NinaFan

I could not believe it when I read about Paloma’s farewell performance being changed to a Wednesday matinee. It breaks my heart to see her treated so callously. Amour - I still haven't received my create your own series/subscription tickets yet. I called the MET on Friday, and they said they were mailed and we should be getting them soon.

I saw the show in September, and thought it was a lot of fun. Megan was wonderful as were the rest of the cast. So I can’t imagine not seeing Megan at the Tony awards. I would certainly hope that the Tony Awards are based on performance. If award nominations are based on filled seats, seats sold at discounts, and shows losing money, then something is terribly wrong. As previously noted on here, it is a huge theater. Maybe the presenters should have chosen a smaller theater.

abatt - I also saw a slight partnering issue, especially a kind of wobble with Chase’s knee when he was balancing Lauren during the balcony scene. Like you, I believe any issues can be worked on. I am sorry to hear that the chemistry just wasn’t there with Peck/Catazaro. Like you, I often see multiple casts of the same ballet in the same day or week. Sometimes the ballets are barely recognizable from one cast to another. And of course the dancers and their chemistry, or lack of it, can make or break a performance. Years ago I remember going to see a Ferri/Bocca performance of R&J at the matinee and then meeting my family in the evening for a really awful R&J cast that was part of our family subscription. My Dad’s girlfriend said to me, “why on earth would you want to see the same ballet twice in one day, what’s the difference?” What’s the difference????? She liked ballet, but could just not see the dissimilarity between a Cast A and Cast D! I tried to explain, but got nowhere. I finally gave up and decided that if she asked the question, then she would not be able to understand the answer. ATM711 - Was this the Sunday matinee performance? I am so sorry to hear that Chase was injured. Let’s hope it is nothing serious. Does anyone have any news on Veyette’s injury?

I guess I am in the minority here, but I was at the Lovette/Finlay debut of R&J on Saturday afternoon and I loved the ballet. They were young, spirited, playful, and both danced superbly. They are born naturals for the roles. Lauren was joyful and delicate, and displayed a wonderful range of emotions. She was exquisitely limp during the death scene. And Chase was fresh, clean, handsome, young, charismatic …who wouldn’t want to marry him? They both broke my heart. The balcony scene and the final scenes were very touching, and I felt myself welling up with tears both times. I always say, that if I don’t cry during R&J, then it wasn’t a good performance. Mercutio (Harrison Ball) and Benvolio (Harrison Coll) were both rousing and fun to watch. Tybalt (Villarini-Velez) looked the role and danced well, however I’ve seen more menacing Tybalt’s. As always, Martins always incorporates some SAB students into his full length ballets. The SAB students (about 5 or 6 boys) danced in the mandolin dance. All were terrific, and the youngest (maybe 7 years old?) stole the show! Krohn and la Cour were a credible Lady/Lord Capulet. And boy did Ask look mean when he slapped Juliet! Gwyneth Muller, who is very good at character roles, did a very fine job as the nurse. Some of it is played for laughs with her falling over and another scene with the boys tossing her about. Russell Janzen did well as Paris. I thought he showed some reasonable annoyance with Juliet, which rarely comes through in this role. I am hardly new to this ballet. I’ve seen MacMillan’s version countless times with ABT, as well as with the Royal Ballet. I’ve also seen Grigorovich's version with the Bolshoi. MacMillan’s version of R&J will probably always be my favorite, however I think Martins production is a very nice addition to the ballet world. There is always room for one more! I had actually considered trading in our tickets because of the negative reviews on here combined with bad weather. I’m so glad that I didn’t! Unfortunately the weather was awful and it wasn’t much fun walking across the messy plaza and slippery subway steps on the way home.

CTballetfan - I totally agree with everything you wrote. I am much more excited with NYCB, and as a result they are getting more of my patronage than ABT. I used to treat both companies equally. I have always looked forward to ABT’s Spring season because they have continually done such a wonderful job of mounting the full length ballets. And while I will still attend performances, to my mind, they are not the company they once were. So as you said, “I hope management will do something to rebuild the roster of dancers and reclaim the loyalty of fans like us”.

