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Romeo & Juliet


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A note on young casts -- When Ashton staged his "Romeo and Juliet" for the then-London Festival Ballet, he chose two 16-year-old Juliets (Trinidad Sevillano and Kathy Healy). Now, they were exceptional dancers even at that young age, and it was duly noted that their performances lacked the depth of Fonteyn or Ulanova, BUT their youth was so touching that people understood the reason for the casting. You never know how bad it will be until the curtain falls :)

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I believe (not sure) Paloma Herrera was quite young... perhaps 18 when she was asked to dance R+J with the ABT... and it made a very strong postive impression. The part is a very young girl and having someone who really looks the part adds to the verisimilitude of the illusion. Now 2x the age when she first appeared in that role at the ABT... she still does the role. I didn't see her 18 (or so) years ago... but thought her Juliet was excellent in a recent performance.

I think casting a young dancer in this production is a smart move... especially when you consider how talented young artist are these days.

What do I know?

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Whtever else this casting involves, it's certainly a brilliant piece of marketing. (Look at all the air time it's getting, even on Ballet Talk.)

Personally, I can't imagine a high school student bringing substantially different qualities of "youth" to the role than a professional actor/dancer in his or her 20s (or more). This isn't a film with closeups, after all, which was the only excluse for the two young, semi-skilled performers Zefferelli put in his movie version, or the choice of Dane and DiCaprio later on.

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Bart I am not sure I agree with the notion. I have seen some vids of dancers from 10 or 15 years ago and they look young... fresh and different than say Ferri or Julie Kent now. I am not saying that a older dancer cannot dance the role of a younger person well.. and yes without binocs you don't see "close ups"... but it's hard to hide "age" on some perhaps hard to identify level. I also suspect older dancers are better actors... I feel the same about a very young person cast to play an older person.. can they do it? Probably... But I thing I like a bit more of reality.

Assuming that the young dancer can perform the part... I actually prefer the idea of a young dancer in the role.

This is all theoretical musing and when we see the performance next month... the jury will render the decision... and then the disagreements can begin in earnest!

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I believe (not sure) Paloma Herrera was quite young... perhaps 18 when she was asked to dance R+J with the ABT... and it made a very strong postive impression. The part is a very young girl and having someone who really looks the part adds to the verisimilitude of the illusion. Now 2x the age when she first appeared in that role at the ABT... she still does the role. I didn't see her 18 (or so) years ago... but thought her Juliet was excellent in a recent performance.

I'm not sure when she first did the role, but Paloma is not 36. I believe she's about 32. I believe she joined the company at 16 or so in 1991

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A note on young casts -- When Ashton staged his "Romeo and Juliet" for the then-London Festival Ballet, he chose two 16-year-old Juliets (Trinidad Sevillano and Kathy Healy). Now, they were exceptional dancers even at that young age, and it was duly noted that their performances lacked the depth of Fonteyn or Ulanova, BUT their youth was so touching that people understood the reason for the casting. You never know how bad it will be until the curtain falls :)

I believe it is premature to criticize an artist, regardless of age or experience, especially prior to having seen the performance. On opening night the house will most certainly include audience members and dance critics who will question Peter Martins' casting decision and those who will view it a refreshing change from the norm. I will reserve my own judgment of the performance until I have the opportunity to see it first hand. After all, Balanchine was not criticized for his discovery of the "Baby Ballerinas." Also Suzanne Farrell, Balanchine's "Muse", began her professional career at age 15. If my memory is correct, Ms. Farrell's professional career began when she was asked to step in for Diana Adams. The role was performed brilliantly. She continued to be the forerunner in Balanchine's works throughout her successful career.

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Artspatron

I think you have a few facts skew-wiffed. Kirkland joined NYCB at 15, Farrell at 16 also it wasn't until she was 18 that she replaced Adams in Movements for piano and Orchestra, which indeed launched her career as Balanchine's muse.

