abatt

Casting changes on the ABT website Gomes is replacing Hallberg on the Wed evening SL. We're getting a Semionova Gomes SL on Wed evening. YEAH!! Radetsky replaced by Jared as Purple Rothbart for tomorrow's matinee. Any theories on why Hallberg is out of Wed evening's show? My guess is they are rehearsing him with a new partner for Dream, but that is mere speculation.

I'm assuming McKenzie gets paid a royalty every time SL is performed at ABT because the program lists him as the choreographer, even though a lot of it is directly from Petipa. He's laughing all the way to the bank, while fantastic dancers leave the company because there is no money for promotions. .

It was great that Hee Seo stepped into the role on short notice and that the audience was behind her, but that's really not an excuse for the glaring deficiencies in her technique. Of course, the other way to look at it is that she was doing Act III on fresh legs, so she should have been stronger for this Act III than normal. (There was a good half hour or more between the time that the curtain came down on Act II and rose for Act III for warm up and mental focus for Hee Seo backstage. ) She did very well with the adagio, and is a lovely adagio dancer. Whereas someone like Boylston needs improvement in port de bras and posture, you always know that the basic tools of technique are already there and very, very strong. The stage charisma and port de bras can improve with time and good coaching. Now is the time, ABT, to teach Boylston these skills. With Hee Seo, I never get the sense that the basic tools of technique are strong, and I'm not sure that she can acquire those skills if she has not done so by this stage of the game. For me, Hee Seo divides opinions in the same way as Veronika Part, except that Part is a stellar, gorgeous adagio dancer with tons of charisma and dramatic skill. I hope Murphy can make it back for Titania.

News flash. Murphy injured herself during Act II, but she finished the act. She had a mis-step during the coda of Act II and you could hear her foot slam into the floor. After a loooong intermission, there was an announcement from the stage that Hee Seo would dance the remainder of the balet due to Murphy's injury. After the passage of another 10 minutes, Act III began. I 've never seen Hee in SL. I liked her adagio, but her Act III technique was not strong. Her best technical feat during that act was an unsupported balance held for a good few seconds. She clearly is not a spinner. For those who came to see Murphy's legendary quadruple spins while flapping her swan arms, this was a huge disappointment. Gomes was great. He even got applause when he jumped into the lake - it was like a perfect Olympic dive. So assuming Murphy can't perform the Dream, what are they going to do? I have my doubts that Kent can get through one Dream, much less two. Besides, she doesn't dance with Hallberg unless there is a televised Kennedy Center appearance at stake. Will they expect Reyes to do 2 or 3 instead of one Dream? An emergency import from another company? Stay tuned.

I've seen some Giselles during the Act I hop on pointe actually change direction from forward to left, and then back to forward, in order to point the free leg at Albrecht and interact with hm in a more direct manner as Albrecht is sitting on the bench at stage left. The change in direction is very difficult, and nobody at ABT did it this season. I'm thinking maybe Dvorovenko used to to do it, but I'm not sure.

I wouldn't say that Alina failed to act. She made a decision that since Giselle is a quiet and reserved girl, her mad scene too should be somewhat reserved instead of antic and diva-esque. To me it rang more true with her character.

I had a more positive reaction to Cojocaru and Hallberg. First, Hallberg was much more engaging tonight than on Tuesday. In addition, he performed all the lifts that he left out on Tuesday. (He did the brises again tonight.) Cojocaru completely looks the part of a fragile girl. I found her portrayal very believabe. If I'm not mistaken, during her mad scene she crossed her arms in such a way that she looked like she was cradling a baby - the life she had hoped for but was not to be. I think she did that a few years ago too, and I find that detail very moving. I didn't find her Act II deficient even though she didn't hold her positions long. I loved the fact that the last flower she gave Albrecht was the little daisy from He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, but why why why did Hallberg proceed to just drop it on the floor like it was nothing during the final moment!! The place was PACKED tonight.

I don't think the Bolshoi is using him as just a partner. I think he's gotten great coaching there that he would never have received at ABT. He has said as much in interviews.

Hallberg has not found the kind of relationship that he had with Osipova, and his appearances have been less thrilling because of that loss. His closest partner now is Murphy, but that comes across as a Platonic kind of relationship to the audience, not a passionate relationship. This from a previous NY Times interview with Hallberg: Q. Can you tell me about your relationship with her (Osipova)? A. We don’t verbally communicate, but it’s a very raw, very emotional, almost sexual connection. I mean — it’s a feeling. Because obviously we don’t talk, so we don’t profess anything. We just dance together. And when we dance together, it’s electric for both of us. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/for-hallberg-a-month-inside-the-bolshoi-pressure-cooker/# Osipova helped Hallberg to elevate his performance. She helped him bring more dramatic heft to the stage. There was always a sense of urgency when they performed together. They were on their way to becoming the next "it" couple of ballet partnerships at ABT. I'd be curious to know whether she has found any special partnership with anyone at RB. I saw the broadcast of Osipova's Giselle w. Acosta, and I did not sense any special chemistry there.

McKenzie cut all the precious metal/precious stone dances. He essentially ripped the guts out of the wedding scene.

See the story below. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/192574-Additional-Casting-Announced-for-Broadway-Revival-of-On-the-Town Congratulations to Megan on her upcoming Broadway debut. Looks like a lot of NYCB principals will be working in theatrical productions next season (Robbie in American in Paris and Tiler Peck in Little Dancer) By the way, On the Town is choreographed by Sara Mearns boyfriend, Josh Bergasse.

