nysusan

This is wonderful news, congratulations Sarah AND Herman!!!! Art, you should go. This production was disappointing for it's lack of dramatic focus (too many additional plot elements) and the fact that it approaches the ballet as a children's fairy tale (especially in terms of the costumes), but the dancing is glorious, and there's plenty of it. And recent interviews have indicated that the artistic team looks at it as a “work in process” and has already made significant changes to it. It's not in the same league as the RB's beauty, and while the major disapointment here was that it could have been so much better there's still enough Petipa to make it worthwhile for adult ballet lovers. Lane is a beautiful young dancer who is being groomed for stardom. A couple of years ago she danced the lead in Theme & Variations (with Cornejo), but this is her first classical leading role, and I’m sure she will be wonderful as Aurora. Cornejo is amazing - he's really a startlingly beautiful classicist. This is casting that many of us in NY were hoping for, and we’re all very jealous of our OC friends who’ll get to see their joint debut. Here’s a recent interview with Lane where she talks about Sleeping Beauty (but not about Aurora- must have been from before she was cast): http://www.pe.com/entertainment/stories/PE...13.162494e.html

Amen to that, and to losing the block scheduling. I know it would be fruitless to ask them not to cast every single female principal in every title role but that would also go a long way towards improving the spring season. I would love to see ABT do more Ashton - Monotones, Les Patineurs, Symphonic Variations, Rhapsody & The Two Pigeons are on my wishlist. In addition to commissioning new work I'd also love to see them present a little more from their own past (Massine, Lichine and keep reviving Fokine, Tudor & de Mille) as well as bringing in productions from current and recent ballet choreographers like Bejart, Cranko, Petit, Neumier and Forsythe. Gala Performance sounds perfect for the Tudor Centennial, and Dale suggested perfect casting. In addition to Tudor's R&J (which I've never seen) I'd love to see a revival of Lilac Garden. I can see the first cast - Kent as Caroline, Saveliev as The Man She Must Marry, Gomes as her Lover and Murphy as the Other Woman. Then Abrera/Stappas/Corella/Boone. Or Lane/Radetsky/Cornejo/Copeland…

Me too. Right now I'm still feeling a little sorry for myself, though. Aside from crushing disappointment at being deprived of the performance I've been waiting for all season - I'm going with some friends, so there's no cancelling plus they prefer to sit up close - so I'll be watching from the 5th row of the orchestra!

Well, I didn't see her on Monday, but I'll bet you get lots of feedback after Irina & Max sub for Part & Gomes at tomorrrow's matinee!

Well, not quite! I always enjoy Mr. Franklin's intense concentration as the Tutor. While Misty dances with the Prince he watches with such stern disapproval, even commenting on the Prince's misbehavior to some people near him. But once the Prince leaves, it is Mr. Franklin, grinning happily, who, arm around Misty's waist, leads her off. So, score one for the faculty! It has been another of those seasons where everyone notices Misty, but will management ever? Promotions, so many are deserved... Yes, the tutor was upset, the Prince was amused, the other aristoctrats were jealous, but I was still charmed Regarding those promotions, I'm sure management notices Misty, and all the other talented dancers in the corps. Problem is there are so many who deserve a promotion! The soloist ranks are looking pretty thin at this point so hopefully there will be a few promotions soon. I think Lane and Matthews are the ovbious front runners, I'm also betting on Misty, Fang & Issaac Stappas

James Wolcott's blog indicates that Part is injured and can't dance. ABT's website confirms that Dvorovenko and Beloserkovsky will dance instead. Part/Gomes are still listed on the ABT calendar but if you go to "purchase tickets" and click through to Swan Lake you will see the substitution

