Edges of Ailey: A Personal Reflection on Legacy and Movement

Alvin Ailey, circa 1960. (Photo: John Lindquist/Whitney Museum of American Art)

In mid-November, unaware of the poignant irony that would soon unfold, I found myself wandering through the vibrant halls of the Whitney Museum of American Art, eyes scanning the Edges of Ailey exhibition for glimpses of Judith Jamison. The legendary dancer, who led the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater as artistic director after its founder’s death from AIDS-related complications in 1989, had been my original dance idol and a beacon of inspiration throughout my life. As a teenager with dreams of dance, I had her majestic image from Ailey’s Cry pinned to my fridge, praying daily to channel even a fraction of her grace and power. Now, I searched for her influence, her indelible mark on the company, hoping to reconnect with that youthful adoration.

Toil and Trouble: Wicked, Part I

Bowen Yang, Ariana Grande, and Bronwyn James in Wicked, Part I

Unbelievably, I have seen the stage musical Wicked three times. I saw the pre-Broadway tryout in San Francisco, with Idina Menzel, Kristen Chenoweth, a young Norbert Leo Butz, and Robert Morse (replaced by Joel Grey on Broadway). At more than three hours, it was bloated and unfocused, but I liked two of composer Stephen Schwartz’s songs, “Popular,” which does everything a musical comedy song should do, and the pretty and affecting “I’m Not That Girl.” And Chenoweth was hilarious. (I didn’t much care for Menzel; of course she won the Tony.) I saw it again several years later on tour in SF, when I took a friend’s daughter to see it for her birthday. Dramaturgically (we’ll get into more about dramaturgy later), it was fascinating to see how they had tightened the show up and how solid its construction now was. It still didn’t make it a great show, but there are any number of far worse musicals out there that have become hits, The Outsiders among the latest. The third time a friend, the talented Jason Graae, played the Wizard, charmingly.