19 replies to this topic

[sandik]

First week casting is up -- we get multiple choices for Concerto B, Front Porch of Heaven, and Paul Gibson's new Mozart work, and a full run of the same cast for Upper Room.

[Helene]

The three "Concerto Barocco" casts look terrific:  Korbes/Imler/Bold, Chapman/Rausch/Lin-Yee, and Gilbreath/Dec/Cruz.  We didn't see any of the pas de deux work during the "Men in Ballet" presentation on Monday, but there will be a tall (Dec/Cruz) and a medium-less tall cast (Korbes/Orza) at least for the new Paul Gibson Mozart piece.  In the pas de trois, the opening cast is Nakamura/Griffiths/Moore, and we saw a section for Griffiths and Moore, and a bit of Nakamura in the finale.  Like all of the pieces we saw, the roles will take a lot of energy.  It's going to be a great opportunity for Carli Samuelson in the Nakamura role, and Andrew Bartee and Jerome Tisserand in Griffths' and Moore's.  Also, the way the casting is formatted, it looks like Ryan Cardea may have a solo or featured role; we saw him in the male quartet.  Mullin and Murphy might be the two newcomers to the Tharp.

[Jayne]

Doing a happy dance today.  Looks like a great cast for my show.  I didn't like "In the Upper Room" the first time I saw it, or on further youtube video bits.  But I have to wonder if it's because I can't see much of the dancing due to those awful striped pyjamas?  If they wore simple leotards would I like it more?  I may have to do the old Balanchine trick and close my eyes and just enjoy the music.

[SandyMcKean]

Quote

I can't see much of the dancing due to those awful striped pyjamas

Those PJs are one of my favorite things in the ballet.  Touch those, and I'll have to...............

[sandik]

I love Upper Room, and think the costumes really add something to the work, especially the bright red panties on some of the ballet women!

[jsmu]

sandik, I'm scandalized at such remarks--and here I was innocently enjoying the bright red socks and pointe shoes.

[jsmu]

Jayne, the casting is about as strong as possible for the first three Tharp performances, and that may well help.
I find it VERY depressing that the marvelous (in every way) Imler is apparently not going to be given the principal Barocco role.
Obviously Boal subscribes to the long/lean/Farrell-archetype view of casting this part, which is a pity because
Marie-Jeanne, who of course created the ballerina role, was not tall. She also had astounding feet, a huge jump, and tremendous strength.
The part was also far, far jazzier and more interesting then, according to virtually every account of the ballet through the years.
Not tall, great feet, great jump, jazzy, and incredibly strong sounds more like Imler  than just about any other dancer in PNB or out of it.

[Helene]

I want them to do the film thing where Imler dances both roles, but I've seen her in Diana Adams' role before, and she's really great in it.

[sandik]

jsmu, on 09 March 2013 - 08:32 PM, said:

sandik, I'm scandalized at such remarks--and here I was innocently enjoying the bright red socks and pointe shoes.

Oh, those too!

[jsmu]

Thank you. Imler and Imler. I think it's a concept.
Adams also did the first ballerina role, though not with LeClercq. The clip of the two of them on the Balanchine documentary thing is almost indescribable. the unison and the intent.

[Helene]

PNB tweeted a link to a rehearsal video of Dove's "Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven."

It opens with Joshua Grant (bandana) and William Lin-Yee (headband).  Then Elizabeth Murphy (dark blue leotard) dances with Karel Cruz (blue hoodie). They are joined by Lindsi Dec (turquoise leotard) and Laura Gilbreath (white leotard). The three women in the latter 2/3 of the video are, l-r,  Dec, Gilbreath, and Murphy.

[Helene]

The formatting on the website has been corrected:  it is a male quartet with Cardea/Davis/Hipolito/Thomson.  Here's the casting in Excel format:
 Rep 4 performance casting week 1.xls   37.5K   6 downloads

[Helene]

A 25% discount except on the cheapest tickets is in effect for the first weekend of Modern Masterpieces (Friday eve and Sat mat and eve) until noon tomorrow PDT.

https://www.pnb.org/promo/modern

[Helene]

I just received the Week 2 casting spreadsheet from PNB; it should be up on the website soon.

 Rep 4 performance casting week 2.xls   38K   2 downloads

Principal casts for "Concerto Barocco":

Thurs (21) and Sun matinee (24):  Chapman/Rausch/Lin-Yee

Fri (22):  Gilbreath/Dec/Cruz

Sat evening (23):  Korbes/Imler/Bold

Principal casts for "Mozart Pieces":

Thurs (21) and Sat evening (23):  Dec/Cruz, Nakamura/Griffiths/Moore

Fri (22) and Sun matinee (24):  Korbes/Orza, Samuelson/Bartee/Tisserand

Principal casts for "Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven"

Thurs (21):  Dec/Kitchens*/Murphy, Cruz/Bold/Lin-Yee

Fri (22) and Sat evening (23):  Chapman/Rausch/Foster, Orza/Tisserand/Bartee

Sun matinee (24): Dec/Gilbreath/Murphy, Cruz/Bold/Lin-Yee

*first performance this rep

There's a single cast for "In the Upper Room," same as Week 1.

[SandyMcKean]

Thanks Helene, as always, for the casting sheets.

I can only go one weekend.  As far as I can tell, all 3 casts perform the 3 performances on the 1st weekend, and all casts perform the 4 performances on the 2nd weekend (except for some very minor switches -- such as Kitchens for Gilbreath for a single performance).

Am I missing anything?  I hope not because if I have this right, I can see all 3 casts in one weekend (looks like I'll be going the 1st weekend).