Tag: Lar Lubovitch

Lar Lubovitch ~ Three Dances

Above: Lar Lubovitch, photo courtesy of NYC Dance Project

Friday May 21st, 2021 – This evening I tuned in to watch a program of highlights from three works by the eminent choreographer Lar Lubovitch. The program featured excerpts from two familiar ballets by Lar, and part of his unique The Planets.

Watching the film’s duet from Concerto Six Twenty–Two brought back memories of a beautiful afternoon photographer Nir Arieli and I spent watching a rehearsal of this piece in 2013. Mr. Lubovitch was coaching dancers Attila Joey Csiki and Clifton Brown, and the atmosphere in the studio was palpable.

Above: Sylvain LaFortune and Rick Michalek in Concerto Six Twenty–Two; photo by Jack Mitchell

The duet is set to the adagio from Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, a beloved work that reached a wide audience when it was used in the film Out of Africa. Sylvain LaFortune and Rick Michalek are the dancers in today’s program; clad all in white, they could be lovers, or brothers, or best of friends. The Lubovitch choreography is a poignant response to the music; the men are mutually supportive and tender without becoming cloying. There are solo passages, danced whilst the other man observes. It’s a study in masculine grace.

Othello, which premiered in 1997, was a joint creation for the Lubovitch Company, American Ballet Theatre, and San Francisco Ballet. In 2018, as part of the celebration of the Lubovitch Company’s 50th anniversary, Fabrice Calmels and his colleagues from The Joffrey performed excerpts from Othello at The Joyce.

Above: Desmond Richardson and Yuan Yuan Tan in Othello

This evening we saw the ballet’s third act from a filmed performance by San Francisco Ballet. The stellar cast featured Desmond Richardson as Othello, Yuan Yuan Tan as Desdemona, Parrish Maynard as Iago, Katita Waldo as Emilia, and a very young Gonzalo Garcia as Cassio.

As Act III opens, Cassio is in chains, being interrogated by Othello with Iago a menacing observer. Despite his pleas of innocence, the young captain doesn’t stand a chance; he is taken away. Now Desdemona comes on the scene: Yuan Yuan Tan, achingly lovely, seeks to placate her jealous husband. Parrish Maynard as a scarily intense Iago watches the couple. The potent physicality of Desmond Richardson’s Othello holds sway over his blameless wife. Katita Waldo as Emilia joins for a pas de quatre set to dynamic music.

Othello and Iago are left alone, and the latter summons up the green-eyed monster: jealousy. Here composer Elliot Goldenthal makes cunning use of the saxophone. Whilst Iago weaves his web of lies, Othello sees visions of Cassio courting his wife. Then Iago produces the handkerchief and Desdemona’s fate is sealed.

The perfection of Desmond Richardson’s portrayal is now to be savoured in a solo of technical perfection and great dramatic intensity. He then confronts his wife, and, following an anguished duet, he strangles her with the handkerchief. Now Emilia rushes in, and reveals Iago’s deception; she barely has time to state the truth before her husband murders her. Othello, overcome with remorse, stabs himself.

The excellence of the cast made for a truly absorbing performance of this Lubovitch masterpiece.

Above: Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay in The Planets

Completing the program, we had an excerpt from The Planets, in which figure skaters and ballet dancers joined together. The music is “Venus” from Holst’s The Planets, Mr. Lubovitch choreographed the skating, and Doug Varone the ‘court of Venus’. The goddess is portrayed by Sonia Rodriguez of the National Ballet of Canada, and the principal skating couple are Paul and Isabelle Duchesnay, 1992 Olympic Silver Medalists.

Venus, after drinking from an enchanted pool, sees a vision of a company of lovers, come to pay her homage. These skaters fill the ice with swirling, flowing combinations. Now the principal couple – the brother-and-sister Duchesnays – execute a lush duet, sailing across the ice to the lyrical Holst music.

Paul Duchesnay kneels before Ms. Rodriguez’s Venus; she is captivated by this mortal male and they begin a duet in which Ms. Rodriguez’s feet never touch the ice. The goddess then returns to her temple, but the encounter has left its mark on her.

