I was preparing to rejoice about "The Company", a film that shows a ballet in the making by the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago....AND that apparently was casting an Italian American in a Positive role !!!
NO, Gerald Arpino (born Gennaro Peter Arpino) is Not specifically identified as THE Founder and Leader of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. But his character is at least identifiable as Italian with the name of Alberto Antonelli.
[Just as an aside, how many of you knew that Robert Joffrey (born as Anver Bey Abdullah Jaffa Khan) was of an Afghani Muslim father, and an ITALIAN Catholic mother?- cofounded the Joffrey Ballet with Gerald Arpino in 1956?].
YES, Antonelli (or Arpino, actually) launched almost every choreographer from Twyla Tharp to Mark Morris to Billy Forsythe, who are now accepted as ballet's great choreographers.
AND YES, Arpino founded and leads the ballet company that stands on a par with the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre.
BUT instead of being heralded, as the Irreplaceable Hub of this company, the film according to the New York Times in it's only reference to Antonelli, merely describes him as a "genteel, magnetic princeling of an artistic director"..."Mr. A as his victims call him, is so bewitchingly self-absorbed that he has no idea of the damage he leaves in his wake...a glaring, bristling hostility...blithely unapologetic and elegantly contradictory.
YET, heaps accolades on Mr. McDowell (portraying Antonelli) who "(s)hould get a standing ovation, JUST (emp. add) for the distracted way he brings his hand up to the yield-sign-yellow scarf hanging from his neck."
OMYG-D!!!
The Los Angeles Times was more even handed, and even rather complimentary in it's portrayal of Antonelli/Arpino in paragraphs 4 through 6 below.
THEN
I became aware of a concern that Professor Emeritus James Mancuso sent
to a coterie of acquaintances, of a matter that only one who has seen the
film would be aware of. It follows.
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Greetings,
Sometime ago, Richard Annotico described the process of maintaining the
negative stereotyping of Italian-Americans as "the torture of 1000 cuts."
Anyone going to see the stimulating movie THE COMPANY, directed by Robert
Altman, might be led to believe that he/she has witnessed one of those
1000 cuts.
One of the named characters in the movie -- modeled on the director of
the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago (the company featured in the film) -- bears
name of Antonelli.
The character would easily be identified as the actual director of the
Joffrey Ballet, Gerald Arpino.
Arpino is clearly an outstanding artist. He co-founded the original
Joffrey Ballet, and his work has been highly recognized all over The USA.
He received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the National Organization
of Italian-American women. He established the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago
in 1995.
Director Arpino had hoped that a famous Italian-American actor would play
the role of the director of the ballet, fictitiously named Antonelli.
Instead the actor chosen to play the role was Malcolm McDowell, a blue-eyed
British actor.
How, considering the outstanding character of Gerald Arpino, would the
script deliver one of the 1000 cuts?
About halfway through the movie, the viewers see a scene in which the character,
Antonelli, is given an award by an Italian-American organization.
As Antonelli accepts the award, he offers audiences the opportunity to
perceive Italian-American as incapable of tolerating diversity. In his
speech he says something to the effect of, "You Italians made it difficult
for me to become a ballet dancer." Antonelli went on to ask the audience
not to make it difficult for men to become ballet dancers.
Notice, "You Italians," are addressed. It is not, "Some of you Italians,"
who are addressed.
Notice, it is "You Italians," who are addressed. It is not, "You
Italian-Americans" who are addressed.
Someone should study the process by which such cuts help to establish the
grossly distorted concept of Italian-American males as incapable of tolerating
the idea that a male could dedicate this life to a career of ballet dancing.
The irony, of course, is that Mr. Arpino, along with Edward Vilella, can
easily stand as two of the greatest ballet dancers produced in the USA.
Further, the character of Antonelli might have told his audience that ballet
dancing owes a great debt to Italians -- who were the inventors of ballet
dancing in the Renaissance in the 15th century.
It would be very helpful if this kind of information were disseminated
to ease the pain of this kind of cut, the kind of cut that perpetuates
negative stereotypes of Italian-Americans.
Still Stinging.... Jim Mancuso
PS.
A dark-haired, dark-eyed Italian-American, Mr. Arpino said he found it
curious that Mr. McDowell, a pale, blue-eyed British actor, had been cast
as his alter ego. "Well, that was a strange twist, I must say," Mr. Arpino
said. "I thought he was going to...(ask me)..- who are those Italian guys?
I was thinking De Niro or Pacino. But..(No) .... (By Kristin Hohenadel
-- NY Times).
