zerbinetta

Opera, not ballet, but worth posting: leaving the Met after a performance of La Boheme I overheard "There are a lot of hit tunes in that opera!"

I'm with you, Jim. We don't expect her to be a finished dancer yet. In fact, one of the joys of watching a dancer grow up is to be there during the process.

An excellent & unsurprising choice. Better not to replace the irreplaceable Hunt Lieberson with a mezzo & Daniels has done the role to great acclaim.

It's a beautiful piece & I'd love to see it revived but don't think it's for NYCB.

It's great to see "Willie" has a productive "life after". A role model, it seems.

Unfortunate as it seems to add another full-lengther to CBs repertory, the 60 -70% houses often seen in spring/summer '06 might necessitate a cash cow like R&J. But it would be preferable to hire Ratmansky to do the job.

Didn't she do a full Swan in Chicago? Was that with NBoC?

I found Carreno unexpectedly fabulous tonight. Unexpected because, among ABT's principal men, he is one of the few I would never think of as a boy rather than a man. However he did boyish deliciously & was the sexiest Romeo since Anthony Dowell in his mature years. He makes a clear definition between his play-acting infatuation with Rosaline & his real love for Juliet; he has history with his good buddies; he's a bit of a tearabout but a courtly and elegant one. Carreno has been dancing better this season than he has for a couple of years; pain-free, perhaps? Ferri is reminding me more and more of Marcia Haydee. Never a great technician, it is apparent that her powers are waning when she dances alone. There were many instances in which she simplified the choreography and MacMillan hardly created difficult choreography here. But what she does in partnered work is miraculous. On or off the ground with her partners, she is still fascinating in this role. Salstein is one of the best acting dancers around. No, he can't do what H. Cornejo does but who can? Salstein has great imagination: Act I, in the sword horseplay with Romeo & Benvolio, Salstein grabs his right waist when he pretends to be dying, so in his real death scene, grabbing the right waist, you understand his friends' thinking he is just fooling around again. This is one example of a multitude of details he brought to his characterization. He is always in the moment, which must be very helpful to his colleagues. Funny, I thought Saveliev was a gentler Paris in the third act than most, not losing his patience until very late in the second encounter in the bedroom. He seemed to be urging his fiancee not to make things any more difficult than they need be. Radestsky doesn't yet have the Big Presence to carry off Tybalt. He plays him one dimensional, pure thug. Savaliev is much better in the role - he strikes what must be a difficult balance between nobleman and thug. Another good actor who looks beyond the obvious & creates a layered character. Friday night - Kent/Gomes - was a curiously muted affair. It was Kent's 20th anniversary, so one would have thought she would be "on". There was zero chemistry between her and Gomes. Now nobody doesn't have chemistry with Gomes, including Kent on many previous occasions. I would have left at the second intermission if I hadn't had a guest with me and I have never left a Gomes performance. Sorry to say it, but it was a bore. The MacMillan Fest is over, praise be. Maybe in ten months I will have forgotten what a dreary choreographer he was.

I will miss Underwood but he was way overdue for bigger roles/promotion at ABT. He's a beautifu & elegant dancer & a wonderful partner, with a gorgeously proportioned body, good feet, lovely arms, clean technique, musical. Too bad for NY. I hope he prospers in London.

The Reyes/Corella connection was equally intense as his with Vishneva but in a sweeter, gentler mode. She is a lovely Juliet and a wonderful dance actress. She doesn't shake her heard about and make faces; she communicates through her dance & her exquisite musicality. This is a refined ballerina who immerses herself in the role. She also has the most eloquent feet after Ferri (they speak, laugh, weep) but Reyes' feet are far stronger. She also seems to have the Suzanne Farrell ability to balance on any part of her toe. Unlike some other posters here, I didn't feel the Vishneva/Corella partnership worked all that well. I kept wishing for Stiefel - a better match for her, perhaps. Corella did have a long term partnership with Julie Kent but that seems to have been called off. Kent is taller, I think, than Vishneva & Corella had no problems partnering her but he certainly did with DV. He partnered Reyes well and he seemed to dance a bit better than Monday night. I'm not sure what to make of Corella this year. He seems out of shape: thicker through the thighs & his previously perky posterior seems to have fallen. His dancing appears to be in the "star turn" manner & he totally phoned in the first two acts of his Manon, only coming to life in Act III. As I've said on other posts, there is an artist inside this dancer but it has yet to emerge except in very small bursts and those are rare this season. His landings are sloppy; his feet are inconsistentlly pointed; he continues to do one more rotation than will end cleanly and he encourages the applause meter to an embarassing degree. He is likely halfway through his career & hope is fading.

