The leading question on more than one mind Thursday evening during the second intermission of the San Francisco Ballet's second repertory program at the War Memorial Opera House was "What happened?"
What, indeed, happened to Julia Adam, a company principal dancer, who with her "Night" a couple of seasons ago emerged as an off-center and immensely winning choreographer? Adam's second premiere for the Ballet, "Angelo," remains comfortably eccentric, but the attempt to fashion an everyman life cycle in movement, a Bildungstanz, falls alarmingly flat and schematic, despite starry casting and a catchy production.
COBBLED QUALITY
Well, one thing that happened was that 10 bits from scores by Antonio Vivaldi replaced the music by Matthew Pierce, whose contribution to "Night" was more than merely ancillary (a rumored second collaboration with Pierce has,
regrettably, come to naught). The cobbled quality of the Vivaldi score is disorienting, but not productively so.
Another thing that happened was that Adam never quite settled into a consistent tone for her 30-minute work. At one moment, in the midst of a youthful infatuation, Angelo (Guennadi Nedviguine) tumbles into the War Memorial orchestra pit, and the mood is farcical. At another moment, the protagonist is locked in an exploratory, homoerotic embrace with the Friend (Damian Smith, as suavely sinister as ever) and the work turns inexplicably grim. "Angelo" seems, also, a bit lost on that vast stage. The movement is expansive at times, but the episodic quality of the narrative suggests that it would have been a happier experience in a more intimate theater./ Review |
