2004 in review

So I counted up all my ticket stubs from this year: I saw a total of 111 shows this year, with performances including theatre, classical music, ballet, modern dance and opera. The viewing year was undoubtedly given a huge boost by a visit to New York in late May, a two-and-a-half week trip that included 23 shows. The best and worst of this year:

THE BEST

CAROLINE, OR CHANGE was by far the best thing I saw in 2004. Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's brilliant musical broke away from the traditional form for the Broadway musical, and it was highly moving as well. I first saw this show in New York, and it was an unexpected surprise. I had an empty slot in my schedule, and I decided to fill it with this show, not really knowing what it was. Simply put, it blew me away with its complexity and richness. The show later transferred to the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles - lucky me. My full thoughts on the show were posted here.

THE ROYAL BALLET paid a visit to Southern California in July of 2004, and demonstrated the way story ballets really should be performed. The company made a case for ballet as a dramatic art - it wasn't merely steps set around a loose premise, it was real theatre. The dancing flowed out of the dancers as though it were a natural language. As a consequence, it was all completely captivating and interesting, where normally you have to sit through boring pantomime to get to dance highlights. Performances I will particularly remember: Alina Cojocaru as both Giselle and Cinderella, Lauren Cuthbertson as the Fairy Summer in "Cinderella", Ivan Putrov as Albrecht, and Zenaida Yanowsky as Myrtha in "Giselle."

SUBVERSIVE MUSICALS, that is quirky musicals that in some way or another parodied the musical theatre's conventions while at the same time relishing in them, seemed to pop up everywhere this year. But what made these shows compelling was that they were all intelligent shows that really meant something, while being entertaining at the same time. The best of the bunch was "Avenue Q," the hilarious pseudo-puppet show that teaches lessons for adult life a la Sesame Street. "Urinetown" dropped in for a brief run, with an impeccably performing national tour company. Meanwhile "Hairspray" played 8 great weeks in Los Angeles. All these shows brought a kind of fresh energy to the musical theatre genre - one that is increasingly overrun with bland movies-turned-musicals, or just unimagintive ones ("Wicked," for example).

CERTAIN NEW YORK CITY BALLET DANCERS were exciting to watch this year, if not the rest of their company. NYCB celebrated choreographer George Balanchine's 100th birthday this year, performing a whole range of Balanchine ballets both in New York, and on a brief tour. Southern California got the company for two whole weeks, and while the company certainly showed its deficiencies (woeful and boring corps de ballet dancing, for example), there were several immense bright spots that made up for nearly all of it. Ashley Bouder is a young dancer with a radiant vivacity and thrilling stage presence; she makes the most of nearly every role she dances in, and it was a joy to watch her every time she was on stage. Sofiane Sylve, an import from the Dutch National Ballet, is similar, though more glamorous. Her debut in the 2nd movement of "Symphony in C" was sublime, and her readings of roles in "Agon," "The Four Temperaments" and "Stars and Stripes" and similarly wonderful appeal. Peter Boal is near retirement, but still dances amazingly - his "Square Dance" in New York was just great.

RENEE FLEMMING AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL A gorgeous voice, glamorous stage presence, and magnificent artistry combined to make Fleming's concert at the Hollywood Bowl an event to remember. Even in excerpts, Fleming made each song resonate with emotion - emotion that she projected all the way to the back of the Hollywood Bowl's massive, 18,000 seat amphitheatre. I look forward to her solo recital at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion this January.

THE DISAPPOINTMENTS

WICKED A mega-musical of gigantic proportions that is selling incredibly well on Broadway, "Wicked" failed to capture my imagination. The songs are boring, the lyrics banal, and the story almost completely incoherent - at least the way its written in the muscial. The show is based on Gregory Maguire's wonderful book of the same name; the book was textured, complex and insightful. The musical cheapens the plot - turning it into a kind of Hollywood romance - then proceeds to plow straight through it at break-neck speed. If you don't know the plot from the book, too bad for you; but then again, if you do know the plot from the book, too bad for you also, because you'll know how badly they adapted the show. Still though, the crowds will unfortunately come because the score is filled with pop ballads a la American Idol.

AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE, though populated with immensely talented dancers, failed to make much of an impact this year. Most of the story ballets I saw this year were duds - "Romeo and Juliet" lacked propper direction as it lumbered on for three hours with no dramatic focus and wildly uneven performances from the dancers; the new production of "Raymonda" was pretty but flat - and the contemporary works were, shall we say, misguided. There were no thrills this year, unlike those that came with New York City Ballet or the Royal Ballet. I hope for the best with this company next year; I still remember what the company could do with "Swan Lake" when I saw them for the first time.

DISNEY HALL AND LACK OF ACCESS It got even harder to get in to see a concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall this year. Tickets are exorbitantly expensive, and the affordable ones are difficult to come by. I've given up trying to get in there, even as wonderfully as the orchestra living there is playing...