56 replies to this topic

[Leigh Witchel]

Jack - I could be wrong, but I would assume the seats are not actually sold, but reserved for both VIP attendees and press. The Joyce is only a 400-ish seat house, and Farrell gets a lot of critic attention.

Because it's a small house, once you get back a few rows in the orchestra, all the seats have a good view.

[puppytreats]

I want to buy the $19 tickets at the Joyce Theatre to see the Farrell Ballet Company, but the program won't be out until the end of September.  How long is safe to wait to buy tickets?

[carbro]

From the Joyce's website:

Quote

For its Joyce debut, the program features an all-Balanchine program that includes some of his most cherished works -- Haieff Divertimento, Meditation, Diamonds pas de deux from Jewels, and Agon.

[puppytreats]

The website discussed "Program A" (or a similar title) when I first looked at it.  When I called the theatre on the day I made the post, I was told the program was not yet available.  Thank you.

[Juliet]

puppytreats, on 11 September 2011 - 03:18 PM, said:

The website discussed "Program A" (or a similar title) when I first looked at it.  When I called the theatre on the day I made the post, I was told the program was not yet available.  Thank you.

That is the program.  They are doing it every night.

[Eileen]

papeetepatrick, on 23 May 2011 - 08:47 AM, said:

Anything from E through N is going to be plenty close and good view. I think I like the slightly further back ones batter, as K or L, etc., better than D, E, F, etc.  The first two (or maybe even 3) rows are on the same level, and are somewhat unique in the way they are managed, but that is not necessary for you; so the ones in the very front you don't want.  According to how close you want to be, start with E and move back at will. It's not the most spacious leg room in some parts, so I prefer the aisle myself; once, years ago, I really got in an uncomfortable situation, felt totally locked in, although I think that was on the sides.  That was back in the days when things would sell out there, and almost nothing does any more, no matter how good, so you can usually move over if you're not pleased with the seat (except to the center, which someone always wants).  The ushers stop just short of actively even encouraging this.  It's a very mellow seating policy at the Joyce, which makes up for some of their other shortcomings.  

Love that pic of 'Diamonds', I will definitely want to be there for that.  Magnicaballi looks exquisite.  I hadn't checked recently to know what they're doing!  Thanks.

Thanks so much for telling me this about Row K center, where I will be October 23 matinee. I bought my ticket May 23, the moment they went on sale. How I've been waiting for Suzanne Farrell Ballet to come to New York, where we have everything - everything but Suzanne, and now my ballet life will be complete. Waiting anxiously for Sunday.....

[Jack Reed]

papeetepatrick, on 23 May 2011 - 08:47 AM, said:

Love that pic of 'Diamonds', I will definitely want to be there for that.  Magnicaballi looks exquisite.  I hadn't checked recently to know what they're doing!  Thanks.

Thanks to several of you, I think I am well ticketed, in good locations, for the run, starting tonight!  Having seen them get better and better in DC - possibly excepting opening-night Serenade, which had, for God's sake, Heather Ogden in the jumper role, later taken by Audra Johnson, who is no slouch herself, but Ogden!  Wow!  What a start!  Hard to improve there - I am keen to see more of them.  (Those who know me usually agree I don't look like your average groupie, but, well...)

Ahem, yes, this is BalletAlert!, and I'll try to contain myself.  Until the curtain comes down, at least.  Alas, and sorry to report, Magnicaballi herself was not on view (on stage) in DC.  (There were both a fine slide show spanning the company's history, images and sequence arranged by Paul Kolnik, and posters of each of the ten seasons on display in the foyer at the Kennedy Center, with many images including her.)  We assume that's why Ogden was there, and I assume why we will see her at the Joyce in the Diamonds pas*.  In Agon, I anticipate Angelova with Mladenov part of the time at least*, partly because they've done it before; and while Macaulay, in the review I just linked to, aptly says she is sometimes "flinty", her Sonatine with Mladenov looked much more vital to me than she had previously with Cook, and although they're not doing Sonatine at the Joyce, I anticipate more of her better dancing if she is in Agon with Mladenov.  He seems to be a good influence on her - not to mention the influence of who may be the greatest living Balanchine coach, in the interval between her performances.  (Those who don't follow my reference can refer to the name of the company.)

And before signing off here, it occurs to me that speculation on casting in the immediate future tends to be distorted by past experience - I also look forward to seeing where Kara Genevieve Cooper* and Courtney Anderson will turn up in the program.  And Matthew Renko*.

*All these hopes were dashed, in the event.  But there turned out to be much to like opening night; see below.

Edited by Jack Reed, 19 October 2011 - 07:17 PM.

[abatt]

If anyone comes across the casting for the engagement at the Joyce, could you post it if it's not too much trouble? Thanks.

[Jack Reed]

Right.  The actual casting, not just dreams!  Maybe when I get in this evening...

