Sunday, September 20, 2009
Twyla Tharp Fashions a New Dance Show From Sinatra
NYTimes.com: "DURING the last decade Twyla Tharp — no matter her successes and failures — has remained a choreographer for whom dancers will bend over backward. Two and a half years ago she received a call from three accomplished dancers she met in the course of her 2002 Broadway hit, 'Movin' Out.' They showed up at her home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for tea."
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8 comments:
I’m surprised no one has commented on this post yet. I absolutely love Sinatra’s music, (no surprise, almost everyone does), and to construct a musical celebrating the music rather than trying to market Sinatra just makes me that much happier. It is always a relief to find this industry embracing a passion for the thing itself rather than the money making aspect. If I had first heard about this show elsewhere, I would assume it was a ploy to attract different generations of Sinatra fans. Although it is quite clear Sinatra does not need publicity, it would have been a good strategy to bring in audiences. Instead, it was apparently created upon a foundation surrounding the love of dance, and a love for performance. I love that three dancers can walk into a choreographer’s house and beg for jobs for no pay. That's why I love the theatre. Despite it being a business, I enjoy thinking my life is going towards something greater than that. I’ll have to wait and see how it goes to be sure.
I LOVED Movin' Out when I saw it, and would be really excited to see this show. I think its great that she choreographed it on her own time and own creation. In all the pictures with the article, all the dancers seemed really relaxed and flowy, just like Ms. Tharp wanted. I also think it will have the appeal more than Bob Dylan because it's Sinatra, and like Sharisse said, who doesn't love Sinatra. I bet more Sinatra fans would go to the theatre than Dylan fans, but that's just a thought.... Hopefully this will do well and i have the chance to see it. :-)
I'm excited to see the response to this show because of what the article said about Twyla Tharp's work ethic. The fact that she cannot just blindly choreograph dancers - that she has to be working towards something, gives me hope that this piece will mean something. I hope that Ms. Tharp is smart enough to take Sinatra's music and do something important with it and create a piece of theatre that means something.
I'm so excited to see that Twlya Tharp is making her way back into the dance world-her work is fantastic in my opinion, and the way that all of her dancers praise her is like none other I have read or seen. When one woman's creative energy and expertise single-handedly create so much enthusiasm and desire that truly drive a show, it is hard to doubt that it will end badly.
On a completely separate note, its about time that Sinatra was done right. His music will be nothing less than classic in my heart, and combined with what I expect to be some of the best dancers out of the Royal Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre, and other companies, this performance will not be easily beat.
I too am very excited for this show. I saw Movin' Out and the the dancing was incredible - I can only imagine what this show will be like. I agree with what everyone says so as not to be repetitive I'll talk about something that stood out to me in the article, though I don't think it was supposed to.
Its saddens me to see how many people are losing their jobs in the industry. The three dancers that came to Ms.
Tharp in the beginning didn't have work. The article also mentions a few other groups of people that were without work that either workshopped with Ms. Tharp or that came to work for her.
I know everyone is hurting, but it just makes me sad that arts are usually the first thing a family cuts out of their expenses or that a school cuts from their budget, and that's what stuck out to me in this article.
I was lucky enough to see Twyla Tharp’s work in Movin’ Out. I believe that the pairing of these two icons within their field has the potential to create something truly amazing. My only hope is that the goal of making the piece centered on the love of performance is upheld. While I have no worries that the dancing will be amazing and the music will be beautiful (unless something really gets done wrong), I worry about the string that they use to tie them together into a cohesive piece. This is where the successful songbook musicals are separated from the bad ones (not saying that I would not go just to see and hear the songs of Sinatra and the choreography of Tharp).
While I did not love Movin' Out when I saw it, I am interested in seeing how Twyla incorporates Sinatra into a "musical." I found Movin' Out to be a rock ballet which was an interesting way to tell a story only through dance and one man singing. It will be interesting to see how playing Sinatra's original recordings along side a live vocalist will do to the movement. I hope this show can make it to a tour, it would be wonderful to see!
I had really positive and negative experiences with Movin' Out because of how is was billed. I am glad to see that Twyla Tharp has departed from trying to bill her shows as 'Musicals'. Presenting "Come Fly With Me" as a dance show, not only gives the audience a more accurate picture of what they are about to experience. Additionally, I think the Sinatra music will appeal to a wide variety of theatergoers and non-theatergoers alike.
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