I don't think anyone will hate you, though some of us may disagree just a little.... I thought Nina was wonderful last night. Definitely better than her Bayadere earlier this season and better than the New Haven Giselle (although conditions here were more in her favor - in New Haven she had to contend with a tiny cramped stage, very bright lighting for the first act & an auditorium where people in the first rows of the orchestra & mezzanine were practically close enough to kiss her). I love both Filin & Corella but they are completely different in technique, temperament etc. I won't compare them but I agree that Angel did seem to have a tiny bit of trouble in some of the lifts. I don't even know if I'd call it trouble, just a little more effort showing than I would have liked. But they were both exciting & fearless in their dancing and I found Nina to be very moving as Odette and perfectly seductive as Odile. Their chemistry together was great. What I love about Nina in SL is that she doesn't just trade on her soulful face, she really shapes her movement and her phrasing to express Odette's feelings which is the kind of expressiveness I want to see in this ballet. The only thing I don't like about her interpretation is that I think she overdoes the swan arms, especially in the first lake side scene. It has to be very tempting for her since the audience bursts into applause each time she does it but I find it distracting when done so often and I think it dilutes the power of the imagery. In the black swan pdd it looked like she did 32 fouettees to me, with multiples thrown in and several changes in arm position. Her fouettees didn't start out as fast as some, they did slow towards the end and the leg worked it's way down a bit as she approached the finish but these are all such minor flaws, they really don't matter to me anyway. She didn't travel side to side, or fall off point, or panic, or grind them out, she finished in control and facing forward and that's more than good enough for me. What matters to me is that she danced it well, with confidence and in character. I don't think I've ever seen a "perfect" Black Swan pas de deux in the full length ballet (not even from Murphy or Bouder) and I think it's unrealistic to judge a live performance against a classroom conception of perfection. Abrera was lovely in the pdt and I think this is also one of Saveliev's better roles. Misty Copeland continues to charm in the first act as the woman who flirts with the prince's friend & winds up with the prince, and I couldn't take my eyes off of Fang as one of the Princesses. She has such a special quality I hope she doesn't get lost in the shuffle if promotions are made this year. Speaking of soloist candidates - it was great to see Jared Matthews as von Rothbart, he is really developing wonderfully. All in all it was a very exciting evening.

I 've found much of Macaulay's writing for the Times entertaining & thought provoking, and there's no doubt that he's a huge improvement over Rockwell - whose appointment as chief dance critic was simply inexcusable. I even prefer Macaulay to the other dance critics at the Times these days, however the more comfortable he get's in his new position the clearer it becomes that he has axes to grind, and I find that very disturbing. Yes, a head critic is entitled to opinions and preferences, but I find it very disingenuous for him to display them in such a backhanded way. There is no question that referring to Nichols as "this greatest ballerina of the past 20 years" on the same weekend that Ferri retired was a backhanded slap at Ferri - but it's also an insult to Susan Jaffe, Nina Ananishvislli, Wendy Whalen and a host of other ballerinas. If he truly thinks that Nichols is in a class above all others then he should have told us so overtly - and told us why. And if he had any sense of decorum he would have found a more appropriate time to make this pronouncement. Slipping in that comment at the end of his review was malicious and divisive - and told me more about his personality than I really want to know. The same goes for his comment about V. Part in the review of Romeo & Juliet. We all understand that he doesn't like Part - that's clear, and that's understandable. She has her fans and her detractors, and for good reason. Let him criticize her technical deficiencies as he sees them, her style, whatever - but to criticize her performance of a mime role - that's just being mean. I could understand if he felt that her personality wasn't forceful enough to put the role across, or if he felt that she was overacting but she pretty much plays the role the same way that everyone has every time I've seen ABT do this ballet. It's starting to look as though when Macaulay doesn't like someone, he'll take any excuse to jab at them, overtly or obscurely. It's a very unattractive trait, and it's not good for dance. Now that it's become apparant I'll read his reviews with a big grain of salt.

Too bad it was buried on page 5 while the article on Nichols' was twice the length and featured so prominently on page 1. Considering Ferri was an international ballet superstar (while Nichols was not), to have the adjacent Macauley article state that Nichols was the "greatest ballerina in the last 20 years" was disrepectful to Ferri and an indirect jab at her. Buried? It was adjacent to the "jump" on the Kyra article and both the photo of Kyra and of Ferri were wonderful. Well it depends if you are looking at it digitally or in the old school paper manner ;) it is indisputable that Kyra Nichols' review was linked via image from the main page (speaking digitally of course), while Alessandra Ferri's was not. Whether this is unfair is, I suppose, a matter of one's opinion of the two dancers. They did not receive equal treatment by the Times however. I agree that the Time's coverage was unequal, and although I enjoy Macaulay's writing his prejudices are becoming glaringly obvious and very annoying. I'll address that a little further on the Macaulay thread in the "Writings on Ballet" forum, but just wanted to note here that the digital version of today's NY Times (6/26) has a 3 1/2 minute video from Ferri's farewell on the front page. Go to www.nytimes.com and scroll about halfway down the page to their Video section Susan

