Mariinsky at BAM 2015

[abatt]

Barbara, consider buying a cheaper section at BAM. This production of Swan Lake is worth seeing, especially if you are selecting one of the top tier casts. It's a rare opportunity to see this production with these stars (assuming no casting switches) right in our own backyard. Hope you can find a way to make it work.

[YID]

[deleted]

[Waelsung]

A third performance of Cinderella has been added at January 20th but no casting announced at the time.

The casting for the second Chopin performance on January 25th has been confirmed though and it's practically identical to the one on January 24th.

If Pavlenko is given the newly added Cinderella, I might even be tempted to go see it, despite the fact that I absolutely detest this production.

[Natalia]

A third performance of Cinderella has been added at January 20th but no casting announced at the time.

If Pavlenko is given the newly added Cinderella, I might even be tempted to go see it, despite the fact that I absolutely detest this production.

Indeed, Waelsung. Pavlenko, with her husband Sergeyev, as the prince, was the highlight of the Kennedy Center's run of this ballet a couple of years ago. Since then, I believe that she's been allowed to essay the role only once at the Mariinsky...maybe twice?

[Drew]

A third performance of Cinderella has been added at January 20th but no casting announced at the time.

If Pavlenko is given the newly added Cinderella, I might even be tempted to go see it, despite the fact that I absolutely detest this production.

Indeed, Waelsung. Pavlenko, with her husband Sergeyev, as the prince, was the highlight of the Kennedy Center's run of this ballet a couple of years ago. Since then, I believe that she's been allowed to essay the role only once at the Mariinsky...maybe twice?

I also thought Pavlenko was terrific as Cinderella, but I wonder if they won't give the additional performance to Batoeva who danced it recently on tour in London...

[abatt]

You have to wonder about the planning, as they keep adding, bit by bit, additional performances.

[angelica]

You have to wonder about the planning, as they keep adding, bit by bit, additional performances.

Perhaps the tickets are selling like hotcakes, even at the exorbitant prices.

[YID]

Should we start a "fight" or a campaign? to restore originally advertised, posted and bought-in casting, which would be more benefitial to dancers(see below) for the Chopin piece?

Now they list Tereshkina on 24th - the original date, the date MOST (if not all of us) bought the tickets for under subscription and membership sales and Lopatkina on 25th.

Tereshkina listed to lead Swan Lake on 23rd, and then do the In the night- the day after that, and making Lopatkina dance on 25th which leads NO time for Tereshkina to rehearse/refresh in the night or for Lopatkina to rehease Paquita and the swan. Kinda harsh & inconsiderate to principals.

But from the monetary/fairness point of view., HOw can i switch all my 11 tickets between the dates? I am going to write to both the Mariinsky and to BAM. Neither it is fair to membeship, or subscription nor to the principal dancers......

I wrote my letter to Ekaterina Ordovskaya at ordovskaya@mariinsky.ru is Mariinsky Public relations person and am writing a similar letter to infor@BAM.org

[KarenAG]

Season's Greetings, All,

I am considering going to one of the SL performances - either 1/15 Tereshkina, 1/16 Lopatkina, or 4/21 Kondaurova. Members aren't saying much about Tereshkina - any thoughts? The 1/15 is probably the best choice for me, because I have to travel from upstate NY. Also, I've never been to the BAM opera house and I'm looking at the $70 seats in the mezzanine _what are they like? And for the partial viewing seats - do they cut out a lot of the viewing? Finally, how long is the subway ride from Pt Authority/Penn Sta to the BAM opera house?Any help with these question will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!-Karen

[nysusan]

YID - I agree, the switch is very annoying. Unfortunately I won't be able to go to the sunday performance so I'm sticking with the one I bought.

Albany Girl - Tereshkina is wonderful, a monster technician and very soulful, beautiful dancer. Also, her partner Shklyarov is the best of the Siegfrieds. Lopatkina's partner is Ivanchenko who, while technically competent and an excellent partner is like wood -

completely unresponsive. Kondaurova is partnered with Askerov who is a better actor than Ivanchenko but not a great partner. Although Lopatkina's O/O is legendary and I doubt that we'll get a chance to see it here in NY again the Tereshkina/Shklyarov is probably the most well rounded and, really - you can't go wrong with any of these casts. They really brought the A team this time.

