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Bucephalus. No, maybe Traveller. I'm perfectly willing to leave that to the company, Jayne. I just question the decision to go with Nutcracker, not from NYCB's point of view but from that of other companies. I hope there's no reason to worry.

Great minds think alike, Kathleen. I also agree that staying home and watching on television, no matter how big and fancy your screen, is remote enough from the real thing that viewers understand they're not having anything like the experience the theater audience did. These fears could be groundless, of course. But I still wish NYCB had chosen another warhorse for riding into battle.

I had the same thought, Kathleen, and I don't think the possibility is particularly farfetched. NYCB has nothing to fear, but other companies might. People may spend $20 on one Nutcracker and deem that sufficient (or all they can afford in these times), or not go see the local Nutcracker that can't hope to match NYCB's production values and dancers. I'm all in favor of these broadcasts, even if I find them less rewarding than others do, but it's not very considerate for the selected ballet to be the meal ticket of companies across the country. Even if there's no harm done in the end, that particular risk should not have been taken. One hopes they did some research first.

Thanks, Eric. Very interesting clip.

I don't know what to tell you, cubanmiamiboy. As I said, I admired her dancing, but the big fixed smile weirded me out. I also wondered why the dancers weren't identified. Generally a title would run with the name of the ballet, the choreographer, and a "Danced By" naming the principals.

Bingo. I was afraid to burst the bubble of her admirers...but that's what I was trying to get at, above, when I wrote "the smile that never ends." The constant camera-cuts to show Jeannette's toothy grin, up-close-and-personal, almost ruined the entire experience for me. It was a strange effect, no doubt, and if it hadn't been so distracting I'd not have mentioned it. As Merrill Ashley has said, the "Square Dance" ballerina must convey an I-love-to-dance effect, but Delgado's fixed beam didn't convey a carefree quality to this viewer so much as tension.

It was a pleasure to see women who looked like women. Yes, indeed.

I enjoyed the broadcast but admit to being a trifle disappointed, given what I've read about this company. I agree with some of what bart and puppytreats had to say. I liked the Square Dance, the Golden Section was all right, Western Symphony meh but then also like bart I'm not crazy about the ballet. However, I do remember it being better served by the NYCB televised version, which I don't have on tape. Switched off in the middle of WS to go back to the World Series postgame but will watch it on repeats and tape it. Jeanette Delgado is a lovely dancer but something must be done about the Grin. It makes me nervous. That said, I was pleased to see the company and impressed with what Villella and his dancers have accomplished. It was great to see ballet again on PBS and I plan to write in to say so. Also pleased that MCB presented a mixed bill instead of a full evening presentation of one of the warhorses, or something "contemporary" like San Francisco Ballet's "Othello."

Other dancers have done some modeling, yes? Nothing wrong with it, surely. Nice money if you have the looks and many dancers are naturally good camera subjects. That wasn't what I was getting at. I know.

Other dancers have done some modeling, yes? Nothing wrong with it, surely. Nice money if you have the looks and many dancers are naturally good camera subjects.

Thanks as always for these reports, cubanmiamiboy.

Hi, all. Just a note that as a rule we avoid talk about figure skating as competition here at BA (and most such discussions take place during Olympic years). Obviously some such discussion will occur naturally under any figure skating thread, but that's not where we want the focus to be. Thanks.

The Kennedy Center does have a broad mandate and there's no reason why it shouldn't accommodate the occasional musical. However, as you also point out, Jayne, these shows are popular successes - they don't necessarily need the Kennedy Center's aid as producer, or need it as a home, to prosper.

To paraphrase Suzanne Farrell in a different context, Whelan is not a spectator. It does make sense that a dancer can benefit from having a role made on her, even if it's not a great role, and developing a personal repertory than from dancing only or mainly in someone else's parts no matter how distinguished. It's true that dancers have achieved greatness in the latter way, but I can understand from a dancer's point of view why they need the stimulation of new roles even if there's no guarantee they will survive. In Maria Kowroski's DanceView interview she talked at some length about how many roles had been made for her and what she'd learned from the process.

I can't say that WSS ever evoked any realistic sense of the street in this viewer/listener, not that I think that's a bad thing. Please tell us about the production when you see it, I'm now very curious!

Giving this thread a bump in the hope someone will respond to California's question.

We could cross that bridge when we come to it, I expect.

Welcome, Eric. Thanks for these clips. Maria, eighteen, nineteen? Hmmm. I don't think it's out of line for the purposes of these promos to call Tracey Flye the choreographer, though, and she does talk about restaging Robbins' choreography. Depends on what the final credits say. The "Somewhere" ballet in toto would certainly be worth seeing and it sounds as if no one will be singing Spanish translations, a plus. We do have posters from round about Vancouver, so perhaps someone will report on the production for us, please. I agree fully in principle about opera singers singing musical theater. The Bernstein WSS with Te Kanawa and Carreras I thought was amusing listening. I do retain a soft spot for the late John McGlinn's recording of "Show Boat" with von Stade, Stratas, and the late Jerry Hadley, but I think that works because Kern is not yet so far from operetta and I think opera singers do better with Kern generally.

The comparison to musical theater is an good one, EricHG31. If you ever want to talk more about that here at BA, please feel free to visit the Other Arts forum. We have some good topics on the subject. Opera also has its examples. (Off topic - Laurents was well known for stockpiling resentments, so his feelings don't surprise me. It is also true, however, that the writer of the libretto of a musical has the most thankless of the big jobs. If the show's a success, he's unlikely to get much of the credit. If it bombs, often as not the book takes the fall.) I agree that there's no chance of these nineteenth-century style reconstructions catching on. Too small a prospective audience, and too expensive, although I'm glad the Mariinsky did it once.

Interesting, YouOverThere. I wonder how long they've been without one. Nothing helps like a leadership vacuum.

The kind words are appreciated, Pamela, although I was rather hoping we had put the digression behind us. I'm sure no one participating in this discussion has ill motives or is being intentionally ill-mannered, and I'd like to suggest respectfully that in this instance any such clarifications might be best settled by a PM or two. Thanks to all.

Greetings, Eric HG31, and thank you for those comments. I agree, although I think the train may have left the station on that one, for the most part.

Just so.

I tend to agree with both you and Drew on the Jelinek matter in principle, puppytreats, but please let's be careful about ascribing motives. Also, if we could not draw conclusions here from press accounts, fallible and incomplete as they frequently are, we wouldn't have much to talk about. I'm sure it's very hard work and we all thank you for it. I am mostly monolingual myself, so it's not a task I'm likely to undertake, but I can imagine. I think that your goal of conveying Tranström's sensibility is a legitimate one, and it calls to mind Auden's remark about translations - you can't get much from them except the sensibility of the poet. That alone can be most rewarding, however.

I know of no one who would dispute this (although "objective" and "fair" are tricky concepts in a process that is by definition highly subjective, with fallible human beings making individual judgments all along the line. Until that happy color-blind day, however, we are left to deal with the world as it is.