abatt

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.

Empty seats at ABT

Across the Plaza one can see

"Jewels" so bright and danced with glory

Pas de Deux that need no story?

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 honestly can't wait to see Vishneva/Gomes again tomorrow! I convinced about 10 of my friends to go, so hopefully they will end up on the 'love it' rather than the 'hate it' side!

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.

I went to the encore performance yesterday at Big Cinema Manhattan. My guess is tha they sold approx. 40% of the seats. I'm enjoying these broadcasts very much. Coppelia will never be one of my favorite ballets, but I enjoyed seeing the Bolshoi production. There is far less dancing for Franz in this production than the one at NYCB.

There are many boring interludes in this ballet, but the pdds between the leading dancers are, in my opinion, breathtaking. I thought Vishneva and Gomes were thrilling and enthralling. Those two bring out the best in one another, and can make mediocre choreography look better than it is. They were passionate and danced with abandon in their scenes together.

They are compelling dramatic dancers, so I can put up with the boring segments of the ballet as I wait for their pdds.

We got some unexpected drama when Hammoudi badly botched a lift of Messmer and nearly dropped her on the floor.

Part and Tamm were very good in the secondary leading roles.

I saw two different casts in Jewels over the weekend. Tiler Peck had a spectacular debut in the Verdy role in Emeralds. Her musicality and phrasing were exceptional. This role has been badly miscast in recent seasons. It was a pleasure to finally see someone in the role who could perform it well. Mearns did the walking duet. As always, she was breathtaking. The alternatate cast, with Abi Stafford and Ringer, was not as satisfying.

In Rubies, I've never been a fan of Megan Fairchild in the lead. She plays it cute, but lacks sophistication. I thought DeLuz, as her partner, did very well. He is technical wizard, and has the bravado style for the role. Lowery did the tall girl role. I much preferred the Bouder/Garcia/Reichlin cast. Reichlin owns the tall girl role at the moment. It is one of her signature roles. Rubies is perfectly suited to Bouder's extroverted style, and she performed with incredible speed and precision.

Whelan was partnered with Tyler Angle in Diamonds. This is becoming a frequent partnership at NYCB, but I could not believe for a second that he was her cavalier. Wendy did a lovely job in the pdd, but in her solos she tended to clip her movements short in order to keep up with the music. I preferred the pairing of Askegard and Kowrowski. She is a lush, grand dancer with sky high extensions. She is wonderful in Diamonds, and Askegard was a perfect partner. (By the way, Maria did not fall on Sat., and appeared to be fine after her fall on Thursday.)

Sadly I will miss Mearns' Diamonds performances this season, but I'm looking forward to seeing her in the Tall Girl role in Rubies at Dancers' Choice.

I can't disagree with them for raising prices, since all arts organizations seem to be doing that. However, the pricing structure that they have come up with is illogical and unfair. Yes, it seems designed to stick it to many NYCB subscribers (myself included). The price differential now between the various rings is ludicrous. They are charging almost as much for the front of the 4th ring as for certain orchestra locations. I also object to the lack of transparency regarding the pricing system. There is no info whatsoever in the subscription materials regarding what seat number ranges fall within each particular price range. What kind of organization publishes a subscription booklet with no prices? In contrast to the poor way that NYCB has done this, take a look at what Gelb has done at the MET. The subscription brochures from the MET are very specific in laying out the pricing structure and identifying which specific seats cost more that the other seats in each section. Additionally, while they are raising prices on certain subscribers by substantial amounts, they still are failing to provide the perks that every other organization provides to subscribers. Most other venues at Lincoln Center give subscribers a priority exchange week before the box office opens to the public. In contrast, NYCB almost always mails out tickets to subscribers AFTER the box office opens, thereby diminshing possibilities to exchange into what you want. I raised this with someone in subscriptions, and was given a litany of excuses about why the tickets will not be sent on time.

They are not selling well on most nights under the current system, so I doubt they will be increasing their audience with this new system. Whoever hatched this plan is going to see it backfire, BIG TIME.

Natalia, you attempted to go into the MET royal box. Usually the ushers there are ready to draw weapons if you don't belong there.

Here's a link to a NY Times article regarding NYCB's Chase Finlay and the amazing season he is having:

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/index.html

I have to agree wtih the favorable comments regarding Hee Seo's debut as Giselle. She was lovely and lyrical. Hallberg and Abrera were also splendid. There were once again some partnering issues in the peasant pas between Simkin and Lane, but their indvidual performances were excellent.

