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Dance: Wine: Glitz
and Glam A truly good play succeeds in whisking its audience away from the complexities of the outside world. ACE's production of La Cage Aux Folles accomplishes that and more. For all its rollicking kitsch and camp, La Cage Aux Folles is really a love story about George and Albin, a middle-aged homosexual couple whose 20-year relationship is put to the test. Together they own a fabulous glam palace where George plays host to a bevy of gorgeous drag queens and to the show's grande dame, Zaza.
The trouble begins when George's 24-year-old son, Jean-Michel, the result of a brief heterosexual encounter years back, announces his engagement to the daughter of Edourd Dindon, the homophobic deputy general of the morality party who is bent on shutting down all the transvestite clubs in town. Moreover, he's invited the Dindons to dinner. Hoping to make a good impression on his future in-laws, but embarrassed by his father's unconventional lifestyle, Jean-Michel requests that his biological mother, whom he's never met, stand in for one night as his other parent. This sends Albin, who has raised him since birth, into a tailspin. Yet to accommodate him, Albin agrees to "act like a man" and pose as his Uncle Al, toning down his flamboyant apartment from the contemporary digs of a gay couple to a holy shrine. But when the Dindon's arrive, things quickly begin to unravel. Jean-Michel's mother has failed to show. Dinner is ruined. Trying their best to keep up the charade, Albin sheds his manly suit and becomes Jean-Michel's wholesome mother. While dining at a fancy, upscale restaurant the ruse is exposed, but the clever restaurant owner Jacqueline uses a little blackmail to save the day. Enough can't be said about Kevin "KJ" Waltz's outstanding performance as the divinely flamboyant Albin/Zaza. Waltz certainly has that je ne sais quoi, capturing the comedy and pathos of both his onstage persona of diva Zaza as well as the tender and easily wounded Albin. Part drama queen, part highly sensitive creature, Waltz is a stunning and dynamic presence onstage, and his poignant rendition of "I Am What I Am" is nothing short of inspired. Bruce McCarthy puts in an equally solid performance as George. Indeed, he and Waltz compliment one another, but McCarthy deserves as much praise. His ability to stir emotion and convince us of his unflagging devotion to Albin is evident in the delivery of such tender love songs as "Look Over There" and "Song in the Sand." Teryl Hawk is aptly cast as Anne, Jean-Michel's sweet and demure bride-to-be. Hawk's strong, clear vocals are particularly noted in "With You on My Arm." Jason Darcy, however, is weak in his depiction of Jean-Michel. His performance suffers from a lack of emotion and passion. Bill Furtick is convincing as the stuffy, righteous moralist Edourd Dindon, and with his long beard he makes a most outrageous drag queen. Maida Belove-McCarthy is quite funny as Mme. Dindon. At first prudish, and then childishly all atwitter, Belove-McCarthy delivers her lines with singsong glee. Robin Spoerl is fantastic as the couple's sassy butler/maid Jacob. Stealing the show with his hilarious affectations and outrageous ensembles, it's obvious that Spoerl is having a tremendous amount of fun with his role. Jennifer Sellers Andersen is très fabuleux as the classy restaurant owner, and Chris Columbus does a fine job as the show director. Last, but certainly not least, are the fabulous La Cagelles, an energetic mix of both male and female entertainers. Director Joe Zingo and his crew have outdone themselves with this production. The costumes are delightfully bright, gaudy and stunning. The set design is exceptional — from the club's flashy stage equipped with twinkling marquee lights to Albin and George's upscale apartment to the quaint sidewalk café, the action moves seamlessly from one scene to the next via revolving sets. The only problem seemed to be a lack of room onstage at times to accommodate all the La Cagelles at once, although it didn't detract from the performance.
Eugene
Ballet Works Out! The Eugene Ballet takes the stage of the Hult Center for the last time this season with three pieces that showcase the dancers and give them what principal Jennifer Martin calls a "genuine workout." More important, new work by artistic director Toni Pimble and former company member Eloy Barragan, plus the Firebird in Pimble's 1982 staging, exemplify the transformative power of art in good times and bad.
