abatt

NYCB has never done Bright Stream. You may be thinking of Ratmansky's Russian Seasons, which was performed by NYCB a few years ago and has since been picked up by other companies.

Thanks. I was already planning on seeing both of those Bayadere performances, but now I'm looking forward to it even more..

I just looked at Bouder's twitter page, where she notes that Divert. 15 was a little "speedy" last night. She certainly didn't show any sign of being rushed.

I was at last night's performance as well. Bouder and Veyette were outstanding in Divert. 15. Despite the fast tempo, Bouder sailed through her killer variation. I'm liking Veyette more and more, and look forward to seeing him in new roles in the future. All the cast members were wonderful, with the exception of Borree. Balanchinette, I didn't think that the shaking was as awful as it has been in the past, but her footwork in her solo variation was a blurry mess. I liked Namoura very much (my second viewing), although I agree it is too long. My normally dull, long subway ride back to Queens after the performance took a wonderful twist last night. I noticed an older woman on the platform who was holding the NYCB playbill and we struck up a conversation about all things ballet during the 45 minute ride home. I learned that I was speaking with Madame Gabriela Darvash, who taught ballet to, among others, Nancy Raffa (of ABT). Thank you Madame Darvash, and I hope to see you again on the "R" train platform again soon!

I wish they would publish casting regarding the Bronze Idol role. It is a significant supporting role, after all.

The Tony Award nominations were announced today. Come Fly Away received two nominations- one for Karin Plantadit (spell?) for best supporting actress in a musical, the other for Twyla Tharp for best choreography. It failed to receive a best musical nom. On the other hand, it was a great day for Bill T. Jones. His Fela! received 11 nominations.

Interesting point Bart. I thought the crowd was very enthusiastic yesterday, and was most likely comprised largely of regular NYCB fans. In particular, Albert Evans received especially warm and loud applause since this is his last season. This indicates it was a very knowledgeable ballet crowd. In contrast, galas tend to be comprised largely of very wealthy people who want to be seen, and want to connect up with other rich, powerful people. I doubt many of them attend any ballet performances other than galas.

Yesterday's program was wonderful. It contained 3 Balanchine masterpieces- Concerto B., the 4 T's and Symphony in 3 Movements. Wendy Whelan was sublime in Concerto B., and it was great to see C. Askegard back. (I don't think he performed much, if at all, during the winter season). The other lead in Concerto B. was Ellen Bar. She and Wendy worked well together. T. Reichlin was outstanding in the Choleric section of 4 Ts. She was fearless in her space devouring movements. Sebastian Marcovici looked better than he has in quite some time. He had more flexibility in his upper body than in previous seasons. He performed the Melancholic variation. I liked J. Somogyi and T. Angle in the central pdd. This role seems to fit Somogyi well. Albert Evans had problems balancing on one leg in his Phlegmatic variation (in the section where he must hold his other leg.) He wobbled a great deal, and seemed perilously close to completely losing his balance. The enitre cast in Symphony in 3 Movements was wonderful, but Ulbricht was particularly sensational. He defies gravity.

I was at the Gala last night. I thought Millipied's new ballet (with its pretentious title, "Why Am I Not Where You Are") was a disappointment. However, the Ratmansky ballet is a keeper. Millipied's basic concept here was to have Sean Suozzi be the lone outsider, who is dressed all in white. He is surrounded by a stage full of people dressed in bright colors. Kathryn Morgan starts out as one of the people dressed in bright colors, and is apparently repulsed by outsider Suozzi. (In one scene, she touches Suozzi's chest, and then looks repulsively at her hand, as though she has just contracted lice. It was pretty funny, although it wasn't meant to be so.) Eventually, the people in bright colors, led by Amar Ramasar, put a colored vest and colored jacket on Suozzi. Presumably, Suozzi has now become one of the colored folks. But wait- there's more! Kathryn Morgan is eventually stripped of her colored costume, piece by piece, until she is stripped down to a white dress. Now she is the outsider! The drama, the suspense- NOT. The concept is a loosely based rip off of La Valve, but, unfortunately for Millipied, the choreograhy is not nearly as inventive. There are lots of people running around the stage, but none of it adds up to much. The audience reaction was very tepid. The most interesting thing about it was the contribution of Calatrava of an arc structure as part of the scenic design. The music was interesting, but, as has become typical of Millipied, the music is largely used to create a mood rather than as a foundation for the choreography. The new Ratmansky ballet was full of inventive patterns and steps, with wonderful choreography for Jenny Ringer, R. Fairchild and, especially, Wendy Whelan. There are some gasp inducing leaps for Danny Ulbricht too. The only negative was the costumes, which I thought were ugly (particularly the costumes and headwear for M. Fairchild and A. Stafford).

Is this the same award that Sarah Lane and Misty Copeland won one or two years ago? It doesn't seem to have done a lot for their careers to date, as neither is cast in any lead roles. In fact, Sarah Lane seems to be losing ground, since she is not even cast in the one lead role she has performed already (Aurora). Better luck and congrats to Ms. Messmer.

There was an article in yesterday's NY Times that discusses the 7 new ballets which are being choreographed this season, in case anyone is interested

I was looking at K. Morgan's twitter page, where she reports that Janie Taylor is injured and apparently may be replaced by K. Morgan at the opening night spring gala in the new Millipied ballet. Update : K Morgan's twitter page was updated. She confirms that she is replacing Taylor at the Spring Gala in the new Millipied ballet.

That is strange. I've only seen the role split once at ABT, when J. Kent was ill. Kent did Odile (on the theory that Odile requires less stage time), and Dvorovenko did Odette. I hope Part is okay.