I love this line from Gottlieb's review, re Seven Deadly Sins: "Sloth, Pride, Anger, Gluttony, Lust, Avarice, Envy? No. Taylor-Corbett's sins were deadlier: Blandness, boredom, confusion, vacuity, dreariness, pointlessness, pretention [sic]."

For the 2011-12 season, they are once again programming every performance of Vienna Waltzes with the Seven Deadly Sins.

This just in from the NY Times:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/at-ballet-theater-popping-the-question-after-the-plie/?ref=arts

I can't add much to the superlatives regarding the performances of Friday and Saturday evening. I had seen Vishneva many times before, so I knew what to expect from her Giselle. I had never seen Cojocaru's Giselle. She was stunning. This suited her much more than Kitri. I also saw the matinee. It wasn't on the same level of artistry as the Fri and Sat evenining performances, but it was pretty good. I was interested in seeing Kobberg, in particular. He is a marvelous actor and dancer, but the lack of any connection or chemistry between him and Dvorovenko caused the performance to be less impressive. Also, Dvorovenko is not particularly good at portraying frailty. Thank you ABT for a marvelous weekend of Giselles! Hope Murphy comes back soon.

FYI, Radetsky danced in the new Millipied last night, but he was replaced by Jared Matthews in the new Wheeldon work.

I saw the program on Tues evening from the balcony and on Wed evening from the orchestra. (I exchanged my tickets for the second cast tonight, as I could not fathom seeing this program again). I'll start with the positive. I immensely enjoyed the new Wheeldon ballet and I would see it again in a heartbeat. The choreography was inventive and musical. The performances were excellent, particularly the Murphy-Hallberg pdd. I hope they bring this back very soon. A winner in every way.

Other than the Wheeldon ballet, I felt that the program was a dud. I can't understand how Millepied has become a sought after choreographer. Though the dancers he utilized were stellar,the choreography is not sophisticated or musical. I agree with the post above that it looked like a student workshop ballet. IN fact, I bet a lot of workshop ballets are better than this.

Hard to believe that Shadowplay is a Tudor ballet. I love the Leaves Are Fading and Lilac Garden. I was bored silly with the choreography in Shadowplay.

The Ratmansky ballet looked a lot better close up in the orchestra than from the balcony. An intimate setting would help this ballet. On the Met stage, it was swallowed up and looked insignificant. However, even in a more intimate setting I think the choreography is a bit bland. Ratmansky's best rep ballets have been at NYCB (Concerto DSCH, Namouna), not ABT.

Onwards to Giselle!

I saw Millepied strolling w. Ms. Portman this evening in front of the Met Opera House. Millepied's new ballet premiered tonight at ABT (well, it's a New York premiere).

I spoke to a very helpful man at the box office today. It appears that NYCB has changed seat pricing. My seats, that I've had for about 30 years, just went up approximately 35%. I love NYCB but I may have to give up my subscription for good. They are offering better seats at the same price but it's still a lot of money for 6 performances - over $1K!

Yes, they seem to have increased prices drastically. I think they will end up losing customers. Enough is enough.

As for the flower girls, Boylston certainly stole the show from Lane, in my opinion. Perhaps she held some of the balances a little too long when she should've been trying to stay in synch with Lane, but she projected to the audience and grabbed my attention every time. Her grand jetes and some of her extensions were very impressive too. I really wanted to like Lane, but she just didn't have the same "look at me" quality for me.

For me, Boylston's "look at me" routine was inappropriate. Her objective should have been to be in sync w. Lane and the music. Instead, she chose to hold her balance for as long as possible at the expense of the choreography (The bubble over her head would read, "Hey Kevin. I'm good at balancing. How about a promotion?"). She left Lane, who kept time with the music, in an awkward position. Sometimes you have to be a team player in a ballet company.

Chase Finlay, I hate to say, looked wiped out, and I don’t blame him, he’s had an amazing season and is still so young. He didn’t do a bad job, just a tired one.

Martins may be killing Finlay with kindness by casting him in so many new leading roles. Finlay is debuting in yet another role this week - Tony in West Side Story Suite (per casting on line). Millepied - NYCB's phantom employee -was originally listed for that role this week, but Finlay is replacing him.

I'm happy to report that Cojocaru was considerably better on Monday evening than her prior performance on Friday. She sailed through all of the technical challenges with sparkling technique and a much more relaxed demeanor. Brava Alina! Ricetto had an awful night as Dryad Queen. She fell off pointe twice during the Italian fouettes section.