abatt

I attended last night's performance. R. Fairchild was riveting as Apollo. I thought his performance last night was much better than the prior week's performance. I also thought that Gonzalo Garcia was enthralling in the 4T's last night. Reichlin was electrifying as Choleric. I have avoided Union Jack for a few years because I find it tedious. I stayed for last night's performance of the work. DeLuz tore up the stage in his variation. Askegard looked underpowered in his. It was amusing seeing one of tallest guys in the company dancing side by side with one of the shortest. Wendy Whelan was excellent in her variation. Sadly, the youngsters in her regiment could not keep up with the tempo, resulting in a sloppy performance where the corps of that regiment completely lost the element of unison. Time for that regiment to head back to the rehearal studio. Maria Kowrowski was sexy and fun as leader of the Wrens. Ringer and Ramasar were delightful in their section of the ballet. Once again, there were many scattered empty seats in the orchestra, first and second rings. The third ring was 20 percent sold. Fourth ring was not for sale.

I think Ocean's Kingdom is selling well. I'm not sure if it will be revived in the future, but I would guess that it will be revived. My opinion of the choreography isn't as harsh as the Times'. I've seen MUCH worse at NYCB (Call Me Ben, Seven Deadly Sins, Lady w. Little Dog, to name a few.) This score is not pop music. It is, in my opinion, a well crafted classical composition.

I attended. I enjoyed the music. It was a very distinguished composition. However, it sounded like it was more suitable as a film score than a ballet. (Sir Paul has mentioned in interviews that he had done some music for a project that didn't work out, and he used that music for this ballet. I'm wondering if the project he was referring to was a film score.) Anyway, as a result, there were many sections of the ballet where the music seemed merely like background music, rather than a source out of which the choreography arose. However, other sections were clearly more useful as the springboard for choreography. As for the choreography, the story was relatively easy to follow. Based on interviews I have read, Sir Paul may have intended some deep, political/environmentalist plot to the story. That didn't come through on stage. It was a boy wants girl/ bad people prevent boy and girl from uniting/ boy and girl finally get together story. It looked like a million other Martins ballets. In particular,the choreography was similar to various ballets that Martins has choreographed to the works of John Adams, particularly in the sections where the music was heavily percussive. Sara Mearns did a lot of swooning and emoting in Robbie Fairchild's arms. Their pas de deuxs were pleasant to look at, but not particularly memorable. Some of the acrobatic lifts of Mearns by Fairchild looked labored. The choreography for Amar Ramasar and his cohorts (in Mohawk like head gear) involved a lot of jumping and spinning. There was a section for "the entertainers", which in my opinion was the weakest section of the ballet, insofar as it did not seem to integrate into the story. Ulbricht did his usual jumping extravaganza ( in what looked like a clown wig). They finally found a suitable role for S. Lowery (as an Amazon). My favorite costume was the seafoam green costume of Sara Mearns. Georgina P. was saddled with the task of dancing with a huge cape. I feared for her safety with every step. Ramasar and his backup dancers looked menacing in their black attire, black eye makeup and mohawk headwear. The audience seemed to like the show. Obviously, the crowd went bonkers when Sir Paul came out for a bow. Sir Paul seems like a very nice, humble man. Stella McCartney also came out for a bow. Spotted in the crowd were Alec Baldwin, Leslie Stahl, Sarah Jessica Parker, Naomi Watts, Steve Buscemi, Bon Jovi. On the whole, I would recommend the ballet. However, the choreography was not at a high level of sophistication or originality. Any other ballet talkers there? I heard on WQXR this AM that they raised $4 million last night at the NYCB gala. At the beginning of the evening, Martins toasted Sir Paul with tea (rather than the traditional toast at the House Of Balanchine of vodka. The evening started out with a little lecture by the conductor. The audience looked bored.

