I was walking down the street last night and saw a crowd of folks walking out of the St Paul Theater. I thought they all looked a little strange...now I know why..this is what they went to see...i don't know what is worse..the play itself or this dumb-ass review?!?!Dance review: Dolls' 'Romeo' recasting is a mashup that fails to gel
By Linda Shapiro Special to the Pioneer Press
Updated: 06/22/2009 12:36:47 PM CDT
Choreographer Myron Johnson's recasting of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" as a tale of same-sex, star-crossed lovers would appear to be a dovetailing of like sensibilities. Like the Bard, Johnson mixes elements of high art and popular culture in entertaining works with plenty of poetry and imbedded social commentary.
His "Romiette and Juleo" honors the GLBT community and strongly condemns those who persecute it. Ballet of the Dolls, his company of dancers, perform with their usual commitment and brio. But ultimately this work seems cobbled together from undigested fragments rather than honed from a deeply felt theatrical vision.
The production references "West Side Story," the courts of medieval Italy and contemporary GLBT culture. But the jarring collage of music (Enigma, Mary J. Blige, Leonard Bernstein and Meshell Ndegeocello, to name a few) tends to overpower the dancing, encrusting it with sentimentality, heavy metal and heavy messages.
Johnson splits Romeo and Juliet into three couples — one heterosexual (Joy Langer and Grant Wittaker) and two same-sex (Joel Klausler and Doug Melroe, Lisa Conklin and Stephanie Fellner). They are innocents in a corrupt world, harassed by homophobic adults and lured by transgressive delights. In a club scene, for example, the couples observe a group of androgynes in bras and jockstraps bumping and grinding their way through a steamy routine that hints, alluringly, of multiple identities and erotic possibilities.
high extensions or tightly wound in speedy turns from exhibition jazz and club dance, fused with bland balletic gestures. The dancing often looks generic, its relationship to the music unfocused. To Bernstein's explosive, rhythmically complex "Dance at the Gym," for instance, Johnson sets a tepid mambo.
While this may be a reference to the decorum of medieval court dance, it comes off as weak tea served with hot salsa.
There are certainly jarring scenes of violence and mayhem. Guys in black suits round up three of the protagonists, throw hoods over their heads and mime some serious trashing and bashing as the lovers look helplessly. The scene graphically connects events like the Stonewall riots to prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in ways both compelling and simplistic — like propaganda poster art. Far more poignant is the final scene in which the three "prisoners" who have died are gently manipulated like rag dolls by their grieving partners, who then dispatch themselves with daggers.
In a section that truly captures the poignancy of these outcasts and their predicament, two nuns bless and unite the couples to a lilting, lively spiritual that goes uncredited in the program. Through simple and uncluttered walking, kneeling, rocking and surging in kaleidoscopic patterns, the dancers reflect the ebb and flow of healing currents and the fluidity of sexual identity. Riddled with the spirit of ecumenical inclusion, the nuns begin shaking, quaking and moving on out. The healing, however briefly, has begun.
By Linda Shapiro Special to the Pioneer Press
Updated: 06/22/2009 12:36:47 PM CDT
Choreographer Myron Johnson's recasting of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" as a tale of same-sex, star-crossed lovers would appear to be a dovetailing of like sensibilities. Like the Bard, Johnson mixes elements of high art and popular culture in entertaining works with plenty of poetry and imbedded social commentary.
His "Romiette and Juleo" honors the GLBT community and strongly condemns those who persecute it. Ballet of the Dolls, his company of dancers, perform with their usual commitment and brio. But ultimately this work seems cobbled together from undigested fragments rather than honed from a deeply felt theatrical vision.
The production references "West Side Story," the courts of medieval Italy and contemporary GLBT culture. But the jarring collage of music (Enigma, Mary J. Blige, Leonard Bernstein and Meshell Ndegeocello, to name a few) tends to overpower the dancing, encrusting it with sentimentality, heavy metal and heavy messages.
Johnson splits Romeo and Juliet into three couples — one heterosexual (Joy Langer and Grant Wittaker) and two same-sex (Joel Klausler and Doug Melroe, Lisa Conklin and Stephanie Fellner). They are innocents in a corrupt world, harassed by homophobic adults and lured by transgressive delights. In a club scene, for example, the couples observe a group of androgynes in bras and jockstraps bumping and grinding their way through a steamy routine that hints, alluringly, of multiple identities and erotic possibilities.
high extensions or tightly wound in speedy turns from exhibition jazz and club dance, fused with bland balletic gestures. The dancing often looks generic, its relationship to the music unfocused. To Bernstein's explosive, rhythmically complex "Dance at the Gym," for instance, Johnson sets a tepid mambo.
While this may be a reference to the decorum of medieval court dance, it comes off as weak tea served with hot salsa.
There are certainly jarring scenes of violence and mayhem. Guys in black suits round up three of the protagonists, throw hoods over their heads and mime some serious trashing and bashing as the lovers look helplessly. The scene graphically connects events like the Stonewall riots to prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in ways both compelling and simplistic — like propaganda poster art. Far more poignant is the final scene in which the three "prisoners" who have died are gently manipulated like rag dolls by their grieving partners, who then dispatch themselves with daggers.
In a section that truly captures the poignancy of these outcasts and their predicament, two nuns bless and unite the couples to a lilting, lively spiritual that goes uncredited in the program. Through simple and uncluttered walking, kneeling, rocking and surging in kaleidoscopic patterns, the dancers reflect the ebb and flow of healing currents and the fluidity of sexual identity. Riddled with the spirit of ecumenical inclusion, the nuns begin shaking, quaking and moving on out. The healing, however briefly, has begun.
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