Above: Sonia Rodriguez in The Planets

While watching the program, many memories of my experiences with Lar Lubovitch’s work – and of meeting him briefly in various settings – came flooding back. It’s thanks largely to my friendship with Attila Joey Csiki – an iconic Lubovitch dancer – that I discovered the world of Lubovitch. Here are some articles and images from my blog about these encounters:

Meeting Attila in person for the first time in November 2010 when he was preparing a Lubovitch solo with pianist KathleenTagg.

In 2011, with Attila teaching a Lubovitch class, is where the Lubovitch connection took hold. Three dancers in the class – Greg Lau, Sarah Pon, and Blake Hennessy-York – were embarking on their careers at the time.

Attila arranged for Kokyat and me to watch a rehearsal of Lar’s Men’s Stories. This was the first time I met Mr. Lubovitch; he was quite formal, which I liked.

2014 brought the fascinating Black Rose to The Joyce.

In 2017, in preparation for the 50th anniversary of the Lubovitch Company, Lar set his Legend of Ten on the Martha Graham Dance Company. Photographer Nir Arieli and I had a fantastic time watching a rehearsal.

And in 2018, the 50th anniversary was celebrated in high style at The Joyce.

There’s so much more Lubovitch in my dance diary! And there’s no way I could finish this article without mentioning my two Lubovitch goddesses: Nicole Corea and Kate Skarpetowska.

~ Oberon

May 21, 2021
More From The Lubovitch 50th @ The Joyce

Above: The Joffrey Ballet’s Fabrice Calmels in Lar Lubovitch’s Othello; photo by Herbert Migdoll

~ Author: Oberon

Saturday April 21st matinee – Continuing the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company at The Joyce, four dancers from The Joffrey flew in to perform excerpts from Lar’s 1997 full-length ballet, Othello, while Lubovitch Company members offered three distinctively different works by the choreographer. It was a first-rate afternoon of dance all round.

Little Rhapsodies (dating from 2007) is a gem of a dancework: to the delightful Symphonic Études, Opus 13, of Robert Schumann, three men – Jonathan Emanuell Alsberry, Reed Luplau, and Benjamin Holliday Wardell – trade solos and dance in unison.

At curtain rise, the dancers are seen in silhouette. They dance together, in a folkish vein. Then the solos begin: Mr. Wardell is a gorgeous and expressive mover; the ever-brilliant Mr. Alsberry is winningly whimsical and blithely balletic; and Mr. Luplau with a lightness of touch, breezy turns, and copious charisma. Music and movement are happily meshed in a pas de trois, followed by more solos: Mr. Wardell something of a revelation; Mr. Luplau amazingly swift, sure, and supple; Mr. Alsberry effortlessly combining the dynamic and the lyrical. The trio dance on to a fun finish.

Dance companies worldwide should snap up Little Rhapsodies: a perfect ballet to show off the male virtuosos on your roster.

Othello: A dance in three acts is Lar Lubovitch’s 1997 full-length ballet, choreographed to a score by Elliot Goldenthal. In excerpts from Act III, guest artists Fabrice Calmels, Victoria Jaiani, Temur Suluashvili, and Rory Hohenstein of the Joffrey Ballet danced the final pages of the tragedy with a compelling sense of theatre.

In a claustrophobic black chamber, Mr. Calmels’ downcast, glowering Moor sits on his black throne. The supplicant Cassio (Mr. Hohenstein, his hands bound) and the conniving Iago (Mr. Suluashvili) get under his skin whilst the incredibly lovely and vulnerable Ms. Jaiani as Desdemona seems unaware of her impending doom. The chilly music says it all.

Ms. Jaiani has a solo, her en pointe dancing a vision of grace. Mr. Calmels, his towering stature taking over the stage, displays the anguish of his mixed emotions. In a love/hate duet, he caresses his wife one moment and seems repulsed by her the next.

Mr. Suluashvili’s handsome, conniving Iago now continues his machinations to about bring about Othello downfall: in their dramatic scene, Mr. Calmels leaps onto the arms of his throne as Suluashvili’s Iago cowers beneath the Moor’s wrath (above, in a Cheryl Mann photo). Then the fatal handkerchief is produced. In this scene, composer Elliot Goldenthal makes marvelous use of the saxophone.

Eerie music accompanies Ms. Jaiani’s return as Desdemona. Then the composer conjures up an ominously cinematic setting for the final combat between husband and wife. Othello quickly prevails, and – true to Shakespeare’s immortal words – ‘I kissed thee ere I killed thee’ – passionately kisses Desdemona as he strangles her with the handkerchief.