[Jack Reed]

Okay, actual virtual casting.  We all know casting is subject to change without notice, etc., right?  There was a sub already this evening.  But, based on the printed program, here it is:

Haieff Divertimento:    Elisabeth Holowchuk (Oct. 19-21, 22 eve., 23 eve),    Courtney Anderson (Oct. 22 mat., 23 mat.),      Kirk Henning


Diamonds Pas de Deux from Jewels  Violeta Angelova,   Momchil Mladenov (Oct. 19-21, 22 mat., 23 mat),    Michael Cook (Oct. 22 eve., 23 eve)


Meditation    Courtney Anderson  (Oct. 19-21, 22 eve, 23 eve),    Momchil Mladenov  (Oct. 19-21, 22 eve., 23 eve)

                                        Elisabeth Holowchuk  (Oct. [19], 22 mat., 23 mat),    Michael Cook  (Oct. [19], 22 mat., 23 mat)


Agon                                                                 Elisabeth Holowchuk,    Momchil Mladenov

                                                                                          Violeta Angelova,  Michael Cook


Haieff Divertimento, a strange little ballet to Stravinsky-like music, got a crystalline performance, needing only the same bright white light for the quirky principal parts as for the ensembles, but instead the lighting was dimmed for those, in what seems to be the contemporary manner; I am annoyed by it many places, not just with TSFB.  But after an intermission, the Diamonds pas got a performance which respected the technique (mostly, except an effortful moment when Angelova's failed her) but not the ballet, to paraphrase an expert friend's summary.  (The hoped-for Ogden, as my casting just above shows, is not to appear, nor Renko either.)  A disappointment nicely followed by a beautiful performance of Meditation; and then after another intermission, Agon, lead by Holowchuk and Mladenov:  I don't find her an entirely satisfactory replacement for Magnicaballi, to say the least, but she has virtues, and stamina must be one of them, for it didn't show that this was her third ballet of the evening, which it brought to a pretty strong close.  The little theater was about full; the audience, more enthusiastic than the ones I sit in in the Kennedy Center (or the Broward County CPA in Ft. Lauderdale, where MCB performs, for that matter).

[Natalia]

Jack Reed, on 19 October 2011 - 07:05 PM, said:

....The hoped-for Ogden, as my casting just above shows, is not to appear, nor Renko either...

Thanks for the report, Jack. I hope to see this program on Saturday afternoon, straight from the Megabus (!). The above news on casting is disappointing, as Renko was far-and-above the finest male soloist on view in DC last weekend. He must now be with his permanent company in Seattle.

Two very different questions:

1. When will TSFB employ a full-time, year-round company?

2. Which tutu was worn in the Diamonds pdd at the Joyce: the 'dirty-yellow' (seen in DC this past weekend) or the 'bright flashlight' (seen in earlier seasons when only the pdd was performed, with the shiny mirrors on the skirt)?

[nysusan]

Natalia, on 20 October 2011 - 03:55 AM, said:

Jack Reed, on 19 October 2011 - 07:05 PM, said:

....The hoped-for Ogden, as my casting just above shows, is not to appear, nor Renko either...

Thanks for the report, Jack. I hope to see this program on Saturday afternoon, straight from the Megabus (!). The above news on casting is disappointing, as Renko was far-and-above the finest male soloist on view in DC last weekend. He must now be with his permanent company in Seattle.

Two very different questions:

1. When will TSFB employ a full-time, year-round company?

2. Which tutu was worn in the Diamonds pdd at the Joyce: the 'dirty-yellow' (seen in DC this past weekend) or the 'bright flashlight' (seen in earlier seasons when only the pdd was performed, with the shiny mirrors on the skirt)?

Natalia, I can't speak to your first question but  we got the flashlight tutu for Diamonds. And that was the least of its problems.

[Natalia]

Thanks, nysusan...I'll remember to pack my sunglasses.

[Jack Reed]

Natalia, on 20 October 2011 - 03:55 AM, said:

When will TSFB employ a full-time, year-round company?

I'm not sure whether this is just a question, maybe even a rhetorical one, or a plea, or even a prayer.  (In this last connection, I wonder whether God pays more attention to those She doesn't hear from very often.)  But as a question, I believe it's all about the m-word.  If lots more money were available from all sources - I am myself a medium-size contributor; there are a lot of smaller ones, and, thank God, some larger ones - then, as you know, things could be different.  (There are so many companies which manage a four-program-plus-Nut calendar, plus a little touring, there ought to be a name for that.)  

I don't know the whole story, and probably couldn't reveal it here if I did, because I am not a credentialed journalist to whom people can speak on the record, but as far as I know, some money comes in ear-marked, some comes in from the Kennedy Center in other ways as long as Suzanne's activity conforms to general requirements, and there may be some unrestricted funds from there too.  Some comes in from a tour, of which this may be regarded as the first stop.  It's a patchwork, but it all adds up, but not to enough in my opinion, considering the quality of what Farrell and her dancers put on stage at their best, in proportion to their comparatively slim means.  As I say, I don't know everything, and couldn't say it all if I did, but let's just say that some company budgets are only two or three times more than some company deficits.

[Natalia]

Thanks, Jack. Of course you're on the right track. I asked the question thinking, "When will a major Kennedy Center sponsor -- or the Kennedy Center itself -- put its money where its mouth is and cough-up the cash to TRULY support a full-time resident ballet troupe?" They seem to have plenty of CA$H around for Mary Poppins and other KC-sponsored musical ventures, ad nauseum.

That TSFB has achieved what it has on such limited resources is a miracle in & of itself.