ivanov

There is a brand new relief fund to support the dancers and stage managers of NYCB:

https://www.dancersofnycb.com/

3 hours ago, abatt said:

Isn't the fourth act ending also based on the Balanchine version? 

Yes, I have always thought Martins’ ending is essentially Balanchine’s ending, minus the dummy swans (which would certainly look very out-of-place against Per Kirkeby’s backdrop.).  I love the dummy swans!  And everything about the Balanchine version.  It has been shown occasionally during the last 20 years, and while I’m sure the box-office algorithm doesn’t like it as much as the Martins version, I believe it is a better calling card for the company (based on the tiny sample of people I’ve taken to each).

BTW—yes to Ballade, yes to Tzigane and yes to Harlequinade!

1 hour ago, FPF said:

Except for some fourth ring seats, every seat is sold for every performance of Swan Lake this week. I hate this production, but they don't actually need a better one to get people in the door. 

Don't we want them to come back?

What wonderful news!  I will make sure to attend these programs.

https://twitter.com/nycballet/status/1217132496846049280?s=20

I loved today's performance of Diamonds!  I hope Suzanne Farrell is invited back to coach many more ballets.

How wonderful it was in a single weekend to see two beautifully-staged ballets set to scores by Leo Delibes!  Did this ever happen in nineteenth-century Paris?  It felt particularly wonderful since both ballets were coached by dancers who originated roles in them. I once took this as a matter of course, though I have a sinking suspicion that this may become rarer as time goes by.  (Just as at one time my mother thought nothing of seeing a Balanchine ballet supervised in every detail by George Balanchine).  As Suki Schorer took her bow during the curtain call of La Source at SAB, I felt (as ever) what a treasure she is. Coaches at City Ballet never appear on stage under any circumstances, but I felt Coppelia was extra-wonderful this year because of Patricia McBride.  So I salute the quadrumvirate for inviting her back.  At the same time, it was all so bitter-sweet. Why did we all have to wait almost 30 years for this to happen?  It seems like (artistic) murder!   Oh well. It is not like there is a “do-over” button in ballet or in real life.  But I hope the quadrumvirate continues their laudable open-door policy, and that the door does not slam shut under a future regime.

I've been a fan of the company since 1999 and saw it every year at the Kennedy Center (except for missing one year, which I now regret--oh well!).  These farewell performances were bittersweet and and now it feels like something so valuable has vanished.  Many thanks to Suzanne Farrell and all her dancers!

How sad!

I notice the online casting has not been updated and still lists Bouder for tomorrow's (Wednesday's) performance of Raymonda. Has the casting sheet in the lobby been updated? If she has been replaced, by whom? I have a ticket for that performance and I'm not sure whether to go.

The casting for the Kennedy Center performances is now available on the NYCB website, at the "On Tour" page:

http://www.nycballet.com/Season-Tickets/On-Tour.aspx

When the Met box office opens at 9am, will the website allow me to pick my own seats? I usually buy all my tickets well before with create-your-own subs. but this year's many changes blindsided me.

Yes, you can pick your own seats. I was pleased by the ample selection offered!

Looking back, I much enjoyed the winter season! Especially the debuts in Chaconne and Harlequinade. It was a bright spot in a cold, difficult winter--or, as Eve Harrington said, "a drop of rain in the desert."

Thanks! The video of Violette Verdy is extraordinary!

I can't speak about ABT, but my father told me about a call of a similar nature from NYCB earlier this year. The caller was trying to reach my mother to ask for a donation. My father explained that my mother, who had been a member of the City Ballet audience since she was a girl, had died recently. The caller said "no problem!" and hung up. Like you, kbarber, my father wrote a letter of complaint to the company.

I’m glad to know Teresa Reichlen was the replacement replacement Dew Drop today, since I loved her performance last night. Sometimes the holiday stars do not align to let us see precisely the ladies we might wish, but that’s where a further visit can be so helpful!

Ivanov -- so who did Sugar Plum last night?

Erica Pereira. She greatly exceeded my expectations.

As you may know, the casting is up for weeks one and two. The casting sheet has been updated online to indicate that Sara Mearns is replaced as Dew Drop for this week by Bouder. Mearns' twitter page indicates that she has been ill, but expects to return next week.

Bouder is going to have quite a busy weekend. She is dancing two Dew Drops and a Sugar Plum in the course of 3 days!

Ashley Bouder did not dance the Sugar Plum Fairy last night. The casting in the lobby still listed her name when I left, and the internet casting has not been updated either, so I guess there is a question mark over today's Dew Drop.

I believe in Agatha Christie's autobiography (or it may have been someone else's memoir) she describes receiving an orange from America and inviting friends over to share it--first they placed it on the kitchen table and looked at it reverently. From Angela Thirkell's and Barbara Pym's novels you can see that the national obsession with food lasted well into the 1950s--for example, Pym's Jane and Prudence (1953) with its ironic insight "man needs bird" (to eat--not in the Swan Lake sense).

Is Ashton also alluding to the Prokofiev opera The Love for Three Oranges?

Ashley Bouder was wonderful tonight in her debut in the Act II pas de deux! She seemed close to tears as she took her bow afterwards, after the double swoon.

A note about the refurbished costumes: didn't Demetrius and Lysander used to wear mismatched tights? (Blue tights with red tunic, and vice versa.) I always thought of this as a joke about men's inconstancy. Now they are dressed in blue (or red) from head to toe, as if a mistake had been corrected by the wiser heads in the costume shop.

That program cover (blown up) is now on display (I believe in the third ring) in the promenade, along with other past program covers.

I sometimes feel like I do not give Peter Martins enough credit for the many good things he had done (while I am certain I am, as E.F. Benson says of the character Elizabeth Mapp, "lynx-eyed to see what was done amiss"), so I wanted to say how pleased and happy I am that Harlequinade is being given five performances in the spring of 2015. Bravo!

Yes, as far as I know, since Kyra Nichols' retirement performance only Sara Mearns has danced the role created by Karin von Aroldingen. (How many other dancers have danced this role in the lifetime of the ballet, I wonder?) In any case, an important debut for Teresa Reichlen!

I love the Suzanne Farrell Ballet program of Swan Lake, Allegro Brilliante, Monumentum pro Gesualdo/Movements for Piano and Orchestra, and The Concert. Except for Monumentum/Movements, I believe those are all company premieres. I know they haven't danced them at the Kennedy Center.

But it's surprising to see that the season is only three days long, down from five days in previous seasons.

It is surprising. On the other hand, the performances are in the Opera House (not the Eisenhower Theater).

I was also at the Dances/Union Jack performance on Thursday. I agree Jenifer Ringer was lovely! It will be hard for me to see her go... I have one question: as I was brushing my teeth, I realized I had no memory of Maria (as the girl in green) dancing her solo. Was this omitted? Or am I losing my mind? I enjoyed Bouder in Union Jack. For a moment I did think "this is the shortest Wren I've ever seen" (for some reason this was not as striking in the R.C.A.F. section), but then forgot all about that--I could not take my eyes off her, even when there were scores of dancers on the stage. BTW, I thought she may have left out the N in Queen, but my semaphore is hardly perfect, like Lady Sophia Garfield in Nancy Mitford's Pigeon Pie.

Reading about the mauve Pierrot costume in P.G. Wodehouse's Joy in the Morning reminded me of Balanchine's Harlequinade, and a look at the ballet's Wikipedia page shows that it will be fifty years old next year (and Petipa's Les millions d'Arlequin will be one hundred and fifteen). Dare I hope that NYCB will revive it as part of the 2014-2015 season? It has not been seen since 2005...