I noticed that the running time is 3 hours, including intermission. Hopefully this means that the Ratmansky version will restore all of those wedding act divertissements that McKenzie inexplicably cut in the interest of getting the kids home early.

I've also seen Semionova do wonderful work in SL with Gomes and also with Hallberg. Her body type (very long limbs) is well suited to O/O.

I went into last night's Giselle with very low expectatons for Kent. I bought the ticket to see Bolle and Abrera. Kent's changes of the standard choreography in Act I had me worried that this was gong to be a bad night. However, I'm happy to report that her Act II was very satisfying. As noted above, her willowy arm movements made up for the deficiencies in her arabesque and her footwork. The orchestra slowed down the tempo to a crawl at certain points for Kent The emotional connection between Bolle and Kent made this a very satisfying performance dramatically. Bolle was thrilling in every way - wonderful actor, excellent dancer, marvelous partner. He is a huge asset to ABT. All the lifts that were etiher omitted or watered down by Hallberg were performed to perfection by Bolle. He made Kent look weightless. I had trouble focusing on Abrera during her solo because the people in the row behind me decided to have a conversation at full volume (not a whisper) in a foreign language at that moment. RUDE. As noted above, Gorak had a problem in the peasant pas, but most of it was beautifully done. Lane and Gorak make a good couple. The balcony was poorly sold. I guess Bolle is a bigger draw in Europe than the US.. I wanted to also mention that although I was disappointed with Semionova's Giselle, I think she has done excellent work in other ballets. She has done wonderfully as Kitri, Nikiya, Sylvia, and other roles

I thought Underwood was too mean. When Polina went to grasp Underwood's hand after Underwood gave her the necklace, Underwood pulled her hand away so fast that you would think poor Giselle had kooties.

Prices went down for Coppelia? Maybe they are getting the hint at ABT that they need to re-think their (over)pricing schemes.

I think this was Semionova's ABT debut as Giselle, but that she has danced the role elsewhere. During a priior run of Giselle, ABT cast Semionova as Myrta, but she was not effetive in that role. I should note that the house was well sold last night, but not a sell out. I think all of the attention in the media showered on Hallberg has resulted in increased ticket sales for his performances.

I'm for the brises when someone can do them well. Corella used to do a marvelous job with the brises.

Count me with the crowd who thought Hallberg/Semionova was dramatically inert. Semionova is a marvel of technique, but that just ain't enough in this ballet. Hallberg danced beautifully, but he is not a good actor. I liked Part's Myrta. She's very good in this role. I was also disappointed that Hallberg didn't do the entrechats. By no means did Hallberg make Semionova appear weightless. Perhaps that is the reason that tall ballerinas are usually not cast as Giselle. If they are now starting to try out tall girls for Giselle, why not give a Giselle to Part. Last night was definitely NOT a performance for the ages.

Marcelo is very involved in exhibiting all the meaning behind the flowers in this ballet. When he first comes out in Act II, he literally strokes the flowers he is bringing the grave and touches them to his face. I don't think any of the other Albrechts do that, and I think most would look positively silly if they tried. On Gomes, that choice totally works. I'm pretty sure Gomes is the only Albrecht who literally spreads his entire body over the grave and hugs the mound of earth where she is buried. Again, for him it works. If I saw someone else do that, I would probably roll my eyes.

If they are afraid that a "live" transmission will invite controversy, why don't they film it and release it on DVD. There is now an article on this in the NY Times. As expected, John Adams is angry.

Yes, atm 711, I noticed a number of instances where Vishneva put her head very close to Gomes' shoulder, chest or head. These were small details that added up in a big way to deliver an emotional punch that most other couples lack. If others tried the same thing, I think it might just look over the top, but with Gomes and Vishneva it comes across as completely authentic and genuine. While we have justly been raving about Vishneva, I also want to add that Gomes was spectacular. He made Vishneva seem weightless. His exquisite solo in Act II was brilliantly danced. Rarely has Albrecht's pleading with Myrta been so dramatically conveyed with such passion.

Yes, Vishneva/Gimes was extraordinary because of the deep emotions and personal connection between the two leads which makes their performances together so moving. Others may have greater technical facility, but that's not really what Giselle is about. As Faux Pas mentioned, Vishneva in particular is working harder these days to accomplish the technical demands of the role, but that didn't matter at all. So happy to see a truly remarkable performance after having seen the Bolshoi's Giselle a few weeks ago in D.C. , where there was no emotional connection between Hallberg and Zakharova. We'll see how Hallberg does tonight with Semionova. Hopefully it won't be a repeat of last year's R&J, where Hallberg looked like he was withering trying to lift Semionova. Lane and Gorak were terrific in the peasant pdd last night, and I'm hoping that he gets a promotion soon.

They changed some of the choreography to make it easier for Gorak. The two changes I noticed were: (1) in the final act instead of bringing Xiomara down the stairs in the overhead lift, they both walked down the stairs and began the overhead lift once they were at stage level and (2) the tricky inverted lift during the ballroom scene was omitted. A lovely performance.

I attended last night's performance w. Murphy and Hallberg. Murphy's execution of the difficult filigree of steps was masterful. It was a brilliant performance. The only error was when she came off pointe during the pdd w. Hallberg. So this technical marvel is human after all. She did beutifully with the graceful hand and arm movements in the choreography too. Hallberg was an excellent partner and was emotionally engaged with Murphy. What a pleasure to see his gorgeous dancing back on the Met stage. It is the only Cinderella that ABT has presented which I look forward to seeing again. (For the Stevenson and Kudelka productions, I couldn't wait to leave and never return). It was an enchanting evening.