Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – IN THE UPPER ROOM & NINE SINATRA SONGS: Twyla Tharp’s greatest hits intoxicate at City Center

• By drediman
• October 21, 2022
• No Comments

Last night at New York City Center, I attended a program comprised of Twyla Tharp’s greatest hits. These would be In the Upper Room and Nine Sinatra Songs, two show-stopping crowd-pleasers that have traditionally closed programs. Paired together, they create a blockbuster evening of dance. The evening represents a valedictory lap not only for Ms. Tharp — one of our most influential and important contemporary choreographers — but also for Arlene Schuler, City Center’s longtime Chief Executive and President, who is slated to depart the institution this year.

The opener was the ecstatic and relentless In the Upper Room, which is set to a driving score by Philip Glass. Last night’s performance was mostly wonderful, particularly as valiantly led by Cassandra Trenary and Daniel Ulbricht, two (somewhat unsung) bastions of technical excellence at, respectively, American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet. But as with many of Ms. Tharp’s works, the piece itself is the star. Indeed, the timeless 1986 ballet — in which effort and exhaustion become unlikely virtues (a tenet that’s especially exposed on City Center’s relatively intimate stage) — playfully combines elements of classical ballet with jazz in a way that’s still fresh and intoxicating. The way the work organically builds and incessantly invades the stage — not only from sided-to-side, but also from the murky recesses of upstage — is invigorating and thrilling. Thankfully, for this City Center mounting, Ms. Tharp has gone light with the stage fog, allowing audiences to more fully appreciate the ingenious structure of her choreography.

The second part of the program was the very different but no less iconic Nine Sinatra Songs (the piece would go on to be expanded into Come Fly Away, a full length “dansical” on Broadway). Choreographed in 1982, the silken and suave work is set to nine of Frank Sinatra’s immortal standards (among them, “Strangers in the Night”, “One more for My Baby”, “My Way”, “That’s Life”, etc.). In concept, the work calls to mind Jerome Robbins’ In the Night — a series of pas de deux that when stitched together amount to more than their mere sum. Ms. Tharp is a master at creating characters through movement, a skill exemplified gorgeously in this work. Each coupling is in essence a short story, and when they converge — as they do in the middle and conclusion of the piece — the stage becomes a compelling microcosm for humanity. If Nine Sinatra Songs doesn’t quite hit the bold, striking heights of In the Upper Room, the overall evening was a joyful and utterly satisfying tribute to the singular legacy of Twyla Tharp.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

TWYLA THARP: IN THE UPPER ROOM & NINE SINATRA SONGS
Dance
New York City Center
1 hour, 35 minutes (including an intermission)
Through October 23