Roberto Bolle leading the cast. Semionova along with tennis star Novak Djokovic appear in <a href="http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/group/news/1303191700.html"> UNIQLO AIRism underwear</a> advertisements that appear in New York City subway trains (here is a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-wb1RpfUZg "> video advertisement</a> featuring Polina). Roberto is one of ballet’s biggest stars. He has a huge international following as evidenced by his over 100,000 followers on <a href="https://twitter.com/RobertoBolle">Twitter</a>. <br><br> Polina was Sylvia, a very demanding role both dramatically and technically. She is onstage almost throughout the performance with several very tiring solos. Sylvia is difficult dramatically as she must run the gamut of roles: she is a powerful leader of an Amazonian tribe; a woman who morns the loss of Aminta after she shoots him with an arrow; a seductress of Orion in an effort to gain her freedom; and finally a woman who falls in lover with Aminta. Polina danced well, except for a diagonal jumping and pirouette section in Act I that seemed a bit off the music. Her solos were beautiful, taking full advantage of her long flowing arms. <br><br> Bolle was the Aminta the shepherd, who is in love with Sylvia. Roberto was strong and steady throughout, his solos were rock solid without waiver. Technically, he had a nice saute de basque section and had a very nice triple pirouette which finished in releve, pausing a few seconds for effect. His partnering skills are remarkable, showering attention on his beloved Sylvia. Polina and Roberto connected well, particularly when he removes Sylvia’s veil, revealing his true love as he is overcome with emotion. Polina and Roberto make a nice pair, dancing in unison with feeling. Several jumping fish dives were done well and drew applause. <br><br> I also noted the corps dancing in Act I of the woodland creatures, an Amazonian tribe dancing in celebration of their hunt. This is a dance of female empowerment with tribe members dancing with bows and arrows: “Don’t mess with us! We rule the forest!” The dancers were in synch in the fouetté section; not an easy task given they are performing the step with a bow in one hand. Also, the lighting in the first set is beautiful, simulating a blue moonlit night that provides illumination for the dancing. <br><br> Jared Matthews is Orion, the evil hunter. I have seen Jared perform several times this year and this performance continues his hot streak as he is having a very good season. His two pas de deux with Polina were appropriately awkward and tense as Sylvia is trying to escape.
  • Hee Seo and Jared Matthews, Don Quixote, May 17, 2014<br /> <br /> Polina Semionova was stunning as Kitri in Don Quixote Saturday night. If there is a better Kitri in the world today, I would like to see it. She was in control throughout the evening, making the difficult and physically demanding role look easy. Standout technical parts include:<br /> <br /> • Endless balances in the Grand Pas de Deux that drew gasps from the crowd. Conductor Ormsby Wilkins had to extend the music, waiting for her to conclude her balance. WOW!!!<br /> <br /> • A nice fouetté section in her final solo that alternated single and double pirouettes with one hand on her hip and other hand overhead on the double. The sequence started out with a quadruple pirouette. It takes a lot of guts to start out a difficult turn sequence with four pirouettes. Usually smaller dancers are better turners, but Polina, at 5’9 inches tall, defies that observation.<br /> <br /> • A scooting rond de jamb diagonal in the second act with nice flowing arms.<br /> <br /> Polina'a technical achievements reinforced rather than detracted from the story line of the ballet; she was always expressive and in character (at times reminding me of former ABT Principal Dancer Irina Dvorovenko) covering a wide range of emotions from defiance of the dolt Gamache and her father, flirting with Basilio (Marcelo Gomes), disapproval of Basilo’s staying eyes, and the ultimate joy of capturing Basilio’s love.<br /> <br /> Marcelo is a great partner and he showered his attention on Polina (except when he was flirting with the village girls). He added nice touches such as “dizzy drunk” pirouettes after imbibing wine offered from a villager and shaking hands with Don Quixote during his solo before starting his coupe jeté section.<br /> <br /> The Grand Pas de Deux was stellar with no rough edges. At times, Marcelo used only one hand to support her turns. Why use two hands when one will do? Marcelo was under pressure after Polina’s fouetté section; she confidently turned to him as if to say “Can you beat that?” He came through with steady a la seconde turns punctuated with a triple pirouette.<br /> <br /> I need to get out more in the ballet world; I look forward to seeing the Bolshoi and Mikhailovsky Ballet perform Don Quixote in New York later in the year and wonder how anybody can top Polina’s performance.<br /> <br /> I enjoyed Hee Seo as Mercedes and Jared Matthews as Espada. Jared, who unfortunately is leaving ABT at the end of the season for Houston Ballet, was a dynamic matador, aggressively spinning his cape on the floor on his entrance. I liked his giant assemble’s in his second act solo, which seemed to cover half the stage.
  • Gillian Murphy and Jared Matthews, May 31, 2014
  • Gillian Murphy and Jared Matthews, May 31, 2014
  • Gillian Murphy and Jared Matthews, May 31, 2014
  • Xiomara Reyes and Jared Matthews, Giselle, June 19, 2014
  • Xiomara Reyes and Jared Matthews, Giselle, June 19, 2014
  • Xiomara Reyes and Jared Matthews, Giselle, June 19, 2014
  • Xiomara Reyes and Jared Matthews, Giselle, June 19, 2014
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