31 replies to this topic

[Helene]

The "Apollo/Carmina Burana" (Rep 5) program opens next Friday, 13 April, and continues with two performances on Saturday, 14 April (matinee and evening) and runs second weekend from Thursday, 19 April-Sunday, 22 April.

PNB has just emailed me the cast info for Week 1, and I put it in a spreadsheet, which can be downloaded:
 Apollo and Carmina Burana Week 1.xlsx   33.76K   13 downloads

Peter Boal said in the "Balanchine:  Then and Now" lecture demonstration that there were four casts for "Apollo".  The disappointing news, for me at least, is that only two casts will perform first weekend, while the casting for "Carmina Burana" is more distributed.

Here is the trailer:


The "Apollo" excerpts shows some of the opening (Russell staging) that we won't see in Boal's staging, and features Patricia Barker's Terpsichore and Stanko Milov's Apollo.

[Jayne]

I do miss Stanko Milov this season, and I will feel even more in April when there are no options to see him in Apollo.  I hope he is doing well, and out of pain now with his injuries.

[sandik]

Jayne, on 04 April 2012 - 07:17 PM, said:

I do miss Stanko Milov this season, and I will feel even more in April when there are no options to see him in Apollo.  I hope he is doing well, and out of pain now with his injuries.

I agree -- I've missed his presence several times, and will miss it as well in Apollo.

[Jayne]

out of curiosity, I googled him to see if he is teaching anywhere, and found this:

http://www.stankomilov.com/teacher.htm

Quote

In the Spring of 2012 Stanko Milov will conclude his B.F.A. in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts.

Good for him!

[sandik]

Cornish students present a series of concerts as part of their BFA curriculum, and Milov had work on that program this year, but alas, I wasn't able to get there.

[Helene]

Milov did at least one work for PNB's Choreography Workshop when it still used company dancers -- now it uses Professional Division students -- a series of pas de deux to his own music, and another for "Out on a Limb" a program by the Seattle group Simple Measures, which presents music and dance in community centers and encourages audience participation.  (Their motto is "Any closer, and you'd be licking varnish.)  Milov's piece, for him and Julie Tobiason, was set to songs and movements by a range of composers, and had some of my all-time favorite pieces.

It would have been interesting to see what direction his work has taken since 2008.

[sandik]

Helene, on 05 April 2012 - 11:05 AM, said:

... the Seattle group Simple Measures, which presents music and dance in community centers and encourages audience participation.  (Their motto is "Any closer, and you'd be licking varnish.)

And a fine motto it is.

Simple Measures did a collaboration with Seattle Dance Project, the ensemble founded by Julie Tobiason and Tim Lynch, centered around music by the Beatles -- the program had some weak spots, but musically it was a real treat to hear SM transcriptions of the Beatles score.

[Helene]

First weekend casting is now up on the PNB website:

http://www.pnb.org/S...Details-Casting

[Helene]

This looks like a TV ad for Carmina, except it's probably too long to be one:



The male soloist is Christophe Maraval, whom I still miss terribly.

[Helene]

Casting is up for Week 2 on the website:
http://www.pnb.org/S...Details-Casting

Here's the grid for comparison:
 Apollo and Carmina Burana Weeks 1 and 2.xlsx   34.67K   5 downloads

Please note that there's an extra, non-subscription performance on Saturday, 21 April at 2pm.

Major debuts in week 2 are

• Postlewaite and Orza as Apollo.
  
• Murphy as Terpsichore
  
• O'Connor and Adomaitis as Calliope
  
• Mullin as Polyhymnia
  
• Lin-Yee in "In Taberna"

Imler reprises her Polyhymnia for the first time in week 2.  I'm not sure if Porretta's performances in "In Taberna" are a debut, or if he performed the role in 2004.

[Helene]

Here's a link to an interview on KPLU with Peter Boal and Seth Orza on "Apollo" and an article with excerpts from the transcript.

http://www.kplu.org/...hes-first-timer

[sandik]

Helene, on 09 April 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

Casting is up for Week 2 on the website:
http://www.pnb.org/S...Details-Casting

Here's the grid for comparison:
Apollo and Carmina Burana Weeks 1 and 2.xlsx

Please note that there's an extra, non-subscription performance on Saturday, 21 April at 2pm.

Major debuts in week 2 are

• Postlewaite and Orza as Apollo.
  
• Murphy as Terpsichore
  
• O'Connor and Adomaitis as Calliope
  
• Mullin as Polyhymnia
  
• Lin-Yee in "In Taberna"

Imler reprises her Polyhymnia for the first time in week 2.  I'm not sure if Porretta's performances in "In Taberna" are a debut, or if he performed the role in 2004.

Well this changes my schedule for the second weekend.

[Helene]

PNB has posted a lovely studio rehearsal/interview video of "Apollo" to YouTube.  Seth Orza is interviewed, there are shots of Peter Boal coaching Orza and speaking about the ballet, with a little footage of his Polyhymnia, Carrie Imler, and Calliope, Leah O'Connor.  There's also an excerpt of Laura Gilbreath's Terpsichore, at the end with her Apollo, Karel Cruz.

[Helene]

From Peter Boal's email to Friends:

Quote

- Aside from three injured dancers, every member of the Company will perform in Carmina Burana.

- Soprano soloist Christina Siemens has recently performed Carmina with the Seattle Symphony. You will recognize Christina as she is our PNB rehearsal pianist during the day (and The Voice by night!). She also sings with Doug Fullington’s Tudor Choir.

- Christina does not like the shoes she has to wear. See attached jpg.

- The Wheel of Fortune designed by Ming Cho Lee for Carmina, with its riggings, weighs in excess of 2000 pounds.

- With 15 dancers debuting roles in four casts of Apollo, only Carrie Imler returns to the role she performed in 2004.

- The stool on which Apollo sits is only 14” high. We have a higher one for Karel.

- I retired from the New York City Ballet with Apollo in 2005. In my dressing room before the performance were my wife, three kids and a caregiver. On the loudspeaker came the words, “Peter Boal to the stage for Apollo,” but the audience had to wait for another minute. Sarah Boal had just graduated from diapers and was proving her newfound abilities in my potty. The next words I heard where, “I want Daddy to clean me up.” The rapid descent from god to man had begun! (Can’t read that in the press!)

Enjoy the performances and if you’re there on Friday, wear pink to honor Alexis!

Also attached were cast lists in .pdf format, and they list the entire cast:
 Rep 5 performance casting week 1.pdf   88.88K   7 downloads

 Rep 5 performance casting week 2.pdf   100.37K   4 downloads

Attached Files

•  4-11-12 011.jpg   2.6MB   0 downloads

[sandik]

I was at the lecture and dress rehearsal this evening -- Emil de Cou and Christina Siemens were the guests at the lecture, and were very cordial.  de Cou in particular had lots of great anecdotes (apparently one of his early inspirations was a re-release of Disney's "Fantasia") but I was particularly interested in what he had to say about the relationship between Stravinsky's score for Apollo and the Orff Carmina.  He framed them as two different musical responses to WWI -- Stravinsky turning away from his primitivist work with Rite of Spring and Orff celebrating an invented Germanic heritage with Carmina.

The dress rehearsal isn't for review, but I will say that it was great fun to watch three of the four Apollos mark the opening solo together.