The Wall Street Journal - 12.03.2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, March 12, 2020 |A

reading the lengthy synopsis—danc-

ing that tends to coexist with, rather

than to take impetus from, its music.

Except for one change in the

role of Chaereas due to an injury,

the three leading casts set to take

the stage all got their chances.

Most memorable and impressive of

all was 24-year-old soloist Cathe-

rine Hurlin as Callirhoe. With her

lissome physique, graced by espe-

cially fine feet, and her effortless

command of ballet moves, the

strawberry-blond dancer rendered

with unerring luminosity and lim-

pidity the lushly tendrilled upper-

in addition to different groups of

subsidiary characters, such as “Cho-

rus Ladies” and “Chorus Men.” Its

complicated, convoluted narrative

keeps Callirhoe apart from Chaer-

eas, who finds himself enslaved and

eventually leading a battle against a

Babylonian king, all the while un-

aware that he has a son by Cal-

lirhoe.

The ballet’s score is an arrange-

ment, by Philip Feeney, of music by

Aram Khachaturian, largely from

“Gayane,” his 1942 score for a four-

act Soviet, folk-style classical ballet.

Jean-Marc Puissant designed the

aptly styled and simplified Greek

garments and a changeable sur-

round of antique architectural de-

tails, at times dominated by a large,

sculpted head of Aphrodite.

With its musical accompaniment

churning here and thundering there,

without individual climactic finishes

to cue showstopping applause, “Of

Love and Rage” rolls along often

breathlessly from scene to scene

while the ballet’s intermittent acro-

batic lifts or high-flying and em-

phatic turning sequences prompt au-

dience reactions as they come and

go. With his deft and rich command

of classical steps, some, in the chore-

ographer’s words “influenced heavily

by ancient greek visuals,” Mr. Rat-

mansky gives his successive charac-

ters—not always identifiable after

Costa Mesa, Calif.

STELLAR INDIVIDUALperfor-

mances in the three casts of this

past weekend’s premiere engage-

ment of American Ballet Theatre’s

“Of Love and Rage,” Alexei Rat-

mansky’s two-act ballet, did much

to transcend the work’s sometimes

busy and hard to follow action,

which played out at Segerstrom

Hall over two hours and 20 min-

utes, including intermission.

In a pre-performance interview,

Mr. Ratmansky told the Los Ange-

les Times that it was vital to try

new things and, in the case of new

full-length, narrative works, “very

difficult to make a successful work

that will be loved by the audience.”

Still, he noted, “it’s very important

to try.” “Of Love and Rage” takes

its inspiration from “Callirhoe,” a

Greek text by first-century writer

Chariton of Aphrodisias that re-

lates the trials of the beauteous

Callirhoe in her much-thwarted

love for Chaereas, whose jealous

rage leads to her seeming death

and whose efforts to regain her

trust are often fraught.

Mr. Ratmansky’s synopsis, for

which Guillaume Gallienne serves

as dramaturg, sets the ballet’s ac-

tion in 400 B.C. for a cast of 16 who

play the prominently named roles

BYROBERTGRESKOVIC

body and arm detailing that Mr.

Ratmansky arranged for his hero-

ine. As her Chaereas, 21-year-old

soloist Aran Bell danced with easy,

athletic strength. Mr. Bell’s power,

however, lacks finish, especially in

landings from turning jumps. Dra-

matically—with stock, wide-eyed

facial expressions and rather

forced smiles—he suggested a va-

cant, callow youth rather than a

vividly impassioned one.

In the second cast, soloist

Thomas Forster, while not as ath-

letically gifted as Mr. Bell, revealed

more poetry and finesse. As his

Callirhoe, principal Christine

Shevchenko proved workaday; her

long feet appeared more effortful

than expressive in Mr. Ratmansky’s

academic footwork. As the third

cast interpreter of Callirhoe, Hee

Seo—partnered by Mr. Bell substi-

tuting for the indisposed Calvin

Royal III—gave an effective, lithe

portrayal, her fine-boned physique

served Mr. Ratmansky’s tricky lifts

very well.

Joining Ms. Hurlin and Mr. Bell

in Mr. Ratmansky’s first cast, the

daring dynamo James Whiteside

made much of Dionysius, an Ionian

nobleman and Callirhoe’s second

husband; a nuanced Cory Stearns

as Mithridates, a foreign governor,

became a cunning adversary of Di-

onysius. In a still more secondary

role, Roman Zhurbin was a formi-

dable King of Babylon, looking and

behaving like a sinister Rasputin in

Mr. Puissant’s stringy gray wig.

