ord7916

If Radetsky can;t do his Coppelia, who will replace him?

On another subject I love Gomes and Vishneva but I don't think they are the only good

dancers at ABT. Well, all right Gomes and Vishneva are magnificent, especially

together, but I thought Veronika Part and James Whiteside were fantastic in La Bayadere

I thought Reyes and Gorak were just lovely in Cinderella and Simkin and Boylston were

very good in Don Q. Gomes and Vishneva obviously cannot dance every performance of

every ballet so other dancers need to dance as well. I hope others besides me feel

that there are wonderful ABT dancers besides Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes.

Agreed. I also had the privilege of seeing the Part / Whiteside Bayadere and the Reyes / Gorak Cinderella.

They are definitely a lot of good dancers, but they are underused. Part gets the smaller roles or relegated to matinées, Simkin seems to get little attention and I wish there were more chances to see Cornejo. Instead, we get the guest artists or the "principles" like Vasiliev and Bolle who might as well be guest artists.

Incidentally, for anyone who was looking to go, the prices for Coppelia just went down this morning. Didn't think that prices ever went down.

Interesting to hear other reviews. This was my first Giselle, first Semionova and first Hallberg, so I have nothing to compare it to. But I did feel that something was missing from Hallberg's performance. There is a video of Bolle doing the entrechats, so I was waiting for that as well, and as noted above, it never happened.

I was already midway through writing this when I read the above post. My experience was quite different.

Polina Semionova gave a stunning performance tonight. I will say it is the second best ballet performance I've ever seen, with the first of course being Vishneva in Manon. Among the highlights were her hopping backwards across the stage followed by a manege; her dramatic entry in Act II; and the pas de deux adagio and variation. The audience was loving it. She transformed convincingly in the mad scene and it was a great acting job, but I kept waiting for the dancing and - this being my first Giselle - to my surprise there wasn't any.

This was my first time seeing Hallberg and I wanted so much to love him. He has little to do until late in the second act and while he has a couple of good moments, watching the pirouettes and jumps I kept feeling like we've seen it all before. But the audience loved him as well.

He partnered Seminova well, and lifted her gracefully. I was watching closely to see if he had trouble lifting her and if he did I certainly didn't notice it. They had some chemistry at the beginning and their instant attraction was convincing, but I didn't feel it in Act II.

The corps was absolutely brilliant in the graveyard scene, and Veronika even more so. Gotta love her.

The peasant pas-de-deux was danced by Yuriko Kajiya and Craig Salstein who were both great. The other highlight was Thomas Forster as Hilarion. It's hard to believe he was the same one who did the silly stepsister just ast week. His death scene was wonderfully staged and wonderfully performed by everyone involved.

This was to be my last of the season, but after tonight I think I need another.

Menage! Thank you. I've been trying to figure that out for ages. That is usually my favorite part of any ballet.

When the prince holds his leg out 90 degrees and spins around, is that considered a fouetté? Whatever it was, Gorak did it well.

Reyes was fabulous coming down the stairs and then upstage on point.

Here is my review of tonight's Reyes / Gorak. I enjoyed it much more than expected, particularly considering the lukewarm reviews. The music was beautiful, probably the best of what I've heard this year.

It does takes a while to get going and there is really no excitement until the end of act one. In the pas de quatre, none of the variations stood out, though I liked Misty Copeland and the four of them together in the finale.

This is really a great role for Reyes. She had a terrific scene where she did two loops around the stage (I don't know the official name for that move, so if anyone can enlighten me...) That was the highlight of the evening. Gorak's solo immediately following was fine, but shorter. I was really hoping for some fireworks from him and he had some good jumps (were they jetes, double tours?) but I don't think the choreography gave him the chance. Reyes really shined in the pas-de-deux and Gorak partnered her well. There was some nice and perhaps unexpected chemistry between them.

The other standout was Arron Scott as the jester. Hope to see some more of him. The two stepsisters worked hard and I know it's supposed to be silly, but it was a bit too silly for me. The corps was in superb form.

During the extended curtain calls, Reyes got four bouquets thrown up to her - three of which landed on stage and one in the orchestra pit. For a moment, it seemed Gorak didn't realize he was supposed to scoop them up for her, prompting one person behind me to remark that's he still young - he's learning.

Sales were low for Don Q and better, but still low, for La Bayadere. And yet the prices keep going up.

Great, thank you! You've just saved me a trip up to the box office today.

My real reason for choosing Semionova was to see Hallberg. So I think I will keep that. Now I have to decide what to do with Cinderella - keep Reyes / Gorak, or go with Kent / Gomes or Murphy / Hallberg.

Thanks for the replies. That weekend doesn't work for me unfortunately, so Cojocaru is out.

As of now, I have the Reyes / Gorak (was originally supposed to be Whiteside) Cinderella and then the Semionova / Hallberg Giselle. I was thinking of switching to the Murphy / Hallberg Cinderella and Kent / Bolle Giselle, since I have never any of those four before and seeing Vishneva and Gomes in Manon this week made me realize how much difference the casting can make. But perhaps I am better off keeping what I have.

