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ABT'S COPPELIA


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I just wanted to know if any posters saw ABT's Coppelia. If so, I'd love to read reviews of any of the performances of this comic gem. I have two ABT subscriptions so I had two tickets to Coppelia. I switched both of them to Wednesday matinee performances. The last time ABT danced Coppelia (which I'm almost positive was 2011) I noticed how much weaker it was than the NYCB Balanchine/Danilova Coppelia. I thought that was strange because Frederic Franklin staged ABT's Coppelia and he had a famous partnership with Alexandra Danilova at the Ballet Russe. From what I understand they danced Coppelia together many times. What I also find strange is that Alistair MacAuley agrees with me about ABT's Coppelia. That's a rareity. Anyway his review is in today's New York Times. Again, anyone who saw ABT's Coppelia, please post.

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I just wanted to know if any posters saw ABT's Coppelia. If so, I'd love to read reviews of any of the performances of this comic gem. I have two ABT subscriptions so I had two tickets to Coppelia. I switched both of them to Wednesday matinee performances. The last time ABT danced Coppelia (which I'm almost positive was 2011) I noticed how much weaker it was than the NYCB Balanchine/Danilova Coppelia. I thought that was strange because Frederic Franklin staged ABT's Coppelia and he had a famous partnership with Alexandra Danilova at the Ballet Russe. From what I understand they danced Coppelia together many times. What I also find strange is that Alistair MacAuley agrees with me about ABT's Coppelia. That's a rareity. Anyway his review is in today's New York Times. Again, anyone who saw ABT's Coppelia, please post.

Could it be that some ballets (or versions thereof) don't always stand the test of time? Witness the latest incarnation of "Gaite' Parisienne". This version of "Coppelia" could use some freshening and re thought. It's such a wonderful score and a fun story. it's a shame to let it become so dated.

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I attended the opening Coppelia. I also saw this three years ago with Osipova and Simkin.

I want to second the opinion that this was a triumph for Misty Copeland. I thought that she was beautiful as Swanilda. She was very funny, showed great command of the stage and the audience, and danced very well with Herman Cornejo. The production of Coppelia itself is okay - I felt that it was a little boring in certain parts. I kept waiting for Misty to come back on stage.

By the way, I tried to buy Misty Copeland's book at the Met Gift Shop, and I was told that they were completely sold out!

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I saw Gillian Murphy and Jared Matthews on Saturday night (I was at NYCB for a double dose of Mearns for the Saturday matinee). Gillian definitely has a mature diva presence as frisky little Swanilda - she isn't anyone's soubrette. But I didn't mind that because her acting and dancing are so strong. She definitely commanded the stage and her fouettés in the coda of the third act pas de deux were a thrill-a-second tour de force bravura display. Jared Matthews was wonderfully rakish and charming as Frantz and his dancing was also superb and confident. He matched Gillian in every way. However, the lack of experience in leading roles showed only in his partnering. In the third act pas de deux adagio there is a sequence where Frantz has to lift and maneuver Swanilda who is in a horizontal position up and down ending up in a fish dive position. Jared did the lifting but made Gillian look like a sack of potatoes being awkwardly rolled up and down his torso. Not every male dancer is Marcelo but had Jared been dancing more leading roles he would have become a better partner. His solos were stunningly well danced as I said and he was boyish charm personified onstage. Roman Zhurbin performed brilliantly the Dr. Coppelius this staging calls for. Devon Teuscher was strong in the Dawn solo. But Luciana Paris who has been replaced all season so far as the Flower Girl and Gypsy Girl in "Don Q", the Flower Girl in "Gaiete Parisienne" and as the first Shade in "Bayadere" looked a little careful and cramped in the "Prayer" solo. She kind of went off pointe once suggesting that she is slowly coming back from injury. For a few seasons now the dance of the hours has been done by little students of the JKO school - they were well drilled and charming if not at the level of the SAB students in NYCB's "Coppelia".

"Coppelia" is one of the best preserved 19th century ballets. The Paris Opera Ballet school has preserved a pretty exact replication of the original Arthur Saint-Leon staging and choreography with the substitution of a male Frantz. The NYCB Balanchine/Danilova and ABT Freddie Franklin versions come from a common source - Nicholas Sergeyev's recreation of the Petipa/Ivanov staging at the old Maryinsky. That in turn is identical in the second act in many ways to the Arthur Saint-Leon from Paris. However, Freddie Franklin's version probably represents what he toured with Danilova in the forties. There is considerable cutting down of the third act divertissements reflecting the fewer resources available to the old touring Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. The Bolshoi recreated the Petipa/Ivanov production and I noticed that originally the Dance of the Hours had 24 corps ballerinas representing each hour of the day. That number of hours was reduced to twelve at ABT which really is a shame - only a half day.

It would be glorious if ABT, under the supervision of Ratmansky and Yuri Burlaka, did the full Petipa/Ivanov "Coppelia" for ABT - Ratmansky's quirky comic sensibility would work wonders for it.

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