volcanohunter Posted November 21, 2013 Author Share Posted November 21, 2013 The Bolshoi Theater's calendar now indicates that Marco Spada will be performed on March 30 instead of The Golden Age. Presumably, the live cinema broadcast will be changed accordingly. Link to comment
sandik Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 I saw the Wheeldon Alice in Seattle last night -- there were about 20 of us in the theater, and I overheard one woman say to another that "they don't do any marketing at all." Which appeared to be true. Link to comment
volcanohunter Posted November 21, 2013 Author Share Posted November 21, 2013 No, dammit, they don't. When I attended my first live opera of the season, an ad for the Met's HD screenings was included in the playbill. The same movie chain did not see fit to advertise its ballet screenings in the playbill of the local ballet company. For what it's worth, last week's screening of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Richard II was no better attended than most of the ballet screenings. Evidently, David Tennant wasn't given any marketing either. Link to comment
pherank Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 I saw the Wheeldon Alice in Seattle last night -- there were about 20 of us in the theater, and I overheard one woman say to another that "they don't do any marketing at all." Which appeared to be true. It turned out to be a bad day for me to go off to the theatre so I missed out. I hope you found the perfromance to be entertaining. There was definitely not a word of marketing around this event in Southern California. Link to comment
Dale Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 I agree the ballet offerings don't get as much pr as the opera ones. I hate to admit it, but opera does seem to have more fans than ballet. And I love opera, too, but I think it has something to do with the "story." People feel they can follow the "story" in an opera and they are afraid they won't be able to follow the "story" of the ballet. Other factors could be location. When I see the National Theatre Live in Hartford, there's about 20 people. When I go in Amherst, it sells out. Amherst is a very intellectual town. In Hartford, it is also shown at a university. It just doesn't seem to get noticed. Link to comment
Helene Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 I've only seen one Ballet BC performance since these HD screenings started, and I don't know if there are any program ads, but Scotiabank Theatre in Vancouver usually has someone announce upcoming non-opera arts events -- Ballet in Cinema and theater from the UK -- before the HD showings. (Someone from Vancouver Opera also speaks if there's an upcoming production.) There used to be posters in the hallway on the way to the theater -- there may still be some near the upstairs overflow theater -- but the main theater entrance next to the coffee/yogurt place is hard to find and doesn't have posters around it. Link to comment
abatt Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 For what it's worth, last week's screening of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Richard II was no better attended than most of the ballet screenings. Evidently, David Tennant wasn't given any marketing either. Off topic, but was Tennant's Richard II worth seeing? I'm debating whether to attend the upcoming screenings in New York during December. I just saw Ben Whishaw's performance of the role in The Hollow Crown series, so I'm considering passing on Tennant's performance. Thanks. Link to comment
volcanohunter Posted November 21, 2013 Author Share Posted November 21, 2013 I think so, even though I found Whishaw more compelling. The screening came across as a peculiar sort of hybrid; it certainly didn't feel like watching a play live, with all those giant close-ups on the screen and actors' voices caught through body microphones rather than reverberating through space, but it was nothing like a cinematic adaptation. The production itself was beautiful, though probably more beautiful in three dimensions (I suspect in the same way that Rouben Ter-Arutunian's Nutcracker sets look very different on film), and the performances were uniformly strong. I was glad for the opportunity to compare the two versions. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/theatre-review-richard-ii-royal-shakespeare-theatre-stratforduponavon-8887542.html Link to comment
sandik Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 I saw the Wheeldon Alice in Seattle last night -- there were about 20 of us in the theater, and I overheard one woman say to another that "they don't do any marketing at all." Which appeared to be true. It turned out to be a bad day for me to go off to the theatre so I missed out. I hope you found the perfromance to be entertaining. There was definitely not a word of marketing around this event in Southern California. I did enjoy the program, and I hadn't necessarily expected to. I have a feeling that this is a very different ballet in the theater -- some of the special effects (up and down the rabbit hole, wall full of doors) seemed to get a kind of 3D treatment (not real 3D, but they fill the screen in a way that the other material does not). But a few of the effects were quite charming -- I'm a sucker for the old-fashioned stuff like fake waves in the ocean. I thought a lot about Alastair Macaulay's comments on Wheeldon's duets (that they didn't give the woman much breathing space) and I think I could see what triggers that response. But actually, I thought they really reflected the Ashton influence, especially in the way they changed direction through the center of the body rather than following a limb on a outward arc. The performances were universally very good, but Steven McRae as the Hatter and Zenaida Yanowsky as the Red Queen were extra special. They ran a couple of explainers during the intervals -- Wheeldon and Yanowsky talking about the Tart Adagio (which sends up the Rose Adagio), Joby Talbot talking about his score, Eric Underwood talking about his solo as the Caterpillar. Link to comment
Dale Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 I don't know if this was linked before. While not about the ballet broadcasts, these are the results of research into those attending the Met Live in HD shows. It gives a bit of insight into those attending cultural showings at local movie theaters. http://www.operaamerica.org/content/research/Met%20HD%20Article.pdf Link to comment
nicolezly Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 The Bolshoi's 2013/14 cinema season has been announced. There will be four live cinemacasts instead of five, and the McGregor/Ek bill has not been rescheduled at this point. (This as the Royal Ballet is increasing its live broadcasts from three to five.) With the broadcast of La Bayadère the Bolshoi has run out of its existing 19th-century repertoire, so I suppose the appearance of more Grigorovich ballets was inevitable, though I am disappointed surprised to see two of his ballets in one season. I'm more surprised by the absence of Lacotte's Marco Spada, which the Bolshoi is supposed to acquire next fall, and Cranko's Onegin, premiering this July, but getting any sort of Cranko on video seems to be nearly impossible. Bolshoi Ballet October 20 - Spartacus November 17 - Le Corsaire (repeat) December 22 - The Sleeping Beauty (repeat) January 19 - Jewels February 2 - Lost Illusions March 30 - The Golden Age http://www.pathelive.com/fr/news Royal Ballet October 16 - Don Quixote December 12 - The Nutcracker January 27 - Giselle March 19 - The Sleeping Beauty April 28 - The Winter's Tale http://www.roh.org.u...eason-announced As vocanohunter has listed, and also according to PathéLive, Bolshoi is going to live broadcast The Golden Age on March 30, but now the performance schedule of Bolshoi on this day shows Marco Spada...Is there any chance...? http://bolshoi.ru/en/timetable/#2014-03 Link to comment
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