richard53dog

Murphy , with her coloring, would be a good visual match for Elizabeth. Mary needs something more fictional as Mary was never a great beauty and was in pretty poor health by the end of her life so a little romanticizing may be in order. Donizetti made a successful opera, Maria Stuarda, based on the Schiller. The highlight is perhaps the confrontation between the two queens, something that never happened in real life. But for myself, I love Maria's final scene. It's very elegiac, very typical of Donizetti's Romantic style. Not straying too far in history I remember that Wheeldon created an interesting piece , VIII, based on Henry, Katharine, and Anne Boleyn.

Thanks, Leigh! That seems to have done the trick.

Hi all, I've noticed a difference in the way posts in a thread are displayed over the last few weeks. Previously , if I selected a thread/topic, I would see a display of all the posts that had been applied to the thread in order using however many pages it was necessary with the ability to select the different page numbers. Recently, if I click on a thread I see only the original post and the lastest one. Sometimes the two most recent posts. And there is a diagram at the bottom of the page showing links for each post with a structure of how each post was replied to, i.e. was it a reply to the original post or to a later reply. I find this difficult to keep track of which posts I've already read as this structure is not in chronological order. Do I have the option to change the way this display works for me? I found the previous arrangement with each post in chronological order more efficient. I ask if it's an option because this display is what I see on my own laptop but if I access BT from work , I see the older arrangement that I am more used to. Thanks to the mods or anyone else for any assistance/suggestions! Richard

My question in this whole Osipova casting thing is when did ABT find out that Osipova was not going to appear on what appears to be the dates they had contracted with her? If they had known for a while, then they were wrong to leaving the casting on their site and sell tickets. If however this was recently determined when the Bolshoi got around to announcing their casting for their Kennedy Center Season and Bolshoi/Osipova told ABT that her availabilty had changed, then ABT is only at fault for not negotiating a more ironclad contract and also for bending to what remembers from Soviet days as rather "highhandedness" from the Bolshoi, a sort of "you will take what we decide to allow you" arrangement.

Well, the NY Times reports another possible obstacle in getting the NYCO back on the stage this Fall. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/arts/mus...S_BRF.html?_r=2 Is this just posturing or is AGMA really unwilling to bargain? On the other hand there is the statement that whatever deal is reached with the orchestra, whose contract is up next month, will indicate what direction the other disciplines will go.

I feel your pain aurora! I anticipated that ABT would pull this kind of stunt, so I purchased tickets to both the 17th and the 19th just in case. It turned out to be a wise move, but I now have to go through the inconvenience of standing on line again. Moroever, since I cannot get to the box office this weekend due to other commitments, I will now have to wait unti Apr. 12 to do the exchange. Yes, one of the perks of being an ABT subscriber (and giving them money way in advance for your subscription purchase) is that they don't allow you to exchange tickets during the first week of public single sales. I will ultimately exchange the 19th tickets for something else at a future time. Note to ABT: If you're going to base your season on star casting, you should stick to the casting that you've published. Doesn't ABT realize that this kind of stunt turns off its most loyal customers???!!!! Well, ABT has some fallout for how it has handled some recent casting changes but I wonder if this one was really beyond their control. As I understand it, their agreement with Osipova was for the three dates they announced months ago and didn't her own website reflect that? I'm wondering if in this case the Bolshoi has acted high handedly and dictated that Osipova will dance to THEIR schedule, never mind any agreements that have been made with others. And who knows what their motivation was? It certainly doesn't appear that their was much spirit of cooperation. Maybe, maybe not. But I agree that in any event it's lousy for the subscribers.

Read the rest here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/arts/mus...pera&st=cse Also, in an email NYCO sent out to supporters, an opening gala, with participation by their co-tenant NYCB, is described: Opening Night Gala Celebration On November 5, 2009, New York City Opera celebrates the opening of the 2009-2010 season with a gala concert showcasing the historic role of the company in American opera and musical theater. The concert will feature renowned artists, many of whom began their careers with the company, along with the special participation of the New York City Ballet. This momentous evening will also honor David H. Koch and welcome our new General Manager and Artistic Director, George Steel. I wish them all the best of luck

rg, I believe you are correct in your identification of Mimi Paul in the Jardin. I no longer have the programs but I think I saw those three together. And those huge eyes are a trademark of Paul.

