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ord7916

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Posts posted by ord7916

  1. Just back from tonight's performance and yes, Herman did go on.

    My first and only Manon was the Diana / Marcelo version and that remains not only the best ballet I ever saw, but also one of the best evenings I ever spent in any theater.  So I have long been hesitant about seeing anyone else for fear of ruining that memory.

    Tonight's show did not equal that.  Nothing ever will.  But I was mostly pleased.  The music is so glorious and the choreography is so ingenious that I felt a touch of the chills that I felt the first time.  Just a touch, but that was good enough.

    I am not an expert on the technical aspects of ballet, so others can probably provide a better critique of that. But I thought Sarah was the best she's ever been in what seems like an unlikely role for her.  Herman's dancing was nothing dramatic, but was fine, and he is adorable.  ABT dancers often suffer from a lack of chemistry, though definitely not tonight.  They were an ideal pair, with great passion and a very long steamy kiss in Act I.

    Blaine Hoven was good as Lescaut.  Roman Zhurbin was the jailer, a role which he also played with Diana.  I remember that being a wonderfully seductive scene, which it was not this time.  Act III as a whole wasn't terribly exciting until the final scene.  That is the scene by which all else will be judged.  And while there was nothing particularly out of the ordinary, I thought they did it perfectly - exactly what we'd expected and hoped to see. 

    The orchestra seemed mostly full, although there was a noticeable increase in empty seats after Act II.  That included the lady siting next to me, though I cannot imagine why. 

  2. Just back from tonight's performance and yes, Herman did go on.

    My first and only Manon was the Diana / Marcelo version and that remains not only the best ballet I ever saw, but also one of the best evenings I ever spent in any theater.  So I have long been hesitant about seeing anyone else for fear of ruining that memory.

    Tonight's show did not equal that.  Nothing ever will.  But I was mostly pleased.  The music is so glorious and the choreography so ingenious - I loved seeing Sarah tossed around from one man to another - that I felt a touch of the chills that I felt the first time.  Just a touch, but that was good enough.

    I am not an expert on the technical aspects of ballet, so others can probably provide a better critique of that. But I thought Sarah was the best she's ever been in what seems like an unlikely role for her.  Herman's dancing was nothing dramatic, but was fine, and he is adorable.  ABT dancers often suffer from a lack of chemistry, though definitely not tonight.  They were an ideal pair, with great passion and a very long steamy kiss in Act I.

    Blaine Hoven was good as Lescaut.  Roman Zhurbin was the jailer, a role which he also played with Diana.  I remember that being a wonderfully seductive scene, which it was not this time.  Act III as a whole wasn't terribly exciting until the final scene, the scene by which all else will be judged.  And while there was nothing particularly out of the ordinary, I thought they did it perfectly - exactly what we'd expected and hoped to see. 

    The orchestra seemed mostly full, with noticeable increase in empty seats after Act II.  That included the lady siting next to me, though I cannot imagine why. 

  3. Isabelle Boylston gave a great performance tonight. She did a compelling mad scene, her diagonal on the variation was brilliant, as was whatever she did when Giselle first encounters the willis (sorry I don't know the technical terms, they sort of looked like fouettes to me, but not exactly)  The willis scenes were terrific.  I have previously seen Hallberg and Cornejo as Albrecht and, sadly, neither did the entrechats six. Whiteside did and they were fine. I counted 26.  Are there supposed to be 32?  He partnered well.  Was it believable that they are madly in love? Not exactly.  But still a good performance.  Loads of empty seats tonight, but lots of cheers from the audience.   

  4. I was on the way home from work today and decided on the spur of the moment to go tonight.  Reluctantly, I must admit this was my first ABT of the season, my first ever Onegin, my first ever Ferri and my first ever Bolle. 

     

    Without any previous versions to compare it to, I really enjoyed it.  I'd agree that the second act is a let down, but the first was good and that final scene was amazing.  Bolle was the highlight for me,  And having come to ballet too late to see  Angel Corella, Jose Carreno, Ethan Steifel or Julio Bocca, I at least got to see Alessandra Ferri.   She looked sad the whole time, but I suppose that it fitting.

