mussel

Apparently, NY Times knew something was not yet kosher about the NYC tour. Today, it reports the tour is far from certain.

On Saturday night, the theatre was packed, but a lot of people left early. I rushed out right after the at the end of the third act, because I feared problems getting out of the congested parking lot, but it was half empty when I got there, and the attendant confirmed that many people left early. The section I was sitting in remained full thru out the 3 acts. Avery Fisher Hall and Lincoln Center Theaters finished earlier than State Theater, may be that's the reason why the parking lot was half empty. The parking garage is for all the halls in the campus, not just State Theater.

The fall reason at State Theater will be in September, 2014 preceding NYCB fall season. The only thing I know is they'll bring Alice in Wonderland. So it could be Alice plus some mixed rep programs or Alice with Ratmansky's R&J, or Alice, R&J, and a mixed rep. I'd like to see Ratmansky's R&J, hope they'll bring it along with Alice.

I like Suite en Blanc too, and understand why it's a crowd pleaser. But I like Ratmansky's Namouna better. I don't mind if ABT acquires SeB.

Clear: Jared Matthews, Arron Scott, Luis Ribagorda Gong: Isadora Loyola, Luciana Paris, Christina Shevchenko, Sarah Smith, Cassandra Trenary Les Sylphides: Mazurka: Gorak, Prelude: Part, PdD: Gorak & Boylston Clear: Herrera, Forster, Mantei Clear PdD: Herrera, Radetsky Tina Fehlandt (Morris stager) talked about Gong, Susan Jones on Les Sylphides & Bach Partita, and Clinton Luckett on Clear. Did you check Guggenheim site, it may be available for a brief time.

You didn't miss much, if you have time you can see for yourself why you were glad you missed it the first time. I don't know why RB holds him in such high regard, I hope there will be no more commissions from NYCB. ABT, stay away from him, please. Orchestra thru 3rd ring looked pretty full last night but 4th ring was padlocked. I don't quite understand NYST/SFB ticketing strategy for this tour & don't know how many audiences were turned away because of the closure. 4th ring was not available initially for the POB tour but was eventually opened for all performances.

I have the memorial program in pdf file, I'd like upload it to share with everyone but don't know how. Is media upload only available to mods?

Thanks ksk, I just bought one. Orchestra thru 3rd ring look pretty full, but they still have not opened the 4th ring yet, strange.

Bolshoi latest Bayadere DVD & Blu Ray is now available in Amazon UK. I hope it'll be available in the US soon. There're free softwares to extract sound tracks from DVD and then convert them to MP3. I've done it, but I left my software in my old computer and forgot to move it to the new one. Just Google "DVD soundtracks to CD".

The Saratoga Springs tour with DQ dates dovetail with the Met tour, an indication the Met tour will happen. I assume DQ won't be the closing program at the Met.

I notice Part matinee heavy casting too. This will force me to take one Wed.off to see Part's SL.

The Met season is now up at ABT calendar, no updates on the TBAs yet: http://www.abt.org/calendar.aspx?startdate=5/1/2014

Yes, that's great news and I am absolutely relieve. I hope he'll make further progress & we'll see him with the company this coming Met season.

I believe, although I am not 100% sure, Met takes 30% of box office receipts, it covers everything except overtimes. Met & ABT's 990 filings seem to be consistent with the figure. True, but the VFKATST has an unusually wide, relatively shallow stage. This will impact the choreography of the story ballets as well as the sets. (Otherwise, we would probably be seeing at least one full-length ballet this fall.) The fall season was created specifically for the mixed reps one-acters, it's never about full-length ballets. Me thinks ABT will stay put at the Met. ABT will probably use State Theater as leverage to get better terms from the Met.

Only 2 performances for Vasiliev? I wouldn't be surprised if Osipova not ending up in one of the TBAs. David Walker's set & costume for Cinderella are used by many productions: Royal Ballet 1987-2003, ABT Ben Stevenson, ENB & Boston Michael Corder, Joffrey Ashton, Boston Ashton (company premier Mar' 2014), Ballet West Aston. I wonder which one ABT is going to use.

I think NYCB is in pretty good financial shape to absorb the $1.6 million bad debt. I go to opera may be 1-3 times a year so I don't consider myself an opera fan but I am really sad to see NYCO goes and it's a blow to NYC reputation as cultural capital that it can't support 2 opera companies. I think the pivotal point was when NYCO took one year hiatus during the renovation of the State Theater, therefore, losing one year of ticket revenue and significant portion of donations. Subscribers and donors are creature of habits, many of them didn't come back after the hiatus. The irony is the renovation was NYCO's idea, NYCB was happy with the way the theater was. Leaving Lincoln Center drove away most of the remaining subscribers and donors as they didn't like the new venues or their new seat or hated to go from one theater to another for different performances. There're chatters whether ABT would make a move from the Met to the State Theater after the contract with the Met expires at the end of the 2015 Met season. ABT needs to prepare itself that it'll lose some subscribers and donors if the move materializes. [Admin note: discussion of ABT's plans after the 2015 contract ends has been split off to this thread: http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/37889-abt-met-contract-ends-in-2015/ Please continue the discussion there.]

Yes, that former principal is Osipova. She's scheduled for one performance but don't know which, but I assume it'd be a role she has danced with ABT before, and hopefully with Hallberg. I guess she is fully committed to RB, and one performance with ABT just to maintain some sort of tie. We'll find out the castings and guest roster very soon as the official announcement is just around the corner.

You should have seen Tyler Peck, De Luz, and Daniel Ulbrecht in Autumn. While Peck & De Luz were equally magnificent, if not more so, Ulbrecht was the one who stole the show.

I'd love to see their Sylvia. Do you know who staged it? The only Sylvias I've seen are Mark Morris and Ashton. Ashton's is far more superior.

Tokyo: 10/21-23 Program A: Serenade, Symphony in 3 Movements, Tarantella, West Side Story Suite Program B: Swan Lake, 4T, Symphony in C http://www.bunkamura.co.jp/english/orchard/index.html#13_cityballet Osaka: 10/26-27 Program A http://www.festivalhall.jp/program_information.html?id=100 Both are dream programs, all Balanchine with one Robbins.

There should be an independent investigation how did ABT let him get away.

Gala red carpet coverage.

The season will start with Don Q, then followed by half week of a mixed program called "Classics Splendor", then Bayadere, and Manon. And the season will end with half week of all Shakespearean program and half week of Coppélia, which will be broken into 2 half week runs. Here is the revised list: Don Q Classics Splendor La Bayadere Manon Giselle Ashton Cinderella Swan Lake Coppélia All Shakespearean So 7 full lengths, and 2 mixed programs. And a former principal is scheduled for one performance. I am glad that Manon will run against Mid Summer's Night Dream across the plaza so I can concentrate on MSND. There's a limit of how many dramatic ballets I can see in a week. There's no limit on Petipa and Balanchine.

They sort of have annual JKO graduation performance at end of July at the Sinatra School auditorium in Long Island City.