Thanks for the updates Natalia. Glad to hear that Obraztsova's Giselle debut went so well, she was just the perfect Juliet earlier this year when the Kirov was in DC. I wish I could see them more often so your reports are really a life line to the company for me. They have such talent there, from the ranks on up. I find it almost unbelievable that as much as I love Vishneva when I think about the Kirov she's only my 3rd or even 4th favorite ballerina (after Lopatkina, Pavlenko and now Obraztsova). That doesn't sound very flattering to Vishneva but it's really not a reflection on her - she's amazing - it's just that they have so many exquisite ballerinas in St Petersburg right now and I gravitate towards the more traditional ones. Hopefully we'll get to see plenty of them all in NY next year, I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Thanks for the wardrobe advice Ray, and thanks to dufay for that very generous transportation offer. I envy you getting to see the Royal in R&J and am especially sorry to miss Tamara Rojo's Swan Lake - but it just didn't make sense for me to travel in from NY mid week. I'm going to come in for the Friday night SL and stay at a hotel near Rittenhouse square. I'll rely on the special shuttle to get me there & back - so I'll be wearing my running shoes...

Oh, no - recorded music, how disapointing! It never occured to me that Nina's company would use recorded music for Giselle. That's a real shame. I thnk the NY critics may have all been in New Haven tonight - I didn't see any of them at the Met for Vishneva's Manon. Of course, some of them could have been across the Plaza but I'll bet a few of them made the trip to CT. Thanks for the review Susan

drb, that is a perfect description of her last act - it was amazing. Unfortunately I wasn’t as taken with her first 2 acts as you were. As the performance began I was a little disappointed in Vishneva’s Manon. Her dancing was beautiful but her phrasing had none of the sweep and flow of Ferri’s, in fact it looked kind of static and I felt like she did a lot of posing. With this most dramatic of ballerinas I was very uncharacteristically aware that she was ACTING, rather than letting the story flow through her dancing. While she & Gomes related well to each other I didn’t think their first act pdd (the one in his room) conveyed the same degree of rapture that I’ve come to expect. There was ardor, to be sure - but not that blissful, crazy love that changes your life or that unbreakable connection that colors Manon’s choices from that moment forward. Not for Manon, anyway. Des Grieux was madly in love but - it was far too easy for her to forget him the moment GM dangled that jewelry in front of her. In the second act she seemed so hardened to Des Grieux, as if she would have been happy to live the rest of her life as GM’s pampered mistress if Gomes’s Des Greiux had not been so passionate and so persistent in his pursuit. Dramatically speaking, I felt that Gomes drove the action in this pairing, much more so than other pairings I’ve seen. He was wonderful from his first scene to his last, so in love with Manon that nothing she did could turn him away. His dancing was gorgeous. He doesn’t have the highest arabesque but he has such beautiful, noble line and tonight those plush landings were very much in evidence. Definitely a different Manon from the one I’m used to. A valid interpretation from this great artist, but not one that I found really touching until the very end. The curtain calls alone were worth the price of admission, Vishneva could not have been more demonstrative towards Gomes. Either he really pulled her through the performance tonight or she’s found a new favorite ABT partner. Can't wait for their Swan Lake!

So do I!!!

I have avoided reality shows since their inception - I think they're a lazy producer's way of filling airtime and I'm sure viewing them leads directly to brain rot but still - there comes a point where you just can't say no. Had to tune in to "So you Think You Can Dance" once I heard that Danny was a contestant. Wow, he sure can dance - even though I think this is a huge waste of his talents I still can't take my eyes off him. Guess I'm hooked for as long as he's in the running, and he seems to be one of the judges favorites. Nice splits, Danny!