     

    I liked Sarah and Daniil and am a big James Whiteside fan, even if he had little to do.  The corp was in splendid form in the intense company scene in act one. Some may quibble about the staging and scenery, but the former was unusually creative and the latter a big step up from some of the cheap stuff often on display.

     

    This was a nice diversion from tonight's unfortunate election news in Georgia.

  5. This was my first ever Corsaire and it was one of my favorite ballet evenings ever. I loved the first two acts but found the third to be rather anti-climactic. Since this is all "seamless indulgence" as aptly noted above, why not move the pas de trois to the last act and let us leave on a high note?

    In any event, I loved Daniil and his 540s (thank you to Its The Mom for bringing that up since I never knew what a 540 was until looking it up just now). Cirio was amazing - this guy seemingly came out of nowhere. He is so intensely focused and his dancing is almost superhuman. Herman has always been one of my favorites, though I'd agree he was overshadowed here. It looked to me that he stopped in the middle of his manege and then started again. Sarah was beautiful and Maria K did some super fast turns.

    Are we to be believe that Conrad and Medora are madly in love? I didn't feel that, at least as embodied by Maria K and Herman. But so be it. I had a fabulous time.

  6. Well, I tried calling and speaking to a supervisor about getting some comps as others have succeeded in doing. I spoke to a snooty guy who said they would not provide anything. I mentioned that I know that some people were given complimentary tickets as compensation. He said if that happened, that was at "somebody's" discretion and they don't give complimentary tickets because a performer was not there. It ended with "We sell performances, not performers."

  7. For the record, people were not leaving in droves. The woman next to me left after Act I and there were a few more empty seats after each act. Most people who've paid $125+ are not about to walk out in the middle. And while it was not Diana Vishneva - and that was indeed disappointing - many of us found it somewhat enjoyable.

  8. I was slightly under the weather today and was almost going to pass on tonight but how could I miss Diana and Marcelo. Not until around 7:20 did I notice the insert in the Playbill and get the news.

    This was my first RJ so I have nothing to compare it to, but I loved the balcony scene and the bedroom scene. Marcelo was.... Marcelo - great dancing, great acting, great stage presence, great looking. He brought out the best in Seo and I thought they had great chemistry - when they were together. Without him, she was unexciting. When Romeo died, you feel it. When Juliet dies, it just fizzles.

    Thomas Forester, Alexandre Hammoudi and Martine Van Hamel were all enjoyable to watch. And Craig Salstein was brilliant.

  9. Ok as I endure an unusually long wait for the 1 train....

    The highlights tonight were - by far - the bluebird pas de deux and the grand pas. But it took a really long time to get there. The prologue had a couple of decent moments but was way too long and rather unexciting. It picked up once Sarah made her entrance. I was nervous for her rose adagio having read the reviews here of her last attempt. She seemed to have trouble getting her balance early on but the rest she did perfectly well.

    I saw her two years ago when I was new to ballet and had never heard of the rose adagio and that scene was mesmerizing. It remains my all time favorite ballet moment. This time was less dramatic.

    Sarah had trouble balancing a few times and her partners were reluctant to let go. She also seemed to make some abrupt less than graceful movements. But she never lost her smile.

    Act 2 was blah. Act 3 was better. Misty Copeland and Gabe Stone Shayer whom I never heard of were terrific in the bluebird pdd. Sarah and Herman were great in the grand pas adagio and Herman did at least 8 entrachat six,'s in the variation which he did not do in Giselle. I love Herman but that red getup in act 2 and the white wig in the grand pas do not suit him.

    Overall this was long evening. I found myself checking my watch a number of times which I normally don't do. I'm glad to have seen the new version, but don't expect to be revisiting SB for a while.

  10. Everyone was at their very best for Xiomara's farewell tonight. The crowd was loving her and the cheers grew steadily louder with each scene. Stella was great. Joseph Gorak and Sarah Lane danced the peasant pas de deux and how lucky we were. And we got to see Misty Copeland as Zulma. My one objection was that Herman did not do the entrechats-six, which is surprising since he was in top form.

