We can thank ARB's dancers for their commitment to their roles.
A more elaborate production is in the works, however, with scenery by Kevin Lee Allen Designs and costumes by Michelle Ferrranti. The Hamilton Stage event on October 17 was only a teaser for this ballet's premiere, February 26-27, 2015, at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. According to company director Douglas Martin, who is choreographing the piece, another act remains to be added. Martin intends to create a prologue explaining how these characters---the four lovers, especially---came to be chasing one another through the woods at night. This prologue will help distinguish Martin's work from other versions of the ballet, especially Frederick Ashton's "The Dream," which Martin danced when he was in the Joffrey Ballet and which has served as his model. In the meantime, the core of the new "Midsummer" is already in place accompanied by Felix Mendelssohn's famous incidental music and inspired by the mix-‘n-match shenanigans of William Shakespeare's play.
As Oberon, the King of the Fairies who is determined to teach proud Titania a lesson, Alexander Dutko has the necessary speed and lightness, and his Oberon adopts a supercilious air when giving commands to his factotum, Puck. Karen Leslie Moscato's Titania runs emotionally hot and cold, but her affections are misdirected. She is icy to her husband when he demands she surrender her changeling page, but turns sluttish when infatuated with Bottom, the bumbling actor whom Oberon's magic has transformed into a donkey. Moscato's performance in the pure-dance segments of the ballet shows the other side of Titania's capriciousness and instability however. There Moscato appears as the mistress of her fairy realm, securely placed and confident in her balances.
In Martin's staging, the pas de deux that reconciles Oberon and Titania includes some tricky, back-handed partnering and clingy passages that Dutko and Moscato negotiate securely. As the duet intensifies, they echo each other's movements creating lovely images of reciprocity. Then Oberon rests his head in Titania's lap as if to say he's not so tough after all.
Jacopo Jannelli is Puck, making him earthy and physical even in his twisting leaps, and the way he stares at the mixed-up lovers tells us he's none too bright. Joshua Kurtzberg prances happily through his part as Bottom—after all, he's the one who gets the girl.
Making us feel the mortal characters' desperation most keenly is Samantha Gullace. As poor Helena, she finds herself torn, rejected by her beloved Demetrius one minute and mistrusting her sudden popularity the next. Nanako Yamamoto's Hermia is more self-contained, becoming petulant like a spoiled child when her boyfriend Lysander abandons her for Helena. As Demetrius, Marc St.-Pierre fusses and fumes, trying to escape from Helena and then trying to unload her, when she catches him---until quite unexpectedly he discovers he can't have enough of her. And Cameron Auble-Branigan seems typecast as sweet-seeming Lysander who becomes pugnacious when an accidental dusting of pollen from the flower known as "love-in-idleness" makes him allergic to Hermia and randy for Helena instead.
It is hard to predict how the pieces of this "Midsummer" will fit together when Martin's ballet is complete and how things will look in a larger theater. At Hamilton Stage, the fairies' makeup seemed excessive—are pointy ears really necessary?---but with a backdrop and more distance from the audience this makeup may have a subtler effect. One piece of stage business needs to be clarified. When Titania awakes from her night of love-making to discover Bottom at her feet, he should still be wearing his donkey-head. Otherwise, she has no reason to react to the sight of him in her bed with disgust. Having Puck, or Oberon, pull off the mask after she wakes doesn't stretch credibility, because when the ballet does its work properly we are too deep in its fantasy world to care.
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