There are no good seats for Vishneva on Monday and I cannot make Herrera on Friday. So that leaves Seminova, Julie Kent or Reyes. Which one would you choose?

Who else at ABT can do that role? Part may be hard to lift. Murphy? Abrera?

Yes, spectacurlar dancing from Gomes and Vishneva in what, in my opinion, is a pretty awful ballet. Without great leads, this ballet becomes dull very fast. Herman was also pretty amazing. Expecting even more high wattage electricity at the Saturday matinee for Vishneva's 10th anniversary celebration. The house looked well sold compared to the earlier weeks of the season.

A pretty awful ballet? I'm surprised to hear that.

But I do wonder how the other casts can possibly measure up to last night. I really like Reyes, but I just can't picture her in that role. And it's hard to see Cory Stearns as the romantic lead type.

Question - If I want to change my tickets to a different performance, but same seating area, and the prices have since gone up, will I have to pay additional? I switched La Bayadere from a Tuesday to a Saturday matinee and had to pay $15 extra, but Saturday matinees are more expensive from the outset. I switched Don Q from a Friday to a Weds and while the orchestra seats were then up to $123 from $113, they didn't charge additional. I wasn't sure if that was policy, or I just got lucky.

So it looks like I have the privilege of writing the first review.

Let me say that from the start that tonight's Manon was a truly extraordinary experience. I have never seen anything like it at ABT or anywhere else.

This was my first time seeing Vishneva. How a human being can move as she does, I cannot quite comprehend. To watch her being lifted, spun around and quite literally be thrown from one person to another - I was in awe.

The first scene with Diana and Marcelo was mesmerizing and it just kept getting better until the stunning finale. There was talk on here about all the guest artists and how they are unfamiliar with each other and lack chemistry. Well, here we have the exact opposite - not just chemistry but outright passion. When the curtain came up for the first curtain call, they were locked in a tight embrace, seemingly oblivious to the audience who were cheering for them. By the 4th and 5th curtain calls, they looked utterly exhausted, but both very gracious.

And it is not just the chemistry between Diana and Marcelo, but also Diana and Victor Barbee as G.M, Diana and Roman Zhurbin, as the jailer, and I'd even say between Marcelo and Herman Cornejo. Herman was thrilling to watch and had a contagious energy and Roman was ruthlessly seductive.

Manon - the story, the dancing, the romance - is just so different than any ballet I've seen before. And this was one of those rare nights where the acting, the music, the dancing and the dancers all come together so perfectly.

I will second the review above. Stella was great. Someone in the audience commented that Veronika was "stiff". I can't say I agree, though admittedly she was better in Swan Lake last year.

Act II was a thrill to watch and I fully concur on the soloists and the corps. And this was the first time I've seen something at ABT in which the scenery and costumes actually impressed me.

Joseph Gorak was the Bronze Idol and did a fine job. That scene felt a bit out of place to me - as if they just threw it in there because the audience wants to see it.

I took everyone's advice and chose Grand Tier Row A. It is great having no one in front of you and great to see the patterns. But you cannot see the faces, although I couldn't see the faces very well from Orchestra Row J either.

I am not easily impressed, but I really enjoyed this one. It wowed me in a way that Don Q sadly did not. This was my first time seeing Whiteside in anything and he was a treat to watch. Watching him lift Veronika and carrying her around the stage - OMG. Now, I can look forward to him in Cinderella.

Isn't it uncomfortable to try to look up from Orchestra Row A?

I've tried several different locations and they all have their pluses and minuses. I was in Row J on the center aisle two nights ago, which in a Broadway theater would be perfect, but at the MET is still seemed far away and I needed my glasses to see clearly.

Part it is!

I know this has been asked many times before, and I myself have asked it, but: Right now, there is the choice of Orchestra Row H on the center aisle or Grand Tier Row A in the center. Which would you choose?

Any recommendations for which cast to see? The Friday and Saturday nights are out. Are any of the guest artists worth seeing? Otherwise, I'm leaning toward the Part matinee.

Fauxpas - If I may ask: How do you manage to go every night?

Thanks for the review.

Here are my thoughts on the Weds eve performance.

Lots of empty seats tonight, more than I've ever seen there before.

This was originally supposed to be Murphy/Matvienko. then Murphy/Lendorf and finally Reyes/Lendorf. I couldn't help but wonder how much rehearsal they possibly could have had, considering he's a guest artist and she was a last minute cast change. They did seem a bit tentative together at first, but that quickly disappeared. Act One was good and Act Two was great.

The audience seemed to love the grand pas de deux and cheered in all the right places. Personally, I found it anti-climactic and rather ordinary. You can find a half-dozen more exciting versions on youtube. I expected more, particularly from Lendorf.

That said, he is certainly pleasant to look at. And I really like Reyes. The real star, however, was Jared Matthews as Espada.

I am still relatively new to ballet, so I'd be really interested to hear what others thought.

I don't recall anything obstructing the view from the first row. It is always better to have no one in front of you.

Thanks for the replies. I went in yesterday and was able to get better seats for everything. It's hard to understand why they don't let you pick your own seats from the start.

Just ordered my first subscription and for two nights, got Orchestra Row D, slightly on the side. Should I exchange these for something further back?