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ABT 2016 DC Tour 1/27-1/31


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Just got an email from Kennedy Center with their 2016 programming brochure. ABT is going to perform much earlier than their usual April spot.

Wonder what this means for any new Auroras learning the role. After Met season, the dancers have several weeks off before rehearsing for Fall Season, followed by several weeks off before Nutcracker touring. Very excited to see casting.

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I'm surprised that Gomes got Seo. Seems like McKenzie is doing everything in his power to try and get audiences to accept Seo. Stella deserves Aurora and it would be a good opportunity for her to perfect it before Met Season. I think Copeland will probably get cast for Detroit. Perhaps the limited amount of rehearsal time factors into there being no debuts. Boylston and Gorak for opening night is interesting....

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I just went to the Kenn Cen's online box office and see that tickets to BEAUTY in which Misty performs are DOUBLE the cost of other performances. Yowza! For ex, compare the two shows on Sunday, Jan 31; a 2nd-tier-center seat in Row A costs $119 for matinee (with Misty), versus $59 for the same seat for the 6:30pm show sans Misty...and we're talking about dancing Florine, not Aurora! Not just 2nd Tier. All seats are double-cost for the matinee performance...Hee Seo as Aurora & Misty as Florine costs double. We can see Gillian's Aurora on Sunday eve for half price.

Edited to add: I've now checked pricing for all performances. Prices are doubled for only the two performances in which Misty is listed: Friday @ 7pm and Sunday @ 1pm. In both cases, she 's listed as Florine/Bluebird pdd. Murphy is the Aurora at the Friday show; Seo is Aurora at the Sunday matinee, as mentioned earlier. The final bows at those two performances should be interesting. I bet I know who'll get the loudest cheers. Hopefully it won't be embarrassing.

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If Misty is cast as Aurora in the September Paris tour (as POB guest company) next year, let's see her box office draw will extend across the pond. Does Paris Opera have dynamic pricing? I assume the pricing policy in Paris will be up to the Opera.

How do you have confirmation of an ABT tour to Paris? This has not been announced in Paris.

Paris pricing depends on day of the week but does not depend on who is dancing. The opera has a longstanding tradition of emphasizing the company as a whole over individual dancers. As a personal remark, I doubt that Mistymania would catch on here.

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Personally, I'm not so sad to be missing Misty's performances.

I'm going to make it a weekend in DC and have tickets to the Saturday matinee (Boylston and Gorak) and evening (Lane and Cornejo). I am very excited to see these casts, as I did not get a chance to see them in the spring (I saw Murphy/Gomes and Murphy/Whiteside).

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This must be the first time in the history of ballet that pricing has been dictated by Princess Florine, a secondary role...a full pdd/nice role but hardly the star. I hope that the DC masses won't be disappointed when, after two hours (three scenes and two intermissions), they still will not have seen their idol. We'll hear a lot of "Where's Misty?" from the crowd intermissions. I understand a price hike for an idolized dancer performing the lead in a full-evening ballet but not an eight-minute appearance (plus intro & coda in Act III).

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This must be the first time in the history of ballet that pricing has been dictated by Princess Florine, a secondary role...a full pdd/nice role but hardly the star. I hope that the DC masses won't be disappointed when, after two hours (three scenes and two intermissions), they still will not have seen their idol. We'll hear a lot of "Where's Misty?" from the crowd intermissions. I understand a price hike for an idolized dancer performing the lead in a full-evening ballet but not an eight-minute appearance (plus intro & coda in Act III).

Crass. Not only does it diminish the dancers who are dancing the leads, but it points up how ignorant an audience might be about the ballet. ABT seems to be saying "let's milk this promotion as far as we can" (or dare)

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I also feel bad that some of the targeted audience members are those who can least afford it...thinking of the kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods, whose families can't easily afford those $119 "cheap seats" up in nosebleed. That's before the inevitable mark-up by the ticket mafias. All for an 8-minute Bluebird pdd.

