26Feb12 Kings of Dance: Opus 3
Posted by in Dance, Theatre | Tagged ,

It was an excellent date afternoon as Will and I went to Kings of the Dance: Opus 3. Of course it was excellent since it was full of hot guys doing stunning ballet. The fiver performers are among the best of the best: Guillaume Côté of the National Ballet of Canada, Marcelo Gomes of American Ballet Theatre, David Hallberg of American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet, Denis Matvienko of the Mariinsky Ballet and Ivan Vasiliev of the Mikhailovsky Ballet.

On the bill were the New York premiere of seven works, two of which were group numbers and the other five were solo pieces. Of special note was “KO’d,” a dance choreographed by Gomes to music written by Côté (Côté also played the piano for a portion of the performance).

The men will dance eight New York premieres created by Mauro Bigonzetti, Edward Clug, Patrick De Bana, Nacho Duato, Jorma Elo, Marco Goecke and Marcelo Gomes. The evening will also include a historic collaboration by two of the dancers: a work choreographed by Gomes to music by Côté.

The first act featured “Jazzy Five” with a more contemporary jazz score from the group Jazzy Dogs. It featured some very deliberate, powerful movements rather than the more typical graceful and fluid ballet moves. It was a fun, upbeat number and some of the hand/arm movements reminded me of voguing. The solos were all great, showcasing each performers strength and style. Two stand outs for me were “Kaburias” from Hallberg, which was flowing and gorgeous, and “Labyrinth of Solitude” from Vasiliev, which was chaotic and graceful at the same time. “KO’d” as the closing number was the perfect closing as it gave the guys one more chance to show off some incredible dance.

Here’s a look at what the program was like. This video features Guillaume Côté in a number he choreographed. This wasn’t in the show, but it gives you a good idea of what we saw today.

Our season tickets to ABT for the summer season at the Met start up in May and I am looking very forward to that.

26Feb12 Polar Bears Win Over Hotshots
Posted by in Hockey | Tagged

It was a great night of hockey as the Polar Bears posted a 4-2 win over the Hotshots. While the Hotshots got the first goal, the Polar Bears played a cohesive game that seemed to only get better as we went through the periods. In fact, goals 3 and 4 were scored within a couple minutes of each other, which only helped our confidence.

I had a solid game, despite my asthma acting up a bit. While I was on the ice when the first Hotshots goal was scored, that was the only major lapse I feel I had. I made several stops on some of the best Hotshot players, did a good job keeping the puck in our zone on offense and made some good choices overall in the game. I also got a couple of offensive breakouts that, while not getting goals, were at least shots on net. I also had several shots on net from the blueline.

Next week the Boxers play a civilized 7pm game, and the guys who run the PuckBuddys site are supposed to be in town and may be at the game. It will be great to meet them if they are able to come hang out for a bit.

12Feb12 Carrie The Musical is Reborn
Posted by in Theatre | Tagged , , ,

One word… outstanding!

Director Stafford Armia along with the original team of book writer Lawrence Cohen, composer Michael Gore and lyricist Dean Pitchford have transformed Carrie, the cult favorite musical that has the designation as one of the biggest flops in Broadway history, into a powerful, serious musical that should be able to shake off its less than stellar past.

This revised version of Carrie began previews two weeks ago (on January 31), officially opens March 1 and continues playing through at least March 25 at MCC Theatre.

Carrie is set in the present, with the story rooted in the issues of today’s bullying epidemic. What the kids bully Carrie don’t realize is they’re playing with fire because her supernatural powers are just coming to light. Where the show was once a bit schizophrenic between solid, emotional scenes between Carrie and her religious zealot mother and the mostly ridiculous scenes with the high school kids, there’s a much better balance now. It’s not perfect, but its a considerable improvement.

By my count, they jettisoned around half the score. In the first act one two of the students songs were cut and three new ones brought in. The second act is a near total rewrite with only four songs staying in place. Even with the material that made the cut, there are  lyric adjustments and much improved orchestrations (gone are the very 80s sounding arrangements). Also gone is the notorious opening of act two where Chris and Billy have an extended song and dance moment when they go out and get the pig’s blood (go kill the pig, kill the pig, kill kill, kill the pig).

The new material set up the angst and difficult of high school, give Tommy and Sue more business to set them up as good guys amongst the chaos (Sue’s also a bit of a narrator here like she is in the novel). The show is still at its best (as it was in ’88) with Carrie and her mother. The push and pull of Carrie trying to get some amount of freedom while her mom seeks to protect her and keep her on the religious path is powerful. In the hands of Molly Ranson and Marin Mazzie, these characters soar. They often gave me chills and Mazzie moved me tears with her rendition of “When There’s No One.”

Carrie, thankfully, sticks to realism (albeit a minimal realism) in its design. Where the ’88 version was stark, this one is subdued and seems grounded in reality. The high schoolers dress in regular clothes for school, gym and prom. They don’t overdo the special effects when it’s time for telekensis. The prom doesn’t look like something out of Solid Gold, it now seems like a dance with basic decor happening in a gym. The destruction at the end is cleverly done with lighting, strobes, choreography and some inspired direction and projections. I was impressed.

It may sound like I don’t like the original Broadway version. I do. As long time readers of the blog know, I’ve spent some time acquiring what I could from the show. I’ve got a copy of a video of the production and I’ve got recordings of both the Broadway and London versions. I’ve long maintained that the Carrie/mom material was really good and the high school parts were laughable…entertaining, but laughable. Now that the creators have revised their work, and have moved the show more towards their original vision, it’s now not only an entertaining show it’s got some power and depth.

