One of the few nice things one can say about Houston is that there’s a top-notch ballet.
So I got all het up about Manon, and the Houston Ballet very conveniently had it on their season, so I skeered up a friend and off we went to the ballet. Turned out that was a Very Bad Day, so it was just the thing to put on my pretty cornflower-blue silk dress and meet K. for sushi and dancing.
We went to Banzai Sushi (you know, once I worked out terrible parking hassles involving my stupid inability to stop at an ATM or to find my way around downtown Houston). I had a delicious cocktail (perhaps a Pink Geisha?), and our three sushi rolls were enough food for tight-drum bellies. I’m not generally the biggest fan of tuna in the world, but we had one roll with peppered tuna on the outside that was super yummy. The Volcano Roll (crab, avocado, onions on top) was my favorite.
The ballet was lovely. Gorgeous sets and costumes, very rich and detailed. One costuming touch that I particularly liked: the group of harlots was all in dark, spangled dresses. In Act II, when Manon went to the brothel with her patron, she wore a dark, spangled dress.
I so love the score: Massenet’s music is lush and romantic. MacMillan’s choreography is both gorgeous and revolting: there are several scenes in which men pass Manon around like an object, and she just takes it, while the music thrums beautifully. In Act III, she’s orally raped during some of the prettiest music in the score.
No one writes about that, though – they write about the incredibly difficult, beautiful pas de deux between Manon and her lover Des Grieux – I’ve linked to several of those in my post about Anthony Dowell.
The Houston Ballet did it justice, for sure. The corps was focused and in character in every scene, if sometimes so busy that it distracted. The group of harlots in particular was very strong. Christopher Coomer as Manon’s brother threatened to steal the show, particularly during a hilarious drunken solo in Act II, accompanied by Katharine Precourt as his mistress.
It was some fine dancing – that I dislike comedy in my tragedy (and chocolate in my peanut butter) is my own problem.
Sara Webb made a really interesting Manon: as my friend K. said, she let herself be handled like a doll, which really worked for the character and made it even more sad.
Connor Walsh, as Des Grieux, is a lovely dancer: he has beautiful lines and partners strongly. What he lacks is charisma. I think if he could learn to take up the space on the stage, he would be really wonderful.
But in general, thanks be to the Houston Ballet for distracting me when I needed it. Now if only I could scare up enough people for all the other shows during the season.
Except the Nutcracker. I’m kind of over that.