Joffrey's "Merry Widow" a lighthearted, fleet-footed delight

Last night the curtain rose for the opening performance of The Joffrey Ballet's latest production, Ronald Hynd's The Merry Widow. Widow is a three-act story-ballet adapted from Franz Lehar's operetta of the same title. In order to turn a dialogue-heavy opera into a wordless ballet, Hynd worked with composer John Lanchbery to adapt the original music into something more dance-friendly. Using a combination of lyrical dancing and gestural mime, Hynd tells a story of love and scandal with a glamorous Parisian setting.

But if you think you can just sit back and watch, and then completely grasp what's going on, think again. Pay close attention to those program notes, or you might be asking yourself who that old man is, where that lady in pink came from, and why everyone is constantly swigging champagne.

Allow a little crash-course on the plot: Picture It! Pontevedro, turn of the century. (No, Pontevedro isn't real, it's a made-up French principality.) Pontevedro's bureaucrats realize the country is broke. Ah, but there's a ball coming up at the French Embassy, and look who's on the guest list -- a rich widow, Hanna! And, being far younger than her late husband, she's still quite a catch. So the natural solution is to have Pontevedro's sovereign, Count Danilo, capture Hanna's heart and thus secure her wealth for their country.

Meanwhile, an affair is revealed between Valencienne, a Baron's young wife, and Camille, a young French attache. More on that shortly.

Cut to the ballroom scene, with plenty of sparkly dresses and light-as-air waltzing. Danilo and Hanna meet, but alas, the already know each other! Turns out they met when she was a penniless peasant girl and he was an up-and-coming nobleman. He broke her heart then, but now the tables are turned. Long-scene-short, Hanna and Danilo still have strong feelings for one another but are both too stubborn to admit it.

Two more scenes unfold, and when Valencienne and Camille are almost discovered, Hanna smartly steps in to replace Valencienne, coming up with the rouse that she and Camille are engaged (much to Danilo's chagrin). Still with me?

Cut to the final scene at Chez Maxim, a glitzy French cafe. Valencienne is furious at Camille, poor Camille is almost done over in a duel with the Count, and everyone is beside themselves as to whom Hanna will end up with. While I doubt this will spoil it for anyone, I'll leave out the details for now and suffice it to say that everyone lives "happily ever after."

Now The Merry Widow isn't like last season's Othello, as there's no dark, brooding drama. And it isn't quite like Cinderella, which had everyone enchanted from the first moment with the familiar tale of everyone's favorite rags-to-riches sweetheart. But nonetheless, The Merry Widow is a lighthearted, charming and rich ballet full of absolutely gorgeous dancing. Hynd constantly surprises you with his choreography, adding a creative tilt of the head, an unexpected lift, or a beguilingly supple line just when you think you know what's coming next. The evening is magical, the characters endearing, and the Joffrey shines doing what they do best -- a little of everything!

Promoting A Mayoral Debate: Exit Comfort Zone, Enter Spin Zone

So vis-a-vis our relatively new client, Chicago Tribune Special Events, Laura Silverman and I had the rare opportunity to promote and staff a major political event: the recent televised Chicago Tribune/City Club of Chicago Mayoral Debate (aired live from WGN TV studios). Scheduled participants (in alpha order): Carol Moseley Braun, Gery Chico, Miguel del Valle, and Rahm Emanuel. Was a good challenge to step out of our comfort zone (which is promoting the arts to reporters with whom we've worked for years) and instead communicate with a new group of press with new types of questions (predominantly related to the technical aspects of the broadcast and the sharing of "pool" photography and video). Not to mention, with the timing of this debate in particular, Emanuel was in limbo as to whether his name was to be included on the ballot or not (based on ongoing residency challenge). He fully intended to participate in the debate - the Tribune had kept him on lineup- and the affirmative decision was actually handed down by the Illinois Supreme Court within an hour and 1/2 of the live debate airing! Given the confab of candidates and cameras all gathered at WGN TV's north side studio, that was definitely the place to be for anyone following the campaign.

But first, a quick summary of the preliminary publicity work that got us to that place.



Advance efforts were typical of other special events we're promoted, basically drafting and distributing a press release and then following up with the media to secure advance coverage and on-site attendance. However, there were two key differences: (a) We didn't have at our disposal a local "political" media list, since we don't usually dabble in that arena, so a list needed to be compiled ASAP and thanks to some good old fashioned sleuthing (Hello, Google!), it was not too laborious. (b) Among the myriad more technical rules about how to secure footage via Chicago Switch (a connector of broadcast signals so that other TV stations could pull video from WGN TV) was the disclaimer that only one reporter per media outlet would be allowed to cover the debate on site and needed to RSVP to me within 48 hours of debate. Apparently much of the technical info was written in invisible ink as I started getting requests to bring their own cameras (no), to bring a producer (um, no) and to bring a third reporter from their newspaper (NO!). That said, I did persuade client to allow the Sun Times to bring a second reporter just because it felt like right thing to do, although ultimately only one showed but I'm glad we made allowance.

Despite the tenuous situation with Emanuel's residency status hearing, from a press standpoint, it was all going smoothly - all the A-list media were accounted for and ready to attend (and get all necessary audio and visual feeds) - until the day of the debate. Suddenly, out of the woodwork popped up some of the aforementioned reporters requesting a ticket even though their media outlet was already set, not to mention one "reporter" who somehow managed not to have seen or heard anything about the Debate until within 5 hours of it taking place, when we had turned down others because of capacity, and then accused me of playing unfair and threatening "you haven't heard the last of me" (and I didn't, and will perhaps explain later).

So, off the phone and flash forward some five hours, our job was to man the "Spin Room." And yes that's what it was called.



(Outside the Spin Room was the main entrance to the actual Debate studio, and there was tight security there. It was funny seeing a very hirsute former Alderman Burt Natarus getting wanded, as though he was a threat of any sort.) So basically, we monitored the room where the press were allowed to sit and watch the Debate on a big screen TV, as it happened live in the studio next door. Most of the press that RSVP'd actually showed up, but given the breaking news about the residency issue being resolved, some reporters ended stuck at their desks it turns out. From a publicist-geek standpoint, was interesting to see the "old school media" (Carol Marin, WMAQ TV) who propped their laptops on a table (replicating a desk top computer?) and plugging in, while the younger crowd (Sam Hudzik, WBEZ FM) balanced laptops on their lap. The oldest of the old (Mike Flannery, WFLD TV) took notes on a pad of paper!

The two most contentious during Debate were, not surprisingly, Emanuel and Chico- and their constant name dropping (of the President and Mayor, respectively) got old quickly.

Then, following the Debate, the four candidates were shepherded in to take FIVE MINUTES of questions from the group, press conference-style. Really, the canned-idates answered the questions from the press with the same canned responses they'd provided in the Debate so there were no revelations but I think the press at least appreciated the perception of one-on-one time.

Glad to have "worked" only one debate... and I still don't understand the Rahm tax.