Jump to content
This Site Uses Cookies. If You Want to Disable Cookies, Please See Your Browser Documentation. ×

Romeo and Juliet


Recommended Posts

Carlos Lopez sustained an injury serious enough to keep him off the stage for a year. To my eyes, he is not all the way back yet. He is a very musical and charming dancer. Perhaps he will regain form by the fall or next year.

No, he is not a technician the likes of Cornejo but who is?

Thanks for that info Zerbinetta... good to know. I'll try not to judge him too harshly.

I don't really expect anyone to be like Cornejo, but he looked by far the weakest of the three (though he of course had more to do than Matthews), and as his part is more important than Benvolio, you'd expect him to look the better dancer if any disparity was to be seen.

But I didn't realize he was recovering from an injury. Perhaps that is indeed the reason I wasn't impressed by his performance.

I hope he is back at full steam soon!

Link to comment
Carlos Lopez sustained an injury serious enough to keep him off the stage for a year. To my eyes, he is not all the way back yet. He is a very musical and charming dancer. Perhaps he will regain form by the fall or next year.

No, he is not a technician the likes of Cornejo but who is?

Curious, though, that Salstein wasn't tapped for a Mercutio.

Craig danced Mercutio,including the Mandolin solo, with the Paloma-Marcelo cast. I thought , he was terrific. :flowers:

Link to comment

Satuday night's R&J, Ferri's farewell, was all one could ask for. Everyone was in the audience to pay tribute to her, from the ABT members not dancing that night (Julie Kent, Paloma Herrera, David Hallberg) to Isabella Rosellini, Peter Martins, Darci Kistler, Julio Bocca and, of course, Ferri's partner Fabrizio and their two daughters.

The performance from Ferri was wonderful - dancing and acting seamlessly combined to such a high level that Ferri believably becomes the 14 year old Juliet. When she looks at Romeo you really feel the passion of her new love while you also feel her despair every time her parents enter a room with Paris. Cornejo was also wonderful as Mercutio (he performed the entire role this evening). Bolle was, as in Manon, technically excellent but rather flat dramatically (at least compared to Ferri). This Romeo and Juliet partnership simply did not have the sizzle of Bocca and Ferri but to expect another partnership to have that intense quality may be asking too much.

During the final curtain calls, all the ABT principal dancers came out and gave Ferri flowers (and hugged her). Julio Bocca came out holding the hands of Ferri's two daughters and, during a later call, came out with Ferri and Bolle and carried Ferri back into the wings, to great applause. During the approximately 20 minute standing ovation there were countless bouquets thrown, gold confetti rained down on the stage and the audience screamed and brava'd their immense appreciation for the years of wonderful dancing this great artist, Alessandra Ferri, has shown us. I know I will really miss her dancing.

Link to comment

Just got home from Ferri's ABT farewell. What an unforgettable evening. Especially Act III which did not require A.F. to pretend she's a 14-year-old. That was a mature woman in grief over her dead husband's body. Very powerful performance.

Bolle was nice, but I liked Corella better.

Cornejo felt well enough to perform the Mandolin dance himself, but cut it a little bit short.

The house was packed and understandably ecstatic. Ferri got flowers from what looked like the entire ABT roster. They were all on stage hugging and kissing her.

The curtain calls were innumerable. The last few of them she took with her daughters.

I miss her already...

Link to comment

I especially enjoyed it when beaming Friar Franklin (70 years a Principal, when does he get his Gala?!) gave her a huge bouquet, white flowers, of course, from the priest who married her. The Ferriettes were wonderful, as was the way mommy held them back so they wouldn't get too near the pit ... the little ones busily gathering up bouquets! Did you notice how careful Ms. Ferri was not to step on the central pile of bouquets, would walk around them? For one of the later calls in which the curtain was fully open, the Met produced a beautiful effect, as she was standing alone on center stage: the curtain slowly closed in a special way, forming an arched frame with her in the center. As it closed, perhaps management expected the audience to accept it as her last call. After another have dozen, at least, it finally ended, about 25 minutes.

Alessandra's last act was indeed special, over-the-top but seemlessly held together, a summa of her life as Juliet: she was 13 and all other ages at once. The perfectly arched and pointed Ferri feet, even for her last time (at least for ABT) she lay in death.

I do feel that Bolle was much more effective in Manon, very technically exposed as Romeo. However there were some powerful partnering moments: in the Balcony PdD, the lift where she lies across the back of his neck, supported on each of his shoulders, you can see why she has described his shoulders as being a bed!