As the four Joffrey dancers received resounding applause, I was recalling my only previous encounter with the Jaiani/Calmels partnership: they danced in Edwaard Liang’s Woven Dreams at Fall for Dance in 2011. They were splendid then, and splendid today.

Something About Night, Lar’s newest creation, was premiered earlier in the week. I liked the piece a lot at its first performance but, as so often happens, a second viewing today made an even stronger impression. The gently ecstatic duet for Nicole Corea and Tobin Del Cuore really cast a spell today, and Brett Perry’s solo was nothing less than sublime. Belinda McGuire and Barton Cowperthwaite had less to do than I might have wished, but Barton still had Men’s Stories ahead of him, wherein his performance brought down the house.

Men’s Stories: A Concerto in Ruin (above, in a Nan Melville photo) closed the performance on a mighty note. The cast was the same as that of the opening night, and they all outdid themselves. Stunningly-danced solos by Reed Luplau, Jonathan Emanuell Alsberry, Anthony Bocconi, and Barton Cowperthwaite – and an epic performance from Benjamin Holliday Wardell – kept the level of excitement sky-high, whilst Colin Fuller, Matthew McLaughlin, Brett Perry, and Lukasz Zięba all looked great and danced their hearts out.

The poignant, darkling, magically masculine world of Men’s Stories kept the audience in a rapt state of involvement, its musical mélange endlessly evocative. As waves of applause swept thru the house, the dancers took several bows before Mr. Lubovitch joined them onstage to a barrage of cheers. Happy 50th, Lar!!

Friends and fans gathered on the lower level after the show; I loved seeing Gabrielle Lamb again, having a long chat with Nicole Corea, meeting Fabrice Calmels, and congratulating JJ, Barton, Reed, and Brett. When Mr. Lubovitch quietly walked thru the backstage door, the crowd burst into spontaneous applause.

~ Oberon

April 21, 2018
Lar Lubovitch @ The Joyce – Program B

Above: Kate Skarpetowska and Brian McGinnis in Lar Lubovitch’s CRISIS VARIATIONS; photo by Kokyat

Sunday matinee October 20th, 2013 – Lar Lubovitch Dance Company‘s 45th anniversary was celebrated this afternoon at The Joyce as the Company marked the finale of their two-week season. Two familiar works – Transparent Things and Crisis Variations – were followed by a trio of new pieces: a stunning all-male ensemble work called As Sleep Befell, a new duet choreographed by Company dancer Kate Skarpetowska entitled Listen, and an over-the-top cowboy caper Crazy 8s. If the dancers were feeling any end-of-season fatigue, it didn’t show. They danced their hearts out.

Lar Lubovitch was inspired by the Picasso painting ‘Family of Saltimbanques‘ (above) for his 2012 ballet Transparent Things, set to the Debussy string quartet in G-minor. With the score performed live onstage by the Bryant Park Quartet, the union of music and dance was celebrated by the charming characterizations of the six dancers, each costumed exactly like a figure in the painting.

This ballet weaves a very particular spell; the melding of art, music and movement gives it a Ballets Russes feeling – Diaghilev would approve, I am sure. The musicians played so well, and the dancers excelled. Attila Joey Csiki gave a wonderfully expressive performance as the Harlequin figure, his movement so fluent and graceful. As the quartet’s third movement draws to a close, the dancers invade the musicians’ space and wriggle their way between the chairs; as the light fades, Attila gently lays his head against the cello. A lovely murmur passed thru the house at that moment.

But the quartet has another movement still to come, and although it seemed to me that a perfect ending might have been forsaken, the actual end of the ballet is equally well-judged and drew more sighs of admiration from the crowd. The dancers – Katarzyna Skarpetowska, Laura Rutledge, Brian McGinnis, Clifton Brown and Reed Luplau (a dreamy Blue Boy) – were all endearing as individuals and, in addition to Attila’s perfect rendering of Harlequin, made the ballet a poetic experience.

