The New York Times-20080127-Dance

Return to: The_New_York_Times-20080127

Dance

Full Text (255  words)

Dance

Jack Anderson

Choreographers seeking to create full-evening story ballets must think of ways to prevent their creations from becoming ponderous narratives. SUSAN STROMAN has devised an ingenious solution to this problem in Double Feature for the NEW YORK CITY BALLET. Paying an affectionate tribute to the silent-film era, her two-part ballet, as its title suggests, resembles a cinematic double feature, yet it all takes place live on stage.

Although Ms. Stroman tells two markedly different stories, what unifies them in a single ballet is the way she finds choreographic equivalents for some of the visual and narrative conventions of old movies. The Blue Necklace, the first episode, tells a melodramatic tale of romance and villainy that ultimately leads to -- what else? -- a happy ending. Then comes Makin' Whoopee, a rollicking comic adventure about a young man who learns he must marry by 7 p.m. that day in order to claim a fortune. When the news spreads around town, he is pursued in a slapstick chase by a bevy of hopeful brides, some of them very surprising candidates. The cast of agile dancers includes a virtuoso little dog. And orchestrations of familiar old tunes by Irving Berlin and Walter Donaldson accompany the production. Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., Feb. 3 at 3 p.m., New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, (212) 870-5570, nycballet.com; $20 to $98.

[Illustration]PHOTO: Maria Kowroski, left, and Ashley Bouder of the New York City Ballet in The Blue Necklace. (PHOTOGRAPH BY PAUL KOLNIK)