However, it is somewhat a different kettle of fish from being launched as a genius' muse within a one-act tailored ballet to a three act work. (I have to say that this new Martins' assault in the guise of R&J on NYCB's illustrious heritage sets one's teeth on edge - I know I haven't seen it etc but mea culpa, I've suffered enough Martins one-acts to run in the opposite direction at the thought of this.)

Also Artspatron, recalling Toumanova, Baronova and Riabouchinska in the context of this is somewhat specious. The baby ballerinas were a PR stunt who also happened to be brilliant ballerinas. Don't forget the Ballets Russes were launching an unknown artform on a world more or less without ballet outside of the Soviet Union and Denmark, following the death of Diaghilev and the original Russes.

It was a huge venture and needed every "hook" it could get. But it was a different time and a different set of circumstances to suggest that this limited season of R&J as reimagined by Martins is comparable to the Russes venture is somewhat hyperbolic.

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Perhaps....just perhaps.....one ought to wait and see if students are actually used. What is publicised in advance is not necessarily what will happen.....castings and ideas change in ballet as in every other artistic venture.

I have seen considerable print publicity for this venture and I think it has been creative and arresting.

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I may be an old coot, but I think of a 18 or 20 yr old as a "kid".. but then again there are child prodigies.... Some perhaps many dancers start at 7 or 8 yrs old.... by 18-20 they have been at it for more than a decade. That's a lot of preparation.

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This discussion raises a general question about casting. Maybe it's the old debate between "youth" (in this case, literal adolescence) and "experience". (I don't mean to questio the abilities of any individual student dancer.)

The roles of Romeo and Juliet are full-evening roles. They are part of a ballet story that will be familiar to evereyone in the audience. They a great deal more than the ability to execute the steps. Acting, both alone and as part of a company of characters, pacing, emotional coloring and projection, sustaining an arc of effort and interest from begeinning to end, etc., are equally important.

I have been assuming that dancers "in their 20s" who have worked at NYCB (or any company) and lived at the State Theater night after night (or any such theater), will have had the chance to observe and develop themselves in stagecraft, the ability to function under pressure, and in the knowledge of what it takes to sustain a performance (emotionally and physically) over an entire evening.

On the other hand, teen students, still in a full-time school program, will generally lack this kind of nuts-and-bolts experience. They may have performed leads in excellent student productions, or been part of a professional Nutcracker. They may have thrilled audiences with variations at competitions. But do they have the training, stamina, and emotional knowledge and experience to translate that kind of student work into what it takes to to command the stage in a long dramatic piece like R&J?

The characters of Romeo and Juliet are very, very young. That is certainly a big part of what gives this story its universal appeal. But chronological youth is just one aspect of these characters and the effect they have on us. Being a teenager may be an advantage in some ways. But whether it is enough to help one sustain and project such dramatically exposed and powerful roles is another matter.

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Artspatron

I think you have a few facts skew-wiffed. Kirkland joined NYCB at 15, Farrell at 16 also it wasn't until she was 18 that she replaced Adams in Movements for piano and Orchestra, which indeed launched her career as Balanchine's muse.

Kate

Thank you for the information. I stand corrected on the time frame regarding Ms. Farrell's success at NYCB. 16 is still quite young to join the corps as is 18 to perform principal roles successfully. It is very possible for a dancer to achieve acclaim at a young age as Ms. Farrell has proven. Maybe the young Juliet will find the same success. Whether it is a marketing ploy to bring in audiences remains to be seen. Peter Martins has succeeded in marketing the ballet just by the controversy it has brought the to the message board.

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Martins says that he will use students and I believe him. He has a track record for using really young dancers as did Balanchine, but lets not forget that Le Clerq, Farrell, Kirkland and other very young dancers that Balanchine thrust into the spotlight in their teens were chosen for their roles because they were identified early on as extraordinary artists. Meaning no disrespect to the SAB students I don’t believe for a nanosecond that Martins decided to cast students as Juliet because he felt that he had dancers of that caliber just waiting to burst out of the classroom and onto the stage. He’s doing it as a publicity stunt pure and simple.

