The real fun in New York City Ballet’s “Just for Fun” Friday night was a Battle of the Ballerinas. The opening two works on the triple bill were shaky, but the final piece on the program showed a pair of the company’s strongest women as the stars they are.
First out was Christopher Wheeldon’s “Carnival of the Animals,” a treat for kids of all ages. The story, written and originally narrated by “3rd Rock from the Sun” star John Lithgow, is set in a mythical, well-to-do New York where a young prep-school boy hides in the American Museum of Natural History.
After hours, the animal displays come to life, personified by people he knows: teachers as lions and baboons, old ladies as aged tortoises doing glacial cancans.
Friday night, the work looked hastily rehearsed, as if the cast learned the steps, but not the nuances. Taking Lithgow’s place was another veteran actor, Jack Noseworthy, who worked with him on Broadway in “Sweet Smell of Success.” His turn as a waltzing elephant was graceful, but his Noo Yawk accent was sometimes hard to discern over the reverb of his body mike.
Up next, Peter Martins’ “Jeu de Cartes” (Card Game) was pitted against Stravinsky’s 1936 jazzy but sprawling score. Only Robert Fairchild was able to make something special of the syncopated part originated back in 1992 by Martins’ son Nilas. Fairchild bounced easily through the complex shimmying moves. With his magnetic style, he was the real deal.
Jerome Robbins’ “The Four Seasons” — music by Verdi, not the usual Vivaldi — is half ballet, half parade: big cast, big capes, big hair and great starring roles in each season. Befitting New York’s climate, Spring and Fall are the loveliest. In Spring, Sara Mearns showed what a ballerina can do with a role built on simple walks.
For Mearns, less choreography was more: It gave her room to fill with her personality. She looked at the audience, inviting them to share in her joy, and her timing — slightly irregular, but as leisurely as a flower opening into bloom — made dancing out of walking.
You’d think she would have had no competition, but you’d be wrong. Instead of a Spring innocent, Tiler Peck led Fall as a grand ballerina with a glorious, imperious presence as she balanced as if lounging. Her turns were as precise as a Swiss timepiece and the audience couldn’t get enough of her.
When divas like these are on display dueling, there’s only one winner: the audience.