sfshaza

After reading Paul Parish's piece, I want to see the Artifact Suite (program 1). I also want to see Don Quixote, which I missed when it was here before. I wonder if they are renting the same costumes as they had before? Sharon

LOL! Clearly, I'm not *that* intimidated. I'm just frustrated that I don't have the knowledge to be an informed viewer. I do disagree with one bit of Paul's review. Even up close, I think it's really captivating. And I like to sit right up close, though I've also seen it from the standing room area at the back. I am going to see it again Thursday night, and I'm nice and close. ;-) Sharon

Yes yes yes! See, I told you I couldn't do reviews! I said that Tiit was gallant. But your description is so much better! He was princely and romantic. Very much like a fairy tale sort of prince. I hadn't thought of that. Nice piece! Sharon

I have the program from Dec 11th, so I *could* go through and, by process of elimination, figure out who the student dancers are. But even if I did that, I couldn't possibly tell you anything about their performance! How can one single them out? Also, when I saw Vanessa Zahorian dance the Grand Pas, the Prince was danced by a new principal dancer (and new to the company): Tiit Helimuts. Now HOW do you pronounce that first name without blushing? I really don't know how it's correctly pronounced. Anyway, I thought he had a very nice dancing style - very gallant. A long time SFB subscriber told me that Tiit (who is from Estonia) reminded him very much (stylistically) of a Finnish principal who used to be in the company. I can't remember the name he mentioned, and even if I could remember it, I doubt I could spell it. :-) But I like Tiit very much. He's a very powerful dancer, judging by what I saw. Sharon P.S. I wanted to clarify. As far as I can tell, the students are dancing roles like Snowflake and Flower. I'm not aware of any that danced a divertissements. But I will go through my program and double-check the names for the divertissement roles.

You're right. She was scheduled to dance Grand Pas at the Sunday matinee on Dec 11th, but it was actually danced by Kristin Long. Kristin was in the program, so it wasn't that last minute. I've never seen Elizabeth Miner dance, but I've heard she's very good. I saw Megan Low as Sylvia and I thought she was very good. I haven't heard any official announcements either. I do hope I get to see her dance, especially in Sylvia. I LOVED that ballet! Sharon

You guys aren't going to let me off the hook, are you? ;-) OK, when I saw Joan Boada perform the Prince, the Spanish piece was performed by: Maureen Choi, Frances Chung, Garen Scribner, Rory Hohenstein and Jonathan Mangosing. Someone (who is Cuban) said to me that those Asian woman have the heart of the Spanish dancer and, it's true, they embody the spirit of the piece. I also love the beautiful costumes. I also saw Vanessa Zahorian perform the Grand Pas Friday. Yowza. She is such an effortless dancer. I love watching her. Sharon P.S. Oh, I forgot to address your question about the Russian piece. It seems to me that it's the same piece as the old production. The costumes are new and it's still a great piece - a real audience favorite. But I don't think it was changed much. (Probably because it was such an audience favorite.) Of course the stage entrance is now much more dramatic and exciting. :-) P.P.S. Yes, I just noticed this in the program: Choreography of the Russian divertissement by Anatole Vilzak. Which makes me suspect it's the same choreography as before. Can anyone confirm that? Sharon

Well, it was a great show. Everyone danced beautifully (Kristin Long was Grand Pas) and Nutnaree (looong last name) was Snow Queen. But Boada was something special. I love this production and was definitely moved. The doll's crown fell off in the party scene, so there was a bit of excitement. Drosselmeyer rushed to pick it up and the party-goers spent time admiring it, which was a good save. :-) Two of the merletons had trouble with their ribbons. Those ribbons - I saw some real problems with them last year, so I always cringe when those are in play. Must be a real nightmare for the dancers. I love the Spanish dance, but it's so SHORT! Maybe one day I'll learn how to view a dancer's performance with a more critical eye. But they all look great to me! Sharon

Yes, I have also been watching for reviews. I saw it yesterday, with Juan Boada performing as Prince. I've never seen him perform before and I thought he was amazing. I'm not a qualified person to do a real review, but I am now a huge fan of Boada! :-) Sharon

I should change my login name to NutNut. I love Nut, especially the new Nut! ;-) Sharon

More Nut casting! Nutcracker Evening Friday, December 09, 2005 7 pm Conductor: Gary Sheldon Drosselmeyer: Ashley Wheater Queen and King of the Snow: Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun, Stephen Legate Sugar Plum Fairy: Vanessa Zahorian Grand Pas de Deux: Muriel Maffre, Pierre-François Vilanoba Nutcracker Matinee Saturday, December 10, 2005 2 pm Conductor: Martin West Drosselmeyer: Jorge Esquivel Queen and King of the Snow: Frances Chung*, Hansuke Yamamoto The Sugar Plum Fairy: Elizabeth Miner Grand Pas de Deux: Sarah van Patten, Sergio Torrado Nutcracker Evening Saturday, December 10, 2005 7 pm Conductor: Gary Sheldon Drosselmeyer: Ashley Wheater Queen and King of the Snow: Yuan Yuan Tan, Ruben Martin Sugar Plum Fairy: Kristin Long Grand Pas de Deux: Lorena Feijoo, Tiit Helimets Nutcracker Matinee Sunday, December 11, 2005 2 pm Conductor: Gary Sheldon Drosselmeyer: TBA Queen and King of the Snow: Rachel Viselli, Peter Brandenhoff The Sugar Plum Fairy: Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun Grand Pas de Deux: Elizabeth Miner*, Nicolas Blanc* Nutcracker Evening Sunday, December 11, 2005 7 pm Conductor: Martin West Drosselmeyer: Val Caniparoli Queen and King of the Snow: Claire Pascal*, Damian Smith* The Sugar Plum Fairy: Yuan Yuan Tan Grand Pas de Deux: Vanessa Zahorian, Davit Karepetyan * Premiere in a role

