Like Water for Chocolate (American Ballet Theater) (2023)

Christopher Wheeldon's adaptation of the classic Mexican novel runs three acts, nearly three hours. My main qualm is the medium. I'm all for dance, but it's not really an effective way of communicating plot. And it's very plot heavy for interpretive dance. You need to read the synopsis in the program to really appreciate it. And yet I felt like there were too many scenes that didn't have enough dance.  What you'd call 'book scenes' in a musical, they convey plot without songs; well here they "convey plot" without dance which is to say nothing. I've mostly in the past seen just vignettes, independent scenes, not really a whole plot ballet. Even The Nutcracker is lighter on plot, and full of irrelevant Arabian/Chinese/etc dances. The dance scenes are fabulous though. Act II features the most dance. The music by Joby Talbot is beautifully cinematic. It sounds like a movie score--I thought it might have actually been from the movie adaptation. But it's original for the ballet. The final pas de deux features a soprano solo too, the first spoken words of the whole ballet, just at the very end. I also loved the instrumentation with the guitar solo. The show has the sound and look of Mexico. The production is beautiful. The final image of the lovers set aflame in the air is breathtaking.

An American in Paris (Broadway) (2015)

This is a gorgeous stage adaptation of the classic Gene Kelly film. Much like the movie, the focus of this production is dance.  I have a great appreciation for dance. It is mostly ballet, but there are brilliant infusions of jazz and contemporary dance (and maybe a bit of Fosse). The choreography is so beautifully elegant and intricate. Director-choreographer Christopher Wheeldon makes an extraordinary Broadway debut. The opening number is a gorgeous dance to Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F.  It is these lyric-less moments in which the production shines brightest.  George Gershwin's jazz inspired score is great but personally I prefer the pieces without words to the songs with (no offense to Ira). The beautiful jazzy theme from the second movement of the Concerto in F recurs throughout the production. The film is well known for its 17 minute ballet sequence to the piece of the same name.  The climax of the play is a similar ballet that is simply mesmerizing.

Robert Fairchild, brother of Megan Fairchild from On the Town, plays the male lead. He is a fine singer, but a fantastic ballet dancer. We did not see the Tony-nominated Leanne Cope because we have terrible luck but her understudy was a gorgeous dancer, too. And from a distance, they actually look very similar.

The design of the musical, that is the sets and costumes, are brilliant. Fittingly, the protagonist designs a ballet. Bob Crowley designs a rather minimalist set, leaving the floor mostly open for the dancers. As you enter the theater, you see a lone piano at the center of the stage (this image comes back at the end). A projection of the Arc di Triomphe on a sheet on the back wall transforms into the French flag from which the principal dancer emerges.  The background is made of cutouts drawn at an angle for perspective, and the projections fill in the details slowly in digital pencil. One of the best scenes features a sophisticated, animated hand-drawn ballerina on the moving set pieces that have angled tops, and ballet bars for manual movement. The masquerade costumes in the Cuban Overture are delightful, and the chromatic geometric design of the ballet sets and costumes are highly original.