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Five Elements - Four Temperaments Oregon Ballet Theatre's 'Midsummer Night's Dream'
March 7, 2010 -- Keller Auditorium, Portland Okay, let me get my fuss off my chest right away and then we’ll get on with the glowing commentary. There was no live music for the first piece, Balanchine’s “The Four Temperaments.” This seemed especially strange given that the mighty OBT Orchestra played for the second half of the bill, accompanying Christopher Stowell’s scenic and creative wonder, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Perhaps it was a matter of not having the time to adequately learn and rehearse the Hindemith score. I would, nevertheless, strongly advocate for at least someone to have played the rehearsal piano score. The dancing is done live, as are the lighting and scenic elements [sidebar – if we’re looking at saving money why not just basic work lights or a wash as long as we can see the dancers?], the costumes are live, and audience is live. So why not the music in a high art form where practically everyone credits the music as the inspiration for all else? Ask just about any serious choreographer about their creative process and they’ll tell you first off they look to music as their departure point to for making movement. As you can tell, this issue is important to me and I hope it is one that boards of directors, donors, fundraisers, audiences, and the community at large will take seriously. I know that artistic directors do. As has been noted in recent press articles, “normal” business models for belt-tightening do not work for live theatre presentations. There are ways of being prudent, but as soon as you cut back on the level of production audiences are used to, they will begin to stay away. Pacific Northwest Ballet experienced this difficulty while the Seattle opera house was being remodeled and they had to perform in an ice rink arena for two years. They had to work hard to re-build subscribership and woo back loyalty. Theater groups whose boards put them on hiatus while fundraising generally find themselves giving the kiss of death...and the theatres are very unlikely to return. Why should people support what appears to have gone away and is not producing? Live theatre organizations need to produce art and get it onstage, otherwise why are they there in the first place? Donors and audiences have only so much patience and attention span before they shift their focus elsewhere. When artistic cuts are made, for whatever reason, it sends up red flags to me and makes me extremely nervous and concerned. I adore Balanchine’s “The Four Temperaments,” but I have to admit that even given the authoritative and top-drawer original staging by Francia Russell and the very high standard of dancing and interpretation by the cast, overall it felt a bit hollow. No matter how much electronic speakers are cranked up, nothing replaces acoustic music for filling a hall with warmth, sound, and yes, even love. The biggest reason though, from both sides of the curtain, is that live music allows the dancers and music to breathe with each other. With a tape, there is no ebb and flow – the je ne sais quoi that makes theatre live. Any on-stage performer or crew member will tell you how when using recordings, speakers have to be placed backstage in the wings so the performers can hear the music both in the wings and on stage – even when music is blasting out to the audience. This is generally not the case with even a piano. It’s a phenomenon of acoustic versus other. Even the glitzy and popular television show “Dancing with the Stars” has routines that are done to live music. I also note that the top balcony of Keller Auditorium was not used, when in fact audiences should have been clamoring to file in and lined up along the sidewalk to the box office for this very fine show. Perhaps it’s the difficult financial times we are extracting ourselves from, but I can’t help but think that cutting the orchestra as first announced at season’s start and then working to incrementally bring it back has had something to do with it. Enough.
The entire cast was outstanding. I liked Artur Sultanov’s “Phlegmatic” solo and he nailed the difficult ending – holding onto one heel in attitude front while in plié (fondu) and sticking it. Bennan Boyer’s earlier PNB training and experience show with his easy technique and range. His “Melancholic” solo had the right looks to the sky and quick twisted falls to the floor. I might have wanted a little more Graham-like attack on the contractions (it’s really a modern dance solo in ballet-sheep’s clothing) but his backward walk off while fully bent back into a cambré with arms reading over his head and parallel to floor brought a very moving conclusion to this unusual solo. Who could forget Yuka Iino and her partner Chauncey Parsons in “Sanguinic?” Iino is a sprightly, light dancer whose fearless turns are a joy. Parsons is a real catch for OBT. I wonder if he and OBT realize just how good he is? Probably. But I do have to point out his glorious line and a strong and elegant technique that’s easily on par with Larsen’s and OBT principal Alison Roper. What I call the “whomp!”part of “Choleric” went to principal Kathi Martuza whose strength and sheer verve are put to good use in just about every ballet she’s cast in – and this one certainly taps into these qualities...and more. This is one of those fiendishly difficult parts where you have to turn at the speed of lightening, drop to a kneel while covering your face in a quick contraction and then do it all over again – while remaining cool, calm, and collected. I never fear when Martuza is up on the boards. She gives me complete confidence in what she’s doing – and this then allows me to focus on the choreography and performance, which is the job of every stage performer; to relax the audience so they can enjoy the show. The entire cast is then on for the concluding cascade of overhead lifts and pulsating and sweeping lunges as the curtain drops on this masterwork. Stowell and his production team really took courage in hand – I do think it takes bravery to tackle a story ballet that has already famous and well-known versions – to create OBT’s very own (and Northwest inspired) “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He collaborated with his music director Niel DePonte to put together pieces by Mendelssohn, which included DePonte’s own arrangements and with Sandra Woodall whose costume and scenic designs were straight from sketches made deep in an Oregon forest. He also gave us a fresh premise of a play-within-a-play. In this case a contemporary wedding where the participants and guests are given masks and costume elements and who then become the characters of the Shakespeare play. My only choreographic fuss is that when he brings in Titania’s entourage or the same with Oberon’s lackeys, there is too much unison movement. (I don’t mean dancing together as an ensemble – in sync and on time.) My eye expected and wanted these corps to have been broken up a bit with maybe opposition, or canon, or breaking up the larger group into smaller chunks and having one in the middle do something with two on the outside something different but complementary, all the while “framing” the principal figure. Stowell has cast his ballet well with each dancer having the right mix of beautiful technique and the ability to act and get into character. Topping this list are Roper and Ronnie Underwood each in dual roles – Hippolyta/Titania and Theseus/Oberon neatly followed by Anne Mueller as Hermia, Adrian Fry as Lysander, Sultanov as Demetrius, and Larsen showing her comedic talent as Helena. Wowing the audience with his aerial feats of jumps and turns – and sometimes jumping turns and turning jumps – was Master of Ceremonies/Puck, also known as the mortal dancer Javier Ubell. His sidekick and apparent main squeeze, Peaseblossom, was delightfully portrayed by Ansa Deguchi. The audience enjoyed the visual mirthful joke of having her dressed as a bloom and he as a bee; we got it! Yucking it up as the clattering and bumbling commoners were Kevin Poe as Bottom/a Bartender and the trio of Waiters Steven Houser, Matthew Pippin, and Brent Slack-Wolfe. OBT’s “Dream” is a visual fantasy come to life and one that is breezy, light, and gives us a collective much-needed uplift. The entire main floor was on their feet, clapping and cheering expressing their gratitude. Gratitude for OBT’s shows, its artistic vision and leadership and for surviving and carrying on when it’s most welcome.
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by Dean Speer
Balanchine’s 1946 “The Four Temperaments” is a work that I’ve long adored and Francia Russell’s staging of it is probably my favorite. This performance was bittersweet as we had to say adieu to the serenely elegant Gavin Larsen who gave her last rendering of the Third Theme and whose retirement from the stage was earlier announced by OBT – too soon for my money. Larsen is one of those magical dancers who has the ability to shape the air around her as she performs and will be sorely missed. As I said a bit ago about clamoring, audiences should be tackling the box office between now and May to catch everything that she does.