Word: shows
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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President Bok and his colleagues obviously have not met such a dilemma yet, because they have neither compromised nor left. They do not yet see the contradictions between the roles of the institution and the individual--or if they do, they show no signs of recognizing them. This failing would be enough for many people to conclude that these men are beyond hope, that they will never begin to lead this university in a more humane, understanding manner--that they have sacrificed themselves to Harvard completely. I do not, however, believe this is true...
Though such fatuous footnotes are graphically dramatized in the show, large events whiz by. Buzz words like Teapot Dome or League of Nations or World War I turn up in dialogue with little explanation of their significance. Political debates rarely figure in the action. The only ideology in Backstairs emanates from the series' writers. The show unthinkingly promotes such stereotypes as an all-knowing black matriarch (Olivia Cole) and a raucous Irish maid (Helena Carroll...
Ironically, Backstairs might be more tolerable if it were at least effectively trashy television. But this show doesn't even rise to the level of juicy soap opera - a must for any miniseries from I, Claudius to Washington: Behind Closed Doors. There are too many scenes of cooking, cleaning and dusting, not to mention list less chitchat in underlit rooms. ("Lord have mercy, I forgot to trim the President's other sideburn," says a White House barber in a typical example of Backstairs wit.) Only a sketchy attempt is made to re-create the nation's capital...
...keep warm. This is not the kind of joke that the City Ballet corps can manage without making it look like a snowslide off a roof. Then, however, Robbins presents Heather Watts with a crystalline gift: a variation with fast échappés and arctic-still balances that show her strong technique...
...past, Robbins has made roles that enhance young dancers like Nichols, Watts and Duell. He has also shrewdly exploited the technical gifts of Baryshnikov, whom Robbins calls "a superhuman instrument." (The Fall segment will also be danced by Peter Martins with different choreography and music, to show off his serene purity of line.) On opening night, The Four Seasons was on the program between two Balanchine masterpieces, Concerto Barocco and Symphony in C. Those ballets were brutal competition for the new work, which nonetheless won the crowd with its buoyancy and élan. Rossini once said that all kinds...