Although it has also occurred to me that while he has some great female principals only 1 of them really seems like a born Juliet to me, and she’s my least favorite NYCB dancer, so perhaps there is also an element of pragmatism at work here.

But he’s doing 2 weeks of R&J and frankly I’d have no argument with him if he planned to use student Juliets in 2 or 3 casts and actual professionals in the rest, but that doesn’t sound like what he has in mind.

Natalia Makarova discussed her views on the role of Juliet in an interview that was played during an intermission on the infamous Makarova/McKenzie “sweat pants” telecast of MacMillan’s R&J. This thread has prompted me to pull out the tape and listen to the interview again. Paraphrasing here – she said that the first time she danced the role of Juliet she had just graduated into the Kirov and was young and silly and full of emotion as a Juliet should be, but that it wasn’t organized emotion. She said that she didn’t feel that being young and emotional was enough to portray youth. She said that she knew how youth behaves and that as she matured she was able to put that into art and transform and project it more convincingly than when she was actually young and daring as a Juliet should be. She went on to say that at that point she felt freer and more simple – that you remove the rubbish and what isn’t important and that your portrayal goes directly to the audience without any “nonsense” – which she said was a most very difficult thing to achieve.

We’ll all have to wait and see what Martins really does but for my money I’ll take Ferri or Vishneva as Juliet over any student, any day. Of course I'll also pay my $10 to see how Martin's R&J turns out - perhaps he really does have some brillliant conception here. We'll all see soon enough!

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I think it is wonderful that this amount of buzz has been generated by the decision to select a student dancer for the role of Juliet. It is great for ballet, and will certainly sell tickets with the anticipation of the outcome of this bold move. Personally, I feel it is a marketing masterstroke. Of course, until the cast lists are posted, no one really knows. All is speculation...

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Although it has also occurred to me that while he has some great female principals only 1 of them really seems like a born Juliet to me, and she’s my least favorite NYCB dancer, so perhaps there is also an element of pragmatism at work here.

I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that! Of course, aside from the dancer I was initially thinking of, Jennifer Ringer would make a wonderful Juliet, Rachel Rutherford and Sterling Hyltin would interesting and I'd stand in line to see Janie Taylor's take on Juliet. Unless Peter Martins really has a radical reconception up his sleeve I think he's missed the boat here. And I don't think his little casting trick is driving ticket sales - we may be all abuzz about it but I don't think it plays big with the general public. I think they're more influenced by all the posters around town and Sloan's video diary - now that was a great idea, as is the free dress rehearsal.

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nysusan, markarova's comments -- in your marvellous paraphrase -- should be engraved over the door of every performance arts school.

Paraphrasing here – she said that the first time she danced the role of Juliet she had just graduated into the Kirov and was young and silly and full of emotion as a Juliet should be, but that it wasn’t organized emotion. She said that she didn’t feel that being young and emotional was enough to portray youth. She said that she knew how youth behaves and that as she matured she was able to put that into art and transform and project it more convincingly than when she was actually young and daring as a Juliet should be. She went on to say that at that point she felt freer and more simple – that you remove the rubbish and what isn’t important and that your portrayal goes directly to the audience without any “nonsense” – which she said was a most very difficult thing to achieve.
I love the phrase "organized emotion" -- and the injunction to "remove the rubbish and what isn't important." Thanks! :beg:
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I would love to see Ringer's Juliet...in a production with solid choreography.

Back in 1992 she was sensational in NYCB's PdD from Romeo and Juliet, but then they had quite a Romeo for her: Peter Boal.

I have seen her dance the entire ballet, in the spring of 1998. It was after she'd left NYCB (she became a Principal two years later), and was her return to ballet: Dances Patrelle's production at Hunter College's Kaye Playhouse. She was memorable: my little (then) dancing niece was in the production and Jenifer immediately became her favorite ballerina!