Link to comment
Diana Vishneva excells in practically all her roles, and as Juliet is fascinating to watch both as an actress--where details are as important to her as they are to Ferri--and in her superlative technique. She is never subtle there, but always uses it with full command.

I wonder if it's possible do do a credible Juliet if you can't carry off the the emotional center of the second scene of the ballet, between Juliet and the Nurse.

If you don't see and feel that this is a young girl who loves her nurse, genuinely if coltishly, then you're not being introduced to a character whose entire arc ricochets between love and duty.

How Juliet reacts to Paris is, in my opinion, open to interpretation, but the firm emotional connection must clearly be seen between the teenager and the woman who suckled her.

I saw Vishneva's performance, and the second scene seemed hollow and false. I saw no sympathy, much less love, from this Juliet for her nurse. I saw a dancer going through the motions. And the rest of the performance also seemed to me correct, technically superb, but deaf to the music, not actually inhabiting this role, these emotions.

Tonight, Ferri ran on in the second scene and she was Juliet; she did love her nurse; she responded and reacted to all the whipsaws of love and duty over the course of the evening.

As for Bolle, he seemed to have caught a case of the Veronikas tonight. What he should have been nervous about is unknown to me, but his ardor for his Juliet was undiminished.

And the orchestra sounded a lot better than on opening night!

Link to comment

I have one word for Alessandra Ferri's performance on June 23: Glorious!

Anyone would have believed that she was 14-year-old Juliet. Her dancing was exquisite…and her feet…I could have stared at those mighty arches the entire night.

The ending was beautiful, as people, including myself, could not stop applauding while bouquets continued to pile up on the stage. After so many curtain calls Alessandra, followed around by her two daughters, seemed to not be able to convince people that it was time to let her go.

The Met was beautifully decorated with pictures of Alessandra, some of them including Bolle or Bocca. These gave a nice touch to such special night.

Alessandra will be missed.

Link to comment
The Review is up on the times.

It is not by Mr Macaulay though, but by Gia Kourlas. It is of course a glowing review, if not as efflusive in its praise as was Mr Macaulay's of the farewell performance of Kyra Nichols on Friday.

Too bad it was buried on page 5 while the article on Nichols' was twice the length and featured so prominently on page 1. Considering Ferri was an international ballet superstar (while Nichols was not), to have the adjacent Macauley article state that Nichols was the "greatest ballerina in the last 20 years" was disrepectful to Ferri and an indirect jab at her.

Link to comment
The Review is up on the times.

It is not by Mr Macaulay though, but by Gia Kourlas. It is of course a glowing review, if not as efflusive in its praise as was Mr Macaulay's of the farewell performance of Kyra Nichols on Friday.

Too bad it was buried on page 5 while the article on Nichols' was twice the length and featured so prominently on page 1. Considering Ferri was an international ballet superstar (while Nichols was not), to have the adjacent Macauley article state that Nichols was the "greatest ballerina in the last 20 years" was disrepectful to Ferri and an indirect jab at her.

Buried? It was adjacent to the "jump" on the Kyra article and both the photo of Kyra and of Ferri were wonderful. A brief paragraph 0n Page 1 directed readers to the Ferri review

Link to comment
The Review is up on the times.

It is not by Mr Macaulay though, but by Gia Kourlas. It is of course a glowing review, if not as efflusive in its praise as was Mr Macaulay's of the farewell performance of Kyra Nichols on Friday.

Too bad it was buried on page 5 while the article on Nichols' was twice the length and featured so prominently on page 1. Considering Ferri was an international ballet superstar (while Nichols was not), to have the adjacent Macauley article state that Nichols was the "greatest ballerina in the last 20 years" was disrepectful to Ferri and an indirect jab at her.

Buried? It was adjacent to the "jump" on the Kyra article and both the photo of Kyra and of Ferri were wonderful.

Well it depends if you are looking at it digitally or in the old school paper manner ;)

it is indisputable that Kyra Nichols' review was linked via image from the main page (speaking digitally of course), while Alessandra Ferri's was not. Whether this is unfair is, I suppose, a matter of one's opinion of the two dancers.

They did not receive equal treatment by the Times however.

Link to comment
Anyone know what's going on with Reyes? Is she injured? If so, I hope not badly.