This is a ballerina's ballet, particularly the quicksilver leaps and fluttering port de bras of the title role, which will be danced by Brett Mills. Martin will be seen in a gentler, more lyrical role as Princess Elena, a very different role from the wicked Milady in Three Musketeers or the Odette/Odile in Swan Lake she has danced so brilliantly in the past. There are, nevertheless, some juicy roles for the increasingly strong men of the company. Prince Ivan is onstage at all times, quite differently partnering both women, with a bit of virtuoso dancing of his own. Hyoung Il Joung, in his second season with EBC, assumes the role with technique to spare and beautiful line. The dancer, a medal winner in a number of competitions in his native Korea, was last seen as the passionate Lord Buckingham in The Three Musketeers and is, according to Pimble, an increasingly fine partner. Long-time company member Matthew Hope (and arguably its most versatile dancer) performs the role of Kastchei. Like von Rothbart in that other bird ballet, this character role offers tremendous scope for the dancer. Company managing director Riley Grannan originated the role with deliciously flamboyant evil when the work inaugurated EBC's residency at the Hult Center on the center's opening week. Peter Dean Beck designed the handsome set, and costumes are by Molly Maginnis and Amy Panganiban. Pimble's "Five Bagatelles," set to Antonin Dvorak's Op. 47 for two violins, cello and harmonium, raises the curtain. The music holds meaning for Pimble, who was a long way from home and far from the accomplished choreographer she is today when she first got to know the beautifully structured score. She was an impoverished, young dancer living in Germany in a rented room with a tape player and four tapes, one of them the Dvorak. It was several decades before she created the ballet, which premiered last November for the UO's Chamber Music Series in Beall Hall. Company principals Hyoung Il Joung, Jennifer Martin, Brett Mills and Kyung Man Moon will perform the neo-classical work, which is firmly rooted in the music. . Barragan describes "Encuentros" as deeply personal, a reflection on his own life that he hopes will strike the chord of universality in its viewers. The former dancer — audience members will remember vividly his portrayal of Dracula several years ago — is now teaching ballet and choreography at the University of California at Irvine. Barragan has dedicated the work to his fiancée, Jennifer Martin. Set to Bach's Orchestral Suite #5," Encuentros" is in five sections with a cast of 11 dancers that includes several of the company's men. Barragan is particularly pleased with a trio he made for Juan Carlos Amy-Cordera, Jonathan Guise and Jared Hunt, whose dancing he characterizes as young and powerful. The work is performed in soft shoes and blends contemporary and classical movement as his previous choreography has done. In a departure, however, "Encuentros," which means "encounters" in Spanish, has no Latin flavor save its title.
More
Time on Wine Last month, we investigated the mysterious alchemy worked by time on wines, specifically fine Bordeaux, the massive reds of France's Gironde Valley. We noted that great Bordeaux wines are hugely (feloniously) expensive, even though they tend to increase in value over time. And over time they almost certainly increase in charm, depth and complexity. Allowed to reach full maturity, they yield flavors so rare and rich that consumer demand drives their value into the stratosphere, beyond reach of most people in the world. Chateau Petrus 2000 must be grand merlot, but $1500 per bottle? Strictly for the criminal classes, drug cartel kingpins and megacorp CEOs. Much more accessible are top-shelf California (and Oregon and Washington) cabernets and merlots, which, while not quite reaching the grandeur of Great Growth Bordeaux, can achieve startling depth and complexity. Single case in point: A few years ago, friends sent me two bottles of Jade Mountain 1998 Merlot Caldwell Vineyard, Napa Valley ($30), not a very good year but a very good maker. The back label promised that the wine's "approachable character" would "tempt early drinking, though restraint promises that longer term aging will be well rewarded." Translated loosely, this meant that, like many winemakers across the globe, folks at JM recognized that 90+ percent of any vintage will be consumed within a year of its release, meaning the market responds well to wines that are made for immediate drinking. Those wines are made to be less tannic (mouth-drying), more fruit-forward. We opened the first bottle, found it delicious
— big, ripe, juicy with black fruits (currants, cherries),
round and firm — but it seemed to be holding something back.
