abatt

I thought Osipova and Hallberg stuck more closely to the choreography of R&J than last year. Last year I thought Osipova, in particular, took too many liberties with the choreography. Did anyone see Kent and Bolle on Sat evening?

ABT dancers definitely have all kind of union benefits, including pension benefits. That certainly does impact all kinds of decisions that dancers make, including whether to look for employment elsewhere, and whether and when to retire. I don't know the specifics about how many years of service you have to have before your pension fully vests.

I thought Mearns looked heavy during the Winter Season, but looked like she had lost most of the weight by the spring season. Perfectly understandable since she was injured for so long. I don't think weight detracted from her performances and would be interested in knowing exactly what performances Gottlieb felt were diminsihed due to Mearns' weight.

The tall guy that ABT was/is looking at for promotion is Hammoudi. However, he is now missing all of his assignments for the season due to injury, so McKenzie cannot yet determine whether Hammoudi has the right stuff for future promotion. Clearly, if Whiteside is successful in his full length lead assignments, he will looked at for promotion to principal. I don't think it woudl be this season, but maybe in 2014. I think they should promote Scott, Gorak and Tamm to soloist.

I saw both performances yesterday. Hee Seo and Roberto Bolle at the matinee were absolutely wonderful. Bolle is a perfect Romeo. He was a flawless partner to Hee Seo. He made her seem weightless in the lifts. In addition, there are so many small but telling details in his portrayal that I have not seen in any of the other performances. His jumps are not as high as some of the other men, but I didn't care about that because his overall portrayal was so perfect. When you give Hee Seo the wrong role (like a Petipa ballet), all the weaknesses become apparent very quickly. But when you give her a suitable role like Juliet, she shines. This was my first viewing of her Juliet, and she was magnificent. There were no false notes in her performance. It all looked like it was unfolding for the first time before our very eyes. Gorgeous fluidity. Cornejo and Reyes were very good in the evening. Cornejo is an especially brilliant technician, and so he blazed brightly during the balcony scene, and dazzled with his brilliant dancing. Reyes made for a very sympathetic Juliet. Neither is an especially convincing actor, but they were more than solid. Special mention to Aaron Scott, who is my favorite Mercutio of the week. The matinee was very well sold. The evening performance was very poorly sold (about 40 percent full in my section.)

I attended last night's R&J w. Hallberg & Semionova. You don't often see such tall ballerinas as Juliet. Last night, I was reminded of the reasons. Hallberg needed every ounce of energy he could muster to do these difficult lifts of Semionova. His effort was visible and this interrupted the drama of the ballet. I'm not faulting Hallberg. Anyone would have had a tough time lifting such a tall woman. Semionova's long limbs and pliant back made her extensions look particularly beautiful. Hallberg's jumps were buoyant and his turns were quick and covered a lot of space. I was not particularly convinced by Semionova's acting in this. Was this her debut of the role of Juliet? All of the elements that make Semionova great in certain roles (regal demeanor, great height) make her less appropriate for a role like the innocent waiflike Juliet. Of the supporting roles, Gorak stood out. He is a future Romeo, I hope.

Vasiliev as BB is not far fetched at all. In fact, the Ardani website indicates that Vasiliev will perform BB on July 1 (opening night of SB) and July 3. That info has been on the Ardani website for a few months, (No info on whether that means July 3 matinee or July 3 evening.) I'd bet Simkin does BB on July 2. Sometimes Simkin posts his schedule on his website or facebook page. I didn't look there.

Underwood did a wonderful job as one of the Odalisques in Corsaire last week.

Casting info is available on the ABT website re Lilac Fairy and Carabosse casting.

Drew, the audience's response (that is, those who were seeing it live and in person at the Mariinsky) seemed subdued, tepid and not particularly enthusiastic. Was that your impression seeing it live?

Yes, they usually announce either during the Fall New York season or right after it. I think it's a pretty sure bet that ABT will dance Manon next season at the Met since, as noted in a post in a different thread, ABT is performing Manon on tour during the spring of 2014.

I was referring to the balcony scene. Anyway, it was nevertheless a spectacular performance from the two leads. The house was very full, but not sold out. Special kudos to Radetsky, who plays Tybalt to the hilt.

