Themes and Variations

The Party The L.A. Philharmonic’s famously exuberant music director Gustavo Dudamel marked his fourth gala with yet another union of the arts, filling the stage at Walt Disney Concert Hall with eye-catching movement. The Players Eli and Edythe Broad, Mary Hart, Deborah Borda, Sherry Lansing, Matthew Lillard, Anne Jeffreys, Julie Andrews, John Williams, Michael Eisner The Scene Body Traffic, an L.A.-based dance company, performed new choreography by Barak Marshall as the orchestra played John Adams’ “The Chairman Dances,” then American Ballet Theatre principal dancers Veronika Part and Roberto Bolle donned white tights for Swan Lake selections. Josh Rhodes’ choreography set to Leonard Bernstein’s On the Town rounded out the program (Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra made the original footwork famous in the 1949 movie version featuring sailors on leave in Manhattan). The Quote “Let’s play! I can’t dance, but you can enjoy,” said Dudamel before signaling the orchestra to begin the first notes of Adams’ “The Chairman Dances.” Photography by Mathew Imaging