10 replies to this topic

[BalletNut]

SFB has announced their next season: http://www.sfgate.co...DDG8767ITP1.DTL (Sorry, but I don't know how to do that neat little quoting thing that there is in the Links forum.)

I have say I'm disappointed; the season is quite heavy on Tomasson and I'm not a huge fan of his ballets. I also would have liked to see at least one of the Ashton ballets from this season repeated next year as I unfortunately missed Program 7. I also have doubts about the new Nutcracker from what I've read in the article; I don't like people making modernized psycho-dramas out of the classics, or moving classical ballets into contemporary time periods. But that's just my opinion...

[Alexandra]

Thanks for the early heads up, Ballet Nut -- Any other comments on the season? (I've just posted the schedule as a sticky above, so we can easily refer to it all year.)

[BalletNut]

FYI: The "TBA" ballet on Program 6 is Symphonic Variations, according to the updated website.

[Helene]

I'd appreciate it if anyone would tell me their impressions of The Dybbuk, which is on the same program with Symphonic Variations and Lambarena :sleeping: I'd love to see Symphonic Variations, but it's an expensive trip for one third of a program.

[liebs]

Dybbuk hasn't been in years. It is one of the those ballets with which Robbins frequently tinkered and there are several versions. I assume that since SFB is doing Dybbuk (not Dybbuk Variations), it is the narrative version. Dybbuk Variations eliminated most of the plot but kept the music (by Leonard Bernstein, I think and some of the atmosphere.

In other incarnation, it was a very weak piece. I think Tomassen did the lead in the premiere of Dybbuk Variations.

[carbro]

Yes, Tomasson and McBride were the leads. I can only assume that Robbins was never satisfied with the work in any of its forms, since it underwent a number of drastic revisions before it ultimately (apparently) was withdrawn from NYCB's rep.

In the first version (and possibly the second) the dancers of both sexes wore loose, transparent, floor-length gowns over unitards. The gowns gave them an ungainly look, to my eye.

[Helene]

SFB's going all out on their promotion for the new Nutcracker. I just got my brochure in the mail. It's a self mailer, in which the "cover" is one of those 3-D plastic things with ridges, so that when you turn it from side to side, Drosselmeyer (Ashley Wheater) makes the nutcracker doll appear and disappear. Inside is a faux Victorian ad that starts with,

On a chilly, starlit Christmas Eve in December 1944, San Francisco Ballet performed the very first Nutcracker ever to be seen in America.

and then describes the new production as,

FILLED WITH A MYRIAD OF MAGICAL NEW SURPRISES

etc. Pakledinaz is doing the costumes, and I suspect they will be gorgeous.

The packet also includes two usable, oversized postcards, one of Clara (unattributed) holding the nutcracker doll, and one of Sarah van Patten as "Snow Queen." It is definitely NOT recyclable unless dismantled.

[Alexandra]

"magical" "Clara" "nutcracker doll" "Snow Queen" -- all good signs! A real Nutcracker!!!!

[Leigh Witchel]

Have no fear - true believers can make even that combination relevant!

Watch this:

Clara's nascent lesbian attraction for the Snow Queen is explained in Magical detail to a sympathetic stage full of blow-up Nutcracker Dolls.

How's that for relevant?

[Disclaimer - I don't think Tomasson does stuff like this. I just couldn't resist]

[sandik]

It's a self mailer, in which the "cover" is one of those 3-D plastic things with ridges, so that when you turn it from side to side, Drosselmeyer (Ashley Wheater) makes the nutcracker doll appear and disappear.

A sidebar.

These are actually called "winkies," and they are collectibles, for those who treasure odd things.

[sfshaza]

Yes, I also got one of these cool postcards in the mail and I also got another postcard of the Snow Queen that is holographic. Also, the program sold for $10 at the performance has one of the holographic Drosselmeyer postcards attached to the cover. I had to buy two programs because my daughter quickly claimed one and then she told me she was given one later. So now I have two.

I'm excited about seeing Lambareda this season. When my daughter attended Evelyn Cisneros' summer intensive last summer, we saw the video of Evelyn performing that dance and it was amazing. Evelyn *owned* that role and it will be interesting to see new dancers in the role. I'm so sad that I never saw Evelyn dance in person. <sigh> I ran into her in the grocery store recently but it just wasn't the same.

Sharon