SimonA

I'm thinking of coming down to Miami for the first time for the Ratmansky premiere and was hoping for seating advice at the Arsht Center. What are the sight lines like? Any places I should avoid (there's some kind of lighting booth in the orchestra?)? Thanks!

Discounted orchestra seats available for $39 for Wednesday and Thursday: http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/event/BQBSE?promotionno=221914

I've been informed by another (usually reliable) observer that they weren't piqués but rather fast single pirouettes from 5th.

Reduced to $30... I have an extra ticket for the opening night performance of ABT's Sleeping Beauty on May 29 at 7:30 (Murphy/Gomes). Side Parterre Box 6, Seat 3 (in the front row of the box). Face value, including fees, was $101. I'm selling for $30 and can meet at the theater before the performance. Thanks!

Casting is up: Le Sacre du printemps (Stravinsky/Hodson inspired by Nijinsky) Pavlenko (1/27, 29, 31m, 2/1m), Petushkova (1/28, 30, 31e) Le Spectre de la Rose (Weber/Fokine) Shapran & Kim (1/27, 30, 2/1m), Selina & Stepin (1/28, 31e), Krasnokutskaya & Popov (1/29, 31m) The Swan (Saint-Saëns/Fokine) Lopatkina (1/27), Shapran (1/28, 31m), Skorik (1/29, 31e), Kondaurova (1/30, 2/1m) Paquita Grand Pas (Minkus/Petipa) Soloists: Lopatkina & Ivanchenko (1/27), Kondaurova & Yermakov (1/28, 31m), A. Matvienko & Askerov (1/29, 31e), Skorik & Ivanchenko (1/30, 2/1m) Variations: Ivannikova, Shapran, Sodoleva, Asaben, A. Matvienko (1/27, 28, 31m); Nikitina, Shapran, Sodoleva, Asaben, Kondaurova (1/29); Ivannikova, Kondaurova, Sodoleva, Asaben, A. Matvienko (1/30, 2/1m); Ivannikova, Shapran, Sodoleva, Asaben, Kondaurova (1/31e)

All remaining orchestra seats for the Sat and Sun Don Q matinees are being discounted for $35. Offer Number "177159." http://www.kennedy-center.org/events/?event=BOBSE&promotionno=177159

I saw The Dream opening night but missed the first half of the program. It was a joyous performance of a beautiful, warm, funny, tender and moving ballet. There aren't enough superlatives in the language for Cornejo's Puck, who stole the show. The pas de deux, for me, didn't quite ignite. Kent was stylish and idiomatic, with gorgeous epaulement, but her dancing was somewhat careful. Gomes' technique wasn't perfect, either, as he had some trouble holding the attitudes in the mirror adagio (in the "Y pose"). Still, minor quibbles in what was a buoyant performance. And, yes, the orchestra was somewhat sloppy, but I'll take the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra any day over ABT's often wan, listless, and scrappy in-house band. The children's chorus did have a false entrance in the coda, which was somewhat distracting...

Aargh!

Has casting for this season been posted anywhere?

Just FYI -- The last time I visited the NYPLPA in June, I was required to sign up for a library card simply to view the videos (and not check anything out), which I had never had to do before. The process was relatively painless, but it took up about 15 or 20 minutes of my viewing time.

Such hopes dashed already on opening night. Osipova out injured, replaced by Reyes in the Corsaire pas de deux (Boylston replacing Reyes in Symphony in C).

A persistent debate in literary criticism. "Motiveless malignancy." "Ontological absence." Spurned homosexual desire. Pick your poison.

I saw Corsaire on Thursday. I'll leave my thoughts on the dancing for another post, but, in brief, the new production is not very different from the old one (at least, as I've seen it on the 1999 DVD with Stiefel, Kent, Malakhov, et al.). It's essentially the same in spirit, and quite similar in detail. The only narratively significant departure -- to the extent that narrative is significant at all in this silly ballet -- is that

I didn't notice any changes.

How was Veronika Part in the Balanchine slow movement tonight?

