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Pick of the Crop Dance REVIEW

The Buffalo News/Saturday, April 27, 1996 'Hansel and Gretel' triumphs in bringing fairy tale out of the woods By NICOLE PERADOTEO News Staff Reviewer More satisfying than the individual ingredients of Pick of the Crop's "Hansel and Gretel" -- the colorful costumes and sets, whimsical choreography and endearing score -- is the realization that this is the brainchild of a local dance company. "Hansel and Gretel" isn't just fun to watch. It is a soaring leap forward for Pick of the Crop. The troupe's first full-length modern ballet is both artistically visionary and family-friendly. It will satisfy both the Dance magazine subscriber and he who doesn't know Isadora Duncan from Duncan Hines. Unlike some performing arts presentations, which tend to implode whenever they venture to expand from their norm, "Hansel and Gretel" maintains the caliber of professionalism that defines Pick of the Crop. When the curtain rises, Gretel (Edisa Weeks) is alternately sweeping and dancing with her broom. Hansel (Homer Avila) skips in with a hoe, and the two engage in a mock joust. Immediately the audience understands the equality between the two youngsters. In her choreography, Pick of the Crop artistic director Elaine Gardner makes clear distinctions about their personalities. While Hansel tends to leap forward without aforethought, Gretel is the warier of the two. With Avila's wide-eyed charm and Weeks' cheery buoyancy, you almost forget you're watching adult dancers. Sure, the pigtails and knickers help. But, like all the roles in "Hansel and Gretel," those of the siblings demand as much acting from the principal dancers as they do dancing. Fortunately, Gardner refrains from an overdose of pantomime. In doing so, she occasionally loses the narrative line of the tale. Such infrequent losses, however, are nothing compared to the potential boredom that ensues from too much gesticulating. As the father, Scott Crawford moves like a sad sack from a silent films grabbing his head in despair when his dorninccrmg stepwife makes, him abandon the kids in the woods. As the wife, Jing Hong Kuo's sinister wickedness juxtaposes deftly with the "real" witch's comical take on nastiness. Hong Kuo's sharp movements and, sustained balances meld well with her character, as does the oboe snaking around Curt Steinzor's score when she dances. As the witch with a taste for children's flesh, Nicholas Rodriguez is most comfortably cast - even with fake d-plus-cup breasts. His gestures, like his look, are grotesque. Hobbling on stage in a purple cap, matching bloomers and orange-and-yellow-striped shoes, Rodriguez embraces every twitch and creepy grin of this character. In an alteration to the Brothers Grimm tale, Gardner created a few creatures to help tell the tale on stage. There's the witch's sidekick, Magpie, danced energetically by Elizabeth Higgins, and an athletic Tommy Parlon as Fire. A helpful dove comes to lffe in the graceful Beth Elkins. Sadly, she's the only local adult dancer in the cast. The children in this production dance the role of moths, fairies, gingerbreads, lollipops and candy canes. And dance they do. You'll see no 1ook-ma-I'm-on-stage expressions on these youngsters' faces. They are on stage to perform, and they fare quite nicely. It would be remiss not to applaud Card Beckley's set design, Kelly Maurer's lighting design and Michele Costa's costume design. Simply put, they are breathtaking, the tangible proof of what happens when vision, resourcefulness and talent intersect.

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