abatt

They have never dared to do all Martins. The house would be empty. Obviously, most All Balanchine programs sell well.

Here's a link to a NY Times article on the pricing issue: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/arts/dance/city-ballet-raises-prices-and-phases-out-low-cost-tickets.html?_r=1&ref=dance

The average age of ballet audiences seems considerably younger than opera audiences. They have played up as much as possible the fact that Sarah Jessica Parker is now on the NYCB Board. Her picture is in the press every time she attends a NYCB gala. This seems like part of their effort to attract a younger audience. Now if they could get Lady Gaga on the Board, that would be a coup.

Vishneva is a natural choice for Onegin. Kent performed it during the last run. (I think Dvorovenko also performed Tatiana, but I can't remember.)

So they are trying to limit the supply of seats, thereby (theoretically) increasing demand (and ticket prices) for the seats they are willing to sell. Get rid of the cheaper seats (fourth ring) and suddenly everyone will be willing to buy expensive seats elsewhere in the house. Not happening, folks. I know they are touting all these $26 seat locations, but in reality there are very, very few such seats, and a good deal of them are in bizarro obstructed/horrible view locations. I guess I will be "phasing out" my attendance at NYCB.

Hi puppytreats. Don't stop posting. The only point we were trying to make is that committed fans sometimes have poor seating locations. Thank you for clarifying your point.

Have to agree. Some of the most dedicated fans sit up in the fourth ring. Just because you're on a budget doesn't mean you are less of a fan than someone who sits in the orchestra. By the way, I think the orchestra is the worst section from which to watch ballet.

Most of NYCB's audience, I believe, is repeat customers who have been attending for years or decades. NYCB has 16 weeks of rep tickets to sell, 7 performances per week. That's a whole lot of tickets to unload to customers who have seen most of these ballets numerous times in the past. Also, opera prices should not be compared to ballet. Opera tickets have always cost considerably more than ballet because people will pay top dollar to see world class singers. I don't think people will pay these super inflated prices for the numerous weak programs at NYCB. It should be interesting to see how empty the high priced seating sections are at NYCB. Me thinks there will be lots of discounted tickets floating around for programs that are heavy on the junky ballets. Hopefully whoever dreamed up this ludicrous system of charging as much for fourth ring tickets as for the orchestra will be fired within a year or so. I won't boycott, but I will be there much less frequently than I used to be. Also, I'm the type of person who needs to have my schedule arranged well in advance. It is more likely that I would just head home or to a movie after work than make a trip to the Atrium to buy a discounted ticket on the day of the performance.

Thanks Mussel. A wave of illness has struck my household. As a result, my husband and I missed the Vasiliev Coppelia.(Why couldn't sickness strike the week of Cinderella, which we hate.) Glad to hear Vasiliev may be back. Hopefully Osipova is returning too. They usually do a MacMillan, so I'm guessing that perhaps Manon might be on for next season.

I was at Tuesday's RDB peformance, and I found the evening pretty disappointing except for Napoli. The dancers were good, but I did not think they were remarkable or exceptional. As the review mentioned, there were numerous glitches on opening night.

Here is a link to a NY Times article on the continued woes of NY City Opera. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/arts/music/new-york-city-operas-recent-history.html?ref=music

Ivan Vasiliev and Natalia Osipova were incredible at the matinee. I hope ABT can develop a permanent relationship w. Vasiliev.

I think that Jewels performance was Rutherford's farewell performance w. the company.

So many ballets this spring in NYC, so little time.

LOL. Cubanmiamiboy, I knew you would refer to the Cunningham experience. Actually, I've wanted to run screaming from the building after some Cunningham performances too, mostly because of the "music" (noise), not the dancing.

It was a very fun evening, and Hallberg stole the show. I completely agree that all the dancers looked like they were having a marvelous time. I must note that the balcony area looked like it was less than 50 percent sold. Not sure if this will be making a return engagement next year based on these stats.

I also thought the video presentation created distortions. I think they are using a wide angle lens, which may be responsible for the distortion.

I think Mearns' Swan Lake is better than almost every one I've ever seen at ABT (excepting Nina, Veronika and certain Diana V. performances). Bouder is one of the most accomplished technical dancers anywhere. The NYCB men are not, however, in the same league as the women there, in my opinion. It's really not fair to compare ABT and NYCB. ABT goes out and hires the big stars from around the world. NYCB's talent is, for the most part, grown from within, and NYCB is a true company of dancers. ABT is a hodge podge of hired guns at the principal level. I think ABT doesn't want to get involved in the Atrium discount program because once you start offering discounts, people will wait and see if a discount becomes available instead of purchasing their tickets in advance. On most nights, the Family Circle at the MET is largely empty, even though the regular price of those seats is dirt cheap. As for the No Exchanges Even In A Blizzard policy at ABT, that was just bad customer relations. I'm not returning for future ABT Nutcrackers because I found that policy offensive and unreasonable. There was no little or no public transportation available that Sunday evening, and it was dangerous to be on the roads. ABT had no consideration for the safety and well being of its customers.

I think ABT also sells well later in the season because the kids are out of school by mid to late June.

I saw Jewels twice over the weekend across the Plaza, and there were substantial numbers of empty seats there, too. Bad economy? Out of control ticket prices? People enjoying the great outdoors? Not sure of the explanation for this phenomenon, but if NYCB can't heavily sell Jewels - one of their most popular offerings - they need to do some serious analysis of the reasons.

From NY Times: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/russia-finally-gets-to-see-a-martha-graham-dance/?ref=arts

Vishneva and Gomes were on fire tonight. I thought it was an incredible, brilliant performance. Engrossing and thrilling. This is the most significant partnership at ABT since Ferri-Bocca. Tonight was apparently Carlos Lopez's final performance with the company. At the curtain call, many of the dancers brought him before the curtain and tearfully applauded him. Lopez was also in tears, and Gomes gave him a big hug. Anyone know if he is joining another company? I don't expect to see this ballet back at ABT for a long time. There were many, many empty seats at every performance, and the critics savaged the choreography in the reviews. The performances of Gomes and Vishneva will remain in my memory for a long time.

I'm also going again tonight for Vishneva - Gomes. Last year their final performance of Lady of the Cams was even more explosive than their earlier ones. I'm hoping for the same thing to happen tonight, especially since this is Vishneva's final show at ABT for the season. I saw the Kent/Bolle cast last night and found it disappointing in comparison to Vishneva -Gomes. There is little chemistry between Kent and Bolle, and both of their techniques are fading. Kent doesn't have great extensions anymore, and her upper body flexibility isn't what it used to be. These factors tended to diminish the overall quality of her dancing in this ballet.

From the NY Times http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/a-promotion-at-american-ballet-theater/?ref=arts

I just noticed that Blaine Hoven is replacing David Hallberg tonight. Hoven also replaces Hallberg in Lady of the Cam. on Wed evening. I guess they have to be really careful not to have any more injuries of male principals this season. They are in short supply this season.