DATELINE NEW YORK: The play's the thing! (03/25/01)

DATELINE NEW YORK: The play's the thing!

by Helen Smindak

Lydia Krushelnytsky's drama studio has done it again! The troupe that keeps bringing us entertaining dramas in diverting ways staged the premiere of Bohdan Boychuk's new philosophical work "Piat Kartyn Dvotysiachnoho Roku" (Five Scenes of the Year 2000) at Pace Downtown Theater earlier this month. Play-goers, and even those who did not have the pleasure of seeing the performance, presented in Ukrainian, are still talking about the intriguing piece.

Silhouetted against five tall archways that formed the backdrop for five ongoing scenes, the actors of the Ukrainian Stage Ensemble moved with dignity and poise through the dramatic montage, interpreting the different states of man's being in poetic and philosophical terms.

Minimalistic choreography and stage design, a hallmark of Mrs. Krushelnytsky's productions, emphasized the introspective nature of the dialogue - the state of birth and early discovery of the world, the joys and agonies of love, metaphysical introspection, human relationships, the turning to God, and finally, prayers and enlightenment. The drama was heightened with changing illumination and taped excerpts from Myroslav Skoryk's compositions - the unforgettable score for "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" and "Carpathian Concerto."

Volodymyr Kurylo and Nadia Dyba-Podoliak were admirable narrators who carried the montage from one scene to the next. Other actors who stood out in the cast of 20 white-clad thespians were Ivan Bernatsky, a professional stage and screen actor from Ukraine, Stefa Nazarkewycz, a Ukrainian American actress who has appeared in Off-Broadway productions, Olenka Lysetsky, Ivan Makar, Melasia Sonevytsky and Liza Sonna.

The contemporary choreography, which at times had the actors seated or lying on the floor and at others moving in fluid circle dances or walking together in step formation, was conceived by Katja Kolcio. Stage design and costumes were by Maria Shust, and lighting by Andrey Hankevych. Christina Karatnytska, Dzvinka Dobriansky, Oleh Hrabovsky and Lesyk Hewryk assisted with the production.

Working with young actors as an educator and play director since 1966, Mrs. Krushelnytsky has directed children's plays, dramatizations of poems by Lesia Ukrainka, Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko and Lina Kostenko, and such rarely performed plays as Volodymyr Vynnytsky's "Chorna Pantera i Bilyi Vedmid" (Black Panther and White Bear) and Eugene Scribe's "Le Verre d'Eau." A 1939 graduate of the Lviv Conservatory, she appeared in several operas in Lviv and Stanyslaviv, and after the war performed with the Muza performing arts group in Austria. She joined the Theater-Studio of Joseph Hirniak and Olympia Dobrovolska in New York in 1949 and appeared in many of its productions.

Ukrainian actress on HBO

Oksana Babiy, who studied to be an economist in Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine and came to New York at age 20, was associated with the Yara Arts Group, managed an espresso bar, worked for the subscription department of Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly, then turned to print and runway modeling. Beginning with modeling for small catalogues, she soon progressed to prints in "Paper" and "Bride" magazines and runway work for name designers during Fashion Week in Bryant Park. Now, in her mid-20s, she's appearing in the HBO hit "The Sopranos" as Tony Soprano's Russian mistress, Irina.

Interviewed on HBO prior to the third-season premiere of "The Sopranos" on March 5, Ms. Babiy was asked if she was Russian. "No, I am Ukrainian," she told the reporter, an answer which reached 11.3 million viewers, the largest audience that has ever seen any HBO show. The show is reported to have surpassed most series on the broadcast networks despite being available in only a third as many homes.

The svelte, sultry-eyed actress, whose Slavic features undoubtedly helped in winning her the "Sopranos" role, has made several appearances on the series since 1998. In addition to "The Sopranos," the drama that carried off the Best Series Award in the 2000 Golden Globe Awards, she has appeared on two NBC shows - "Deadline" and "Law and Order" - and a CBS production "Late Line," and has earned credit for performances in two modest movies.

Fluent in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish, she has portrayed characters of Slavic heritage in such Off-Broadway productions as Turgenev's "Month in the Country," Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard" and Sidney Kingsley's "Darkness At Noon."

Before coming to New York, Ms. Babiy spent a year of study at the Ivan Karpenko Institute for the Theatrical Arts in Kyiv. Since then she has studied at the Michael Howard Studios in New York and is presently attending acting classes at the Wynn Handman Studio. Will Hollywood knock at her door some day?

Television tidbits

Alex Trebek, host of the popular game show "Jeopardy!" is among the nominees for the Daytime Emmy's Game Show Host of 2000. The awards will be given out by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on May 18 in a ceremony at Radio City Music Hall televised by NBC.
Making a special appearance on the CBS show "Becker," famed football coach Mike Ditka told Becker off for beefing about a sports headline which said a multi-million-dollar contract was given to a football player.
Hollywood actor George Dzundza was recently seen as a schoolteacher in the ABC production "Dangerous Minds."
The 1993 Jack Palance movie "Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow," in which a corporation makes a walking bomb to destroy a competitor, was shown March 11 on WOR-TV. Mr. Palance, who turned 81 on February 18, told Valley Press staff writer Lavender Kemble of Reading, Pa., last month that journalism and writing, not acting, were his "initial pursuit." He has three books coming out soon, including a novel, a work in diary form and another similar to his first book of blank verse musings, "The Forest of Love," published in 1996.

