Nutcracker

[bingham]

ABT will have a new Nutcracker by A Ratmansky in 2010 according to NYT

[Dale]

I think it's great that ABT will be utilizing BAM. I'm not a fan of the Ratmansky Nutcracker for the RDB (it's been said on these boards by RDB experts that Ratmansky was stuck with the outlines of that production before he got started), so I hope it's more like his Corsaire production than his Cinderella.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/arts/dan...1&ref=dance

[Dale]

A press release after the news conference this morning:

WORLD PREMIERE OF ALL-NEW PRODUCTION OF

THE NUTCRACKER CHOREOGRAPHED BY

ALEXEI RATMANSKY SCHEDULED FOR DECEMBER 23, 2010 AT BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC

LEAD MATCHING GIFT OF $2.5 MILLION FROM DAVID KOCH

TO UNDERWRITE PRODUCTION

HOLIDAY ENGAGEMENT MARKS NEW

FIVE-YEAR PARTNERSHIP WITH BAM

New York, NY - American Ballet Theatre Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky will choreograph an all-new production of the Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky classic, The Nutcracker to premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in December 2010. ABT’s World Premiere of The Nutcracker was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie at a press conference held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker will feature scenery and costumes by Richard Hudson and lighting by Jennifer Tipton. The Nutcracker will receive its World Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on Thursday evening, December 23, 2010 and will be given 16 performances during the two-week engagement, with preview performances given Wednesday evening, December 22 and Thursday matinee, December 23.

American Ballet Theatre’s new production of The Nutcracker launches a five-year partnership with Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). ABT will perform the holiday classic each December through 2014. ABT’s inaugural season at BAM will be a two-week engagement, with three and four-week engagements planned for subsequent seasons. The partnership was announced today by ABT Executive Director Rachel Moore.

“BAM is an extraordinary institution, committed to artistic excellence, and we cannot think of a better collaborator for our performances in Brooklyn,” said Moore. “The opportunity to broaden our reach and engage new audiences in this vibrant community is immeasurably important to ABT and its mission.”

BAM President Karen Brooks Hopkins said, "This is a partnership made in heaven! We are delighted to be working with the extraordinary artists and leaders of American Ballet Theatre and are particularly pleased that our association will bring a beloved holiday classic to Brooklyn for years to come. These performances will thrill audiences of all ages and provide residual benefits to business establishments in the BAM neighborhood at large. New York is ready for a fabulous new Nutcracker, and we couldn't be happier that it will have a special home at BAM."

BAM Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo said, “It is enormously gratifying to welcome American Ballet Theatre back to BAM after many years. We’re honored to partner with ABT and we’re especially excited to have Alexei Ratmansky’s new Nutcracker on the stage of the Howard Gilman Opera House for holiday seasons to come.”

LEAD MATCHING GIFT BY DAVID H. KOCH

Underwriting American Ballet Theatre’s new production of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker will be a lead matching gift from David H. Koch of $2.5 million. The gift is a matching grant with funds raised for The Nutcracker matched 1:1 by Koch.

Of his gift, Koch said, “I am delighted to make this pledge to American Ballet Theatre and its new production of The Nutcracker. ABT can benefit greatly from direct access to the burgeoning family-filled neighborhoods of Brooklyn, and the community, in turn, can develop a lasting relationship with this most important artistic institution. It is my hope that my pledge will inspire others to donate to this wonderful project.”

COMMUNITY OUTREACH: ABT at School

In announcing American Ballet Theatre’s five-year holiday engagement at BAM, Executive Director Rachel Moore spoke of community-related educational opportunities that will accompany ABT’s performances. “ABT regularly engages with area public schools in the cities which we perform. Our award winning Make a Ballet program and Make a Ballet on Tour help meet the need for arts education in underserved schools and communities,” said Moore. “We intend to carry on that tradition with public schools in Brooklyn through ABT at School: The Nutcracker Program.”