Lar’s CRISIS VARIATIONS is set to a nightmarish score by Yevgeny Sharlat which features the unusual juxtaposition of harpsichord and saxophone; glimmers of melody shoot thru a dark, dense cloud of sound. This turbulent ballet is essentially an extended pas de deux for two remarkable dancers: Kate Skarpetowska and Brian McGinnis. Their partnering is risky, passionate but unromantic, and they perform it with unfettered physicality and angst. The ensemble – Nicole Corea, Laura Rutledge, Jonathan Alsberry, Reed Luplau and Anthony Bocconi – lay down, writhe. pile up, and periodically seem to try to escape from this ongoing dream. The ballet ends on a quizzical note as Kate suddenly vanishes beneath a mound of bodies.

Both of these first two works seem to have taken on new depths and fascinations since their premieres, showing that the more we devote ourselves to watching dance the more we will see.

Above: from AS SLEEP BEFELL, photo by Steven Schreiber

After the second intermission, new works were brought forth: the first of these, Lar’s AS SLEEP BEFELL, was a staggeringly beautiful experience. Once again the unity of music, dance and setting combined to please, and to seduce. The musicians of Le Train Bleu are ranged in a semi-circle at the rear of the stage: all dressed in casual summer whites, they are barefooted. They strike up Paola Prestini‘s multi-hued score, conducted by Ransom Wilson. A tall, white-gowned priestess -vocalist Helga Davis – begins her chant which takes her from distrubing growls in chest voice to uncanny, sustained high tones; a throaty quality imbues her singing with a raw earthiness.

Ranged on the floor are six male dancers – Clifton Brown, Jonathan Alsberry, Reed Luplau, Anthony Bocconi, Oliver Greene-Cramer and Tobin del Cuore. They are bare-chested and wearing long diaphanous white skirts. They rise in a tribal ritual of dance that is primitive, sensuous, and hypnotic to behold. Expressive port de bras, fluid torsos, and long, muscular legs emerging from the white gowns create an alluring vision of male beauty. To a seductive rhythm, they link arms and sway in unison: a provocative passage.

AS SLEEP BEFELL might be viewed as a male counterpart to the sisterhood Jerome Robbins created in his masterpiece ANTIQUE EPIGRAPHS. Both ballets evoke communal rites and timeless visions of ancient realms and forgotten gods.

Above: Nicole Corea and Reed Luplau in LISTEN, photo by Steven Schreiber

Kate Skarpetowska also turns to the music of Paola Prestini for her new pas de deux LISTEN. This duet will eventually be half of a longer work but even as it stands now, it’s another excellent entry into Ms. Skarpetowska’s catalog of work. In a shaft of bright light, Nicole Corea and Reed Luplau seem to be having a conversation set against Ms. Prestini’s elaborate clockwork score. The movement is restless and quirky as the energy passes back and forth between the two dancers. The interjection of a soulful cello theme brings a new element to the ballet; then Nicole suddenly vanishes, leaving Reed to dance an animated solo.

Nicole and Reed make a perfect pairing, and I’ll look forward to seeing the resolution of this duet. This was my fourth experience with Kate Skarpetowska’s choreographic work; in her musicality, her sense of visual poetry, and her imaginative use of both the physical and emotional characteristics of her dancers, she is already taking a distinctive place in the choreographic community.

Above: from CRAZY 8s, photo by Phyllis McCabe

The afternoon ended with a terrific little ballet called CRAZY 8s. After a half-century of creativity, a choerographer is entitled to a bit of fun, and Lar Lubovitch took off on a totally unexpected tangent with this piece which spoofs hoe-downs, square dancing, the Grand Ole Opry, the rodeo, and the whole cowboy culture. The score is a fractured mash-up of Wild West rhythms, square dance calls, and a country-Western heartbreak song. The dancers, clad in garish bright yellow tights and ten-gallon hats, threw high-falutin’ artsy hogwash to the prairie winds and set to it with tongues-in-cheeks and a glint in their eyes. A special howdy-do to Jonathan Alsberry for his crazy/sexy-boy solo. This deft little romp sent the crowd home in high spirits.

October 20, 2013
Lar Lubovitch Dance Company @ Florence Gould Hall

Above: Les Saltimbanques, the painting by Picasso that inspred Lar Lubovitch’s newest creation, TRANSPARENT THINGS.

Thursday November 15, 2012 – Three recent works by Lar Lubovitch comprised the programme tonight at Florence Gould Hall where Lar’s superb troupe of dancers held the stage to fine effect, abetted in the final work by excellent playing of the Debussy G-minor quartet by the Bryant Park Quartet.