Around town

Soprano Lidia Bychkova, leading soloist of the Shevchenko National Opera of Ukraine, brought her expressive, powerful voice to an audience at the Ukrainian Institute of America last month. With renowned pianist Volodymyr Vynnytsky as her accompanist, Ms. Bychkova interpreted operatic works by Strauss, Handel, Puccini, Verdi and other composers. Her program also included a number of art songs - Richard Strauss's "Zueignung" (Devotion), Ihor Sonevytsky's "Our Father," Scarlatti's "Arietta" - and such special favorites of Ukrainian audiences as "Odarka's Song" and "Oksana's Romance" from Hulak-Artemovsky's "Kozak Beyond the Danube" and "Natalka's Song" from Lysenko's "Natalka Poltavka." The concert was sponsored by the Ukainian Academy of Arts and Sciences as part of its 50th anniversary celebration. Ms. Bychkova, who has a repertoire of over 25 roles, made her U.S. debut in Orlando, Fla., in 1993 with Verdi's "Requiem" and in New York in 1996 at Riverside Church as a guest soloist with the Kyiv Symphonic Choir and Orchestra, both times under the direction of Roger McMurrin. She has toured extensively in Europe and has performed in numerous festivals.

Two works by world-renowned artist Alexander Archipenko, one of the first 20th century sculptors to penetrate solid form with space, are included in the Guggenheim Museum's current exhibition "The Global Guggenheim: Selections From the Extended Collection," which runs until April 22. They are "Medrano II" (1913-1914), in painted tin, wood, glass and painted oilcloth, and "Carrousel Pierrot" (1913), a painted plaster work.

The word is out: Oksana Baiul is not in the John Hancock Champions on Ice tour this summer. Although Ms. Baiul is not appearing (show sponsors have given no explanation), Viktor Petrenko is still with the show, as is the amazing Ukrainian acrobatic team of Vladimir Besedin and Alexei Polishchuk. The tour is not scheduled to stop at Madison Square Garden, so New York area residents who wish to see Ukrainian champion ice skaters in action will have to try for the April 7 show at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., or the April 12 performance at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.

The Robert De Niro-Edward Burns thriller "15 Minutes," which presents Vera Farmiga in a starring role, has been soundly panned by film critics in print and on TV. It's been called "overwrought and hypocritical" by some and "morbid" by others. But reviewers appeared to agree that it is fleet-footed entertainment that "has crowd-stopping impact." One reviewer, who conceded that the film succeeds as "a cop procedural riffing off the standard veteran/rookie dynamic," said the movie finds interesting ways to photograph New York. Grossing 10.5 million in its first weekend, "15 Minutes" came in second to "The Mexican," released a few weeks earlier.

In "The Passion Acccording to G.H.," playing at the Access Theatre at 380 Broadway until April 14, Tannis Kowalchuk of North American Cultural Laboratory portrays G.H., a woman whose normally uneventful life is turned upside down by the discovery of an enormous cockroach in her home. Using humor, vigorous physicality and theatrical surprises, Ms. Kowalchuk sings, dances and carries the audience along on her delightful and mysterious mutation.

A permanent exhibition of enchanting still lifes and landscapes by New York artist Olga Maryschuk can be viewed on the website www.paintingsdirect.com. Ms. Maryschuk, a BFA graduate of the Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture, also studied at Pratt Graphic Center, New York Studio School and the Kyiv State Art Institute.

"Helix," an academic solo work by American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Robert Hill set to music by Dmitry Polischuk, was performed during the recent "Millennium International Ballet Gala, Stars of the 21st Century," presented at the New York State Theater. Mr. Polischuk, who came to the United States from Vinnytsia, Ukraine, in 1991, has collaborated with Mr. Hill on other works, including ABT's "Baroque Game" and "Post No Scriptum."

Lviv-born Marjana Sadovska, who has spent the last 10 summers traveling through the Polissia, Poltava, Hutsul and Lemko regions of Ukraine collecting folk songs and stories and documenting rituals, gave a performance at Exit Art on March 2 that won approval from The New York Times writer Ben Ratliff. The reviewer felt the performance was "rushed and nearly reckless but oddly perfect." He wrote: "The songs, all about the rituals and psychology of a remote, rural life, had strong melodies, only occasionally in minor keys; she used whipping trills in her voice." Mr. Ratliff noted: "Some moments in the performance recalled white gospel music from Appalachia. At other times Ms. Sadovska's delivery was as wired, forthright and sexual as a rock star's - Polly Jean Harvey, perhaps. She could have been singing the same material in front of a rock trio."

As one of the stronger companies in the Slavic Heritage Council of America, New York's Syzokryli Ukrainian Dancers were given the honor of opening and closing the Council's European Folk Festival held in Haft Auditorium of the Fashion Institute of Technology on March 18. The Limbora Slovak Folk Ensemble, with live musicians, put on a great show; the Narts Dance Ensemble, a Circassian troupe, was a tough act to follow, and the Polish American Folk Dance Company wowed the audience with colorful costumes and lively choreography. The Makendonka Macedonian Dance Ensemble from Toronto was well received by the audience. Nonetheless, the professional and artistic performance given by the Syzokryli ensemble really did Ukrainians proud. The audience wold not stop applauding after the show's final number, the "Hopak." Andrij Cybyk, assistant to ensemble director Roma Pryma Bohachevsky, declared "this was the best European Folk Festival I have been a part of in the last 12 years!"

Helen Smindak's e-mail address is [email protected].

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