    After the traditional curtain call, each of the wilis lined up to hand Xiomara a rose. Then came the current and former principals including, if I'm not mistaken, Angel Corella, Jose Carreno and Julio Bocca. She, and the rest of us, seemed less than enthused for KM. Then her husband came with a very passionate embrace. The standing ovation went on for 20 minutes, and included a slow rain of confetti and a whole flower shop's worth of bouquets.

    The final scene was emotional - just as Giselle leaves Albrecht forever, Xiomara, who was my favorite ABT dancer, has now left us, prematurely in my view. I think she still has at least a few years in her.

  11. What do you think about Orchestra Row F on the center aisle? Normally, I wouldn't want to be so close, but the seats the subscriptions seats I got are really crappy and Row F is one possible alternative.

    And while we're on it, can anyone clarify: If I am exchanging my subscription tickets for the same performance and same section but the prices have gone up, will I have to pay additional? Last year, I made a few exchanges and expected to have to pay, but never had to.

  12. Sarafanov did that same sequence today. Or at least he started to. I had watched the video above many times before today. In the video, he did the double tours / pirouettes through the whole variation and I was hoping for a repeat today. He did it through most of the variation, but then stopped, as did Julio Bocca in one of the videos. Perhaps that is the choreography or perhaps he couldn't make it through the whole sequence as he could in 2006. Earlier, in act 2, he did seven double tours in a row which was impressive.

    Oksana Bondareva was to die for. A really great performance. The toreador scenes with Andrey Kasyanenko and Valeria Zapasnikova were another highlight, as were the gypsy dances. And I love the scene in which Sancho Panza is repeatedly tossed in the air. I could not disagree more with the Macaulay comment this week about Russian ballet no longer producing any exciting dancing.

    The sound from the orchestra was glorious. The scenes and costumes were bright and colorful, which cannot be said for ABT's production. All throughout, there was a great energy that was lacking in other versions I've seen, certainly in the last spring's ABT version. And I couldn't help but get a thrill at seeing a real donkey and real horse on stage.

    Some audience members seemed to forget that they are no longer in Russia and could not stop talking, but fortunately what was happening on stage always overshadowed that. My father, whose first ever ballet was today and who I feared would be bored, actually said "wow" a few times. That is a real success.

  13. Gillian Murphy and Ethan Stiefel were in the audience tonight. So were David Hallberg (who looks beautiful up close), Joaquin de Luz and Julie Kent Barbee and probably some others that I didn't recognize.

    The ballet itself was mildly entertaining. It was the least exciting of what I've seen this year, along with the rather lackluster Don Q. NYCB's version is definitely better. The second act, when all the dolls come to life, was much more fun at NYCB.

    This is not to say it was bad. Xiomara Reyes is so wonderfully talented, was brilliant as always and must be ABT's most underrated dancer. She pretty much carried the first two acts on her own. Devon Teuscher had a good scene in Act III and Alexei Agoudine did a great acting job in the thankless role of Dr. Coppelius.

    Of course the real reason we were all there was to see Sascha's farewell performance and he had plenty of fans in the mostly full orchestra. He entered with a bright smile and no signs of whatever injury has kept him out the last few weeks. (He did appear to bump into a corps member early on.) He had little to do in Act I and less in Act II. But we finally got the great jumps, spins and the thrilling manege that we were waiting for in the grand pas variation and coda (and Xiomara was terrific as well). It was a long wait, but well worth it.

    At the curtain call, Xiomara received her bouquet and handed it to Sascha, then graciously stepped back to let him have the spotlight. KM came out to present a wreath and then came Stella with a bouquet and very nice kiss. Several others came onto the stage, including Hallberg, Marcelo and someone else on crutches. After the lights came up following the front of curtain bows, many in the audience refused to leave, still hooting (led by Ethan Stiefel) and chanting his name. Eventually he came out for one final bow.

    I wish the ballet that came before it had been just as exciting, but it was a nice sendoff, particularly for a soloist. There was a lot of love for him both onstage and off and he seemed genuinely humbled by it all.

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