Rather than torturing yourselves on Tuesday night as the dismal election results trickle in, consider taking advantage of a $15 ticket to see the phenomenal Paul Taylor Dance Company at Lincoln Center. Tuesday evening includes a concert performance of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue played by Conrad Tao and the Orchestra of St. Luke's whose musical director and conductor is also our favorite ABT conductor David LaMarche.
People, listen – at yesterday's matinee, Conrad Tao got so carried away that he forearmed the piano keys like Jerry Lee Lewis. LaMarche's expression was priceless – "Woo-whoo, we're off the leash now." Tao leveled upon the audience an extraordinary display of virtuosity and passion for Gershwin's masterpiece. Meanwhile, LaMarche did more relevés on the podium than Odette and Odile combined to bring out the best of the Orchestra of St. Luke's.
The audience went bonkers. And when Tao showed up to sit in the audience to watch the last dance, he got another spontaneous ovation.
The Taylor company looks phenomenal! Company B has never looked better. The young John Harnage was a spectacular Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy whose polished technical energies kept coming forward right at us right to the end. In the last piece, Rush by Larry Keigwin, Harnage added a dark expression of impressive theatrical power to go with his thrilling dancing. Alex Clayton, Maria Ambrose, Jada Pearman and all of the dancers were in superb form with a pleasingly uniform high level of technique and Taylor style.
PTDC has put together a fantastic season. Did we mention the $15 tickets?
The H.H. Pump Bump Award – and we had to dig deep into the shoe closet to find this one with piano keys and a bugle – is bestowed upon John Harnage and Conrad Tao for their sensational performances on Sunday. We'll be there again on Tuesday — so should everyone else.
10 responses to “Paul Taylor Dance Company
Company B, Rhapsody, and Rush”
You may have outdone yourself with this shoe choice. Bravo
You may have outdone yourself with this shoe choice. Bravo
Thank you!
Thank you!
Tao’s performance was a bit over the top – fun to experience, but distorted the essence of the piece. I would have preferred Wild to wild.
Tao’s performance was a bit over the top – fun to experience, but distorted the essence of the piece. I would have preferred Wild to wild.
lol, Solor.
Tao is known for improvising, and I think improvisation is in the spirit of Rhapsody. Gershwin hadn’t even written down the piano notes when he had to perform it the first time. He ended up improvising his own piece.
Here’s a video of Tao playing Rhapsody to Caleb Teicher’s tap dancing with improvisation from both:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uJpeUPHLyI
The Sunday matinee crowd, which seemed to have more senior folks than the smaller Tuesday night crowd, appreciated Tao’s performance a bit more. On Tuesday, the generous applause died down more quickly and it appears that we may have lost the opportunity for some type of encore. LaMarche stayed on the podium readying the orchestra and seemingly waiting for Tao to return. But then the curtain came down.
lol, Solor.
Tao is known for improvising, and I think improvisation is in the spirit of Rhapsody. Gershwin hadn’t even written down the piano notes when he had to perform it the first time. He ended up improvising his own piece.
Here’s a video of Tao playing Rhapsody to Caleb Teicher’s tap dancing with improvisation from both:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uJpeUPHLyI
The Sunday matinee crowd, which seemed to have more senior folks than the smaller Tuesday night crowd, appreciated Tao’s performance a bit more. On Tuesday, the generous applause died down more quickly and it appears that we may have lost the opportunity for some type of encore. LaMarche stayed on the podium readying the orchestra and seemingly waiting for Tao to return. But then the curtain came down.
Too bad there was no encore on Tuesday – I would have loved to hear what he would have done with Clair de Lune or Prelude in C Sharp Minor!
Too bad there was no encore on Tuesday – I would have loved to hear what he would have done with Clair de Lune or Prelude in C Sharp Minor!