Tobi Tobias was impressed too, and wrote about it in the May 18, 1998 issue of New York Magazine:

One of the lushest talents to emerge at the New York City Ballet in the past decade was Jenifer Ringer. Yet after being promoted to soloist level and showing promise of attaining principal rank, she began to appear infrequently, then not at all, and eventually vanished from the company's roster. An injury that sidelined her for a time was part of the problem, but rumor had it -- and sightings supported the idea -- that the basic problem was excess weight in an era that likes its ballerinas super-slim, often to a visually grotesque and dangerously unhealthful degree. ...

... Ringer resurfaced this spring as the heroine of Francis Patrelle's Romeo and Juliet .... Though the weight problem has by no means been solved, it hasn't much diminished Ringer's dancing, in which technical brilliance is supported by fluent musicality and theatrical vivacity. She needs (and deserves) a larger stage and first-class choreography.... To acquire such a home, she'll have to find the happy medium between skeletal and rather more than pleasingly plump -- no simple matter.... Once you've seen Ringer in motion, though, you're reluctant to abandon the idea of a glorious career for her, because her dancing persuades you that life is joyous and thrilling.

http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/dance/reviews/2678/

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Peter Martins own words on this subject from the April/May 2007 issue of Pointe Magazine:

"You can imagine my whole idea of having a 16 year old student portraying Juliet is nervous-making," he says. "Because although I know that the people I chose are perfectly capable technically as dancers to do it, I also knew that I wanted this pure innocence to emerge. What I didn't know, annd still to a degree do not know, is whether they will be able to carry the whole show. I would say that I still have faith that I will get what I had hoped for."

My only objection to the student casting is that there are many dancers in their late teens and early 20's at NYCB who could dance the role as well and perhaps better than a 16 year old student, which we will never know if only students are to be cast. Also, since when does a young age imply innocence anymore? I've seen some very worldly 16 year olds lately. :beg:

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A critic in The Sunday Independent once wrote about Ferri:

"In the balcony duet her up-for-it excitement is so raw you want to blush. Here is none of your wide-eyed innocent. Ferri's Juliet is the 14-year-old of every parent's nightmare." The competing innocence with sexuality in this character is the stuff of mature artistry. Martins' highly publicized use of students for this production is for the purpose of lowering our expectations for his choreography. We'll be talking about everything in the production - the kids, the designs, whether the student Juliets will get contracts - everything BUT Martins' choreography, which as is apparent in the blurbs on the special website, contains plenty of kicking developees and hip swinging.

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Remember that painting reproduced in the season's brochures? Well, that's the costumes too. If you liked the look of Danish Lake with its costumes color-coded to the story-telling opening drop, you should be happy. Episode 5, Costumes, also gives a couple of seconds look at the set and dancing (in costumes). I liked the glimpse, a real alternative to the old and clunky look of certain other productions.

I suspect there will be other concerns than just whether you wish to select a cast with a student or a company member as Juliet.

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The official news release from the company:

NEW YORK CITY BALLET

INVITES THE CITY OF NEW YORK

TO AN OPEN DRESS REHEARSAL

FOR THE WORLD PREMIERE OF ROMEO + JULIET

The Rehearsal Will Take Place at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 29

at the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center

Free Tickets for the Rehearsal Will Be Distributed at the

New York State Theater Box Office on Sunday, April 22 at 9 a.m.

Sponsored by CIT

On Sunday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m., New York City Ballet will open its doors for the final dress rehearsal with full orchestra of the Company’s World Premiere production of Romeo + Juliet. This will mark the first time ever that the NYCB has allowed the general public to observe the final preparations for a World Premiere ballet.

Free tickets to the dress rehearsal, which is being sponsored by CIT, will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning at 9 a.m. on Sunday, April 22 at the New York State Theater box office. There is a limit of two tickets per person.

Romeo + Juliet will premiere at the Company’s Spring Gala performance on Tuesday, May 1, and continue for a total of 14 performances through May 13.