As for partial view seats, this theater has huge round boxes at the sides which really block the view from many of the side partial view seats. I ordered orchestra partial view seats for Cinders and the woman on the phone said to go with row N or higher. Doesn't really make sense to me but I took her advice.

[Barbara]

In answer to the subway ride, I'd say at least half an hour probably a little more and then a bit of walking. I'd allow for 45 min - hour so as not to feel rushed. (imo) I've always had good luck with the HopStop website when planning subway trips. Hope this helps!

[KarenAG]

Thanks to both!

[KarenAG]

In answer to the subway ride, I'd say at least half an hour probably a little more and then a bit of walking. I'd allow for 45 min - hour so as not to feel rushed. (imo) I've always had good luck with the HopStop website when planning subway trips. Hope this helps!

I haven't heard of HopStop but I'll definitely check it out. I don't travel the subway much at all since I stopped working in the city. nysusan and Barbara, thank you so much for the great advice and suggestions. I appreciate your feedback, especially the distinction between the casts. Happy Holidays to both of you! ~ Karen

[KarenAG]

YID - I agree, the switch is very annoying. Unfortunately I won't be able to go to the sunday performance so I'm sticking with the one I bought.

Albany Girl - Tereshkina is wonderful, a monster technician and very soulful, beautiful dancer. Also, her partner Shklyarov is the best of the Siegfrieds. Lopatkina's partner is Ivanchenko who, while technically competent and an excellent partner is like wood -

completely unresponsive. Kondaurova is partnered with Askerov who is a better actor than Ivanchenko but not a great partner. Although Lopatkina's O/O is legendary and I doubt that we'll get a chance to see it here in NY again the Tereshkina/Shklyarov is probably the most well rounded and, really - you can't go wrong with any of these casts. They really brought the A team this time.

As for partial view seats, this theater has huge round boxes at the sides which really block the view from many of the side partial view seats. I ordered orchestra partial view seats for Cinders and the woman on the phone said to go with row N or higher. Doesn't really make sense to me but I took her advice.

nysusan and Barbara, thank you so much for the great advice and suggestions. I appreciate your feedback, especially the distinction between the casts. Happy Holidays to both of you! ~ Karen

[Amour]

YID - I agree, the switch is very annoying. Unfortunately I won't be able to go to the sunday performance so I'm sticking with the one I bought.

Albany Girl - Tereshkina is wonderful, a monster technician and very soulful, beautiful dancer. Also, her partner Shklyarov is the best of the Siegfrieds. Lopatkina's partner is Ivanchenko who, while technically competent and an excellent partner is like wood -

completely unresponsive. Kondaurova is partnered with Askerov who is a better actor than Ivanchenko but not a great partner. Although Lopatkina's O/O is legendary and I doubt that we'll get a chance to see it here in NY again the Tereshkina/Shklyarov is probably the most well rounded and, really - you can't go wrong with any of these casts. They really brought the A team this time.

As for partial view seats, this theater has huge round boxes at the sides which really block the view from many of the side partial view seats. I ordered orchestra partial view seats for Cinders and the woman on the phone said to go with row N or higher. Doesn't really make sense to me but I took her advice.

I agree with nysusan that you really can't do wrong with any cast but I'd pick Lopatkina, despite Ivanchenko being Siegfried. I saw them in London (once again, they pulled Korsuntsev) and she was terrific. Such a soulful Odette. And though she now does only single fouettés, her Odile sparkled. Of all the casts is SL, Lopatkina was the only one to have an in front of the curtain bow. She is a legend, still in good shape and unless you travel to Russia, it's probably your last opportunity to see her dance.

[Amour]

Should we start a "fight" or a campaign? to restore originally advertised, posted and bought-in casting, which would be more benefitial to dancers(see below) for the Chopin piece?

Now they list Tereshkina on 24th - the original date, the date MOST (if not all of us) bought the tickets for under subscription and membership sales and Lopatkina on 25th.

Tereshkina listed to lead Swan Lake on 23rd, and then do the In the night- the day after that, and making Lopatkina dance on 25th which leads NO time for Tereshkina to rehearse/refresh in the night or for Lopatkina to rehease Paquita and the swan. Kinda harsh & inconsiderate to principals.

