abatt

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.

Thanks for the info on Szot. I'm going for the Gomes/Vishneva performance so I'll have to wait to see Szot till August, when he plays at 54 Below in Manhattan. I saw 2/3 of Wed. night's performance. My section was less than 50% sold, Very poor attendance on Wed night. The men were thrilling. I loved Herman as Conrad, even more than as Lankadem. He is so elegant. Reyes can still spin like a top, but there is a definite loss of plasticity and extension that I noticed in Act I. I thought Sara made a mistake during her Act I variation (did she come off pointe?), but otherwise shw was good. The Odalisques definitely looked like third cast, especially Melanie Hamrick. Vasiliev did his "look ma - one leg" trick when he lifted Reyes.

I enjoyed the performance last night very much. Simkin ain't my idea of what Ali should look like (Oh, those memories of sexy bare chested Carreno running around in those turquoise pants), but Simkin managed some pretty impressive tricks as the dancing slave. Not to worry - his partnering of Osipova was fine. Vasipova were exciting, and certainly gave the audience what they came for - super fast spins from Osipova and those crazy, gravity defying jumps from Vasiliev. Boylston nearly stole the show. She was a perfect Gulnare. She seemed a bit too tall for Herman, but it all worked out. I thought Herman was more supercharged as Lankadem last season, but he did give a very good performance last night. I don't think the new scenery or costumes are an improvement over the ones they had in the old production. Since I have seen the Bolshoi version of this ballet, I always find ABT's version of the Animated Garden scene a disappointment. It was a definite conflict for this balletomane to attend this performance, as there was a one night only concert given by Paulo Szot, Marrin Mazzie and Megan Hilty at the NY Philharmonic last night. But ballet won out, again. All Ballet All The Time (ABATT)

I wonder if Ratmansky had not used any scenic designs in these ballets, would the viewer read as much into these ballets, and would these ballets be less or more interesting. For me, it was the addition of the scenery that added context and meaning regarding Russian history and politics.

One person they seem to give some good roles to is Eric Tamm. When I first saw him as a last minute fill in a few years ago for David Hallberg (in Theme and Variations?) I was not impressed. However, he looked much better this season as a lead in Symphony in C in the first movement. I think the next male who will be in line for a promotion to principal is James Whiteside. He's carrying a large load of principal assignments this season. They are testing him to see how he does. He's done very well in the roles I've seen him in.

Marcelo is once again increasing his workload to fill in for injured/absent dancers (Today's matinee of Corsaire, the Hee Seo SL). Ironic that Matvienko was supposed to fill the gap for Hallberg's cancellations, but now Matvienko is MIA. Agree about Gorak. Would like to see more of him. Have not made up my mind about Forster.

The defense is obviously going to say anything and do anything to try and bolster their arguments. In my opinion, these preposterous assertions that Filin and his team of doctors are faking it only make the defendants seem even more disgusting.

I think Ratmansky intentionally avoided layering on too much background info in order to allow the viewer to use his own imagination. I actually prefer that approach here. The Soviet and Russian themes are what inspired Ratmansky in some of his best work, in the same way that American culture and/or Jewish culture is reflected in numerous Robbins ballets..

Matvienko is replaced in tomorrow's Corsaire matinee by Gomes. Hammouidi is replaced in his Sylvia assignments by Matthews. All per the ABT performance calendar

How can Cojocaru be too injured to do SL at ABT on June 21, but well enough to dance Mayerling at the RB on June 5? Doesn't make much sense to me. Is Mayerling a really easy ballet? I've never seen it.

I expected that Hee would be partnered w. Corey in Romeo, since they have performed that ballet together before. However, since Bolle is an underutilized principal, I guess it makes sense to draft him for the Wed matinee Romeo. (Stearns has already taken over one DonQ from Hallberg, and I'm guessing Stearns may be called upon for an extra SB or Sylvia later in the season to sub for Hammoudi).