Terez

Wow, I'm not sure about a Frankenstein plus a later encore program of it. Did audiences really like it that much?! Can't say I like this encore business in general. I just can't make all the programs and I've always enjoyed seeing the final program late in the season. Oh well, new AD, new setup. Thrilled they'll be doing Broken Wings again. Wow did I love that.

Got the press release in the email and, wow, lots of new names. No surprise that the composition of the roster is evolving, with Rojo at the helm. I suspect we'll see familiar names dropped from the roster as well. I'm shocked, but pleased, to see that Dores Andre and Max Cauthorn will be returning (especially in the light of Angelo Greco's departure). Here is the link to the official roster: https://www.sfballet.org/app/uploads/2024/04/2024-25-Company-Roster_April-15.pdf Big shout-out of congrats to Kamryn Baldwin, Carmela Mayo, and Joshua Jack Price for their promotions to soloist!

Looking forward to seeing this on Sat 4/13 at the matinee performance! I was crazy about MADCAP and determined to not miss it.

Helene's allowing me to post a link to my review published at Bachtrack. You can find it HERE. So very hard this time to keep it to 800 words!

I love your in-depth review of the perfomances, Josette! I so appreciate that you took the time to get it all down, as well as your insight about the Merimee novella and how it fell short of that. Fascinating. It all makes so much sense, and puts a finger right on why, in my mind, the ballet fell short. I would have loved to see Joe's Don José -- I feel like it's a role that can be "meh" or riveting, depending on the acting skills of the dancers. I guess the same can be said for Carmen. I feel a little nostalgic, remembering Mathilde Froustey, the way she was such an amazing actor. Sarah Van Patten too. They would have kicked ass as Carmen and Escamillo, respectively. I second your thoughts on feeling like I could see Broken Wings again and again. Sure hope they repeat it next season!

I had the same reaction about the Doe, and getting choked up more than I'd expected. The whole thing really packed a surprising punch. PS: Anyone know why John Paul Simoens was used, when he's no longer a company dancer?

Absolutely loved Broken Wings which I saw on Saturday afternoon. Nikisha Fogo was just stunning, but I had the opportunity to attend an in-studio rehearsal run-through 10 days earlier that featured Isabella, and I agree that she was absolutely amazing. So much to love in this ballet. (Am currently writing up a review for Bachtrack of the afternoon's performance, so the bulk of my words have to go there first.) Carmen didn't do it for me, I hate to say. Very worthy dancing and dancers, and Sasha Mukhamedov with her solo, or, better put, her "kitchen knife pas de deux" was sensational, as were Jasmine's lovely arabesque lines and the way she handled the role of Carmen. But ... yeah. I didn't walk away from it and think "wow".

Oops, forgot to mention them. Yes they were!

I saw the 3/17 Sunday matinee, after having assumed I wouldn't be able to make any of the performances. It was SO much fun, and it felt like a dream cast, with Jennifer Stahl and Wei Wang as Titania/Oberon, Elizabeth Mateer/Stephen Morse and Frances Chung/Myles Thatcher as the lovers, Alexis Francisco Valdes as a surprisingly wonderful Puck, Nikisha Fogo/Daniel Deivison-Oliveira as Hypolyta/Theseus. Everything just seemed perfectly cast. I loved seeing Elizabeth Mateer ace the role of Helena. I hadn't realized before how funny it could be, the way a lovesick Helena drapes herself over a patently uninterested Demetrius. The laughter in the audience was unexpected (but fun!), and that's what I get for watching the streamed version 2x back in 2020, filmed without an audience, and thinking I "knew" the ballet. The orchestra was typically amazing and wonderful. They were the "artist" in the 1pm "Meet the Artist" series, and it was enlightening and enjoyable to hear Martin West dissect the score and talk about Mendelssohn (versus Mozart - a fascinating compare-and-contrasts of both composers' work from their teens) and see the orchestra actually playing, for once, instead of hidden in the pit. The costumes -- wow. Just dazzling. Boy, I'm SO grateful I got to see this program (and this performance) after all. What a fun treat. Oh, final shout out to Norika Matsuyama as the dazzling Butterfly. Just love her warmth and energy.

Ha, I am one of those, very interested in seeing Osipova (this, after I swore no more Swan Lake for the season!).