Khachaturian’s widely popular

“Saber Dance” climaxes Act 2 with

head-to-head face-offs for Dionysius

and Chaereas, who lead their re-

spective, often forcefully airborne,

groups with pawing activity, as if ri-

val bulls scraping the ground. When

the battle ends—and Chaereas finds

Callirhoe amid rubble that looks, in

Mr. Puissant’s setting, like a pile of

Elgin Marble pieces—the ballet

fades to a close, with the central

couple and their son, who has not

previously been seen, walking into

the distance as a loving family.

Absent a strong, winning cast,

“Of Love and Rage” may prove dif-

ficult for audiences to love.

Mr. Greskovic writes about dance

for the Journal.

GENE SCHIAVONE

Catherine Hurlin and Aran Bell in Alexei Ratmansky’s ‘Of Love and Rage’

DANCE REVIEW

Star-Crossed Lovers,

Eye-Crossed Audience

A

irlines and other

travel companies

are offering limited

flexibility to travel-

ers worried about

coronavirus, and

some restrictions still in force

leave travelers paying what

amount to virus fees.

United Airlines even changed

its rules over the weekend to

make it harder to get refunds,

then altered the rules again Tues-

day night to make them more

vague, demonstrating how chaotic

and confusing the whole situation

can be for travelers.

Millions of travelers are scram-

bling to change plans because of

cancellations of meetings, events,

cruises or just fear of catching

the virus or getting stuck in a

travel disruption. But many are

finding airline waivers of change

fees and cancellation penalties

don’t cover their trips.

Under fire from customers,

Delta, United and American eased

up on their rules on Monday, of-

fering to change any ticket for

travel in March and April without

the expensive penalties.

That came after Tom Schlafly of

St. Louis already paid American a

$200 fee to change tickets to a

late March investment conference

in California that was canceled.

Now he wonders if American will

refund the fee with its policy

change of heart, and dreads more

time on the phone waiting to

speak with someone at American.

“Those of us whose existing travel

plans were disrupted by the coro-

navirus are stuck,” he says.

American says travelers with

tickets in March and April who al-

ready changed will indeed have to

call to get refunds for the fees that

have been collected.

Waivers of cancellation penal-

ties and change fees were initially

issued by airlines for travel to only

a few hard-hit countries. And in an

effort to pump up sagging ticket

sales, airlines are now selling non-

refundable tickets without change

and cancellation fees.

But at lots of airlines, custom-

ers who bought their tickets to

anywhere else before the coronavi-

rus outbreak are finding they not

only have to pay change fees, but

also must rebook quickly.

That’s hard to do when no one

is sure when the outbreak will

subside, or which destinations

might present higher risk in a few

weeks or months.

Most airlines give you a year

from when you made your original

reservation to use up a credit.

That’s not much help if you

booked months ago. In extending

the new, broader waiver, Delta,

United and American added an ad-

ditional deadline of booking by

Dec. 31, if that’s earlier than the

one-year-from-booking period.

Hard-hit Italian carrier Alitalia,

struggling financially before the

virus outbreak hit northern Italy,

says in its current waiver policy

that new travel must begin by

June 30 to avoid penalties.

United made a change on March

7 that hit consumers even harder.

Airlines are dropping lots of flights

from their schedules because travel

demand is plunging. United already

said it would ground 10% of its do-

mestic flights and 20% of its inter-

national flights.

Previously, if United couldn’t re-

book you within two hours of your

original schedule, you were eligible

for a refund. Then United said re-

funds happen only if the schedule is

changed by more than 25 hours.

Tuesday night, United changed

25 hours in its policy to “signifi-

cantly” different departure or ar-

rival times. There’s no definition

of what significant is—United says

customers must contact the airline

to request a refund.

It would seem United wants to

hang on to your money and make

it harder to get a refund. An air-

line spokeswoman says so far, 90%

of impacted customers are being

put on a flight within two hours of

their original, so a refund wouldn’t

be an option anyway.