From the NY Times http://artsbeat.blog...allet/?ref=arts

I attended last night's performance. I usually find 2 & 3 Part Inventions a bit tedious. However, last night's cast was so good that I was engrossed by the performance. Particularly, I thought Lauren Lovette was mesmerizing. She is a lyrical, expressive dancer. Chase Finlay was last night's Apollo. I think he is even better this year than last. He is much more confident,and his performance last night did not suffer from the little mistakes that occurred last year. I saw Robbie Fairchild's Apollo last week. I liked it, but I prefer Finlay a little more. There is a youthful exuberance and wildness that is so fresh in Finlay's performance. (By the way, Finlay also did much better in the 3rd Act Pas De Quatre in Swan Lake. Last year he could barely keep up. This year he significantly improved.) Last night was a repeat of Muses Hyltin and Scheller. The new muse in town was Ashley Isaacs. I think she needs a more straighforward approach to the role. There was too much coy smiling at the audience and at Apollo. Tiler and Tyler were breathtaking in Mercurial Maneuvers. There were scattered empty seats throughout the orchestra, first and second rings. The 3rd ring was approximately 25 percent full, and the fourth ring was closed. Not a great turn out for such a wonderful evening of dance.

From the NY Times: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/a-ballet-first-an-american-to-join-the-bolshoi/?ref=arts Sounds like we will be seeing Hallberg at ABT during the MET seasons, but not necessarily during other ABT engagements.

For those in need a glimpse of Sara Mearns in Swan Lake, check out Sunday Arts tomorrow on public television. (Channel 13 at noon in New York City). I saw a commercial today which previews tomorrow's episode, which focuses on NYCB and SAB. They will show clips of Mearns in Swan Lake, and they will interview her.

California, I think Bingham may be imparting the information from tomorrow's edition of the NYTimes, which I think will be the annual season preview issue. Some people receive advance copies (subscribers), but it will probably be on the NY Times tomprrow.

I saw Bouder last night in Choleric. She was fantastic.

Yes, this flawed and hideous production can be transcendant with the right dancers. Sara Mearns accomplished this.

I attended the performances on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. I was very disappointed with Bouder's performance. There is a very negative review in today's NY Times of the Tuesday night performance, and I agree with it completely (except I would not refer to La Bouder as a hornet!). Bouder lacked fluidity, and therefore none of the iconic poses of Odette made an impression. Her phrasing was choppy. In part, I will blame the conductor, who seems to be in a hurry to get home. Bouder is a technical whiz, but that's just not enough to tell the story here. She was more at home and more believable in the Black Swan act, where she did nail all the demanding technical challenges. Her over the top grin throughout the Black act became annoying. Veyette was fine, although he tends to land every jump with a thud. Huxley was in marvelous form as Benno. The real stars of the evening were Ulbricht as the Jester, and the dancers of the Pas De Quartre (DeLuz, Peck, A Staford, M. Fairchild). NYCB is lucky to have DeLuz. He makes terribly difficult choreography look so easy. Usually I don't pay much attention to character actors at NYCB, but G. Mueller was particulary bad as the Queen Mother. Her mime was so over emphatic that it looked cartoonish. No time to post my comments on Tess right now, but I thought she showed significant improvement over last year's debut. I sure hope that Sara Mearns' part in Ocean Kingdom is substantial. It's almost criminal that she is not doing Swan Lake.

How disappointing that Sara Mearns is not dancing Swan Lake. Hopefully she is not injured. I suspect that they are "saving" her for the Ocean's Kingdom run, where she has a lead role.

The Postal Service will be issuing "Forever" stamps to honor Fosse, Duncan, Limon and Dunham. Read about it here: http://www.broadway.com/buzz/157358/legendary-choreographer-bob-fosse-to-be-honored-with-us-stamp/ I'll certainly have to pick up a few books of those stamps, though I rarely use "snail mail" anymore. Have there ever been stamps issued by the Post Office honoring other choreographers or dancers?

Oops. You're right. That is Gonzalo Garcia in red. My bad.

I think the dancer in red is Daniel Ulbricht, and Tyler's partner is Abi Stafford.

I'm not an accountant, but I think "public support expense" may refer to expenses relating to fundraising endeavors (such as costs of printing and mailing flyers requesting contributions).

Slant, do you know what kind of items fall within the term "production costs"? Does that include fees paid to composers and choreographers? Does that include scenic design expenses and costume design expenses? Since the Architecture of Dance festival was in Spring 2010, can we assume that part of the increased production costs of FY 2010 related to the preparation and execution of Calatrava designs that were part of a number of ballets during that festival? Can we assume that part of that sum relates to the elaborate costumes designed by Giles Mendel of J. Mendel for Call Me Ben, which was part of that festival?

