richard53dog

Well I stopped New York Mag last year, but I too had stopped reading Simon years ago. I was turned off my the nasty, sarcastic comments. A few years ago on the way to BAM, I was in an elevator with him, and I heard him commenting on the negative feedback (to be discrete) his reviews generated and he chuckled about it. Richard

Well maybe not even having the brother. But the sort of statistical plurality of Danes reminds me a bit of the glut of Russians at the Met Opera. Are some of these performers talented? Of course! But there seems like some kind of connection, in NYCB case, Danes to Martins, at the Met Opera , Russians to Gergiev. Richard

Silvy, I have some of the information, it's from the NYCB coffee table book with text by Kirstein. The information is so sketchy though. According to Kirstein, they performed in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. I think that's probably complete, but the ballets he mentions are Apollo, Errante,(these two in Buenos Aires at least), Concerto, and Imperial. What makes it harder is that evidently the tour was to include Mexico(?), Peru, Equador, Columbia, and Venezuela, but they ran out of money. I remember reading the ballerina that did Ballet Imperial on the tour a few weeks ago. I think it was Gisella Ciaccialanza, who did the first NYC performances. But Kirstein doesn't mention this, this is just my (unreliable) memory Kirsten menions other rep, but it's unclear if it was actually done, or dropped along with some the cities. In general, although the photos are beautiful, it's really hard to get a continous feel for the sequence of events in this book. It's almost like a series of text snapshots. Sorry this is so sketchy, there is most likely more solid documentation in other sources, for instance the Buckle bio of Balanchine Richard

nysusan, OK, as a variation on a theme (ouch!) I thought the same when I saw Murphy in Ballet Imperial. Richard

For a Partner-King; Ivan Nagy. So many of his partners have spoken of him in this way. For a "plain" King; Igor Zelensky Richard

Oh, I saw her even later than this, in the 70s, on one of those mixed bill tours the Bolshoi would send to Canada/US. I remember too the brio she danced with, hurling herself into all she did. She would also come out on the stage and crank out fouettes like crazy. There's a lovely clip of her on a DVD I otherwise dislike, Bolshoi 67. Richard

Carbro , I assumed that these are Nureyev interpolations. Actually I like the video of the POB Sleeping Beauty a lot, but the Vision Scene seems all pulled apart by the different solos that Florimund has, particularly the last sequence, diagonally across the stage. And is it supposed to be a joke that after Florimund wakes Aurora up he's hiding in a cluster of female dancers? Aurora has to pull the group apart to find him, almost like a reverse of Siegfied looking for Odette in all the clusters of Swans in Act 4. I have to saw though that other than some of the extra Florimund stuff in Act 2, I really like this POB version, I wish they would release it in the US. Occasionally we come across Chinese bootlegs but they are hit and miss quality wise. Richard

Giselle05, I'm going by memory (not good) but I didn't think the City Center opening was particularly long. But it wasn't short either! The order may be off here but the first section was Nocturne from Les Sylphides and Spectre. Part 2 was Corsaire and Black Swan pdd (pas and coda only), Dying Swan with Dvorovenko and Other Dances with Ferri and Corella. Third part , Sinfonietta(?) The Don Quixote Suite seems abit like the gala Nutcracker at NYCB last December Richard

GWTW, no although that would have probably been less noisy. I was meaning a cellophane bag. They are in the same category are people who unwrap candies wrapped in crinkly paper. Actually the muncher would take a few chips out of the bag (crinkle, crinkle) close the bag (crinkle), pick up a bottle of water, open it (pop) and take a swig(gulp) This only went on a very few minutes after which he decided it was easier to move somewhere else than deal with me. I got several thank you's from people in surrounding seats during intermission. Richard

Sigh, I mentioned last night that if all polite methods methods fail, I do resort to more agressive tactics I guess I went to the same "boot" camp as Carbro, when polite methods don't seem to work, yes I also kick the back of the seat. Honestly, I usually never have to do this for people leaning forward, if a polite request doesn't work, I tell them I wil get the usher to resolve the situation. My only recent(say within last 12 months) seat kickings have been for a bunch of people playing with a Blackberry and giggling and for someone eating out of a cello bag, both during a performance. I am going to sound like an ogre I know (maybe I AM an ogre) but if the noisy , misbehaving person is not quite in "seat kicking" range, I lob a program at them. Richard

Marga and Carbro, This is a link for a completed auction from back in March. Most likely by searching the way rg describes will get you to the current auction or try this link http://tinyurl.com/cyybn To cheer up anyone looking on bidding on the current one, I noticed that the high bidder in March went to $36. That's not so terribly expensive for an OOP item. Hopefully whoever bids on it will get it without paying an arm and a leg. Richard

Oh, that's a pet peeve of mine too. Not just the the NYST, but any kind of tiered seating. Some theaters are a little better, each row is off set just a bit so that you are looking between the two people in the row in front of you rather than the back of someone's head. For people leaning forward, I politely ask them to sit back. Most people understand the issue. I must admit I have become rather agressive at other forms of audience misbehavior. Richard