“We’re in the process of updat-

ing the policy and the new policy

will allow our agents flexibility in

reviewing requests on a case-by-

case basis,” spokeswoman Leslie

Airbnbs, European trains and

many other travel vendors unwill-

ing to refund prepaid reserva-

tions. With some, huge cancella-

tion fees and penalties can be an

expensive surprise.

Jhan Schmitz, a project man-

agement consultant who serves as

a commissioner of the Palm

Springs International Airport in

California, was headed to Paris for

a conference and wanted to take

his wife. He found discounted busi-

ness-class tickets on United

through Wholesale-flights.com.

The conference was postponed to

mid-June, but he has a conflict

with the new date.

Wholesale-flights, of Burl-

ingame, Calif., sells tickets bro-

kered by consolidators—companies

that get inventory from airlines at

deep discounts. When Mr. Schmitz

went to cancel the flights, the con-

solidator’s terms included a $

change fee per person and a re-

striction that he could use the re-

maining value only through Janu-

ary and only on a Palm Springs-

Paris itinerary.

Mr. Schmitz says he didn’t see

disclosure of the huge change fee

or other restrictions beyond

United’s policy. Wholesale-flights

chief executive Igor Fishbeyn says

every customer has to sign a

“ticket release form” with all the

fine print. And the trip insurance

Mr. Schmitz bought says it won’t

cover his coronavirus cancellation.

“The cautionary part of the tale:

Beware and understand the risks

of booking flights through a third-

party website,” Mr. Schmitz says.

Mr. Fishbeyn says some of his

customers are far worse off than

Mr. Schmitz—they can’t make any

changes without losing everything

they paid.

“What’s happening to this cus-

tomer is happening to lots of cus-

tomers,” he says.

Karna Bodman, an author and

former Reagan administration offi-

cial, had to cancel a trip from Mi-

ami to London and Brussels be-

cause her husband had surgery

and his doctor told him not to go.

British Airways would only refund

the first-class ticket with a cancel-

lation fee of $1,350 a person, even

with Richard Bodman’s doctor’s

note. The airline told the Bod-

mans’ travel agent it would only

refund the full price of the ticket if

he were terminally ill.

“No, we haven’t died yet,” Ms.

Bodman says.

A British Airways spokesman

says the company won’t comment

on the situation.

Rick Froh of Fond du Lac, Wis.,

had a trip to Italy scheduled for

March16.Hefiguredtherewasno

point in going because everything

will be closed or limited. Delta

banked his airfare with no penalty

and his family turned three tickets

into extra-legroom seats to Salt

Lake City for a ski vacation.

He got a full refund on a Vatican

tour and a walking tour of Venice.

But his high-speed train tickets in

Italy were eligible for only a 60%

refund, so a $250 loss. And one of

his three Airbnbs was charging a

one-night cancellation penalty,

which was $450. He’s appealing.

“Painful, but we are fortunate

the overall travel budget can ab-

sorb it,” Mr. Froh says.

THE MIDDLE SEAT| SCOTT MCCARTNEY

Confusing Fee Rules

Rankle Travelers

Passengers worried about coronavirus end up fighting for waivers

Scott says.

Airlines are facing massive fi-

nancial pain from the coronavirus

outbreak, so it’s easy to under-

stand why they’re reluctant to is-

sue blanket refunds to millions of

customers. The fees are a signifi-

cant source of revenue for most

U.S. airlines (except Southwest).

Hard-hit cruise lines have been

more flexible than airlines, travel-

ers say.

Tom Anderson of Suffolk, Va.,

was scheduled to go on a Viking

River Cruises trip in May through

Portugal and Spain. Viking told

him he could reschedule without

penalty for anytime this year or

next. But Delta doesn’t list Portu-

gal and Spain as waiver countries,

so he has to pay change fees on

his airline tickets. (His trip in May

doesn’t qualify for Delta’s new

waiver policy issued Monday.)

“The cruise lines have all taken

a consumer-friendly approach,”

Mr. Anderson says. “The airlines

havetakenamoreaggressiveap-

proach.”

Delta says it has already made

six changes to its waiver policies

and there could be more. “We will

continue to work with our custom-

ers, as this is a fluid situation,” a

spokesman says.

Travelers have also run into ex-

pensive problems with third-party

ticket sellers, some hotels and

United Airlines has

altered its rules on

itinerary changes

repeatedly this week.

ILLUSTRATION BY SERGE BLOCH

LIFE&ARTS