NinaFan

I saw McRae dance in Don Q and Giselle and adored him in both.

I was hoping to report on this, but we wound up skipping the performance at the last minute due to the lousy weather. It didn’t help that we’re unfamiliar with the area, and weren’t sure how far we’d have to park from the venue and walk in the pouring rain. Of course, now we’re sorry that we missed it.

Thank you nanushka! I just ordered tickets!

Cortege Hongrois is actually one of "my" personal favorites. I'll never forget the first time I saw the ballet with then corps member Damian Woetzel. He totally blew me away. Anyway, I'm so glad you enjoyed the program. I'm looking forward to seeing it next week.

$185 is the regular price for NYCB's best orchestra seats. I've never seen dynamic pricing at NYCB, however it is standard practice when ABT performs at the MET.

I guess to each his/her own. I'm actually very excited about the new ballet.

How strange. When I click on your link, I get Duo at the end of the program. When I access the pdf directly from NYCB's website I get Duo sandwiched between two ballets. The only difference I can see in the URL is that the one below appears to be version V19. Could that have superseded V18? http://www.nycballet.com/NYCB/media/NYCBMediaLibrary/PDFs/SubscriptionDocuments/3517-FY18-FallCalendar_V19.pdf

Looks like Fourth Ring rows A and B just opened for Sunday, Oct 15.

I just received an e-mail from NYCB as follows: News Alert It has just been announced that Principal Dancer Robert Fairchild, who took leave of absence from NYCB to make his Broadway and West End debuts in An American in Paris, has decided to conclude his New York City Ballet career this fall to pursue other opportunities in musical theater and film. Robert Fairchild and Sterling Hyltin in Duo Concertant In celebration of Robert's NYCB career, Peter Martins has added Duo Concertant to the All Balanchine program on the final two matinees of the fall, where Robert is scheduled to appear alongside Principal Dancer Sterling Hyltin. We anticipate high demand for these performances, and we encourage you to purchase tickets now if you would like to be in attendance. We hope you’ll join us in thanking Robert for sharing his extraordinary talent while at NYCB, and in wishing him the best as he moves on to the next phase of his career.

Yes, I agree that they must have added it for him. I didn't even realize that it wasn't part of the original program until you mentioned it.

I can't say it is a total surprise either, but I had hoped he'd do a few more seasons before a total departure. I'm so glad that I already have tickets for one of his last performances.

Per today's NY Times, Robert Fairchild is leaving NYCB. His final performances are the matinees of Oct. 14 and 15, dancing “Duo Concertant,” with Sterling Hyltin. I am so upset. First Simkin at ABT, and now Robbie!

I am so upset about Simkin's departure. Since this is effective for 2018/2019, I am keeping my fingers crossed that he dances a full 2018 MET season. I was looking at the Staatballett Berlin website, and it looks like their spring seasons overlap, so I don't know how much he would/could be available to dance at ABT.

Ditto. I agree about it being really creepy.

I just got an e-mail with the casting as well! I'm so excited!

Thanks for the update! I have tickets for one of those performances. I've been checking NYCB website daily, but they haven't posted any castings yet. Can't wait for the Fall season!

What a shame that you hate the production so much. Of course to each his own, but I guess I don’t understand your comment with regard to Von Rothbart. If you are skipping NYCB’s Swan Lake because of Von Rothbart casting, then I have to assume that you also skip ABT’s Swan Lake. Just for the record, it was an absolute joy to see ABT’s Calvin Royal III dancing Von Rothbart this year. He’s a handsome and thrilling dancer. I can’t wait to see more of him dancing lead roles. In the meantime, I am going through ballet withdrawal, and look forward to NYCB's fall season, which for me, includes Martins Swan Lake.

I wouldn’t miss Swan Lake. While it is not my favorite production, ABT and the Bolshoi’s Swan Lakes have their problems as well. At least with NYCB, you can always count on seeing outstanding dancers at every performance. Sure, I prefer some dancers over others, but I never have to worry about getting stuck getting with “Cast D”. NYCB is chock full of remarkable dancers these days.

I would love to see the Golden Age and Legend of Love !!!!!! I remember Ivan the Terrible, not so much for it's score, but for it's high drama. But I'd take Golden Age over it any day. And you are so right about great roles for two ballerinas! So I second your nominations of both ballets!!!!! Bolshoi Ballet, are you listening?

I saw Taming of the Shrew on Sunday. Since there were so many negative reviews on BA, my expectations were pretty low. But I figured that if the ballet wasn’t any good, at least I was getting to see some top Bolshoi dancers. Well, I seem to be in the minority here, as I thought the ballet was witty and entertaining! We had a magnificent cast which included Krysanova, Lantratov, Smirnova, and Chudin. The women were great, and OMG what a wonderful group of male dancers doing impressively high leaps and fast turns. This ballet is apparently not everyone’s cup of tea (okay, pun intended re: the ballet’s cute take on two for tea), but I enjoyed the ballet so much that I actually hated to see it end. If you want to see this story as Shakespeare intended, then go to see the play, but if you want to see a fun ballet, with lots of great dancing, then you can’t go wrong with this top Bolshoi cast in Taming. And I loved the music. Sure, I’d like to see them bring Spartacus, Don Q, Ivan the Terrible , etc. next time, but I am soooo glad I didn’t miss this!

KarenAG - Thank you for sharing! I'm going through NYCB withdrawal, and have to wait until September when they're back at the Koch. We came close to going to Saratoga for a few days, and after reading your reviews, wish we had. Enjoy the rest of the performances, and please continue to share your reviews!

Me too! I can't stop screaming and clapping!

Congrats to Sarah, Devon, Christine and Calvin! The promotions are so well deserved! I'm so happy for all four of them! Like others on here, I was also hoping that Gabe would finally get soloist this year.

Thank you nysusan! I've been getting e-mails from ABT this season too, but sometimes they miss a performance reminder. I didn't buy all of my tickets at once, so perhaps that had something to do with the intermittent reminders. Thanks again!

Thank you fondoffouettes and nanushka. I was hoping they'd stick a pdd with Mozartiana and Aurora's wedding to make one intermission, but I should have figured they'd spread it out. They usually have the end times on their website, but I guess there are too many combinations for them to have bothered. nanushka - I did wonder if they were cutting anything from Ratmansky's original Act 3 to accommodate the two new pieces, or maybe just give a bonus of seeing it in it's entirety plus the new. Looking forward to it either way!