White Magic in the Bronx
by Manon Paulic
A prince and a princess fall in love and they live happily ever after. Well, not exactly.
In February, Lehman College hosted a production of the famous ballet Swan Lake performed by the State Ballet Theater of Russia. It seemed to be a hit with audience members.
The ballet is about a prince, Siegfried, who falls in love with a princess named Odette who is half-swan and half-female. In four acts and three hours, their tragic love story ends with a double suicide. At least, that how the script reads. Marvin Goodman, from the Riverdale section of the Bronx, noticed that “the ending didn’t follow the script.” More than 2,000 people attended and many in the audience spoke favorably about the performance. “We liked the music, we liked the costumes, we liked the stage settings and the choreography,” said Goodman. “ The music was very good even if it was recorded, they were able to stop the music at appropriate times.”
Thirty-one year-old Marie Caballero, who never heard about the story of Swan Lake, said she brought her daughter who wanted to see it.
“It was nice,” Cabello exclaimed. “I loved it.”
However it was not without flaws. Some audience members complained about the half hour delay before the show was supposed to start. Others grumbled about some audience members using flash cameras during the performance, and also talking on their cell phones.
Goodman added that, “for handicapped people, they should have access from the second floor because they don’t have elevators.”
Also the outdated set was a distraction. The costumes of the first act were not appropriate, either. The long dresses worn by the dancers hid their movements. Fortunately, they changed during the second act and put on the white swans’ traditional outfit, a white tutu and white feathers-covered headband.
On a different note, the Lehman Performing Arts Center will host salsa musicians Rubén Blades and Gilberto Santa Rosa Feb. 26. The two multi-Grammy awards winners will be reunited on the same stage for the first time.