290 replies to this topic

[abatt]

Actually, the smart thing for ABT to do, in terms of making money, is to schedule Osipova w. an ABT regular partner, and schedule Vasiliev with a different partner.  That way people have to go to two performances to see them.  That's what they did with Coppelia last season.  They cast Vasiliev w. Reyes, and Osipova w. Simkin.

[California]

abatt, on 09 July 2012 - 06:57 AM, said:

Actually, the smart thing for ABT to do, in terms of making money, is to schedule Osipova w. an ABT regular partner, and schedule Vasiliev with a different partner.  That way people have to go to two performances to see them.  That's what they did with Coppelia last season.  They cast Vasiliev w. Reyes, and Osipova w. Simkin.

Interesting idea. If they schedule them together, we'll have to watch out for that "dynamic pricing"! I do think people would feel cheated if they didn't do it together at least some of the time -- it's the ballet that brought them to the attention of American audiences as much as anything they've done. And they're so obviously comfortable doing the ballet together. That Bolshoi performance is a treasured memory - really astonishing. I know plenty of people complain about their "tricks," but they do high-risk partnering in that ballet I have never seen anywhere.

[Natalia]

California, on 09 July 2012 - 03:24 AM, said:

...... I thought Mussel was just speculating, based on past experiences (not unreasonably, I might add).

OHHHHHH....scanned the list and assumed that this had been announced, with title "2013 MET Season." Took it to be that. My bad.

Maybe the title of this thread should be "Fantasy 2013 MET Season"?

[Birdsall]

Natalia, on 09 July 2012 - 08:17 AM, said:

California, on 09 July 2012 - 03:24 AM, said:

...... I thought Mussel was just speculating, based on past experiences (not unreasonably, I might add).

OHHHHHH....scanned the list and assumed that this had been announced, with title "2013 MET Season." Took it to be that. My bad.

Maybe the title of this thread should be "Fantasy 2013 MET Season"?

Mussel was very accurate last spring when he announced the 2012 season. I tend to think he knows what he's talking about. Sure, things could change between now and spring 2013, but he was great at his "predictions" (notice the quotes) a year ago.

[Birdsall]

abatt, on 09 July 2012 - 06:57 AM, said:

Actually, the smart thing for ABT to do, in terms of making money, is to schedule Osipova w. an ABT regular partner, and schedule Vasiliev with a different partner.  That way people have to go to two performances to see them.  That's what they did with Coppelia last season.  They cast Vasiliev w. Reyes, and Osipova w. Simkin.

    True. I bought a ticket to Vasiliev's Solor so I could catch him, even though I had already planned on the Vishneva/Gomes/Osipova Bayadere (although Vishneva cancelled). So it probably does make sense to separate the Osipova/Vasiliev phenomena to help sell more shows. However, they did do a Corsaire with them both. So I am still hoping for at least one of the DQs having them together. I think both Basilio and Kitri are like signature roles and they both have the same level of energy on stage. It would be a shame to deny people who like them both the chance to see them in it together at least once. But it probably is smarter to separate them out.

[California]

Birdsall, on 09 July 2012 - 09:32 AM, said:

However, they did do a Corsaire with them both.

I'm looking at my print-out of the earliest casting from 10/13/11 and, by golly, Osipova and Vasiliev were scheduled together on Thursday, July 5, right from the beginning. Quite a few casting changes occurred later, of course, but that was in the original gameplan. (Vasiliev replaced Gomes on July 4 and Ilyin on July 6, e.g.)

