43 replies to this topic

[Thalictum]

Filin and Antonicheva are at their very peak.

[chiapuris]

Thanks Marc, for posting the US tour casts.
I have tickets for the Chicago 11/11 and 11/12 performances
and am delighted to see Alexandrova and Filin for the 11th DQ.
I can only hope there are no principal changes for that performance.

[Natalia]

Thanks, Marc. I'm still waiting for the Wang Center's own press release.  

I'm also surprised that neither Zakharova nor Lunkina is on the roster.  Perhaps Zakharova is guesting elsewhere and Lunkina is not quite back in shape following maternity leave?

No, it's not as if part of the 'A-list' company is being kept back home. This is a full-scale major tour, with the bulk of the company in the USA. No major ballets are scheduled at the Bolshoi during October.  Instead, it's the usual 'Sylphides' and 'Chippolinos' that require much smaller corps, with the leading roles danced by guests from other Moscow troupes.

[Natalia]

I have just received this from the Wang Center/Boston. It confirms what Marc received from the Bolshoi.  
***updated by Wang Center since my original posting

Casting for Boston, October 6-10:

10/6, 7:30pm - Raymonda
Raymonda: Galina Stepanenko
Jean de Brienne: Sergey Filin
*Abderakhman: Dmitry Belogolovtsev

10/7, 7:30pm - Raymonda
*Raymonda: Maria Allash
*Jean de Brienne: Alexander Volchkov
*Abderakhman: Rinat Arifulin

10/8, 7:30pm - Don Quixote
Kitri: Maria Alexandrova
*Basil: Yury Klevtsov

10/9, 7:30pm - Don Quixote
Kitri: Nadezhda Gracheva
Basil: Sergey Filin

10/10, 3pm - Don Quixote
Kitri: Anna Antonicheva
*Basil: Dmitry Belogolovtsev

*Note change from original announcement.

All casting is subject to change.

*****************

This last line makes me chuckle. Judging by the history of past Bolshoi (or Kirov-Mariinsky) tours, I would venture to guess that some casting is GUARANTEED to change.   Hopefully not. This is a fine line-up of stars.

[Marc Haegeman]

Natalia, Zakharova is guesting in Tokyo in the middle of October and in Milan, Italy on November 12 and 13.

[Helene]

This may be a loaded question, but,

"7 Nov Raymonda-mat Stepanenko-Filin-Belogolovtsev" -- worth a trip from Seattle to Berkeley?

(I'm going to see the company perform Romeo and Juliet and Don Q in Seattle, and Stepanenko-Klevtsov are the intended cast in the latter.)

[nysusan]

hockeyfan228 - I am going to see that cast in Boston 10/6 - I'll let you know what I think when I get back to NY the following week

Susan

[Inga]

Natalia, Lunkina became mother last winter and she still didn’t return onstage. Her performance was scheduled in September,  but she was replaced by another ballerina; In October she also scheduled for several performances, I hope she will dance.  So it’s natural that she will not tour.

When part of the company will be in USA, in Moscow the Bolshoi will show “small” ballets, but there will not be any guests from other Moscow troupes as far as I know. Whom do you mean?  The only guest will be POB’s  etoile Laurent Hilaire who will dance Giselle with Zakharova.

[Natalia]

Inga, I have seen members of the Stanislavsky company perform in the new theater, during the past few months.  Sometimes they even substitute an entire non-Bolshoi corps!  It isn't done purposely to deceive but, I know, a few American friends have felt deceived that they had spent top-dollar to see the Bolshoi troupe at one of the Bolshoi theaters, only to find out that they were not seeing 'the real Bolshoi.'  [Not that the Stanislavsky Theater troupe isn't wonderful in its own right...but it is not the Bolshoi that tourists paying 'big bucks' expect to see when going to the Bolshoi Theater.]

A similar thing occurred last August in St Petersburg, when some friends of mine felt robbed when they paid to see the Kirov-Mariinsky in their home theater and ended up seeing the Yuri Grigorovich troupe -- which isn't even a Petersburg company -- instead.

[Helene]

nysusan, on Sep 24 2004, 02:28 PM, said:

hockeyfan228 - I am going to see that cast in Boston 10/6 - I'll let you know what I think when I get back to NY the following week

Susan

I look forward to reading your report!

[Inga]

Natalia, Stanislavsky Ballet is homeless now because their home theatre is closed for reparation. So the Stanislavske Ballet performs in other Moscow auditoriums, including Bolshoi’s New Stage. In the Bolshoi schedule it always written if the performance is done by the Stanislavsky Ballet. The Bolshoi and The Stanislavsky companies never mix.

The same with Grigorovitch Ballet in Mariinsky Theatre – the tour of Grigorovitch Company was advertised long before it take place, so it was clear what company will dance.

In the case of foreigners who cannot understand  Russian the mistakes is quite possible of course.

[Alexandra]

Thanks for the information, Inga, but I should say, so Natalia doesn't have to, that she's fluent in Russian.

[Natalia]

Alexandra, Inga knows that I'm fluent in Russian. The problem is with the ordinary tourist in Russia, who buys expensive 'foreigner tickets' to these theaters, expecting to see the home companies with home stars, only to find out, during a performance, that he is seeing substitutes from Krasnodar or Perm. [Again, not to belittle those cities' troupes, which I happen to find fascinating to watch, in their own right...but they don't hold the mystique or cache, in the minds of ordinary foreign visitors, that do the Kirov-Mariinsky and Bolshoi troupes.]

[Natalia]

Marc, Inga, Ina, et. al.:  Now that Stepanenko has been injured, do you know who will replace her on tour? This development might throw a 'wrench' into the above castings....mix things up a bit if 'ballerina A' must now replace 'ballerina B' & so on.....it could be Alexandrova in place of Stepanenko, for example...and those expecting to see Alexandrova in a certain performance may get, say, Gracheva instead.

I've asked the good folks at the Wang Center's press office for an update, which I'll share with you, if I get it before traveling to Boston.

[Treefrog]

Oh, I hope not!  I just got tickets yesterday for Alexandrova's Don Q.