art076

Might you be thinking of Ilya Kuznetsov as Tybalt, or did I get my characters mixed up? Yes you're right - my mistake!! Kuznetsov's Tybalt is who I meant, missed it by one line on accident!!

I wasn't too thrilled about last night's Romeo & Juliet - it was more like Romeo & Juliet: The Pageant... a long (three hours and twenty minutes) parade of lush costumes, elegant walking and folksy dancing, punctuated by very emotive moments every now and then from principals. The whole thing reminded me of seeing a Broadway musical that has been running for years and years - though the performers themselves are still highly skilled in their own right, the absence of the director has let the production fly away. The actors have all developed their own interpretations of the roles, and those interpretations don't ever quite meet - thus the dramatic unity is virtually gone. Diana Vishneva was ravishing and threw herself into the role, but she was only on stage in snippets - and her characterization differed so much from everyone else's that it barely registered. There's a problem, I think, when the audience applauds more for Leonid Sarafanov's Mercutio in Act 1 than it does for Juliet. Islom Baymuradov, as Benvolio, was really into his role: he put forth so much melodramatic effort that he looked like a cartoon with his bright red hair and brightly colored costume, especially in comparison to more subdued acting from everyone else. The Kirov has some of the world's best trained dancers, and you could certainly see some of that last night, but I think this production needs a director... PS - Darn, I'm bummed that I missed you, Giannina and WindFlyer. I'll PM you to coordinate better on Friday!

Performances begin to night in Orange County! :-) I've arrived late to this thread after being mind blogglingly busy at work... But if any BalletTalkers are there, it'd be great to say 'hello' at intermission. A good spot for meetings has always seemed to be on Level 1 (not the very bottom level, but one up - I don't remember exactly what OCPAC calls this level), across from the main concession area, next to the big television monitor. It's a spacious area, and fairly central. Does that sound good to anyone? Going to tonight's performance (Vishneva), as well as definitely going to Friday (Lopatikina), Saturday afternoon (Tereshkina) and Sunday afternoon (Vishneva). And maybe more R&J's if I end up liking today's!

I wonder if this new McKenzie/Kirkland production will be closer to the Royal Ballet's text for the choreography (meaning the one they mostly restored for the RB's recent production), with all the mime and stuff, or if it will go more towards the Russian/Soviet models... based on ABT's history with the ballet what would a more educated ABT-goer say?

Sorry - should have chosen my words more carefully. I didn't mean to imply that she herself left the shows, but wanted to illustrate how her name suddenly came off the cast lists each time she was scheduled to appear here. For the 2003 Bayadere/Jewels performances, she chose at the last minute to guest with The Royal Ballet in London as a replacement for an injured Darcey Bussell.

Hooray! It's nice to have full casting. But Pavlenko is skipping California again!! She ditched (at the last minute), the Hollywood-Orange County Bayadere/Jewels tour in 2002, mysteriously disappeared for the LA Sleeping Beauty tour in 2004, and now she's not doing the OC leg of the run. The rest of you are very lucky to see her Swan Lake. But not that I'm complaining about the rest of the casts...

:-D

I can't figure out why I missed this while watching the DVD. Pujol's mouth was indeed frozen into an oddly demented expression. Caught in the headlights? I noticed these, too. But were these unfortunately captured moments were Pujol was just trying to breath, while appearing calm to the rest of the theatre? She does the first movement and her variation straight in a row, where Osta and the others have the opportunity to completely compose herself before entering for her variation. I began to notice dancers' strange seeming mouth movements on video when I saw Viviana Durante do strange open mouth-closed mouth facial expressions in 'Sleeping Beauty' - then realized she was just dying for air, while otherwise looking composed.

Found more casting details in a new press release for the Orange County engagement... no specific dates, but at least all the ballerinas are named - it'll be a cast change at each performance. This will surely be wreaking havoc on my wallet! Relevant portions, excerpted from the release: For performances Oct 17-19 (R&J) - "The cast of Romeo and Juliet will include Diana Vishneva, Irina Golub, Yevgenia Obraztsova, Andrian Fadeev and Igor Kolb." For performances Oct 20-22 (Swan Lake) - "The cast of Swan Lake will feature Uliana Lopatkina, Diana Vishneva, Victoria Tereshkina, Alina Somova, Igor Zelensky, Danila Korsuntsev, Igor Kolb and Andrian Fadeev." That's 7 distinct pairings. Now to wait and see when specifically they will be cast! http://www.ocpac.org/about/PressDetail.asp...ssReleaseID=516

