Getting ready for ABT, seeing Yellow Face, Sheba and Chicago

I'm counting down to the final performances of my show, and getting excited that American Ballet Theatre will be coming soon. Meanwhile, I also managed to sandwich in performances of Chicago: The Musical, David Henry Hwang's new play Yellow Face, and a revival of William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba. And it's July now - so that means Hollywood Bowl season has begun!

*

AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE arrives next (YAY!) for a week and a half of performances in Southern California at two separate venues, and I've been preparing for the run of Sleeping Beauties by watching Rudolf Nureyev's Paris production of the ballet. I chose to look at that one specifically because it's the most "non-traditional" of the major productions on DVD: there are still plenty of tutus and grand sets, but much of the choreography is modified, the male roles include a lot more dancing and specifically, the prince has a significantly augmented role - much in the same way that ABT's new production is reported to have a beefed up prince role and a lot of rechoreographed sections. I've watched the Paris DVD before, and I wasn't initially fond of it. But watching it again, I strangely found that all the new stuff didn't bother me so much. It was actually kind of fun, now that I've gotten over my initial "oh my god why is this different" mentality. Some of the choreography is still to my eyes overly fussy, but it's exquisitely performed so it didn't matter, and honestly a lot of the formal court dancing that Nureyev added back in is elegant and gorgeous.

So I think I might be ready to accept ABT's new fangled Sleeping Beauty and enjoy myself come two weeks' time. The casting on ABT's web site looks pretty fantastic - a different female principal dancer at every performance. I'll have to pick and choose, but will most certainly be at the Tuesday Gillian Murphy and the Friday Paloma Herra performances.

But before the Sleeping Beauty run comes a Gala evening and Othello in Los Angeles. The gala will be much fun, and I'm so far only seeing the Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg cast of Othello (my damn show is in final weekend of performances).

(Photo by Gene Schiavone. Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes in American Ballet Theatre's The Sleeping Beauty.)

*

I didn't walk into the theatre thrilled to be at David Henry Hwang's new play, YELLOW FACE (June 27, Center Theatre Group: Mark Taper Forum). I was weary that it might be a very soap-boxy, political play. Not that I mind those kinds of plays, it's just that with Hwang's reputation as a very outspoken commentator for the Asian-American position and his past work - namely, M. Butterfly - I was expecting to be dealt a very heavy hand.

But I loved the play. Yellow Face was not preachy or soap-boxy at all in its exploration of race and racial identity. There was lots of laughter in this comedy, but what made it most interesting was that it was more of an introspective, complicated exploration of identity. The play is partly fictional, partly autobiographical - it's about Hwang's major Broadway flop after the success of M. Butterfly and the protests that he lead against the casting of a white actor in an Asian role for Miss Saigon. Looking specifically for an Asian actor to lead the cast of his play, Hwang inadvertently casts a white person passing as Asian. Disaster ensues. Hwang himself hardly comes off as a hero in the play, as he tries to figure out for himself what it really means to hold the political opinion that he does. The production ended its run Sunday at the Mark Taper Forum, but will go on to the Public Theatre in New York in the near future (it was a co-production). It's a great play - go see it.

(Photo by Craig Schwartz. Hoon Li as David Henry Hwang and J. Peter Scanovino as Marcus Gee, the white actor cast as Asian in Yellow Face at the Mark Taper Forum.)

*

This is a Center Theatre Group week for me; I saw another one of the company's shows at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City: COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA (July 1). The principle interest in this revival of William Inge's 1950 play was Law and Order Emmy-winner S. Epatha Merkerson, playing the role that Shirley Booth made famous on Broadway and on film. Merkerson, I thought, was wonderful. The play: somewhat old fashioned, though the subject matter - disappointed lives and relationships, alcoholism - remains relevant. It's partly the writing that is old fashioned. A lot of the dialogue is loaded with symbolism with a capital "S" and all sorts of coy 1950s style sexual tension.

But it's Merkerson that is the focal point of the show, and the show is virtually staged around her. It's also interesting that Merkerson herself is black - the play wasn't written with the role as a black woman, and certain if she had been black it would not have gone unnoticed in the 1950s Midwestern American town where the play is set. But the show is performed color-blind. I'm glad they didn't make a big point of it, but it certainly adds an interesting dimension to the role.

(Photo by Craig Schwartz. S. Epatha Merkerson and Alan Rosenberg in Come Back, Little Sheba at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.)

*

OK so if my interest in ballet isn't a major geek out enough, here's a major geek out: In high school, my favorite musical EVER was CHICAGO. I've seen the current Broadway revival production of the show at least 8 times live, on Broadway, in London, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. And that doesn't even include the video bootlegs (don't ask). Needless to say, I think it's a terrific production - at least it was back when it first started - with fantastic choreography and a roster of stars that had the show sizzling even with minimal sets and costumes (Ruthie Henshall, Bebe Neuwirth, Charlotte d'Amboise, etc etc etc).

I sort of out grew the show after awhile though. These things happen as one gets (relatively) older, and I haven't seen it in a few years. Last Tuesday (June 28), the national touring production rolled into town at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. My cousin wanted to see it, so I acquiesced, with reservations - I've seen my favorite cast and didn't want to taint the image.

But I had a ball, mostly because of Michelle DeJean as Roxie. She's a great dancer and a bubbly, energetic presence on stage. Adorable is a word that came to mind a lot during the performance, and it worked very well for the role. The rest of the company? Serviceable at best - the choreography is no longer performed with the crisp snap it once was, and the wry Fosse-isms are performed way over the top (unfortunate because so much of Fosse was about subtlety). Nevertheless, Michelle DeJean got what it was all about, and I enjoyed my diversion back to high school obsession land.

(Photo by Joan Marcus. Michelle DeJean as Roxie Hart in Chicago.)

*


(Fireworks at the Bowl in 2004.)

Hollywood Bowl season is here! For me, that means cheap classical music under the stars. My first concert of the season will be Mozart's Die Zauberflote this weekend, and I'm stoked!