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We don't know whether the pricing was set by ABT or by the KC. Either way, it's pretty awful, especially considering that the Kennedy Center is supposed to be a national institution largely funded by the federal government. I guess I had better buy my tickets for the Met SB during the priority week, because if Misty ends up as a Bluebird in any performance the price will be jacked up immediately.

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We don't know whether the pricing was set by ABT or by the KC. Either way, it's pretty awful, especially considering that the Kennedy Center is supposed to be a national institution largely funded by the federal government. I guess I had better buy my tickets for the Met SB during the priority week, because if Misty ends up as a Bluebird in any performance the price will be jacked up immediately.

In comparing the number of seats left for Misty's performances with the Saturday non-misty matinee, the price increase doesn't even have to do with increased ticket demand, as the shows have sold comparably. It truly is sickening.

Maybe now that the word is out in which shows Misty's dancing, we'll see increased sales and they could have used the whole dynamic pricing crap, but that certainly doesn't appear to be the case right now.

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I'm wondering how much this will impact the Met pricing. E.g., Copeland is scheduled to do Firebird on May 18 and 19 as part of the Ratmansky mixed bill - with the Ratmansky premiere that I really hope to see a few times. It would be ironic to charge more for a ballet that many serious balletomanes aren't so crazy about (I'm being polite) because of the casting.

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California, I am anticipating that the price of all performances in which Misty is announced will be increased almost immediately after the date that the priority period is over. If you want to go to the new Ratmansky ballet on a date in which Misty is scheduled for Firebird, you should consider buying your tickets before the date the dynamic pricing starts. The date when dynamic pricing kicks in is somewhere in the fine print of the ABT booklet. I think it is sometime in late March.

Re Krysta's comment, it is sickening. I hope this policy backfires and they are unable to sell any additional tickets at the new doubled price.

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I fully expect the Ferri/Cornejo R&J to be dynamically priced and more expensive than the other R&J's of the season. Is that "sickening"? Or is it "sickening" just because it's Misty? :icon8:

It's sickening because at this point the demand doesn't suggest the price should be higher. If the Ferri R&J does not sell at a rate that allowed dynamic pricing, I would find that sickening as well.

They are taking advantage of Misty's fans.

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If you read Krysta's post, you will see that the dates for Misty's shows have, so far, not sold better than the other SB shows. So the increase was not based on demand (which is what dynamic pricing is all about) but on anticipated demand. That is what Krysta and I find "sickening". If the Ferri show is selling so well that they increase the price, okay, that's dynamic pricing. The Misty price increase, however, was NOT based on dynamic pricing. That's the point.

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I'm not a Copeland fan, but as she seems to be bringing in new audiences and wider press attention, that's good for the artform, so okay. As noted elsewhere on this site, the only two Nutcrackers to sell out at Segerstrom were her performances. What bothers me is the thought of a not-very-rich family struggling to buy tickets to see Copeland for the first time and discovering she's only on-stage for a matter of minutes in a secondary role. I hope the KenCen and the local press are making full disclosure so people know what they're buying. Ferri is making a one-time appearance in a lead role - apples and oranges, I think.

I have to think that the Kennedy Center management has enough political savvy to make available some free appearances that all can enjoy -- perhaps on the millennium stage in the lobby or a school visit or perhaps bringing school kids to a dress rehearsal where they can see her. She did a fund-raiser for a neighborhood ballet school in SoCal and made some other appearances, so her new fans should have other opportunities to at least see her in DC.

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I hope the KenCen and the local press are making full disclosure so people know what they're buying.

I have to think that the Kennedy Center management has enough political savvy to make available some free appearances that all can enjoy -- perhaps on the millennium stage in the lobby or a school visit or perhaps bringing school kids to a dress rehearsal where they can see her.

She isn't scheduled for Milennium Stage during the ABT run. The only mention of her on the KC site is in the casting, where like the rest of the dancers she is identified by last name alone. To the best of my memory, the Washington Post has so far mentioned neither the production nor Copeland's appearances. The KC performances aren't even listed on Copeland's website calendar. All of which suggests to me that the Center expects balletomanes, and not more more casual fans attracted primarily by Copeland and her celebrity and historic significance, to buy those extra expensive tickets.

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