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ABT 2007 Met Season


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Any ideas what the program line up is going to be like? My best guess, based on audience attendence, is that Swan Lake & Le Corsaire will be back. So will Cinderella since new production usually comes back for at least one more season. Since ABT is going to perform Othello and Kingdom of Shade during its upcoming Kennedy Center season, Othello and La Bayadere will probably be in the line up too. What else?

Quoted from OCPAC:

ABT will bring the West Coast premiere of a brand new production of a beloved classic, direct from its May world premiere in New York.

Which ballet will that be? I hope it will be the new old Sleeping Beauty ABT-RB co-production, but if that's the case it wouldn't be a world premier. :)

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Othello??? One of the worst "ballets" I've ever seen. Please, Mr. McKenzie, schedule it early enough in the season to overlap with City Ballet. A special Martins retrospective week would be far better...

Regarding Sleeping Beauty, other than the great Vishneva who else (among the Principals) could dance Aurora (well)? There are a couple in the corps, though.

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I believe I could get excited about Gillian Murphy's Aurora! However, I'm not real excited about "Othello" being the full length at the Kennedy Center early next year. I wish it was "Sylvia."

I caught part of SFB doing Othello on PBS the other year(stumbled upon it). I didn't think it was that bad, I only saw maybe the last 30 minutes. I would pay to see that than Swan Lake, would love to catch Sylvia.

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Having seen 'Othello' both live and on television, I must say the TV version fared MUCH better than the live staging. On TV, they could focus in on specific action, and there weren't 25 minute intermissions separating only 20 or so minutes of stage activity. You felt like you were at intermission longer than you were at the show, and as a result there was significant loss of dramatic tension. The piece just seems to work much better as a one-act ballet with multiple scenes than as a thinly stretched evening length work. Perhaps it would be better if they could figure out a way to cut out the intermissions - though perhaps the set doesn't quite allow for it.

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...The piece just seems to work much better as a one-act ballet with multiple scenes than as a thinly stretched evening length work....

They have the one-act version in their rep. From ABT's site:

THE MOOR'S PAVANE

Music by Henry Purcell

...Choreography by Jose Limon

...ABT Premiere: New York State Theater, New York, 6/27/70

Cast: Bruce Marks (The Moor), Royes Fernandez (His Friend), Sallie Wilson (His Friend's Wife), Toni Lander (The Moor's Wife)

And the music's so much better! Wouldn't combining this with whatever turns out to be the Fall Season's biggest hits (and throw in a chestnut PdD) make a quad bill that is much better than the 30 minutes-long intermission-25 minutes-long intermission-25 minutes of Othello? Sellable via rave Fall reviews, too?

Oh well, full-lengthers are easier to market...

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A new showcase for Acosta? Perhaps also Gomes? All I know is, I'm gonna miss Sandra Brown like crazy. I doubt any potential Desdemonas (suggestions, anyone?) can match her complete, no-holds barred, emotional submergence in the role (as in everything she did). Her urgency made the piece bearable.

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I second the motion to revive The Moor's Pavane -- maybe for the centenary of Jose Limon's birth in 2008?

I also agree wholeheartedly with carbro's suggestion to stage this as a vehicle for Marcelo Gomes. I would also suggest (creative anti-casting here) David Hallberg as Iago. I know everyone and their brother wants to see him in the princely roles but I think a villainous role would expand his horizons a little bit.

No clue as to who to cast as Emilia and Desdemona. Maybe Stella Abrera as Emilia and an up-and-comer from the corp as Desdemona?

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From Carlos Acosta's website:

American Ballet Theater

Metropolitan Opera House

New York (provisional schedule)

14 May - 7 July 2007

The Dream

Manon

Swan Lake

La Bayadere

Romeo & Juliet

The Dream(!) and no mention of Othello.

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I would also suggest (creative anti-casting here) David Hallberg as Iago. I know everyone and their brother wants to see him in the princely roles but I think a villainous role would expand his horizons a little bit.
Actually, David is very evil and kinda scary as the sexy Rothbart.
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Vishneva said on her website (the portion where she answers questions) that she would be dancing in Sleeping Beauty at the Met.

