Birdsall

The Royal Ballet's version doesn't have La Discorde et la Guerre either. Maybe it was changed early on in the ballet's history and revised. This is a good research question. I read online that Coppelia's success "was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War and the siege of Paris" (Wikipedia), so maybe after that the ballet was changed to get rid of war elements. Maybe it bothered people so soon after the war, so they changed it up starting during that time, but I do hope someone on Ballet Talk can inform us if he/she knows the answer!

How does it compare with the Covent Garden Royal Ballet's mime sequences? I feel that dvd has a lot of mime that explains more. I find it a charming production too and hope Miami's is just as charming.

vrsfanatic, I noticed that they were doing a different program in Tampa (where I used to live), and so I was going to go to Tampa and see that show also, but it happened to fall on a date when we were having a party here in Gainesville, and I ended up thinking it might not be great for one of the hosts to not show up to his own party! LOL Let us know how you liked the Tampa program. I am surprised they did a different program in one city and have the same program for the rest of the cities they are touring this time around.

Casting is up for Miami's 3 performances. Delgado/Penteado, Catoya/Reyes, and Albertson/Cerdeiro.

I saw the Joffrey Ballet last night here in Gainesville, FL. They danced 3 ballets: Night, After the Rain, and Pretty BALLET. I enjoyed it very much and also noticed Fabrice Calmels (like bart did) who stood out big time. Just his physical presence is incredible, but then you add talent to the physical frame, and you have a great dancer. It was like watching a sculpture come to life. I liked Pretty BALLET the best, and it has an almost Balanchine style to it, in my opinion. Maybe that is why I liked it. The dancers would sometimes dance in opposing directions like cogs in a wheel (my interpretation), b/c the notes said it is about art and technology work together. Night was the most modern piece, and I have to say I am not a fan of flexed feet during lifts (as opposed to pointed feet during lifts). It seems jarring. But there was a lot of humor and cuteness to the choreography, so I guess it worked in the context of this modern piece. After the Rain is a very moody piece, and it was nice too. I think I would enjoy seeing After the Rain and Pretty BALLET again one day. On the fence about Night.

Coffee does seem to go on and on forever.

LOL I laughed out loud about Mother Ginger. I sort of think that is a cheap trick to get the audience going, "Ahhhhh" when the kids come out. I love the Russian Candy canes in the Royal Ballet's version but not a big fan of the Balanchine version. The Balanchine candy canes are fun to see ONCE but after that not so much.

To me it seems like all she's doing is running around and not doing much. LOL

Does anyone have a least favorite variation? I have to say mine is the "Le Petit Corsaire" variation that Medora dances with the megaphone in Le Corsaire. I have seen it in the Bolshoi's reconstruction, and I just think it is so silly and most of the time she is just skipping around. To me it comes off as such a filler piece. I read it was popular and one of the first ballet pieces ever filmed. So what am I missing? Luckily for me I don't think many companies include it, or am I wrong?

Thank you for the review and including the video, so that I can compare/contrast when I see Miami's version. Can't wait. Last night I saw the Peking Acrobats, and it was so amazing. I think any ballet lover would enjoy seeing them even though it isn't really dance. There are moments that include an ballet aspect to it. These acrobats make your jaw drop to the floor! Oh, well.....that is a tangent......I have seen the Australian, Royal Ballet, and Kirov dvds of Coppelia as well as the Bolshoi's recent reconstruction, so I am not expecting the Bolshoi's 3rd act which is so beautiful. But from the sound of it Miami's Coppelia is exciting too. Can't wait! I agree that the rubber or rag doll thing in the Australian video is so cool, but I don't think any other company does that. The audience loves it.

Great to hear it was good!!! How was the third act in comparison to the Bolshoi's?

I wonder if the La Scala Raymonda was filmed by the same person who filmed La Scala's recent Aida and Tristan und Isolde (both on dvd). That was Patrizia Carmine. She would show shots of a light while Waltraud Meier is singing a pivotal moment in Tristan und Isolde. Why did she think we want to sit there and watch a lamp while Meier is singing???? Another time I think she focuses on Meier's costume instead of the face. In Aida she kept focusing on all sorts of inanimate objects. Really shocking choices during filming or editing, in my opinion. It made me so mad in both situations. So I wonder if she filmed the La Scala Raymonda. Maybe it is some sort of bizarre trend to take away focus on the exact thing people want to focus on in Italy. I have no idea, but it is a big flop to do things like that!!!

I have read an article online before that said nerves (like stage fright) can cause yawning, believe it or not. Whenever you have to go perform or be on show or do something that you are nervous about, your body can react with yawning, so it is definitely not always a sign of boredom or sleepiness, if the article I read is true. Unfortunately, I never saved it, but ever since I read that article I do notice that I yawn a lot right before having to do something that makes me nervous.