Dale, If I remember last Summer, the Balcony and Familicy Circle for ABT were very cheap, much less than the opera, then the Royal Ballet came in for the Ashton programs and the prices were much higher, and there were many more empty seats, at least at the mixed programs. Well I want to see Pharaoh's Daughter, it's hard to imagine seeing a production that lavish every day of the week. So I'll pay the freight. I'm really wondering if it will really look so spectacular as it does on video However I will also probably be "dragged" to a Spartacus, which isn't really my thing. Richard

Chauffer, I love how you put this! Richard

Well she did it here in NYC at least once or twice on the Royal Ballet tours in the late 60s and early 70. I didn't see here but my friend did. Richard

Thanks Natalia, I've been waiting for this announcement. I should be getting the mailing, I'm on every possible mailing list from Lincoln Center. I'm curious to see the prices though. But still how broke can you go in just two weeks? Richard

Joseph, Now seems to be the time to grab a copy. It's been out of print and last year the Amazon Marketplace new and used copies were very expensive. Now there seems to be a number of them in the $20+ range. It's a good time to pick up a copy. Richard

Marin conducted the NYPhil Candide that was telecast on PBS a few months ago. I thought she did a terrific job with that; it's a real difficult, somewhat troubled piece to pull off, but she kept it light and airy. Richard (starting to wander from NYCB orch to NYPhil)

This is so strange. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I wonder why he did this? Actually I think they were sweat pants (grey) and they were baggy. Richard

Ruslan is worth getting for the whole package, music, scenery, dancing, singing, etc. It's a tremendous production, filled with fantatic (as in fantasy) elements. Glinka would pretty much considered the first great Russian opera composer. The Kirov's production is stunning, I saw it when the Kirov came to NYC on one of their American tours. The audience(which was filled with Russians) went wild over it. And this is the production you will see on the Philips DVD that Ariodante mentions. I would also recommend it highly. Richard

Solor, I can't answer any of your questions about the history and the reconstruction, but I have seen the video. Ha, you will like this, it's staged as a sort of opium induced dream, ala SOLOR in La Bayadere.Modern day archeologists are at an ancient Egyptian site, there is an earthquake and then the lead archeologist hits the opium pipe (to soothe his frazzled nerves from the earthquake?) The production is on a truly gigantic scale, there are many sets. Zakharova shows off great technical prowess and must have 7 or 8 costume changes. Yes, there is the chimp, at least one other animal, and also a cobra in a huge flower filled urn. they missed the kitchen sink, but that's about the only thing. It's much fun and there is some wonderful dancing in it. Richard

Well there is a sort of ballet in Flora's party scene in La Traviata. There are also ballets in the 3rd acts of Massenet's Manon and Cilea's Adriana Lecouvrer. There are also bacchanales in Wagner's Tannhauser, Gounod's Faust, and Saint-Saens' Samson and Dalila. In general at the Paris Opera, a ballet was expected in the 2nd or 3rd act, I forget which, but it was so the Jockey Club could come late and oggle the ballerinas. So Verdi's Don Carlos and at least one other of his operas (maybe Vepres, as this as well as Don Carlos premiered in Paris in French) have full blown ballets. These are almost never done, the operas are very long, and the ballet are the first to be cut but I think Balanchine used the music from one of these for Ballo della Regina. Aida also has a series of slave dances. There is a video from the 60s from one of the Italian outdoor arenas that uses the Kirov Ballet. Balanchine also choreographed a Polonaise in a Met production of Boris in the 70s. I have to tell you though that the only one of these that I've thought were worth watching is the Polovtsian Dances, and only in the Kirov Opera's version of Prince Igor where the Kirov Ballet was used. But there' plently of choiced to get you started! Although not all of these are easily found on video. Richard

Dale, Although I'm almost old enough to be one, I HATE the dinosaur mentality. Let me share something that makes me never lose sight of perspective. When I was in my late teens, and just starting with theater, ballet , and opera performances (it was great as a teenager to jump on a bus and ride into NYC) me and my friends used to hang out with much older people. There was this lady who was then 60 (I thought this was ancient, although at this point it's not so terribly far off for me now). She could say that she had seen Caruso, although her real memories went back only as far as 1925 when she was 15. So we would take about this performer and that performer and one of my circle would say "Oh, you've seen everything that was worth seeing" And she said "Sure I've seen lots and lots and have plenty of memories, but think of all the things you'll see when I'm gone. Performance isn't static, it changes and evolves all the time" I've never forgotten it, 35 years later it still puts a great perspective on things Richard

nycdog, I'm just so uncomfortable with sweeping statements like this. The "greatest whatever of the 20th century" or as I've heard on some opera boads, "the greatest tenor of ALL time". And this is in spite of Fonteyn being my first ballerina and one that is very special to me to this day. Just for my OWN comfort level, let me offer a suggestion of why "Fonteyn was such a wonderful dancer" (see, I'm fudging). This is maybe an odd choice, but it's the opening of Ondine from the Czinner film which also includes Swan Lake Act 2 (or some of it anyway) and Firebird. I think that the scene of Fonteyn as Ondine dancing and playing with her shadow is just beautiful A fellow "dog", richard53dog

nysusan, I saw the retrospective too last summer, and agree the tv clip they showed was terrific. I wonder how much other dance is in those vaults. They have released on DVD a lot of the opera stuff from the Sullivan show. I'm looking forward too to the ABT Swan Lakes this Summer. Richard