8 replies to this topic

[Figurante]

Performances run through this weekend, as well as next weekend.

Casting is here:
http://www.paballet........id=32&src=l

Hope to see you there!

[Ray]

Performances run through this weekend, as well as next weekend.

Casting is here:
http://www.paballet........id=32&src=l

Hope to see you there!

Attended last night (Sat. 6/6); all danced very well for the most part. I especially liked Julie Diana as the Sylph, and Zachary Hench was a precise, impassioned James--good balon AND batterie. BUT why does the lighting have to be so poor? And the corps sylphs' epaulement was ragged, something very noticeable in a Bournonville work.

I didn't see the need to present Martin's Barber Violin Concerto, tho' both couples in it did well, and the guest violinist's playing offered a nice surprise. Why not just focus on delivering a top-notch Sylphide? Interestingly, the program did not say who set it (!!).

[Figurante]

Performances run through this weekend, as well as next weekend.

Casting is here:
http://www.paballet........id=32&src=l

Hope to see you there!

Attended last night (Sat. 6/6); all danced very well for the most part. I especially liked Julie Diana as the Sylph, and Zachary Hench was a precise, impassioned James--good balon AND batterie. BUT why does the lighting have to be so poor? And the corps sylphs' epaulement was ragged, something very noticeable in a Bournonville work.

I didn't see the need to present Martin's Barber Violin Concerto, tho' both couples in it did well, and the guest violinist's playing offered a nice surprise. Why not just focus on delivering a top-notch Sylphide? Interestingly, the program did not say who set it (!!).

Tamara Hadley and Jeffrey Gribler both set the ballet. Mrs. Hadley concentrated on the sylphs, and Mr. Gribler, most of the pantomime and the Reel. Gribler also gave a great rendition of Madge.

[Ray]

Tamara Hadley and Jeffrey Gribler both set the ballet. Mrs. Hadley concentrated on the sylphs, and Mr. Gribler, most of the pantomime and the Reel.

OK, but who did they get it from? Who set it on the company originally?

[rg]

don't know if this fact has been noted, but PB's first(?) LA SYLPHIDE was initially staged by Peter Martins - it was also filmed and broadcast on PBS at the time.
the NYPL data given below indicates a fact i hadn't previously noted, i.e. the assistance of S.Ostegaard.
i don't know if subsequent, full-scale stagings were done at PB after this '85 effort.

staging credits as follows:
Sylphide: Chor: August Bournonville, staged by Peter Martins, assisted by Solveig Ostergaard; scen & cos: Susan Tammany; lighting: Thomas Skelton. First perf: Philadelphia Academy of Music, Mar 7, 1985; Pennsylvlania Ballet.//First New York perf: Brooklyn Academy of Music, May 7, 1985; Pennsylvania Ballet.

film credits:
La sylphide : c1989. 57 min. : sd. color
Videotaped in performance at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia. Telecast on WNET/13, New York, in the Dance in America series. Producer: Judy Kinberg. Director: Merrill Brockway.
Choreography: August Bournonville, staged by Peter Martins, assisted by Solveig Ostergaard. Music: Hermann Lowenskjold. Scenery/costumes: Susan Tammany. Lighting: Thomas Skelton.
Performed by the Pennsylvania and Milwaukee Ballet: Melissa Podcasy (the Sylph), Marin Boieru (James), Jeffrey Gribler (Gurn), Lisa Sundstrom (Effy), Edward Myers (Madge), and others. Pennsylvania Orchestra, conducted by Maurice Kaplow. Peter Martins introduces the ballet and speaks briefly between the two acts.

[Mme. Hermine]

San Francisco Ballet did this staging in the 1980s.

[Ray]

don't know if this fact has been noted, but PB's first(?) LA SYLPHIDE was initially staged by Peter Martins - it was also filmed and broadcast on PBS at the time.
the NYPL data given below indicates a fact i hadn't previously noted, i.e. the assistance of S.Ostegaard.
i don't know if subsequent, full-scale stagings were done at PB after this '85 effort.

staging credits as follows:
Sylphide: Chor: August Bournonville, staged by Peter Martins, assisted by Solveig Ostergaard; scen & cos: Susan Tammany; lighting: Thomas Skelton. First perf: Philadelphia Academy of Music, Mar 7, 1985; Pennsylvlania Ballet.//First New York perf: Brooklyn Academy of Music, May 7, 1985; Pennsylvania Ballet.

film credits:
La sylphide : c1989. 57 min. : sd. color
Videotaped in performance at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia. Telecast on WNET/13, New York, in the Dance in America series. Producer: Judy Kinberg. Director: Merrill Brockway.
Choreography: August Bournonville, staged by Peter Martins, assisted by Solveig Ostergaard. Music: Hermann Lowenskjold. Scenery/costumes: Susan Tammany. Lighting: Thomas Skelton.
Performed by the Pennsylvania and Milwaukee Ballet: Melissa Podcasy (the Sylph), Marin Boieru (James), Jeffrey Gribler (Gurn), Lisa Sundstrom (Effy), Edward Myers (Madge), and others. Pennsylvania Orchestra, conducted by Maurice Kaplow. Peter Martins introduces the ballet and speaks briefly between the two acts.

Thanks--my guess is that they're doing the same production today. Too bad PA Ballet doesn't think this information is important enough to publish. They don't have to go far for examples of good program notes--the Phil. Orchestra's are excellent.

[Helene]

I remember that production at BAM. It was the first time I saw Bournonville, and I was hooked.

[Figurante]

Here is more information regarding the staging of La Sylphide provided on the Pennsylvania website:

http://www.paballet........id=32&src=l