Carousel - a Dance (NYCB)

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 3/1/08 at 5:51pm

This afternoon I saw The New York City Ballet perform this piece at The Kennedy Center in DC. As this was a ballet choreographed to music by Richard Rodgers, I thought I would post my review on the main board. Never has The Carousel Waltz sounded so beautiful and glorious with a full orchestra (oh those strings!!). Put that together with the stunning choreography by Christopher Weldon and I was in sheer heaven. The leads were danced by Damien Woetzel and Tiler Peck. The corps de ballet was magnificent. To say that this ballet brought tears to my eyes is an understatement. I was in tears by a quarter of the way through ballet and those tears flowed throughout!! Everything just came together. Towards the end of the ballet, the dancers formed a human carousel, and to hear the collective sigh of the audience was wonderful. I loved this so much that I plan on seeing it again tomorrow evening.

When NYCB returns to NYC and this particular piece is on their schedule, by all means, grab yourself a ticket.

What makes me sad is to realize that Broadway pit orchestras today are not what the used to be. How many musicians have been replaced with a synthesizer? It’s amazing the difference an entire string section makes to a piece. The orchestra this afternoon reiterated just how important pit musicians are. I could only imagine what Richard Rodgers reaction would have been if he was told to write for a 9 piece pit! I believe the orchestra today would have made him extremely proud. The arrangements and orchestras for this particular piece were by William David Brohn.

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 3/1/08 at 6:50pm

I was also there this afternoon in the 2nd tier. I generally am not an avid classical ballet fan, but I did very much appreciate the full orchestra. I thought Carousel was a definite standout piece. The other three pieces? Perhaps its my theatre bias, but I did not appreciate them as much. The Carousel dance was worth the ticket price.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 3/1/08 at 11:28pm

I was in the 2nd tier, too. Seat B104. I just got in from this evening's performance. I had to get my share of Symphony in C.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 3/1/08 at 11:31pm

That's part of their Spring season at Lincoln Center. I can't wait to see it.

[winston89]

Posted: 3/1/08 at 11:51pm

I don't think that there are any synths in the pit these days. Just a drastic reduction of the number of people in the pit.

This sounds like something that should be fun to see and I might want to get tickets to see it when they do it at The NY State Theater later this spring.

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 3/2/08 at 12:09pm

Ah, I was in C-5 in the 2nd tier.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 3/29/13 at 11:29pm

Just thought I would bump my original review as I had just seen this piece again (twice this week) in DC. For some reason it seems longer than 5 years though. It definitely made more of an impact the first time I saw it, but it was still nice to see.

This is part of NYCBs spring season in NYC, too.

Updated On: 3/29/13 at 11:29 PM

[hockeynut2]

Posted: 3/30/13 at 1:10am

Here is Colleen Sproull's review of the performance on DCMetroTheaterArts.
Review of 'Carousel-a Dance and NYCB at The Kennedy Center on DCMTA

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/30/13 at 3:15am

Thank you for the great report. I would love to hear Chris Wheeldon do a full production--he certainly is the current ballet worl choreographer I could most see doing spectacularly--although I don't think people thought much of his choreography for Sweet Smell of Success (if they thought anything.)

His After the Rain is the best ballet from the past thirty years I have seen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAp502GFuD0

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/30/13 at 8:40am

My granddaughter and I will be seeing this at Lincoln Center in May. It's paired with the dances from WEST SIDE STORY--and that remains her favorite musical.