But from the monetary/fairness point of view., HOw can i switch all my 11 tickets between the dates? I am going to write to both the Mariinsky and to BAM. Neither it is fair to membeship, or subscription nor to the principal dancers......

I wrote my letter to Ekaterina Ordovskaya at ordovskaya@mariinsky.ru is Mariinsky Public relations person and am writing a similar letter to infor@BAM.org

I'm confused, YID. Was Lopatkina originally scheduled to dance the 24th? I bought my Chopin tickets when there was only 1 performance and no casting listed.

I'm sure you know more than me, but it seems that protests to the Mariinsky fall on deaf ears. Last summer, when they took away Stepanova's SL, Mathilde tried to organize a protest. Nothing happened:(

Right now I'm trying to find out if Kimin Kim is dancing at BAM. And if not, why? Are they afraid McKenzie will try to poach him (I don't think ABT has the money)? Kim is such a star and being seen in NY would cement his status as such. I can only sigh at the Mariinsky casting antics.

[Amour]

Ok YID, just saw the casting for In The Night. I'll never get Owen to switch (he loves Tereshkina) but I might try to get myself a single ticket for Sunday. I'm afraid, as I said before, Mariinsky doesn't seem to care about audience preferences.

As for complaints, Skorik in both casts of Chopiniana? And no Kim? I love Stepin (I think Parish is ok) but why couldn't Kim do one of their roles for one performance? I'm utterly baffled that they're not bringing Kim to NY:(

[mussel]

You have to wonder about the planning, as they keep adding, bit by bit, additional performances.

I only found out about the additional shows here, you think BAM would send emails to members, subscribers, and all those who have bought tickets about the new shows. I and my friends didn't receive any alerts from BAM.

There were many gaps in the original schedule, now that they added Jan 20 & 25, I am still wondering whey they don't perform on Sat. evenings.

[abatt]

They are performing on Sat evenings. Sat Jan 17 evening is Cinderella, and Sat evening Jan 24 is Chopin bill. There are no Sat matinee shows, probably because they need to change the scenery from the Swan Lake performances on the 2 Friday evenings. It would have been better if they had done a full week of SL with no interruption of any Cinderella performances, and then done the mixed bill and Cinderella during the second week. I think Gergiev may have wanted to conduct the SL opening and the Cinderella opening, and those were the days he was available. I don't think Gergiev is conducting all the performances.

It is pretty amazing that BAM never bothered to send out any notice to ticketholders, subscribers and so on of the added shows. I get emails from BAM on a regular basis about all kinds of things, but no email re the added Mariinsky shows.

Amour, Lopataina was scheduled for the 24th originally.

Still no casting for the Jan 20 Cinderella.

[Amour]

Well another dancer we won't be seeing is Keenan Kampa. Looking at another thread, Kampa is no longer listed on the company roster. I'm not sure she ever belonged at the Mariinsky but after all the press she got, she's just gone? I wonder where she is and what happened.

[mussel]

They are performing on Sat evenings. Sat Jan 17 evening is Cinderella, and Sat evening Jan 24 is Chopin bill. There are no Sat matinee shows, probably because they need to change the scenery from the Swan Lake performances on the 2 Friday evenings. It would have been better if they had done a full week of SL with no interruption of any Cinderella performances, and then done the mixed bill and Cinderella during the second week. I think Gergiev may have wanted to conduct the SL opening and the Cinderella opening, and those were the days he was available. I don't think Gergiev is conducting all the performances.

It is pretty amazing that BAM never bothered to send out any notice to ticketholders, subscribers and so on of the added shows. I get emails from BAM on a regular basis about all kinds of things, but no email re the added Mariinsky shows.

Amour, Lopataina was scheduled for the 24th originally.

Still no casting for the Jan 20 Cinderella.

I meant there're no Sat. matinee shows. Do they really need that much time for a set change? Met can field 2 productions on Sat. matinee and evening. Mariinsky's SL set is not that complicated, it's all fly flats.

[Kaysta]

I would think about making the trek out to BAM again if there was a Swan Lake matinee performance.

