Nutcracker Advice, Please...

[Beatrice]

Hi Everyone,

I'm having a few issues trying to make plans to see The Nutcracker this year and I was hoping that since some of you are so familiar with NYCB, you could give me some suggestions.

I fell in love with City Ballet early last spring and I spent the following weeks attending 2-3 perfomances a week for the remainder of the season. This gave me just enough time to get to "know" the company fairly well right before I moved five hours away in Sept. The problem is now that I have pretty strong opinions on who I love and who I'm most interested in seeing, but I no longer have the flexibility to base my attendance as easily on the casting. I also have a new job, so weekday performances, while not out of the question, are not something that I easily can do regularly at a moment's notice. I also know that The Nutcracker sales are much different than regular season and performances are likely to sell out.

So basically, what I'm trying to figure out here are "my odds". Without stating names, there is one ballerina whom I would really rather not see as the Sugar Plum Fairy. There is another dancer whom I'd love to see. I suspect both of those individuals would have a good chance of getting cast this year. There are also several other dancers whom I could picture being cast and who I would be perfectly happy to see. In everyone's experience, how many dancers are usually rotated in that role? And without placing judgement on one dancer or another, could some of the "experts" out there give me an educated guess as to whom they think would end up in the role this season (if this is something that shouldn't be posted because of the speculative nature, I would love it if you could PM me). I certainly don't think that anyone is guaranteeing casting, I'm just wondering who people who are familiar with the company would not be surprised to see in the role. I'd also love to hear some reviews of dancers that you've seen

I guess that the few ideas that I'm thinking of would be to buy tickets for a weeknight in advance and hope for the best, wait until casting is up and hope for the best in terms of getting a weeknight seat and managing time off of work, or buying tickets to both a matinee and an evening performance on a weekend and selling the tickets to the cast I like less on ebay.

There's a major ballet company where I currently live, but I've grown to really love "my" company, and I would much rather make the trip back to New York to see them.

If anyone can give me some words of wisdom, I would really appreciate it. Man, this was so much easier to manage from the Upper East Side.

Thank you so much.

[carbro]

Hah! Good luck trying to guess casting for Nuts!

All of the principal women (except Kistler and probably Somogyi) dance Sugar Plum Fairy, and most also dance Dew Drop. Among the soloists, Kathryn Morgan and Ana Sophia Scheller have danced both, and I believe Erica Pereira has also danced both (I know she has danced DD). So trying to figure out who's dancing when is close to impossible.

That said, the odds are pretty good that you won't end up seeing your must-avoid. However, the converse is also true -- same odds are against your getting your favored ballerina.

Huge, huge generalization: The first week is shared by the senior dancers -- expect Whelan, Borree, Kowroski to be cast then -- and as the month progresses, the more junior dancers get their shots. Major role debuts (DD and SPF) usually happen in Weeks 3 and 4, sometimes latter half of Week 2.

In recent years, the Nuts I've attended haven't been sold out, but also this year, there are fewer orchestra seats due to the reconfiguration. If you're willing to be flexible with your seating (i.e., consider Fourth Ring), I'd suggest you wait until casts are announced.

[richard53dog]

Hah! Good luck trying to guess casting for Nuts!

All of the principal women (except Kistler and probably Somogyi) dance Sugar Plum Fairy, and most also dance Dew Drop. Among the soloists, Kathryn Morgan and Ana Sophia Scheller have danced both, and I believe Erica Pereira has also danced both (I know she has danced DD). So trying to figure out who's dancing when is close to impossible.

That said, the odds are pretty good that you won't end up seeing your must-avoid. However, the converse is also true -- same odds are against your getting your favored ballerina.

Huge, huge generalization: The first week is shared by the senior dancers -- expect Whelan, Borree, Kowroski to be cast then -- and as the month progresses, the more junior dancers get their shots. Major role debuts (DD and SPF) usually happen in Weeks 3 and 4, sometimes latter half of Week 2.

In recent years, the Nuts I've attended haven't been sold out, but also this year, there are fewer orchestra seats due to the reconfiguration. If you're willing to be flexible with your seating (i.e., consider Fourth Ring), I'd suggest you wait until casts are announced.

This is a fine "roadmap" of how the casting seems to have worked for the recent past. I never noticed these trends before myself but I think they are quite valid observations.

Let me throw in the obvious....injuries/indispositions/substitutions. These can and do turn the casting strategies upside down.

I went to one Nutcracker last December, thinking I had carefully avoided my "MUST NOT SEE" SPF and was going to see one of the dancers I wanted to see but alas my choice was out and sure enough my "must avoid" was the replacement.

I'm willing to do standing room so this year I will wait until the "day of".

[DeborahB]

Excellent advice, Carbro. I'm guessing that Jeni Ringer, Tess Reichlen, Sara Mearns, and Kaitlyn Gilliland (already did the role last year), among others, will also be cast in "Nuts" in December. Truly, it is a roll of the dice when you order tickets in advance. Casting usually goes up two weeks at a time, so it's best to wait if you want to see one particular dancer over another (then hope that you don't see that long white piece of "Illness and Injuries" paper sticking out of the program). On a more cheerful note, I can't wait to see who they "try out" later in the run.

[DeborahB]

I also wanted to add that the first ring sides do not sell out (for most performances, in fact).

Last year that were the same price as the orchestra. They are a good bet for same day performances.

[liebs]

Most of the principals will be in DC for a week at the Kennedy Center in December. Does that help you?

[DeborahB]

Most of the principals will be in DC for a week at the Kennedy Center in December. Does that help you?

It's actually less than a week -- December 9-13th. Also, DC

is less than 2.5 hours on the Acela, so it's easy for the dancers to go back and forth.

So even for those few days, I don't think we can conclude that principals will not be appearing in "The Nutcracker."

[Helene]

Many dancers, regardless of rank, guest elsewhere -- often for benefits for the local company or as thanks to the schools that nurtured them early -- in the pre-Christmas lead-up. Often, there are advance newspaper articles announcing the performances, many of which are listed in Links each December.

[hbl]

The best way is to check the cast posting on the web site. They usually post casts a week or two in advance. Or they try to anyway. The NUT is famous for having switched casts - so you can never be certain who is dancing what when. But the posted castings are still the best source.

As for tickets - my guess is that since you want to come in on a weekend it may be harder to get last minute tickets.

The other thing you should know about is "Ticket Donations". These are tickets from people who can't use their tickets and they donate them to the company for a tax credit. The tickets are sold in the left side of the lobby starting exactly 30 minutes before curtain time. They will take a check - but no credit card. They operate independently of the box office (and compete with them which is why they aren't allowed to advertise it as much as they should). I am not sure how many they get for the Nut, but I do believe they must get some. They almost always have tickets for non-Nut programs. These are then usually subscriber seats and tend to be some of the best seats. If there is bad weather they are almost guaranteed to have tons of tickets.

Good luck.

[Beatrice]

Most of the principals will be in DC for a week at the Kennedy Center in December. Does that help you?

Does that mean I'd have a better chance of seeing a soloist in the roles?

[carbro]

Not necessarily.

[carbro]

I just posted Week 1 casting here. You can keep up with changes here.

My prediction as to who'd be dancing SPFs and DDs the first week was a big miss. The junior-er principal women have taken over.