The program insert on Saturday night said she was injured. I'm wondering about Ethan Stiefel, too, after he was replaced at intermission on Saturday.

David Hallberg said in a pre-performance talk that Xiomara hurt her foot. I'm not sure how badly, though. In a rehearsal for Manon, Stiefel and Gillian (dancing the drunken pas de deux) both fell over. Stiefel acted as if he had hurt his neck, so perhaps that is what is currently ailing him.

Link to comment
The Review is up on the times.

It is not by Mr Macaulay though, but by Gia Kourlas. It is of course a glowing review, if not as efflusive in its praise as was Mr Macaulay's of the farewell performance of Kyra Nichols on Friday.

Too bad it was buried on page 5 while the article on Nichols' was twice the length and featured so prominently on page 1. Considering Ferri was an international ballet superstar (while Nichols was not), to have the adjacent Macauley article state that Nichols was the "greatest ballerina in the last 20 years" was disrepectful to Ferri and an indirect jab at her.

Buried? It was adjacent to the "jump" on the Kyra article and both the photo of Kyra and of Ferri were wonderful.

Well it depends if you are looking at it digitally or in the old school paper manner ;)

it is indisputable that Kyra Nichols' review was linked via image from the main page (speaking digitally of course), while Alessandra Ferri's was not. Whether this is unfair is, I suppose, a matter of one's opinion of the two dancers.

They did not receive equal treatment by the Times however.

I agree that the Time's coverage was unequal, and although I enjoy Macaulay's writing his prejudices are becoming glaringly obvious and very annoying. I'll address that a little further on the Macaulay thread in the "Writings on Ballet" forum, but just wanted to note here that the digital version of today's NY Times (6/26) has a 3 1/2 minute video from Ferri's farewell on the front page. Go to www.nytimes.com and scroll about halfway down the page to their Video section

Susan

Link to comment
Just wanted to note here that the digital version of today's NY Times (6/26) has a 3 1/2 minute video from Ferri's farewell on the front page. Go to www.nytimes.com and scroll about halfway down the page to their Video section

Susan

grazie susan! I had missed that..thanks so much for sharing :dunno:

Link to comment
I agree that the Time's coverage was unequal, and although I enjoy Macaulay's writing his prejudices are becoming glaringly obvious and very annoying. I'll address that a little further on the Macaulay thread in the "Writings on Ballet" forum, but just wanted to note here that the digital version of today's NY Times (6/26) has a 3 1/2 minute video from Ferri's farewell on the front page. Go to www.nytimes.com and scroll about halfway down the page to their Video section

Susan

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/index.html

You see nice bits of the performance, Bolle's famous shoulder beds in a Balcony Lift, Franklin performing holy duties, the final death of Ferri, flowers, including Franklin's for Ferri, celebrants, her bows...

Link to comment
I agree that the Time's coverage was unequal, and although I enjoy Macaulay's writing his prejudices are becoming glaringly obvious and very annoying. I'll address that a little further on the Macaulay thread in the "Writings on Ballet" forum, but just wanted to note here that the digital version of today's NY Times (6/26) has a 3 1/2 minute video from Ferri's farewell on the front page. Go to www.nytimes.com and scroll about halfway down the page to their Video section

Susan

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/index.html

You see nice bits of the performance, Bolle's famous shoulder beds in a Balony Lift, Franklin performing holy duties, the final death of Ferri, flowers, including Franklin's for Ferri, celebrants, her bows...

This means that there is a video record of Ferri's farewell performance! Thanks for the link. Wish that I coould get a hold of that video! I wanna relive that incredible evening. They did tape Ferri's last scheduled Manon for the library so that one can watch it there.

I do think that Alex was unfairly not given the coverage she deserves in the NYTimes. She is an international star and one of the greatest dramatic ballerinas of our day. Her coverage should have been equal if not more than Nyichols' tribute. While I enjoy Macaulay, he is getting snippy.

Link to comment
For everybody who thought Ferri was treated unfairly by The Times, there is now a 3:27 minute highlight clip in the Arts section of her final performance (including flower-giving and curtain call)!

The NYTimes highlight clips take me back to that incredible night. It also means that there is a video of Ferri's farewell performance! Hmmmm....

Also, on the NYMagazine website: NYMag.com, there is a video interview with Roberto Bolle and it has video footage of him rehearsing Romeo at the Met with ABT ballet mistress Georgina Parkinson. What a beautiful, beautiful man and dancer.

Link to comment
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...