I attended last night’s performance, as well, and had a more mixed reaction. I thought the men outshone the women in Symphony in C, which does not make for a great Symphony in C. The performance got off to a bit of a rough beginning: the corps seemed to be off the music at the start, and I thought Paloma Herrera’s dancing in the first movement was stiff, unmusical, and almost ungainly. Overall, ABT’s corps and demi-soloists were very polite and tended to soften Balanchine’s steps. I wished for more crispness and attack, particularly in the first movement. This was my first time seeing Hee Seo dance, and I agree with the comments I’ve read here along the lines of: exquisite upper body, not-so-exquisite legs and feet. In the second movement, she had some truly lovely, even breathtaking moments, such as her heartstopping falls into her partner’s arms. Seo undoubtedly has beautifully expressive arms and a lovely, pliant back. But I was less impressed with other aspects of her dancing, such as her batterie, and there were passages in her dancing that seemed slightly anonymous. A promising performance, but Seo didn’t quite sustain the “hold-your-breath-for-the-entire-adagio-movement” quality that Nancy Reynolds writes about. For me, Daniil Simkin stole the performance with his silky, effortless virtuosity and wonderful musicality in the third movement. His partner, Isabella Boylston, was quite fine, but my eye was constantly being drawn to Simkin (and not through showboating but the rarified quality of his dancing). Strong performances also from James Whiteside and Alexandre Hammoudi. The finale was powerful and thrilling, as it should be. The Moor’s Pavane wasn’t really my cup of tea, but there was some interesting dancing coming out of the male-male Moor-Iago pairing, with Gomes and Stearns. Julie Kent looked lovely but didn't have much to do. Ratmansky’s Symphony No. 9 was almost as scintillating on second viewing. Veronika Part was wonderful and powerfully brought out the dramatic undercurrents of the piece. I much preferred her to Semionova in the original cast. It’s a shame Herman Cornejo had to pull out of the performance (hopefully it’s only precautionary?), but Jared Matthews was a dynamo in the virtuoso role. Perhaps not quite as explosive as Cornejo, but still thrilling. Craig Salstein was once again a delight. But can I say that the Ratmansky suffered a bit in comparison to the Balanchine (not really fair, I know)? Particularly in the choreography for the corps, which was full of energy but perhaps had a bit less to say than Ratmansky’s work for the soloists. P.S. Orchestra seats for Thursday's Corsaire are being discounted for $35. Code is: "154462."

All remaining orchestra seats are being discounted at $35 for today's and tomorrow's performances. Offer number is: "154434"

Does anyone know which row does the parterre overhang the rear orchestra at the Met? Thanks!

Discount orchestra tickets ($35) are available for the Tuesday, March 26 perf with the code "153755"

FWIW, I didn't find too much of a difference between Center Parterre and the front row of the Grand Tier, certainly not to justify the price difference. Both views were unobstructed but too distant from the stage to be ideal for me. Also, regarding Parterre Box seating: front seats are the best, of course, and the middle row seats are totally useless. But in the back row, there's a section of 2 seats and a section of 1 seat divided by an aisle. If you sit in the "1 seat" section in the back row, you can (VERY subtly) kind of scooch your chair a bit toward the aisle, giving you an unobstructed view. I've had good luck in the orchestra -- the middle of row K center was fine for me (I'm 5'9"), and P1 (a released house seat) was great. But I think generally the orchestra can be a minefield.

Mine, too, though, alas, Tiler Peck isn't dancing in Allegro that night.

If anyone wants a nudge in the direction of the Serenade and Symphony in C films, PM me.

The extreme sides of the orchestra can have obstructed views of the stage, yes, depending on the staging. Someone I know sat in a side seat for the Bolshoi's Coppelia and had no idea why Swanilda and her friends in Act II were all going over to a corner of the stage (he couldn't see the doll). My favorite seats in the Opera House are Row S in the orchestra (the first row after the passage way), but those are the priciest. I also like Rows T through W, or so, though some of those rows are more raked than others. At an ABT performance, Makarova and McKenzie had house seats in Row T, and Makarova moved to a side aisle seat farther back after intermission because she couldn't see over the person in front of her. The first few rows in the upper tiers are also good in the center; I've never sat farther back upstairs.

I could have sworn that I watched at least part of last year's Kennedy Center Honors live by streaming video. I do know, for certain, though, that several songs from the Barbara Cook tribute last year were cut from the CBS broadcast. Let me add my voice to the chorus wishing that the entire Makarova tribute will be available, somewhere, for us to enjoy.

Does anyone know if this is live streaming this year? I think it has in the past, and I know parts of segments have been cut for the CBS broadcast.