Really -- is there no one at ABT who can do the job? I know I'm preaching to the choir in this forum, but artistic staff really needs to take a close look at what's going on if they can't use their very own dancers. I have been a passionate ABT supporter for 30 years, and I attend at least fifteen ABT performances a year. So it breaks my heart to even write this. While Volcanohunter is probably right that this was Ratmansky’s decision, his choice would have been based on the ABT dancers available to him. As we know, many dancers have left over the last few years due to retirement or dance opportunities elsewhere. Since many dancers have not been replaced, ABT is at a record low as far as the total number of full time principals and soloists. And sadly, many of these remaining dancers in this tiny roster are no longer in their prime. And that’s not even addressing the incredible number of talented corps dancers who have left the company over the last three years. So I do blame the Artistic Director, as he is responsible for ABT’s roster. How can you run a world class ballet company with a skeleton crew?

Yes, I looked for it too. I'm sorry it's been removed. I looked too. That was actually my favorite part of the day, seeing the advanced SAB students doing class on stage. I thought there was an onstage presentation in the schedule with details TBD but it disappeared. I am already missing the SAB students they’ve had in the past for “Saturday at the Ballet with George". Up until recently the website indicated that at 1:00 PM there would be 45 minutes of music with members of the NYCB orchestra on the promenade before the performance. Now that is gone off their website as well! Thanks to everyone for posting the cancellations! I am so glad I discovered it was cancelled before I showed up an hour early!

About 10:25PM! There was a very long second intermission which didn't help. If you are going tonight, have a great time. The program is fantastic!

Hi Colleen - I too have been going to the ballet for about 30 years, and I agree with all of your comments. I was at the Mikhailovsky performances you mentioned as well as ABT’s Le Corsaire with Vasiliev as Conrad. The last time I saw Vasiliev dance was this year in ABT’s Don Q and his technique continues to be every bit as good as the first time I saw him dance. I thought he was spectacular at the November 16th matinee, down to the two curtain calls when he jumped out in a split leap.

abatt, you’re going to love the show! I didn’t know they ramped up the role of Ivy for Megan, but it does not surprise me. I was so happy to see the choreography make complete use of her talents. The audience really seemed to appreciate her dancing. At intermission I overheard what were probably some casual ballet goers mention that they thought she was from ABT. I hated to look like I was eavesdropping, but I corrected them anyway. ;-)

I saw “On The Town” on Saturday and it was great! The story line is pretty much the same as in the movie. Megan was terrific as Ivy. Her dancing was gorgeous, and as far as her acting, I would never have known it was her first time in a speaking role. She didn't sing, except to just go through a few bars in a singing class. The dancing was very balletic throughout the show, whether it was the corps or the lead three sailors and Megan. The actors playing Hildy and Claire did all of the female solos, with Hildy having a particularly commanding presence and a really strong voice. All three sailors were a lot of fun. This show should be a hit for balletomanes and anyone who loves a great Broadway musical.

Same here on the replacement tickets!

Yes, late seating could be a real issue on opening night. Can you imagine all of the disruption in the theater? And the dancers would likely hear at least some of the commotion. I think the only way to avoid latecomers is to actually change the opening night start time to 8:00PM. If not, then some people may miss at least some of the first act. That's a good idea about assuming all evenings start at 7:30PM. It's better to be early than miss the first act!

Thanks for posting. My ticket for the 13th--the first performance I'm attending--does says 7:30. I bought the tickets shortly after they went on sale I hope the Koch theater is looking into this and, if the mistake isn't just some bizarre one-off, trying to track people down (addresses from credit cards; emails from website registrations etc.) to send them the correct information. You’re welcome Drew and Barbara. And Drew, if my conversation with a very condescending and rude woman at the Koch is anything to go by, then they are not tracking down ticket holders to let them know about the error. When I called the Koch, I asked if the 8:00PM time on my Tuesday, November 11 Giselle tickets for the Mikhailovsky Ballet were correct, or was the 7:30PM time posted on the Koch website the correct time. The agent said, “Well, this is the home of the New York City Ballet”. I said, “Yes, I know”. She then went on to say that “NYCB performs at 8:00PM on Friday and Saturday nights, but 7:30PM the rest of the week”. I said “I know. I am a NYCB guild member as well as a subscriber, but I am asking about the Mikhailovsky Ballet, not City Ballet”. Next she says, “The Mikhailovsky has chosen to perform at 7:30PM all nights, except on Saturday night when they’re performing at 8:00PM”. I said “Okay, but my tickets are not for Saturday night and they say 8:00PM”. She then asked “Where did you buy your tickets”? I said “Directly from the Koch box office”. She said, “Well, the performance is at 7:30PM”. I said, “I could have easily arrived at the theater in time for an 8:00PM performance. The only reason I noticed the discrepancy was because I was looking at your website and happened to see 7:30PM. I’m sure I am not the only one with tickets that say 8:00PM. The theater should be aware that other patrons may also have 8:00PM printed on their tickets. And perhaps the theater should try to reach out to other ticket holders as well as putting up notices in case someone is holding tickets with the wrong time”. Her response was “Make a note for yourself that it is really 7:30PM and don’t worry about other people”. This was the first time I've had a bad experience with an agent at the State/Koch Theater. They’re usually very friendly and always try to be helpful. This one had me fuming for several hours.