I don't know what to wish for - an ABT Beauty or a summer visit from the Kirov

:beg::beg:

Well, interesting as a Murphy Aurora might be, I actually do know which one I'll wish for (along with promotions for Part, Fang & Copeland and NO OTHELLO)!

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I also agree wholeheartedly with carbro's suggestion to stage this as a vehicle for Marcelo Gomes. I would also suggest (creative anti-casting here) David Hallberg as Iago. I know everyone and their brother wants to see him in the princely roles but I think a villainous role would expand his horizons a little bit.

This is an interesting idea but not practical, methinks. Remember how Iago climbs on Othello's back several times whispering his poison in O's ear? I would not want very large Hallberg climbing on Gomes.

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I have to disagree with you zerbinetta.

Footage of the classic cast (Limon, Lucas Hoving, Pauline Koner and Betty Jones) shows that Limon (as Othello) and Hoving (as Iago) were both very tall. In fact, Hoving looks like he may have been taller than Limon. When Hoving hangs on to Limon's back and Limon drags him across the floor, it works beautifully precisely because Limon looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Just my two cents worth! :beg:

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From Carlos Acosta's website:
American Ballet Theater

Metropolitan Opera House

New York (provisional schedule)

14 May - 7 July 2007

The Dream

Manon

Swan Lake

La Bayadere

Romeo & Juliet

The Dream(!) and no mention of Othello.

I believe these are ballets that Acosta is going to perform during the next Met season. So we almost complete the puzzle:

The Dream

Manon

Swan Lake

La Bayadere

R&J

Othello

Sleeping Beauty

Mixed bills (?)

Will the Dream be considered as part of the full length line-up or as mixed bill program? If it's the latter, what's the one remaining full length? Which ballet is going to pair with the Dream? T&V, La Sylphide, Les Sylphides, Apollo....?

Chances are the Sleeping Beauty is going to be a new production, if that's the case I hope McKenzie doesn't butcher SB the way he did with Swan Lake. And we need 2 intermissions with Beauty. It seems to me ABT tries to wrap up every evening before 11PM, to do that with Beauty that means cuts?

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From Sunday's NY Times:

Ballet Theater’s spring season includes a new production of “The Sleeping Beauty” staged by its company director, Kevin McKenzie, with Gelsey Kirkland, a former ballerina with a special sense of nuanced theater. May 14-July 7. Metropolitan Opera House

Very interesting.

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I'd guess that Mr. McKenzie will take charge of most of the staging, with Ms. Kirkland perhaps working with the dancers on style. After coming back to ABT last year to work with the Studio Company she gave a lengthy interview to Dance Magazine. Acknowledging the importance of classical port de bras, this may give some idea of what she may contribute:

It is difficult to speak about style. It is not something you can layer on top of a person; it has to be intrinsically understood. Style and technique should be one, not separate. Both have to be inspired from an artistic perspective. Finally, everything needs to be integrated to create the whole picture. But people like labels, so, at the moment, with the upper body, I am working with the Vaganova "style." I feel that without the exact port de bras people are left in the dark and find it difficult to feel their epaulement.

The full interview:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m108..._n15375534/pg_1

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I'm envisioning Gelsey Kirkland standing at center Met stage taking a bow at the end of the Sleeping Beauty premiere. Shivers.

I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing (among other thoughts!!!) when I read Dale's post yesterday.

Richard

Okay, why do you both think that way.

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I'm envisioning Gelsey Kirkland standing at center Met stage taking a bow at the end of the Sleeping Beauty premiere. Shivers.

I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing (among other thoughts!!!) when I read Dale's post yesterday.

Richard

Okay, why do you both think that way.

Well for myself, the thought of seeing Gelsey Kirkland on a stage again, even if she hasn't danced, is very appealing. My "other thoughts" are not connected with her

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