Waelsung

My main wish is that they stop humiliating Veronika Part by casting her in matinees only and give her at least one evening performance of SB, La Bayadere and Swan Lake.

I also wish they'd bring back Victoria Tereshkina and Vladimir Shklyarov for La Bayadere and whatever else they might chose to dance, and offer a couple of performances to Ekaterina Kondaurova (of course, she would have to be represented by the infamous Ardani Artists for that).

A Giselle, SB, Cinderella and/or R&J with Evgenia Obraztsova would be great too, thank you.

If they do all that, I wouldn't be able to afford much else, so I really don't care about the rest

I was at the Monday night performance too and mostly concur with Faux Pas. Semionova was absolutely phenomenal and does indeed combine the best qualities of Vishneva and Part (whom I love dearly). Shklyarov obviously suffered from the lack of rehearsal time. The ballerina he collided with in Act I was Christine Shevchenko (a real standout in the corps, btw).

I loved Shklyarov sense of style and think that - with more rehearsal time and more experience with ABT productions - he could be a very valuable addition were he to perform here on the permanent basis. Especially considering how depleted the male part of the troupe currently is.

Any recommendations for which cast to see? The Friday and Saturday nights are out. Are any of the guest artists worth seeing? Otherwise, I'm leaning toward the Part matinee.

I love Part and if I weren't working during the day, would definitely go see her Nikiya.

Tereshkina and Shklyarov should be exquisite, and Smirnova/Muntagirov - at the very least intriguing.

Those would be my top three choices

I'm pretty happy about everything I got from my blind buys, except for Swan Lake. The prospect of seeing Zakharova and Hallberg again (although for the first time together) somehow does not sound particularly exciting. On the other hand, I got Shipulina as Kitri, and I think she's the most underrated of today's Bolshoi ballerinas. The most important for me though is the chance to see Lobukhin's Spartacus, so I keep my fingers crossed and hope the above casts hold.

I attended the Tuesday night performance with Semionova and Gomes and was shocked by how rusty Gomes looked. He's still an excellent partner and was very attentive to Polina, but when dancing alone he was at best tentative. Especially his jumps and back bends looked circumspect. I hope that as the season progresses, he will return to his top form.

Seo and Matthews were very good, and I think Jared's departure will be a huge loss, especially in the long run.

If anybody else saw the same performance, please share your impressions - it's always very interesting to compare

I was on the site tonight and had no problems. Perhaps try to go directly through the Met's site, instead of going through ABT's website and then be re-routed: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/season/abt/index.aspx?sn=st

Thanks ABT Fan, it worked!!!

For the past several days I have not been able to access the Met seating charts for any of the ABT performances. I've tried two browsers and my Android smartphone with same results. I've reinstalled Java but still cannot choose my seats from the chart.

I wonder if it's just me or if something's wrong with the site and everybody else is having the same kind of problems.

Thanks in advance.

Can I vote for myself?

I wonder what the Bolshoi is hoping to achieve by keeping the casts secret. One obvious benefit is not having to deal with disillusioned, angry audiences in case of cast changes due to injuries or other reasons. Second, they must be trying to sell tickets for less than stellar casts. But what else? I must admit that, being spoiled by the ABT casts announcements several months in advance, I was really reluctant to buy blindly for the Bolshoi and purchased just one performance of each ballet. Had I known who would be dancing when I might've bought much more.

I wonder if we will know the casts for the Bolshoi New York tour before the performances actually start

I thought there were similar comments in the past about Part being cast for matinees.

Yes, she was always getting unproportionally high number of matinees, but this season it's all matinees and nothing but, except for Myrtha and Lescaut's lover.

I wonder if there's any reason why all the performances with Ms. Part in major parts (no pun whatsoever) are matinees this season? For me it sadly means that I will miss all her outings, except for Myrtha, since I work and cannot attend ballet during the day.

One or two I would understand, but all? Is ABT management trying to tell us something?

And what about the casts? When are they usually announced? (I wonder if Lunkina will be dancing anything.)