If anyone's curious about ticketing systems - here's what I've learned over the years... NYCB uses Tessitura, a ticketing system that was developed by the Metropolitan Opera in response to the unique needs of arts organizations for their ticketing systems (w/ regards to customer service, fundraising, etc.). Basically, Ticketmaster and such wasn't offering the kind of flexibility and customer service that was needed (ever get a Ticketmaster agent who tries to tell you that row B way on the side is better than row H center?). Many non-profit performing arts companies are over on this system - you can usually tell that if an org has its own in-house ticket people instead of Telecharge or Ticketmaster, then it is probably on Tessitura. http://www.tessiturasoftware.com/ Basically, being able to choose your seats from a seat map online is fairly new to the ticketing world, and so it would probably take a little bit before Tessitura offers it (if they haven't already). Would be lovely if it were available for NYCB but it would need to be developed by the ticketing software first. For most companies though, Tessitura will spit out a seat location for you - I don't know why NYCB doesn't offer a seat location when you're purchasing, but each organization runs it differently. Perhaps because there are many different ways to get tickets on NYCB's web site - student rush, 4th Ring society, etc. - that they find it easier to give a seat loc to the patron later rather than immediately. What *is* nice about NYCB's ticketing system is the listings of availability that is updated every 15 minutes. I find it a wonderful way of gauging whether to wait or buy now for performances... or to find better seats in certain sections based on availability at that performance. Anyway, that's my fairly rudimentary knowledge of ticketing for you and hopefully that explains some of the quirks of NYCB's online ticketing...

Having seen 'Othello' both live and on television, I must say the TV version fared MUCH better than the live staging. On TV, they could focus in on specific action, and there weren't 25 minute intermissions separating only 20 or so minutes of stage activity. You felt like you were at intermission longer than you were at the show, and as a result there was significant loss of dramatic tension. The piece just seems to work much better as a one-act ballet with multiple scenes than as a thinly stretched evening length work. Perhaps it would be better if they could figure out a way to cut out the intermissions - though perhaps the set doesn't quite allow for it.

The weird thing about Segal's article is that it seems like a much smaller Critic's Notebook type article, meant to be carried as a reflection inside, that suddenly got blown up and placed on the front page because either an editor wanted to spur discussion, or they didn't have anything to run on the front page (in the print edition it came with huge stock photos). But Segal really does love ballet - when the big companies come it gets very well placed coverage, and when Segal likes it he really does like it. And he goes to multiple casts frequently (even if the reviews don't get carried by the Times). He's expressing, though, disappointment with the form. Some of which I agree with, even though I still keep going to see the same old ballets. I groan when the Kirov brings another "Romeo" or ABT tours to California with another tired story ballet even though it is doing much more interesting things in New York (to be fair, we lucked out this year when they brought Sylvia). LA may not have its own company, but we're in a fairly rare position of getting regular visits from major companies (only DC and maybe Berkely can compare). Very strong presenting organizations regularly bring the Kirov, Bolshoi, Royal, ABT and NYCB to our corner of the country - so we get to see a lot. Sometimes its thrilling (the Royal's Giselle real life!), sometimes its plain boring (ABT's Romeo seems to have been a test run here for their Met season... I completely see and sometimes agree with Sega's assessment of ABT's performances here). But more to the point: while I see how Segal's article could incense a lot of folks, he makes some good points and I don't think they're entirely unfounded. My two cents.

Great news about the DVDs. If anyone watches, can they please post whether the Apollo is a full performance or just excerpts? (Or if anyone just happens to be in the know from knowledge about this broadcast already?)

Hm.. having just watched the DVD - my thoughts on Bart in the Diamonds pdd were not so much focused on his hair - but more that he was the younger man to the very experienced older woman (and not just in that purely platonic way). An odd disparity, when one normally expects a cavalier, or a subtle romantic relationship of equal age... And when he falls to his knees to kiss her hand - instead of it being a loving gesture, it looked more like the was collapsing down to draw emergency oxygen from her hand. My verdict is still out on Letestu's actual performance, but the corps was just stunning. I actually didn't mind Dupont so much in Rubies - it looked like she was doing things "big" to be read across the giant expanse of the Opera Garnier stage. When the camera wasn't zoomed in on her face it all looked just fine. Marie Agnes Gillot, on the other hand, looked like she was thinking way too much into the role. She overexaggerated the seductive, foxy undertone to the role - ie in the very last few bars, when she waits for the lead couple to move back into position and her arms hang to her side, you can see that she very deliberately and forcefully "hung" her arms there. Emeralds I thought came off the best (though I felt the camera should stayed more still during the first movement, instead of following specific girls around the stage). Personally, I loved Pujol's reading of the first variation. It had glamour and "perfume" that has been mentioned in other Jewels threads. ANd the corps just steps into this style so easily and effortlessly - this has become my favorite part of Jewels and the Paris Opera did it true justice.

Speaking of seat selection - any opinions on the cheapest seats (rear rear mezzanine)? Are they a good view, or are there any reasons to avoid them?

Hooray - anybody who is there/available can just stop by for a hello near the bust of Kennedy then?

