ABT Fan

I've always enjoyed his voice as well - did you ever listen to his podcast? I'm not sure if he does that anymore, but he's also a good commentator and host. They can absolutely give Ahn more to do - he only has 2 Basilio's and one Siegfried. He could take Romeo for one (that would be a debut) and be cast with Boylston. They have some male corps dancers, whom they've given some opportunities to in the past, who could use greater challenges and I believe would rise to the occasion. I saw Gonzalez with Lane in Harlequinade and he was excellent. He has virtuoso technique and is a great partner - he would make a great, and natural, Basilio. They could shuffle that casting to make it work for height purposes: replace Whiteside who is with Seo and pair Ahn/Seo. And, then replace Ahn with Boylston and cast Gonzalez. There, I fixed DQ. 😉 Ahn only has one Siegfried, so they give him one more with Boylston. I could see them giving Bell a 3rd one, as they love to load him up. I think the ship has sailed on Hoven, as management has made clear, so I'd be surprised if they gave him any leads. They need to start developing more male corps dancers by giving them some principal roles - their 4 male soloists, for various reasons, aren't principal material. Best wishes to Whiteside for a speedy recovery! Maybe he'll be able to return next Fall.

Poor James. His sense of humor is still intact! Hope he has a speedy recovery.

Whiteside's last IG post from yesterday is now flooded with well wishes comments. That fall sounds terrifying. I really hope he's not seriously injured.

oh no! I was thinking of going.

There are two shows of Love/Rage yet to be cast, so apparently there will be a 4th cast - perhaps Trenary will get those, although Ratmansky seems to favor taller dancers for that lead role. T&V is also a possibility for her - Teuscher and Shevchenko will def be cast, and I could see Brandt as well and maybe even Hurlin. Kind of ironic - for the (canceled) Met season of 2020, Trenary had a lot of opportunities and Brandt only had Aurora. Now the tables have turned. Yes, it will be interesting to see what happens after McKenzie leaves next year.

Well, there are still glitches all over the master calendar, but from what I can see: Agree with abatt re: Hurlin. She's clearly being set up to be promoted to principal next year. If Murphy is retiring, she's cast as Juliet after SL, and I think Juliet would be an odd choice for her retirement - but, you never know. Trenary was definitely shafted - it's like they mixed up the casting between her and Hurlin (Hurlin is more than deserving, but she's a soloist). Is she the new "Sarah Lane"?

the master calendar is blank.... and.....it's back on.......

Calvin Royal posted on his public IG today that he'll get to make his long-awaited debut as Romeo with the company next year, and showed a clip of him working on the role in London with Ed Watson. So that makes Swan Lake and R&J definite ballets for the Met so far.

I saw those stories as well. He does a lot of work at the Guggenheim, and I think one or two of those stories were taken there. Maybe we'll hear an announcement of an upcoming gig there. Now that he's off the roster, I have to wonder if he didn't meet with McKenzie while he was at town to discuss his leaving. I really hope he guest stars too and I could definitely see him doing Ali and Don Q - two signature roles of his. I'd be there in a heartbeat.

Wow. I can understand it though, and I’m sure the travel restrictions at least played some part if not all of it. Even before Covid he wasn’t dancing with them more than a few Met appearances and with Lane gone, who was his most frequent partner, who would he be paired with anyway? It seems Brandt and Cornejo are the latest star partnership, and Trenary and Royal seem to be a thing too. Boylston in recent years only did Don Q with him. Of course, ABT could pair him with any of these women anyway, but maybe that wasn’t going to happen. I saw this clip on Simkin’s IG this morning of he and Lane in Giselle. I wish I could transport myself back to that extraordinary performance: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CXD49gqDksB/?utm_medium=copy_link

I've been wondering that too and also think it's possible for Murphy to retire, in addition to Paris and Fang.