ABT at School, specifically tailored for grades 2-5, sponsors classroom visits by ABT teaching artists to introduce the art of ballet to young people, foster an appreciation for the performing arts and develop and educate future audiences. ABT at School will also invite its students to a special dress rehearsal of The Nutcracker and distribute study guides to enable teachers to incorporate the arts into their regular classroom lessons.

In addition to ABT at School, American Ballet Theatre will host a series of master classes led by a member of ABT’s artistic staff. These classes will be geared specifically to aspiring young dancers in Brooklyn. Prior to select performances, families will have opportunities to work with ABT teaching artists to explore ABT's new production of The Nutcracker. Special hands-on activities will include storytelling, crafts and creative movement.

THE ARTISTS

Alexei Ratmansky (Choreography) was born in St. Petersburg and trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow. His performing career included positions as principal dancer with Ukrainian National Ballet, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet. He has choreographed ballets for the Dutch National Ballet, Kirov Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Royal Swedish Ballet, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and the State Ballet of Georgia, under the artistic direction of former ABT Principal Dancer Nina Ananiashvili. His 1998 work, Dreams of Japan, choreographed for Ms. Ananiashvili, earned a prestigious Golden Mask Award by the Theatre Union of Russia. In 2005, he was awarded the Benois de la Danse prize for his choreography of Anna Karenina for the Royal Danish Ballet.

Mr. Ratmansky was named artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet in January 2004. For the Bolshoi Ballet, he choreographed full-length productions of The Bright Stream (2003) and The Bolt (2005) and re-staged Le Corsaire (2007) and the Soviet-era Flames of Paris (2008). Under Mr. Ratmansky’s direction, the Bolshoi Ballet was named “Best Foreign Company” in 2005 and 2007 by The Critics’ Circle in London, and he received aCritics’ Circle National Dance Award for The Bright Stream in 2006. In 2007, he won a Golden Mask Award for Best Choreographer for his production of Jeu de Cartes for the Bolshoi Ballet.

Mr. Ratmansky was named American Ballet Theatre’s first Artist in Residence in January 2009. For ABT, he has created On the Dnieper, Seven Sonatas and Waltz Masquerade, a pièce d’occasion for Nina Ananiashvili.

Richard Hudson (Scenery and Costumes) was born in Zimbabwe and attended the Wimbledon School of Art in England. He is the British Scenography Commissioner to OISTAT (Organization Internationale des Scenografes, Techniciens et Architects de Théâtre) and a Royal Designer for Industry (RDI). In 1988 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Set Design for his work at the Old Vic and in 1998, Mr. Hudson was awarded the Tony Award for his set designs for The Lion King. Mr. Hudson’s designs for The Lion King also garnered him the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design. He has designed sets and costumes for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, the Young Vic and The Gate, London. He has designed operas for the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera House, Opéra National de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Vienna State Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and in Zürich, Munich, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Venice, Florence , Turin, Houston and Washington. In 2003, Mr. Hudson won the Gold Medal for Set Design at the Prague Quadrennial for his designs for Tamerlano at the Teatro alla Pergola, Florence.

Jennifer Tipton (Lighting) was born in Columbus, Ohio and attended Cornell University. Among her numerous awards and citations are two “Bessies” and a Laurence Olivier Award for lighting dance, a Drama-League Award, two American Theatre Wing Awards, an Obie, two Drama Desk Awards and two Tony Awards (The Cherry Orchard and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway), the National Endowment for the Arts Theatre Program Distinguished Artist Award, the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 2001, the Jerome Robbins Prize in 2003 and the Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture in New York City in 2004. In 2008, Ms. Tipton became the United States Artists Gracie Fellow and a MacArthur Fellow.

Ms. Tipton’s work in opera includes Richard Jones’ production of Hansel und Gretel and David McVicar’s production of Il Trovatore for the Metropolitan Opera and Aida directed by Mr. McVicar at the Royal Opera House in London.

