Paul Collaborates On World Premiere NYC Ballet
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You're welcome! It really was a great experience, but I think the Ocean's Kingdom CD with the addition of the audio performance from opening night will capture a lot of the magic. )
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Paul is very special, this interview shows how he works, his sense of adventure is incredible, and his genius is with him on every project he undertakes and the way he valued the colaboration with the group tell us so much about him. And also work with Stella has been gratifying to him. I really liked how happy he looks, sometimes not very polite with the press, but not this time.
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FYI, there are some interesting and generally positive reviews starting to come out. One of the most snide reviews was in the Telegraph, which called the libretto (the storyline) of Ocean's Kingdom almost "childishly simplistic." Of course if you know anything about ballet (and I've been to quite a few) the librettos of most ballets are fairly childish and fairly simplistic -- from the Nutcracker to Swan Lake. They're fantastical and often ridiculous. That's part of the fun. So that was kind of a dumb criticism. The reviewer did praise the music as "very pretty" and "it certainly wasn't an embarrassment" (which is what you call damning with feint praise). But it gets better. A far more substantive review in the New York Times said:
Paul McCartney?s first ballet score, ?Ocean?s Kingdom,? is in no way an important addition to the corpus of ballet music, but it deserves a better staging than the one it?s been given by New York City Ballet. Never less than agreeable, (the music) has plenty of color and melody. Curiously, it sounds as if it had been composed in the neo-Romantic era before the Beatles: some of its most expansive tunes have hints of Borodin and Samuel Barber; some of its atmospheres evoke Ravel; and its jolliest passages are on the cusp of Bernstein?s ?Candide.?
The reviewer also said:
Mr. Martins doesn?t rise to the music?s big melodies with any sustained dance idea, and he doesn?t bring its liveliest rhythms to life with any eye-catching metric complexity. I hope someone else choreographs this score before long: it has many more dance opportunities ? especially in its finale ? than Mr. Martins has chosen to realize.
And here is a review from ABC News (which also kinda dissed the choreography):
The ballet itself was frothy entertainment, set to pleasing, tuneful, often lovely music ? a production likely to attract a broader audience to the ballet, always a good thing.
I didn't expect this to get rave reviews because ballet and classical critics are notoriously harsh. So I think it's great that there have been fairly positive comments about the music itself, which is, after all, Paul's main contribution. I hope to go see it myself in January if I can get tickets.
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Those are great, Oobu! I just love how happy Paul and Nancy look together. )
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Thanks for the videos. I hope they stay up for a little while because I won't have time to watch them until tues. Or maybe Sun night. (work and social on weekends). Here is an Examiner column with videos in it too: http://www.examiner.com/beatles-in-national/mccartney-triumphs-ocean-s-kingdom-ballet-debut-on-scene-reports?CID=examiner_alerts_article But I was freaked to learn they did a toast with tea. It is bad luck to toast without an alcholic beverage as the spirit of the grain must be present to activate the toast.
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thank you to everyone for the photos, videos and interviews, i've really enjoyed watching them.
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Thanks Michelley for the reviews. the Telegraph review was the snidiest and much of the crtiticism was at the simplistic storyline, which you explained ballet was known for.
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It's funny that the ballet is getting a couple of reviews that mention the simplistic storyline--without the ability to include dialogue in ballet, you really need a simplistic storyline, otherwise the audience will be lost. roll As it is, on the way out of the show, I heard some folks saying they didn't know what the story was about, but they liked the music. ) Oh, Kathryn, the videos you mentioned on the Examiner webpage are mine. ) I checked out the link you posted and was surprised to see my own videos staring back at me. lol lol
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walliebaby:
It's funny that the ballet is getting a couple of reviews that mention the simplistic storyline--without the ability to include dialogue in ballet, you really need a simplistic storyline, otherwise the audience will be lost. : As it is, on the way out of the show, I heard some folks saying they didn't know what the story was about, but they liked the music. Oh, Kathryn, the videos you mentioned on the Examiner webpage are mine. I checked out the link you posted and was surprised to see my own videos staring back at me.
Isn't that cool? I'm off to go have a look-see myself this morning before work.
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Thank you so much for posting this video Martin. I got to congratulate Paul and shake his hand as he was coming up the steps inside the theatre. I'm in the purple dress at about 40-45 sec in the video, saying congratulations. So glad to have this very special moment to watch again and relive it! -
How cool for you, number1fan! This same video includes a tall man shaking Paul's hand, who is one of my facebook friends. ) It looks like this is one multi-purpose video. lol lol lol
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Oh, I forgot to mention that I got to meet Stuart Bell (of For Whom The Bell Tells) fame outside the theater about 2 hours prior to showtime! He was SO nice, humble, and gracious, and he told me a few funny stories. ) He seemed genuinely surprised that I would want to have a photo taken with him (probably because some guy named Paul always gets the photo requests P ), but I'm trying to figure out how to upload it to this forum and can't seem to master it...any help out there? By the way, he looks MUCH more handsome in person than his photo on Bell Tells!
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wallie, you must have your photos upped somewhere...like picoodle or flicker...sites like that. Then there are links to post here. Just click the "IMG" tag before & after your link.
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I've got them uploaded on Facebook...hmm...let me look into this...
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I think you can just make your photo page public then...like fansontherun does.
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Nice looong audio interview with Paul from WQRX in NY http://www.wqxr.org/articles/wqxr-features/2011/sep/22/mccartney-returns-classical-music-ballet-oceans-kingdom/
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Okay, let's try this I just uploaded the better photos to photobucket.com. I took some photos of some of the celebs arriving at the premiere, and buried in there are two photos of Stuart Bell, one of them with me. He definitely looks better in that photo than I do, lol http//s662.photobucket.com/albums/uu341/walliebaby/
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Great pix Wallie! With your peace bag there at the opra! LOL! Very cool! Hey, that pic of Alec Baldwin reminds me that he is hosting SNL tonight. Think Paul may have hung around around to pop in as a surprise guest?
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Hey, have peace bag, will travel. Wouldn't that be amazing if Paul DID show up to SNL? I was going to watch anyway, now I'll have to "extra watch", whatever that means. lol lol