zerbinetta

I tried to find out what they are dancing but with no luck. Presumably it is J. Strauss' music from another work, but whether or not it's a full pas de deux, I dunno. Guess we'll just have to watch or tape & find out on 12/31. I did find out it is 2-1/2 hours long.

PBS will telecast their 2003 production of Fledermaus on December 31 (9PM EST). The beauteous June Anderson is the Rosalinda & Wolfgang Brendel is the Eisenstein. Among the Act II guests are Ethan Stiefel & Gillian Murphy who will be dancing, not singing. Placido also shows up. Check local times.

It's that "after I'm gone" part I'm worried about, pj. Some poor wretch having to go through hundreds of mini-size shopping bags bursting with 35 or 40 programs per .. ...& all the while muttering "what was she thinking???"

What about scanning the performance pages & ticket stubs & making a CD once each month or so? Then we would only need to keep one copy of each season's full programs, should we so desire. I just got a scanner & thought I would do this ... when I get the time to do 30+ years of programs. Will this work?

Willful (bent on having one's way) & manipulative (bending events to one's favor)? Seems to me these are generally considered admirable qualities in a male. Isn't this the old woman: aggressive; man: assertive hang-up? That's old. Any person who spends approximately 10 years of early life intensively studying for a career that lasts perhaps 20 years would need to learn how to get her/his way if they wish to be successful.

Before he was "a true Broadway man" he was a true ballet dancer with Eliot Feld's company. A beautiful dancer & a beautiful man.

Until tonight I didn't understand why the lead couple in "Amazed in Burning Dreams" came out last for the curtain call, rather than the lead male dancer. Friday night Misty Copeland made it perfectly clear why. An astonishing & feral performance. Others have been good, even fine, in the role but, surely, this is what Peterson had in mind. Even with a splendid performance by Herman Cornejo in the lead male role, the ballet belonged to Misty: gorgeous, ferocious even, totally compelling. This ballerina of great delicacy & musicality went for broke, took chances & conquered all. I'm gobsmacked!!!

Gracias, Don Leigh.

I have a favor to ask: would someone in Seattle who is seeing the Don Q & someone in Berkeley who is seeing the Raymonda look at his/her watch at the end of the performance & tell me the running times, please? I don't like to eat before the performance as I tend to get all snoozy & Chicago isn't loaded with late dining choices except for room service so I'd need to call around & reserve. Thank you in advance.

What we might be forgetting here is that, in the Rudel & Sills days, operas were cast with "big house" voices. For the most part, we had experienced singers. The current artistic administration of NYCO prefers young singers, some barely out of school. They are not used to singing in a big house & the State, while smaller than the Met, is still a big house. The stage sound deadening properties built into the theater to diminish the sounds of dancers' feet hitting the stage floor also diminishes the sound of the voice: think Elizabeth Futral in Daphne when she was on that great silly pillar: the voice range out clearly while lower down it was often covered by the orchestra. & EF is used to big houses. (Whether or not she was vocally right for the role is another question) The size & shape of the orchestra pit tends to make the orchestra sound correspondingly louder. In any case, this is good news for those of us not looking forward to a trip way downtown for the opera & those of us running from the State to the Met all summmer long between City Ballet & ABT. Let's hope they can work it out.

Ah, right. Norman Walker. I saw it in NY when Wayne had some seasons here. A very dark piece, rather repellant but not uninteresting.

I'm not sure how protective of notation choreographers are, but perhaps you could contact those whose ballets you have not or cannot see & ask if they would let you have a copy of the dance notation. If you explain your situation, they might just be cooperative. You would need to be able to interpret the notation (or find someone who is able to "reconstruct" it for you) but it would give you some idea of the work. 2 other ballets come to mind: Peter Martins' "Stabat Mater" (Pergolesi) & Dennis Wayne's "Lazarus" (don't remember what music he used).

Silvy, I'm afraid you may have been discouraged by some of the replies here & would like to suggest that you do go to this opera. First of all, it will be conducted by Steuart Bedford, who is a noted Britten interpreter & worked closely with the composer. Secondly, the opera is so rarely performed (outside of England, anyway) that you might not get another chance to hear it live.Thirdly, it happens to be a great opera. Some preparation is probably in order. If you could start with recordings of Britten's orchestral pieces with voice, say Serenade for Tenor, Horn & trings &/or his War Requiem. You will get a feel for the composer, his temperament, style & soul. Then proceed to a recording of Death in Venice itself. You may have to buy the libretto separately. Follow the recording with libretto in hand. Then you will be ready to buy your ticket .. I hope.

You could try an online search for Vittorio Rieti. Perhaps it is included in an album of his other works. On the other hand, if it is the music itself you love, why not go to the source: Vincenzo Bellini's opera La Sonnambula? There are a number of excellent recordings, Sutherland,Callas & Scotto among them. The Scotto has the virtue of the supreme Alfredo Kraus; the Sutherland tenor is Pavarotti & the Callas features the young Cossotto in a relatively small role. I do not recommend the Aliberti version: a Callas clone with all of her mannerisms & none of her artistry.

Juliet: I think the change of start time to 7:00 PM may have been prompted by the length of the program (followed by the dinner) which would seem to be somewhat longer than their usual 60-75 minute opening performance. See you at Picholine at 8:45. :-) .. unless we should count in some extra time for the dreaded speeches, as this performance will be kicking off the Centennial.

Estelle: I'm so glad to hear Thesmar is coaching (if I'm understanding you correctly) as she has much to share about style, lyric & musical expressivity & those arms .. oh those arms!

Of course it was Fille I was thinking of! Sorry. It's just that it had been on my mind as I was bothered that such a great percentage of the score was Rossini that he really should have a credit. It's not like there's an insert or even two but huge sections of Rossini!

I think Ib is more in the 5'9" to 5'10" range but so slim & light that he seemed slight & Murphy (with rather long feet) is a good deal taller than Stiefel en pointe: partnering by the wrist time.

aspirant: Glass Pieces was revived the season before last, with some new & some re-ordered costumes. I don't know if anyone has mentioned how well J-P Frohlich stages the Robbins repertory.

I'd be interested to know what you find out, Leigh, as I have wondered about this cobbled together score, especially the liberal & uncredited "borrowing" from Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia: like the first 10+ minutes & the tempesta & Berta's aria. And who composed the Clog Dance. Guess I'll have to buy the book. P.S. Isn't alibris wonderful!

Tickets for opening night (ordered months ago!) finally arrived. Be advised start time has been changed from the originally announced 7:30 to 7:00 PM.

As Nina Ananiashvili has done Mozartiana (coached by Suzanne, I believe) & done it wonderfully, I'm sure she will be first cast.

oberon, do you remember Bugaku with Suzanne & Jorge Donn in his brief soujourn with NYCB? Now that was hot! He suited in that role, unlike Vienna Waltzes which was interesting casting but didn't really work.

Nutcrackers: no Korbes & de Luz in Tea. Predictable, hmm?