Robbins Brought Charm, Glamour to N.Y. City Ballet

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- The ringmaster of a mock circus directs 48 little girls from the School of American Ballet who finally spell out JR, the initials of the performance's honoree. Tonight at Lincoln Center's New York State Theater, the New York City Ballet begins a season-long homage to the late Jerome Robbins on the 90th anniversary of his birth. It's an unabashedly show-bizzy gesture for a choreographer who was, in truth, better suited to the Broadway stage than to ballet's.

Think of ``West Side Story,'' the reimagining of the Romeo and Juliet legend as a timely saga of teenage street-gang conflict and young love; the lusty ``Fiddler on the Roof'' and the sheer enchantment of the ``Small House of Uncle Thomas'' ballet from ``The King and I,'' each created for Broadway.

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