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ABT To Unveil New Sleeping Beauty For 75th Anniversary


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I just don't see ABT doing a 3 hour work. There is musician and stage hand overtime to consider. My husband was a stage manager on broadway shows and time was always of the essence. Aside from that this is a work people bring their kids to - it it lasts for 3 hours it better be very magical.

ABT has been using 7:30 start times during the week nights, so that doesn't seem too terrible for a ballet to get out around 10:30. Most Broadway shows let out around then. And I believe a 10:30 curtain would satisfy the unions also.

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I'm always troubled when directors cut music from a score. Should the NY Philharmonic cut parts out of a Symphony?

Pytor must be rolling in his grave, to a very loud brass and percussion section.tiphat.gif

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Could anyone recommend particularly good SBs on either DVD or YouTube? I've only ever seen ABT's, and I have my own sense of certain ways in which it falls short, but I'd like to get a better sense of how some other companies have made more of the piece's potential so that I have a basis for comparison once I see Ratmansky's next spring.

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The Royal Ballet's DVD with Alina Cojocaru and Frederico Bonelli is excellent and the RB Sleeping Beauty considered to be a gold standard in terms of mime and authenticity of notation and steps.

Thanks. Is the same true (production-wise) of the earlier Durante/Solymosi/Dowell RB version, do you know?

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The Durante/Solymosi/Dowell version has some of the same choreography but a very different production. The aesthetic was not to everyone's taste and I believe it was junked soon thereafter.

Yes, Dowell's production lasted about five years. http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/production.aspx?production=862&row=0&person=Dowell&searchtype=workprodperf&title=Sleeping%20Beauty

However, Makarova's production was even more short-lived. It lasted all of one year. http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/production.aspx?production=1422&row=0&person=Natalia%20Makarova&searchtype=workprodperf&title=Sleeping%20Beauty

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I just don't see ABT doing a 3 hour work. There is musician and stage hand overtime to consider. My husband was a stage manager on broadway shows and time was always of the essence. Aside from that this is a work people bring their kids to - it it lasts for 3 hours it better be very magical.

ABT has been using 7:30 start times during the week nights, so that doesn't seem too terrible for a ballet to get out around 10:30. Most Broadway shows let out around then. And I believe a 10:30 curtain would satisfy the unions also.

Opening night for ABT, the Ushers noted how nice it was to get out at a decent hour. Met Operas can last 3.5 hours.

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Another press release (although it's got more about the Segerstrom Center than it does on the Sleeping Beauty production!):

Segerstrom Center Presents World Premiere of American Ballet Theatre’s New Production of The Sleeping Beauty

Choreography by Alexei Ratmansky with sets and costumes by Richard Hudson March 3 – 8, 2015 in Segerstrom Hall; tickets go on sale January 11

COSTA MESA, CA – American Ballet Theatre returns to Segerstrom Center premiering an all-new production of the classic ballet The Sleeping Beauty as choreographed by Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky. ABT’s return to Orange County from March 3 – 8 marks the company’s 23rd visit to the Center. Pacific Symphony will perform the beloved score by Tchaikovsky. Sets and costumes are by Tony Award®-winning designer Richard Hudson. The production will receive its New York premiere during ABT’s 2015 spring season, certain to be a cornerstone during the Company’s celebratory 75th anniversary year at the Metropolitan Opera House. This version of The Sleeping Beauty is the Company’s fourth production of the ballet and marks Ratmansky’s eleventh work for ABT.

“I have long wanted to choreograph a version of The Sleeping Beauty,” said Ratmansky. “Tchaikovsky’s complex score and Petipa’s choreography represent the highest achievement of Russian classical art. It symbolizes the harmony and magic of classical dance for me.”

Hudson’s designs will be based on the historic work of Léon Bakst, who created a seminal version of The Sleeping Beauty for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1921. This will be Hudson’s third collaboration with Ratmansky for American Ballet Theatre, having previously designed scenery and costumes for The Nutcracker (2010) and costumes for Dumbarton (2011).

Tickets for American Ballet Theatre’s The Sleeping Beauty start at $29 and will go on sale Sunday, January 11, 2015 at 10 a.m. PST. Ticket will be available at SCFTA.org, by calling (714) 556-2787 and at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. For inquiries about group ticket discounts, call the Group Services office at (714) 755-0236. The TTY number is (714) 556-2746. Free Preview Talks will be conducted one hour prior to each performance. Artists and program are subject to change.

The Center's International Dance Series is made possible by: Audrey Steele Burnand Endowed Fund for International Dance and The Segerstrom Foundation Endowment for Great Performances with special underwriting support from Diane and Harry Johnson. Classical KUSC and COAST Magazine are Media Partners of the International Dance Series. Segerstrom Center for the Arts applauds Kia, the Official Automotive Partner of the Center. United Airlines is the Official Airline of the Center. David H. Koch is the Lead Underwriter of American Ballet Theatre’s The Sleeping Beauty. This production is generously supported through an endowed gift from The Toni and Martin Sosnoff New Works Fund and through a grant from the Lloyd E. Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation. ABT gratefully acknowledges Linda Allard for her generous support of costumes for The Sleeping Beauty. This production of The Sleeping Beauty is a co-production with Teatro alla Scala.

American Ballet Theatre is one of the great dance companies in the world. Few ballet companies equal ABT for its combination of size, scope and outreach. Recognized as a living national treasure since its founding in 1940, ABT annually tours the United States, performing for more than 400,000 people, and is the only major cultural institution to do so. It has also made more than 30 international tours to 44 countries as perhaps the most representative American ballet company and has been sponsored by the State Department of the United States on many of these engagements.

