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Review: With ‘The Paris Opera,’ a Peek Behind the Curtain
- The Paris Opera
- Directed by Jean-Stéphane Bron
- Documentary
- 1h 50m
The documentary “The Paris Opera” risks redundancy. After all, Frederick Wiseman, one of nonfiction cinema’s masters, already explored the institution’s ballet company in “La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet” (2009). “The Paris Opera,” which employs similar observational methods, demonstrates the invisibility of Mr. Wiseman’s technique — his genius for drawing out his themes from long scenes of meetings and performances.
Covering a wider swatch of the institution more swiftly, “The Paris Opera” feels at once sprawling and insufficiently patient. Even so, it spans a pivotal stretch: The filmmaker, Jean-Stéphane Bron, captured the Paris Opera while it adjusted to the leadership of a new director, Stéphane Lissner, who took over in 2014 and is shown presiding over a period that included the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris.
The film primarily deals with the institution’s daily challenges, from labor issues to the appropriate cost of a ticket. Mr. Lissner expresses frustration as Benjamin Millepied decides whether to resign as the director of dance after a little more than a year in that position. (Mr. Millepied ultimately left, although the causes of his departure receive superficial treatment.)
At its most fun, “The Paris Opera” functions as a stealth backstage chronicle, notably when the man singing the part of Hans Sachs in Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” calls in sick, setting off a scramble to find a last-minute understudy somewhere in Europe. The baritone Michael Kupfer-Radecky assumes the task with humor as bountiful as his voice.
The Paris Opera
Not rated. In French and English, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes.
Stepping Into the World of Dance
The choreographer Emma Portner, who has spent her career mixing genres and disciplines, comes to ballet with an eye on its sometimes calcified gender relations.
In Irish dance, precision is prized. But perfection is beside the point at Gayli, a series of L.G.B.T.Q.-friendly ceili classes during March at Mary’s Bar, a queer Irish pub in Brooklyn.
A childhood encounter with an American soldier in Iraq led Hussein Smko to become a dancer. Now the artist performs on New York stages.
“Deep River” is in many ways an apt title for a dance work by Alonzo King, a choreographer fixated on flow.
Robert Garland has held many positions at Dance Theater of Harlem over many years. At long last, he has caught the most prized title: artistic director.
Alexei Ratmansky, arguably the most important ballet choreographer today, has stepped into a new role at New York City Ballet with a deeply personal first work that reflected his Ukrainian roots.
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