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Fall Season at the Koch


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(The trickiness of the partnering is another issue as well. I'm plenty nervous about Stearns in the role and he at least has elegant proportions as Dowell did.)

I 'm plenty nervous about whether Stearns can execute the extremely difficult choreography in T&V.

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I wondered if the casting of Cote in MONTH was in an exchange programme between NBoC and ABT as occurred this past summer between the RDB/RB and ABT? That would be a good thing I agree. Otherwise, I wondered why this would be happening just now as surely there are a goodly number of young ABT dancers for whom this role would be ideal.

Maybe, but I''m not sure about a "goodly" number--it's a role created on one of the world's greatest male dancers and very hard to do right...I missed the spring revival at ABT (would have loved to see Hallberg) but a few years ago did see the Royal's revival with Cope and Pennefeather in the role and neither came close in my opinion, though Cope's partnering skills were on display. (The trickiness of the partnering is another issue as well. I'm plenty nervous about Stearns in the role and he at least has elegant proportions as Dowell did.)

Thank you, Drew, for your kind response. I would have thought someone like Joseph Gorak might be just the ticket. I say that only from what I've read, of course. Sadly I've never seen him live. However, David Hallberg says that he sees much of himself in Gorak ... so that, among other things, made me think .... hmmmm.

If McKenzie REALLY wanted to bring in a (star) dancer from outside for the role who could easily tick all the boxes I think Sarafanov would be miraculous in it ... and would be oh, so very musical which, of course, Dowell was. The last time I saw Dowell in the role was at Sibley's farewell when they danced together for one last time. It was naturally a very memorable evening.

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I wondered if the casting of Cote in MONTH was in an exchange programme between NBoC and ABT as occurred this past summer between the RDB/RB and ABT? That would be a good thing I agree. Otherwise, I wondered why this would be happening just now as surely there are a goodly number of young ABT dancers for whom this role would be ideal.

Maybe, but I''m not sure about a "goodly" number--it's a role created on one of the world's greatest male dancers and very hard to do right...I missed the spring revival at ABT (would have loved to see Hallberg) but a few years ago did see the Royal's revival with Cope and Pennefeather in the role and neither came close in my opinion, though Cope's partnering skills were on display. (The trickiness of the partnering is another issue as well. I'm plenty nervous about Stearns in the role and he at least has elegant proportions as Dowell did.)

Thank you, Drew, for your kind response. I would have thought someone like Joseph Gorak might be just the ticket. I say that only from what I've read, of course. Sadly I've never seen him live. However, David Hallberg says that he sees much of himself in Gorak ... so that, among other things, made me think .... hmmmm.

If McKenzie REALLY wanted to bring in a (star) dancer from outside for the role who could easily tick all the boxes I think Sarafanov would be miraculous in it ... and would be oh, so very musical which, of course, Dowell was. The last time I saw Dowell in the role was at Sibley's farewell when they danced together for one last time. It was naturally a very memorable evening.

How fortunate you were to have seen Sibley's farewell--wow! (I haven't seen Gorak yet either, but he sounds promising...)

For the first time in many years I plan on coming up to New York for the ABT Fall season and, in case any ABT marketing/programming people are reading this, it was also the first time in many years I bought my tickets before casts were announced and thus based entirely on repertory (Ashton, Balanchine, Tharp and 2 Ratmanksy in a single weekend including a premier) ... I have to admit that my comfort with the State Theater also played a role in my decision. But I wasn't unhappy to learn I would be seeing Côte with Kent.

P.S. Comfort w. the State Theater obviously does not include its new name...

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I only rarely go to NY for the fall season and was thinking of going - happy that they've moved to the "New York State Theatre" (I refuse to use the new name) since I'm not fond of ballet at City Center. However, once I discovered that the first weekend in November is also the weekend of the New York City marathon, I had to rethink the plan - cold weather AND ridiculous hotel prices may be too much for me to swallow.

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It appears that we'll get a little bonus treat at the Fall 2013 performances of Les Sylphides, viz., Britten's orchestration of the score, which has apparently just been located. I'm wondering if this might also bring in a few music lovers to those performances.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/28/arts/music/benjamin-brittens-lost-score-for-les-sylphides.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Now Ballet Theater is waiting for Britten experts to weigh in on the rediscovered score. If it is deemed to be Britten’s — as some who have seen it say appears likely, though not every link in the chain of custody is strong — Ballet Theater plans to use it when the company brings “Les Sylphides” to the David H. Koch Theater this fall, reviving it just in time for Britten’s centenary season.

