abatt

I'm praying hard that the two TBAs for DonQ are Osipova and Vasiliev. As discussed previously on this board, ABT could use an infusion of an exciting male lead virtuoso. Now that Carreno is retiring, it would be great if ABT could develop a relationship w. Ivan Vasiliev.

They have not yet announced the casting for the secondary roles in Lady of the Cams. I'm guessing she will perform in that ballet, as she did last season. I also guess she may do a Lilac Fairy. That casting has not been announced either. Also, although principals often don't perform Mercedes in Don Q, I hope she is cast in that role. She missed her Mercedes performances last year due to injury.

Kent is doing White Swan Odette; Murphy is doing Black Swan Odile. Normally the role is not split, but since it is an honor for other principals to appear w. Carreno in his final show, they are doing a split. I'm hoping for Gomes as Purple Rothbart.

Corella is only listed for one performance- a Coppelia w. Herrera. This is sad. No Sarah Lane in any lead parts. Simkin is getting a Don Q., but his partner is Kajiya- not exactly my favorite dancer. Stella is not getting a Giselle- something many ballettalkers have been looking forward to for years. The new Giselle in town will be Hee Seo. Simkin and Ricetto in Coppelia?? That seems like an odd couple. I can't picture Ricetto as Swanilda.

I have friends who no longer will go to the movies because of the bedbug problem. It is a very serious problem here in NYC now.

I saw it when Lin Manuel Miranda was the lead on Broadway. I didn't expect to like the show, since I do not listen to rap or hip hop. However, he was a charming, charismatic presence on stage, and I really enjoyed the show. Maybe the touring cast isn't quite strong enough to have the same impact.

I attended yesterday's matinee, the final performance of the Fall season. I thought Plainspoken was tedious. It wasn't awful, but it was not something I would seek out again either. I also think it's a shame that Somogyi, who rarely performs anymore, was wasting her time in this ballet. On a happier note, Bouder was fantastic in S&S. Tiler Peck replaced Bouder in Tarantella. She was a delight. Danny Ulbricht was on fire. Please give this guy some more roles! Krohn was marvelous as the new lead in Glass Pieces. She is looking more and more like principal material with every new role she undertakes. Craig Hall, her partner, still needs some polish in the lead role.

I like Mearns in most everything she does, but S&S is one of her less stellar roles, in my opinion. Having Bouder in S&S today would be a great way to end the season.

I was there for part of the program on Tues. (Had to leave after Tchai pdd). Maria was gorgeous, as always, in Chaconne. However, I think Tyler Angle needs some improvement as her partner. There was one rocky moment in particular where she had a difficult turn, and Tyler Angle botched the partnering. A momentary look of fear came over Maria's face. Also, Tyler Angle is much too short to partner Maria. Tiler Peck's approach to Tchaii pdd is considerably more graceful and lyrical than Bouder's. I felt Bouder was more exciting and thrilling because Bouder is so aggressive in her attack. Virtuosity comes easily to DeLuz, and Tues. night was no exception.

Hi everyone. My husband and I saw the new production of Rheingold on Sept 30. The singing was first rate. Particularly impressive were Eric Owens (Alberich) and Stephanie Blythe (Fricka). The orchestra was magnificent, and the audience loudly cheered the return of Jimmy Levine to the podium. The new production has many wonderful moments, but overall I didn't care for it. One of the most spectacular effects is when the Rhinemaidens hang (or "fly") in front of projections of water and rocks. The ascent into Valhalla at the end of the opera was also pretty amazing. You can check out some photos of that effect on the NY Times website. (That was the special effect that notoriously failed at the opening night Gala.) As many of you have read, the set designed by Lepage consists of a large number of planks which rotate. For most of the opera, the singers either stand on the stage apron and sing, or stand on the planks and sing. Frequently, there is nothing projected on to the planks. Often, I felt like the scenery did nothing to evoke a time or place. Whereas I felt that Lepage's production of The Damnation of Faust was too busy in terms of the amount of projections used, in this production I felt that the projections were insufficient in number and frequency to provide any scenic details or interest. Moreover, sometimes characters (or, more accurately their acrobatic doubles) enter the stage by rolling down planks, after which the singer emerges from below the stage. I found that to be an idiotic way of having characters enter or leave. Even more problematic is that after Fafner kills his brother, the dead body rolls down a plank, evoking laughter in the audience. This is a serious moment in the opera, and Lepage destroyed it. I find it hard to believe that this production could have cost so much money. I will miss the old production, which always evoked the scenic elements, unobtrusively, with detail and beauty. As for the costumes, I thought Wotan's was particularly bad. Terfel looked silly and overweight. He hardly looked like a leader of the gods. His wig with a mess of stringy hair covering his left eye made him look even worse. I would be very interested in reading other opinions, if anyone attends the HD or live in the house.

