ABT Fan

Same goes for Shayer, but he hasn’t performed at all this season. I’m expecting him to disappear from the roster after this season. Also a bit disappointed in the Myrtha casting, but with Shev and Hurlin dancing Giselle I guess they’re spreading the love around. Hope I’ll get to see Misseldine or Li. Teuscher is doing Myrtha on the last night for the Lupe Serrano tribute.

It’s on Amazon, where you can read a brief description: First Position https://a.co/d/9RlXsTO

Thank you nysusan for your report. I’m very sorry you didn’t get to see Lane. I would have been equally disappointed. This production does sound like a hot mess; good to know in case it ever crosses my path. Happy that Sisk was as incredible as I’d expect her to be.

Thanks, abatt. I’m really curious what Buena Vista will be like. I love their music.

Yes it was

This certainly raises a lot of eyebrows. The timing makes me think she wants to distance herself from the Met season as quickly as possible.

Thank you, Helene. It is indeed better today, thank goodness. It was very concerning to say the least.

The other newly minted female soloists (Granlund, McBride, Park) do not have the personality or carriage necessary for Myrtha, in my opinion. That’s not a criticism. Not everyone can portray a steely and dominating character.

Couldn’t agree more. Hopefully next year Jaffe will mix things up. Maybe McKenzie had scheduled this Met season; we may have already discussed this but I can’t recall.

Hurlin is debuting Giselle at the Met, so assuming she’s not doing Myrtha so she can focus on that (she’s also doing Juliet and O/O and LWFC, so she has a lot.) I’m guessing Williams may be injured since she’s now out of Myrtha and LWFC. Happy to see Li get a debut as Myrtha (and that may be happening at the Met only because Williams is now out) and also Roxander debuting as Mercutio.

Please let us know your thoughts on both performances!

There are also a handful of soloists who have been underperforming for years now. While I'm no fan of the slash-and-burn method when new management comes in, it's past time for certain dancers to move on and make room for talented corps dancers to finally be promoted. A few of those soloists are near retirement age anyway.

I’d be thrilled if they’re (finally) bringing back Etudes and Petit Mort!

Maybe Jaffe will offer him better casting than McKenzie gave him.

I'm dumbfounded that Misseldine did not win. Her technique, command, stage presence and grandeur was far superior. Ikarashi absolutely deserved that win - glad they got that one right.

No, not typical. Gala night is rarely a full length. Usually excerpts or shorter ballets.

This makes sense. I had also never considered that there could be financial penalties to revising the number of performances. It's all really unfortunate. Even before we saw the dismal sales in CA, many of us could not fathom a week and a half of a new ballet at the Met. I hope Jaffe will make better programming decisions for next year than McKenzie has saddled us with.

It wouldn’t be original or even ideal, but they could absolutely cut Chocolate down to one week and just add 4 or so more SL performances. We all know SL sells and at this late stage they probably don’t have time to start rehearsing a different ballet (or ballets) to add. This would also give dancers more than one shot in SL and/or they could throw in some much needed debuts (Trenary for one).

Black. Trenary has posted rehearsal footage of her as O/O before. I would love to see her actually be cast.

Happy to see that casting for Zimmi and Jonathan.

How much longer can Murphy hang on as a principal? It’s possible she could retire before Copeland returns, which would open up a Juliet spot (&O/O, Giselle, etc). But, the partner issue remains. Copeland was scheduled to dance R&J with Royal pre-covid. I don’t know if Cornejo can hang on long enough for her return, although he has been having a great run lately. I think the reason Brandt hasn’t been given a Juliet yet is a lack of suitable partners to go around.

Absolutely, way too much and I'll be extremely disappointed if that's the case. Maybe that was more of her wish (or assumed) list and not guaranteed programming. Also, it'll be interesting to see how they navigate casting when she returns. Nine principal women including her. And, she usually dances with Cornejo. So, what does that mean for Brandt and Trenary?

He’s not listed on the casting. Maybe he’s an understudy.

That's very interesting - happy to see that opportunity for both of them. And, here's another interesting casting announcement: Hee Seo is debuting as Myrtha April 22. https://www.abt.org/performances/master-calendar/

Agree. Same with his Espada.