I just found this full length Lopatkina Swan Lake on You Tube and I love her White Swan.

http://youtu.be/VL0Cr-WXhvM

[abatt]

BAM's website still lists the Jan 20 Cinderella as TBA for casting. However, the Mariinsky website states that the 20th Cinderella will be danced by Batoeva and Shkylarov. .

http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/news2/30_232dec1/

I already have tickets to the other 2 Cinderellas. Is this cast especially worthwhile compared to the other 2. Trying to see this Cinderella would also means giving up my ticket for the opening night of NYCB, which has a great All Balanchine program.

I already know that Shkylarov is great dancer, but Batoeva is unknown to me.

[nysusan]

Batoeva is a lovely soloist who is on the rise, I would be interested in seeing her and I recall from the Kenn Center performances that Shkylarov was a wonderful Prince however 3 Cinderellas is about 2 too many for me. Especially when up against the NYCB Serenade, Agon & Sym C program.

I bought tickets for Vishneva cause the role was created on her and I was interested in seeing what she did with it. I would never have bought a second performance except to see my favorite ballerina - and they roped me in by making it look like Pavlenko was going to dance the role of Cinders. Had I known that she was only dancing the comic character role of the stepmother I would have stuck with just the Vishneva cast.

If they had published all the performances with complete casting up front the Batoeva/Shkyarov might have been my first choice, but I'm not going to add it on as a 3rd Cinderella. This ballet is too dreary to sit through 3 times. Hopefully Batoeva will be cast as one of the Prince's friends in SL.

Edited to add: Correction - I didn't see Shklyarov in Cinderella but I stil bet he's be wonderful! Here is what I wrote when I saw this production at the Kennedy Center in 2012:

So far I've seen 2 performances of Cinderella this weekend, Pavlenko/Sergeev and Shirinkina/Zyuzin. I've never actually seen a production of Cinderella that I love, and for me this one is no worse than any other. I think it's actually better than many, especially with trancsendant performances by great dancers who are also great actors (Pavlenko/Sergeev).

It is not pretty -the costumes & scenery are bare bones - grimey in the first act, understated in the ball scene and inexplicable (costumes for the 4 seasons & the male & female groups in the Prince's "seeking" scene), but then this is a very contemporary & adult Cinderella, hardly a fairy tale. In fact I think that's why I like it. One of my big problems with Cinders is that the music is so darkly sardonic, it doesn't really suit the story (except perhaps in the first scene) and it doesn't offer many opportunities for great pas de deux. Ratmansky's choreography really suited the music perfectly and he has given Cinders & the prince an absolutely lovely pas de deux in the 2nd act.

My takeaway - this is a fine and interesting ballet to see once or twice as long as you don't go into it expecting to see some lavish fairy tale production, but its not something I'd want to see over and over.

Shirinkina was a lovely Cinderella, she played it very young and innocent and her lyrical style suited the role perfectly. Maxim Zyuzin is an interesting dancer who I'd like to see more of in the future. He has a very engaging stage personality and all the right moves

Pavlenko/Sergeev - they were breathtaking. I don't think that he is exceptionally tall, but he has the long, lean lines of a danseur noble, great elevation and easy turns. Pavlenko, well, first off let me say that I agree with Natalia's husband - SHE'S BACK! Down to fighting weight with pristine technique hers was Cinderella as everywoman - warm, kind, a triumph of the human soul. Her dancing was technically strong and extremely expressive - those arms can speak volumes, not to mention those eyes. Not surprisingly, she and her husband had great chemistry. From the moment he saw her Sergeev's prince was besotted and you knew he'd do anything to find her.

[Amour]

Abatt, we saw Batoeva in London this summer in featured roles (Concerto DSCH) and she is quite lovely. She has the distinction of being the only Vaganova grad that Fateyev has promoted above coryphee level. The whole video of DSCH is on YT (Batoeva is the featured female soloist who dances with Kim and Stepin) so you can get a feel for her. Leena saw her do Cinders in London and liked her better than Diana and said that she had great chemistry with Shkylarov. I personally am debating going since I'm going to every Mariinsky performance other than Skorik's SL and funds are a bit depleted. Also, we, too have tickets to NYCB's opening night and it is a good program. And finally, given that most don't seem to like this version of Cinderella, I'm not sure I want to see it 3 times. We are also traveling down to DC to see the Mariinsky on the 30th and 31st. So unless I exchange Kondaurova for Batoeva (I'm considering it but then miss Pavlenko) I won't be going.