I hope that if it's Vishneva's anniversary, she will agree to do more than 2 or 3 performances of full lengths next season. On a separate note, I don't see the obligatory Swan Lake up on the list. Could they be giving that a rest after doing it every season for 15 plus years?

Thanks mussel! There has to be some Ratmansky on the agenda. I hope they bring back the trilogy from this season. If not, I vote for Flames of Paris.

I got that impression too. During the balcony scene he danced very small and cautiously in his own solos. His partnering and acting were excellent, but I felt that his technique was significantly diminished compared to his prior performances of Romeo.

The length of these intermissions reminded me of a documentary I saw called Bringing Back Balanchine, relating to NYCB's visit to the Mariinsky Theater a few years ago. During that visit, Gergiev conducted the orchestra, and the intermission was extremely long. I recall Peter Martins making some kind of joke about the fact that he would love to have Gergiev conduct at a NYCB performance in NY, but the intermissions at NYCB are only 20 minutes. So it appears that interminable intermissions are part of the Gergiev modus operandi.

Mussel, have you seen Bouder's SL at NYCB? I've seen her do the role a few times, and I feel that her approach is mechanical. I would not see Bouder in SL again if she is cast in it during the NYCB Fall 2013 season.

The most recent casting sheet that I saw over the weekend still lists Cojocaru for SB.

He's currently listed for the 5 July "Sleeping Beauty" with Murphy. If he's removed from the schedule and/or there's an official source for an update, it can be posted here. Hammoudi is replaced by Stearns in SB on July 5, per ABT casting sheet updates in the Met lobby.

Mearns was heartbreaking in Serenade yesterday. What a way to close the season.

The Matvienko who showed up at the Met on Saturday evening was not the same Matvienko who gave such a brilliant performance in Don Q only 4 weeks ago. Last night he was sloppy and undisciplined. His partnering was good. I was very disappointed with Matvienko's performance. I know he has some personal issues which caused his cancellation but I don't think that can explain away the situation. Murphy was absolutely brilliant. People always rave about Osipova, with good cause, but Gillian is just as strong a virtuoso as Osipova. Murphy is at the height of her powers. I hate to speak negatively of Gomes, because he is exceptional in so many ways. He had the right look for Ali, but his bag of virtuoso tricks is a bit empty for this showy role. He's much better as Conrad. McRae was a delight - high jumps, good partnering, good stage presence and acting skills. Misty did well in the first act, but she was not in control during the series of pirouettes along the diagonal of the stage during the garden scene of the last act. Overall, Sat night was disapponting except for the thrilling Ms. Murphy.

Why wouldn't Hee Seo or Kent make the trip? They were cast in Chamber Symphony (though in different casts). Also, I'm assuming that Hee Seo may be given a role as one of the Muses in Apollo. (I think Seo was Polyphemnia during the last ABT run of Apollo.) I'm pretty sure that ABT performed Apollo either last season or the season before. The three Apollos were Gomes, Hallberg and Beletserkovsky.

The Tony Awards are this Sunday evening. I'm rooting for Vanya, Sonia, Masha & Spike for best new play. I adored the play, and the performances were uniformly excellent. It's dark comedy at its very best. I also thought Tracy Letts gave the single most memorable and brilliant performance of the season as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe. However, the buzz is that they will probably give the award to Tom Hanks for Lucky Guy.

I agree with much of what was written above. The length was interminable because they started late and they added all of these interviews. Vodianova was a disaster as the host. The lighting was horrible. It diminished the entire experience of seeing the ballet. I thought Kondourova was beautifully fluid and tender as Odette. Her extension is gorgeous. Except for those two slips (she did not fall though!), she gave a marvelous performance. Her nerves seemed to settle down by the time the Black Swan section started. I'm also not sure whether one of those slips could be attributed to parter Askerov. Askerov was slightly stiff, but he danced his own solos very well. Some of the partnering, though, was a little off. (The more ballet I see, the more I am convinced that ABT's Gomes is one of the greatest dance actors of his generation.) Xander Parish is a gorgeous dancer. I've always wanted to see Kondourova do SL, so despite the various negatives of the film, I was happy that I attended.

Gillian didn't give up her ABT career to suit Steifel. Moreover, Steifel gave her the chance to dance Giselle (at RNZB), whereas ABT has only cast her as Myrta to date.