NIKOLAI & the OTHERS, Not Geared to Most Others

The play, NIKOLAI & the OTHERS, @ Lincoln Center is a play that purports on the colloboration between Balanchine & Stravinsky for the  ballet, "Orpheus."  The play is set in 1948 on a farm in CT with a household filled with Russian comrades (literally) who have all immigrated from Russia to the U.S.A.  Balanchine & Stravinsky collobrated on "Orpheus"and other ballets.  However, the playwright, Richard Nelson,  takes artistic liberties with his play.   A clan of Russian immigrants have all gathered to  honor the painter/set decorator Sergey Sudeikin who is of failing health (he died in 1946.)  The central characters and their soap opera relationships with each other, are based on facts.  Sudeikin was married to Stravinsky's "wife" and Balanchine was married to the young  dancer,  for whom he created many leads.  NIKOLAI is Nikolai Nabokov, a one time composer who did colloborate with the CIA after WWII.  If you love ballet & you love Balanchine's work (I certainly do) then, this is the play for you.  We are privy to mechanics of creative genuises at work.  We are also given a working preview of "Orpheus" along with the other guests.  Balanchine's young wife, Maria Tallchief, is played by Natalia Alonso, a professional ballerina.  Balanchine rehearses the pas de deux  in the barn to laterns & a live pianist.  Stravinsky is present & readily adapts his score to accommodate Balanchine's choreography.  This scene was worth the price of admission.  However, the play is  bogged down by pseudointellectual debates over what constitutes art, art's signifigance and even how art is sustained.  The play also touches upon black-listing, and the Cultural Cold War with the Soviet Union.  The theatre was only partially filled Friday night.  After intermission, it became barren.  Nelson'a clever idea for his play becomes suffused with lugubrious & overly ambitious discussions.  I liked the show but I doubt it will play in Poughkeepsie.  Ironically, the playwright included this Balanchine quote in our program, "I am not trying to prove anything.  I only wish to prove the dance by dancing.  I want to say:  {If you should happen to like it, here they are:  dancers dancing.}"