The Met Opera brought back Tosca last week for a run of a few additional performances with a complete cast change from the Fall. (Matilla was to have sung these Toscas, but she withdrew.) Our new Tosca is Patricia Racette, Scarpia was sung by Bryn Terfel and Cavaradossi was sung by the dashing Jonas Kaufmann. This cast is winning raves in the press. I had the privilege of seeing it last week, and bumped into 2 ballet talkers there (nysusan and faux pas). This was my first time seeing the new production. The new production was awful, but the singers were wonderful. I think this cast will be broadcast on the Saturday afternoon radio broadcast this coming Saturday, if anyone is interested.

I'm guessing that Danny and the others who appeared picked up a nice paycheck for the DWTS appearance, and they were able to appear on national television. I miss seeing Tidwell at ABT, but I'm glad that he seems to be doing just fine for himself. By the way, does anyone know if he is still in the ensemble of Memphis on Broadway? If so, I'm guessing you will be able to see him on the Tony awards telecast if Memphis performs a number from the show.

I'm still awaiting receipt of subscription tickets from NYCB. I just got off the phone with the subscription office. They are mailing them out based on the series number, so the higher the series number, the longer the wait. They are in the process of mailing tickets for Series 12. I still have not received Series 12 or Series 17. Incredible. Also, the casting for opening night and for Sun May 2 is up on the NYCB website. Sara Mearns is doing double duty. She is cast in both new ballets on the opening night.

I finally got a chance to see this show last night. I had mixed feelings about it, and for the most part I enjoyed the second half more than the first. I thought a lot of the choreography in the first act was simplistic and generic. Much of it could have been easily executed by a mediocre regional ballet company. I guess I'm so used to seeing bravura choreography that I have difficulty enjoying more simplisitc, less difficult choreorgraphy. I believe that Tharp's choices regarding the choreography were driven by the reality that thesse dancers must perform 6 times per week, and many of her lead performers are not youngsters. In particular, there were times that I thought Keith Roberts looked like he was nearly out of gas. The lack of a plot didn't bother me in the least. I prefer to think of the show as a series of dance vignettes. In my opinion, there was no need to even give these "characters" names in the playbill. I enjoyed the choregraphy more in the second act, which focused on pdds. For me, the standout dance performance of the evening was That's Life, wtth Roberts and Plandatit. I had seen this number, from Sinatra Suite, performed at ABT a few years ago. The ABT performances were polite and genteel, but never caught fire. There was plenty of fire last night in this brilliantly executed pdd by performers who thankfully understood how to convey the character of the dance. I thought Plandatit was quite wonderful, as was Holly Farmer. On balance, I thought the show was entertaining, but perhaps not for an avid dance aficianado. It was a pleasure to hear a live orchestra play the Sinatra songbook. The insertion of Take Five was bizarre. I would have been happier without the female vocalist; her vocals, in my opinion detracted from the songs. It is unfortunate that Tharp decided to pander to the lowest common denominator in the audience by having her dancers strip down to their underwear. The lowest point in the show was when Plandatit crawled across the stage on all fours. Ms. Tharp was seated on the aisle taking copious notes. I was seated in the orchestra, and numerous rows in the back in the center and on the sides were empty. The audience seemed to enjoy the show immensely, and people in my vicinity who seemed to be dance newbies were blown away by the choreography and the dancers.

NYCB's online ticketing system has been problematic in the last 2 years, in my experience. I ordered twice on line. Once, the tickets they handed me when I arrived at the Box Office were different from the seats that were in my order confirmation. I couldn't complain, because the ones I received were actually better than the ones I had ordered, but it was very strange. The second time, I was overcharged on my credit card, and I would never have known about it but for the fact that I check my monthly statements very carefully. NYCB immediately refunded the amount of the overcharged to my card once I contacted the Box Office, but it was very strange and unsettling. I wonder how many other people may have been overcharged who do not carefully check their statements, and may have never even realized it.

Has anyone received subscription tickets yet. I still have not.

I received single farewell tickets this week, but still no subscription tickets. I think this is the longest I have ever waited to receive my spring season subscription tickets. Since I have to exchange several of them, the delay is very annoying. I called the subscription office, and was told that they are "in the process" of mailing out the subscription tickets "shortly". Either they are very understaffed, or very inefficiently run. Either way, they do not treat their subscribers very well. Other organizations mail subscriber tickets early, and also give subscribers priority exchange privielges before the box office opens to the public. Here, they first mail the tickets to subscribers after the box office opens to the public. Also, other organizations (NY Philharmonic) have a system in place whereby you can exchange subscription tickets on line and just mail in the ticket you are exchanging. No such option at NYCB! When they split their season into 3 separate subscription seasons (instead of 2) for the 2010-2011 season, how in the world will they keep up with that workload!?

Some of the TBA info has been filled in on the ABT website. Vishneva/Carreno will perform Thais pdd on June 8 and June 12. Also, Part's partner for Awakening pdd is Hallberg.

I read in today's NY Times that NYCB principal dancer Tiler Peck will be appearing on Dancing w Stars on Tuesday.

NYCB's website indicates that the opening night Gala will consist of the new Ratmansky ballet and the new Millipied ballet. By the way, has anyone received subscription tickets yet? I have more than one subscription (exact renewals of prior seasons), and my credit card was billed in Feb. 2010. I have not yet received any tickets. What takes them so long!?

I was looking at Ashley Bouder's Twitter page, which states that she is replacing Sara Mearns this weekend. She is dancing Utopia w. M. Gomes.

My pleasure! By the way, as a regular audience member at NYCB I have to concur with all the posts that praise Bouder's dancing. She is a wonderful dancer who always gives her audience 110 percent. She has never "phoned in" her performances and she takes enormous risks on stage. Most of the time the risk pays off with a thrilling performance; sometime she lands on her butt, but we love her all the more for her attempt. The seasons that she has been out with injuries have been among the dullest at NYCB.