11 replies to this topic

[mussel]

Does anyone know anything about the NYCB special castings of 2000th performance of Nutcracker on 12/19?  The website lists multiple castings for the same lead rules: Dew, Plum and Cavalier.  Does that mean the waltz of flowers and grand pas are going to be performed multiple times with different casts?  

Following quote from NYCB's site doesn't give out much detail:

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For this 2000th performance, special casting surprises will include 17 different dancers in the roles of the Sugarplum Fairy, Her Cavalier, and Dewdrop.

[carbro]

If they did all those waltzes, pas and variations, the performance would last forever!

They did something like this to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Nut.  Each dancer or couple did a phrase or two before being superceded by other dancers.  It doesn't allow the audience to savor favorite dancers, and it violates the flow of the choreography, IMO.

But it does make the performance An Occasion!

[aurora]

carbro, on Dec 14 2007, 04:25 PM, said:

They did something like this to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Nut.  Each dancer or couple did a phrase or two before being superceded by other dancers.  It doesn't allow the audience to savor favorite dancers, and it violates the flow of the choreography, IMO.

But it does make the performance An Occasion!

that sounds awful. For the dancers as well as the audience--so disjointed! How can anyone get into the character/feel of the piece.


It is a neat concept, and I can't wait to hear some reviews of how it actually works, but it doesn't SOUND like it would allow any of the dancers to show themselves at their best.

[Helene]

There are three clean breaks for Sugar Plum Fairy:  opening and solo, adagio from the Grand Pas de Deux, and variation/ending of Grand Pas de Deux.  Two cavaliers are needed for the standard choreography.

Dewdrop has so many entrances and exits, that a handful of dancers could do the role.

What will be interesting to see is how many of the codas are tweaked.  For example, for the 1993 Balanchine Celebration, there were six women and four men who performed "Who Cares?":  one dancer for each solo, and another pair for the Pas de Deux.    They all appeared in the finale.

Will the center of Dance of the Flowers be a handful of Dewdrops?  Will the finale of the Grand Pas de Deux include all of the Sugar Plum Fairies?  Will the grand finale include all of them?  (Either they'll need a load of Candy Canes to support the Dewdrops, or the Dewdrops' choreography will be tweaked.)

[carbro]

Sugarplum also welcomes her minions, Marie and the Prince and "listens" to the Prince's mime explaining how he & Marie got to the Land of the Sweets.  This, I imagine, will be Darci's part.

[SandyMcKean]

Am I reading this right?  NYCB has done 2000 (two thousand) performances of the Nutcracker????!!!!!!

Thank God for New York City...................the cultural hub of the world!

[richard53dog]

carbro, on Dec 14 2007, 10:05 PM, said:

Sugarplum also welcomes her minions, Marie and the Prince and "listens" to the Prince's mime explaining how he & Marie got to the Land of the Sweets.  This, I imagine, will be Darci's part.

In 2004(Nutcracker 50th anniversary), Darci did the pas with Soto. Earlier , Ringer did the mime scene and SPF's variation wearing the long tutu. In the coda, there were 5-6 SPFs and cavaliers, all spining at once. In the finale, Soto lifted Whelan and each time she went up in the air , she released some glitter she was holding in her hands.

As Helene pointed out, Dewdrop has many short sections and that night Kowroski and Ansanelli alternated untill the finale (although my memory is hazy here)
where they both did that last showy segment side by side.

As someone already pointed out, this is not for anyone coming to the Nut for the first time. But for the sturdy, regular fans it is a lot of fun

[Helene]

richard53dog, on Dec 14 2007, 03:58 PM, said:

As someone already pointed out, this is not for anyone coming to the Nut for the first time. But for the sturdy, regular fans it is a lot of fun

I would say the same about the New Year's Eve performance

[Klavier]

SandyMcKean, on Dec 14 2007, 05:40 PM, said:

Am I reading this right?  NYCB has done 2000 (two thousand) performances of the Nutcracker????!!!!!!

And that's only this year.

[SandyMcKean]

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And that's only this year.

Now I know my leg is being pulled!.........   

P.S. BTW, when I said previously "Thank God for New York City...................the cultural hub of the world!" I was perfectly serious.  Only in NYC could 2000 Nutcrackers be done, especially at the high level that NYCB must do them.  You NYC dwellers don't truly know how lucky you are (culturally that is ).

[printscess]

SandyMcKean, on Dec 14 2007, 08:55 PM, said:

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And that's only this year.

Now I know my leg is being pulled!.........   

P.S. BTW, when I said previously "Thank God for New York City...................the cultural hub of the world!" I was perfectly serious.  Only in NYC could 2000 Nutcrackers be done, especially at the high level that NYCB must do them.  You NYC dwellers don't truly know how lucky you are (culturally that is ).

Yes we do, but it gets to the point that we usually can't wait for the Rockerfeller Christmas tree to come down, the throngs of tourists to go home and the Nutcracker to go back in the vault until it all starts again next year.

[mussel]

It looks like the everyone is going to be on stage according to NY Times:

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Also, the company will celebrate the 2,000th performance of the ballet on Wednesday night with a dizzying six Sugarplums, eight Cavaliers, three Dewdrops and one Drosselmeier, Robert La Fosse, all jousting for space on a crowded stage.