Does anyone else have 8:00PM printed on their November 11, 2014 Giselle tickets? I just discovered that the time is incorrect on my tickets. It should be 7:30PM. I bought the tickets in May. My tickets say 8:00PM, but the Koch website says 7:30PM. I just called the Box Office and the correct time is 7:30!

I'm just curious. Do you remember what exactly he did? Obviously, I can't answer this for Ilya, but for my two cents I was also a little unsure of his performance Wednesday night. It was fun, but for the first time ever I thought, "Wow, maybe you can overdo Don Quixote." I thought his gestures with the cloak were a little much, like he had been tangled in a sheet and was trying to get out of it. I was also at Wednesday night’s Don Q. I didn’t think Rodkin overdid it with the cape, nor did I see him get tangled in it. He was sensational! It was all done with skill and style. Jared Matthews (who I have seen as Espada many times) gave a similar execution with his cape during one of his final performances with ABT, and it was equally fun to watch.

Yes, I agree about Vinogradova! I can't wait to see her on Saturday! Thank you for posting!

Whew! Thank you YID and ina!! I was so confused! I had hoped to see Lobukhin as Spartacus, but I didn’t want to wait for casting to be announced before buying my tickets. At least I was lucky enough to see Lobukhin as Basillio. I loved Rodkin as the Evil Genius and Espada so I am hoping his Spartacus is exciting. Of course the role of Spartacus is in another league. Fingers crossed!

I went to the Wednesday night Don Q and thought it was a terrific performance. I agree about much of what has been previously said about the performance. Kretova and Lobukhin had great chemistry, as did Espada and Mercedes. I thought Rodkin was a particularly thrilling Espada. I also loved his Evil Genius in Swan Lake. But why was Rodkin missing from the last act? The dancer playing Espada in Act III and at the curtain calls was definitely not Rodkin. The woman next to us noticed the change as well. I hope he is okay as I am really looking forward to his Spartacus on Saturday night.

Yes, those must be the people who bought their 3 packs on the phone or internet, where you were required to buy each of the 3 ballets. In contrast, if you went to the box office, you could buy any combo of 3 ballet tickets,thereby bypassing Spartacus tickets. I'm actually happy that the Royal Ballet tour next season seems to have nothing to do with Lincoln Center Festival, because the sale of the Festival tickets was done in a very poor and uneven manner. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry, I am having trouble with the quote function. Below are my comments: How nuts that people actually want to bypass Spartacus! I’ve only seen it once in it’s entirely, and I’ve been looking forward to it even more than the other ballets. How interesting that the box office kept changing their rules. I bought my package of three performances in person at the Avery Fisher Box Office, and they were very clear that I had to buy each of the three ballets with the exact number of tickets for each performance. I agree that the sale of Festival tickets were sold in a poor and uneven manner.

LaFosse had already been a principal at NYCB for several years before performing in Jerome Robbin's Broadway.

Another one to add to the list of ABT dancers on Broadway: John Selya (formerly of ABT) was also on Broadway in Movin' Out. In addition to MB Swan Lake, Keith Roberts starred in Movin' Out. I can't wait for "On the Town" and "An American in Paris"!

abatt, I had the same experience as Daniel. The site will not display the seats if I am logged in, but does display them when I am not logged in. You may want to consider trying another browser. Sometimes I have to switch browsers if a web page does not load correctly on a website. And sometimes it is as simple as not realizing that I blocked a cookie, which will often cause a page not to load correctly. If that does not work, then calling the box office may be your best bet to request specific seats.

Cristian, just a reminder: it was Vishneva who cancelled that time. Osipova danced (as Gamzatti) as planned that time. That's correct Birdsall, it was Vishneva who was injured for Bayadere. Perhaps cubanmiamiboy is thinking of the following week, when Osipova was injured and was replaced by Bolyston in Bright Stream.

Oh nooooo! I am so sorry to hear that Natalia is injured. Do you know what is going on with her Saturday night Sylvia? ABT's performance calendar has replaced her with Reyes on Thursday, but as of now, they still Osipova dancing on Saturday night. Thank you!