'Woolf Works:' A masterpiece for the ages

Hee Seo starred in American Ballet's Theatre's production Wayne McGregor's "Woolf Works," with music by Max Richter, on Saturday afternoon at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. (Photo by Marty Sohl)

British choreographer Wayne McGregor has shattered what is seemingly fixed — time, gender and death – in what could be a ballet for the ages in his ode to Virginia Woolf.
 
“Woolf Works,” which originated with the Royal Ballet, just finished up its run at American Ballet Theatre, crashing its audience on rocks of poignant regret, transformation and ultimately demise. It’s an abstract, modern-day “Swan Lake” with no clear story line, but with a soul that is just as fantastic.
 
McGregor, with composer Max Richter, created an evening-length triptych based on three Woolf novels: “Mrs. Dalloway,” “Orlando” and “The Waves.” At first viewing on Saturday afternoon, the three vignettes stand strongly on their own. But after further reflection, one glided along on the thread of Woolf’s and McGregor’s thinking — one in which past haunted our futures, one in which social mores can crush tendencies and ultimate spirits. And the whole thing was told by taking down the wall of linear narration.
 
The curtain rose to “I now, I then” from “Mrs. Dalloway” in which Hee Seo played Clarissa, a woman torn between her husband Richard, danced by Cory Stearns, and Peter, danced by Aran Bell. Her mind played between two representing a proper life and one of bliss – and her ultimate sobering choice being staid respectability.
 
That paralleled the story of the traumatized World War I veteran Septimus, danced with heightened honesty by Calvin Royal III. He flashed back to the war, and the loss of his comrade-in-arms Evans, danced by Patrick Frenette. The memory was so persistent that he chooses to jump to his death – a move in the ballet that caught the audience’s breath.
 
The stage design by Cigue was simple, beautiful and effective. Three giant rotating squares served as doors and windows for the memories to emerge from their shadows.
 
However, the second act’s stage design for “Becoming” from Woolf’s “Orlando” was configured solely by lighting and lasers that astounded. Designed by We Not I, the lights and lasers constructed a world where the past raced ahead to a time where firm gender lines melted and morphed into a heart-pounding stew.
 
Here, the cast of star dancers including Isabella Boylston, Skylar Brandt and Royal exploded into a swirling, electric and contemporary proclamation of bodily freedom. This section was so dynamic that it appeared as a finale and an impossibility for the dancers to return for a third act. But indeed they did, this time for the somber ending, noting Woolf’s suicide by drowning.
 
“Tuesday,” based on “The Waves,” began with narrator Gillian Anderson reading a letter written by Woolf telling a loved one her madness is back, she is hearing voices, she can’t concentrate and is no longer able to work, writing, “I can’t fight any longer.”
 
Here, Seo returned as Woolf reaching for sanity and the sea. Projected above the stage was video of a slow-moving wave that builds as children played on the sand and creatures from the water’s depth engulfed Seo into their fluid depths.
 
Seo was ideal for this role – fragile but willful, thus strong and beautiful.
 
Driving it all is the amazing score by minimalist composer Richter, telling McGregor’s tales with skill and drama.
 
One final note: It's not necessary to know Woolf’s writing to be swept away by “Woolf Works.” McGregor and Richter have created a masterpiece that will live on in the imaginations with or without the inspired narration. And that is perhaps the point.
 
Regardless, rumor has it that “Woolf Works” will be repeated in successive season. I hope that is true.