abatt

It was nice to meet so many ballet talkers at intermission. Part and Gomes both gave better performances last night as compared to Tuesday. Part conquered the scarf dance, and overall her performance was dialed up a few notches compared to Tuesday. Osipova was wonderful as Gamzatti. I don't think she's better than Gillian in terms of the technique. They are both very, very strong. However, I did notice a lot more characterization from Osipova than from most other Gamzattis. Thank you, carbro, for the link about the Harem pants in the finale.

Yes, we have the third act staged by Makarova. The Bronze Idol does his variation in that act, and Nikiya comes back in the harem pants outfit. I think NY and London have the same exact production.

No technique problems have been mentioned because there weren't any to speak of. She was totally "on" last night. Her first act, in particular, was the most thrilling. Great fluidity of movement.

Misty seemed to have her own little cheering section somewhere in the auditorium. Every time she completed a variation, that section in particular would go nuts.

It is interesting that the press release specifically notes that Semionova will appear on all the company's tours, and not merely at the New York Met season. A lot of people have complained that ABT brings the B-casts on their tours.

Like Ilya, I thought Cojocaru and Vasiliev were excellent together. I also felt that it was unfortunate that Copeland had to debut her Gamzatti as Vasiliev's partner. She barely left the ground, and he was flying through the air. It looked disjointed. Cojocaru's deep back bends were especially wonderful in Act I. Vasiliev has very bulky legs, a sometimes sloppy line, and the white tights did him no favors. However, he is exceptional in his spins and jumps. I also thought he did well in the characterization aspect. I wasn't very impressed w. Joe Phillips as Bronze Idol. Can we have Herman or Angel back in that role, just for one night?

I think we all guessed that this would happen once it was announced that she had asked to be let out of her contract in Berlin, but now it's official. http://artsbeat.blog...eater/?ref=arts

This is one of the performances in which ABT hiked up the price of the tickets due to high demand (dynamic pricing). ABT is laughing all the way to the bank on this one. I actually feel sorry for Part, since most of the audience will not know that Vishneva is replaced until they get to the Met tomorrow. Performing for an angry/disappointed audience as the replacement is a tough job.

I hope Vishneva will still be doing her Onegin performances. Ugh.

I was at the Wed matinee. Lots of older retirees. In fact, there were so many women that they turned the men's room into a ladies room for the intermissions on the balcony level. Pretty full house. Cast was Herrera/Stearns/Abrera. I cannot understand why Stella is not a principal. Her performance was wonderful. I have not been a big Cory fan in the past, but I thought he did very well. He has improved tremendously over the years. A very fine performance. Herrera was good, although she is certainly not the most lyrical dancer. Can't wait for tonight and tomorrow night's casts.

Looking forward to meeting you. I'll be there Thurs and Fri.

I thought that Part did a wonderful job, with great extensions and her long fluid lines. However, that old demon that haunts her from time to time re-emerged. She came off pointe at least twice during the scarf dance in Act II. She looked very frustrated by this problem. Murphy, as always, knocked it out of the park as Gamzatti. Gomes was terrific. It's too bad that he and Veronika don't dance together more often. The auditorium was like a ghost town. Very poor attendance.

That was a fast reversal. The number of comments on the NY Times website under the Comments section of the article was HUGE.

Censorship becomes a very slippery slope. If the magazine now criticizes a Luc Bondy production in Europe, will Gelb mandate that the review not be published because Luc Bondy directed the Met's Tosca? If an Opera News critic gives a negative review to Natalie Dessay in a production in Los Angeles, does Gelb pull the review because Dessay will be opening at the Met a few weeks later to perform the same role, and a negative review might affect ticket sales at the Met? Open debate and discussion is always the better solution. This is not some propaganda newsletter. Opera News is heavily supported by extensive advertising in the magazine by luxury goods and services sellers, as well as a wide subscriber base and news stand circulation. I'm not even clear as to whether the employees of Opera News are considered employees of the Metropolitan Opera. If Gelb didn't like the reviews, he could have written a rebuttal. Silencing your critics is not the answer. .

Here is an article from today's NY Times. I thought it might be of interest to people on this board. Opera News will no longer review productions of the Met Opera because Peter Gelb does not like the negative reviews that the publication has given to certain productions. The publication is affiliated with the Met Opera, as the article explains. As the article also explains, this is only the latest, but most egregious and outrageous, of Gelb's effort to quash criticism of the Met. It's a very disturbing development. http://www.nytimes.c...a.html?ref=arts

http://www.nyc-arts.org/ New York's Channel 13 runs a weekly half hour show called NYC Arts. The episode that aired a few days ago featured an extensive interview w. McKenzie, as well as rehearsal footage of ABT. It's an overview of the Spring Met Season. You can access it at the above link.

