abatt

Gomes as Purple Rothbart made the evening worth the price of admission. Irina is in a real bind these days. She is so used to dancing with her husband, but he is frequently injured. She seems to have little or no connection with the partners she is assigned as replacements for Max. I too felt her performance was too chilly. There was no chemistry w. Jose, and therefore the performance left me cold. She did the steps well enough (except that her Act II solo phrasing was too choppy and disconnected). However, there was no drama. Jose gave a fine performance, although it is much smaller in scale than in days gone by.

Saviliev is replacing Max B. in SB on Thurs, July 7.

I was hoping for a similar program to the one ABT did at Kennedy Center, with Lilac Garden and Theme & Variations. The rep they will be doing is disappointing and not very enticing for the most part.

I saw two casts- Wed matinee w. Abrera-Cote and last night w. Murphy-Hallberg. Murphy and Hallberg were fantastic, but the choreography in this ballet is so weak and dull. Murphy has great elevation and speed. Hallberg has goregous lines and feet. It was a pleasure to see them together. However, this ballet offers very little in the way of masterful choreography, and at 2 1/2 hours, it's a long, dull night. I didn't think Abrera and Cote were as good as Murphy-Hallberg. I like Stella very much, but one can see lapses in her technique, especially in comparison to Murphy. Cote was a strong partner, but I didn't think his solos were particularly well executed. Also, the lack of chemistry between them was evident.

Onwards to Swan Lake.

I loved this film. I can't wait for it to come out on DVD so I can see it again and look more closely at the details I may have missed in the movie theater.

I think Fearful Symmetries was picked up by other ballet companies.

I don't know how to "fix" the subscription series, except to say that I'd rather sit center in the bleacher seats, than orchestra far far right or left with 1/3 of the stage obstructed, but a great view of the far wings and the loitering dancers waiting to go on.

Yes, that is EXACTLY the problem with trying to herd everyone into these extreme sides with poor views. Maybe if the administrators who dreamed this up actually sat in these awful seats, they would have a better understanding of why those extreme side seats do not sell, and why people refuse to purchase those seats. I think some people who are ageeing to be moved from the fourth ring will be very disappointed when they take their new $26 seats and suddenly realize that half the stage is not visible because of the extreme angle, and instead of seeing the peformance they will be watching the dancers in the wings hanging out.

Maybe the solution is fewer performances every season, rather than herding everyone out of the fourth ring. NYCB used to have a Sunday evening performance, but it was discontinued because it never sold well. NYCB has reduced the number of weeks it performs in Saratoga too. Maybe 16 weeks of rep performances is overkill, and there is no market for that many performances.

One additional point of interest is that NYCB is purchasing the rights to a ballet that was created on the Royal Ballet (Wheeldon's DGV, to be performed during the 2011-2012 season). I don't think NYCB has ever done this before, have they? My understanding is that to date NYCB has only performed works that were created on NYCB. Purchasing the right to perform good ballets that were created elsewhere is a step in the right direction. It is much more cost efficient than commissioning new works that are total duds.

In case anyone is interested, the casting for the Purple Rothbart role is as follows:

Monday June 27- Gomes

Tues June 28- Saviliev

Wed Matinee June 29 and Sat Mat July 2- Matthews

Wed Eve June 29 and Sat Eve July 2- Radetsky

Thurs June 30 - Hallberg

Fri July 1 Hammoudi

Also, Carreno is replacing Max B. as Siegfried on Monday June 27.

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.

Hmm, interesting!!

An interview with Vishneva that came out last week seems to have her saying that she "plans to dance Tatiana in 'Onegin' next year," at least that's what Google Translate suggests. (Any Russian speakers can verify?)

I can only hope that this means she'll be doing it at ABT next year, and hopefully with Gomes! If the two of them get to dance "Onegin" and maybe "Manon" together next year, I might die of happiness (after seeing them, of course. )!

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.)

Dan Wakin told me City Ballet is phasing out the use of the 3rd and 4th ring - in effect closing them. Apparently they were not filling their house. They will only open the third and fourth ring for certain performances - I guess for the big sellers, like Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Romeo & Juliet. That is NEWS.

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.

Puppytreats please don't stop posting.

Ardent ballet fans are all over the house front and back.

I just know that my ballet budget can't be extended any further, so if prices go up in the fourth ring I will be at that many fewer performances and there will be an empty seat where there could have been one very happy balletgoer.

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.

This is in response to puppytreats, who suggests that people who pay less for tickets and sit in the back, are not "true" ballet fans. Au contraire!

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.

Let's see. Premium orchestra seats at the Met can go for more than $200-300 depending on location. Lower box seats at a Yankees game go for more than that. Top tickets to Wicked are over $300 at the box office. Other top broadway show orchestra seats run $150-175. So the most expensive ticket at City Ballet goes for $119 for a subscriber, or $149 for single sale. Considering all that, I feel City Ballet is a good investment for seeing a world-renown performing arts company.

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.

I am going to rearrange my schedule to fit in more Bright Stream, if I haven't bought tickets for NYCB, the Cubans and the Danes, I'd have bought more tickets.

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.