from LCT website
Richard Nelson has written a play about the time surrounding Balanchine's creation of Orpheus in 1948. Previews begin on April 4 at Lincoln Center's Newhouse Theater. Opening night is May 6th, and it appears that the play will run through mid-June.
From the Lincoln Center Theater website:
It's 1948 and during a spring weekend in Westport, Connecticut a
close-knit group of Russian emigres, including choreographer George
Balanchine, composer Igor Stravinsky, conductor Serge Koussevitsky,
painter/set designer Sergey Sudeikin and composer Nikolai Nabokov,
gather to eat, drink and talk.In Nikolai and the Others playwright Richard Nelson (Some Americans Abroad, Two Shakespearean Actors)
imagines the relationships between Balanchine and Stravinsky, their
friends, lovers, wives and ex-wives, partners, supporters and dancers
(including Maria Tallchief and Nicholas Magallanes), at the time of
their historic collaboration on the ballet Orpheus.
Later that year, Orpheus would be the spectacular inaugural
production of the newly formed New York City Ballet. With this in mind,
the play also explores the controversial ways American art and artistic
institutions were funded at the outset of the Cold War — including the
subtle hand of the State Department in the post-war cultural scene.
Natalia Alonso (Ballet Hispanico, Complexions) will portray Maria Tallchief, and there will be some Orpheus choreography on display as staged by Rosemary Dunleavy. Blair Brown as Vera Stravinsky, John Glover as Igor Stravinsky, Stephen Kunken as Nikolai Nabokov, Michael Rosen as Nicholas Magallanes, and Michael Cerveris as George Balanchine are among the cast of 18 players.
Spring is getting busy. Purchase tickets here.
4 responses to “Lincoln Center Theater presents
Nikolai and the Others – a play about Balanchine, Stravinsky, Nabokov”
Having seen the play last night I can only weigh in (with what looked like half the audience) as hopelessly boring. We and that other half walked out at intermission. So these comments are only for the first act. The most annoying contrivance was having the Russians speaking in a perfect American accent when supposedly speaking Russian to each other and then dropping into a Russian accented English when speaking to Americans. And then there were the endless longueurs.
Having seen the play last night I can only weigh in (with what looked like half the audience) as hopelessly boring. We and that other half walked out at intermission. So these comments are only for the first act. The most annoying contrivance was having the Russians speaking in a perfect American accent when supposedly speaking Russian to each other and then dropping into a Russian accented English when speaking to Americans. And then there were the endless longueurs.
Uh oh.
It sounds like there is a lot of work to be done before this play comes out of previews, if it ever does. Surely the producers will make some changes that might positively affect the production’s entertainment value. However, it’s still $75 and an hour of your life that you can’t get back.
Thanks much for your report.
Uh oh.
It sounds like there is a lot of work to be done before this play comes out of previews, if it ever does. Surely the producers will make some changes that might positively affect the production’s entertainment value. However, it’s still $75 and an hour of your life that you can’t get back.
Thanks much for your report.