Opening with the ravishingly dark and lyrical LEGEND OF TEN, set to the Brahms F-minor quintet, the Lubovitch dancers showed from the first moment both their collective technical expertise and their individuality as poets of movement. In this dance of swirling and evocative patterns, the heartfelt music buoys the dancers throughout; from time to time a dancer will step forward and briefly pay reverence to the audience before melding back into the flow of the dance. The gorgeous and distinctive Lubovitch women – Nicole Corea, Laura Rutledge and Kate Skarpetowska – are partnered in ever-shifting match-ups by the beautiful men of the Company: Attila Joey Csiki, Reed Luplau, Brian McGinns, George Smallwood and Anthony Bocconi. A central pair – Elisa Clark and Clifton Brown – weave their ongoing pas de deux into the ensemble; tall and radiant, the couple bring an unusual sense of dignity to what might otherwise simply be a romantic duet. Clifton’s imperial wingspan and the hypnotic styling of his arms and hands are a blessing to behold, and Elisa matches him in expressive nuance. Compelling dance from all, and the work is surely one of Lar’s greatest masterpieces.

Darkness of a more jagged and comtemporary feel marks CRISIS VARIATIONS, in which a smaller ensemble of dancers – Nicole Corea, Laura Rutledge, Attila Joey Csiki, Reed Luplau and Anthony Bocconi – writhe and struggle against unseen demons whilst yet another of Lar’s imaginative duets – danced by the enigmatic Kate Skarpetowska and the dynamic Brian McGinnis – ebbs and flows among the struggling community. Kokyat’s image of Kate and Brian, above, captures one of the pas de deux’s most spine-tingling moments.

What gives CRISIS VARIATIONS its unique flavour in the Yevgeniy Sharlat score; in this turbulent and entrancingly crafted music, individual instruments – harpsichord, saxophone, organ – lend a nightmarish gleam to the tapestry of movement. The ballet, though steeped in deep despair, is not without subtle hints of tongue-in-cheek self-pity.

The newest of Lar’s works, entitled TRANSPARENT THINGS, is a pure joy. Reid Bartelme’s costumes translate from the Picasso painting with remarkable faithfulness, and the dancers take to the mirthful and sometimes self-mocking characters of this vagabond troupe of entertainers with flair.

Attila Joey Csiki (above, Steven Schreiber photo) is perfect as the mercurial Harlequin, his solo dancing marked by the pure grace of his pliant style. Kate Skarpetowska and Laura Rutledge seem literally to have stepped out of the painting; Brian McGinnis is a tower of strength in his billowy red suit and Clifton Brown in simply marvelous to watch. Boysihly beautiful Reed Luplau brings a touch of innocence and a creamy, chiseled chest to his velvet-clad Blue Boy.

Playing from memory, the musicans of the Bryant Park Quartet give a rendering of the Debussy score which ranges from sentimental to ebullient. Violinist Anna Elashvili seemed ready to spring from her chair and join the dance. At the close of the ballet’s third section, the dancers invade the musician’s space and are momentarily stilled; Attila lovingly rests his head against the cello. In this charming moment the marriage of music and dance are quietly celebrated. Brilliant!

November 15, 2012
Lubovitch Rep Class with Attila Joey Csiki

Tuesday November 30, 2010 – At Peridance this week, Attila Joey Csiki is presenting a series of master classes in Lar Lubovitch repertoire. Attila invited me to come and watch one of the sessions. Unfortunately both Kokyat and Brian were working their regular jobs so I didn’t have a photographer with me. However, Attila has sent me some photos by Kevin Thomas Garcia from his recent solo appearance at the Trevor Project Gala at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle on November 22nd so the photos in this article are from that evening.

The high-ceilinged studio was filled with about two dozen students who came for this second of five classes. Attila told me that about half the dancers present had come the day before and the other half were new faces. There were two guys, both very fine dancers, and several really impressive girls including Emily SoRelle Adams, a dancer I’ve known from her appearances with New Chamber Ballet.

