Posted: 05/17/2000

Center Stage

(2000)

by Wayne Case

A musical for the millenium, or Flashdance meets Beverly Hills 90210?

Center Stage qualifies as a “guilty pleasure.” It is not in the same class as Stage Door, The Red Shoes, The Turning Point, or Fame, but it does bring those to mind since it contains elements from this fine group of earlier successes. Center Stage is also reminiscent of (and superior to) the film version of A Chorus Line, while being on a par with Flashdance. Center Stage is a breath of fresh air, particularly when compared to the monstrosity called Battlefield: Earth, which also opened on the same May 2000 weekend. Center Stage would be easy to pick it apart, but you’ll have to go elsewhere for that. And negative reviews won’t be hard to find. For those of you that like this type of film, I suspect you will be pleased. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

At the beginning of the film, a large group of very talented young ballet dancers audition at the fictional American Ballet Center located in New York City, and clearly pattered after the American Ballet Theatre. From that group, ultimately, only three males and three females will be asked to join the company after a year of hard work. The film concentrates on four male dancers (Cooper, Charlie, Sergei and Erik), and three of the young ladies (Jody, Eva and Maureen). We follow them through their year of advanced study and discover which are chosen as the best and how that selection was made. We also learn about their personal lives, including relationships within the group, how some deal with their parents and how others cope with their body images. Familiar situations and types are present, but that doesn’t really matter since everyone is attractive and things generally work out well by the end!

Much of the the cast has dancing as their primary career focus. Each, however, is also quite capable of handling their acting assignment here. Among the men, I especially liked Ethan Stiefel as Cooper, and Sascha Radetsky as Charlie. Both are regulars with the American Ballet Theatre. While Stiefel is the better dancer, and is considered by many to be the best male dancer in the world today, both are magnetic and should have no trouble getting additional acting parts. Among the women, Amanda Schull (an apprentice of the San Francisco Ballet Co.) as Jody is good, but I liked both Zoe Saldana as Eva and Susan May Pratt as Maureen better, possibly because they had more interesting characters to play. Amazingly, the script would have us believe that there is only one gay male dancer in the entire company, Erik (Skahiem Evans). As is usually the case in main stream entertainment these days, he has no boyfriends or sex life! (Think: television’s Will & Grace or Melrose Place.) Peter Gallagher is effective as the head of the dance company, while successful stage, screen, and television actress, Donna Murphy is solid as one of the ballet company’s main dance instructors. I also enjoyed seeing Priscilla Lopez (from the stage version of A Chorus Line) in a cameo.

I have mixed feelings about the writing, the directing, and the cinematography. There is a lot to like in each of these three areas, but all could and should have been better. Director Nicholas Hytner (The Object Of My Affection, The Madness Of King George, The Crucible) is not one of my favorite directors. This is the third feature film script by writer Carol Heikkinen (The Thing Called Love, Empire Records), and her first film to receive more than limited distribution. Cinematography is credited to Geoffrey Simpson (Shine, Green Card, Fried Green Tomatoes) and nothing on his resume would have brought him to my mind for a film that included so much dancing. It’s not that the dance sequences are bad, I just don’t think they are as riveting as they could have been. The non-dance parts of Center Stage are quite well filmed, however. Between the director, the choreographers, the editor, and the cinematographer, I have no way of knowing who made creative decisions in the dance sequences - but they won’t be confused with the work in West Side Story, Cabaret or All That Jazz! The best dance sequence here comes near the end of the film and is a modern ballet based on the triangle between Cooper, Jody and Charlie. Each dances as a character based on him/herself. This same device was used in An American In Paris. My other favorite dance scene was the short sequence from Balanchine’s “Stars And Stripes.” Beyond that, the “salsa” number was tasty.

I have only attended a few ballets, but this movie has motivated me to attend others soon. I look forward to the new version of “Swan Lake” in particular.

I wish the decision had been made to make Center Stage a full-fledged musical, a genre that I really miss. On the other hand, I am grateful for a pleasurable couple of hours and I well may return to see it a second time.

Wayne Case works in the film industry in Hollywood, and still can’t help himself—he loves the movies.

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