Judith Light cut the ribbon for the grand opening of The Drama League's new home The Drama League Theater Center at 32 Avenue of the Americas. It features The Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley Studio Lab and the Joseph and Lauren Pizza Welcome Center. It is a splendid addition to the New York City theatre scene.

 

Off-Broadway, the revival of The Weir, by Conor McPherson, is a superbly acted play, directed by Ciaran O'Reilly, that takes place in a pub in an Irish small town. Five actors playing the owner, three male customers and newly arrived woman, tell ghost stories in such a convincing way, that the audience feels as if they are with them in the pub listening to their stories. The Irish Repertory Theatre has produced another one of their many triumphs.

 

American Ballet Theatre (ABT) said farewell to Irina Dvorovenko at the final performance of Onegin, music by Tchaikovsky, choreography by John Cranko, at the Metropolitan Opera House. It was a beautiful performance, a fitting conclusion to a wonderful career with the company. She appears on stage as the perfect, innocent, naive Tatiana in the first two acts, and as a mature, cosmopolitan wife in the final act. Supported by Cory Stearns in the title role, their many Pas de Deux were lyrical and lovely to behold. Gemma Bond (Olga) and Blaine Hoven (Lensky) and the corps de ballet contributed to a memorable night at the ballet.

 

 

A second program of ABT featured three ballets. The highlight was the first production of A Month in the Country, music by Chopin, choreography by Frederick Ashton, based on the play by Ivan Turgenev. Julie Kent and Roberto Bolle danced their duets brilliantly, and Gemma Bond acted and danced wonderfully as the ward attracted to the tutor. Danil Simkin stole the ballet with his marvelous jumps and turns. Symphony in C, music by Bizet, choreography by Balanchine, featured a superb Veronika Part in the second movement, well supported by Ivan Vasiliev, who replaced an injured Hernan Cornejo. Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, music by Virgil Thomson, choreography by Mark Morris, opened the program.

 

Film Society of Lincoln Center is presenting Open Roads: New Italian Cinema June 6-12. I attended two press screenings. Pretty Butterflies, by Salvatore Mereu, Italy, 2012, is a film about a 12-year-old girl, speaking directly into the camera, who lives with a dysfunctional family in a dilapidated housing project in Caligari, Sardinia. Her unemployed father watched pornography. Her sister was pregnant at 13. One brother is a drug addict, and another brother wants to kill a neighbor that the young girl loves. She spends the day with her best friend wandering aimlessly through the town, mainly eating ice cream. It is a grim, depressing tale. Every Blessed Day, by Paolo Virzi, Italy 20012, is a film about a couple, who have lived together for six years, trying to have a baby. There are a few amusing scenes of their doctor and hospital visits, but the couple themselves are unappealing. She is an unsuccessful singer and he has very little ambition. Apart from sex, they seem to have very little in common. One wonders about their future.

 

MoMA presented The Virgin Spring, by Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1960, which won the Academy Award as Foreign Language film. It is a strong, powerful film about the rape and murder of a young girl in medieval Sweden, and the father's revenge on the three brothers responsible for the crime. The difficult life in medieval times is captured realistically in this well acted, brilliant film.

 

Ballet in Cinema from Emerging Pictures presented Giselle, choreography by Marius Petipa, music by Adolphe Adam, from the Royal Ballet at a live performance in January 2011. It was a wonderful production with marvelous dancing. Marianela Nunez, in the title role, was simply magnificent, giving a touching, charming performance, supported wonderfully by Rupert Pennefather, an ardent Albrecht. Helen Crawford as Myrtha as the imperious Queen of the Wilis was perfect in the second act. The corps de ballet was splendid, with Yuhui Choe and Steven McRae shining in the Pas de Six in the first act. Koen Kessels was the conductor, under whose baton the orchestra played the ravishing score exquisitely.