Helene

Pointe Magazine online has an interview with Doug Fullington with four excellent questions: http://www.pointemagazine.com/blogs/works-and-process/evolution-ballet

I haven't hear this Ring live, but besides the first two HD videos, I've heard a number of live broadcasts on Sirius radio. I have no idea what the production looks like at the Met -- Lepage's "Damnation of Faust" had a different feel in the house and on HD, and each had their merits, and Ross writes "I wonder whether it is almost unfair to review new Met stagings from the point of view of one sitting in the house, since they now seem designed more for the camera operators" -- but the singing and conducting has been mixed, and, like with HD's, the balance on Sirius is not what one hears in the house, apart from the noise from the Machine. I agree with Ross when he singles out Konig and Owens, and I've been impressed with Dalayman each time I've heard her on Sirius. (An aside about Gelb's quip that "“London was really the equivalent of doing something out of town,”Two Boys" is at least the second Met co-production that opened at English National Opera: I saw the beautiful Minghella "Madame Butterfly" at ENO in 2005.) I also agree with Ross when he writes, Gelb is a marketing guy who comes from what is now old media, but was a half century century ahead technologically from what the Met had before Gelb, and when the marketing approach fails, there is a problem. I give him credit for digging the Met out of stultifying layers of Zeffirelli decor, and for increasing the number of co-productions, pretty much the only way he can afford to stretch his traditional audience without breaking the bank on every production. For "The Ring" there was not the option of ironing out the technological wrinkles and recalibrating the direction beforehand as there were for other co-productions, such as the "Madame Butterfly", "Iphegenie en Tauride" (with Seattle Opera), and will be for "Two Boys": even with the operas released slowly over a few seasons, the fundamental issues with the technology haven't been addressed, and they're playing catch-up. From what I've seen, overwhelming technology isn't even the theme: it's just a byproduct. While I think Lepage is suited for "The Tempest", just as he was for "The Damnation of Faust", the Ring is both too big and too specific for his approach to opera, this, unlike the others he's done, has far more expectations in people's minds -- including the comparison to the Schenk production -- as one of the greatest masterworks in the history of music, and the technology is a bust in light of expectations and his previous use of it. It overwhelmed the singers and the action on camera, and I can't imagine how this isn't magnified in the house. If I'm ever in New York when the Met is playing one of the operas, I'll try to see it for the experience, but there are so many other productions worldwide that I'd rather see, and I wouldn't travel to see this one.

Alex Ross isn't impressed: in a link Ray posted to the Met Ring discussion thread, Ross wrote: http://www.newyorker...s#ixzz1uUUYIQIP Later in the review he writes in greater detail, concluding:

I should have been clearer: I didn't think that he had danced, but if it were his production, I have my reservations, given his approach to this role and other iconic roles.

Ballet Arizona posted a link to this news from their Facebook Page: burlesque artist Dita Von Teese has commissioned a pair of custom ballet slippers from designer Christian Louboutin: http://cocoperez.com...allet-slippers. They are quite stunning, and are just one of a series designed for her. (If you click the photo at the bottom of the post, you can see a larger version of the others.)

That would be great news if Washington Opera were to present it. I agree about the little girl at the end. Bad, bad, bad.

It isn't clear whether Seattle will have a new Ring anytime soon. Speight Jenkins said that the board approved the cost of the current production, to be presented for the fourth time next summer, because he told them he wouldn't ask for another production during his tenure. The last time there was a new Ring, there were six years between productions. No one knows yet who will replace Jenkins after the 2014 "Die Meistersinger", what direction a new General Director will take, or what kind of budget that director will have to work with and when the company will be able to raise the funds for a new Ring. I've heard good things about both Vinke and Mellor, and I'm looking forward to hearing them next summer, along with returning singers Blythe, Wray, Skelton, Peterson, Collins, and Fink. The San Francisco Ring was splendid. I don't know what SFO is planning to do with it over time -- it was originally to be a co-production with Washington Opera until WO pulled out -- but it's too bad it couldn't be borrowed and shown in Seattle, especially since director Francesca Zambello is no stranger to Seattle.

Peter Boal's statement was released by "Seattle Times" today:

You can also peruse a bit on the Simon and Shuster website by clicking "Browse inside" from this page: http://search.simonandschuster.com/_/N-/Ntt-master%27s%20muse

Wagner would have had a field day with movies and computers. I've only watched the first few parts of the Burton film, and he doesn't convince me for a second that he's far too old to play the young to middle-aged Wagner. The Min a is superb, though.

The interview started at about 10:07.5 and ended around 10:15.

More than a fan, Maurice Sendak designed the current Pacific Northwest Ballet production of "The Nutcracker", considered the company's classic production. (It was filmed in the mid-80's, but only the staged version does his designs justice. Rest in peace, Mr. Sendak.

From "Weekday"'s Facebook Page: Former Pacific Northwest Ballet artistic director and prinicipal choreographer Kent Stowell remembers his collaboration with author and illustrator Maurice Sendak this morning at 10. Click "Listen" at the top right of the KUOW Home Page It should also be available soon a a podcast for ten days after the interview from: http://www.kuow.org/rss.php?program=weekday

According to the Lincoln Center website: Venue Accessibility The box office is accessible from the plaza level. Wheelchair seating is accessible from the concourse level only. Please call 212.799.3100 ext. 2207 at least 24 hours prior to the performance to make arrangements for assistance. Wheelchair Seating There are six wheelchair locations in the Orchestra and ten locations in the Dress Circle. Wheelchair Loans Available for people to go to and from their seats. No security deposit required. http://lc.lincolncenter.org/visitor-guide/venues/venue/17 This website has additional information: http://www.nyc-arts.org/organizations/294/metropolitan-opera It would be a good idea to give them a call. It might be safer for you if you sit in the wheelchair in wheelchair seating to avoid being jostled, having to get up and down for your row-mates, etc. If you are bringing a wheelchair but sitting in regular seating, it's likely they will have to stow it for you during the performance. I'm not sure if crutches will fit under the seats, since there may be hardware between the seats that blocks them -- this may be section-specific, too -- but they should be able to discuss the logistics with you.

