Party Animals
Carmen de Lavallade and Joel Grey at the cocktail party before the ceremony.
May 20, 2018, New York IT STARTED WITH DRINKS, as so many good things do. The Chita Rivera Awards evening began officially with a 6 p.m. cocktail hour on the lower level of the Skirball Center (a building that is part of New York University's transparent plan to eat Greenwich Village),
It was a good-looking crowd: More great legs in one room than one usually finds. And more women in midriff-baring outfits. But hey -- dancers. Fairly long lines at the bar. Fairly stingy pours. (Correlation?) A setup for "red carpet" photos on the other side of the room. Joel Grey looking dashing in red. One woman accompanied by a small brown dog in a tote bag.
NOT AN AWARDS-SHOW PRO
True, I have been to all too many oversize Marriott Marquis Tonys after-parties. I've done a few Drama Desk Awards nights, an Obies ceremony, a Theater World Awards. Oh, and I sat two rows behind Donald Trump at the VH1 Fashion Awards one year. (He likes models, they say.) But this was my first visit to the Chita Rivera Awards, which honor dance achievement on stage and screen. It was a seriously festive event. (And just for the record, here's a list of the winners.)
Big 'If'
Andrei Chagas and Brittany Pollack perform the Act II ballet in the revival of "Carousel." The music is Rodgers and Hammerstein's "If I Loved You."
1. THE "CAROUSEL" DREAM BALLET New musicals don't have dream ballets, and that's kind of a shame.
That's when two performers who dance much, much better than the show's leads (who were probably hired for singing and/or acting ability and/or box office power) stand in for them, idealize their relationship and their very existence, and burst into jetés.
They represent the couple in love (or about to be) in a pas de deux of longing, ecstasy and often indecision. Brittany Pollack and Andrei Chagas's performance was exquisite.
The Perfect Smoky Eye
Joel Grey as the naughty, bawdy, androgynous Master of Ceremonies in "Cabaret" half a century ago.
2. JOEL GREY SINGING THE FIRST EIGHT NOTES OF "WILKOMMEN." And, not surprisingly, getting applause. All that Mr. Grey, who played the Master of Ceremonies in the original 1966 Broadway production of "Cabaret" and in the 1972 film version, had to do was German-croon the words "Wilkommen, bienvenue, welcome" and the audience was wrapped around his little finger. He was there to introduce the numbers that introduced the person who was introducing Hal Prince or something like that.
Isn't It Rich?
Harvey Fierstein rocks the "If I Were a Rich Man" number from "Fiddler on the Roof." Maybe a little too much.
3. HARVEY FIERSTEIN DROPS THE MIC. Any man who can bring convincing life to both Edna Turnblad and Tevye the Dairyman is a genius in my book, and Harvey Fierstein lit up the Skirball stage.
Dressed not at all like Tevye (whom he played in the 1994 Broadway revival of "Fiddler on the Roof," replacing Alfred Molina), he opened his mouth and gave us an "If I Were a Rich Man" for the ages. In fact, he shimmied so hard that his microphone fell off, but he quickly recovered it and carried on, as if Anatevka depended on it.
(It was an accident-prone portion of the evening from the beginning. Karen Ziemba, introducing him, stumbled over the word "inimitable," tried to correct herself, then gave up and said something to the effect of "Oh, hell, here's Harvey Fierstein.")
4. THE SINGING. I already feel like a spy here. I'm not a dance person. When I do mention the dancing in a musical I'm reviewing, the most I feel comfortable doing is adding an adjective: "the athletic choreography," "the sinuous choreography," whatever. So when Mr. Fierstein burst into song, my heart leaped (or leapt) at the beauty of actual lyrics.
He was followed by Bryonha Parham belting the title song of "Cabaret" (she performed it in "Prince of Broadway" last year) and the thrill of "The Music of the Night" from "The Phantom of the Opera," sung by Ben Crawford, who is currently playing the title role. It was all a lead-in to the tribute to Hal Prince, who produced all those shows.
Cool, Boy
Harold Prince accepts his special award at Skirball Center. The woman in the see-through dress is currently unidentified.
5. HAL PRINCE. Harold S. Prince turned 90 in January, and he makes 90 look good. Everyone calls him Hal, even in the official program, and apparently everyone calls him.
He's produced 30-something Broadway productions, beginning with "The Pajama Game" (the original) in 1954. And he's directed 30 or so. He entered to the tune of "Cool," the Jets gang's trademark song from "West Side Story" (which he brought to the Winter Garden Theater in 1957) to accept a special award for "exemplary collaboration with choreographers" over the years. And he nailed the acceptance-speech portion of the evening simply by listing the choreographers he'd worked with.
6. "DEAR QUINCY." Two dance numbers associated with Carmen de Lavallade preceded the presentation of her lifetime achievement award. Both were choreographed by her husband, Geoffrey Holder, who died in 2014.
Lindsey Croop's performance of "Songs of the Auvergne" was lovely, but the second number, "Dear Quincy," from 1968, was a knockout. Georgina Pazcoguin and Calvin Royal III were the dancers. Here's a version from back in the day, with de Lavallade herself.
Strong Words
Maurice Hines presented Carmen de Lavallade with her award. De Lavallade took the opportunity to discourage constant cellphone use.
7. PHONE CALL. As soon as Carmen de Lavallade, 87, received her award, she began sharing her wisdom. "Put down the phone," she advised everyone strongly, going into some detail as to the experiences and connections being missed by people who rarely look up from their digital devices.
As I was applauding, with my hands held high, I glanced to my left. An adolescent girl (I have reason to believe she was and is the daughter of a dancer who is currently in "The Beast in the Jungle") was texting away. She continued during most of the show.
De Lavallade, who was born in Los Angeles with New Orleans roots, studied with Lester Horton and began working with Alvin Ailey in the early 1950s. Her first Broadway show was "House of Flowers" (1954), with Ailey, Holder, Diahann Caroll and Pearl Bailey. Her most recent was the 2012 revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire."
High School Musical
The ensemble of "Mean Girls," who tied with the ensemble of "Carousel." So few blondes.