“Maggie the Cat,” a Manchester commission, is inspired by Tennessee Williams’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1955), that hot-blooded Southern drama of family mendacity centered on the determined, vital Maggie. Instead, the servants, nearly invisible in Williams’s work, claim center stage, getting a flamboyant, sashaying, vogueing turn in the spotlight, where they glitter like newly minted stars. Dance has never been a particular focus at the Manchester festival, dedicated to producing new work since it was founded in 2007. John McGrath, who took over in 2015 when Mr. Poots left to run the Shed in New York, has continued in a similar vein. Dance, though, has played a stronger role this year, as an important component in two flagship shows (“Tree” and “Invisible Cities”), and in commissions from Mr. Harrell, FlexN & Young Identity and the Scottish choreographer Claire Cunningham.

Source: International New York Times July 16, 2019 08:03 UTC