Bored_on_Wall_Street

I've seen Boal make a few, non-disruptive dashes like that at PNB. But non-disruption is the key! And i applaud your foresight on fleeing from Cinderella. My gf and I decided to stay after act 1 solely on the basis of the amazing craftsmanship behind the tree-to-carriage transformation. And, while I liked Cinderella more than Alice, I struggle to remember anything after the end of act 1 except for the cinderella and the prince wandering around the stage during the last minutes, during which even Prokofiev's difficult music suggests somethig transformative should be happening...

This should be printed on every ticket for every type of theatre event, if only to remind the audience they have some sort of obligation to be quiet, and not be noticed. I think I skew towards the younger range of posters here, but it seems to me that this is a rule that is getting increasingly ignored, by young and old alike.

I think that's the basic rule. I have left many shows of bands early, but in a theatre context, even if i'm on the aisle, i dont want my exit to block the show for other folks who paid for it, even if my blockage is very temporary. For example, my gf and I saw NCoB's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland on Saturday night in NYC. We aren't big Wheeldon fans, but we went out of curiousity and to support a company we know well from a lot of time spent in Toronto. We found the first act a chore, and chesire cat puppet aside, the second act was equally unappealing. But even being on the aisle, we couldn't bring ourselves to bounce until second intermission.

Having left after two intermissions, deciding that we had better dinner options at 10pm rather than 11pm, I can apreciate people can have various reasons for leaving early, and if the earlier poster left early because of a casting decision in a ballet he/she already considered dreadful, so be it. NBoC is a major north american company,whom I've enjoyed in the past (and will enjoy in the future) and I don't think they expect some sort of patronizing "warm" reception. Rather, being a major company from an intertnational city, they probably expect to be appreciated on the merits of what they do. I think the majority enjoyed what they saw during this Koch season, but that doesn't make those who left any less "cultured".

We asked the ushers about the seating of latecomers (and they are Koch ushers, we recognize from NYCB) and they said the seating decisions were made by NBoC Even if that's true, i think it would have been the wrong decision for a visiting company to bar entrance until intermission on the basis of Koch (+ Joyce's?) inability to set up an efficient distribution system. I'm a season subscriber at NYCB, and have seen some bad backups (particularly since they put up the temporary, plywood boxes), but at 735 there was already an overflow of folks beyond the set of first internal doors. So, i would guess that NBOC were trying to make the best of the administrative incompetence they were being forced to accomodate as guest company, not wanting to leave their guest customers out in the cold.

We made it until the second intermission before bailing (we were not alone...). Clever designs aren't enough. It's the cloying, sub-film score music that puts the whole failure into relief; if you use a programmatic score, composed for the ballet, there is no excuse for not using the score in a way to enhance the story and choreography. Another example of Wheeldon's unmusicality, I think. However, i think it's worth noting that the people around our seats and on the terrace seemed to love it. But as for late arrivers, i'm usually deeply against seating late folks, but the box office situation in the lobby was absurd. We got to Koch at 735, and didn't make it to our seats until 757. The lack of any roped, intake system just creates a converging mob of people, loosing arranged into some loosely, snaked mass of humanity, forced to to try to use one of the ticket boxes, while the advance sale box sits unused. For non-subscriber shows like this, where the only options are will call or mailed tix, Koch really need to do some kind of work in putting together some type of arranged intake in place.

Having arranged a work trip to make Jewels' opening night, I'm really happy i get to come back to NYC to more PNB! That being said, while I get what Boal is trying to do, i would have thought that after the reception the Balanchine rep got last year, one would want to build on that.

I love me some old time effects as well, but I'm not sure the laughs the unmasking got were the intended effect. It's just too antiquated of machinery for most, where the narrative/sets/dance can stand outside of time in a way. Perhaps if the veils were pulled down and off it might keep the effect but mask it a little? And, like listening to basic motherly advivce, some one needs to create a compendium of things to do or not do as a ballet character..."So, if you meet a girl who looks the same as that swan girl you met, but is a lot more forward, just say no. And if you're one of a few princes to meet/court a 16 year old princess in a very small kingdom, you may at least want to bring an overnight bag...."

The monorail does make any day better! I'm curious to know what elements of the production you felt weren't true to a 19th c aesthetic -- I agree that this version is very different that most of the Giselles around today, but I think that's more a function of how the ballet has changed over time. Still, glad you got a chance to see it, and add it to your repertoire! I won't profess to be an expert or even knowledgeable, but on the plane to/from SEA, i read a book about La Syhphide to put my self in a dance-y type of mood so I had my (probably wrong) image of 19th century in mind. Much of the first act struck me as something one might see in the 19th century, with the moderate height of legs, the tempos, etc (and the tableau at the end), but a few times in the second act, with some entrances and lifts, it seemed more acrobatic (and soviet-styled) than what might have gotten from a romantic 19th century ballet. That's no fault to the company, or peformance, and the program notes even say Boal left in some more modern elements. But I can say that the spring is ballet high season in NYC--we get ABT's met season, and NYCB--and aside from Balanchine's short Walpurhisnacht where Sara Mearns of NYCB killed it, the piece i'd most want to see again is PNB's Giselle. We thought of getting tix for Saturday night to see Korbes, but it was just so nice outside in Seattle for late spring. ;)

We stayed on in Seattle after a business trip to see Giselle on opening night, hoping to see something different from what ABT and other companies serve up, and we were not disappointed. While the production seems to contain elements that are way more modern than would have been in reflected in the 19th century materials relied on by Boal and co in putting this shindig together, it was obvious from early on--with the leg work and tempo, this was a different beast, from a different era, from what we normally see. The mime doesn't fully work on some, 1 or 2 of the corps were (kindly put) off, but on many occasions, one kinda felt transported. I've only seen PNB live 6 times or so, but they really seem to have unique energy and subtle velocity, and this production suits them well. More generally, as a NYC guy with benefit of NYCB and ABT, I still wish I could see more of PNB, and NOT just because I get to take a monorail to the theatre from downtown ;)