richard53dog

Sticking with SB, I find the mime an essential element.

I'd love to see this. But a PAL VHS...ugh..not easy here in the US

This is absolutely lovely

But transposition is relatively common on the operatic stage. Both for particular performers such as Sutherland, Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras, and Villazon as well as certain sections of often performed works like La Boheme and Il trovatore. The last Met revival of Don Carlo included transposed sections. Your counter tenor comment is puzzling. Certainly counter tenors are not an authentic solution to fill in the vacancy left by castrati. They are accepted today as a compromise, possibly the best one available, so that Baroque music can be performed. If we were to take a real , purist point of view we would say that Rinaldo or Rodelinda could not be performed as there are no castrati available . After all, that's the voice type that Handel composed many of his roles for. These are very complex problems, whether we are speaking of singer's voice categories or dancer's physical attributes. And there are no perfect solutions and compromise of some sort or another is usually employed ("emploi-d"???? )

I see where you are going with this and it's a good point. Performing arts organization can "extend awareness" in their own, programmed, subscription series. I might get a performance of something I wouldn't necessary pick but I could find something new very rewarding. Whereas with the build your own, I might stick to safe choices of works that I already know I want to see (as opposed to works that I didn't KNOW I wanted to see!) So the familiar, popular options will be more in demand and will sell first and in fact could affect the amount of performances allotted to this work or that. Over the years different subscriptions have introduced me to many works and performers that I weren't familiar with but were rewarded by. There is a way around this, the best pricing arrangements would be for the prebuilt series with the create-your-own being priced a bit higher but less than single tickets.

The NY Philharmonic allows Create Your Own. Carnegie does not. Great idea for the Kennedy Center. NY Phil or Avery Fisher Hall? If NYPO does it , it's really not all that innovative, lots of performing arts organizations allow you to "build your own" sub under various terms WITHIN THAT PARTICULAR ENTITY. What I see as creative is if the hosting hall does it, spanning over the individual performing companies. That's what KC is doing and it's a terrific idea. I admit I really don't follow the ads for AVH or Carnegie Hall and I'm not on their mailing lists.

This is a great idea to sell tickets! I've seen "create your owns" before but they are usually associated with a single company ; i.e. ABT, Met Opera, etc.. Although I guess both Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in NYC could do this as they host many different orchestras and other types of events. They may already be doing it, I really don't follow their ads. Kudos to Kennedy Center.

Amen. Peter Martins is in a pretty cozy situation.

Absolutely!

True, and that's one of the things that gripes me about Martins' postition at NYCB. There is the relentless stream of "New Martins Works" as they are initially described. Most contain very little of value but are programmed vigorously. Martins the administrator is very, very lucrative to Martins the "choreographer". The whole mechanism seems to be built on the premise that Martins fills the slot vacated by Balanchine. Ain't so!!

I wouldn't go that far. At the Met we have had to go through many cluelessly conducted performances of non Russian opera. Dutchman, Parsifal, Traviata (ugh), Salome , etc. I think his talents are far more specialized than his overated reputation (IMO) describes. He does have a greater affinity for Russian opera I'll admit. For a while he also had administrative influence at the Met Opera too which also wasn't a particularly great thing in my eyes. The one exception to this is the expansion of the Met rep to include many Russian operas new to New York which I'll give him credit for. That was maybe the one big plus of his presence in NY. Like a number of other big , starry, names in Opera and Ballet adminstration, his greatest talent is for his own self promotion. I'm glad the title he held at the Met Opera in the 90s; Principle Guest Conductor, or something like that, seems to has been disolved.

Yes, rg, I remember them at the Met Opera when I first starting buying a lot of tickets in the early 70s. The snakes were printed on very thin paper and hung near the ticket windows. Back in the 70s when the Met would put a week's tickets on sale, they would put out the snakes and we would know the casting for that week.

I seem to remember seeing this with ABT ca 1970 with Lupe Serrano not long before she retired. My memories are pretty dim though .