NYCB has again changed the program for Tues. In place of Grazioso they will perform Tchai pdd and Stravinsky Violin Concerto. Casts of those are TBA.

Update on Program Change: The casting sheet in the lobby of the theater indicates that on Tues Oct 5 Barber Violin Concerto will replace Grazioso. I attended both the afternoon and evening performance on Saturday. I thought the Magic Flute was charming. Tiler Peck and J. DeLuz were wonderful. Bouder was outstanding in S&S. Veyette did a good job, but I often think that his dancing sometimes looks very effortful when he is attempting to perform virtuoso roles that are slightly beyond his technical reach. Muller danced her 2nd campaign role very small. Abi was fine in CB. She still needs time to grow into the role, though. I can't understand why they just debuted T. Reichlin in the role last season, but didn't give her the role again this season. I also would have been interested to see Lydia Wellington, who did the role about a year ago. Oh well. Who knows how casting works over at NYCB. J. Stafford did very well in his debut in Serenade. Ringer's performance as the Waltz Girl always is full of drama and depth. She was wonderful, as was Bouder as the Russian Girl. Bouder dances the role with such amplitude. Krohn was cast as the Dark Angel. I skipped Interplay. The final ballet on the program was B-S Quartet. Somogyi made her sole appearance for the season in the first movement, and was partnered by Marcovici. Reichlin replaced Lowery in the secondary role. That was luxury casting.Marcovici had problems with his jumps. They were sloppy and poorly executed. In the second movement, Hyltin and J. Angle were wonderful. Janie replaced Megan Fairchild in the third movement, partnered by Veyette. Her dancing looked a bit tentative. Kowrowski and Askegard looked like they were having the time of their lives in the exuberant Rondo.

I looked at the website for Kew Gardens Cinema, and it lists the date for this screening as Sunday, Dec 19.

The program has been changed for tomorrow evening (for the worse). Opus 19 The Dreamer has been deleted, and in its place we get Interplay - one of my least favorite ballets in the rep. Obviously, this was prompted by the G. Garcia illness/injury issue. Very disappointing. I wanted to see J. Taylor in Opus. I assume that they may change the program for next Tuesday, where Garcia is cast in Grazioso. If they plan on making a program change, I wish they would just announce it now, so that I can change my plans. I cannot sit through another Interplay or Barber Violin Concerto this season.

Hi. I was there last night too. Ramasar replaced Garcia in Dances Concertantes. Not one of my fav Balanchine pieces, to be sure. Ramasar did fine, although he was not as good as either Veyette or Garcia in the role. He probably didn't have much notice. By the way, tonight's program has been changed. Grazioso is removed, and Barber Violin Concerto is inserted in its place. This leads me to believe that someone (Garcia?) is too injured to perform in Grazioso. (Garcia is cast in Luce Nascosta tonight, but his role is not very demanding.) Back to last night's show. Bouder was wonderful in Tschai pdd. The stage was almost too small for her bold attack. Veyette was very good, but my gold standard for the male role is Angel Corella and Damian Woetzel. I had not seen Barber for many years. I recall tha that the last time I saw it Jock Soto and Darci were cast. Jared Angle paled in comparison to my memories of Jock. However, the highlight was the absolutely breathtaking performance of Sara Mearns. I'm a big fan of Estancia, so I enjoyed seeing it again. I like Fairchild, but I thought her dancing was not aggressive or risky enough. I kept picturing in my mind what a Paul Taylor dancer could have done with the role. I also saw last Saturday's matinee. This was the first time I've seen Hyltin in Duo Concertante. She was excellent, but there was not much chemistry with Jared Angle. P.S.: Garcia was replaced by Adrian D-W is Luce on Wed evening

Didn't Sarah Lane also do T&V with Cornejo? I remember that I like her performance, but Cornejo's partnering was problematic.

LOL! I think the only name that would be more reviled than Koch right now would be the British Petroleum Theater.

There is an editorial in the NY Times regarding the Koch Brothers' financing of a campaign to undo California's AB32 clean energy legislation. The upshot of the opinion is that the only winners if the legislation is repudiated are the Koch brothers and the Chinese, who "are already moving briskly ahead in the clean technology race." The article notes that the biggest losers will be California and the planet.