Anybody planning on being in Washington DC for the Wed & Thurs performances? I'm travelling from California (I go far for my Royal Ballet).

Ballet goes into the Kennedy Center Opera House based on the dates that the Washington Opera is not using it - I believe they are principal tenants similar to NYCB, the NY Philharmonic and the Met are principal tenants at their respective theatres in New York. Could be wrong. But the Opera does tend to stick to its established 'seasons' - a Fall and Spring season, so ballet falls in between there in concentrated 'clumps' when the opera house is not in use by the Opera or a touring Broadway musical (usually July/August). As for programming the Kirov doing Forsythe - there's something to be said for putting on artistically interesting program, even if it doesn't sell. I believe this program switch occurred right after the raves arrived from London for the same program. The Kennedy Center can certainly shoulder a few under-sold houses, and its good that they risk that so that we can see it. One can always see Giselle, Swan Lake and Your Favorite Classical Story Ballet on the weekends.

Re: Goberman's interview - I'm a little concerned about this part: Yes, the dancer is important and zooming in to see details is important - but isn't the point of broadcasting something to give a TV audience a chance to see that work? If you cut out the choreography, or mangle it with too many camera cuts, you loose a) the reason why the dancer is dancing in the first place, and b) what makes that particular piece of dancing special or unique. Otherwise its just a bunch of steps. There has to be some way to strike a balance between catching detail and giving an overview of the choreography, not just dancer over choreography. It seems like he is applying the standards of opera broadcast, when its ok to just zoom straight in, to dance broadcast, which is an artform with different demands. Especially in the era of larger TVs and high definition, the argument for needing to zoom in all the time becomes less relevant. And regarding that cult audience - sure we're the ones who are going to care about not getting to see the choreography. But those ones who "dont care" won't get the chance to ever care if they never see why the "cult" wants to see it.

"Simply Irresistible" was from the Broadway production of Contact, and that broadcast was done live at the show's final performance after a lengthy run! The company must have been energized that it was their last go together.

In Orange County's (Costa Mesa) season announcement release, the Kirov blurb stated that casting was to include "Diana Vishneva, Uliana Lopatkina, Andrian Fateev, Elena Vostrotina, Olga Esina, Alina Somova, Olesia Novikova and Natalia Sologub" - and that was for the Romeo & Juliet and Swan Lake run. Looks like, from schedules elsewhere, that Costa Mesa is the first stop on the tour so this might indicate who is initially scheduled to travel with the tour. Of cousre we all know this can change, and there is no indication anywhere else in the release who is dancing what, but hopefully this means that if Lopatkina is traveling, she will get at least one Swan Lake.

Try "Jewels ballet", and click on "DVD" in the left column - it should be one of the 2 that come up.

It is helpful to note this about this particular DVD - It's being released by Opus Arte, which releases all of their DVDs in Region 0 NTSC format, so that they don't have to make multiple versions of their releases when they are being distributed worldwide. Various sellers around the world might list this differently, based on how they automatically assign information to their DVD selling pages based on the "form." But Opus Arte has all their DVDs in Region 0 (playable in any region worldwide) and NTSC format (which can be played on both NTSC and PAL televisions). So you can order this DVD from wherever it is easier for you to order it.

I agree with the performance reports above for Sunday: Michele Wiles looked entirely uncomfortable as Sylvia, and her dancing was slow and awkward. At points, the conductor struggled to hold back the orchestra, but eventually the music just had to go on. There was no presence and very little was happing with her dramatically - just a very disappointing performance overall. Hallberg was wonderful in the little bits he had to do, though. There was an easy, pure classicism about his dancing and what a presence for a young principal! On Friday, Gillian Murphy was more of what Sylvia should be - extremely strong technically, and very musical as well. Her first entrance, with the jetes and turns was like fireworks, and she kept it up throughout the first act. The corps, on the other hand, needs some work with this ballet. They do not fit easily into the Ashton style - they all were stiff in the upper body, and the feet weren't able to move quickly enough around the steps. I also felt like many of them were performing the corps pieces in what I call "Nutcracker" mode: all pretty, little characterization or sense of purpose to the stage happenings. The farmers in the moonlight in Act 1, for example, looked like ballet school students who just happened to pick up village materials on their way to the stage. Sure, ABT is not going to be able to fit into this ballet as naturally as the Royal Ballet has been, but it still took a lot out of the ballet to see the company plodding through it. (And the corps was also LOUD - footfalls and jumps landed with clunks and thuds, all made even more noticeable when Gillian Murphy leaped onto the stage and ran around it with nary a sound.)

Current releases for the US market, according to Amazon - June 27: Kirov Ballet, Giselle w/ Mezentseva (re-release) June 27: Paris Opera Ballet, Sleeping Beauty w/ Aurelie Dupont, Manuel Legris (release in US market) June 15: Paris Opera Ballet, Jewels (unconfirmed)