bingham

Onegin coming back seems like a decent possibility as Kevin McKenzie probably wants to give Julie Kent some good vehicles at this point in her career. However, with Lady of the Camillas back next year it may go into the rotation the year after.

Is there confirmation that Camellias is coming back next year? I had not heard that before. Also, I'm sure that Duo Concertante is designed to to give Kent work. This has become a go-to ballet for aging dancers. It's also cheap, since the costumes are practice leotards.

D Vishneva had mentioned it in her website.

Any reports on M Wiles-C Stearns Friday night SL?

I would love to see Raymonda. I don't think they have done it since 2005.

I would love a new Raymonda( not the AM Holmes staging). Maybe, a new staging by A Ratmansky.

The current season is almost over(unbelievable) and pretty successful(IMO). Many of the full-lenghts did quite well in the boxoffice and offered outstanding dramatic performances.

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So far,a new Nutcracker and ABT premieres of Bright Stream and Duo Concertante has been announced. What is in your wish list? I'll start w/ A Month in the Country and revivals of La Fille Mal Gardee and Onegin.

Irina has also been replaced in next week's Allegro Brillante(w/ X Reyes).

The medalist's list is in the Jackson IBC website. Congratulations to all the winners. :clapping:

I saw this production several years ago and agree entirely with most of the criticisms of the design, look, blocking, and treatment of many of the characters.

Presumably there are those who do like the aesthetic, with its cartoonish image of the fairy tale world. I'm referring to those who designed it, chose it, and applaud it.

Sometimes I find it interesting to try to enter into the mentality of those whose decisions and taste completely baffle me. What were the designers trying for? What DO some people like about the visuals of this production? Is it possible to surmise? Or is it just better to leave things as they are and respond with a

Is it too harsh to say that there are really no good American stage( ballet) designers at present. I wish ABT would be able to get E Frigerio or L Spinatelli to design one of their future productions. Maybe they are too expensive?

The semifinalist list is on the USA IBC website.

From a Russian website:

http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-06-16/thugs-ro...-ballerina.html

NY thugs rob Russian prima of her ballet shoes

International ballet star, Russian Natalia Osipova, was mugged in New York on Tuesday as she left the American Ballet Theater.

Muggers hit her in the face and stole her bag with her pointe shoes, NY Times reports.

Her valuable personal effects, such as money, passport and laptop, were not with her at the time.

There is nothing funny about this incident but i would loved to have seen the faces of the muggers when they openned her bag.

Any reports on SB ? Everybody must be waiting for the "Super Saturday".

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/...acked/?ref=arts

Osipova attacked leaving the theater...

Frightening news! I'm happy and relieved that she's all right, but what will the thieves do with pointe shoes and a hammer??

Thanks God, she had the sense to give up her bag. You'll never know what these thugs will do.

Ironically, Lady of the Camellias, which is not considered a great ballet by any critic that I've read, seemed to sell pretty well.

Good point! This often happens.

I do not know why "Filel" doesn't sell. I know the conventional wisdom is it's the name, but it is 50 years old now and the title should have gotten around. The last time I saw the ballet in New York, I was sitting next to a very chic young couple who looked very grouchy at the beginning. When the curtain went up on the chickens, they stiffened and looked at each other with a "We're outta here!" look. But they the chickens started to dance, and the two were instantly converted. The house looked little more than half full, and I didn't see a sour face at intermission.

I'm very pleased of the interest shown for the hoped-for-revival of La Fille.... I hope KMc would read this topic and consider it for next season(although they probably have set the next year's program already)

I wish there was something we audience members could do about getting it revived. Could we start an e-mail campaign or something?

Money talks. If a major donor came forward and said I'll give you $$$ to pay for a revival of Fille, that would probably be an incentive. Swan Lake has been done every year for at least the last 10 years. That ballet puts people in seats. Fille, apparently, does not.

I do not understand why La Fille... is not more popular with the NYC audience. Does the French title turned people off? They just don't know what they are missing.

I still feel that if ABT do it more often with the right cast, it will eventually become a favorite.

But I was disappointed to see all the empty seats. It was a Saturday night after all, not a week night. Is it that mixed programs don't sell or Ashton doesn't sell or what.

Both, with the mixed bill being the bigger problem. (A Saturday night during the summer doesn't help either.) New York critics love to moan and groan about how tired they are of the full-lengths during ABT's Met seasons but, when Kevin McKenzie does program mixed bills at the Met, we get reports that they don't sell. What is a guy to do?

A Macaulay is very pleased w/ ABT's mixed-bill programing but can his reviews fill the seats? Apparently not.

I was at Thurs Ashton program and loved it.BO was just gorgeous with all those variatons for the ballerinas. ABT should keep this in the rpertory as it is a good challenge for all the soloists. I thought they did very well in this performance.

M Ricetto was gorgeous in the Thais PDD( although was disappointed that JM Carreno was replaced, J Matthews was excellent. )Wish i could see H Seo's Thais.

The Dream was a dream w/ the entire cast outstanding esp Daniil and Cory.