Wow, she's dancing Manon 3 times in 4 days? Talk about going out with a bang. She was so beautiful on Monday night that it seems criminal for her to retire now. But it sounds like she's made up her mind and it was a privilege and a pleasure to witness her genius once again in this role. And very generous of her to give us Roberto Bolle as a parting gift. He certainly is a beautiful dancer and a great partner for her. I wasn't bothered at all by the age or size difference. In fact I felt as though the size discrepancy allowed her to be really free and daring and completely abandon herself to the moment without a thought to the mechanics of those treacherous lifts. Not that she wouldn't take the same approach with someone closer to her own size - or doesn't all the time - but with Bolle you never wondered for a moment if the partnering was secure - when they whipped into those lifts it looked like they threw caution to the wind and saw only each other. It was a very powerful performance which left us all emotionally drained, and it was rewarded with many curtain calls, at least one after the Met had turned all the house lights up. I don't love this ballet - in fact I don't even like it but I still can't wait for Ferri/Bolle II on Thursday. I thought Bolle's acting was fine here, if he and Ferri were any more demonstrative they would have had to give this a XXX rating - lots of those kisses really didn't look like stage kisses at all. But one of the things I dislike about Manon is how over the top it all is. I expect everyone to chew the scenery in this one, so considering the production I felt the drama and passion level was appropriately high. I would love to see him in something classical and I'm hoping that he'll be back again next year - we need another big, tall danseur noble. I agree that Stiefel was fabulous as Lescaut - it looked like he was having the best time of his life playing the bad guy, while all the pressure was on the new guy. He and Murphy were just hysterical in the drunk scene, it's really wonderful to watch them dance together.

Why? is there any reason to believe she wasn't truly "ill"? My apologies for implying that there were reasons other than actual illness for the cancellation of Vishneva's second Aurora. There was no basis for it, other than my own personal hunch which was obviously wrong. Yet another good example of the wisdom of Ballet Talk's no gossip rule...

I managed to get back from my business trip just in time to drop my bags off at home and run up to the Met for Vishneva's second ABT Aurora, so you can imagine how disappointed I was to hear of her "illness". I guess it was just as well, I still cherish the memory of the astounding Aurora I saw from her when the Kirov toured the Sergeyev version. Better to keep that picture in my mind than to replace it with a tentative outing. All in all, I was glad for the choice of replacements. Miss Hererra won me over last night. Her first Aurora at the Sat matinee was very good, but this one was really beautiful. She was charming, modest, sweet – a pearl of an Aurora rather than the blazing radiance of a Vishneva. She was secure enough with the technical demands of the role to throw them off as though they were nothing – and gave us a wonderful, appropriate reading of the character & the story. Her interactions with the suitors, her family and eventually her true prince were all perfectly delineated, all while she was tossing off heart stopping balances & jetes, delicate hops on pointe, etc. All of this with perfectly coordinated flow through the torso and beautiful epaulment - the lack of which has often plagued her in the past. After a great Rose Adagio I thought she'd lack mystery in the vision scene but I was wrong – she gave us all 3 acts, all danced well and each one characterized just right. Damn, the last thing I needed was another ballerina I'll want to see in every production at ABT! I loved Kirkland as Carabosse – she was much less campy than van Hamel. susibee described her perfectly – her Carabosse was no joke – this was the ruins of a beautiful, powerful fairy pushed over the edge and dead serious about extracting her revenge. There were so many excellent performances, I'll just single out Hee Seo as the fairy of sincerity and Melissa Thomas as charity. Also Abrera's Lilac has grown much more expansive since her first outing and Lane's Florine was just as delicate and magical as I remembered. I haven't mentioned Corella, he has been dancing wonderfully this season. Aside from his own bravura take on Prince Desire, he and Paloma have great chemistry together. In the last act you really sensed their delight each time they looked at each other and knew that that they would live happily ever after. After a week away from it I've looked at this production with fresh eyes and I don't think it's nearly as bad as I did at first. My first reaction to it was colored by anger at McKenzie & co for messing up an opportunity to give us a truly great staging of Sleeping Beauty – and dumbing down yet another great classic. This is not a great staging (in comparison to the Kirov, Royal or even NYCB) but it's not horrible, either – it presents most of the Petipa well and the dancing is beautiful. This is no small feat and I think a lot of credit should go to the coaches. While NYCB's staging is cleaner and more dramatically cohesive, their style of the dancing is so wrong in this that it's hard for me to watch it (not saying they aren't great dancers – they are fantastic, but they're not coached to dance in the classic Petipa style). Last night I went with a friend who absolutely loved the production, she had no problem with any of the embellishments. I'd be happier with less glitter on the tutus, but the only costumes that really bother me are the yellow & turquoise get ups for the villagers and the last act courtiers' costumes. I could live without the "river of tears" addition, but they're not likely to change that and seriously – unless you read the synopsis you have no idea what's going on with that anyway. I think that banishing the King & Queen is a mistake, but if they'd just jettison the whole Prince caught in the spider web concept and lose some of the smoke & pyrotechnics it would be a much better production. And that would give them back enough time to give us back the 4th act divertissements.

