Tell Tchaikovsky the News: Joffrey's 'Swan Lake' Should Delight Even Us Ugly Ducklings -- Chicago Ballet Review

Ballet Review

Swan Lake
Joffrey Ballet
at Auditorium Theatre, Chicago
Thru October 28
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In the spring of 2008, I was in St. Petersburg, Russia for a few days, on a vacation that also took me to Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki.

St. Petersburg is home to the Mariinsky Theatre and its famed Mariinsky Ballet, better known as the Kirov outside Russia. Supposedly, it ranks with the Bolshoi Ballet as the world's most prestigious (though the Joffrey would also seem to be near such company).

I'm not certain if was actually the Kirov/Mariinsky that was performing Swan Lake within the Mariinsky Theatre when I was in St. Petersburg--it may have been another company using the theater--but either way, I tried to get a ticket but couldn't.

Sold out. No Russian ticket brokers I could find. No hotel concierge with the right connections. No ins with Putin. No Swan Lake for me at the Mariinsky.

Later that year, I did make a point of going to Chicago's Auditorium Theatre when the Kirov came to town to perform the ballet Giselle, which along with The Nutcracker stood as the only classical narrative ballet I've ever seen.

Photo credit on all: Cheryl Mann

That is, until Wednesday night, when I attended--also at the Auditorium--the opening performance of the Joffrey's current run of Swan Lake.

Per this Chicago Tribune preview by Lauren Warnecke, the current staging is a reprise of one
presented by the Joffrey in 2014, which stands the highest-grossing production in the company’s history.

The production features choreography by Christopher Wheeldon, the Tony-winning choreographer responsible for re-imagining The Nutcracker for the Joffrey beginning in 2016. (I saw it last December and was blown away.)

Wheeldon's Swan Lake was created for the Pennsylvania Ballet in 2004, but clearly has been warmly welcomed in Chicago, both in 2014 and--per opening night--now.

And even to the eyes of someone with absolutely no expertise in assessing the technicalities of ballet, the dancing was absolutely astonishing.

On Wednesday, in the dual doppelgänger roles of Odette & Odile, Victoria Jaiani pirouetted--i.e. spun on one tippy-toe--past the point of ready comprehension, even given the rarefied air of prima ballerinas.

As Prince Siegfried--but also, in this production, "The Principal Dancer," which I'll try to explain below--Dylan Gutierrez was also demonstrably terrific, and everyone onstage was a delight to watch.

Simply as a night of ballet, culture, entertainment, etc., Joffrey's Swan Lake is visually rapturous and I doubt anyone will be less than dazzled.

But although my appreciation reached emotional embrace by the end of the nearly 3-hour ballet, in full I wasn't nearly as swept up as I was by The Nutcracker--likewise composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky--whether the Wheeldon edition neatly weaving in the 1893 Columbian Exposition or the Joffrey's previous longstanding version by its co-founder Robert Joffrey.

I had read  Swan Lake's synopsis on Wikipedia, so roughly knew that, classically, it concerns the bachelor Prince Siegfried meeting and falling in love with a maiden named Odette, who--as with several friends at the aptly named lake--turns into a swan each night due to a spell cast by the nefarious Rothbart (embodied here, on opening night, by Fabrice Camels).  

At a ball in Act III--of the four-act ballet, done with two intermissions at the Auditorium--Rothbart presents an Odette look-alike named Odile (both danced by the same woman) and tricks Siegfried into thinking the latter is the former.

Especially with this being my initial foray into Swan Lake, I found this narrative somewhat convoluted and confusing, and on top of it--as I know largely due to reading Warnecke's article--Wheeldon introduced a ballet-within-a-ballet conceit that has the first half-hour taking place in a dance studio and other scenes blurring the lines. (Hence the Siegfried-Principal Dancer duality.)

The synopsis is printed in the program, but even in reading it pre-show, I found myself--throughout the first half, at least--beguiled by the beauty of the dancing but largely baffled by any storyline I was supposed to follow.

Without Wikipedia or the program book, I doubt I could clearly explain anything about the narrative based simply on witnessing it at face value.

