2018 Met Season

[Vs1]

10 minutes ago, nanushka said:

I highly doubt Bolle will dance more this season than currently scheduled (which is basically the same amount he's danced annually for quite awhile). I think if he were at all willing to solve ABT's male casting headaches by filling in more frequently he'd have done so numerous times before now.

The images shown on ABT's promotional materials are not infrequently unreflective of who actually appears onstage. Bolle's is a good face to put forward if one wants to draw attention and doesn't have scruples about strict truth in advertising.

A. Well that is why i was always confused why they didn't use it before esp since misty has proven they have pr capabilities and even put part and polina on tv

b. he only did one or two this and last year . Before that , four or five plus gala , and one year something like ten.

c. True, lately he has focused on guesting , Scala, and his own tour more and more lately 

d .  but if London Paris Los Angeles Switzerland Spain Germany Russia turkey etc could entice him, there must be a reason Mckenzie can't or won't 

Edited May 1, 2018 by Vs1

[canbelto]

Random thought bubble: Bolle is in such incredible shape because he's so choosy about which assignments to undertake. His body has very little sign of wear and tear. I feel David Hallberg over-danced himself into a ruinous injury. Bolle is like the opposite.

[nanushka]

2 minutes ago, Vs1 said:

A. Well that is why i was always confused why they didn't use it before esp since misty has proven they have pr capabilities and even put part and polina on tv

If anyone can explain the idiosyncrasies of ABT's marketing efforts in a way that eliminates confusion, I will be very eager to hear!

[Vs1]

27 minutes ago, canbelto said:

Random thought bubble: Bolle is in such incredible shape because he's so choosy about which assignments to undertake. His body has very little sign of wear and tear. I feel David Hallberg over-danced himself into a ruinous injury. Bolle is like the opposite.

Don't see how you can say that. Bolle's schedule is very full

Edited May 1, 2018 by Vs1

[ABT Fan]

1 hour ago, Vs1 said:

Didn't the same kind of casting occur  with tiler peck  at 19

and didn't bolle get principal at such a young age with Romeo

and Miriam Miller with midsummer 

so the age is not really a shock

but it does get some people to talk about it

 

54 minutes ago, nanushka said:

None of those was at ABT, where dancers do not typically get full-length title roles on the Met stage just over a year after moving from apprentice to corps.

Not to say it's never happened (I don't know either way), but in the context of this particular company it's certainly quite unusual.

I don't think we've seen such a young dancer be cast like this at ABT in a generation, since the likes of Paloma Herrera and Angel Correra. Julie Kent did her first O/O I think around 22, but she was already a soloist. Similar situation with Gillian Murphy, and she's the only current principal who was given leading roles and a promotion to principal in her early 20's.

Edited to add: Just remembered that Hee Seo was given Juliet and Gamzatti while still in the corps. But, she wasn't a first year or two corps dancer and her situation was also unusual.

Corps dancers get lead roles all the time at NYCB, though their repertoire is vastly different . Not the same w/ ABT. So, that's why this is a big deal.

Edited May 1, 2018 by ABT Fan

[Vs1]

4 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

 

I don't think we've seen such a young dancer be cast like this at ABT in a generation, since the likes of Paloma Herrera and Angel Correra. Julie Kent did her first O/O I think around 22, but she was already a soloist. Similar situation with Gillian Murphy, and she's the only current principal who was given leading roles and a promotion to principal in her early 20's.

Corps dancers get lead roles all the time at NYCB, though their repertoire is vastly different . Not the same w/ ABT. So, that's why this is a big deal.

I remember Paloma making waves when she was 16. I can't imagine she didn't get a kitri very young, no?

[ABT Fan]

I have an old ABT souvenir book at home that I'll check later, but I believe it stated that Herrera did Kitri at 16 w/ Julio Bocca. She was still in the corps.

