GISELLE

by ed bruce edbrucevegas@yahoo.com

WORLD FAMOUS, WORLD CLASS BALLET !

What a way to finish the week with this, after three classical symphonys !

Nevada Ballet Theatre well established in Las Vegas as world class, they did nothing to change that today. Productions in the Judy Bayley theatre on UNLV campus....still perfect for me, good sight lines, good sound and convenient in and out.....I am not enthralled by the new production theatre in the making ! I will be fair and give it a chance...I hate change !

We have all seen Giselle and this production answers my wife's constant question....."I have seen it, I know how it ends, I have done it before"? Not here Janet ! This, the prototype example of whats new, how can we do it better, what can we add......lets do some thinking ! The production staged locally by interim director James Canfield was costumed, produced and staged through the Louisville Ballet...simply NBT pretty much "used" another companys ballet. Just perfect I thought something new, something different and something creative to Nevadans. I especially like the 12 disappearing viels of the Wilis as if blown away in tandem in one perfect whoosh !

Maybe one minute late and a 22 minute intermission which allowed me to go thru their top notch program, to read and to learn.....gosh what a novel idea !

I liked the second half much better than the first due to the work of The Wilis....whatever they are.....12 women all in white, dancing in perfect lines thru out and looking disinteresed as they did it....just magnificent.....this group took the Louisville theme and made it their own.

The leads....husband wife team Racheal Hummel-Nole and Zeb Nole (Las Vegas born) could not have been better and looked good together.....there is love in the story and I am sure there is love in their marriage and I was working on how that played into the telling of the story ? Ah the story.....I still am not sure about all of the nuances of this one and learn more about it in the program than the dance and I really get my enjoyment from the timing of the music and dance and making it look good....they did !

The ballet is to be seen and not written about......so many symphonys and ballets to be seen and heard...so little time.....I got lots of both today with the music of Adolphe Adam in his best known work.

What is there to say......NBT has that special bright great costumed look at the opening curtain and then gets better.

99 A+