Although the dancing of some small groups and/or soloists in the guise of Russians, Spaniards, Czardas, Can-Can dancers and others was fabulous, please don't ask me to explain their purpose in the plot line.

Eventually, I grasped enough to have the love story move me a bit, and with brilliant dancing, splendid music by Tchaikovsky--blissfully rendered by the Chicago Philharmonic--and beautiful scenery, costumes and performers, I wouldn't suggest that "not completely getting it" (including the reasons behind Wheeldon's unique spin) detracts all that greatly.

Yet while the artistry was magnificent, and at times absolutely mesmerizing, overall I was a tad less smitten as I might have hoped.

Certainly, avowed ballet aficionados should see Swan Lake if they never have, and even if just to a level matching mine, your enjoyment should be plentiful.

But if you're something of a cultural dilettante and wondering if this is the one ballet you should see in Chicago before year's end...

...well, that's a tough nut to crack.

Boundless Imagination: Joffrey Ballet's 'The Nutcracker' as Reconceived by Christopher Wheeldon, is Simply Ravishing -- Chicago Ballet Review

Dance Review

The Nutcracker
choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon
Joffrey Ballet
at the Auditorium Theatre, Chicago
Thru December 30 (Seen December 1)
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Simply at face value, I have nothing but effusive praise for The Nutcracker I saw performed by the Joffrey Ballet Friday night at the Auditorium.

While I won't pretend to be a ballet aficionado or expert, all of the dancing was sublime.

The lead performers, who I'll cite below, and the large ensemble--including a vast number of children--were entirely delightful.

The Chicago Philharmonic performed Tchaikovsky's score splendidly. In fact, just the music itself would have well justified my attendance and great appreciation.

And from the brilliant set and costumes (by Julian Crouch) to some cheeky rat puppetry designed by Basil Twist, the ballet was bursting with visual vibrance.

Given the thunderous ovation bestowed by the packed opening night crowd, including former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley--I didn't actually see him, but his attendance was noted by Joffrey's artistic & executive directors, Ashley Wheater & Greg Cameron, respectively, in a pre-show welcome where they saluted his support when the company relocated to Chicago in 1995, and dedicated the performance to him--I think it's safe to say the masses liked what they saw and heard.

Photo credit on all: Cheryl Mann

But as The Nutcracker--perhaps the world's most popular ballet--has been a holiday staple and family favorite for decades, seared into the memories of children and the adults they become, what makes this Joffrey production so noteworthy is that acclaimed choreographer Christopher Wheeldon had the vision, and chutzpah, to re-imagine every aspect.

And in spectacular fashion, he and his cohorts--not to mention the magnificent dancers--pull it off. (This is year two of the Joffrey's Wheeldon version, but the first time I saw it.)

Certainly, the original story by E.T.A. Hoffmann and the revised version by Alexandre Dumas, which Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky set to sublime music for a ballet—first choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov in 1892 at Saint Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre—supplied much of The Nutcracker's underlying brilliance.

And numerous productions throughout the years--including by George Balanchine (1954) and Mikhail Barishnikov (1976)--have in one way or other employed significant variances.

Until last year, the renowned Joffrey Ballet version seen in Chicago since 1995 was one choreographed by company founder, Robert Joffrey, in 1987. Many locals may understandably consider that their blueprint, but--not that I really remember it--I first saw The Nutcracker when my Aunt Mickey took me in the early '70s, likely before I was 5. (I lobbied hard after she initially intended to just take my sisters.)

After never seeing the ballet, anywhere, since my toddler days, I went in 2015 to see the Robert Joffrey production--set in an affluent American household such as depicted by Currier & Ives--before it disappeared, and I absolutely loved it.

So if patrons arrive at the Auditorium with a certain sentimentality, or perhaps a longing to introduce the Nutcracker of their youth to their own offspring, they may well be surprised to find that in the Wheeldon version, there is no girl named Clara, she isn't given a nutcracker doll by an uncle named Drosselmeyer and the nutcracker doesn't become a handsome prince.

Also, as far I could tell, there are no Sugar Plum Fairies.

But most of the world's greatest achievements--artistic and otherwise--have come from daring to do something different, even audacious.