I'm probably asking too much but ABT should def do more Ashton(Cinderella, Two Pigeons and A month in the Country). I would be very happy if they revive La Fille... next season(Can you imagine N Osipova as Lise )

Vishneva and Gomes were electrifying. I wish this had been taped.

Hoping ABT will revived Onegin for them next season.

It would make more sense for Armand to be reading the diary that was given to him by Nanina instead of Manon Lescaut.

I've now seen all three casts for this ballet. I'm going back tomorrow for another performance of the Vishneva Gomes cast. I thought Vishneva, Gomes and Part were phenomenal. I wanted to weep by the end of her performance. She was perfect, and Marcelo was the perfect partner for her. This ballet is like a guilty pleasure- a trashy romance novel that I just can't seem to put down. I actually enjoyed all of the casts, but Vishneva was my favorite. Kent was wonderful, but much more demure and controlled. Vishneva was unhinged and wild. Loved it!

How was the Dvorovenko-Stearns cast? He was singled out by the critics of Village Voice and WS Journal.

I was at last night's performance.I have never seen J Kent give such a well acted and danced performance. It seems she's giving the performance of her career. She was esp touching in her confrontation scene w/ Armand's father( very well acted by R Zhurvin). R Bolle was also a very good(surprisingly) actor and an outstanding partner to Julie. The rest was of the original cast was just terrific.

Many complained of the lenght of the production but ,i guess, we are not used to the European-style full-evening production. The audience seemed to enjoy the performance giving it a prolonged,rousing applause in the end.

It certainly gave the THEATRE back to AMERICA BALLET. :blush:

Macauley thinks Lady of the Cam. is "foolish". I guess I'm not surprised by his reaction, but most of the audience seemed to enjoy it.

In Macauley's mind, Ashton and Balanchine are the only choreographers worth seeing.

La Dame aux Camellias: ... Julie looked very lovely and expressive. This will be very good. I don't think Neumeier is idiotic or trashy. He does use a lot of acrobatic lifts in a style used by Cranko and other 20th century choreographers. This Act III pas de deux had emotional specificity.

Fauxpas -- I agree with your take on La Dame aux Camellias.

However, I am not sure that the point where the excerpt begins is helpful to the audience taking the piece too seriously. Bolle is sitting in a slouched, perhaps dejected, position on the ground, his head down on the right hand side of the stage near the audience from the audience's perspective. In the middle of the stage is Kent, standing initially stoically with a large black cape or coat on. On her head, she has a black cap or hood that closely fits around her face and that has a lace veil that partially obscures her face, although the lace allows some portions of her face to show through. These opening positions seem a bit melodramatic.

There are other arguably slightly melodramatic sets of steps in the La Dame excerpt, presumably intending to either convey internal conflict on the part of Bolle's character or the sexual and other tensions so evident throughout the piece. For example, at one point, Bolle seems to be getting ready to leave the room, but dramatically comes back to be drawn in by Kent.

As mentioned above, there are some sequences of movements that seemed - at least to me -- to connnote sexual activity between the two characters. That is after Bolle removes her black dress and she is in the blush pink camisole-like number. Initially that number is visible slightly from the back when Kent has the dress on. Kent looked very fragile at times when she had the camisole-like number on. This made Bolle's character seem more forceful and powerful physically, presumably an intended effect.

ABT has been promoting Dame. I got a several-page color leaflet about Dame in the mail a few days ago.

In the full ballet, this PDD occurs a while after Marguerite's leaving Armand . His father had confronted her w/out Armand's knowledge .

In the openning of last night's gala, dancers who were part of ABT's history were introduced including L Serrano, MV Hamel, N Makarova, Nina A, A Ferri, F Franklin and ,surprisingly, Misha B. I don't recall of his appearance, in previous galas, since he left as AD.

I hope he will come back in some capacity.(coach ?).

ABT has customarily given more detailed casting in its updated-daily, printed hand-outs in the lobby than online. Especially as the dates near, I'd like to see casting of the three Shades, too. For iffy lead casts, the name of one or another of one of my faves could be the deciding factor.

Surely, the ABT-Met management would be interested in filling those seats w/ persons who would like to see ,not only the "stars", but also their favorite soloist/corp member.

In last night's telecast of the Met's new Carmen, Maria Kowroski danced a short PDD w/ Martin Harvey in the beginning of the 3rd act. I missed the 1st Act where there was more dancing. It was choreographed by C Wheeldon.

Maria was absolutely gorgeous in her dancing and appearance.Anybody else saw it?Great Performances are usually repeated on Sunday afternoons .

...and the cast for Birthday Offering( instead of Company).

There is very limited casting up on the ABT website now re Birthday Offering. June 8 lists Dvoorvenko/Beleserkovsky. June 10 and 12 lists Murphy/Tamm.

i guess this is asking too much but i wish ABT would also list the cast for Gaston, Prudence and Olympia in "The Lady of...".Although supporting roles, they have a lot of solo dancing. S Messmer mentioned in her Twitter site that she was rehearsing Prudence

...and the cast for Birthday Offering( instead of Company).