richard53dog

Well, setting aside the consideration of what the typical NJPAC audience would expect, I would say from my own taste I'd rather see a program such as you describe. Company B, Seven, and a neoclassical piece sounds just fine to me! But even in theoretical terms, I think it would be a more balanced program, particularly considering how infrequently ABT visits. You're right, it's not a college audience, it's a suburban one.

The PATH runs all night doesn't it? I know it does from Jersey City... Yeah, unless it has changed recently PATH runs all night. Also the commuter trains run from NYC to Penn Sta Newark but I don't know what the schedule is like. But it's a bit nicer than PATH which is like the NYC subway.

My favorite place in Ironbound is Casa Vasca on the corner of Elm and Propect . It'a actually Basque (Vasca) rather than Spanish or Portugese. Unfortunately it's several blocks in the opposite direction from Penn Station than NJPAC is. I never combine the two but then I don't have to , I live in the north part of the city so either is an easy trip for me.

Yes, I've been thinking the same thing over the last few days. It is very bright and open looking. Thanks to Helene and any others for making it happen.

Wow, those shoes are gorgeous. And the condition of them is almost unbelievable! How could they look so fine after 300 years?????

From reading opera singer bios, there are references to claques in the Italian Opera Houses through the mid 20th century. The transactions were a bit subtle as the years went on, I recall Tito Gobbi or some other singer of the era describing the transaction as follows "OK, so you (leader of claque) will take all your freinds out before the performance and have a coffee on me. And then come back and enjoy the performance". Often it wasn't so much that the singers were paying for applause so much that they were looking not to be booed. If you don't pay=booing, sort of like buying "insurance" from the mob. One story Gobbi tells which is actually sort of charming is of a performance of Barber of Seville in an Italian house, probably ca 1940 where he sang Figaro to the aging but much loved tenor Tito Schipa. Gobbi sang a number which was vigorously applauded. He was a bit startled at how enthusiastic the reception was, it was more than he was expecting. After the performance he discussed it with Schipa, feeling very good about the whole thing and then Schipa gently and graciously explained what had transpired. Schipa had a section to sing after Gobbi's piece and found the section a bit high for his, ah, mature voice to manage. So he had the music transposed and paid the claque to applaud Gobbi for an extended length of time so that several minutes elapsed. This way the bump of the key transposition would be less obvious. This was sort of an "everyone wins" kind of situation. I think a paid claque hasn't been a part of the Met opera for a long time, if it was ever really a presence. But there are vigorous fan groups were active through the mid 20th century. And while cash often didn't get passed, payments of kind did. I recall as a real newbie hearing ca 1970 from fans of the Italian mezzo Fiorenza Cossotto that the diva would gather up her fan group and invite them over to her apartment for a special lasagna dinner. This of course made the fans feel even more generous to their star and even more vigorous in their applause. But I've always felt this kind of manufactured effects, whether positive or negative, was pretty disruptive. And the fans could be vindictive. After Maria Callas' sudden, unexpected death in the late 70s, many of her colleagues were interviewed as to their memories and thoughts on the diva. Most of course were very reverential. But not all. Renata Scotto, always very outspoken, chose to share her memory of making a recording of Cherubini's Medea twenty years earlier. Scotto explained that the conductor wanted to cut a section of MEdea's music and Callas wasn't happy with his decision. Per Scotto, Callas suggested cutting Glauce's(the role Scotto was singing) music instead. "Why she want to do something bad to me?" Scotto wailed. The Callas fans, alreading in mourning over the passing of their beloved diva, were relentless. The next time Scotto sang a telecast from the Met (they were live in those days), a very well organized demonstration of boos greeting Scotto's first entrance in the opera. And there were other demonstrations disrupting Scotto performances over the next few years. When Scotto sang her first Norma (Callas' most famous role) at the Met, she was booed relentlessly by the Callas widows. But Scotto was tough and let it roll off her back like a pro.

Can you tell if the CDs are pressed or burned? (Is the back silver or colored?) Often CDRs are temperamental and prone to disintegration. Most of my CDRs that are several years old or more no longer play. If they are CDRs, you may want to return them for a refund. Don't know how practical that is if you got them from overseas but it may be worth your while to notify the vendor of the problem you are having. EBAY frowns on nonpressed media recordings anyway.

I seem to remember Maria Kochetkova from SFB appearing on SYTYCD and doing the variation from Don Quixote.

The Tudor Romeo and the Ashton Les Patineurs

I know I had a devil of a time finding a copy of this 5-6 years ago! The small print on this one is that it is Region 3, so the buyer will need a region free player (unless they are in the area which uses Region 3!)

He truly did have an exceptional voice. Fortunately he left enough recordings behind that he will be remembered.

That sounds much more plausible!

I can see how that could be the explanation. But I do think the writing is misleading. The first sentence claims she was the "savior" and that her "participation" (in part any way) convinced the Commissars. If she had been 20 instead of ten, the way the event is described would have indicated a much more important role to Semyonova herself. It does sound like she led a very interesting life!

Thanks for that link, Cygnet. I found this particular paragraph very interesting... "Marina Semyonova went down in history as the “savior” of ballet art. When in 1918 the Bolsheviks were about to ban ballet as a “bourgeois art”, Education Minister Anatoly Lunacharsky brought all members of the Soviet of People’s Commissars to a ballet with the participation of Semyonova. The Bolshevik commissars were so impressed that they resolved to give ballet their support". Hmmm, I'm a bit confused here. Semyonova would have been 10 years old in 1918. Did she really lead a demonstration at that tender age????????

