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Tender is The Night
By Tobi Tobias
Richard Daniels's return to performing and choreography after a 15-year hiatus is part of his wellness program; he has been living with HIV for 20 years. Wee Hours, the highlight of his recent concert (Connelly Theater, April 2 through 6), seems to reflect the emotional sensitivity and wisdom such experience can give. A suite of solos and duets set to piano nocturnes gorgeously rendered by Nurit Tilles and choreographed in collaboration with its distinctive performers, it explores the tenderness, the vulnerability, the unreasoning anger, and the haunting fears that possess the soul when it hovers between sleeping and waking. In the most memorable section, veteran stars Kate Johnson and Keith Sabado evoke the quiet, familiar intimacy of a pair who have long shared a bed. The mood of sweet mutual sympathy is heightened just once by a (literally) soaring flight of fancy. That juxtaposition explains why these creatures of Daniels's imagination are partners for keeps.
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