And when we are ready to end, Balanchine creates another of these crystalline montages, embracing lost lovers, Hippolyta's hunt, Puck's wiles and Titania's contagious fogs in a scene of mounting excitement.
--Arlene Croce, The New Yorker (March 23 1981).
I don't have a great deal to add at this point to my post about "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (May 29, 2016) a year ago: it is delightful story-ballet (the first act) and lovely abstract divertissements (the second act) and makes Mendelssohn's music sound even better than it is (admittedly Balanchine achieves this also with Mozart, Bach, Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky). I think the cast was slightly better this year, especially Maria Kowroski as Titania and Justin Peck as the strangely mysterious cavalier. The children of the school, rehearsed by Dena Abergel and Arch Higgins, were as charming and impressive as ever. Daniel Capps did a superb job of conducting the multiple Mendelssohn works.
My five-year-old daughter Victoria was most impressed by the dramatic elements of the choreography, especially when Titania's retinue thwarted Puck's attempts to steal Titania's page. Victoria also enjoyed recognizing particular steps in the choreography, based on her own ballet class experience.
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