And beyond being entertainment of the highest order, nearly every moment of this 2-hour Nutcracker--in almost every aspect--palpably dances with awe-inspiring imagination.

The kind--while understanding the hyperbole of such exalted references--that truly ignites only a few times per generation.

Hamlet, The Marriage of Figaro, A Tale of Two Cities, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, The Wizard of Oz, Fantasia (which incorporates the Nutcracker Suite), West Side Story, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Blazing Saddles, Star Wars, Les Miserables (the musical), Harry Potter, The Lion King on Broadway, Hamilton. And whatever you might add to the list.

No, I'm not saying this iteration of The Nutcracker is as good, or groundbreaking, as any or all of these hallowed works of visionary creativity.

And after having my mind-blown the Sunday prior by the incomparable Savion Glover, and a month before by the gale storm of Arcade Fire in concert, etc., etc., I well know that imagination, inspiration and virtuosity come in many forms, often hard to measure other than through joy and, perhaps, enlightenment.

But starting with the font choice for "The Nutcracker" title on the stage scrim that welcomed us into the auditorium (of the Auditorium), everything about this production impressed me, often to "OMG!" levels, mentally if not verbally.

As I knew from having watched the WTTW documentary, Making a New American Nutcracker--you should be able to see it here--Wheeldon has, unprecedentedly, and explicitly for Chicago, tied the story of The Nutcracker to the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, its neoclassical "White City" (grandiose, mostly temporary, architecture in what is now Chicago's Jackson Park) and the multicultural Midway, featuring the world’s first Ferris Wheel.

Certainly, Wheeldon--who directed & choreographed the recent Broadway musical version of An American in Paris, along with a long list of ballet credits--had plenty of help.

In addition to the set/costume designer and puppet master mentioned above, Joffrey leadership and many others, key to this production is story adapter Brian Selznick, best known for authoring the children's book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which was turned into the 2011 Martin Scorsese movie, Hugo, which I love.

Rather than the traditional Clara, the young woman at the center of this Nutcracker is--as per Hoffmann's original story--named Marie (wonderfully enacted at the 12/1 performance by Amanda Assucena). Amid surroundings far more plebeian than the well-heeled norm, she and her younger brother Franz (Dylan Sengpiel) live among an ethnically-diverse community of workers prepping the Fair, with their mom (the superb Victoria Jaiani) being a sculptress.

Rather inventively, she is working on the Statue of the Republic, a gilded 65-foot tall sculpture (actually by Daniel Chester French. Like most of the World's Fair except the building now housing the Museum of Science & Industry, it was destroyed by fire soon after. A 1/3-size but rather impressive replica stands in Jackson Park.)

And later, in a dream of Marie's, her mom becomes a living embodiment of the golden statue.

In real life--beyond the ballet--famed Chicago architect Daniel Burnham was the primary planner and designer of the Columbian Exposition, which put the Windy City on the world stage, forever. (Burnham's contemporary, Louis Sullivan, designed the Auditorium building, which opened in 1889, so seeing The Nutcracker there adds to the appreciation for Chicago's storied history.)

In narrative stead of the often rather odd Drosselmeyer, Wheeldon and Selznick invented The Great Impresario of the Fair (Miguel Angel Blanco) as something of an ersatz Burnham. He's the one who winds up giving Marie a nutcracker doll, while also becoming rather smitten with her mother.

Although I think it's an excellent idea for anyone attending this Nutcracker to watch the hour-long WTTW special and to arrive early enough to read the brief synopsis in the program--fully deciphering all that's going on from the music, dance and design may be tricky on a first encounter with this new rendition--I never like revealing too many specifics.

But while I was stupefied by how amazing the first act was, post intermission is even better, not just because of the greater preponderance of music I've relished since childhood.

Drawing from, but re-conceiving, aspects of more traditional versions, here Marie and her prince (Alberto Velazquez, who doesn't play the nutcracker) encounter--in beautifully balletic form--Spanish, Arabian, Chinese, Venetian and Wild West dancers, the latter gleefully including Buffalo Bill (Dylan Gutierrez).

Plus a group of dancing walnuts that truly cracked me up. 