I place the fault of the partnering mishaps mostly on Paris. Even in a supported pirouette, the ballerina must push off for momentum to start the turn herself. Here, Paris barely raised herself en pointe and with no push off, thus forcing Shayer to crank her around awkwardly which ended more than once with her crashing into him with her back facing the audience. For the shoulder lift, the ballerina must push off from a plie while raising her first leg almost parallel for momentum. Again, Paris did not push off so the fact that Shayer got her over his shoulder at all is miraculous. I don't know how he kept her up because the final pose was precarious. Shayer's dancing wasn't bad, it was even very good at times, but I think he was rattled and distracted by what had just happened. Yes, as a soloist (albeit a new one) he needs to learn how to overcome such things in the future. But, Paris never should have been out there. There's a big, visible difference between someone having a bad day or a bad performance and someone who is woefully out of shape, and she is the later. I have seen her dance several times in the past and she's a reliable (though unremarkable) technician so she is (or was) more than capable. In addition to the peasant pas, the performance as a whole was very disappointing. I wasn't expecting artistic greatness from Boylston or Whiteside, but they are both seasoned principals at this point so I expected better. Whiteside's dramatic ability has been slowly improving, but that wasn't evident today. Technically, they were both very good. Boylston had a few bobbles, which is uncharacteristic of her. Whiteside did 24 entrechat sixes and his cabrioles were excellent. Dramatically there was no chemistry, no romance, no passion. In Act I they were like two BFF's out having fun dancing. Her mad scene was generic and unconvincing - when she collapsed in Albrecht's arms it was anticlimactic. Act II had no Romantic or dramatic sensibility. When Giselle positions herself in front of Albrecht with her arms out-stretched protecting him from Myrta, you should feel her summoning her strength from the depths of her soul. Boylston might as well have been standing in front of a light post making a TicTok video. Then, near the end of Act II, after their solos and climactic pas de deux, Albrecht's and Giselle's emotional exhaustion (and not just physical exhaustion) should be palpable. They were blank. I was really looking forward to finally seeing Williams' Myrta and she was very, very good. Authoritative with steely eyes, and fast, light bourrees. Although, I really hope Shevchenko doesn't retire this role in favor of Giselle because she's an extraordinary Myrta. Ishchuk was a very good Hilarion, but I was longing for Craig Salstein whose interpretation is the best I've seen thus far. They should cast Tamm as well next time. Frenette was a dramatic and potent Wilfred. Lavine was beautiful and appropriately haughty as Bathilde. I missed Susan Jones as Berthe and Zhurbin as Prince of Courland. Giangeruso was unremarkable as Zulma. I agree with some others who thought the stage looked a bit cramped, though it was nice to see faces a bit closer. Whiteside and Williams had to practically jump under themselves a few times to avoid running out of space. And, whether due to covid restrictions or the smaller stage, or both, I missed the supers and the warmth and color they always add (especially the older fella with the frothy, white beard who is in virtually every full-length). A few to watch: Sierra Armstrong seems to be making strides and her Moyna was technically strong, though her feet didn't come together in her cabrioles. New corps dancer Chloe Misseldine stood out - she's a tall, dark beauty with wonderfully arched feet and dramatic intelligence. I expect we'll see great things from her. Why on earth wasn't Coker, who needs to promoted to soloist already, doing peasant pas at all? I also suspect she'll make a very fine Giselle herself one day. Lastly: the Wilis were excellent. Very much in sync and technically on point (pun intended).

Intermission: More later but today’s peasant pas was the worst I’ve ever seen. Paris couldn’t stay en pointe for one turn, barely left the ground for any jump and basically danced like she’s been on the couch for the past 18 months and just last week took her first barre. No stamina, no strength at all. Shayer struggled to get her around for any supported pirouettes and several were botched completely. One shoulder lift looked he was about to drop her. His dancing was better than hers but he’s done better. The entire thing was an embarrassment.

Any reports on Forster’s debut last night?

Deleted

Thanks to everyone for their reports on last night. I wish I had been there. Wonderful to hear that Brandt’s debut was so extraordinary and very happy that Peterson did so well in her Myrta debut.

How was Cornejo? And, Peterson?

Shevchenko has been replaced as Myrta tonight by corps dancer Peterson. She's still scheduled as Giselle on Saturday night.

I'm pretty sure Cornejo does the brises and does them well. I mean, he does everything well and I'm sure I'd remember if that wasn't the case. Someone who attends tonight can confirm. Separately, I just noticed that Marshall Whiteley is gone from the corps roster.

Yes, Royal will be the first. He will also be the first black Siegfried assuming he gets his deferred debut when they do SL again. The last (and only) black male principal they had was Desmond Richardson but he didn’t perform the leads in the classics. He is mostly known for his Othello and other character roles.

Did anyone attend opening night last night?

I’ve seen no news about the AD search. And, I’ve been getting those same error messages when I click on “get info” next to the fall ballets.

Safe to assume Don Q will be cast since they'll perform that on tour in the winter/spring. It's also probably a no-brainer that Love and Rage will be on the bill, as it was supposed to make its NY premiere last summer after the world premiere in Costa Mesa that winter. Lastly, Hee Seo announced on her IG that Swan Lake will come back to the Met next year. So, that's 3 full lengths at least for a 5-week season. They'll most likely add one more and then do a week of mixed rep. I'm one of the few who loved Jane Eyre from 2019 so I really hope that comes back, eventually.

I agree with you regarding Fang, and being that I think Peterson is an even less suitable option I'm quite baffled at their thinking. McBride would have been an excellent choice. Oh, how I've not missed hating on their casting choices..... Thanks for flagging this. I would LOVE to see his Albrecht. Not this time.

Thanks, abatt, maybe I’ll check out one of those shows. JuliaJ: the rep programs usually don’t sell extremely well, but imo they should have chosen much better programming after a 2 year hiatus. If they had done a week of Swan Lake instead it probably would have nearly sold out. I am all for mixed rep programs in addition to the classics, but they, like every other business right now, are desperate for cash. Understandably, maybe lack of rehearsal time coupled with getting dancers back into performance shape made that unrealistic. They performed some of these rep pieces on tour this summer so that may have been the easiest choice. If that’s the case, doing SL instead of Giselle might have made more financial sense.