[its the mom]

I looked back at reviews and Paloma was 21 when she danced Don Q with Corella at ABT.  Corella was 20.  From what I can tell of their biographies, she was a principal and he was a soloist, promoted to principal that August.  

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/01/arts/ballet-review-a-don-quixote-of-youthful-innocence.html

 

[Ilovegiselle]

28 minutes ago, its the mom said:

I looked back at reviews and Paloma was 21 when she danced Don Q with Corella at ABT.  Corella was 20.  From what I can tell of their biographies, she was a principal and he was a soloist, promoted to principal that August.  

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/01/arts/ballet-review-a-don-quixote-of-youthful-innocence.html

 

This is so lovely!  We have not had a young new star in recent years that I have been this excited for. 

So excited to see Aran in this role, plus all the new principals especially Sarah Lane in Bayadere with Cornejo.  They make such beautiful couple.

[abatt]

7 hours ago, abatt said:

They moved a Copeland Firebird from Wed evening into Wed matinee. 

It seems apparent that Lendorf is out for the season.  why not just take his name off and put TBA in those slots?

Copeland posted the update on her Firebird casting on her instagram account.  I looked at some of the comments, and there are quite a few displeased ticket buyers.  One complained that the box office charged a fee to exchange the tickets.  (I assume that was a non-subscriber.)   Another complained that the price of the tickets at the Wed matinee was less than the ticket price of the Wed evening show, but the box office would not refund the difference to the ticket buyer and the person had no choice but to  make a donation of the difference to the Met.  I don't blame these ticket purchasers for being angry.   When ABT makes a cast change in a lead role, no ticket buyer should be charged for exchanging the tickets, regardless of whether you are a subscriber.  Also, this game of forcing a contribution to the Met has got to stop.  When you exhcange Carnegie Hall tickets for a lower priced event, Carnegie REFUNDS the difference to you.    These ABT/Met policies, combined with inexplicable cast changes, are a great way to lose your customers.

[Olga]

19 minutes ago, abatt said:

 I don't blame these ticket purchasers for being angry.   When ABT makes a cast change in a lead role, no ticket buyer should be charged for exchanging the tickets, regardless of whether you are a subscriber.  Also, this game of forcing a contribution to the Met has got to stop.  When you exhcange Carnegie Hall tickets for a lower priced event, Carnegie REFUNDS the difference to you.    These ABT/Met policies, combined with inexplicable cast changes, are a great way to lose your customers.

I don’t disagree but wonder to what extent this policy is dictated by the Met or by ABT. I am not that familiar with the Met Opera policy but suspect that exchanges by non-subscription holders may not be permitted at all. The forced contribution is particularly cheesy and very annoying. To some extent ABT is hostage to the Met. I was surprised how sparse the ABT promotional material was over there in comparison to the opera. But again, ABT seems to have serious in house problems also when it comes to promotional or even descriptive material.

[nanushka]

1 hour ago, abatt said:

When ABT makes a cast change in a lead role, no ticket buyer should be charged for exchanging the tickets, regardless of whether you are a subscriber.

Wait. When did it become possible for non-subscribers to exchange tickets at all, even with a fee? That's their current policy?

[fondoffouettes]

18 minutes ago, nanushka said:

Wait. When did it become possible for non-subscribers to exchange tickets at all, even with a fee? That's their current policy?

I didn't think non-subscribers could exchange, but it says it's possible (for a $20-30 fee) on ABT's FAQ page:

http://www.abt.org/faq/performances/

What's odd is that on the FAQ page it says only Full Series subscribers get free exchanges, but on the Met's website it says Trio and Choose Your Own subscriptions also get free exchanges

If you are a subscriber and exchange a ticket for the same seating zone as your subscription ticket, do you have to pay for any price difference that may have been caused by dynamic pricing? 

Edited May 2, 2018 by fondoffouettes

[ABT Fan]

Gillian Murphy has posted some terrific photos of the costumes for Harlequinade. I especially love hers for Pierrette and the matching shoes! (Isabella Boylston has also posted photos on her Instagram of Columbine.) Forster looks perfect.

