Through Sunday at the Wortham

World premiere of inventive Tapestry highlights Houston Ballet's "Rock, Roll &Tutus"

Nozomi Iijima in "Divergence," choreographed by Stanton Welch
Photo by Amtiava Sarkar
The world premiere of "Tapestry," with Karina Gonzalez, Ian Casady and ConnorWalsh and choreographed by Stanton Welch
Photo by Amtiava Sarkar
A scene from "Rooster," choreographed by Christopher Bruce, with ChristopherCoomer and Katelyn May
Photo by Amtiava Sarkar

If any company can rock a goofy strut and some tutus made of air conditioning filters it’s Houston Ballet. They proved it at the opening of "Rock, Roll & Tutus" last week.

The program, which includes the world premiere of artistic director Stanton Welch's Tapestry plus two ballets previously performed (Rooster and Divergence), continues with three performances Friday through Sunday.

Marquee aside, Welch planned for Tapestry to be the antithesis of rock and roll as he set it to Mozart‘s Violin Concerto No. 5. While it showcases the rock star qualities of violinist, Denise Tarrant, the only thing "in your face" about this ballet is the talent of the company.

To the delight of the audience, Karina Gonzalez is tossed between Connor Walsh and Ian Cassidy like a wisp of smoke — particularly sweet-scented smoke.

Daring, inventive and occasionally just plain jaw-dropping partnering punctuates the entire first section during which dancers appear in a muted tangerine and blue. To the delight of the audience, Karina Gonzalez is tossed between Connor Walsh and Ian Cassidy like a wisp of smoke — particularly sweet-scented smoke.

In fact viewers, who unlike this reviewer were capable of smell during Houston’s allergy season, wondered aloud if incense was purposefully wafting through the orchestra section during Tapestry.

On this point I can’t be sure, but it is romance that seems to fill the air as members of the second, more verdantly dressed ensemble drift in and out of one another’s arms.

This gives way to a group of some of the company’s powerhouse movers. It’s not exaggeration that I took a few moments to mentally recover from Melissa Hough’s whiplash chaîné turns.

Houston Ballet’s recently promoted principal, Joseph Walsh, bookends this ballet and, as if restating his value to the company, on this night was featured in all three of the evening’s offerings. If I dared to call a dancer flawless, I might bestow Walsh for his remarkable and utterly adaptable technique.

Throughout Tapestry, dancers disappear through a visually striking but mostly underutilized backdrop of taut, hanging ropes like thread through a loom. Welch has played on the strengths of his versatile dancers and woven something that, devoid of pretentiousness, feels fresh and exciting.

Rockin' with Rooster

The evening’s rock-inspired Rooster by Christopher Bruce features 10 dancers, led by a commanding Ian Cassady in a blazing pink button-down, literally strut and preen to Rolling Stones tunes like “Lady Jane,” “Ruby Tuesday,” “Paint it Black” and “Sympathy for the Devil.”

The Rooster dancers don’t exactly have moves like Jagger but they certainly roll through this ballet with his confidence and cheek.

Though more than 20 years old, the ballet has aged almost as well as its music. It maintains a universal sense of good fun.

Melissa Hough proves versatile and uncharacteristically mellow as Ruby of Tuesday fame and I enjoyed watching the coy and expressive Katelyn May (and her bobbing blonde ponytail) during some of the work’s physically humorous moments. The Rooster dancers don’t exactly have moves like Jagger but they certainly roll through this ballet with his confidence and cheek.

Divergence: Aging but not yet grayed

Despite its off-kilter, yet occasionally plodding Bizet score, the ballet with the most rock and roll attitude on this program is Welch’s aging but not yet grayed, Divergence. It’s the ballet that put him on the international map as a choreographer and, yes, it’s the one with industrial strength tutus that must be as fun to clown around with during rehearsals as they look.

Perhaps it’s all the leather and mesh but there’s definitely a peep show vibe as a bar of vibrant hues shifts in mood and size to enclose the dancing in a horizontal window of shadow and light.

Divergence is bawdy, suggestive, and a bit bizarre, and if that alone doesn’t entice, its nine movements actually leave you wanting. Now, if that’s not rock and roll, I don’t know what is.

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Movie Review

Cillian Murphy examines Ireland’s past in Small Things Like These

Photo by Enda Bowe/Lionsgate

Cillian Murphy in Small Things Like These.

Last we saw actor Cillian Murphy, he was starring in the titular role of Oppenheimer, a role that would go on to earn him a Best Actor Oscar, not to mention many awards for the film itself. Instead of a big, flashy follow-up to build on that momentum, Murphy has gone in the opposite direction with the small and personal Small Things Like These.

Set in the 1980s in Murphy’s native Ireland, the film centers on Bill (Murphy), who owns a coal delivery company. One of his clients is the local convent, and during a delivery he witnesses a young pregnant woman being forced into the convent against her will by her mother. The scene triggers memories from his own childhood when he was raised by a single mother.

Every subsequent delivery to the convent has him questioning his own morality, although his taciturn nature doesn’t allow him to share his misgivings with his wife, Eileen (Eileen Walsh). With the Catholic Church an all-encompassing entity in Ireland, even if Bill wanted to help the girls who are trapped and mistreated at the convent, he’s not sure of any way to go about it.

Directed by Tim Mielants and written by Enda Walsh, the film has a slow build to it, so slow that it is a little difficult to ascertain the point of the story. The filmmakers go back and forth between scenes showing Bill as an adult and Bill as a child, and even though they each contain elements of trauma for the characters, the connection between the two timelines is not as strong as they might want it to be.

Even when it’s not part of a scene, the power of the church is the driving force of the film. Bill is clearly having a crisis of faith given his history and what he sees, but his wife seems to be willfully ignorant of any faults of the church and remains a true believer. The few segments that take the audience inside the convent are full of unforgiving nuns, with Sister Mary (Emily Watson) as their ultra-stern leader.

Given that this is an Irish film featuring all Irish actors, heavy accents accompany the majority of the dialogue, making it difficult to understand at times. While it helps with the verisimilitude of the story, anyone who doesn’t have a lot of experience with the Irish accent may find themselves a little lost and/or disengaged with the emotions of the story.

Murphy’s role in Oppenheimer and this one don’t share much in common save for the fact that he clearly put his whole self into each of them. This is a testament to Murphy’s skills and dedication that he cares as much about an inherently local story as he did about a world-changing one. Walsh and Watson are also great as two women who have a huge influence on Bill’s outlook on life.

Small Things Like These, based on the book by Claire Keegan, is not as huge a takedown of the Catholic Church as some other films, but it’s still a searing indictment of its arcane practices. It’s one made even more effective by using a smaller story of one man’s lonely fight against injustice.

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Small Things Like These opens in theaters on November 8.

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