I saw an interesting interview of Peter Martins in June on PBS's "Sunday Arts" program. The piece was mostly about SAB, but Martins mentioned that NYCB is the most "creative" company because the company constantly is presenting new works. I think he is confusing creativity with being prolific. Quantity is not the equivalent of quality. I happen to agree with you that many, many of the new works are duds (Call Me Ben, The Lady with the Little Dog, Outlier, Seven Deadly Sins, the Bigonzetti works, the Stroman works and on and on). However, it takes a lot of duds to get a few masterpieces. I don't think anyone wants NYCB to become a museum for Balanchine and Robbins ballets. In fact, there are some people who prefer to attend only the programs that have new ballets on them. I think the dancers also become bored dancing the same ballets, and part of the attraction for talented dancers at NYCB is that they have the chance to work directly with choreographers and have new ballets created on them. (Does anyone recall a film clip of Wendy Whelan that was shown at Morphoses the Wheeldon Company a few years ago in which she says that her goal is to work with as many choreographers as possible?) The problem is that there are not enough people like Ratmansky and Wheeldon to go around. Good choreographers seem to be in high demand and in very short supply.

When the Kirov visited New York a few years ago, Vishneva and Lopatkina alternated the role of Zobeide. Did Lopatkina do the role during the London visit? I have a hard time picturing Tereshkina in that role. The Kirov is bringing this same all Fokine program to Washington, D.C. in Jan. 2012. I hope Ekaterina Kondaurova does Firebird during that engagement. She must be a fantastic Firebird.

http://www.nycballet.com/DHKT/2011-2012SeatingChart.html NYCB has removed the price list from the bottom of the seating chart page, as well as the color coded guide that was there previously. Even more interesting, there is now a statement at the bottom of the page that there are "few" partial view seats. I guess they have been reading the comment/complaints on this board regarding their new plan.

Ditto.

From the NYCB Website, under Subscriber Benefits: Subscribers get the best deal in the house with ticket prices as much as 20% off regular prices. This preferred subscriber rate is also applicable to any additional single ticket purchases you make throughout the season. Purchasing additional single tickets: nycballet.com-registered users can purchase single tickets with this preferred subscription rate online, and all subscribers can purchase tickets with your subscription rate in person at the David H. Koch Theater Box Office with your Subscription ID Card or by calling the Subscription Hotline at 212-870-4260 with you Subscription ID Number. The subscriber discount is pretty insignificant for certain price levels. The subscriber price is only $3.00 less than the full price tickets for the cheapest seats ($26 instead of $29) and $6 less than the full price tickets for the next cheapest tickets ($49 instead of $55). The dollar amount of the savings increases for each higher price level.

According to the NY Times article of a few weeks ago, the company plans on raising ticket prices for certain performances based on demand. The quote is as follows: "It’s designed to have more accessible and affordable pricing throughout the house,” Mr. Daniels said. The prices may change ahead of performances based on demand, he said, a practice now being followed at other performing arts institutions and some Broadway shows." ABT also did this during the spring season, so that prices increased for certain performances where there was high demand as the performance date approached. However, since ABT published casting months in advance, I had already bought the vast majority of my tickets before any of the prices increased. There was only one performance that was a last minute purchase where I paid the higher "demand based" price. Since NYCB does not publish casting until a week or two before the performance, they might be charging a higher price for certain performances by the time the casting info is published. The use of demand based pricing at NYCB is ridiculous, since NYCB has removed approximately 40 percent of the seats at the Koch from public sale by closing the 3rd and 4th rings. The closure of those rings will always create the appearance of an artificially high demand for seats in the orchestra, first and second ring for a performance. I think (but I'm not certain) that subscribers are entitled to the reduced subscriber price for all shows (not Nutcracker), even for high demand shows where they raise the price based on high demand. It's going to be a very, very interesting season.

I thought this thread was going to be about the sweltering heat in NYC today.

I would say the NYCB version. It's a classic. Based on the prices they are charging for rep, I'm sure the prices for Nutcracker this year will be through the roof.