=============================================
From
RAA to Prof. Mancuso:
Did
Arpino actually make those comments in accepting that award? How Rude!
Was
it important to include in the film?
Did
that scene meet with the approval of Arpino who was a constant and vocal
presence on Mr. Altman's set?
If
Arpino wanted Italian support for male ballet dancers, why didn't
he support and lobby for Italians, De Niro, Pacino or ???. Is it
a two way street, or isn't it???
===========================================
MOVIE
REVIEW
ALTMAN
DANCES WITH THE JOFFREY
Los
Angeles Times
By
Kevin Thomas
Times
Staff Writer
December 24 2003
With his shimmering "The Company," Robert Altman draws on his mastery of effortless-looking storytelling to celebrate the transcendent glories of the ballet. Altman, whose forte is the ensemble, is an ideal choice for the endeavor, and the essence of ballet is an effect of effortlessness. Ballet is arguably the ultimate example of the art that disguises itself, for the measure of its success depends on how well it hides the grueling work that goes into its constant defiance of gravity.
On the one hand, "The Company" provides a generous glimpse of a season's enthralling offerings of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago; on the other, it is a backstage story revealing what it takes to achieve such a daunting accomplishment. Yet it is also a kind of anti-"Red Shoes" movie.
... "The Company" is not called that for nothing: What comes first is the creation of art by a group of dedicated professionals. Along the way there are individual heartaches, both personal and professional, injuries and a lot of hardship, but there is also a steadfast sense that "the company" is greater than the sum of its parts — and indeed those parts are of necessity replaceable.
The exception to this rule is the Joffrey of Chicago's artistic director, a fictional character named Alberto Antonelli made real by Malcolm McDowell...
Of course Antonelli has a strong personality and ego; he couldn't succeed without them. But what comes through uppermost are not the occasional flashes of temperament but the sense of a man both with an eye on every detail and the ability to keep the larger picture in focus.
Antonelli is tough, demanding and critical — and theatrical, to be sure — but also supportive and quick to applaud when it is deserved. He is as capable of compassion as he is in keeping an eye on the bottom line, essential in a performance art that is so costly, so financially unrewarding for its practitioners and so dependent on patronage....Antonelli allows us to come away in awe of the vision, courage and rock-solid self-confidence a ballet company artistic director must possess to prevail and endure.
Antonelli has high hopes for the young and exquisite Ry (Neve Campbell... In the course of the film, Ry meets and falls in love with Josh (James Franco), chef at a bustling, trendy Chicago restaurant. Both are hard-working and, although their schedules don't mesh as they had hoped, they don't let their romance turn into a trite love versus career hassle.
Campbell, once a student at Canada's National School of Ballet, is quite convincing on stage, especially when dancing with Domingo Rubio in a romantic pas de deux, choreographer Lar Lubovitch's "My Funny Valentine." The song itself becomes a theme for Ry and Josh's romance — and it is heard in four versions, performed by Elvis Costello, Lee Wiley, Chet Baker and the Kronos Quartet.
...(The choreograhy has a )...seamless fluidity... (and the ) score is evocative and varied as the ballets themselves.
"The Company" makes the world of ballet, seen by so many as rarefied, accessible and exciting, a rigorous art that yields breathtaking results.
calendarlive.com:
Altman dances with the Joffrey
http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/
cl-et-company24dec24,2,1853585.story?coll=cl-calendar
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The
ANNOTICO Report on June 23, 2003
GERALD ARPINO: JOFFREY BALLET: HIS LIFE IS NOT HIS NAMESAKE, &
THE BEGINNING OF BALLET
http://www.italystl.com/ra/1082.htm
http://www.italystl.com/ra/1082.htm
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Movie
Review | 'The Company': Behind Smooth Footwork, Some Abrasive Gossip
http://movies2.nytimes.com/2003/12/25/
movies/25COMP.html
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Robert
Altman Gets Ballet Right ( By Anna Kisselgoff)
http://ps.interpolls.com/cache/wb/
lastsamurai/nytimes.html
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9/7
NY Times - Robert Altman + Neve Campbell for The Company
By
Kristin Hohenadel -- NY Times
http://www.geocities.com/malcolmtribute/
Interviews/nytimescompany.html
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Info
on Robert Joffrey
The
Estate Project
http://www.artistswithaids.org/artforms/
dance/catalogue/joffrey.html
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Info
on Gerald Arpino
The
Estate Project
http://www.artistswithaids.org/artforms/
dance/catalogue/arpino.html