Hi Vipa - I saw Vishneva's Aurora when the Kirov was touring the Sergeyev version a couple of years ago. I recall her being really exquisite in all 3 acts, so I suspect a less than stellar performance in the last 2 may be due to unfamiliarity with the production and/or her new partner. If that's the case her second performance could be much better than her first. On the other hand if you really hate this production she is scheduled for Swan Lake as well as Manon and R&J...that leaves plenty of other opportunities to see her this season! (and don't forget "Beauty in Motion" at City Center next year!) Susan

I wish I could have been there to see Part II. Thank you, drb, for sharing her Beauty.

Oh, I completely forgot to mention the single reason I decided to go and see 2/3 of the Saturday matinee (after Kyra's soulful last Mozartiana). Sarah Lane was stunningly beautiful as Princess Florine. Shimmering epaulment, breathtaking balances (lingering beautifully but never excessive) perfect purity of line – an unforgettable performance.

I thought that the tempo seemed much quicker throughout both the Sat matinee and evening performances as compared to opening night. I think this is a good thing – the pace was still appropriate, this wasn't a NYCB pace but on opening night it was glacial. In the Valor variation it looked to me like both Abrera (Fri) and Schulte (Sat eve) were dancing ahead of the music and I thought it made them both seem frantic and overly emphatic. I assume that they were coached to do it this way but I don't like it. It especially stood out because I think all of the other fairy variations have been done just perfectly. At the Saturday matinee the pairing of Herrera & Corella brought more dynamism to the production. I thought Herera was lovely. She doesn't achieve the heights of ecstasy that Part can bring - I found the Part/Gomes combination more poetic & magical but Herrera brought a sweetness and sincerity to her portrayal and if she doesn't have Parts gorgeous line & epaulment, well she certainly has the technical chops for the role. Corella danced the heck out of the Prince's role – he was spectacular. I was so curious to see Murphy's Aurora that I bought a ticket for Sat night the minute I saw the casting change (I'll be out of town till the end of the run and thought I'd have to miss her). I have major love/hate feelings towards her as a ballerina. I really, really want to love her – and I do in roles like Sylvia, Gamzetti, and Myrtha. But the classical & romantic heroines? Forget about it. I was hoping that Kirkland's coaching would add a new dimension to her dancing, and was encouraged in my thinking by her lovely Titania last week. Unfortunately none of it carried over to her Aurora. First let me say that the audience loved her. Adored her – there were shouts of brava from all points in the house practically each she completed a variation. I'm afraid Haglund's captured my feelings perfectly: If last night's performance had been T&V she would have been wonderful, but it wasn't and she wasn't. This princess had no modesty, no joyful exuberance, in fact no subtlety or poetry at all. I thought her third act was gorgeous but she lost me 2 acts earlier. I'm afraid I didn't love Abrera either. Her dancing was beautiful and very classical but I felt no benevolence, warmth or authority from her, and saw no hint of the creamy lyricism through the upper body that is so necessary to this role. Stiefel was great, combining beautiful line with bravura dancing. I was pleasantly surprised by Radetsky's Bluebird. His leaps showed great amplitude – perhaps not the highest flying Bluebird but he really soared across the stage and he managed to dance this beautifully without looking campy. I'm afraid Ricetto is a dancer I just haven't been able to warm to. She has been fine in every role but my favorite in none. For anyone who hasn't bought tickets yet and is planning to go – I think this production looks much better from farther away than from up close but it's probably not best viewed from the top of the family circle or balcony boxes. A lot of the important theatrical moments take place high up at the very back of the stage - I don't know if you can see it from balcony or FC center but I missed a lot of it when I sat in balcony box seats. Interestingly enough I also missed a lot of the action when I sat in side Parterre seats (about halfway back) – but that was because I was on the wrong side for this one. If you like to sit in the side arms boxes try to get seats on the even numbered side.