It will be broadcast live this Sunday, May 13, and Monday, May 14 at 7:30pm EDT/4:30pm PDT. From the press release: In addition to Korbes and Seth and Sarah Orza, James Moore, Jerome Tisserand, and Leta Biasucci will demonstrate. Those who saw the "Giselle" presentation will recognize James Moore, who performed in the "Peasant Pas de Deux" with Carrie Imler and as Hilarion. New Yorkers will be in for a treat seeing Tisserand and Biasucci for the first time in featured roles. (Tisserand performed in at least the Millipied when PNB performed at The Joyce a few years ago.)

This has been discussed piecemeal in other forums, but I wanted to post a heads up that Doug Fullington will be presenting "After Petipa" this Sunday and Monday 13-14 May at the Guggenheim as part of it's "Works & Process" series. According to the Guggenheim website, Sunday night is sold out, but there are still tickets for Monday. The presentation will be screened via web. Here is the PNB press release, with details: Joan Acocella wrote a (physical) column about the presentation in "The New Yorker", but it's only available to subscribers. There was another mention of the program in "Goings on about Town: Dance" in the magazine (dated 14 May): Note that the website does not list the Monday show as being sold out; more tickets may have been released between publication of this note and today.

I saw it at the Vancouver International Film Festival, and I think I still have a bruise where the woman next to me grabbed my arm and exclaimed "Thank G-d!" when we found out that she was offered a contract at Washington Ballet. I thought she came across as a lovely young woman. If the audience at Lincoln Center Film Institute mocked her, that's unfortunate. Having heard the director speak, the first adjective that comes to mind is "empathy"; I don't think mockery or sensationalism was on her mind. Your mileage may vary.

I had forgotten reading that. Thank you!

Twice, and too briefly each time. I remember once when he subbed for our adult ballet class teacher one Saturday morning. Long used to short, perfunctory adagios, the class performed short, perfunctory adagio, but he would have none of that, and demonstrated the emotional flow by using the metaphor of weather in Seattle. It was a lovely class.

Many thanks for your impressions, Anne! If Massot is still interested in dancing, I hope he gets guest gigs. ABT could certainly use him. I am not the Hubbe fan that many here are. I thought he bordered on crude as James, substituting for Lund in his own RDB production of "La Sylphide" , and I was not impressed with his Apollo when he performed it with Ballet Arizona in 2004, finding it broad and lacking detail. (I would have much rather have seen a second performance by Zejnati.) It's hard for most ballets to follow "Agon."

It's tempting to hop on a plane and to go to the Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House with a can of red spray paint and "X" out "Dolores" and paint in "Beatrice." Until now, the options to rename arts buildings have been 1. Tear down the building and build a new one and 2. Renege on your contribution and have your named stripped from the building, a la Vilar. Sanford Ziff may have inadvertently started a new trend, like at stadiums: limited time naming rights, which they could sell and re-sell multiple times over the years. They could put up an electronic board with the current name-holder and update it with a simple configuration change. There's a reason for the form "Mr. and Mrs. [Man's Name]: all of Sid Bass' donations are in the all-purpose form of "Mr. and Mrs. Sid R. Bass", which can span multiple marriages.

Ballet Arizona posted a "Thank You" to Richard Nilsen on its Facebook Page:

I didn't get the impression that the film tried to pass YAGP as the only competition to award scholarships, but the only competition to give scholarships to those so young. Prix de Lausanne is looking at 15-18 year olds, which would have eliminated half of the kids in the film and one of its more fascinating aspects: how kids that young aspire to roles that are over their technical and emotional heads and are packaged for the competition. It's unlike the great training academies that give the students age-appropriate roles and stage experience and grow them into Odile, for example, and, for the most part, impart and reward classical virtues, not extension after extension. Kargman isn't responsible for the way the competition announced the prizes -- I'm convinced that the Met deliberately announced Michael Fabiano and not one of the others as the optional sixth winner to torture him in 2007 Met Council Auditions -- or for Bell's expression during the regular announcements. Bell didn't look relieved when he realized that he didn't get "demoted" to a lesser prize. I think it would have been more effective for the film to have stated that Bell was going for a repeat, because that would have made the ending even more suspenseful: it would have meant that the judges might have skipped him altogether: by then it was an all-or-nothing situation. You see this all the time in the hierarchical reverse announcements with more finalists than prizes: up to the last announcement, no one wants to hear their name, but for the last one, most know that they would rather have been one of the lesser winners than no winner at all. Kargman said in a Q&A in Vancouver that 1. She had to work with people who were willing to work with her and that she had to be practical about the number of contestants and 2. She was hoping to find someone who had grown up in more average circumstances, as a non-home schooled/regular high school student doing some regular activities, and whose parents were innocents about the ballet world and were taken by surprise by it. (They seemed rather shell-shocked throughout the film.) Since she had to follow the contestants over a long period of time, she could hardly know how they would be judged in the end. I think "mocking" is in the eye of the beholder and that the Fogartys' Tiger Mom came off much worse to the average viewer.

It's probable that comments to her blog have to be reviewed and "approved" before they appear publicly, and there can be lag time before she gets back to it. This is normally used to prevent spammers from inundating the comments section with links to viruses and porn. We have the same functionality for the blogs on this board, set on/off by the blogger.