Jump to content
This Site Uses Cookies. If You Want to Disable Cookies, Please See Your Browser Documentation. ×
Support Ballet Alert! Year Round through the Amazon Affiliates Program by Clicking Here to Order from Amazon.com

Program 4 - Frankenstein

sf_herminator

By sf_herminator
in San Francisco Ballet

Recommended Posts

California

California

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, Dreamer said:

What a great surprise to see Aaron Robison appear in the cast. Did he dance this role last season?  I wonder why there is no asterisk next to his name indicating him as a guest artist. Could it be his return to the company?

He's still listed on the ENB site today, but what great news if he decides to return to SFB! https://www.ballet.org.uk/the-company/dancers

Link to comment
Dreamer

Dreamer

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, California said:

He's still listed on the ENB site today, but what great news if he decides to return to SFB! https://www.ballet.org.uk/the-company/dancers

Thank you for checking it. That would be too much to wish for. It was just a though that maybe the recent troubles at ENB continue causing dancers defections.  But a more likely explanation is that with Joseph Walsh being sidelined, the company is short on Victors and has to rely on a guest artist.

Edited by Dreamer
Link to comment
Terez

Terez

Posted
Posted

Well, I was just stunned, seeing this casting list. I have to miss out on the whole run, and I'm worried the entire season is going to fly by without my seeing Ulrik Birkkjaer in a leading role. Do we know how serious Walsh's sidelining is? So disappointing (except that I'm not seeing any of Frankenstein anyway). What a surprise to see Robison on the list - very exciting, actually. 

Looking forward to hearing others' comments after they've watched the performance(s).

Link to comment
pherank

pherank

Posted
Posted
On 3/1/2018 at 8:22 PM, Dreamer said:

Thank you for checking it. That would be too much to wish for. It was just a though that maybe the recent troubles at ENB continue causing dancers defections.  But a more likely explanation is that with Joseph Walsh being sidelined, the company is short on Victors and has to rely on a guest artist.

I think that is exactly it. And Robison has been maintaining contact with a number of SFB dancers, so I think that personality-wise, he gets along well with most of the SFB people. I doubt he's going to be flying back and forth between SFB and ENB though. It's more likely to be an occasional thing, but how nice to have him as a guest artist (especially with Karapetyan gone for good, Walsh injured, Helimets reaching 40 years of age), SFB can never have enough experienced danseurs around the opera house.

Link to comment
sf_herminator

sf_herminator

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
42 minutes ago, Terez said:

Is it my imagination or has there been little media coverage of this run? I saw the SF Gate review but have found nothing else, and I always enjoy reading reviews of productions I know.

No, I just tried look for some reviews other than SF Gate but haven't found any.  Everything else I've found is from last year.

I have to admit that I wasn't looking forward to seeing Frankenstein again this year.  I liked it when I saw it last year, but not enough to see it again this year.

Well, watching it again this year completely changed my view of Frankenstein.  I found this to be a beautiful production and a great fit on the wonderful San Francisco Ballet.  This year I saw Friday night (Max Cauthorn, Lauren Strongin, and Wei Wang) and Saturday night (Aaron Robison, Frances Chung, and VItor Luiz).  Plus, I saw Act 3 on Wednesday night (Ulrik Birkkjaer, Dores Andre, and Luke Ingham) [Full Disclosure:  I was one of the backstage chaperones for the SFB School Students in the production, so went to SRO to watch Act 3 when done with chaperone duty].  Both in dancing and drama, all casts delivered.  I also want to give credit to the Justines (Jahna Frantziskonis and Julia Rowe) and Henrys (Esteban Hernandez, Angelo Greco, and Diego Cruz).  In watching it again this year, I also found it not to be as dark in terms of costuming and lighting as I had thought last year - especially in Act 3.  Lastly, kudos to all the dancers in the company.  It was brilliant in all 3 acts.  And thank you to Liam Scarlett for his vision.  Back to the choreography, the company in the lab class in Act 1 and the ballroom scene in Act 3 were so inventive.  The Creature weaving in and out of the crowd, causing Victor great turmoil was especially menacing.  I could go on and on, but I am happy that we got to see this again.  I must also give a shoutout to Max Behrman-Rosenberg, the young student who is dancing William Frankenstein.