I can't add too much to what others have already said about the Osipova/Carreno Don Quixote last night. But I also found Osipova a force of nature as Kitri; the role fits her to a tee and she tears up the stage in it. Her personality is enormous in this role but it's never over the top as can happen with some virtuoso performers. Carreno was much smaller scaled than the last time I saw him as Basilio back in 2004 with Nina but he remains very, very stylish as Basilio and also as a fine partner. There was nice chemistry between him and Osipova. H Overall the performance wasn't the neatest or most energized for the company as a whole but it was certainly professional and very enjoyable.

Yes, Bocca dances a few sequences of R&J with Ferri . As I recall it includes some of both the Balcony PDD as well as the Bedroom PDD. Again, going from memory the performance this was filmed at was in Copenhagen. Are you sure Bocca? It was filmed in 1991 so that makes him how old? I get 19, So he would be 38 now if I am right. Unfortunately he doesn't have many more years of bravura. Bocca was born in 1967 so he would have been 24 in 1991 and is 43 today. Without actually checking the film, I'm pretty sure he partners Ferri.

I used to be a huge Fleming fan but no more so. Mostly I'm pretty much in line with Kathleen's comments, Fleming doesn't really sound authentic in the jazz/pop stuff she does and a lot of her operatic/classical singing is being taken over by jazzy, very unstylish type treatments. A lot of her singing is horribly distorted. I differ a bit from KAthleen in thinking that Fleming IS musical, it's her judgement that's all messed up. She's not consistently bad in her operatic stuff, sometimes with a strong conductor she stays with the program and doesn't turn the music into a taffy pull with all the rhythms pulled out of shape and slippin' and slidin'. But it's hard to predict whether it will be the good Fleming or the bad Renee that will show up that night. It's sad, I really thought she was the best thing since sliced bread when I heard her on a broadcast from Lyric Opera of Chicago in Floyd's Susannah back in the early 90's. But by the end of that decade I was very wary . This clip is a very nice reminder of that. From 1995: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk9JV3gpwvc If only she would sing in this appropriate way today.

Yes, Bocca dances a few sequences of R&J with Ferri . As I recall it includes some of both the Balcony PDD as well as the Bedroom PDD. Again, going from memory the performance this was filmed at was in Copenhagen.

I think the MT's stagings of Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadere are beautiful and they are mainly based on the notations that Sergeyev brought out of Russia. Sadly, the MT seems to have abandoned them to revert back to the watered down Soviet era stagings. And other than the last act of Sleeping Beauty, they are not available commercially. But parts of them can be seen on youtube. Although they are a couple of hands removed, Britain's Royal Ballet has stagings of Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake that are at least legitimate descendants of the versions that Nicolai Sergeyev staged for them in the early part of the 20th century. And both are available commercially on DVD to boot. There are issues with the physical productions, particularly the Swan Lake, neither uses the original designs as models for the sets. The MT Sleeping Beauty is all of a piece, while the RB's versions strong points are are focused on the choreography. I would say the RB Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake DVDs are the most practical option for getting an idea of what the original choreography looked like.

Beware of the CNB's material. I doubt that mice hopping around on point is authentic. Also their production includes the Snow Queen , more disreputable material. And the important mime scene from act 2 is missing, replaced by the dancer playing the Nutcracker hopping around and swishing his sword all over the place. Plus the physical production is very, very shabby.

I wish I had more memories of the original too! I was very confused by the show, didn't understand the double characters, the use of pastiche, nothing. All I remember vaguely is the slightly brittle classiness of Alexis Smith and the kiddie cars from the Loveland number and a lot of clutter . I was a very dense teenager at the time. Perhaps you need to be one of the olds to get it. (I love that expression) I've since become a Follies junkie. My favorite production was the Cameron Mackintosh one in London which I saw with two different casts. That's when I finally got the show. It was lavish in a more productive, effective way than the original one was. There was talk of it coming to NY; didn't happen. I think it was considered too expensive. Too bad. But it was magical.

It does look like Pavlova, doesn't it? Thanks for your description of her first visit to NYC. I remember it too, and Pavlova created quite a stir. She was lovely and so delicate looking. I was almost afraid she would break!

But this report isn't quite as drastic as it originally seemed. It's not the same as two or three weeks at City Center but ABT will perform at NJPAC this November. No, not Manhattan , but easy to get via PATH It was reported on this thread: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=31671

I checked out a library copy of "Stormy Weather" yesterday and started reading it last night. I'm still in her very young days, a small child pulled from pillar to post by the different members of what seems like an absolutely chaotic family. It's no wonder she had such "ambiguity" in her personal relationships! Thanks for the reminder on the bio, dirac!

That's true, isn't it? At least in some versions of the ballet. One of the reasons I like Cranko's R&J is that the characterizations are more detailed and more complex. Cranko's Lady C clearly loves her daughter, it's evident in their first scene together but you also see a bit of a conflict. LAdy Capulet is also aware of the "rules" of their society and balances this with her feelings for Juliet. You see a bit of this conflict in that first scene. Tybalt's death is still a very high drama event, as in other versions. But her grief at Juliet's supposed death always seems more subtle but deeper than the Macmillan and Lavrovsky versions, to take the versions that I'm somewhat familiar with.