“We’re very excited,” said Richard Jarman, the general director of the Britten-Pears Foundation, which will examine the score and has offered to recreate any missing parts for Ballet Theater’s orchestra from the recently found conductor’s score. “We just published a catalog of Britten’s works, and ‘Sylphides’ is mentioned as missing. If we can restore this work, I think it would be great.”

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Just in time for the end of Britten Year! I personally am excited about the prospect of hearing the Britten version of Les Sylphides, but I can hardly imagine that even hard-core Britten fans would be that interested in a newly rediscovered arrangement of his. Unless it's a really spectacular arrangement. Or they already like ballet (like me).

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Opening Night Gala info:

AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE’S OPENING NIGHT FALL GALA

AT DAVID H. KOCH THEATER TO FEATURE WORLD PREMIERE OF

THE TEMPEST BY ALEXEI RATMANSKY, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30 AT 6:30PM

CLINIQUE AND BADGLEY MISCHKA TO SERVE AS GALA SPONSORS

American Ballet Theatre celebrates the opening of its Fall season at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on Wednesday evening, October 30 at 6:30PM with a special opening night Gala performance highlighted by the World Premiere of The Tempest, choreographed by Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky.

Clinique is the Leading Sponsor of American Ballet Theatre’s 2013 Fall Gala. Badgley Mischka is the evening’s Supporting Sponsor.

Julia Koch, Sutton Stracke and Caryn Zucker will serve as Co-Chairs for the 2013 Fall Gala. Vice Chairs include Mark Badgley, Leah Mary Campbell, James Mischka and Victoria Phillips. Daniel Cappello, Jennie Tarr Coyne and Asha Talwar will serve as Junior Chairs for the evening. A black tie dinner and dancing on The Promenade will immediately follow the performance. Business leader and philanthropist Adrienne Arsht will be honored with the 2013 Melville Straus Leadership Achievement Award. The World Premiere of The Tempest will provide the evening’s thematic inspiration with The Promenade transformed to evoke the story’s title storm-at-sea. Gala décor will be created by noted designer Bronson van Wyck of the environmental design and event production firm Van Wyck & Van Wyck.

American Ballet Theatre’s inaugural season at the David H. Koch Theater marks the Company’s first return to the venue since 1976. The season will open with a one-time-only Gala performance highlighted by the World Premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Tempest led by Marcelo Gomes as Prospero, Daniil Simkin as Ariel, and Herman Cornejo as Caliban. The evening will also feature a new production of

George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations led by Gillian Murphy and James Whiteside and a Pièce d’Occasion choreographed by ABT Principal Dancer Marcelo Gomes and set to Souvenir de Florence by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky.

Gala benefit tickets for American Ballet Theatre’s Fall Gala at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, ranging from $1,500 to $5,000, are available by calling American Ballet Theatre’s Special Events office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3310. Performance-only tickets, beginning at $20, are available online, at the Koch Theater box office or by calling 212-496-0600. For more information, please visit ABT’s website at www.abt.org.

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For anyone interested, the Playbill from last night also listed the casting for Fri Nov 1. The lead cast for Gong on Nov 1 is Abrera, Butler, Copeland, Murphy, Reyes. Cornejo, Gomes, Radetsky, Scott and Whiteside. All other lead casting for the other ballets on the program to be found on the ABT website.

Does anyone know why Hallberg is listed as a principal for the ABT fall season in the playbill, even though he is not appearing with ABT anywhere until June 2014? (None of the other missing principals, like Vishneva, Vasiliev, Bolle are listed in the playbill.)

Also, was it my imagination or did Whiteside substitute some pirouettes where there should have been a double tour?

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For anyone interested, the Playbill from last night also listed the casting for Fri Nov 1. The lead cast for Gong on Nov 1 is Abrera, Butler, Copeland, Murphy, Reyes. Cornejo, Gomes, Radetsky, Scott and Whiteside. All other lead casting for the other ballets on the program to be found on the ABT website.

Does anyone know why Hallberg is listed as a principal for the ABT fall season in the playbill, even though he is not appearing with ABT anywhere until June 2014? (None of the other missing principals, like Vishneva, Vasiliev, Bolle are listed in the playbill.)

Also, was it my imagination or did Whiteside substitute some pirouettes where there should have been a double tour?

Couldn't say about Whiteside, but apropos Hallberg: As a copyeditor, I notice mistakes in programs all the time. This could have been one, but on the other hand, it may reflect what's in Hallberg's contract. I recall something similar last fall, when Gillian was listed as a principal, but did not appear during the City Center season.

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I've created a new topic for the ABT Gala and moved the posts from this thread to the new one:

http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/38001-abt-opening-night-gala/

Please continue to discuss casting and Fall season details here, gala reports and comments above, and the 10-day mixed rep programs here:

http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/38002-abt-fall-season-mixed-rep-performances/

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