The photos are primarily of the Act II white dresses, not the Act I peasant dresses.

Puppytreats, the New York Times has a Slide Show on the internet, along with A. Macauley's review of the Giselles, on the NY Times website. You can see the different Giselle Act II dresses in the slide show. Go to today's Links to see the review.

I think Adrian Daching Waring deserves a promotion to principal. He may need to prove himself a bit more to Martins due to his long absence due to injury. However, he is performing numerous principal roles and he is an excellent dancer. Also, Krohn joined the corps in 1999. To my recollection, this may be the longest period of time for someone at NYCB to rise from corps to principal. I think it has taken a few people 10 years. If memory serves, it took Ringer and Alexopolous 10 years.

Ditto. Loved Vasliev in D.C. in Spartacus a few years ago.

Re Osipova's hair, a friend who goes to Salon Ishi (a very high end salon) tells me that Osipova gets extensions in her hair in prep for Giselle and also Juliet. Dvorovenko and Beletserkovsky also go to that salon. In addition to the marvelous little detail mentioned above re Hallberg trying to explain (rather than deny) Hilarion's accusation, I also noticed that in the He Loves Me He Loves Me Not sequence, after Hallberg points out that she counted incorrectly, he held on to that flower instead of flinging it aside like most of the other Albrechts. So many great moments in both performances. I still have images of Osipova and Vishneva floating through the air like butterflies.

I attended both performances yesterday of Giselle on Super Saturday. Briefly stated, it is a day of performances that I will never forget. Two utterly brilliant and memorable performances. Thank you, ABT, for bringing these supreme artists to New York. I don't have much time right now, except to say that Vishneva was heartwrenching. The last great partnership at ABT was Ferri and Bocca. I think that Gomes and Vishneva can now be bestowed with that honor. They are electric together. The way she pleaded with Myrta and tried to protect Albrecht brought tears to my eyes. The only weak link here was Semionova's Myrta. She seemed stiff and unimposing. The afternoon performance was also astounding. The thing I will remember first and foremost is Osipova's hops on pointe in Act I. She hopped on the diagonal of the stage, and then using the same working foot she did 360 degrees of hops, and then proceeded to resume the hops along the diagonal of the stage without ever coming off that pointe of her foot. Is this woman human or a superhero of the ballet world. Hallberg has never looked better. Hopefully other will pick up this thread, as I need to go now.

Hi there. I was at Friday's performance as well. I have never before seen Bouder give such a lyric interpretation to an adagio role. She is, as we all know, a great allegro dancer. However, I've often been disappointed in her performances in adagio roles. This was a whole other side of Ashley that we don't see very often. The entire cast was marvelous. IN B-S Quartet, I thought Finlay was stil trying to find his way back and get his sea legs back under him after a long period of absence. The first movement saw the debut of corps member Ms.Kitka in the soloist role. More please! This young dancer had great sweeping grandeur in her upper body and arms. Her jetes were huge. I can't wait to see her in other roles. Tiler Peck danced with complete abandon in the second movement. She was absolutely breathtaking. Justin Peck, her partner, was good, but he still has a ways to go. Scheller and Garcia were thrilling in the third movement. I thought Scheller captivating. Didn't stay for the fourth movement in order to get home and prepare for super Saturday at ABT.

Classic Ballet, I assumed that the modifications she made to the choreography and constantly coming off pointe in Act I was not an accident, but a choice she made to lighten her burden in Act I. I also noticed the moment when she almost fell over in Act I. I hope she is better by next Thursday for Bayadere.

I was at the Angel/Alina performance last night too. I thought it was good, but not stellar. In particular, I thought that Alina's performance was conservative insofar as her technique. She seemed to avoid doing choreography that required her to land on her pointes. For example, she failed to do the little hops on pointe in Act I, and modified it to do something easy. Also, in the second act, she modified the portion where Giselle does a series of small jumps, so that she could do fewer of them. That in itself would not have been a problem, except that her modification of the choreography caused her to be out of sync with the music. Additionally, the modification made her more earthbound, when her character is supposed to be airborne. In addition, the part where Angel lifts and supports her as she skims the floor with one foot seemed to have been modified. I don't think it was partnering error. It seemed planned in order to reduce the number of times her pointe struck the floor. However, I thought Alina's performance did have emotional resonance. Angel didn't take any short cuts, and he gave a marvelous and memorable performance. Murphy was in excellent form as Myrta. The peasant pdd seemed flat. Looking forward to Super Saturday.