[mussel]

Waelsung, on 08 July 2012 - 09:55 PM, said:

Now, as far as the casting goes, may we please have:

Semionova/Gomes in Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Manon

I think Seminonova/Hallberg is a more likely pairing in Swan Lake as they did same this past season

Quote

Osipova/Vasiliev in Don Q and Le Corsaire

Vishneva/Gomes in Manon

I think that's a given.  Gomes is Vishneva's partner of choice.  Vishneva mentioned Manon's her favorite role and she loves to dance Onegin so V/G will probably be in Onegin and Manon.  I expect Vishneva will dance A Month in the Country.  If you look at her reps past several years she seemed to move away from the 19th century Russian to 20th century narrative at ABT.  It's like as she's saying "If I want to dance the Russian classics I'd rather do the real things at the Mariinsky than your water downed versions, so I'll dance the roles I don't normally do at MT".

I think Osipova will dance Aurora as she did in 2010, possibly with Hallberg and I expect Ratmansky will cast her in one of his trio.

Quote

I'm sure a lot of people would pay top dollars to see Lopatkina, Kondaurova, and/or Tereshkina in pretty much anything.

They danced Symphony in C at the Met last year and they sold out.

[aurora]

mussel, on 09 July 2012 - 10:01 AM, said:

I expect Vishneva will dance A Month in the Country.  If you look at her reps past several years she seemed to move away from the 19th century Russian to 20th century narrative at ABT.  It's like as she's saying "If I want to dance the Russian classics I'd rather do the real things at the Mariinsky than your water downed versions, so I'll dance the roles I don't normally do at MT".

I rather hope not. That sounds snotty, so lets not put words in her mouth. Maybe she is just happy to take advantage of different rep than she has access to there.

Anyway it isn't like the Mariinsky was exactly eager to give her swan lake, if I remember correctly. And as problematic as ABT's is, I'd rather have it, with the mime passages and sad (if truncated) ending intact.

Happy ending and no "I am the queen of the swans" mime is watered down as far as I'm concerned.

[mussel]

aurora, on 09 July 2012 - 10:29 AM, said:

mussel, on 09 July 2012 - 10:01 AM, said:

I expect Vishneva will dance A Month in the Country.  If you look at her reps past several years she seemed to move away from the 19th century Russian to 20th century narrative at ABT.  It's like as she's saying "If I want to dance the Russian classics I'd rather do the real things at the Mariinsky than your water downed versions, so I'll dance the roles I don't normally do at MT".

I rather hope not. That sounds snotty, so lets not put words in her mouth. Maybe she is just happy to take advantage of different rep than she has access to there.

Anyway it isn't like the Mariinsky was exactly eager to give her swan lake, if I remember correctly. And as problematic as ABT's is, I'd rather have it, with the mime passages and sad (if truncated) ending intact.

Happy ending and no "I am the queen of the swans" mime is watered down as far as I'm concerned.

You're right, I didn't mean to give people impression I put words in her mouth.  It's just my impression of her reps at ABT in recent years.

[abatt]

Vishneva learned the role of Aurora for the ABT production and performed it exactly once during the initial run of this current production.  (She called in sick for performance number two of that run.)  She has never done it at ABT since (though I did see her do SB with the Mariinsky in DC 2 or 3 years ago).  I would not expect to see her Aurora at ABT again.

[aurora]

abatt, on 09 July 2012 - 10:49 AM, said:

Vishneva learned the role of Aurora for the ABT production and performed it exactly once during the initial run of this current production.  (She called in sick for performance number two of that run.)  She has never done it at ABT since (though I did see her do SB with the Mariinsky in DC 2 or 3 years ago).  I would not expect to see her Aurora at ABT again.

I have no idea what her motivations are, but if she REALLY IS acting the way people on this board credit her with (and you all do it without criticizing her)--refusing to dance with anyone but Marcello, refusing to do roles to the point of calling in sick to avoid them, etc--then I really think she should be a "guest artist" and free up one of the principal positions. I know she is a star, but that is being a Diva.

If you are going to be in a company you should treat it with a modicum of respect.

I have no idea if any of this is true. Its the impression, however, I've gotten from what people here who seem to be her fans are saying.

[Natalia]

Birdsall, thanks for the explanation. Mussell is indeed super-accurate.