Ms. Tipton teaches lighting at Yale School of Drama and has been an artistic associate with the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge and the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Ms. Tipton’s lighting has been represented in American Ballet Theatre’s repertory since A Soldier’s Tale in 1971. Among the many ballets in the Company’s repertory that she has lit are Amnon V’Tamar, Bach Partita, Ballet Imperial, Brief Fling, Bruch Violin Concerto No.1, Bum’s Rush, Don Quixote (Kitri’s Wedding), Enough Said, Field, Chair and Mountain, Gala Performance, Giselle, The Informer, Intermezzo, In the Upper Room, The Leaves are Fading, Mikhail Baryshnikov’s production of The Nutcracker, The Other, Push Comes to Shove, Sinatra Suite and Stravinsky Violin Concerto.

ABOUT DAVID KOCH

David H. Koch, a member of American Ballet Theatre’s Board of Governing Trustees for the past 25 years, is an executive vice president and a board member of the privately owned Koch Industries, Inc., based in Wichita, Kansas, which owns a diverse group of companies with more than $100 billion in revenues, 80,000 employees and a presence in nearly 60 countries. Familiar Koch companies’ brands include STAINMASTER® carpet, LYCRA® spandex, Quilted Northern® tissue and Dixie® cups and tabletop products. Mr. Koch, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, applies that scientific expertise in his other role as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Chemical Technology Group, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries. In addition to his business activities, Mr. Koch has personally pledged and contributed more than $500 million to a wide variety of organizations and programs which further cancer research, enhance medical centers and support educational institutions, as well as programs that sustain arts and cultural institutions. A member of ABT’s Board of Governing Trustees since 1984, he served as Vice Chairman of the Board for more than a decade. David and his wife, Julia, frequently serve as co-chairs at ABT’s benefit galas and have underwritten previous ABT productions. Mr. and Mrs. Koch also host an annual fundraising event in Palm Beach, Florida on behalf of ABT. This year’s December 19 event will include a preview from Mr. Ratmansky’s new production of The Nutcracker.

ABOUT BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC

America’s oldest performing arts institution in continuous operation, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is recognized internationally for innovative dance, music, and theater programming—including its renowned Next Wave Festival. BAM also features an acclaimed repertory film program, literary and visual art events, and extensive educational programs. The institution is led by President Karen Brooks Hopkins and Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo.

ABOUT AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE

American Ballet Theatre is recognized as one of the great dance companies in the world. Few ballet companies equal ABT for its combination of size, scope and outreach. Since its founding in 1940, ABT annually tours the United States, performing for more than 650,000 people and has made more than 30 international tours to 42 countries as perhaps the most representative American ballet company. In 2006, ABT was recognized as America’s National Ballet Company® by an act of Congress.

Tickets for American Ballet Theatre’s all-new production of The Nutcracker will go on sale to the general public in September 2010 at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s box office, 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, New York and on-line at www.bam.org. For more information on American Ballet Theatre, please visit our website at www.abt.org < http://www.abt.org > .

[atm711]

Wonderful news--an early Christmas present. Now all ABT has to do is dump the City Center and have their fall season at BAM.

[abatt]

Wonderful news--an early Christmas present. Now all ABT has to do is dump the City Center and have their spring season at BAM.

Since they are doing Nutcracker at BAM in December, does this mean that ABT will no longer be doing two weeks of rep in the fall at City Center, Avery Fisher or elsewhere? If not, that's a real loss. I generally liked their mixed rep programs in the fall.

[richard53dog]

Since they are doing Nutcracker at BAM in December, does this mean that ABT will no longer be doing two weeks of rep in the fall at City Center, Avery Fisher or elsewhere? If not, that's a real loss. I generally liked their mixed rep programs in the fall.

The BAM engagement seems like good news, so congrats to ABT on that.

But like abatt, I hope this doesn't mean they will forgo their fall repertory season.

