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The Chicago TribuneReinking, Thodos create a vision of ambition and madnessin 1893 ChicagoBy Sid Smith, Special to the Tribune10:21 a.m. CST, February 20, 2011DANCE REVIEW - 3 STARS |
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The events surrounding Chicago's 1893 world's fair amount to an eerie Greek tragedy on genius and madness. The exhibit tied the then upstart city to the growing power of American invention--the Ferris wheel and zipper were both unveiled--and enhanced an architectural reputation that would soar for another century. But one architect, John Root, died delivering the vision, while a fiendish serial killer, H. H. Holmes, preyed on fairgoers and an assassin killed the mayor. Splendor, overreach and disaster convened. Ann Reinking and Melissa Thodos' effort to turn this into a dance, "The White City: Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893," is among the best works from Thodos Dance Chicago in several years and their finest collaboration with Reinking. She is legendarily linked to Bob Fosse, of course, but here the style and storytelling reach back to an earlier Broadway era, that of Gower Champion and his "Dancing" days in "Hello, Dolly!" More mid-century story ballet than postmodern dance-theater, "White |
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City," unveiled Saturday in Skokie, is flush with warm colors, pleasing and swift choral whirls and lifts, and brisk, straightforward episodes, all shrewdly bathed in Nathan Tomlinson's nostalgic golden lighting. At least, at first. From zippy ensemble evocations of fairway delight, made rich by Chris Olsen's ingenious film re-creations of the real White City and Nathan Rohrer's smart period costumes, Reinking and Thodos descend into the dark, forging a creepy duet starring Holmes (Brian Hare) and mayoral assassin Patrick Prendergast (Joshua Manculich). Holmes also seduces and then kills a victim (Jessica Miller Tomlinson), one of two solo deaths --Tomlinson trapped in a booth, crawling up and down desperately, finally gasping for air in an apt re-creation of Holmes' hellish methods, and earlier Root, the architect undone by nature and perhaps his own workaholic tendencies. There's a saucy, satiric mayoral strut, lead by statuesque Wade Schaaf as His Honor, and an alternately fast and slow-motion depiction of the assassination. Hare, Schaaf, Tomlinson and especially Manculich are all excellent, and so is the finish, the creamy white costuming turned black, the reveling fairgoers now a funereal cluster, a headline projected onto the screen reading, "Great Exposition Now But a Dream." Four other new works, including Ron De Jesus' "Shift," completed the program. When: 8 p.m. March 4 Where: Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph St. Price: $20-$60; CQ 312-334-7777 or harristheaterchicago.org |
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The Chicago SunTimesThe Expo, expertly evoked in danceBy Hedy Weiss Theater Critic / hweiss@suntimes.comFeb 21, 2011 02:07AM |
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With its Winter Concert 2011, headlined by the world premiere of “The White City” — a collaboration between choreographers Melissa Thodos and Broadway’s Ann Reinking, with directing assistance from Gary Chryst — the Thodos Dance Chicago company has ascended to a whole new level of excellence.
The program, whose second act contained four other works of exceptional quality, debuted Saturday at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts. It is a must-see for anyone intrigued by Chicago history, by the power of dance to spin a story, and by the sight of a dance troupe clearly in the throes of a major breakthrough. “The White City” is a sophisticated, utterly involving blend of ingeniously imagined, superbly executed movement (with echoes of everything from “The Green Table” ballet to Broadway’s “Ragtime”); ravishing music (Bruce Wolosoff’s seductive “Songs Without Words,” played thrillingly by the Carpe Diem Quartet, perched in a balcony box); film (clever use of archival material by Christopher Kai Olsen, with deft narration |
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by Chris Multhauf); haunting lighting (by Nathan Tomlinson, whose artistry was on display throughout the evening), and period-perfect costumes (by Nathan Rohrer).
The 45-minute one-act, which unspools in 13 neatly episodic, emotionally revealing scenes, takes us back to Chicago’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, considered one of the greatest of all world’s fairs, as well as a major early confirmation of this city’s world class status. As wondrous as the fair might have been, it also was streaked with profoundly dark elements, as readers of Erik Larsen’s bestselling 2003 book The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America already know, and the ballet’s creators make the most of this dark side.
One of the Exposition’s chief architects, John Root (a poetic Jeremy Blair), died of pneumonia early on, while the project’s only female architect, Sophie Hayden (the vivid Mollie Mock), never built anything again after the fair. Three days before the fair closed, Chicago’s beloved mayor, Carter Harrison (the towering Wade Schaaf), was the victim of an assassin’s bullet (the role of killer Patrick Prendergast was superbly danced by Joshua Manculich). In addition, a serial killer, Dr. H.H. Holmes (a truly sinister Brian Hare) operated a gruesome “Murder Hotel,” preying on the many single women living in the city at the time. (Jessica Miller Tomlinson is riveting as a victim).
The dynamics among all these characters are captured expertly, as is the enchantment of the crowd (the lovely Danielle Scanlon and her partner, Michael McDonald, are the young lovers, backed by Cara Cooper, Julia Radomyski, Jackie Stewart and Natalie Williams). Throughout, choreographers Thodos and Reinking play on popular dance styles of the period, skillfully fusing them with a distinctive language all their own.
The concert’s second half had much to live up to, and did so brilliantly with the sensual, enigmatic “Quieting the Clock” by Francisco Avina and Stephanie Martinez Bennitt; Thodos’ richly whimsical and gymnastic seaside frolic, “Getting There,” for three dancers and a giant rolling tube; “Dancer, Net,” Schaaf’s sculptural solo for a dancer in a gauzy gown; and the world premiere of Ron De Jesus’ “Shift,” a galvanic, perpetual motion dance that sets the dancers spinning and flying like champion ice skaters, and that rightfully left the audience cheering.
This program will be repeated March 4 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph. Tickets: $20-$60. Phone: (312) 334-7777 or visit www. harristheaterchicago.org. |
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