88 replies to this topic

[Juliet]

So, there are finally some current pictures in the advertising, the rehearsals are back to back, the adrenalin and hopes are high....

A rousing Bravi! to Farrell and her dancers for undertaking this mammoth work.......it may or may not be an uneven work, but uneven Balanchine is still on another level than much of the choreography being made now.....I wish them all the best and hope for a succeessful and rewarding run.....

Who among us will be there?  Shall we meet by the Kennedy bust before the curtain? (Other suggestions welcome!)  I will be there every day but Thursday......

[liebs]

Juliet, I'll be there Sat night.

[koshka]

I'll be there Thursday and maybe Sunday afternoon...depending on whether I think once was enough after Thursday.

[Jack Reed]

(from Washington, DC)  I'm here for the run!  Meeting by the Kennedy bust sounds like a good, albeit popular, idea.  Tonight I'm at a dinner, and I don't know wheher we will be herded directly into the Opera House (this "cosseting" clashes somewhat with my democratic instincts, I must say), but at other performances I'll loiter there, and I'd be pleased to meet other BT'ers.  I expect to wear my customary pink face (although I'm feeling a little pale this morning, in spite of my level of anticipation), blue eyes, and very pale blond hair.

[Mary Lynn Slayden]

It's the Sunday matinee for me!

[Jack Reed]

NPR's Morning Edition today broadcast a short "segment" twice, just before the hours of 9:00 and 10:00, in which Kim Kokich presented Suzanne Farrell talking about this production and also George Jackson talking about past ones.  I think people with the appropriate audio player on their computers can hear such items from the NPR website later on the day of broadcast, so check it out.  (There was not a lot really new, but for me, it's fresh, nevertheless :  Farrell said, for example, "I feel him [Balanchine] in every book, every piece of scenery.")

In Paul Kolnik's Gallery Walk and Talk last evening, we found out his response to what he sees and especially to what he catches with his camera is also what I would call transcendant.  His interpretations of his images and of the reception they got from Balanchine were an enlarging experience to hear, and I am glad to report that an "interactive" version of the talk is supposed to go online eventually at artsedge.kennedy-center.org, with images of the pictures and an edited version of Kolnik's comments.  Meanwhile, though, I suggest planning at least a few minutes to give time to the exhibit, in the Opera House lobby, of the fourteen or so affecting photos (some of Farrell, many of her company).  There's also a central case with a display centered on Don Quixote, with costumes (Farrell's "Dulcinea" costume is on loan from the Smithsonian, if I remember correctly) and Farrell's "memory book".

Suzanne Carbonneaux gave a lecture Monday about Farrell and Don Quixote which was enthusiastically received by a self-described "arts critic" in Kolnik's audience.  I wasn't here yet.  Did anybody go?  What did she say? What did you think?

Edited by Jack Reed, 23 June 2005 - 07:32 AM.

[bart]

Jack, I'm posting Mark D's link to the NPR piece, for those who might have missed it in the Links thread for today.

Mark D, on Jun 22 2005, 10:41 AM, said:

A great discussion of Suzanne Farrell's production of Balanchine's Don Q. was on on NPR this morning.  Definitely worth listening to.

http://www.npr.org/t...storyId=4713726

[Noreen Arnold]

...thanks for the link Bart, I enjoyed listening to it.  I envy all of you who will be there tonight or later in the week.   With dancers from my own company taking part I'd love to be there but I just couldn't manage to get away right now.  I will look forward to everyone's comments on the production and the leading dancers - especially Rodriguez and Ogden.    Whatever the the critical reaction is to Farrell's restaging of this work, she is to be celebrated for the effort it took to get it to get it back on stage some twenty-five years after the last performance.  I suspect just getting the funding for the production was quite a task.   A new generation needs to see this Balanchine work and  judge it for themselves, and thanks to Farrell, now we can.  (Well...in my case, it will have to wait perhaps a season or two - or whenever the new AD of the NBoC decides to schedule it!)

[Helene]

Noreen Arnold, on Jun 22 2005, 09:55 AM, said:

(Well...in my case, it will have to wait perhaps a season or two - or whenever the new AD of the NBoC decides to schedule it!)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And, hopefully, now that it's been done in a three-truck, commute-ready production, NBoC will bring it to Vancouver.

We hope to hear from those who are attending

[bart]

To drop a leaden weight on the anticipation:  what do you all think about the effect Nabakov's music  is likely to have on the audience?  This was, for me, the single most (and perhaps only) strong negative in Balanchine's strange and wonderful ballet.  Alas, it casts its pall from beginning to end.   I notice no one is mentioning it in the publicity or in Ballet Talk memories of the original production.

P.S.  I write this as someone who actually enjoys a great deal of later 20th-century serious music and listens to it frequently.

[dirac]

I don’t think anyone really wants to focus on the negatives right now, and that includes the score.  From everything I heard and read, it will present a problem.  (I remember Suki Schorer saying from a dancer's perspective that it was hard to listen to all week long.)

I’ll be interested to see how the critics react – will the reviews be good (at the very least they’ll be respectful, I’m sure), and if so, will they be genuine raves or praise of the let’s-plug-the-production-because-everyone-worked-so-hard-and-we-don’t-want-it-to-be-DOA kind?

[Natalia]

I'll be there for several performances & am genuinely looking forward to it. This is Ballet History, after all!   I've mentally prepared myself to expect the unmelodious score and, instead, concentrate on the great psychological tale, with, hopefully,  some wonderful Balanchine choreography.  Any happy surprises above & beyond that will be the icing on the cake!  So I'm set to accentuate the positive.

Here's the $64,000 Question:  How will the KC ballet subscribers & 'plain folk out for a night at the ballet' react when they realize that this isn't their 'safe' DON Q with Kitri's 32 fouettes, the merry oom-pah-pah music and scores of classical tutus?????  I'll have my ears perked-up at intermission time to glean a few quotable-quotes.  Maybe the audience will pleasantly surprise me!

Natalia

[BW]

Well, being a fairly "plain folk" , I wish I could be there for several reasons - the obvious being that it's an historic moment of sorts (and I've never seen Balanchine's Don Q, just read about it) and I'd love to see the dancers, particularly those whose parents I know, perform! Merde to all the dancers! I look forward to detailed reviews here. :yes:

I don't frequent this board the way I used to but would love to know if Farrell Fan is going to be down for this performance - I certainly hope so.

[carbro]

Since one of the related events is a ballet class for adults taught by Suzanne, it's a sure bet!

[BW]

Really!? Isn't that an interesting draw - very smart. If any of you attend I hope you'll give us some feedback on that as well.