Rockwell on the "Martins era"

[richard53dog]

I also don't care how well Martins gets along with the board of directors...

All I care about are the performances. When I buy a ticket to the NYCB, am I going to see a well-danced, charismatic, engaging performance? And from the times I've gone there, the answer for the most part is no. So on this very basic level, I think Martins has failed.

I think the point of Rockwell's article was that the two issues are intertwined: as long as Martins gets along well with the board of directors, and the board supports him, you will see performances that Martins has produced.

Well , that's unfortunate then. I pick and choose my NYCB events VERY carefully and still rarely see anything

near what I would call "great". So as long as the board considers what MArtins does is a good job, they will only see occasional ticket purchases from me.

I went to MSND Saturday night and it was a typical mixed bag, at least as far as I was concerned.

Richard

[drb]

Oddly, last season was an attendance record for me, in the post-Balanchine era. And I was generally very pleased with what I saw. But ticket buying was almost soley dancer-based, unlike the ballet-based choices decades ago. For me that meant Bouder-Reichlen-Bouder-Mearns-Bouder. With no Bouder this season, and no big roles so far for Reichlen, I've cut back greatly, but am looking forward to Mearns's debut in Symphony in C Saturday. And, of course, the new Wheeldon.

[canbelto]

I think the point of Rockwell's article was that the two issues are intertwined: as long as Martins gets along well with the board of directors, and the board supports him, you will see performances that Martins has produced.

That's like many CEO companies, in which the board of directors are stacked with friends of the CEO or the top executives.

Anyway the point of my post was that Rockwell's article hit upon many of the peripheral issues of Peter Martins' reign (how well he gets along with the board of directors, his conflicts with Farrell, Gottlieb, etc.), but he doesn't give an opinion of the state of the NYCB, dance-wise. Which is all I care about. And currently, I give them a thumbs down, especially compared to other world-class companies.