Whereas Act I featured some brilliantly imaginative group dance numbers celebrating the diversity of the Fair workers, including an Eastern European folk dance, Act II has more overtly beautiful ballet, by Marie, the Prince, her mom, the Impresario and the ethnic combos or soloists.

Especially as the casts rotate, I won't take the time & space to name all the wondrous dancers I saw, but the Arabian dance couple--Fabrice Calmels and Christine Rocas, who has been blissfully beguiling in all of the (relatively few) Joffrey ballets I've seen in recent years--were particularly fantastic.

Obviously, I bestowed fervent applause for what I had witnessed, but also all that had clearly gone into it.

The Joffrey, Wheeldon and everyone involved are to be saluted not only for the exhilarating imagination and incredible performances, but for broadening the appeal of The Nutcracker, cross-culturally and socioeconomically.

So even though a production of this quality--more lavish than many Broadway shows I've seen--obviously isn't inexpensive to stage, I'm hoping it can also be financially accessible across the spectrum.

Hence I'll note that there are tickets priced as low as $35 through the box office, military discounts and possibilities to save via Goldstar and HotTix.

You may not consider yourself a ballet buff--I don't--or may perceive that The Nutcracker is slight holiday fare for kids. (The Joffrey website recommends it for "children ages 5 and up.")

Or perhaps, when it comes to this revered title, you're a stickler for "the way it used to be."

But if you admire imagination and multifaceted greatness, this really is a show—and a unique rendition—not to be missed.

Rare genius is on display.

From oversized nutcracker heads down to up on tippy-toes. 

Truly Astonishing Feat: Tapper Extraordinaire Savion Glover Gets 'ALL FuNKD' UP,' Phenomenally, at the Mac -- Chicago Dance Review

Dance Concert Review

Savion Glover
ALL FuNKD' UP
featuring Dance Candy (band)
McAninch Arts Center at
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL
November 26, 2017
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Having once again been boggled by the beyond amazing Savion Glover, Sunday afternoon at the Mac, I was going to begin my review by saying something along the lines of:

As oft shared on these pages, I have been fortunate to have seen some of the greatest performers of our time—and perhaps even all-time—in a variety of idioms.

From musicians and singers in many genres, to some of the most acclaimed actors, actresses & comedians, to superstar athletes in several fields, to Cirque du Soleil acrobats and others with rare & amazing talents, I have witnessed—live and in person—virtuosity in myriad forms.

Yet while I reserve the right to be contradictorily hyperbolic as the inspiration arises, there has been no one more jaw-droppingly, mind-blowingly impressive at his or her craft than tap dancer Savion Glover. At least from a visceral standpoint.

All photos by Seth Arkin. Please do not repost without
permission and attribution.

But in looking at my last review of Glover in concert—from January 2014 at Chicago's Harris Theatre—I found that's exactly what I wrote then.

Certainly, I will carry forth conveying as best I can—while employing some different words—what made Savion Glover's latest production, titled ALL FuNKD' UP, so special.

But at the center remains Glover's almost indescribable speed, rhythm, talent and stamina when it comes to tap dancing or—as dancer & tap expert Lane Alexander suggested as better terminology in an excellent pre-show discussion, noting how Savion has largely reshaped an art long associated with chorus lines—“foot drumming.”

And while I was graciously allowed to take photos from the wings of the beautifully refurbished Belushi Performance Hall—named for John & Jim, who attended the College of DuPage, at which the McAninch Arts Center resides—I didn't feel at liberty to shoot video of a new show that could have grander aspirations.

So for those completely unaware of this brilliant artist, who first appeared on Broadway at the age of 10 and seems to still be renowned—at 44—as the best tap dancer in the world, I suggest you take a look at this video clip, among many others on YouTube.

Though it should give a good sense of Savion Glover’s prodigious abilities, in the 2-1/2 minute clip he dances without any musical accompaniment.

At the Mac—and it was clearly quite a coup for COD to get this Midwest Premiere—Glover spent almost all of his 75 minutes on stage in constant motion accompanied, and often rhythmically inspired, by a 6-member band dubbed Dance Candy. 

I almost said he was "backed by a band," but that would be inaccurate as through his foot drumming Glover was clearly one of the musicians.

