ABT – The Bright Stream 6/10

It was another highly entertaining performance of The Bright Stream tonight.  Julie Kent and Jose Manuel Carreno as Zina and Pyotr, her husband, were quite pleasing to watch in Ratmansky's steppy choreography and seemed very energized by it.  Maybe some of the technique was down a half notch from the night before, but hey, these two have almost ninety years between them.  The PdD in Act II was exquisite, especially the second part which had a darker, melancholy mood to it.  Pyotr just couldn't seem to figure why his partner in a mask, who he doesn't know is really his wife, wouldn't come closer. 

Daniil Simkin and Isabella Boylston danced the roles of the Ballerina and the Ballet Dancer.  Simkin was devilish as the Sylph, his backwards leap to the bench and Sylph pose hilarious.  Boylston – what can we say about her development this past year except that it has been astonishing.  Tonight, she really projected her character to the back of the Family Circle – such a difference from a year ago.  However, when she and Julie danced the same steps together, it was noticeable that the staff has a little work to do on the elegance aspect of Isabella's dancing.  One complaint:  Isabella literally threw herself at her partners with excessive force, especially at Jose who nearly couldn't catch one of her flying passes down stage.  That kind of force can probably be chalked up to the bad influence that is in town this week who is known for using force to make herself look spectacular even at the expense of the people with whom she's dancing.  If ABT wants to hire gymno-dancers with no aesthetic, they can probably find them on most college campuses – it's not necessary to import them as guest stars.  Isabella's jumps were not only enormous, but pretty with beautifully curved legs and feet and her body was high on her legs.  A terrific performance from the new soloist!

Sascha Radetsky and Sarah Lane simply could not have been any better as the Accordion Player and the Schoolgirl.  Radetsky looked in fine technical form, and appeared to be dancing in a relaxed mode.  It's so great to see him genuinely smiling when he's dancing; we don't see that enough.  Lane grabbed the schoolgirl character by her hair bows and lit up Radetsky and the whole stage around her.  Haglund hasn't seen as much of Lane this season as he had hoped, and was happy to see her featured prominently tonight.  Like so many others, Lane is such a talent going to waste while the management imports guest artists who neither fit with the company's aesthetic nor add to it. 

Everyone danced superbly tonight, but the two people who were such surprise standouts in character roles were Julio Bragado-Young as the Old Dacha Dweller and Nicola Curry as the Anxious-to-Be-Younger-Than-She-Is Dacha Dweller.  Julio, who is probably one of the thinner men in the company, mastered the character of the old man with the sunken chest who wore his belt up too high and walked with a stoop.  The costumer deserves his/her own Pump Bump Award for outfitting Julio in the perfect oversized suit and the most unbecoming old-man, scoop-necked undershirt you can imagine.  When Julio squinted through his enormous glasses, his nose wrinkled up baring his slightly protruding front teeth – funnier than Mr. Six on the Six Flags amusement park commercials.  For her part, Nicola in her red wig, enormous eyelashes and substantial padding played her character to the hilt.  She was hilarious chasing after the Old Dacha Dweller after she saw him flirting with the Sylph. 

It was a very enjoyable evening of theater that a lot of people missed.  Lots of empty seats; however, keeping in mind that even a 35-40% empty Met is equivalent to a sold out Koch Theater, it probably wasn't really so bad. 

The silver star Pump Bump Award for tonight's performance is bestowed upon Julio Bragado-Young and Nicola Curry for their shining performances: