Song and dance aren’t always perfect partners. Queen Latifah was the guest of honor at New York City Ballet’s spring gala Wednesday, where her singing overshadowed the dancing.
The gala not only marked the 25th anniversary of the company’s American Music Festival, but also offered a sampler of the rest of the festival, which runs through May 19. Striding out in a blue gown, Latifah sang the Gershwin classic “The Man I Love” as Sterling Hyltin and Amar Ramasar danced a duet from Balanchine’s “Who Cares?”
It was a great concept that didn’t turn out so well. To make it work for dancing, the singer took a slower tempo that left her powerful voice breathy. And with the dancing at center stage and the singing star at the side, nobody was sure where to look.
Earlier, company alum Christopher Wheeldon provided something old and something new. “Soirée Musicale” was made for the company’s ballet school in 1998; now the youthful work is being performed by grown-ups.
This early work may be set to music by the American composer Samuel Barber, but it’s really an English trifle, drawing on the quirky timing and keen characterizations of Wheeldon’s countryman Frederick Ashton.
Two girls in ball gowns speed about, chattering with their hands. Another seems like the star in a music-hall number, lifted and carried by many men in short jackets and cravats.
The big duet goes to Chase Finlay and Lauren Lovette, who looked like the perfect prom couple, his blond hair flopping romantically as he carried her.
The choreographer’s new work, “A Place for Us,” set to pieces for clarinet and piano by André Previn and Leonard Bernstein, gave Robert Fairchild and Tiler Peck a chance to show off. Peck finished a turn with her leg extended in perfect suspended balance. Fairchild applauded her — and so did we.
The duet is dedicated to Jerome Robbins, but it looks just like Balanchine’s 1972 masterpiece “Duo Concertant.” While it was charming to see the young Wheeldon imitate Ashton, it’s less so to see him make a copy of Balanchine today.
To close, Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette encored their roles in Balanchine’s “Stars and Stripes” and sold the performance mercilessly. Bouder grinned and tilted her head, then buzzed around in turns at blinding speed. Veyette roared through jumps with so little caution he tripped on his exit and nearly ate the floor.
The two stopped one step short of crassness, but their thrilling finale gave the gala audience its money’s worth.