{"id":1507,"date":"2015-10-22T21:56:15","date_gmt":"2015-10-22T21:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blog.rosielangabeer.com\/?page_id=1507"},"modified":"2026-01-19T23:43:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T23:43:02","slug":"reviews","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.blog.rosielangabeer.com\/?page_id=1507","title":{"rendered":"REVIEWS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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“A New Work Alive With Suspense and Surrealism<\/span>\u201d
New York Times, 2018<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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\u201c\u2026(Penny Saunders) has found an ideal composer in\u00a0Rosie Langabeer<\/a>\u00a0whose original music for this work \u2014 Ms. Langabeer also sings and performs, with two other musicians \u2014 casts one spell after another.<\/span>\u201d
New York Times, 2018<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Her energy is entirely infectious and she emanates pure joy while indulging her creativity on stage.<\/span>..I leave with a sense that I\u2019ve spent the night in the company of good friends, despite having arrived alone.<\/span>\u201d
Ester Du Fresne, The Hook, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Adored by her audience, Rosie Langabeer is a force to be reckoned with, funny, fierce and fearless.<\/span>\u201d
Rosheen Fitzgerald, Hawke\u2019s Bay Arts Festival, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Ms. Langabeer\u2019s contribution is crucial to the work\u2019s evocation of period, place and dream.”
New York Times, 2015<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

” \u2026<\/em>a suspended,\u00a0surreal condition.\u201d<\/span>
New York Times, 2015<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026the best drunk ballet I\u2019ve ever seen\u2026\u201d
Dance Tabs, Philadelphia, 2015<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe show is buoyed along by a manic undercurrent even in its sharpest, most exquisitely clear-eyed moments, of which there are many. Like composer Rosie Langabeer\u2019s music, its highs spin wildly and its lows are mournful and bottomless.\u201d
New York Theater Review, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201c\u2026the whole production is pretty dazzling. The musicians \u2014 trombone, violin, accordion, tuba and more are in the instrument mix \u2014 play the audience into the theater and set a festive tone that somehow also bends time.”
Neil Genzlinger, New York Times, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rock-A-Bye <\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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A New Work Alive With Suspense and Surrealism<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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New York Times review: BalletX, choreographed by Penny Saunders, music by Rosie Langabeer, Tara Middleton and Gregg Mervine, reviewed By Alastair Macaulay <\/a><\/span>July 13, 2018<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n

PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Five years ago, very few female choreographers were getting work in ballet. That\u2019s been changing. Just see the closing sentence of BalletX\u2019s program note <\/a>for Penny Saunders, choreographer-in-residence at Grand Rapids Ballet<\/a>: \u201cIn the 2017-18 season, Saunders is excited to be collaborating with Cincinnati Ballet, BalletX, Missouri Contemporary Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet, SFDanceworks, and Tulsa Ballet 2, as well as making her first full-length for Grand Rapids Ballet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This would not matter if Ms. Saunders were a clich\u00e9 maker. But her \u201cRock-a-Bye,\u201d one of three world premieres on the BalletX\u2019s Summer Series program, suggests that she is a remarkably fresh mind, with talents for suspense and surrealism. In this, she has found an ideal composer in Rosie Langabeer<\/a> whose original music for this work \u2014 Ms. Langabeer also sings and performs, with two other musicians \u2014 casts one spell after another.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stage world here keeps changing, as do the dramas within it. The music alters too. Some sound is taped (you hear crickets in one passage), but the live musicians often change instruments. Above all, Ms. Langabeer and Tara Middleton sing (sometimes a cappella), combining lyricism and rhythm in ways that make each vocal line eventful.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As \u201cRock-a-Bye\u201d begins, one woman dances alone before a red curtain, behind which emerge nine pairs of hands, with their own choreography \u2014 rhythmic, even orchestral. Then that curtain rises, revealing musicians and dancers in what might be a studio apartment. People sit, stand, walk: The stage area often looks like a play. Lighting, by Michael Korsch, continually transforms the space.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Twelfth Night Or What You Will<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

 \u201c\u2026the whole production is pretty dazzling. <\/em>The musicians \u2014 trombone, violin, accordion, tuba and more are in the instrument mix \u2014 play the audience into the theater and set a festive tone that somehow also bends time.<\/span>“<\/p>\nNeil Genzlinger, New York Times, 2012<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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