Mikhail Baryshnikov steps inside the splintered psyche of Vaslav Nijinsky in director Robert Wilson’s staging of the iconic Russian dancer’s diaries recording his schizophrenia. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #LettertoaMan.
Program Notes
A Man of Letters (BAM blog)
"...the show is really about words: 'a strange parallel story about the voice of this person.'"
Article
Mikhail Baryshnikov: why I finally agreed to play Nijinsky (The Guardian)
Baryshnikov on acting, aging, and finally agreeing to play the most mythic dancer of all time.
Article
Dancer, deviant, madman, God: plumbing Nijinsky’s psychosis after the publication of his unedited diaries.
Article
Waiting for Bob: In which Robert Wilson has a busy day (ARTnews)
A day in the life of Robert Wilson (with surprise cameos by Tilda Swinton and Jim Jarmusch).
Watch & Listen
Robert Wilson: Moving on stage (Vimeo)
A vintage, low-res, thumbnail-sized Wilson muses on what it takes to move on stage.
Now your turn...
Magnificent! Baryshnikov perfectly embodied in all his senews the psychosis of Najinsky. Captivating, compelling and fiercely tangible. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteWhat great theatre! I love BAM for bringing this kind of theatre experience to NYC.
ReplyDeleteI have seen much of Wilson's work. This piece is among my favorites.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful play. Baryshnikov is great actor: his face, his movements are unbelievable
ReplyDeleteIt was one of the most incredible performances I have ever seen and Mikhail Baryshnikov was amazing. I look forward to seeing it again. BRAVO Misha
ReplyDeleteThere is no one better in the entire
ReplyDeleteworld to play Nijinsky, and to express his Slavic
soul--his unique, individual soul,
I should say. The presentation was mesmerizing,
sad, and artful.
Excellent performance! Like a delicious meal, this experience lasts long after the curtain has comes down. Did not see him back in the day, however, I imagine people must have felt the same way. Really a beautiful piece of work. Thank you, Mr. Baryshnikov.
ReplyDeleteALL of the above comments on Baryshnikov's performance couldn't be more accurate. Will see again.
ReplyDeleteAn amazingly unique experience. Bizarre and both off putting and absorbing at the same time. Baryshnikov is a consummate artist in everything he has ever done and this is no exception. Suspend expectations and dive into the disjointed mind of a disturbed artist to fully experience the evening.
ReplyDeleteBaryshnikov is masterful. His movements are spectacularly fluid, and he is the new King of Mime. Beautiful performance. Kudos to the lighting, staging, and set teams for brilliant work.
ReplyDeleteWhat Wilson and Baryshnikov and the dramaturg and designers created is a beautiful, emotional, crazily realized fun house of the mind, via Nijinsky's texts. Brilliant. I'd see it again in a shot. Kudos to the entire team. Does anyone have the playlist?
ReplyDeleteMikhail Baryshnikov and Robert Wilson demonstrate their extraordinary talent in 'Letter to a Man,' but like the music, which was entertaining, it all did not add up to a deeply satisfying depiction of Nijinsky in this disjointed production.
ReplyDeleteMagnificent. Wilson at its most basic. The reading compilation presented here by BAM is essential, especially "Secrets of Nijinsky" article.
ReplyDeleteI just don't understand why Baryshnikov or any other native Russian speaker couldn't review the supertitles for accuracy. There were a few gross mistakes in them, like I vs. You and positive vs. negative.
Baryshnikov was magnificent! As someone has commented here, Baryshnikov is a consummate artist. It was fascinating to see different facets of his artistry: how he uses his voice, how the voice speaking Russian is different than when he speaks English. The quality of his movement, his timing, phrasing, his face, his expressive hands--you can't really separate these aspects. The performance is a brilliant evocation of a tortured soul. I was fortunate to have seen Baryshnikov dance several times in the 1970s and 80s. This production was unique and unforgettable.
ReplyDeleteLoved it. Feel lucky to have seen it.