[Dale]

I would guess that the answer is no, ABT won't forgo its fall repertory season. I'm pretty sure they will still have a Fall season and this is a Winter season. I've always felt ABT didn't utilize other viable locations within the New York area. When NJPAC opened, ABT performed there for two straight Christmas engagements. But then it stopped for financial reasons. If this Nutcracker run does well, it can fund more performances elsewhere. And BAM is a great venue with pretty good sight lines (don't sit at the very end of a row).

[Kathleen O'Connell]

Wonderful news--an early Christmas present. Now all ABT has to do is dump the City Center and have their fall season at BAM.

Boy would I like to see ABT do its fall season (or any season) at BAM. Of course, it's an easy subway ride away for me, but would likely be more of a trek from NJ, Westchester, and CT than City Center is. I wonder if that would limit attendance for a non-Nuts season?

[carbro]

BAM is a great venue with pretty good sight lines (don't sit at the very end of a row).

And make sure, if you sit in the uppermost level, that your view isn't obstructed by a column. They're slender, and there aren't many, but if you're stuck behind one, you're stuck behind one and will spend the performance distractedly leaning from side to side.

I also hope that this doesn't mean an end (or further shortening) of their City Center seasons, which offer so much variety and the chance to see many of the younger dancers in featured roles.

[MJ]

I love ABT and BAM, I just wonder if the out of town tourists will go to Brooklyn. Long-islanders certainly will. NYC subway map does not list BAM as a Station. There are about 8 subway lines within a 3-4 block walk, and the neighborhood is a little creepy at night.

ABT is willing to try nontraditional venues, what about a Broadway theater? Rose Theater at Columbus Circle? The Met is too big and City Center is awful .

[carbro]

The neighborhood around BAM is fine. The Atlantic Ave. Station of the LIRR is two blocks from the theater and also a stop on the 2, 3, 4 and 5 subway lines. The D, M, N and R subway lines stop at nearby Pacific St., and the C at Lafayette Ave., both very nearby. BAM also runs a post-performance bus into Manhattan with stops on the East and West Sides. It's been my experience, however, that the extra expense of the bus is unnecessary. This Upper Westsider has never lacked for a small party of companions for the subway ride home.

Subway/LIRR.

BAM Bus

[atm711]

There is a world outside of Manhattan---actually, two million people live in Brooklyn

[DeborahB]

There is a world outside of Manhattan---actually, two million people live in Brooklyn

Agreed! BAM, and St. Ann's Warehouse in Dumbo (going to a play there Friday night), are two of my favorite venues period.

Both are incredibly easy to get to as well.

[abatt]

I love ABT and BAM, I just wonder if the out of town tourists will go to Brooklyn. Long-islanders certainly will. NYC subway map does not list BAM as a Station. There are about 8 subway lines within a 3-4 block walk, and the neighborhood is a little creepy at night.

ABT is willing to try nontraditional venues, what about a Broadway theater? Rose Theater at Columbus Circle? The Met is too big and City Center is awful .

Broadway theaters have many costs associated with them, including insanely costly rules that are required by the unions, such as requiring a certain number of stagehands, etc. BAM is in a safe neighborhood, and there are certainly many transportation options. However, if you bring your family into the city for a day at the Nutcracker plus other things (seeing the x-mas windows at Lord & Taylor, seeing the X-Mas tree), then BAM would be off the beaten track.

[MJ]

You Don't have to tell me, I went to Fordham University in the Bronx. Lehman College has a great arts center as well.

Midtown is the Christmas capital of the world, you can't walk down Fifth Avenue this time of year. ABT will need to aggressively market this Nutz to the out of towners. Hotel Concierges, tour operators, AAA travel agents, and ticket brokers. If word gets out this is a great Nutcracker, folks will take the subway two stops beyond downtown to Brooklyn.

I was in a Nutz this weekend, 80% of the attendees were families with children under 8 years old. Matinees will do better than evening performances.

Merde to everyone in their Nutcrackers this year! I'm halfway through my tour.