I saw performances on Thursday evening, Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. I have to agree with the post above about J. Stafford. He had nothing of interest to say during the curtain speech. Janie Taylor improved on her Waltz Girl performance in Serenade on Sat afternoon. It was considerably better than on opening night. Megan also improved, but I agree with the post above that she is dancing small in this role. Bouder was excellent in Fall in the Four Seasons. I thought Veyette was pretty good, but there is definitely room for improvement. Tiler Peck was incredible in Who Cares. In my opinion, her rendition is better than anyone else I have ever seen in the role (Nichols, Weese, Ringer, to name a few). Her background in Broadway performance style makes a huge difference here. Amar Ramasar improved since I saw him last Spring in Who Cares. He was really stiff in this last year. It was good to see Nzmouna again. Most of the choreography still dazzles. Tyler Angle is not as exciting in the lead as Robbie Fairchild. The other leads (Whelan, Ringer, Mearns, Ulbricht, M. Fairchild and A. Stafford) were wonderful. I think I've seen enough of Interplay. It's one of those Robbins ballet I can withstand in small doses only. Chase Finlay did an excellent job in partnering S. Hyltin, but he had an unfortunate slip during his big jumping solo. (He did not fall, though.)

Very exciting news! I better start saving up now.

I didn't think that introducing the dancers in their street clothes prior to curtain had a negative impact, or demystified the performance. However, I think that curtain speeches by the dancers every night this week is overkill.

Last night's performance was packed. It looks like lowering the prices is the way to fill every seat in the house. Peter Martins gave a curtain speech about how his dream of presenting a fall season has finally come true. He noted that it was due to a number of factors, including City Opera. He stopped short of saying how or why City Opera made this possible, but I'm sure everyone in the audience was well aware of City Opera's perilous financial condition. He thanked all of his principal dancers, and brought them all before the curtain for a bow. The only principal who was not in attendance was Millipied who is "somewhere in France", according to Martins. There is a new photo exhibit featuring photos of the principals on the walls at the Promenade level. I thought Janie Taylor was sublime, intensely romantic and dramatic as the Waltz Girl in Serenade. I'm guessing her future performances of the role will be even better. It was good to see Askegard back, and he did an excellent job. He was a wonderful partner for Janie. Sara Mearns was gorgeous as the Dark Angel, with extreme arching of her back that heightened the drama. I only wish that Ask LaCour could manage to rotate the Dark Angel's leg in a less obvious fashion, so that her long skirt doesn't become all tangled. I was disappointed with Megan Fairchild as the Russian Girl. Her jumps were small and underpowered. Even in the easy sections, like skipping, she sometimes did not complete her phrasing. Grazioso was a tour de force for Bouder, Veyette, Garcia and Ulbricht. There are many difficult technical demands in this ballet, and Ulbricht in particular wowed the crowd with effortless, gravity-defying jumps. Last but not least was the Four Seasons. Pereira was adorable in the Winter section. Ringer and J. Angle were wonderful in spring. Ramasar and Krhon have improved in Summer since I last saw them. Krohn, in particular, has added new dimensions of sultry sexiness to her role. Tiler Peck and DeLuz danced with brilliant abandon in Fall. Carmena was good as the puckish faun, but he lacks the technical facility of other recent interpreters of the role at NYCB. It was an excellent start to the season.

I agree with this comment. Many of the poses are too static. This also became readily apparent to me last night when I saw new photo exhibit of the principal dancers at the Koch Theater. (There are now principal dancer photos, taken by the same photographer who did the photos for the print ad campaign, displayed on the Promenade Level.) Many of the photos either had the dancer with arms crossed, or with hands on hips. They needed to come up with more interesting, less repetitive, static poses. That's the primary weakness of the photos, in my opinion.

I too am looking forward to the return of Taylor. I don't see R. Fairchild listed for any of his normal roles. Is he injured? That would be a shame. I was so looking forward to seeing him in Who Cares, Opus 19 and Namouna, to name only a few.

The photos somehow make ballet seem more accessible to the average person. While I enjoy posters with people in tutus and full makeup, I think those types of photos make ballet seem stuffy to people who have never attended. The current photo campaign is, in my opinion, very similar to the types of photos Ailey has been using for a number of years. (The Ailey photos are more sexually suggestive than the NYCB photos.)