The show still has some issues with balance as the mother/daughter scenes do still carry the most weight. As Will and I were talking over dinner, the source material itself just doesn’t seem ideal for a stage production. Somethings just don’t completely work–just look at how many times Chess has been reworked over the years. This production, however, can hold its head high. It’s light years better than what came before and this team deserves major kudos for the transformation.

I’d love to see the show continue past it’s current March 25 end date. It’s going to be interesting to see what the critics have to say after opening night, especially any contrast the original critics might make.

My biggest request–RECORD THE SCORE! I’d love something better than my sad bootlegged CDs to listen to and Mazzie, Ranson and company deserve to be preserved.

 

3 Comments
12Feb12 Bad Boxers Night
Posted by in Hockey | Tagged

Last night the Boxers fell hard to the Sled Dogs, 6-1.

There’s not much to say besides it was a very messy game.

I had some decent play here and there, but also made some not so good choices.

Took a slap shot in the wrist too. Very painful at the time, ended up and sat out the last five minutes of the game. Luckily today it feels much better, though I still expect a bruise.

Hopefully next week will be better.

11Feb12 The Vow
Posted by in Movies | Tagged

I was surprised to learn that The Vow wasn’t a Nicholas Sparks adaptation since it has two actors who’ve both been in his movies and it has a lot of heartbreak too. Turns out this is based on a true story that just has a lot of Sparks overtones. I admit I’m a sucker for Sparks movies, and this one had everything I needed for a satisfying afternoon at the movies.

Leo and Paige meet, date and get married. Four years after they meet they are involved in a horrific car accident. Leo recovers with no issues. Paige, however, has a huge gap in her memory and can’t remember anything about Leo. With what she lasts remembers, she’s in law school rather than being an artist… and she’s engaged to another man. After the power of their initial romance, it’s devastating to see it all far apart. Leo puts up a great fight for the love of his life.

Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams, having been in Sparks movies, know exactly how to play these parts and I was right there with them. I laughed, I cried, I was left all emotionally squishy in the end. Most interesting about the end, it didn’t completely go where I thought it would, which I appreciated.

Appropriately, one of the trailers before The Vow was for The Lucky One, which is the new Nicholas Sparks-based film. It’s due out April 20 and stars a scruffy looking Zac Efron. I’m sure I’ll be in the theater to see that one.

11Feb12 Scar Tissue by GL Roberts
Posted by in Books | Tagged , ,

Scar Tissue by GL Roberts was a wonderful burst of fresh air from the gay romances I’ve read lately. Many of them are set in modern times or in the early 1900s or in the wild west. This one takes place in 1976 in and around Washington, DC. The 70s certainly weren’t a friendly time to be openly gay, even though it was after the Stonewall uprising.

For DEA agent Bob, he leads a cautious life. He’s out to close friends and a few others, but he knows how to keep quiet so he doesn’t rock the boat in his government job. He’s quickly smitten with a new CIA cadet he meets. Bob learns quickly that Mike is also gay. The two carefully start to go on dates all the while realizing that they must be careful for so many reasons. Besides all the outside influences, Mike comes with baggage that he’s fearful of sharing with Bob.

Roberts does a wonderful job putting this story squarely in the 70s. The descriptions of the world ring true, from the cars, to the clothes, right down to the phone in Bob’s house. It’s a great immersion. The characters are also very much a part of their time. They are passionate while realizing they must be careful. It’s a risk to kiss outside. It’s a risk to linger too long looking at each other around most of their co-workers. Reading this, at times, reminded me of Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man showing just how closeted, dangerous, and yet vibrant, the 60s and 70s were. Beyond that, the characters Roberts creates are ones you can’t help but root for as you learn more about them.

It would be wonderful if Roberts revisited these characters for another story. I’d like to see where things go for them.

 

 

5Feb12 Moose Rampage Over Boxers
Posted by in Hockey | Tagged ,

The Boxers posted a loss of 3-2 against Rampaging Moose last night (which has us at 3-6 for the season with 7 games to go in the season). The game started poorly, but we did improve as the game went on. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the game tied up to get into overtime.

Early in the game it seemed like we suffered from a lack of discipline. We were taking some unneeded penalties and we spent too much time chasing the other team rather than trying to control the game. Luckily captain Alex got us settled down early in the second and we were able to get back to playing more of our game. That helped us get two goals on the board. Unfortunately we couldn’t answer the third goal before time ran out.

My game play was mixed last night, although response from the bench was that I was having a good game. There were,  however, some distinct moments where I didn’t execute what I wanted to, or I made a bad choice about what to do. I did have a hand in a allowing the first goal the Moose scored (although to his credit, Josh did make some good moves and had a great shot to get that goal…so good for him). There was a lot that went well too and I love that Jonathan and I solidify our D partnership more and more every week. We had several key moments where, because we know exactly what each other do on the ice, that we ended up in the right place to make some good D plays.

Meanwhile, in other hockey news, Alabama’s Frozen Tide finished up their regular season last night with the second of a two game stand against Arkansas. Unfortunately, those two games were both losers and, in some odd twist, they lost last night with the same score the Boxers did, 3-2. Those losses kept the Tide from finishing on top of the SEC East, but there’s no doubt the team had an outstanding season with an 8-2 record in SEC play. The Frozen Tide will play in a SEC Quarterfinal match on Friday, February 24 against the #3 team from the SEC West (who that will be is undecided, but it’s either Georgia or Vanderbilt). I’ll be keeping a close eye on this via Twitter since I can’t make it to Huntsville to see it in person. You can see how the seeding ends up over at the SEC Collegiate Hockey site.

Pages (45): « First ... « Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next » ... Last »