The Mariinsky has a multi year deal with the Kennedy Center, so you can count on them being in Washington DC. every season for the next few years.

As I understand it, Ardani represents MB in all North America, except for Washington, D.C. The deal with the Kennedy Center is a totally separate affair. I could be wrong, but at least that how it used to be. Could have changed recently, but I hope the KC management is smart enough to make do without any intermediaries.

Would anyone know when exactly the individual tickets to the 2014 Met Season will go on sale for the non-subscribers?

Thanks in advance!

I was also thinking of seeing "Sleeping Beauty" at City Center, although I have not enjoyed Matthew Bourne's choreography in the past. Does anyone recommend it?

I saw it last night and, even though I have always been curious about what Bourne does, I was mostly disappointed. If you never liked Bourne's ballets, I'd say, skip this one.

Well, look at the bright side. If you go to fewer ABT shows, you will have more money available to attend the Bolshoi's performances this summer in New York, the Bolshoi Giselles at the Kennedy Center in May and/or the Mariinsky's Swan Lakes at the Kennedy Center in Jan.

That's exactly what I was thinking when I was trying to find a silver lining to this cloud, Abatt. Let's hope the Bolshoy and Mariinsky castings don't disappoint.

The demons were definitely at the helm when the casting decisions were made.

But from my perspective, there isn't a great deal to look forward to at this point in the upcoming season.

That's my feelings precisely - Since I don't do matinees, I am really hard-pressed to find at least one performance I really would like to attend. I know that eventually I'll probably give in and will see something but at this point I'm not looking forward to anything.

Very sad.

Terribly disappointed that all the major Part performances are matinees. Can't help but wonder what the explanation for this could be. Can't be purely coincidental, can it?

Any thoughts?

Thank you, everybody - your help is greatly appreciated.

I will probably try to see if someone's selling extra tickets on Sept. 17.

Thanks again!

I'll be very brief with my question: Mearns or Bouder for this fall Swan Lake?

Thank you very much in advance!

According to Russian news sources, Iksanov has been fired from his post as General Director of The Bolshoi. So far I haven't seen any reasons given for his dismissal.

http://izvestia.ru/news/553322

I hope this leads to a real audit of the Bolshoi renovation financials and it won't be long until the main culprits are behind bars. It's also interesting to see whether or not Tsiskaridze is rehired, what happens to the Onegin casting schedule, in what capacity (if any) Filin returns after his recovery, etc., etc. The Bolshoi is such a horrible mess at this point that I almost feel sorry for whoever replaces Iksanov (some Russian news sources mention the director of the Stanislavsky theater Urin).

P.S. And, of course, it's pretty hard to believe that Iksanov's removal immediately following a conflict with an ex-MP and member of the ruling party Svetlana Zakharova is just a coincidence.

Oh Terpsichore, please do not let Ratmansky ruin the Swan Lake. It's one of the last pleasures I still have in life - please do not take it away from me.

Don't forget: Zakharova used to be a member of the ruling party fraction in the Duma (Russian parliament), which, I think, explains a lot in her behavior and attitude. She sees herself not only as a ballet star but also as a Big Boss, so for her getting the opening night is not just a seniority issue, but the indication of her overall status with the company. That's why, imho, she just could not afford to take 'no' for an answer.

Somebody mentioned Lane's approach but just imagine what would happen if S.L. were a congresswoman (let's say, the head of the Means and Appropriations Committee ) and were still denied a role she craved to perform. Would she just wait humbly? Or would she use her connections on the Capitol Hill or even in the White House to get her way?

Nah, only in Russia

P.S. It is now very interesting to see who will be opening the tours in London and New York. The administration will not have the excuse of 'this is the decision of the Cranko people' anymore, so they can't hide behind it no longer. Neither can Zakharova, of course, which makes both sides' positions much more difficult.

Just got back home from the last performance of the season and what a performance it was.

Part does not dazzle but enchants and enthralls. Gomes was great, but she was out of this world.

I don't think I'll be able to survive the ABT withdrawal this year