abatt

A friend with a lot of spare time looks at this issue regularly. All of the Swan Lakes are selling very well (shocking!) and the Giselles and R&J's are selling well (but not at the same pace as Swan Lake). Ticket sales for LWFC have been weak.

Thank goodness they are ditching those awful Santo Loquasto costumes. The invitation of "guest artists" is interesting and unusual. What other companies perform Who Cares? Royal Ballet? Does Paris Opera do this work.

ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY ANNOUNCESTHE FIRST TWO PRODUCTIONS OF 2023-2024 SEASONWorld Premiere PlayA Co-Production with National TheatreINFINITE LIFEWritten by Annie BakerDirected by James MacdonaldLinda Gross TheaterAugust 18 – October 8, 2023Opening: Tuesday, September 12, 2023World Premiere MusicalBUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB ®Book by Marco RamirezMusic by the Grammy Award winning Buena Vista Social ClubChoreography by Patricia Delgado and Justin PeckDirected by Saheem AliLinda Gross TheaterNovember 17 – December 31, 2023Opening: Tuesday, December 12, 2023

The rest of the season seems to be selling well enough. So maybe even if LWFC is box office dud it's not a complete disaster economically for them.

The timing of the departure seems calculated to cause as much damage as possible.

Belka, you should try to see Taylor Stanley in Apollo. I suspect he will be cast in the fall (barring injury or illness).

Thanks for kind thoughts, Helene. Today it is clear and lovely in NYC. So it seems that the smoke problem is gone, for now. Wednesday's orange sky was bizarre.

Mearns is one of the most celebrated ballerinas in the United States, and she has extensive experience is Ratmansky ballets.

Not much time to write. I went to the Workshop last night. The winners of the Mae L. Wein awards were Oscar Estop (he is 6 ft 5 in), Natalie Glassie and Mia Williams. Mia Williams did not perform due to injury. The booklet says that Mia and Oscar will begin apprenticeships w. NYCB starting in August. A very impressive group of dancers. Napoli was my favorite because there are so many featured parts, and NYCB has not performed it in quite some time.

Mearns will be in Canada dancing R&J with the Natl Ballet of Canada during the KC engagement. That's why she is not listed for the KC. In one sense, her absence has created opportunities for new people to shine. It was Mearns' withdrawal that led to Nadon getting SVC in the Winter, and Nadon was great. Another Nadon opportunity is created by Mearns' absence from the Kennedy Center. Hoping for reports on her debut in Concerto B.

The dance companies that have galas prefer the Koch because there is space on the Promenade for the party, so they don't have to go to the expense of renting a party venue and transporting people to the party venue. That's why ABT and Paul Taylor no longer perform at City Center.

Since we just had the Dream last season, I would not be very anxious to see it again this season. But the rest of it is of great interest. One thing is for certain- they need another Oberon. Camargo did all performances. Cory seems to be injured often. Give Aran Bell a shot at Oberon.

The Met website is listing J Curley for John Brown; Cory's name does not appear on the Met website anymore for Dr. John Brown. Is this a minor role? The chance to see Curley might motivate me to see this cast. The bigger question is whether Stearns will make his other scheduled appearances during the Met season.

Erica is the right size for Huxley, even though she is wrong for the role in Square Dance.

Sara Mearns was spectacular on Friday night in Swan Lake. Glad I had the opportunity to see it. Phelan was not in the same league in the role. Another season completed. For me the All Stars were Nadon, Fairchild, Gordon & Chan. On to the 75th Anniversary season .... Reports of the runs in Saratoga and the KC are appreciated.

I don't recall that Smirnova actually appeared with ABT. She was scheduled, but I recall that she may have been injured. In fact, since she was injured, Chudin did not appear as scheduled at ABT because they were a "package deal". Kimin Kim is still dancing with the Mariinsky, I believe. He is one of the few non-Russian artists who continues to perform with the company. Is that correct

With her Giselle performances for National Ballet of Ukraine, and personal training from Ratmansky, she now has substantial experience in Giselle. Good for her.

I saw Bell & Teuscher last season in R&J. I thought she was definitely miscast as Juliet.

I think the touring to the US of the Mariinsky and the Bolshoi was in part funded by oligarch money. We have not seen the Royal Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet or the major German companies here because, in part, there is no funding available for it.

Actually, I think there are some differences in the choreography between BI and Tsch Piano Concerto 2. Certainly, the decor and costumes are entirely different. Maybe some people on the board know more about the distinction. Looking forward to Ballet Imperial coming back to ABT. So it looks like ABT has jumped on the Kyle Abraham bandwagon. If NYCB has hired him twice, we need to hire him too is the apparent thinking at ABT.

Also, since the film Black Swan, I think most people who are casual ballet goers expect that there is going to be an act or a portion of the ballet where the Black Swan dances to seduces the prince. Not so in the Balanchine version.

Back in the day when City Ballet had all rings open and there were very cheap seats available, parents would regularly bring infants and toddlers to the show because buying a ticket was much cheaper than hiring a sitter for a few hours. I've also seen this by ticket holders in the family circle. at ABT. Less often at the opera.

I understand Drew's point, but the switch to a projection of the Ukranian flag in the backdrop occurred during the last few seconds of the ballet, so overall it did not diminish the ballet or the design elements of the ballet. I don't think a program note would have been read by most of the audience. This put the issue front and center before the audience for a fleeting moment that was much more effective.

I was there tonight, and it was apparent that a large portion of the audience was not regular ballet goers. I was very impressed with certain new cast members of Pictures at an Exhibition, most especially Nadon and Alexa Maxwell. The whole cast was very good. This was a ballet where I could savor the brilliance of Tyler Angle without being distracted by his weight and his baldness. And the projection at the very end of the ballet has been changed to a Ukranian flag. Gordon was polished and quite excellent in Swan Lake. Unity gave a typical Unity-type performance- blandly efficient. Some of her arm positions were very sloppy. Not the Swan Lake of my dreams, for sure. Was it my imagination or did Emma VE miss her entrance during the section when, I believe, the two big Swans are supposed to be on stage together. I had forgotten how utterly gorgeous the costumes are for the swans. I also very much enjoy the choreography for the corps. The house was sold to the rafters. The company advertised this program to the max, and it seemed to have worked. Or maybe SL just sells itself, whatever its iteration.

I consider ABT more like a very good regional company now, not an internationally renowned company as it once was. There are a few exceptions, but not many. The loss of Ratmansky to NYCB only reinforced the idea that ABT is no longer an "A" list ballet company.