Frances Chung was the Meet the Artist Interview on Friday night.  She spoke about the creation of Frankenstein and dancing the role of Elizabeth.  She also talked a bit about the choreographers she worked with for the Unbound festival.  The podcast will be available shortly here:  https://www.sfballet.org/explore/podcasts.  In the meantime, you can check out the podcasts so far this season that have been posted as well as podcasts from last year.  Of particular note here (as they are related to Frankenstein) are the ones with Max Cauthorn, Luke Ingham, and Liam Scarlett.

One final note:  Prior to the start of Friday's performance, there was an announcement that the Orchestra was being recorded for future commercial use.  Which must mean a digital download or CD of the score will be available in the near future.  A few people told me last night this same announcement was also made Wednesday night.

Edited by sf_herminator
Link to comment
Dreamer

Dreamer

Posted
Posted

Same as sf_herminator, I was not sure I wanted to see Frankenstein again this year. But when the casting was posted and I saw the name of Ulrik Birkkjaer who joined the company this season and whom I had never seen in full-length ballet I decided to give it a try. And I was so glad I did because I greatly enjoyed the performance. I also couldn’t miss the opportunity of witnessing Aaron Robison so I ended up seeing the ballet twice.  I am not sure what has changed but the ballet felt different this year, more refined, coherent and better interpreted dramatically. Maybe this always happen when dancers take on a more familiar ballet they feel more comfortable and can dance it with a greater sense of abandon and inner freedom. 

Notes to add: The printed cast sheet did mention Aaron Robison appearing as a guest artis courtesy of English National Ballet.  The recording of the ballet score was likely happening through the entire run as the same announcement was made before the Wednesday and Thursday performances. 

 

Link to comment
Terez

Terez

Posted
Posted

Thank you both for your comments, Dreamer and SF Herminator. Great to hear your perspectives. I, too, had that  "saw it once, which I enjoyed, but didn't need to see it twice" feeling and the Opera House is such a slog from the Santa Cruz Mountains that I just have to give some programs a pass. But I always feel wistful when I let a performance run slip past, especially since the SFB season is so short. I agree that the second year of a performance allows the dancers to incorporate more nuance, refinement, coherence & interpretation. Oh, ugh, now I really DO want to see a performance, particularly because I have this uneasy feeling I will never once see Birkkjaer perform this season. Ah, choices...

Link to comment
sf_herminator

sf_herminator

Posted
  • Author
Posted
2 hours ago, Terez said:

Thank you both for your comments, Dreamer and SF Herminator. Great to hear your perspectives. I, too, had that  "saw it once, which I enjoyed, but didn't need to see it twice" feeling and the Opera House is such a slog from the Santa Cruz Mountains that I just have to give some programs a pass. But I always feel wistful when I let a performance run slip past, especially since the SFB season is so short. I agree that the second year of a performance allows the dancers to incorporate more nuance, refinement, coherence & interpretation. Oh, ugh, now I really DO want to see a performance, particularly because I have this uneasy feeling I will never once see Birkkjaer perform this season. Ah, choices...

Terez - You can see Ulrik in two of the Unbound films:  Let's Begin at the End (choreographer Dwight Rhoden) and Snowblind (choreographer Cathy Marston).  Snowblind is on Unbound B and Let's Begin at the End is on Unbound D.  Here is the link for the Unbound films:  https://www.sfballet.org/season/events/unbound-2018/dance-films-unbound.  The casting for the Robbins program (opening on 3/20) should be posted sometime later this week (at least the first one or two nights) so we shall see what Ulrik will be in.

Link to comment
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

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