#1
Posted: 7/20/07 at 10:05am
I’ve been reading the posts about GYPSY and the complaints about City Center. So a short history lesson is in order.
For all of those who complain, remember that City Center was built as a theatre for the people at popular prices. Yes, the seats, the stage and everything else were inadequate.
But let us look at what you got at City Center.
First of all, a huge thank you—and my love and affection—for the two people who pushed City Center through, fought for it, pleaded for it and generally raised hell for it: Morton Baum and Jean Dalrymple. I don’t know how many of you remember them today, but back in the forties and fifties they made it possible for NYC Ballet, NYC Opera, faithful revivals of Broadway musicals, to be seen at a fraction of the original cost. And they were forces to be reckoned with. Baum was a high powered lawyer who was also general manager of City Center—with no salary. Having come up the hard way from a poor family, he heeded that old slogan: “we want bread, but we also want roses.” And boy, did he throw roses. As for Jean, I knew her when she was a press agent for Broadway shows. What was she like? Well, let’s put it this way. Cheryl Crawford and Agnes deMille were afraid of her. I guess that sums up Jean in a nutshell.
City Center was a ground for theatre lovers: Gertrude Lawrence, Raymond Massey, Alfred Drake, Shirley Booth, Celeste Holm all appeared in revivals—and without amplification. And the lowest price was something like .85. And, if you got a discount seat, you would pay .45. Forty-five cents to see Gertrude Lawrence. Now that was a bargain back then.
It was also here at City Center with its inadequate stage space, wing space, that Balanchine created Orpheus, Agon, La Valse, Nutcracker, Stars and Stripes, Episodes, Liebeslieder Walzer, Scoth Symphony and Midsummer Night’s Dream, plus the two great revivals of Prodigal Son and Apollo. Balanchine’s audience was loyal, although the stage left a lot to be desired. My husband and I went to the opening night of Balanchine’s Bourree Fantasque, and from where we were sitting it looked as if Jerome Robbins and Tanaquil LeClercq had no feet. But this audience was smart. They knew where to look—and hover. A wonderful example of this is Balanchine’s Firebird., While the fire laws were in order, the audience seemed to ignore it—actually, so did the ushers. For Firebird Balanchine created some of the most difficult, acrobatic steps for Maria Tallchief. Unfortunately, many people could only see it from one angle. Tallchief sensed this and always played it at a diagonal downstage left. Legend goes that Balanchine came to her and said, “Maria, you are not dancing in right spot.” To which Tallchief answered: “I will dance in that spot since my admirers demand that I be seen.”
City Center also hosted the NYC Opera at the beginning and nursed and caressed it through some difficult times. It was also the place where you could hear Phyllis Curtin, Frances Bible, Norman Triegle and the young Beverly Sills when she sang the Mozart repertory brilliantly, and before she went off to shriek in the bel canto roles that killed her voice.
And it was here at City Center where the big foundations began giving money and moving it on to Lincoln Center.
So, when you gripe and complain about City Center, try and remember what it did: incubated and produced some of the greatest works of the twentieth century.
For all of those who complain, remember that City Center was built as a theatre for the people at popular prices. Yes, the seats, the stage and everything else were inadequate.
But let us look at what you got at City Center.
First of all, a huge thank you—and my love and affection—for the two people who pushed City Center through, fought for it, pleaded for it and generally raised hell for it: Morton Baum and Jean Dalrymple. I don’t know how many of you remember them today, but back in the forties and fifties they made it possible for NYC Ballet, NYC Opera, faithful revivals of Broadway musicals, to be seen at a fraction of the original cost. And they were forces to be reckoned with. Baum was a high powered lawyer who was also general manager of City Center—with no salary. Having come up the hard way from a poor family, he heeded that old slogan: “we want bread, but we also want roses.” And boy, did he throw roses. As for Jean, I knew her when she was a press agent for Broadway shows. What was she like? Well, let’s put it this way. Cheryl Crawford and Agnes deMille were afraid of her. I guess that sums up Jean in a nutshell.
City Center was a ground for theatre lovers: Gertrude Lawrence, Raymond Massey, Alfred Drake, Shirley Booth, Celeste Holm all appeared in revivals—and without amplification. And the lowest price was something like .85. And, if you got a discount seat, you would pay .45. Forty-five cents to see Gertrude Lawrence. Now that was a bargain back then.
It was also here at City Center with its inadequate stage space, wing space, that Balanchine created Orpheus, Agon, La Valse, Nutcracker, Stars and Stripes, Episodes, Liebeslieder Walzer, Scoth Symphony and Midsummer Night’s Dream, plus the two great revivals of Prodigal Son and Apollo. Balanchine’s audience was loyal, although the stage left a lot to be desired. My husband and I went to the opening night of Balanchine’s Bourree Fantasque, and from where we were sitting it looked as if Jerome Robbins and Tanaquil LeClercq had no feet. But this audience was smart. They knew where to look—and hover. A wonderful example of this is Balanchine’s Firebird., While the fire laws were in order, the audience seemed to ignore it—actually, so did the ushers. For Firebird Balanchine created some of the most difficult, acrobatic steps for Maria Tallchief. Unfortunately, many people could only see it from one angle. Tallchief sensed this and always played it at a diagonal downstage left. Legend goes that Balanchine came to her and said, “Maria, you are not dancing in right spot.” To which Tallchief answered: “I will dance in that spot since my admirers demand that I be seen.”
City Center also hosted the NYC Opera at the beginning and nursed and caressed it through some difficult times. It was also the place where you could hear Phyllis Curtin, Frances Bible, Norman Triegle and the young Beverly Sills when she sang the Mozart repertory brilliantly, and before she went off to shriek in the bel canto roles that killed her voice.
And it was here at City Center where the big foundations began giving money and moving it on to Lincoln Center.
So, when you gripe and complain about City Center, try and remember what it did: incubated and produced some of the greatest works of the twentieth century.
Every movement has a meaning--but what the hell does it mean!