Choreographed by NYCB Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins, Romeo + Juliet is set to the classic score by Sergei Prokofiev and features sets by the acclaimed Danish artist Per Kirkeby, costumes by Mr. Kirkeby and Kirsten Lund Nielsen, and lighting by Mark Stanley. This is the same team that collaborated with Mr. Martins on the 1996 production of Swan Lake for the Royal Danish Ballet, which entered the repertory of NYCB in 1999.

Mr. Martins has created this all-new production of Romeo + Juliet as part of NYCB’s spring season celebration of the centennial of the birth of its co-founder Lincoln Kirstein. Kirstein was born in Rochester, New York on May 4, 1907. One of the most influential cultural figures of the 20th century, Kirstein and the legendary choreographer George Balanchine co-founded both New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet, NYCB’s official school.

“Among Lincoln’s many achievements was the nurturing of an audience for ballet in America so I am thrilled that on the occasion of his 100th birthday we can host this special rehearsal and open our doors to both long-time fans and those that may be attending a ballet for the very first time,” said Mr. Martins. “I know that Lincoln would have loved it.”

This spring New York City Ballet is also offering $15 tickets at every performance. Located in the Fourth Ring of the New York State Theater, rows C-O, these $15 tickets (half off the usual ticket price) are another way that NYCB is paying tribute to Kirstein’s efforts to create an American ballet audience by making affordable tickets available to all of its spring season performances. This opportunity to discover New York City Ballet is sponsored by CIT as well.

“CIT has been a strong supporter of New York City Ballet since 2004 and is proud to partner with them once again this year,” said Jeffrey M. Peek, CIT’s Chairman and CEO. “We are delighted to support the introduction of their tremendous talent to a new audience and hope they too become enthusiasts of the ballet.”

New York City Ballet’s 2007 Spring Season will run from April 24 through

June 24. For more information call 212-870-5570 or visit www.nycballet.com.

New York City Ballet extends special thanks to CIT for sponsorship of the open dress rehearsal of

Romeo + Juliet and the special season-long $15 Fourth Ring ticket offer in honor of Lincoln Kirstein’s centennial.

The creation of Peter Martins' Romeo + Juliet is made possible by a lead gift from Mr. and Mrs. Howard Solomon, and by with generous commitments from the Mary P. Oenslager Foundation Fund of the New York Community Trust and Joseph and Sylvia Slifka Foundation, Inc.

Major production support is also provided by Mr. and Mrs. Frank A. Bennack, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Herbert/Pantone Inc., Mr. and Mrs. Stephen A. Schwarzman, John L. and Barbara Vogelstein, and members of the New Combinations Fund.

Additional funding for the production is provided by The Honorable and Mrs. Earle I. Mack, Billy Rose Foundation, contributors to the Repertory Fund, and through an endowment established by the Solomon family, as well as the Lila Acheson and DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.

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The official news release from the company:

NEW YORK CITY BALLET

INVITES THE CITY OF NEW YORK

TO AN OPEN DRESS REHEARSAL

FOR THE WORLD PREMIERE OF ROMEO + JULIET

The Rehearsal Will Take Place at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 29

at the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center

Free Tickets for the Rehearsal Will Be Distributed at the

New York State Theater Box Office on Sunday, April 22 at 9 a.m.

.

Free tickets to the dress rehearsal, which is being sponsored by CIT, will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning at 9 a.m. on Sunday, April 22 at the New York State Theater box office. There is a limit of two tickets per person.

This spring New York City Ballet is also offering $15 tickets at every performance. Located in the Fourth Ring of the New York State Theater, rows C-O, these $15 tickets (half off the usual ticket price) are another way that NYCB is paying tribute to Kirstein’s efforts to create an American ballet audience by making affordable tickets available to all of its spring season performances. This opportunity to discover New York City Ballet is sponsored by CIT as well.

I'm on the NYTimes e-mailing list for theatrical event. It's called ticket watch and I got an email today with info for free tickets for the Dress Rehearsal.

I'm a little surprised they didn't offer the 4rth ring tickets too but maybe since that offer is open to anyone

and they can't claim it as one of their "deals"

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