It Worked

To the Marketing Director of State Street Ballet:

How clever of you to have issued press releases for the ballet “Starry Night” that barely mention dance, dancers, or even Vincent Van Gogh whose life it was meant to evoke. I fell for your naughty little trick and rushed to the Sunday matinee to see the famed actor Michael Daniels in the role of Theo, the new decors, and the wondrous digital lighting” that made that production impossible to miss.

Did anything go wrong with the state-of-the-art lighting in act 2 or did I miss something profound? The haystacks and sunflowers retained the drab coal-mine grey of act 1 and the stage was a starless night but the ballet made amply up for it. First, there was “Vincent” McKenzy, this rarest of rare birds: a principal dancer who can act and deliver his text from the soul while looking eerily like an ageless Van Gogh’s self- portrait. What a gift to any company; and who cares that the ballet was created for him? And then, was the splendid corps of magnificent dancers blazing their trail through this harrowing story. Were they perhaps a little unfairly lumped together in the program as just “dancers”? but once more, do we need to know who danced and what? In such a renowned company as State Street Ballet, the very best performers are to be expected at all times and taken for granted.

Thank you for this unforgettable treat.