Many of the students had just taken a ballet class in a studio down the hall; Attila told the dancers he was not going to give them a warm-up per se but that the first piece they would be working on – an excerpt from Lar Lubovitch’s 1976 work MARIMBA – would provide a warm-up in itself. He then began to demonstrate the phrase, without music. The series of counts seemed very complex to me but the dancers jumped right in, picking up the moves and port de bras from Attila; his innate musicality turned the demonstration into something of a performance. While I was sitting there trying to remember the initial arm gesture, the dancers had the entire phrase nearly nailed down. They ran thru it a few times and then Attila played the music, telling the dancers to allow the trance-like repetitions to flow thru their bodies. They moved like waves of tall grass in the breeze.

From there he added the second phrase of the excerpt and then the third. In the meantime I had completely forgotten the first phrase. But the dancers didn’t; soon they were all moving in sync thru the extended passage. Attila split them into two groups and they continued running the piece until it was in their muscle-memory. And…they were now thoroughly warmed-up.

Attila then turned to a very different Lubovitch work, a luminous excerpt from Lubovitch’s 2007 DVORAK SERENADE. Again in demonstrating the phrases Attila’s fluid style was so clear. Turning on the rhapsodic music, he had the whole group work the phrase and then broke them into four smaller groups. “This is classic Lubovitch!” he called out as he let the energy of the music flow thru his limbs: “One step bleeds into the next, the movement never stops.”

“Easy…easy!” he cautioned one set of dancers who were poised to start moving across the floor in too aggressive a manner. “It’s lyrical!”

Outside the windows, another crowd of dancers were waiting for the studio. The class had literally zoomed by and the students came forward to curtsey and bow to Attila. One of the fringe benefits of watching a master class is getting to see world-class dancers in action up close. Thus in recent weeks I’ve seen Wendy Whelan, Matthew Rushing, Attila today and with Alex Wong coming up in January.

Attila’s classes continue thru Friday at Peridance, with an 11:30 AM start time. You can take an individual class for $20.

A final photo from the Trevor Project Gala: Attila with pianist Kathy Tagg. Read about the visit Brian Krontz and I made to Attila’s rehearsal for the gala here.

Photos: Kevin Thomas Garcia

November 29, 2010
Lar Lubovitch Dance Company @ BAC

Sunday November 21, 2010 evening – The culmination of one of my busiest fortnights since I started blogging: a truly enjoyable evening of works by Lar Lubovitch, beautifully danced by his beautiful dancers. This was the Company’s final performance of a sold-out run at the Baryshnikov Arts Center.

I suppose North Star would be considered early Philip Glass. He’d been composing for about ten years when he wrote this in 1977. (The ballet premiered in 1978). The music seems denser and less ethereal than many of Glass’s later works, but still very enjoyable to hear. The dancers swirl and flash about the stage individually or in quartets which join and then splinter as the music ebbs and flows. The restless energy of the score is visualized by the choreographer to perfect effect. Photo above: Todd Rosenberg.

Katarzyna Skarpetowska and Brian McGinnis (above, Christopher Duggan photo) performed the duet from MEADOW. Dating from 1999 and originally set on ABT, this work is set to an intrinsically luminous work by Gavin Bryars entitled Incipit Vita Nova.To the uneartly sounds of the counter-tenor voice, the dancers create sculptural shapes as one pose flows into another with silken smoothness. For the perfection of their performance, Skarpetowska and McGinnis were warmly cheered.

THE LEGEND OF TEN is a tribute to the ten members of the Company and – all clad in somewhat ominous but elegant black – the dancers turned it into a tribute to Lubovitch who is surely the king of lyricism among current choreographers. With a central adagio couple (Jenna Fakhoury and Reid Bartelme) surrounded by a lively octet of dancers who often step in unison and sometimes bring gypsy flourishes to their movements, the piece is structurally propelled by the music of the Brahms piano quintet Opus 34. The Lubovitch dancers mesh into a cohesive ensemble but the individual personalities of the dancers also shine thru in this, the latest success in the choreographer’s long catalog of works. (Photo above: Sasha Fornani)

All was going well as I saw the finish line of my 2-week dance marathon approaching, but on standing up for the second intermission tonight, my left knee finally rebelled in earnest. I realized that if I sat for another twenty minutes it would tighten further so I hobbled down to the street and after a few minutes of walking it loosened up enough to limp to the subway. I felt bad missing the last piece on the Lubovitch programme though it was one (Coltrane’s Favorite Things) I’d seen not long ago. My grandmother always told me: “It’s hell to grow old!”

November 21, 2010