The dancer's reverence for the late great jazz saxophonist John Coltrane has long been apparent, so it was fitting that after a brief warm-up, ALL FuNKD' UP began with a live take on Trane's masterful interpretation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s "My Favorite Things," with Samantha Reed on vocals.

Before the show Alexander spoke about how Glover’s spirituality comes through in his percussive dancing, and witnessing his often transcendent movements and intense focus furthered my sense of his connection to Coltrane.

Likely most famed for his spiritual masterpiece, A Love Supreme, the jazzman died in 1967, but in 2005 at Ravinia I saw Savion tap alongside legendary pianist McCoy Tyner, who had played in Coltrane's classic quartet. And my sister Allison, who attended with me on Sunday, had seen a show in which Glover even more directly paid tribute to the saxophonist.

With the musicians onstage, including Glover, taking solo turns—à la a great jazz combo—"My Favorite Things" lasted about 20 minutes.

Savion would often accompany the others' soloing, and when he locked in with drummer Joshua McCormick it was particularly scintillating.

When the action finally stilled for the first time, Glover warmly welcomed the crowd but—battling some laryngitis—said he would "let my feet do the talking." Although later, he did introduce the rest of Dance Candy. 

In addition to Reed and McCormick, members include guitarist Steven Boone, bassist Derrick Englert, pianist Calvin Keys and Mark Ingraham on horns & percussion. (See the Dance Candy Facebook page.)

The songs performed weren't listed in the show program, so I can only cite what I recognized, and often there seemed to be just snippets of things. But Ingraham's trumpet sublimely drove the classic melody from Coltrane's "Blue Train."

I also picked up The Doors' "Break on Through" in one of Englert's bass lines, and without matching anything exactly, Boone blasted out some Jimi Hendrix-type riffs.

About 40 minutes into the performance, Glover—who had been the only dancer to that point—was joined by Marshall Davis, Jr. and Robyn Watson.

Both are outstanding tap dancers in their own right, and had featured far more prominently in Glover's sTePz show at the Harris in 2014.

Davis was also part of Savion's Bare Soundz production I'd seen at North Central College in 2008.

Watching the three of them onstage together—foot drumming individually, in pairs and all at once—was exhilarating, and hearkened to past Glover showcases involving considerably more group tapping.

But Davis and Watson were offstage after just 10 minutes or so, leaving Savion to provide a whole lot of sole on his own.

He and Dance Candy sizzled on the last two numbers of the night—actually afternoon, as the show began at 4:00pm at the tail of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

A full run through Michael Jackson's "Beat It" took me back to 1983, when MJ ruled the world and enlisted Eddie Van Halen to add a blazing guitar solo, which Boone did a nice job with as Reed sang and Glover stomped gloriously almost non-stop.

Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," by way of Whitney Houston and, here, Samantha Reed, closed out a 75-minute performance that was sensational in every foot-tapping-at-the-speed-of-sound moment.

In having introduced Savion, the Mac's Executive Director Diana Martinez noted that Glover would be conducting a Master Class for some COD dance students after his performance.

I can only imagine that was incredibly enlightening, as was Lane Alexander's lecture beforehand.

Though I absolutely loved what I witnessed, I've never been great at interpreting messages of Interpretive Dance, and apart from Glover's spirituality and musicianship, I can't say I discerned any cogent themes on Sunday.

Allison, who had turned me onto Glover—who I've now seen live six times, originally in Bring In 'Da Noise Bring In 'Da Funk, which told the story of black history—also didn't discern any narrative thread to ALL FuNKD' UP, but noted that much of the music driving it was by gifted performers who had died relatively young.

John Coltrane, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison.

I don't know if a tangible statement tied to this truth was intended by Savion Glover or Dance Candy, as much as mainly just to get "all funkd up" to music they hold dear.

But exacerbated by the blur Glover became in most of the photos I took of him, I couldn't help but be reminded that life is fleeting, especially for many of our most visionary performers.

While he seems as spry and fantastic as ever, it is with such ephemerality in mind I strongly advocate that any chance you get to see the extraordinary Savion Glover, you really shouldn't miss out.

He's that singular.