GREAT PERFORMANCES: LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER: NEW YORK CITY BALLET: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (TV)
Summary
One in this series on the performing arts. In this program -- one in a series of live broadcasts from the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City -- the New York City Ballet performs "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Host Patrick Watson introduces the performance, then Act I begins. In this act, as fairy king Oberon quarrels with fairy queen Titania, two young, mortal couples -- one blissfully in love, the other at odds -- enter the forest, unable to see the fairy creatures all around them. Wanting to teach Titania a lesson, Oberon uses a flower to cast a magic spell that will cause her to fall in love with the first person she sees upon awakening. However, Oberon's servant Puck steals the flower and uses the spell on the young, mortal couples to disastrous effects. Furthermore, as Titania sleeps, Pucks puts the head of an ass at the foot of her bed. When she awakens, she falls madly in love with the creature. A one minute pause takes place before Watson interviews Irving backstage on conducting for the ballet, putting the music "under the dancers' feet," and Balanchine's legacy and contribution to the dance world. After another pause, Watson interviews Peter Martins, Ballet Master and Chief of the New York City Ballet, discussing Martins' first experience of a Balanchine ballet and how that changed his life, the "new vocabulary" of classical dance, how to educate oneself on the art form of ballet, and keeping Balanchine's ballets "alive." After another brief pause, Act II begins. In this act, after Theseus and Hippolyta awaken the two sleeping couples, a triple wedding is proclaimed. At the Court of Theseus in Athens, Oberon tries to resolve his wife's misguided love, while Puck tries to escape his wrath. As the three weddings approach, the spell-induced affections are sorted out.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Edward John Noble Foundation.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: May 24, 1986 Saturday 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:57:32
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:72893
- GENRE: Music; Dance
- SUBJECT HEADING: Ballet
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1976-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Marc Bauman … Coordinating Producer
- John Goberman … Producer
- Karen McLaughlin … Associate Producer
- Kirk Browning … Director
- Felix Mendelssohn … Music by
- Robert Irving … Conductor
- George Balanchine … Choreographer
- New York City Ballet Orchestra … Symphony Orchestra
- New York City Ballet … Dance Company
- Patrick Watson … Host
- Martin Bookspan … Announcer
- Elaine Linstedt … Singer, Soprano
- Mary Ann Hart … Singer, Mezzo-soprano
- Betty Baisch … Singer
- Cheryl Bensman … Singer
- Brenda Fairaday … Singer
- Fay Kittelson … Singer
- Roxanne Leathem … Singer
- Jane Nordli … Singer
- Nancy Wertsch … Singer
- Lois Winter … Singer
- Maria Calegari … Cast, Titania, Dancer
- Ib Andersen … Cast, Oberon, Dancer
- Jean-Pierre Frohlich … Cast, Puck, Dancer
- Victoria Hall … Cast, Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, Dancer
- Cornel Crabtree … Cast, Theseus, Duke of Athens, Dancer
- Jock Soto … Cast, Titania's Cavalier, Dancer
- Stephanie Saland … Cast, Helena, in love with Demetrius, Dancer
- Judith Fugate … Cast, Hermia, in love with Lysander, Dancer
- Kipling Houston … Cast, Lysander, beloved of Hermia, Dancer
- Peter Frame … Cast, Demetrius, suitor of Hermia, Dancer
- Laurence Matthews … Cast, Bottom, Dancer
- Katrina Killian … Cast, Butterfly, Dancer
- Tracy Bennett … Dancer
- Stacy Calvert … Dancer
- Kelly Cass … Dancer
- Marisa Cerveris … Dancer
- Lisa Chalmers … Dancer
- Shelly Cohn … Dancer
- Carole Divet … Dancer
- Jeffrey Edwards … Dancer
- Florence Fitzgerald … Dancer
- Paul Frame … Dancer
- Antonia Franceschi … Dancer
- Susan Gluck … Dancer
- Julie Hays … Dancer
- Sharon Hershfield … Dancer
- Alexia Hess … Dancer
- Patrick Hinson … Dancer
- Darla Hoover … Dancer
- Elizabeth Irwin … Dancer
- Lisa Jackson … Dancer
- Russell Kaiser … Dancer
- Myrna Kamara … Dancer
- Zippora Karz … Dancer
- Margo Krody … Dancer
- Jerri Kumery … Dancer
- Cynthia Lochard … Dancer
- Miriam Mahdaviani … Dancer
- Richard Marsden … Dancer
- Carlo Merlo … Dancer
- Julie Michael … Dancer
- Peter Nauman … Dancer
- Rita Norona … Dancer
- Shaun O'Brien … Dancer
- Bruce Padgett … Dancer
- Francois Person … Dancer
- Sabrina Pillars … Dancer
- Teresa Reyes … Dancer
- Leslie Roy … Dancer
- Sean Savoye … Dancer
- Roma Sosenko … Dancer
- Shawn Stevens … Dancer
- Ulrik Trojaborg … Dancer
- Wendy Whelan … Dancer
- Diana White … Dancer
- Deborah Wingert … Dancer
- Damian Woetzel … Dancer
- Runsheng Ying … Dancer
- Shira Ankori … Dancer
- Erin Elizabeth Baiano … Dancer
- Maribel Bastian … Dancer
- Linda Cedeno … Dancer
- Justine Chen … Dancer
- Shara Cottam … Dancer
- Jennifer Curtin … Dancer
- De Gennaro, Sara … Dancer
- Sophia Eliazova … Dancer
- Stephanie Brooke Fredericks … Dancer
- Amber Claire Frumkes … Dancer
- Kristine Gagliardi … Dancer
- Diana Garcia … Dancer
- Liat Joy Kaplan … Dancer
- Gavin Larsen … Dancer
- Alexondra Lee … Dancer
- Jennifer Lyn Mora … Dancer
- Daria Pace … Dancer
- Joan Marie Ruane … Dancer
- Kelly Anne Scarle … Dancer
- Catherine Louise Schaefer … Dancer
- Belinda Simon … Dancer
- Jennifer Mary Uzzi … Dancer
- Tara Wurtzburg … Dancer
- Cybele Zufolo … Dancer