Hans: In the old ABT (Blair?) production, the mechanical swans swam from stage right to left. The swans themselves all enter same. I saw that Seattle Lohengrin, helene, & also don't remember but I can ask the Elsa.

I was also going to mention the Sleeping Beauty boat which enters stage left, circumnavigates the stage (on a good night) & exits stage left. The Corsaire boat goes nowhere but down. The Manon boat is stationary. In the Robert Wilson Lohengrin production at the Met, the Schwan boat enters from stage left. In the former Hoffmann production's Venetian act, the boat went from stage right & exited left. In the current production I can't remember a gondola at all, as it takes place indoors..The Otello boat appears stage L & exits same. The Dutchman boat first appears stage right & later stage left & goes down. Abduction: right to left; Clemenza: center & disappears center; Italiana: appears right, leaves center; Cosi: already there at curtain, leaves right. So there wouldn't seem to be a hard & fast rule regarding boats/ships.

She continued in an advisory capacity. And she was their "soul".

Oh my, more hard times for Washington Ballet. Bad things do seem to come in bursts.

Thank you. drb. I'd have looked forward to Doble's growth no matter which company he ended up with.

Roddy Doble, who was relatively new to the school in March, was very impressive at the Choreographer's Workshop in the James Sewell piece. He wasn't listed among the dancers at the SAB Workshop rehearsal. He was listed as one of the "Five Tumpeters" in yesterday afternoon's ABT Sylvia. Anyone know if he has joined ABT? or ABT II?

Actually, it is my understanding that an egg facial is excellent for the complexion.

Very sad. I guess we knew it was coming, with all the cancellations & all, but that doesn't mitigate the loss. I will always remember her "swimming" across the stage in Purchase as Cleopatra in the Giulio Cesare. She was so all of a piece - mind, body, voice, artistry.

Generally known as Charlie, Sidney Charles Wigler died this morning at Roosevelt Hospital of penumonia and complications from a fall. He had lived at the Empire Hotel for as long as anyone can remember and was debilitated by suffering through an endless renovation which caused periods of lack of heat, water, electricity, telephone service. Charlie loved Balanchine, classical music, good food & conversation and, especially, NYCB ballerinas. He was funny, irascible, generous, knowledgable, impatient with fools and totally loyal. He loved his friends and we loved him. Graveside service will be tomorrow. PM for details.

christina: just want to add that you might need to be quite specific when asking your casting questions as the Met press office is more opera oriented than ballet oriented. Ask who is Benno & then the peasant pas dancers.

You might try calling the Met & asking to speak with the press office. As the Met takes care of the programs & is quite competently run, this would seem your best bet: (212) 362-6000

I got this as well. The Giselle tickets are still at the regular price, but I'd have to guess that the Forsythe programs are not selling as well.

There are three complete casts for the stepmother & stepsisters roles. Different male & female foursomes in the second cast (don't know yet about the third as we won't see that until Saturday evening). Kristi Boone is miles better than Carmen Corella in the tall stepsister role but Erica Cornejo is irreplaceable. So is Martine in the stepmother role. Her timing is everything & that takes an old pro. So if it's Martine & Erica, you'd be safer with the matinee. You could also call ABT & ask.

Three acts, 2 intermissions. Ends at 10:35 (8:00 curtain).

How strange. After a performance of Concerto Barocco last week, I was thinking of starting a thread about The Perfect Ballet. For me, Concerto Barocco is just that. A healing ballet. On a par with Nozze di Figaro & Fidelio in that respect. On a given night, without first class performances, it might not be my favorite ballet but it tends to be almost performance proof. When it ends, I sigh deeply & just feel better about life.