Vis

In addition to a great musical book that year, BD had a really good guard and visual program. Having been at finals, I remember being disappointed by the camera locations and editing in the broadcast. I don't think they showed many of BD's best visual moments. Cavies also had what I think was one of the best saber lines ever that year but they were hardly shown in the broadcast.

Did see it live 1/2 dozen times. The complete show was really a stylistic mishmash, but 'Short Ride In a Fast Machine' was possibly the most original thing I had seen on the field at that time - musically and visually. For me, it still holds up. 1991 was a great year for DCI which I've watched many times when I miss George Zingali'sinflunce (Star), and I always find my way to Cadet's opener also. I wish that Cadets would have built on the electric energy of that number in future years.

When Peter Gelb took over at the Met, he was faced with the dilemna of satisfying his older tradional patrons who were his major source of funding or moderning the productions to bring in a younger audience he'd need for funding when the older wealthier ones were no longer around. He decided to take the provocative route, and risk rattling the old guard by bringing in directors and creative contributors from the worlds of film, avante guard theater, modern dance, and the art world. Much controversy ensued. Some of these productions were disasters, others were pure genius. Over time, I think Met patrons learned to judge each production on it's own artistic merits, instead of judging in generalization. The Met seems to have reached a place where there is appreciation for both, and the generational divide which was a factor in Gelb's early days seems less of an issue each year.

If you want to see an innovative opening ceremony, look at the one from the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville. It was done by the same costume/set design/choreography team who went on to do Cirque de Soleil's current 'Iris' production in Los Angeles. In 1992, I only saw several short segments of it on the US broadcast as it was probably a little 'out there' for American prime time TV. Thanks to youtube, you can see the parts of the version shown in Europe. You'll see an aerial ballet, some really interesting props and costumes, a group of drummers suspended in air as pieces of a giant mobile, and hundreds of colored flags. The closing ceremonies feature segmented fabric stars which float in the air while attached to skaters. Even though it's 20 years old, no production since then has really come close for me in the level of innovation.