art076

I did the day seats at the Royal Opera House many years ago - they do go on sale at 10am but if it is a popular performance people often queue up much earlier. I remember getting there at 7:30am and being around the 20th person in line. So just keep an eye on it while you're there and prepare to show up early if need be! And as kbarber says, keep checking the website - I've had luck with the online system for even very popular performances (scored a great, very cheap ticket to the Royal Opera's Il Trittico, which had been super sold out, while checking in hope about 3 weeks before the show).

If you manually adjust the numbers in the Met's calendar URL, you can also view the June and July calendars, linked below: http://metopera.org/metopera/season/calendar.aspx?monthyear=5-2015 http://metopera.org/metopera/season/calendar.aspx?monthyear=6-2015 http://metopera.org/metopera/season/calendar.aspx?monthyear=7-2015

If anyone was not able to grab a ticket, I ended up with an extra - would be great if another balletomane could use it! ($69) Send me a direct message. EDITED (9/25): ticket claimed!

It seems they are holding back online sales for Tsar and Swan Lake - if you call or visit the box office in person, there is more availability (I was able to get several tickets that way yesterday, and she said there were still seats next to me available).

An update! Fathom Events (the company that distributes the Met Opera broadcasts) will be showing three Royal Ballet broadcasts in the United States this autumn. Don Quixote on Oct 16 (the new one, with Nunez and Acosta): http://www.fathomevents.com/#!don-quixote/more-info Alice in Wonderland on Nov 19 (presumably the one from last spring, with Sarah Lamb & Federico Bonelli): http://www.fathomevents.com/#!alices-adventures/more-info The Nutcracker on Dec 17 (not clear whether it will be this year's broadcast, or the one from last year): http://www.fathomevents.com/#!the-nutcracker/more-info Hopefully they will carry the planned Giselle and SLeeping Beauty broadcasts from the Royal this year as well. And this is also nice because Fathom generally has many more cinemas available than Ballet in Cinema...

I was there last night! The production and the company as a whole looked good - in the two lakeside scenes the female corps was fantastic. I really feel that no other company in the world is dancing Swan Lake with the same purity and care that the Mariinsky does - it's a clean and simple Swan Lake, quibble as you like about the happy ending or the jester (easily ignorable in exchange for such sublime lakeside acts in my view). Seeing all those white swans moving together with unity that comes from solid uniform training rather than boot-camp drilling is a joy. Oksana Skorik was just fine in my opinion: she has the long legs and hyper flexibility that seem to be favored by current management, and she's lovely overall. Strong supported pirouettes that go on forever and very beautiful lines. The technical problems referenced on YouTube and discussed here seemed not to be noticeably present - she must have cleaned up a lot in the last few years (frankly Somova was much more concerning several years on in her career than where Skorik is now). She did just seem a bit green in stage presence: she could be more dramatically engaged and present, but these qualities could come with time and experience. The audience around me enjoyed her quite a bit, and truthfully she was beautiful, particularly in the lakeside scenes. Only major technical flub was the fouettes, where she seemed to over turn halfway through and fell out. However, she quickly restarted and finished fine. A big flub yes, but she soldiered on and fixed it, and overall the rest of her performance was fine (in fact her Black Swan adage was strong as well). So even if she wasn't an all-out superstar tonight, she was absolutely not the disaster discussed and predicted here. Schkylarov was a good prince: his virtuoso tricks didn't flash but were impressive. He was a strong partner for Skorik. He does look very young, and it took a moment to adjust to not seeing a typical danseur noble here, but he was great anyway. Maria Shirinkina, Alexey Popov, and Nadezhda Batoeva danced the pas de trois - liked Shirinkina a lot, she was bright and bubbly (she also danced one of the two swans in Act 4 again very brightly). Popov and Batoeva were fine though perhaps a bit sluggish. Alexsey Nedviga was an audience favorite as the jester. Catching the Kondaurova/Korsuntsev cast tonight. Seems like this will be the biggest-name pair for the SoCal run, looking forward.

Also in the New York area, there is a screening on Sunday, February 13 at 3:30pm, at the Kew Gardens Cinemas in Queens.

The listings page of the NYT's fall preview also includes this: "After its Avery Fisher experiment, American Ballet Theater returns to the tried and true for its spring season, including “Swan Lake,” “Don Quixote” and the company premiere of John Neumeier’s “Lady of the Camellias.” But not all business is as usual: there will be a roughly two-week repertory festival, including works by Ashton, Tudor, Balanchine and Robbins, and the flawed but stirring “On the Dnieper,” Alexei Ratmansky’s first ballet as the company’s artist in residence. May 17-July 10."

I too was at the Sunday afternoon performance - I was bummed about not getting to see Osipova and Vasiliev, even more so because the substituted cast was the exact same as the previous evening's, which I also saw (having traveled down from Connecticut for these and the Royal's mixed rep performances). Shipulina was fine as Medora at both shows, I thought she was glamorous and technically accomplished to Bolshoi standards, though perhaps not as dazzling as some of the company's better known stars. However, I just don't think that this production is interesting enough to watch two of the same casts twice in a row. There are many wonderful things about it - there were many funny, delightful details added into the story, and also liked Gulnara's characterization as a more vibrant, lively character was fun. Jardin Anime was an eye-popping spectacle at both shows and only really a huge, great company like the Bolshoi could pull it off so resplendently. But I just didn't feel like sitting through the kitsch of the almost entirely mimed Act 3 one more time, so I left after Act 2. It would have been fun to see another cast, particularly the Osipova cast, try it out, but not the same one so immediately again. (Also disappointed to read here that we did not see the Pas D'evantails, which really would have spruced up the third act with more classical dancing... I might have stayed through had it been there). I'm glad I got to see Osipova dance twice this week in New York, and wish I could have seen her here. But things happen and ballet casts are ever changing, I suppose!

Did all of the rear mezzanine tickets for the entire SF Ballet run at City Center really sell out, as is shown on the web site? I find it hard to believe as I was still finding center row K seats only last week when I still figuring out whether I could go... when I called the box office, they mystifyingly said that I should have bought tickets earlier since events can sell out quickly, like Harry Connick Jr. But SF Ballet in selling out just the rear mezzanine - that quickly and completely for the entire run? (Much as I would like to believe that ballet tickets can sell that fast...)

How was Murphy's Nikiya? This was a role debut, correct?

The documentary was filmed the season after this was recorded, so no botched lift here.

Opus Arte has also released the recent POB Swan Lake in HD: http://www.opusarte.com/pages/product.asp?ProductID=196

Here's an interesting upcoming DVD release - Balanchine's Midsummer Night's Dream at La Scala, with Alessandra Ferri and Roberto Bolle. Anyone know anything about the performances? http://www.tdk-mediactive.com/frame_conten...mp;from_id=2789 Here's the info: Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy A Midsummer Night's Dream Teatro alla Scala, Milano, 2007 Titania - Alessandra Ferri Oberon - Roberto Bolle Titania's partner - Massimo Murru Puck - Riccardo Massimi Hermia - Deborah Gismondi Helena - Gilda Gelati Demetrius - Vittorio D'Amato Lysander - Gianni Ghisleni Hippolyta - Sabrina Brazzo Theseus - Matteo Buongiorno Bottom - Camillo Di Pompo Moth - Sophie Sarrote Pas de deux – Act Two - Marta Romagna, Mick Zeni

Is anyone able to record this for a desperate West Coaster? It's not scheduled to air anywhere here (not even on another day) except in Las Vegas and Sacramento - neither of which are near me!