Attendees of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s
20th Next Wave Festival gala on Dec. 17 were treated to a performance
by Mark Morris and his dance group in "The Hard Nut,"
a wildly imaginative, glorious and gruesome interpretation of
the classic holiday ballet, "The Nutcracker."
The dancers performed to Tchaikovsky’s score played live by the
Brooklyn Philharmonic, under the baton of Robert Cole, and some
angelic harmonizing by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
Not seen at BAM since 1993, the work opens with a family hosting
a drunken holiday party. Among the family members is daughter
Marie (Lauren Grant), her irksome younger brother (June Omura),
and hormonally charged older sister (Julie Worden), as well as
the cross-dressing maid (Kraig Patterson).
The stage is brimming with the many frolicking friends of Marie’s
parents, including Morris himself as a party guest in a hilarious
afro, bell bottoms and, at one point, with toilet paper on his
shoe. (Morris also danced the role of a heavily shrouded Arabian
Princess in Act II, and audience members in the fourth row wondered
aloud if the renowned choreographer had given up on underwear.)
Mark Morris Dance Group general director Barry Alterman left
his administrative duties behind and played the role of the beleaguered
dad.
"Barry trained as an actor," Morris told Chitter Chatter.
"And as an umpire, and a florist, and he worked at Haagen
Dazs – and he’s a genius! He’s a gifted performer, and that’s
why he got the part!"
Lauren Grant and David Leventhal, (Nutcracker and Young Drosselmeier)
who perform a magical pas de deux, are a couple off the stage,
too.
The outlandish costumes, which drew comic inspiration from 1970s
fashions and – in the case of the large dance numbers – possibly
even Esther Williams’ glittering underwater dance spectaculars,
were designed by Tony Award-winning Martin Pakledinaz ("Thoroughly
Modern Millie," "Kiss Me Kate").
When asked his opinion of Pakledinaz’s work, fashion designer
Isaac Mizrahi said, "The costumes are so fantastic – I won’t
sleep for a week knowing that I didn’t do them.
"I’m such an old bitch," he said with a laugh.
Mizrahi will have his day in the sun in March. The star of the
documentary "Unzipped" designed the costumes for Morris’
gangster-inspired "Resurrection," which will be one
of three New York premieres the Mark Morris Dance Group will
present as part of BAM’s spring season, on March 26 and March
29-30.
Gala ticket prices were as high as $2,500 for the performance,
which took place in the BAM Opera House and included a sumptuous,
post-performance dinner at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The museum’s
beaux-arts court was decked out as a winter wonderland replete
with enormous snowflakes projected on the walls. Centerpieces
were fashioned from tiny glowing lanterns suspended from silvery
branches. The gala, catered by Taste, was set to music by DJ
Ayres.
Chitter Chatter sat with BAM LDC chairman Harvey Lichtenstein
and his family. Lichtenstein came late to the dinner, lingering
at the museum’s installation "BAM! BAM! BAM! Catching the
Wave for 20 Years," which offered visitors cushioned platforms
so they could recline, watch and listen to video highlights of
two decades of the Next Wave Festival – most of which Lichtenstein
presided over. (The "BAM! BAM! BAM!" tent will be on
display at the Brooklyn Museum through Jan. 12.)
The former Majestic Theater was recently renamed the BAM Harvey
Lichtenstein Theater in honor of the impresario, who stepped
down in 1999 after a 32-year tenure as president and executive
producer.
Lichtenstein fondly recalled climbing in the window of the Majestic
Theater with Peter Brook in 1987 to see if it could be salvaged
and restored to stage "The Mahabharata." (His son John
corrected: "He kicked in the window with Peter Brook.")
The gala dinner was also attended by rock star David Bowie and
his wife, the model Iman, singer Joan Osborne, performance artist
Laurie Anderson, photographer Annie Leibowitz, playwright Susan
Sontag, Mabou Mines theater company director Lee Breuer and playwright
Charles Mee. Actress Isabella Rossellini made the show but skipped
the late-night feast.
Bowie said this was his third Brooklyn visit this year – he performed
at St. Ann’s Warehouse in DUMBO in October and he came to see
the "Victorian Nudes" show at the museum ("I came
with some painter friends, so it was enlightening," he said).
The rock icon is co-chair, with Iman, of the Next Wave Festival
Friends of BAM, but explained he had to skip "The Hard Nut."
"I was working until 8 o’clock on just boring old music,"
said Bowie.
Kentucky girl Osborne, now a Boerum Hill resident, said she "had
a cousin who danced in Baryshnikov’s ’Nutcracker.’"
"[’Hard Nut’] was great to see," she said. "The
whole thing was turned on its head – and that sense of humor!"
Borough President Marty Markowitz arrived, wearing an unexplained
orange, plastic lei, but wife Jamie Snow Markowitz wore vintage
Kenneth J. Lane accessories. City Cultural Affairs Commissioner
Kate Levin made the show and dinner, but Mayor Mike Bloomberg
didn’t show up until a performance two days later. Other attendees
included Brooklyn Museum of Art Director Arnold Lehman and Brooklyn
Philharmonic CEO Catherine Cahill, shimmering in pink sequins.
Proceeds from the evening, nearly $700,000, will benefit BAM.
The next BAM gala is April 29, featuring a performance by Les
Ballets de Monte-Carlo in "Cinderella." For tickets,
call (718) 636-4182.
