Northrop Renewed
Camille LeFevre reports back from Northrop's grand reopening, a gala affair complete with a fabulous performance of "Giselle" by American Ballet Theatre and an appearance by U of MN's Goldy the Gopher.
A FEELING OF THE UNCANNY–of one’s body, senses and memory subtly shifting through space and time — was among the sensations shared by audience members enmeshed in the exuberance of Northrop Inside Out, the grand opening of Northrop’s transformation at the University of Minnesota on Friday evening, April 4.
There was astonishment, to be sure, at how beautifully HGA Architects and Engineers shrunk the old hall (renowned for its terrible acoustics, sightlines and balcony that swayed during rock concerts, as well as decades of memorable performance) into a smaller, gorgeous venue (now called Carlson Family Stage) with three balconies, cushy seating with ample leg room, plus great views of the stage and outstanding acoustics.
Outside the hall, tux-wearing gents and gown-clad women milled about the drink and snack stations (powered by Surdyk’s) in the open, airy commons spaces with views into the glass-walled academic offices and study areas (for The University Honors Program, Institute of Advance Study, and the College of Design’s Travelers Innovation Lab). Attendees stopped to peer over the many balconies fronting the lobby spaces to watch the crowds above, at eye level, and below. A spacious new curved lobby fronts the performance space without detracting from the grandeur of restored Memorial Hall. Festive indeed.
Restored medallions removed from the stage’s beloved proscenium arch hung majestically in one lobby (new medallions cast from more acoustically friendly resin are now part of the stage’s restored proscenium). Plaster-cast panels in the atrium mimic Laban notation in another. We checked out the intimate, extremely quiet new theater/recital hall, which has an acoustic system that automatically adjusts to accommodate live music, film or lectures. We also explored the new skylit Northrop Gallery, currently hosting the exhibition, 100 Years of Student Drawings: Celebrating the School of Architecture’s Centennial, which included works by such eminences as Ralph Rapson.
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Then, boom! Out came the University of Minnesota Marching Band. Any lingering wisps of solemnity wafting through the curtains that had just closed on Albrecht’s grief were dispensed with the band’s bangs, blasts and hollers—and Goldy’s antics.
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Inside the new performance hall, American Ballet Theatre performed the classic story ballet, Giselle, with the lovely, evocative Paloma Herrera in the title role and (in a last-minute program change) Jared Matthews as the smitten yet duplicitous Count Albrecht. I was enthralled with the spectacle and the performance despite myself (even if a few corps members weren’t in sync). And Ormsby Wilkins conducted the live orchestra – a rare treat.
Then, boom! Out came the University of Minnesota Marching Band. Any lingering wisps of solemnity wafting through the curtains that had just closed on Albrecht’s grief were dispensed with the band’s bangs, blasts and hollers—and Goldy’s antics. It was time to move on and out into the halls for champagne, jazz by Davina and the Vagabonds, or hip-hop spun by DJ Jake Rudh in the tent outside. Friends and colleagues, old and new, celebrated.
And that uncanny feeling? The desire, while sitting in the new hall, to find my old press seats and comrades? To locate my memories, while suspended a new side balcony, experienced on the ground floor? That sense of the former hall’s larger footprint ghosting outside the edges of the new? Those sensations won’t fade away soon, even though the new and renewed architecture seamlessly merge, as if they’ve always belonged.
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About the author: Camille LeFevre is a longtime dance writer, a Twin Cities freelance writer and the editor of The Line.