What, nobody else home yet from opening night? Well, I'm sure some people just can't go to sleep tonight until they hear how it went so, briefly – before I go to bed: Part was triumphant! She not only gave us a technically secure Rose Adagio she surprised me with jetes that were practically worthy of Sizova and was ravishingly beautiful throughout. Gomes was her perfect Prince, Wiles a beautifully classical Lilac Fairy and Cornejo was simply unbelievable as the bluebird – he has claimed this role as his own (as we knew he would). In fact, the best thing about this production was the dancing. I'm tempted to single out Sara Lane's Generosity Fairy (Charity here), but really, all of the classical roles were beautifully done - compliments are due to the coaches whether it was Kirkland, Kolpakova or the entire staff. As to the production itself – it was nowhere near as good as I had hoped and somewhat better than I had feared. Most of the scenery was beautiful – though it somehow managed to make the huge met stage look small and cramped. Some of it, especially the last act's scenery was way over the top. The costumes went from lovely (Aurora, Lilac and the fairies) to truly, truly awful (just about everything else). I'm not going to go into details on the staging – I'll leave that to those with more thorough knowledge of traditional productions. Let's just say that McKenzie tried for some very theatrical effects and they didn't work for me. Before tonight I doubt anyone ever thought to advise an AD that the Lilac Fairy shouldn't remind the audience of Peter Pan, but now it needs to be said. Some interesting casting – in addition to Martine van Hamel as Carabosse we had Victor Barbee as Florestan, Susan Jaffe as his queen (she was wonderful),Wes Chapman as Catalabutte. The fairies were Tenderness/Sincerity – Ricetto Vivacity/Fervor – Kajiya Generosity/Charity – Lane Playfulness/Joy – Fang Courage/Valor – Abrera Good night all Susan

Since I didn’t see Othello the first time ABT did it the Wed night performance was my introduction to the ballet. As it turns out, for me the Thursday night performance was all about the cast. The entire Thursday night cast brought a deep intensity to the performance, but for this die hard Gomes fan the key ingredient was Ferri. Can she possibly be serious about retiring? In another corner of cyberspace, as part of a reflection on the ABT gala someone lamented Ferri’s upcoming retirement. In my attempt at consolation and to put her retirement into perspective I replied by saying something like that even as Fonteyn and Makarova retired, there was always someone new ready to fly out from the wings and capture our imagination, and as much as we’d miss Ferri there would be great artists after her, too. After last night’s Othello that observation seems so trite. Ferri is an extraordinary artist, astonishing both for the beauty of her dancing and for the depth of her artistry. I realize that it’s been a long time since she excelled in tutu ballets, or any display of academic classicism (if she ever did), but what she did best, she still does so well that her impending retirement seems very premature. I don’t begrudge her a life beyond dance, but what a loss for us, her fans. In Othello she looked like she was dancing at the peak of her powers. As much as I loved her with Bocca, after last night I have to think that if she were not retiring we might be witness to the next great phase of her career in partnership with Gomes. What a loss. I don’t know where to begin in trying to describe her performance. The beauty of her line is a given but she used her body to form shapes that described a very unique and personal vision of Desdemonda. When Gomes lifted her, her limbs were so literate they spoke in their own language, forming exclamation points and question marks. She was not a passive or guileless Desdemonda, she was passionate and womanly enough that once Iago awakened Othello’s jealousy she seemed to understand exactly where it was coming from, and she knew her fate had been sealed. That “willing victim” of the gala here seemed like someone who just loved her husband so passionately and unconditionally that even with a complete understanding of the situation there was simply no option but to play it out to it’s inevitable end. As amazing as her dancing was, what stood out most to me was how “in the moment” she was from her first appearance on stage to her last stage breath. Whether born of true spontaneity or endless hours of rehearsal you never saw the process, she simply WAS the character, as she always is. Marcelo was a powerful, volatile Othello and truly deserves accolades for his performance, as do the rest of the cast. It’s just that I'll still have many opportunities to admire them but this performance just jolted me out of my complacency and made me start thinking about how much I’m going to miss Ferri...

Oopps Zerbinetta, we must have been posting at the same time, and I see we had similar reactions to the performance last night. Gomes alone might not be enough to get me back there tonight, but Gomes and Ferri is another story. I was hoping to dislike at least the first act so I could catch Kowroski's Terpischere and then dash in for act 2 but I liked the first act of Othello very much, and in my book Ferri+Gomes > Kowroski + Martins. There will be other opportunities to see Kowroski in Apollo but I miss Ferri already...