Sunday’s matinee performance was truly a mixed bag that mixed individual stellar performances with the mediocre. The stellar included Sean Stewart in CITIZEN. The choreography as a whole is goop if not poop, but the opportunity to see Stewart’s brilliance featured was well worth sitting through whatever was necessary to sit through. Everyone knows from years past that he is the consummate classicist given to pure and unforced dancing that is consistent night in and night out. But during his few adventurous years with Lar Lubovitch, he seems to have developed an engaging dark side. The intensity of his performance was thrilling and in Haglund’s view was the best performance in that piece of either cast.
The performances of Cory Stearns and Melissa Thomas in the same cast were embarrassingly mediocre. Neither has a clue about the modern or contemporary style. Not a clue. Why does McKenzie continue to torture us with Stearns in roles for which he is no where near ready? Let the kid put forth the effort as an understudy, but don’t put him on stage as a principal. Being tall was not a requirement for the role in CITIZEN. The lead could have gone to Stewart or Blaine Hoven. Actually, it SHOULD have gone to Radetsky, but Haglund doesn’t want to venture there.
Theme and Variations was danced by Yuriko Kajiya and David Hallberg. The performance looked under-rehearsed. The demands seemed to be more than Kajiya was ready for, and Hallberg simply had an off performance. Undoubtedly, Michele Wiles got at least 7 hours of sleep after her brilliant performance in T&V at the Saturday matinee. Why wasn’t she pulled in to sub for Murphy instead of Kajiya?
And so . . . .
. . . this coveted Bump Pump award goes to Sean Stewart! Here's hoping we see him featured in the Spring season.