I stashed the second bottle, opened it only recently; the flavors
had deepened, melded, grown richer, more subtle, tinged with woodsmoke,
hints of chocolate and licorice, sweet toasty oak, the finish
long and lingering. The difference between a very good wine at
two years old and that same wine at five (with years to go) was
simply Last night, I sat to dinner with Soho Sandy and Peter Poet — perfect T-bones, 'shrooms, baked spuds — and we poured Raymond 1999 Napa Valley Reserve Merlot ($24); the wine was a brilliant color, aromas rich in fruits and oak, flavors of ripe black cherries, cassis, chocolate, notes of coffee, very tasty. But clearly this was adolescent merlot; given even a few years to mature, it would show a satin grace to replace its awkward enthusiasm. Two nights before, we had tasted Rancho Zabaco 2001 Chiotti Vineyard Zinfandel ($25), blockbuster zin, huge in fruit, spice, woods (lovely tinge of cedar and sandlewood), drinkable now, sure, but in two years or a little more, this wine would write poetry on the palate (from Emily Dickinson, blowing off the top of the head). Can Oregon wines perform this well? Certainly some of our best Bordeaux varietals — cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc — have been around long enough now to have a track record. Contact Valley View Vineyard in the Rogue Valley; ask if they still offer older vintages of their exceptional cabs and merlots. Or, from the same region, ask Dick Troon of Troon Vineyards if he'd like to let go of some '85, '89, or '94. Be ready for deep surprise. And watch the coming years as some of our best vineyards from the Rogue, Umpqua and Columbia Valleys release more of their Rhone varietals — syrah, petite sirah, grenache. Oregon pinot noir, says common wisdom, does not age particularly well. Best to drink these, experience shows, within three to five years after release. Lovely in their youth, they tend to fade rapidly, losing the vibrant freshness of their fruit in a half-dozen years or so. But I have tasted, over two decades, some Oregon pinots at 10 to 12 years old that show a velvety elegance that can only be achieved with time. Not only reds mature gracefully. Germany just released its 2001 vintage, touted as a classic year. Mosel Valley rieslings, in particular, are showing spectacularly. Many of these are made to reach varying levels of sweetness, but don't think of Blue Nun or gooey, sugary schlock. The high acidity and low alcohol in these wines yield a sweetness like no other, delicious with foods, especially Asian dishes, fresh seafood, cold meats, cheeses. We recently drank Monchhof 2001 Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese ($24): brilliant fruit flavors of ripe pears, white flowers and slate/mineral purity that chimed like a bell. We followed with a Sundance Wine Cellars find: Jos. Christoffel Jr. 1982 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese ($36) — dazzling at over 20 years old. The sugars and acidity had held the wine perfectly. In its maturity, it was delicate and rich, silky smooth but still firm, a flavor sensation of rare beauty. It takes a little money and a lot of self-discipline (I admit being short on both), but if you can invest now and hide just a few of these from yourself for even a few years in a good, cool place then "find" them at their peak, you'll discover why wine stirs such passions and commands such prices.
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Folk
and fairy tales, onstage and off, give us hope. In most of them,
in nearly every culture, some magical being is able to wave a
wand and make — choose one: war, plague, hunger, despots
— go away, and all ends happily, forever. In the Firebird,
danced to Igor Stravinksy's first, magnificent score for the ballet,
a beautiful half-bird, half-woman provides the somewhat clueless
Prince Ivan with a magic feather in exchange for her freedom.
He summons her with the feather to liberate princesses held hostage
by the wicked Kastchei, including the object of his affections,
the lovely Princess Elena. All ends well, if abruptly, with a
wedding tableau.