NYCB 10/3
Soirée Musicale, Spectral Evidence, Namouna

The brilliant, self-described anarchist John Cage created a large body of musical compositions that Haglund isn't much interested in listening to when he winds up his old Victrola. Thank goodness there are people like Angelin Preljocaj, and Merce Cunningham before him, who have plowed through Cage's musical disturbances and recognized them as fertile plains for choreography.

Preljocaj's latest work for NYCB, Spectral Evidence, marries Cage's anarchy with the isolationism and irrational religious fervor of the time when the Salem Witch Trials played out in Massachusetts. It's terrific – not perfect, not without sections that could be tightened to be more climatic – but it's a terrific little theater piece for a company whose bread & butter ballets are mostly abstract neo-classical masterpieces. And it provides Robert Fairchild with an opportunity to craze the stage like most dance-actors dream about doing. 

The cast includes Adrian Danchig-Waring, Amar Ramasar, and Taylor Stanley, all of whom can carry the theatrical weight of any performance on their own. Although Chase Finlay danced admirably in the cast on opening night before his recent injury, the substitution of Taylor Stanley has added further dramatic power to the group portraying like-minded religious men. Haglund could see any one of the three men of the current cast stepping into Fairchild's role with great success.

Tiler Peck, Megan Fairchild, Georgina Pazcoguin, and Gretchen Smith as the mysterious and sensual whispering witchy-women elicited empathy and nervousness from the viewer. So haunting in their white gowns bearing blood-stained signs of violence, they seemed fragile and dangerous at the same time. In the end, the tightly buttoned-up jury of four men threw them into the fire to burn.

Spectral Evidence will be repeated on October 5, 8, 10, 12 and will also be part of the Winter Season. See it, think about it, and then see it again. It's a keeper.

The evening opened with Christopher Wheeldon's Soirée Musicale set to Samuel Barber's Souvenirs Ballet Suite. The ballet was originally made for SAB students five years ago and has been expanded to include a PdD which was performed last night by Lauren Lovette and Zachary Catazaro. The PdD, originally created on Lovette and Chase Finlay, is a wonderful vehicle for her lush musicality and expressive limbs. Brittany Pollack also shines in the Tango section in which she is seemingly in complete control of the dozen men who are clamoring after her. Last night, all the women looked beautiful in their plum/mauve/rose/lilac romantic length tutus designed by Holly Hynes, but the ballet, while sometimes interesting, made Haglund feel almost nothing. 

The final piece on the program was Alexei Ratmansky's Namouna, A Grand Divertissement from 2010. Full of acutely detailed corps patterns and solos, it also includes opportunities for the company's dancers to show off their comedic skills. Last night, Ashley Bouder as the sensual cigarette girl was the highlight of the piece with her blazing allegro that literally smoked. Sara Mearns looked great as the woman in navy blue; her grand allegro was delivered with powerful thrusts of energy.  Sterling Hyltin, the pixie woman in white who Tyler Angle made his goal, reminded Haglund of Amour in Don Quixote, especially since she wore a white wiggish cap that covered her head. Daniel Ulbricht, Megan Fairchild, and Abi Stafford in the fawn-colored costumes chased through allegro at illegal speeds.

But – there's always a but, it seems – Namouna got tiring to watch. It wore Haglund down. Maybe Alexei Ratmansky thought that Namouna might be the last piece he would make for NYCB for a long while and so he'd better make the dancers do everything they can possibly do. It's a pity if his relationship with ABT prohibits him from making new dances for NYCB – Haglund doesn't know that's the case, but wouldn't be surprised – because NYCB can launch Ratmansky's high energy like no other company. His more lyrical compositions like Seven Sonatas and the full length productions like The Nutcracker could not find a better home than at ABT, but when it comes down to stoking allegro, there is no better company than NYCB.

The evening's Pump Bump Award, a handsome stiletto boot bent slightly beyond normal, is bestowed upon Robert Fairchild for his riveting performance in Spectral Evidence.