Matching rose tattoos (non Tennesse Williams of course) After all Aurora sure shows a fondness for flowers in Act 1, no?

Dale, funny...well no I guess it's not really funny...that you mentioned High Society. Just by coincidence I happened to be in London during that run and saw Richardson in it. She was still very young but had a wonderful stage presence.

Well, the release does say that they are maintaining the "40 inch legroom" in the seats at the orchestra level. And also the overall capacity is going down by about 200. That's pretty significant in this day and age as the trend is , as you noted, to increase seating capacity, not reduce it. But time will tell.

How did you find the clips on youtube? I tried searching but only came up with older clips. Or are they on another site? I keep trying to have an open mind but the more I see, the less I like. Still.....

My pick would be Nunez/Soares.

Terrific news!

I would say the writer misses the point. Macaulay ia a critic. Really, being either "mean" or "kind" isn't really part of his job.

Well, it actually has been filmed but long ago when the production was still new. It was shown on tv and had Noelle Pontois and Nureyev himself in the leads. I think there in a thread from some months back on plans for a new filming of this (wonderful) production.

Great photos! I love the one of Osipova doing a diagonal split in a very elegant looking red and white costume. The Bolshoi in general seems to be a very interesting and active ballet company these days, maybe more than any other. Is this Ratmansky's doing? Kudos to him.

Thanks for the description on this book. The library where I work recently aquired this title and I hope to check it out as soon as it is released into circulation.

This is really sad news. Baltimore Opera was Rosa Ponselle's baby, she cared for it for many years and used it as a showcase for some singers that she worked with. Beverly Sills talks of working with Ponselle prior to singing Manon(?) with the company. Later Ponselle worked with James Morris and he too sang some early roles in Baltimore and spoke gratefully of the opportunity that Ponselle and the Baltimore Opera gave him. I only hope that we see a little more stability in this troubled economy. Sure many , many people are affected by it, myself included, but it seems a little like salt in the wounds to see so many smaller arts institutions failing. Lets hope for a turnaround and some new sponsors with vision to resurrect and create some new organizations where vacuums have been created

As a long time viewer but a non dancer , I find this a very interesting thread. I especially enjoy the posts by former dancers. Keep the posts coming!

Wow, that sounds complicated. But I guess some kind of logic prevailed in the end.

I've seen this and I like the earlier RB version from the 80s. I though Rojo was good but she seemed sort of calculated. I was very disappointed in Acosta, his dancing wasn't very clean, as Volcanohunter notes but more importantly he seemed more of a Mercutio, very volatile, than a Romeo. I think Mercutio would be a terrific role for him but I don't know if he would consider it appropriate given his star status. I think I like even the Scala version, with the weaker casting in the secondary parts, to this one.

Let's hope that this is enough to get them through this year.

I believe this refers to the grand pas, led by Makhalina and Zelensky, which is included on the Kirov Classics DVD. The Amazon product number is B00006G8HI. http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Detail.bok?no=578 Yes, you are correct. I had the Kirov Classic disc at one time and was a bit frustrated when I bought the Encore DVD and found that it was the same sequence I had on the earlier disc (which also had much more material). So for anyone that wants the Paquita, go for the disc in the link above. I was hoping, maybe unrealistically, that the Encore disc was somehow the full-length ballet. I have to admit I sold that Kirov Classic disc though. It has a lot of material on it but it was filmed without an audience and has an odd, sort of floaty, disconnected atmosphere about it. And the picture is rather soft grained, a bit gauzy almost.

Yes, those are the pirates, and I expect their quality can vary greatly. The Encore DVDs are definitely pirates. Not in the sense that they are knockoffs of the commercially released discs of the Scala SL or the POB Bayadere but they are derived from a recording made of what was possibly a telecast of those (or similar) performances. And yes, "Limited-pressing DVD-R" is a good flag, as is the corresponding CD-R tag for audio recordings. Those DVDR and CDR recordings are just SO temperamental. I bought a number of Encore discs (mostly opera but also the odd ballet disc such as the Paquita pas) and the quality is generally not too good. Where there is an alternative on another label, I would go with that even at a higher cost. Where Encore is the only source, well I guess you just have to take your chances . A few of the recordings I bought later came out in MUCH better commercial release but on the other hand, some of the others never did and I'm still glad I have the scrappy Encore versions.