Aurora, I must agree on the need for a professional artist to treat his/her employer with respect. So Vishneva is set to perform two consecutive Juliets in St Petersburg/Mariinsky, tomorrow and Wednesday nights, for the filming of a long-planned DVD of the full Lavrovsky production. Hopefully she will follow through with this important project!   (Same casts both nights; Ivanchenko as Romeo, Tybalt-Kuznetsov, A. Sergeev-Mercutio.)

Links to tomorrow and Wed casts: http://www.mariinsky...12/7/10/1_1900/   and    http://www.mariinsky...12/7/11/1_1900/

(Sorry for cross-over topic but we were discussing Vishneva, who is principal in both troupes.)

[Drew]

California, on 09 July 2012 - 05:54 AM, said:

I've long had the impression that Orange County (now Segerstrom) has some kind of special relationship with Ardani Management. They've had Kings of Dance, Tour de Fource, Reflections, Eifmann, and the Firebird premiere in recent years. Next year, they'll have Mariinsky and Eifman again. All are on the Ardani "projects" list, as is Osipova.
http://www.ardani.co...anyprojects.php
I have no idea what the connection is, but Segerstrom gets almost all of their attractions performing in the U.S. But Osipova doesn't seem to do the grinding ABT tours otherwise (Chicago, Asia, etc.)

Osipova danced with the company in Chicago this past March (I saw the performance); According to the listings on the ABT website for their last Asian tour, she also was scheduled for an R&J w. Hallberg in Japan. I assume it happened but don't know. I do not see her scheduled for their Asia tour this year.

[Birdsall]

Natalia, on 09 July 2012 - 11:42 AM, said:

Birdsall, thanks for the explanation. Mussell is indeed super-accurate.

Aurora, I must agree on the need for a professional artist to treat his/her employer with respect. So Vishneva is set to perform two consecutive Juliets in St Petersburg/Mariinsky, tomorrow and Wednesday nights, for the filming of a long-planned DVD of the full Lavrovsky production. Hopefully she will follow through with this important project!   (Same casts both nights; Ivanchenko as Romeo, Tybalt-Kuznetsov, A. Sergeev-Mercutio.)

Links to tomorrow and Wed casts: http://www.mariinsky...12/7/10/1_1900/   and http://www.mariinsky...12/7/11/1_1900/

(Sorry for cross-over topic but we were discussing Vishneva, who is principal in both troupes.)

Super cool info, Natalia! Thanks!!!!

[California]

Drew, on 09 July 2012 - 11:43 AM, said:

California, on 09 July 2012 - 05:54 AM, said:

I've long had the impression that Orange County (now Segerstrom) has some kind of special relationship with Ardani Management. They've had Kings of Dance, Tour de Fource, Reflections, Eifmann, and the Firebird premiere in recent years. Next year, they'll have Mariinsky and Eifman again. All are on the Ardani "projects" list, as is Osipova.
http://www.ardani.co...anyprojects.php
I have no idea what the connection is, but Segerstrom gets almost all of their attractions performing in the U.S. But Osipova doesn't seem to do the grinding ABT tours otherwise (Chicago, Asia, etc.)

Osipova danced with the company in Chicago this past March (I saw the performance); According to the listings on the ABT website for their last Asian tour, she also was scheduled for an R&J w. Hallberg in Japan. I assume it happened but don't know. I do not see her scheduled for their Asia tour this year.

I'm impressed! I didn't realize she was doing so much touring. I know she (and Vasiliev) cancelled on the second Tour de Force (the gala at Segerstrom), but don't know about other commitments. I was stunned to see Vasiliev doing four consecutive Corsaires earlier this month. Perhaps they both want to show they're reliable team members. Osipova is listed now as a regular principal, but not Vasiliev. Perhaps that will be next. Now that they've cut ties with the Bolshoi and Mikhailovsky couldn't perform at Lincoln Center, they need a high-profile home, and that would seem to be ABT.