ReplyDeleteA jarring buzz. The sound of a whip cracking? There are voices all around me. I am not sure where they are coming from. The voices repeat themselves exhaustively. Sometimes in Russian. Lights flash on, then abruptly off. Random snatches of music enter my awareness. A man moves like a dream - glacially. Did I imagine it? Suddenly I am reliving a childhood moment. I am on the floor, in the dark, with my family. We are in pajamas, snuggled with blankets and pillows, listening to the Dr. Demento radio broadcast. "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" is blaring. Crazy, we think! This is insanity! A jarring buzz. The sound of a whip cracking? Lights flash on. The voices are speaking all around me. I don't understand them. The has man moved on the stage -- but he couldn't have. He is barely moving. Am I losing my mind? No, thank goodness — just a brilliant Robert Wilson production — but I now have a taste of what it might be like to lose my grip on reality. What a fabulously relentless performance by Baryshnikov.
ReplyDeleteTrue, @CurlyV. Fortunate to know these resonances which - unfortunately - Mr. Isherwood does not. Joan Acocella's New Yorker article from last June is far more in step with this dancer.
DeleteThank you for mentioning the New Yorker article, @MaryTepper. I just read it, and I completely agree.
DeleteI agree, CurlyV and Ms Tepper: Mr Isherwood just didn't get it! Why does he question things like "Why does Baryshnikov dance with a chair?" His mind is not open and he seems not to know intuitively what's going on. Letter to a Man is a must see for those who are interested in art, Baryshnikov, Nijinsky, expressive theater, movement, sound, having an experience. Baryshnikov is superb.
DeleteI agree with the many sensitive and articulate comments. Baryshnikovs stylized, poignant performance was chsplinesque. A bit less repetition perhaps, more afternoon of faun movement and music perhaps
DeleteI agree with the many sensitive and articulate comments. Baryshnikovs stylized, poignant performance was chsplinesque. A bit less repetition perhaps, more afternoon of faun movement and music perhaps
DeleteThis was pretty terrible. Honestly - the only reason to go is to say that you've seen Baryshnikov once, although it was a disappointing show. This reminds me of how Tim Burton and Johnny Depp collaborations have turned sour - essentially, people of great talent who don't need to prove anything to anyone - don't. They simply rely on their big names that they know will draw a crowd so they can do whatever they have in their head. Quite a few people in the audience seemed to feel the same way - someone else saying, 'This was the biggest pompous piece of shit I've ever seen.' I agreed with him. I looked closely at the audience, most of whom seemed sleepy or checking their watches. However, at curtain call, people dutifully (on the first floor) got on their feet for a standing ovation. Because they saw Baryshnikov, and deserves one. He does - but not for this production or performance. Meh.
ReplyDeleteAgree. "They're Coming To Take Me Away. Ha Ha." Really? Grab bag of random bits from the diary. But clearly a lot of people really connected with it. Glad for them. I was mostly bored.
DeleteMy true question is - 'Did they really pay all the musicians for the music of theirs they used? Because that was half of the show.' Also, such LAZY curation of the music. So disappointing.
DeleteHonestly agree 100%. I tried so hard to like this obtuse piece, but I feel exactly like @MsSabrinaChap.
DeleteThank you Robert Wilson, Mikhail Baryshnikov and all those who worked on this very powerful, moving work.
ReplyDeleteI did not like the show. It seams to me that Mr. Wilson redirect the theme on himself instead of intelligently giving a new light to
ReplyDeleteNijinsky. Wilson's in other venues attractive style, is here decontualized.
More, the choice of text repeatition did not appeal to me at all. It was a continuous hammering into the void. A pretty grim rendition of Nijinsky, I have to say.
The dance vocabulary of Mikhail Baryshnikov was another disappointment to my view despite the refine quality of his movements.
When you pay $140.00 for the show and sleep thru half of it that's pretty bad.
ReplyDeleteThe show to my opinion was boring and not interesting. I regret the time I wasted.
Challenging yet ultimately rewarding. Not something to see if you are looking for linear, narrative drama, but if you are open to something more impressionistic, I think you can get a lot out of this piece. In character, Baryshnikov moves like a marionette with broken strings, which seems appropriate for how Nijinski acted after Diaghilev cut him loose.
ReplyDeleteReally good on paper. Really really boring in real life.
ReplyDeleteUnless you are a pretentious spectator.
Very much agree!
DeleteVery moving…for 2 days I have thought of Nijinsky & so many others like him who spent years imprisoned by mental illness.
ReplyDeleteAt times the form of the production tended to overwhelm the content, but Mr. Baryshnikov’s exquisite emotional rendering along with the beauty of the Russian language ultimately triumphed.
What more can be said of Baryshnikov that has not been said thousands of times before? I have had the pleasure of lecturing about his life and career. It is a joy to see young & old continue to delight in his artistry.