OK, so it is a bit silly but here goes..... Instead of Friar Laurence sending a message to Romeo that he has given Juliet a sleeping potion (and of course this message never gets to Romeo), he calls Romeo on his cell phone. Even though Romeo is no longer in Verona, his phone receives the "roaming" call. So Romeo knows that Juliet has taken the potion and when he later hears that Juliet has "died", he knows that this is just part of Friar's plan to buy some time. Romeo goes to the tomb and patiently waits for Juliet to wake up. The lovers are happily reunited. Of course this creates a few wrinkles, i.e. how does Romeo deal with Paris in the tomb? Also there is still the issue of Romeo's banishment.

Ball's mother was usually in the audience and provided a very vocal and pronounced element in "audience participation". Of course it wasn't really a "laugh track" in the strict sense of the word as we know it today, not something edited in to the video but rather the audience that was present at the filming. I don't know if the mother was the Oh-OOH lady but she was always very enthusiastic!

If only!!!!!!!!!

I was in the Dress Circle last night and really enjoyed seeing the piece again; I saw it once back when it was new in 2005. I think it's just wonderful, beautiful music and a finely crafted ballet to, allright, a rather thin libretto. The women impressed me more than the men, Murphy seemed much more at home in the role than four years ago, she was still Amazonian in Act 1 but far more effective in Act 2 and really radiant in the last act. Her first act was danced more assuredly than last time but the second and third act showed her really making those wonderful steps magical. Her attendants in the first act were not perfect , but certainly respectable, and also much more comfortable in the choreography than 4 years ago. And the smaller roles in the last act were really finely done by the ladies: Part, Riccetto, Boone, Copeland, etc. The men? Not so good, at least to me. Beloserkovsky was assured and fairly polished, but without much elevation. His partnering was good though and those backward-leaps-into-fishdive were pretty impressive. Saveliev just seemed like a dull thug and danced like one. Another poster liked Lopez, I thought his difficult variation in the third act was a mess. But what a piece! And who knows when it will be revived again. This was a positive event in the rather depressing thread on the health of Ashton's legacy in a recent thread. At least ABT is making an effect and I for one, appreciated it.

I feel the same way. I love to see a beautiful arch but really hate the ugly "caved-in" knee which absolutely spoils the line of the dancer's leg. Those knees seem to go along with the extreme extension too. But if the supporting leg isn't perpendicular with the floor of the stage.....ick.

Agreed, that's what I'm trying to do also. He must have had a lot of demons and did a lot that was questionable and certainly bizarre. But I really think he was a thrilling performer with tons of charisma and hope that the memory of his career peak dominates the way he is remembered rather than his troubled final years. May he RIP and I also wish the best to his children.

Well, I would say so. To start, the score is absolutely gorgeous. On the other side, some of the ABT performances of Sylvia have been rather rough; the ballerina role is a killer and the corps have had a tough time coping with the steps. Still, I'm going to try to catch a performance again this year, who knows when the chance will turn up again. Be careful with the Balcony Box seats. You do not want seats 5 or 6 in any box. They are on a platform and the view is limited. You will have to stand to see much of the stage. Seats 1-4 in each of the boxes are more variable, if you don't mind twisting your neck a lot, you can see tolerably well.

I still wonder what these pieces will look like on the AVH stage. I actually did see a ballet performance set on the stage many years ago - May 1972 - to be specific. But I can't remember how they did it except that I vaguely remember clustering the musicians to the back and sides of the stage with the dancers (Villella and McBride) dancing in the center of the stage. But I remember more the singing portion, Lily Pons(!) was the featured soprano.

Oh well, I wasn't going to comment because I haven't watched this since I got through it the first time about 5 years ago. And could barely get through it. Also never tried to watch it a second time. But I see I'm not alone, so.... It's more or less a vehicle for Plisteskaya, as I recall she emotes throughout and changes costumes constantly. I do remembering that her vivid personal charisma comes through and her performance more or less reflects the level of her technique of the times that I did get to see her live in the early/mid 70s. so it was somewhat of a momento for me. I have this on a Russian bootleg VHS and the quality is poor; I can't estimate how much is due to the original and how much to the shoddy copy . If you are a Plisetskaya fan, this may be for you.

Maybe Gelsey Kirkland

Rothbart in Giselle's forest with Juliet's potion. Wait!!!!!! The victim is waking up!!!!! We have a false homicide here!

Oberon in the Jardin Anime with Syphide's scarf