Fiordiligi is my favorite Mozart character (Cosi Fan Tutte). She is so shocked and stunned that two strangers (who are actually her sister's and her boyfriends) come to woo them. She protests a little too much. Her aria "Come scoglio" is a send up of the baroque era's storm arias. She sings high and low claiming to be steady as a rock, despite the fact that the vocal line is going up and down, up and down. Mozart was a genius the way he created such a contrast between words and music. Of course, he had a soprano who had really good low notes when he created the role. If you hear Fiordiligi sung by a light soprano without a solid, dark lower register you won't like Fiordiligi, but if you hear it sung by a soprano with a really wonderful lower register the aria comes alive and makes so much sense. Carol Vaness was lovely in this role, b/c she had a dark sound. This is someone protesting too much. What she says is the opposite of what is going to happen. She is NOT going to remain steady as a rock. I love this character so much. I think it is such a human character. We all try to be "good" but we all surprise ourselves when we fail to live up to our own expectations. One of my favorite characters in all of opera. However, I tend to yawn a lot and fall asleep during Cosi Fan Tutte. It is the weirdest thing. I love Mozart arias but find his full-length opera a real trial to endure. I do sit up and pay attention during Fiordiligi's arias and duets!

Only problem is European opera companies (much more than American) are more likely to do a crazy production. Regietheater is what we call it. If a European opera company actually had traditional sets for an opera that would actually be incredibly RADICAL today! LOL LOL LOL

Mozart is much earlier, so music was different. I think Mozart is a little harder to sit through for today's audiences. I love Mozart arias. If a famous soprano or mezzo that I like releases a disc of Mozart arias I will buy it in a heart beat, but I have to honestly say that I find most of Mozart's opera really hard to sit through. I refer to them as "talky" or "conversational" operas, b/c so many recitatives. I think Mozart works better in a small theater and done in translation (singing in whatever language of the country it is performed). But his arias are glorious. Doubt I will ever sit through another Magic Flute though. That bores me to tears. I find sitting through Wagner's entire 15 hour Ring Cycle a breeze compared to sitting through the Magic Flute (even the condensed Family version Magic Flute gets me nodding off).

Maybe that will happen next time they do Coppelia. Arja is still in the corps but probably not for long! Rebello just moved up to soloist this season, I believe. I could be wrong. You might know better than I do. That doesn't mean they can't do a leading role. You told me how MCB likes to change it up and give a major role to a soloist or a corps member. So maybe it might happen in another performance. Like you I am happy with the casting so far.

Whoops! Correction: I meant Broward casting was up. Usually MCB's shows open in Miami first, so I didn't pay attention. It opens in Broward first this time around. Delgado/Penteado and Catoya/Reyes alternate. Each cast gets two shows. Hope this will be the same casting as WPB dates.

I just checked MCB's website and see that the Miami casting is up. Jeanette Delgado gets Opening Night for Coppelia, and she alternates with Catoya. Both will probably be great! I won't see it until it goes to the Kravis Center in West Palm, but I hope the casting will be the same. I will see both of them if so!!!

You have a similar problem in opera. Often the vast majority of opera lovers go to see the star soprano and how she interprets Violetta, Norma, Leonora, etc. but it seems to be the male singers who become the super stars in the mainstream world (Pavarotti, Domingo). The soprano is often the most important role, and many operas succeed or fail depending on the soprano (Bellini's Norma can succeed even with a lousy Pollione but you can not have a lousy Norma), yet the males become the super stars.

It does seem to be a tricky thing in ballet. On the one hand the women are often the most important dancers (in the 19th century Petitpa and even 20th century Balanchine ballets), yet it seems the men are more likely to become household names even among non-ballet lovers (Nureyev, Baryshnikov). I think we ballet lovers know Lopatkina, Osipova, Vishneva, etc., but I don't think any of my friends (who don't follow ballet) know these stars. But they know who Nureyev and Baryshnikov are! Even when I mention Fonteyn very few people (who don't know about ballet) have heard of her.

I don't know, if dance lovers who will pay to see shirtless male stars in bad choreography won't pay to see a female one in lowest common denominator work and work she's not trained in, maybe that's the ultimate compliment, an unwillingness to settle for mere entertainment or middling work from a true artist. Maybe so. There are different ways to look at it. I think people like male dancers in almost anything as long as a lot of athletic jumps are involved. But women are probably held to a higher standard and expected to be ethereal and more artistic.

Let us know how it is. I had a friend who went to a 3D Carmen (opera), and he said it really didn't enhance the work in any way, but I would think dance would work better as a 3D venture.

Never thought of this perspective. Sad that a field that elevates women as an ideal still has a glass ceiling.

Have you seen it before without the 3D? If not, prepare to see modern dance, not Swan Lake. I enjoyed it as a theatrical piece and as modern dance, but if I had gone expecting to see Petipa's choreography (except with men as the swans) I would have been really disappointed.