NYCB: Abraham's Love Letter (On Shuffle) is another huge hit

In 2018, Kyle Abraham’s The Runaway was the runaway hit of the season (pun intended). Its centerpiece was several solos for Taylor Stanley. Those solos were so expressive and beautiful that that it wowed even the conservative portion of the audience that disliked Abraham’s use of hip hop music and Giles Deacon’s somewhat eccentric costumes.

In fall 2022, Abraham returned to stage another ballet. Love Letter (On Shuffle) has a lot in common with The Runaway. He again used Giles Deacon as costume designer and set the ballet to pop music (this time a compilation of James Blake songs). Curtain rises and Taylor Stanley again is dancing a solo meant to show off his astonishing flexibility, control in adagio moves and fluid upper body.

Yet Love Letter (On Shuffle) is a more melancholy, romantic work. The Runaway had a lot of insouciant humor. Love Letter (On Shuffle) has a clear storyline: a lonely man is on a quest to find love. At the end of the ballet, he does. A long duet with Jules Mabie (it was danced by Harrison Ball in the fall), set to James Blake’s haunting “Atmosphere” ends the ballet. As Blake sings “Don’t walk away,” they walk off hand in hand. Love wins.

Contemporary ballet often shies away from unabashed romance. Abraham instead leans into the love story. The ballet is like a Baz Luhrmann film with its mix of colorful costumes, use of pop music, and enormous heart. And I don’t have to tell you that Taylor Stanley is amazing in the central role. It is not just his technique, but a certain soulfulness. You believe in his journey.

Not all Abraham’s ideas work. There is a rather cringe duet for Peter Walker and Christopher Grant in which they prance around with Native American head-dresses. But this is clearly the work of a first-rate mind. Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia are given a spiky, flashy number set to electronica. Peck finishes her solo with her trademark fast pique turns. There is a delightful parody of the Swan Lake cygnets choreography. Love Letter (on Shuffle) has to be my favorite recent new ballet. I think I might like it even more than The Runaway.

I cannot say the same about Gianna Reisen’s Play Time. Set to a jazzy, episodic score by Solange Knowles, the ballet meanders to its conclusion while making no impression. There is no discernable structure. The choreography is filler at its most uninspired. Not even fun filler, just generic, random filler.

Alejandro Gómez Palomo’s costumes are among the worst I’ve ever seen. They are these sparkly, day-glow 80s’ style power suits, complete with huge shoulder pads. They completely obscure any sense of line from the dancers. Compare them to Giles Deacon’s designs for Love Letter. Deacon’s designs follow the traditional ballet silhouettes. Gómez Palomo’s costumes drown the dancers in sparkly, Vegas-revue style fabric.

The evening started with Justin Peck’s Partita. I’ve now seen this ballet several times and like it more every time. It’s a sneaker ballet, but without the pulsating energy and sweep of Times Are Racing. Instead, Roomful of Teeth’s a cappella rendition of Carolyn Shaw’s Partita for 8 Voices inspires Peck to create two of his best pas de deux. The duet between two females (in this performance, India Bradley and Naomi Corti) is quiet and contemplative. The two women mirror each other’s movements. It was followed by a fast, jittery duet for two males (Peter Walker and Victor Abreu). Both Walker and Abreu were wonderful. The ending was memorable. A cacophony of voices, grunts, moans, crescendos in the music. The dancers fall into the wings.

In a program of three new(ish) works, two bear repeated viewing. That is a good batting average and an encouraging sign of New York City Ballet’s leadership’s tastes.