Over its 75-year history, the Company has appeared in a total of 132 cities in 44 countries. ABT has also appeared in all fifty states of the United States. ABT has recently enjoyed triumphant successes with engagements in Brisbane, Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Hong Kong, Moscow and Tokyo.
On April 27, 2006, by an act of Congress, American Ballet Theatre became America’s National Ballet Company®.

Pacific Symphony, which marks its 36th season in 2014-15, is led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, who celebrates his milestone 25th anniversary season with the orchestra. The largest orchestra formed in the U.S. in the last 50 years, the Symphony is recognized as an outstanding ensemble making strides on both the national and international scene, as well as in its own community of Orange County. Presenting more than 100 concerts a year and a rich array of education and community programs, the Symphony reaches more than 275,000 residents—from school children to senior citizens. The Symphony offers repertoire ranging from the great orchestral masterworks to music from today’s most prominent composers, highlighted by the annual American Composers Festival and a series of multimedia concerts called “Music Unwound.”

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is unique as both an acclaimed arts institution and as a multi- disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center is Orange County’s largest non-profit arts organization and owns and operates the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Judy Morr Theater, which opened in 1986, and the 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses the 500-seat Samueli Theater, the studio performance space and Boeing Education Lab. A spacious arts plaza anchors Segerstrom Center for Arts and is home to numerous free performances throughout the year as part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts’ ongoing Free for All series. The American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School at Segerstrom Center opens in 2015.

The Center presents a broad range of programming for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family- friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. The Center’s arts-in-education programs are designed to inspire young people through the arts and reach hundreds of thousands of students each year. In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independent acclaimed organizations: Tony Award®-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region’s major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

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I noticed that the running time is 3 hours, including intermission. Hopefully this means that the Ratmansky version will restore all of those wedding act divertissements that McKenzie inexplicably cut in the interest of getting the kids home early.

Kevin didn't cut those, abatt, that was all Gelsey and her husband. I well remember a Guggenheim Works and Process about the production before it opened. Gelsey was very proud that she and her husband had rethought the ballet story and eliminated all these "inessential" dances.

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Could anyone recommend particularly good SBs on either DVD or YouTube? I've only ever seen ABT's, and I have my own sense of certain ways in which it falls short, but I'd like to get a better sense of how some other companies have made more of the piece's potential so that I have a basis for comparison once I see Ratmansky's next spring.

I saw the Mariinsky reconstructed SB in its entirety on YT. It was interesting but a little long (and I unfortunately do not remember Aurora). However, Russia has been cracking down on YT channels lately so it may no longer be there.

I very much like Durante in the old RB version of SB. There is also a rather nice Mariinsky version from about 1990 that I have on DVD, with Larissa Lezhnina as Aurora and Farukh Ruzimatov as Prince Desire.

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Diana Vishneva's in NYC rehearsing the new Beauty. A Russian friend told me there's an interview of DV in a Russian magazine where she mentioned the new Beauty is more of reconstruction than rechoreograph. Here's a picture of the 5 Auroras DV posted on FB:

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After watching the Bavarian Paquita on live-stream, and spending last weekend with Ratmansky's staging of Don Q (at Pacific Northwest Ballet) I'm really sorry that I won't see this Sleeping Beauty any time soon -- Ratmansky has a very special gift staging the 19th c classics.

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Denys Nedak has now filled the TBA spot to dance with Herrera on March 6.

Really -- is there no one at ABT who can do the job? I know I'm preaching to the choir in this forum, but artistic staff really needs to take a close look at what's going on if they can't use their very own dancers.

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Casting for Carabosse, Lilac Fairy and the Bluebird PdD in CA is now listed on ABT's site. I can't figure out what role the sixth name is for? Anyone know? Glad to see Trenary and Shayer given soloist roles. But it's a shame how little Part and Lane have been given.

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1. Aurora

2. Désiré

3. Lilac

4. Carabosse

5. Florine

6. Blue Bird

7. Diamond? Gold? White Cat? Red Riding Hood? Cinderella?

The role for the 7th name is a mystery. I suspect it's one of the jewel fairies, but then Gold, Silver, Sapphire, or Diamond doesn't stand out from the other three.

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Based on the casting I agree with Vipa that Bluebird & Florine are probably 6 & 7, but I don't know which role 5 is. Part has 3 Lilac Fairies, including opening night and Lane has 2 Florines, or whatever soloist role 7 represents. I'm disappointed that neither one is cast as Aurora, but Lilac & Florine are nothing to sneeze at, especially Lilac.

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Denys Nedak has now filled the TBA spot to dance with Herrera on March 6.

Really -- is there no one at ABT who can do the job? I know I'm preaching to the choir in this forum, but artistic staff really needs to take a close look at what's going on if they can't use their very own dancers.

This would have been Ratmansky's decision to make. I don't think it can be counted among McKenzie's sins, and I guess he isn't alone in doubting ABT's own roster.

I have been a passionate ABT supporter for 30 years, and I attend at least fifteen ABT performances a year. So it breaks my heart to even write this. While Volcanohunter is probably right that this was Ratmansky’s decision, his choice would have been based on the ABT dancers available to him. As we know, many dancers have left over the last few years due to retirement or dance opportunities elsewhere. Since many dancers have not been replaced, ABT is at a record low as far as the total number of full time principals and soloists. And sadly, many of these remaining dancers in this tiny roster are no longer in their prime. And that’s not even addressing the incredible number of talented corps dancers who have left the company over the last three years. So I do blame the Artistic Director, as he is responsible for ABT’s roster. How can you run a world class ballet company with a skeleton crew?

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