For those of you interested in specifics about the principal dancers performances, here's a review by someone who saw the new Nut more than once: http://www.voiceofdance.org/Insights/insig...500000000000199 I had friends in the audience for the 21st when the mouse king's head fell off. They said he dealt with it gracefully, but it's mentioned in this article. Another friend of mine saw it today and he thought the orchestra was flawless. He said he couldn't remember hearing such a beautiful orchestra -- both his parents played in the SF Symphony orchestra years ago. He loved the new Nut, but he wanted to talk more about the orchestra. Sharon

I found another review. It's from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/21/arts/dan....html?oref=regi (You need to register on the site, but it's free.) Sharon

There are 4 Claras: Caroline Hearst (opening night) Lauren Foose (the one in all the TV and print ads - Helgi primarily choreographed the role on her last summer - how cool is that?) Renee Donovan and the 16-year-old apprentice. I'm sorry, but I don't know her name. I agree that Caroline did a great job. Sharon

Someone more expert at ballet will have to answer this regarding choreography. But I did look up Vainonen and this does seem to have some of the story elements of Vainonen - there's no Sugar Plum Fairy, for example. The Sugar Plum Fairy role is actually Clara as an adult. According to one description I found about Vainonen vs Balanchine, it said: A Nutcracker as a child's dream fantasy filled with sweets and fun (Balanchine) or a romantic dream of a teenaged girl (Vainonen). While this is an older Clara (she's on the transition to womanhood and is played by 13-16 year olds - in the past it's been younger Claras), I wouldn't call it tremendously romantic. One interview I read said that Helgi wanted an older Clara because he wanted her concern for the injured prince to be believable - he said he didn't just want a pretty face. (There are 4 Claras this year - usually there are 3. Three are students and one is a company apprentice.) At the end of the Nutcracker Clara wakes up on her sofa, looks around at her livingroom as if she can't believe she's home, picks up her Nutcracker and runs up the staircase into the arms of her mother as the curtain descends. Both times I saw it I teared up - it's very sweet. I gather that another Vainonen tradition is that most of the roles are played by adults. That is true for the Prince - he's now played by a company member. This is not a dark version of Nutcracker and there is no undercurrent of any relationship between Clara and Drosselmeyer beyond that of a kindly uncle. But is it inspired by Vainonen in the larger sense? I don't know and I haven't seen any articles or interviews that mention this distinction. I doubt that any video will be made for sale. Of course the company has their own copies and on a local channel there was a half hour special that had snippets of it. I do wish that at least a book would be made with photos. If you can't tell, I'm a freak about the costumes. One reason I'm not a huge Balanchine fan - I *like* costumes!!! And story! All that Balanchine last season was tough on me. I'm not enough of a ballet purist to love dance for dances sake without the other frippery. (You should know that I didn't care a whit about ballet until my daughter got passionate. So I started taking her to performances and educating myself by reading books. Just like I go to my other daughter's soccer games and Aikido classes. So I can't pretend to be a real balletomane. In fact, I never know how to pronounce that word. ) Sharon

Yes, it was real smoke. I remember watching them "load" it into the little chimney. The chimney, of course, was closed on the bottom and held the little smoking pot. They were very good about loading it at the last minute, after the girls were under the skirt, after that coughing incident. The smoke smelled kind of weird. The new Madame du Cirque looks like something from Beach Blanket Babylon, from those of you who have seen that. For those of you who are local, channel 2 (KTVU) had a half hour show about the new Nut last Saturday at 7pm. I TiVo'd it, but I don't have a VCR to make tapes. It will be repeated once more on channel 2 (Christmas Eve, I think) and again on Channel 36 (KICU). I don't remember the exact times, but it shows lots of snippets from the production (including a few seconds of the bug scene) and it was filmed on opening night. In fact, my daughter and I arrived just as they were filming the intro on the steps of the Opera House and we watched for a couple of minutes. But then, we were on to the lobby where they have TONS of free treats - my daughter headed right for the See's table. Then she and her friend made the rounds of all the tables. They were in HEAVEN. The show also talks about the new costumes and new scenery and shows those being produced. And it interviews Helgi. It definitely gets a permanent place on my TiVO hard drive. I also found this glowing review from the Contra Costa Times: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctime...10458605.htm?1c Sharon