More on Ratmansky, writing about the work of friends, and--new!--Luca Veggetti's "Oresteia"

Hey Apollinaire ... well, I had never met Paul Lazar before last week (which is kind of strange considering how often I've seen him, reviewed him, etc., and what a small world we all operate in), and I was absolutely over the moon (pun intended!) for "1965UU." You can read some of my thoughts about it here if you want:

http://blogs.wnyc.org/culture/2008/09/11/what-you-are-doing-this-weekend-2/

but, more to the point, you can see the incredible drawings done by the director's young daughter. I wish I could hand in drawings as reviews more often - though mine wouldn't be so beautiful and evocative as these, I'm afraid.

"Imagine Beckett by way of Monty Python, or the Little Prince, but after he grew up and no one thought he was so cute anymore though he still had an arresting angle on things." - that pretty much says it!

On another topic, I've been meaning to email you forever about your Forsythe post in August [http://www.artsjournal.com/foot/2008/08/in_lieu_of_a_post.html], in which you wonder why no one talks about him being a genius showman. It made me laugh, because I just reviewed that show in July for Musical America, and this was my lede:

Bizarre “Czar” Gets His Way, as Usual
By Claudia La Rocco
MusicalAmerica.com
July 23, 2008

NEW YORK -- William Forsythe is an odd couple all by himself.

There is Forsythe the intellectual, puzzling his way through esoteric explorations (the history of cherries in painting, for example). And there is Forsythe the showman, wowing the audience with grand theatrical concepts and virtuosic choreographic displays.

Sometimes the two Forsythes don’t play nicely, and the result is a production like “Three Atmospheric Studies,” his biting, 2006 indictment of war that was a bit too heavy-handed to achieve lift-off as a sensual theatrical creation. But when Forsythe harnesses his opposing energies, what an experience!

On Sunday, the Royal Ballet of Flanders performed his monumental 1988 work, “Impressing the Czar,” wrapping up a four-day debut stint at the Lincoln Center Festival. Prior to Royal Ballet of Flanders Director Kathy Bennetts gaining permission to revive “Czar” in 2006, the ballet hasn’t been seen in its entirety since 1995. (Bennetts is a former FORSYTHE ballet mistress.)

No czars were in attendance, as far as I could tell, but I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t have been impressed by this dizzying patchwork. Witty and ravishing by turns, the two-and-a-half hour rumination on classicism and the politics of art shows Forsythe at his idea-juggling best; even if the eye is occasionally overwhelmed, you never get the sense that he has lost track of the many balls he has thrown up into the air. ..."

cheers,
c

[Apollinaire responds:]

Claudia! hello, hello! Long time no see. (That's b/c of me: been holed up at the tippy top of towering offices for the summer).

Am happy you have been "over the moon" about "1965UU." (The show begs for puns, doesn't it?)--and the child drawings are enviable. Thank you for the post--I somehow missed it. Readers, in case you missed my plug a few months ago (was it?), the estimable Times regular Claudia La Rocco has a fantastic blog on WNYC at http://blogs.wnyc.org/culture/ (It's now merged with the other arts blogs, but if you click on Claudia's byline, it will bring up her posts--on all kinds of performances, including dance.)

And, Claudia, I also missed the Forsythe review--my God, what kind of a blogger am I? Though my 'plaint about the way critics tend to construe Forsythe is of longstanding, so you, then I, hardly make a dent.

Will link that post (http://www.artsjournal.com/foot/2008/08/in_lieu_of_a_post.html) to this comment. It's too bad musicalamerica.com requires subscriptions, though if that's what gets the writers paid, it's all for the good.

But what I really should have linked to in that summer ballet roundup--have just added the link now--was your Times review of Veronika Part in "La Bayadere" this June at the Met. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/arts/dance/25abt.html] I DID read that, and loved the way you laid out the controversy for civilians. It's a great approach, that kind of summary before digging into the performance at hand. It really brings the non-fanatic into the very heat of things. Brava!

bestest, a