Pherank, I was wondering about these dancers - thanks for the update!

Agreed on Parker Garrison! I've been seeing really good things from Kamryn Baldwin of late, and Carmela Mayo. Other females I haven't seen in solos lately but have been really excellent in soloist roles would include Thamires Chuvas, Elizabeth Mateer, and for a while there I thought they were giving Gabriela Gonzalez that magic chance. Nathaniel Remez has been prominent of late, it seems, as is Joshua Jack Price. I've a hunch they're watching Angela Watson closely, giving her some good opportunities, in which she's doing great. There's an apprentice, Jacey Gailliard, who did really, really well as a Swan Maiden across from Sasha Mukhamedov (and I hope the SFB doesn't lose this talented soloist by promoting others to principal over her, time and time again). I was just stunned by her confident stage presence and her ability to keep up the whole time with the always-impressive Sasha M. It wouldn't surprise me if she got bumped into the corp this season; that's what happened to Jasmine Jimison (did I get that right? Or was that Wona Park?)

How bizarre I'm only now seeing this! I didn't get a press release on it either - did anyone else? Regardless, that's very exciting news. I was expecting it last spring, the day after she debuted as Juliet in R&J I guess they first needed a female principal to step down from the roster to make the appropriate opening. Particularly fitting, as YY and Jasmine have similar long, leggy lines. Now the questions start in my mind over which among the many, many excellent female corps dancers will get bumped up ...

Wonderful to read others' experiences. Josette, what interesting comments you make about Saturday night -- I did not see, but I always trust your perspective and opinion. So, thank you for your honestly. I saw opening night and Sunday afternoon. Both performances were wonderful, but I favored Nikisha's Act II Odette over Wona's, but Wona's Black Swan more than Nikisha's. Wona just crushed it. Her 32-fouetté passage was just stunning and soooo powerful. I reviewed it at The Classical Girl, and it sounds like I have permission to post links to my reviews, so here's that: https://wp.me/p3k7ov-1wE For those who don't like to leave the page, here's a "Top 10 Things I liked" section of the review. Nathaniel Remez as Von Rothbart in both performances, creepily excellent (excellently creepy?), with his leaps, as well as those fabulous birdlike movements of his head. Katherine Barkman, Isabella DeVivo, Esteban Hernández in the Pas de Trois on opening night. The glorious moving clouds in a blue sky that grow pink as dusk descends, a melding of Jennifer Tipton’s lighting design and Sven Ortel’s projection design that works so very well. The swan corps ensemble. They make the show. They are stunning. In perfect synch, both performances. Brava, you unsung heroes of this ballet. Cordula Merks' glorious violin solos (and duets with Eric Sung on the cello). Apprentice Jacey Gailliard performing in the demi-soloist role of Swan Maiden alongside seasoned soloist Sasha Mukhamedov and just nailing it, projecting such confidence. Sasha Mukhamedov and Kamryn Baldwin as Spanish Princess, on opening night and Sunday afternoon, respectively. Regal, assured, decisive. Newcomers Jihyun Choi, Hui-Wen Peng, Alexis Francisco Valdes (one year more senior), all corps dancers rising to the challenge in Sunday’s Pas de Trois. The cygnets, that iconic quartet of four dancers with interlocked arms, dancing as one unit. Flawless, both nights. (SunMin Lee, Carmela Mayo, Tyla Steinbach, Angela Watson on Sunday and Katherine Barkman, Isabella DeVivo, Norika Matsuyama, Julia Rowe on Friday night.) The searing, emotional climax in that final scene, by the lake, the music breaking my heart as the final drama plays out. Wow. Just wow.

Will be attending the Saturday 2pm performance. I'd like to hope a guest artist (at least in this program) means potential interest in the dancer for the company. I really just want to watch the SFB dancers -- I like getting to know them and their dancing, and I can't make as many performances as I'd like, so when there's a guest performer, it feels like a missed opportunity. (This will probably keep me from running to the Swan Lake encores with guest performers.) I love seeing the young SFB dancers get big chances, and wishing Joshua Jack Price merde (and yay that I get to watch him perform). Parker Garrison just killed it in Mere Mortals on opening night. Was thrilling to watch. I'll never forget Jennifer Stahl's big breakout performance in Rite of Spring when she was just a corps dancer (and promoted immediately thereafter).