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ABT To Unveil New Sleeping Beauty For 75th Anniversary


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Judging from that skirt, Aurora won't be wearing a short tutu for the Rose Adagio (I think she generally does). Color me disappointed. Maybe that explains why Vishneva was willing to perform the role. Many have noted she hadn't done a tutu ballet (not counting long tutus like in Giselle) for years.

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Hallelujah! So far, it doesn't look El Cheapo, like the same designer's ABT Nutcracker, also for Ratmansky. Costume design sketches also promising. Hopefully the fabrics will have a luxurious look and feel all the way down to the nymphs, attendant fairies, and so on.

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Judging from that skirt, Aurora won't be wearing a short tutu for the Rose Adagio (I think she generally does). Color me disappointed. Maybe that explains why Vishneva was willing to perform the role. Many have noted she hadn't done a tutu ballet (not counting long tutus like in Giselle) for years.

Even if she doesn't have to wear a short tutu, I still expect that Vishneva and the other Auroras will be expected to do the sort of choreography that characterizes a classical tutu ballet. A lot can be changed in the translation from a sketch to reality, though. Maybe Hudson drew the skirt in that way so as to give a complete idea of the decoration around the border. The skirt/tutu may in fact be more perpendicular to the floor when it is constructed. I must say that I'm not immediately taken by the red/pink color combo. Here's the promotional picture of Seo in the costume (or a version of the costume):

http://support.abt.org/image/SeoSleepingBeautyFerri.jpg

One of the few things I liked about the old ABT production was Aurora's birthday costume. I thought the garlands of flowers around the tutu and embellishments on the bodice were very pretty.

ABT_forweb_2.jpg

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Posted by Vishneva on her Instagram:

About working on the Sleeping beauty with Ratmansky. The new version premiere is already in March. 'He is staging the Petipa version based on the same notation by Nikolai Sergeyev that Sergey Vikharev worked with at the Mariinski Theatre. Alexey has been thouroughly exploring these notes, and he is absolutely mesmorized with what they reveal: it is a text completely different from what we know. And he wants to go back to the original. Alexey says that we need to find the right percentage ratio between what can be revived and what will have to be stylized'. From the Time of Culture magazine interview.

She also posted a video in slow motion of rehearsing the fish dive with Gomes: https://instagram.com/p/zjSM45wWwv/?modal=true

Gomes rehearsing Carabosse: https://instagram.com/p/zJRfDnCuTc/?modal=true

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It'd be nice if ABT would put this on Bluray... From the art designs and interviews alone I'd really love to see it. I wish they were like the Bolshoi or Royal and put out some Bluray releases or live web telecasts every once in a while since not everyone can fly to NY all of the time or California to see them...

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It will be interesting to compare this production with Sergei Vikharev's reading of the same Stepanov notes for the Mariinsky's celebrated version ca 1998. That one reproduced the magnificent 1890 designs. ABT appears to be opting for a hybrid of Tsarist-era steps with 1921-Diaghilev designs.

Will we see, for example, a Carabosse like Enrico Cecchetti-1890, or one like Carlotta Brianza-1921?

It will be fascinating to compare the Florine solo of A3. Will the placement of steps to the music be as 'odd' as what we saw with the Vikharev?

During the A2 Nymphs scene, will Aurora balance on a seashell? (Not sure if Bakst included a seashell in the 1921 designs.)

Will there be a truly grand parade of storybook characters to open A3, as we saw with the Vikharev production at the Mariinsky? The languidly-paced, Tsarist magnificence of that procession was the piece de resistance of that Vikharev production for me.

If Ratmansky is staging the Stepanov steps, how long will the show last? Four hours, as in Vikharev 's Mariinsky production? Or will it be a two and a half-hour typical western production with 'union overtime' in mind...in which case, how can Ratmansky truly do justice to the Stepanov notation of Beauty?

Now I'm truly looking forward to this production. Bring it on, ABT!

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Casting update. The ABT website indicates that Whiteside is replaced in SB for the California performances. Hammoudi replaces Whiteside in the lead role of Prince Desire, and Hoven replaces Whiteside as Bluebird.

Looking forward to hearing reports.

Hope this isn't a long term injury for Whitside.

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If Ratmansky is staging the Stepanov steps, how long will the show last? Four hours, as in Vikharev 's Mariinsky production? Or will it be a two and a half-hour typical western production with 'union overtime' in mind...in which case, how can Ratmansky truly do justice to the Stepanov notation of Beauty?

Now I'm truly looking forward to this production. Bring it on, ABT!

According to La Scala, the length is 3 hours with one 15-minute intermission, when the 1999 Vikharev reconstruction was presented at Met, it's 3:45 with three 20-minute intermissions. So the 2 versions are of the same length. And the complete SB score CD by Mariinsky Orchestra is 2'41" http://www.amazon.com/Sleeping-Beauty-Pyotr-Ilyich-Tchaikovsky/dp/B00000415B/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1425061702&sr=8-4&keywords=sleeping+beauty+kirov I assume nothing is cut in Ratmansky's reconstruction.

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Here's something sort of on topic. It's a Sleeping Beauty cast list from the National Ballet of Ukraine, ca. 1992. Unfortunately the ticket stub slipped out so I can't give you an exact date. This was a leftover Soviet-era program in which theater ushers would mark the dancer performing that evening from a list of all interpreters of a role. Obviously, it was a system poorly suited to accommodating debuts. Penciled in as Aurora is guest artist Kumiko Ochi. Penciled in as Désiré is Alexei "Rotmansky." And at the top of the second page you can see Irina Dvorovenko penciled in as the second prologue fairy.

16477460368_08e0f827fd_b.jpg

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The above NY Times article says the Ratmansky production is 3 hours, including 2 intermissions. It also says that the Mariinsky reconstruction was 4 hours, but Ratmansky is not using all of the reconstructed material.

Thanks, abatt. So it will be an 'a-la-mode hybrid,' similar to Ratmansky's recent Munich Paquita, which cut much of the music and scenes (e.g., A3 pdd) that one sees in the POB Lacotte version. Ok, just so folks are clear that the use of the Harvard notes is partial.

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Ok, just so folks are clear that the use of the Harvard notes is partial.

That's assuming that the Harvard notes include the entire ballet. As I understand it, this SB includes reconstruction from notation and material gleaned from photos, illustrations, and other written sources.

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Just a personal note: I saw the 1890 Vikharev reconstruction at the Metropolitan Opera back in 1999 during a Kirov-Mariinsky tour. I was fascinated but not convinced that it was the greatest most definitive statement of the work. First of all, the sets and costumes were a hodgepodge - all sorts of colors and styles all over the place. There were several different designers working on the original 1890 Mariinsky Imperial Ballet production and the different scenic designers for each act and the costume designer were not working together. The color palette of the scenery and costumes were very jarring and uncoordinated - too many colors and shapes and styles going on at once. The scenery looked like it was borrowed from different productions and no set looked in the same style as another. The corps de ballet were in tutus of various designs and lengths with tons of heavy appliqué. They looked awkward and busy - each group of dancers had radically different designs of costumes segregating them into discrete groups rather than part of a homogeneous group. These clumps of dancers in different outfits made the group dances - grand ballabili - look different - individual groups rather than one large group. A friend said that the heavy scenery and busy costumes reminded her of a children's panto in her native England. The one thing that I hope ABT can recreate is the panorama in Act II with the complete music.

The Bakst designs are much more sophisticated and elegant in style. Also, my reaction to the Vikharev "Sleeping Beauty" and "Bayadere" was that it was better for Western choreographers to modify and cut down from the Petipa original from the Harvard notes rather than edit from an already condensed edited version dating from 1952 by Konstantin Sergeyev (the traditional Soviet "Beauty") or the 1930's Sadlers Wells staging. Reproducing the 1952 Konstantin Sergeyev or the old Royal Ballet version done by Nicolas Sergeyev is already two or three generations from the original. I am glad for the cuts and I am glad for the new/old designs.

The NY Times article links a review by Anna Kisselgoff of the 1890 reconstruction - she is not totally convinced and notes later choreography interpolated into the recreated Petipa original - notably for Prince Desiré added to the original 1890 version. I would guess that the 50ish Pavel Gerdt danced rather simple solos that a Marcelo Gomes or Herman Cornejo would not want to dance...

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/30/arts/dance-review-a-4-hour-kirov-sleeping-beauty-for-the-90-s-that-is-1890-s.html

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Hang on.

The Munich Paquita made no Act 3 cuts in the Petipa version. We used everything in the Petersburg violin repetiteur from start to finish of that act. Of course, the Petipa version was different from the original Parisian version of 1846.

If you are taking the Lacotte Paquita as gospel, you should consult sources, both from Paris and Petersburg. You will find the Lacotte Paquita includes material not found in sources.

Further, the Stepanov notation of Beauty is incomplete. Also, the Vikharev Beauty included material/music not included in the 1890 Beauty, accounting for the longer running time.

I suggest taking the Ratmansky Beauty on its own terms. See it first, then make comments.

Sorry to be so blunt, but there is so much supposition here, I could not help myself. smile.png

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Further, the Stepanov notation of Beauty is incomplete.

...

Sorry to be so blunt, but there is so much supposition here, I could not help myself. smile.png

Will there be some kind of list or index available anywhere that lays out what's in the Stepanov score and what's missing? I think that might be a help for those of us who are trying to get our heads around what we know from text and what we extrapolate.

Hardly blunt, in my opinion, but we're all very excited to see what this comes out like. We're all hanging around the stove waiting for the timer to go off!

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