 

[abatt]

2 hours ago, nanushka said:

Wait. When did it become possible for non-subscribers to exchange tickets at all, even with a fee? That's their current policy?

It started this year.  Non subscribers can now exchange, but there is a fee.  It is also my understanding that the amount of the fee increases the closer it is  to the date of the show.  I was told this, but I have not located it anywhere in writing.  Looking at the link posted by fondoffouettes, I'm surprised the fee is as high as $20.  Outrageous.

2 hours ago, fondoffouettes said:

I didn't think non-subscribers could exchange, but it says it's possible (for a $20-30 fee) on ABT's FAQ page:

http://www.abt.org/faq/performances/

What's odd is that on the FAQ page it says only Full Series subscribers get free exchanges, but on the Met's website it says Trio and Choose Your Own subscriptions also get free exchanges

If you are a subscriber and exchange a ticket for the same seating zone as your subscription ticket, do you have to pay for any price difference that may have been caused by dynamic pricing? 

Yes, you have to pay the dynamically higher price, even if it's the same section as the seat your exchanging out of.

Edited May 2, 2018 by abatt

[fondoffouettes]

The subscription model has been on life support for the past decade, but if a major institution like ABT or the Met abandons it, they risk alienating their long-term (usually older) patrons. 

I wish they'd treat the single-ticket buyer as the new subscriber and come up with inventive ways to increase single-ticket sales. 

Today's audiences, for the most part, don't want to commit to multiple performances months ahead of time. And the benefits of a subscription, from a financial standpoint, seem so minimal. What's left then? The desire to sit in exactly the same seats at every performance? Early access to single-ticket sales is certainly a benefit, but it's one that appeals mostly to die-hards.

 

[onxmyxtoes]

Especially frustrating today was an email from ABT advertising 25% off tickets to Giselle. I had purchased a few Giselle performances at full-price with my subscription and now wish I had been able to get 25% off w/ their promo code. Feels like the subscriber benefit to lock in pricing before dynamic pricing went into affect is not such a benefit in this case.

[California]

6 hours ago, fondoffouettes said:

The subscription model has been on life support for the past decade, but if a major institution like ABT or the Met abandons it, they risk alienating their long-term (usually older) patrons. 

Today's audiences, for the most part, don't want to commit to multiple performances months ahead of time. And the benefits of a subscription, from a financial standpoint, seem so minimal. What's left then? The desire to sit in exactly the same seats at every performance? Early access to single-ticket sales is certainly a benefit, but it's one that appeals mostly to die-hards.

 

ABT and the Met need to look at how other companies are modernizing their subscriptions! Free exchange, choose-your-own combo (with choose your own seats after traditional subscribers have theirs), and discounts on the price for the subscription AND regular tickets. That should be enough. I don't bother with ABT's subscriptions, but find myself with choose-your-own at several other companies I plan to visit in the coming year. The old subscriptions helped cash flow over the summer before the season started. They still could with a few reasonable adjustments. More importantly, the new approaches build audience loyalties.

6 hours ago, onxmyxtoes said:

Especially frustrating today was an email from ABT advertising 25% off tickets to Giselle. I had purchased a few Giselle performances at full-price with my subscription and now wish I had been able to get 25% off w/ their promo code. Feels like the subscriber benefit to lock in pricing before dynamic pricing went into affect is not such a benefit in this case.

I wonder who got that e-mail -- subscribers, but not Friends, apparently. This sounds like last-minute panic to unload tickets. I don't remember ABT doing this before, although PA Ballet has had to resort to these sales gimmicks regularly in recent years.

[abatt]

I think it is particularly ironic that ABT uses Misty as an example of trying to fight elitism and to increase diversity of audiences, and then turns around and does a bait and switch 2 weeks before the show date regarding her performance time in her iconic role (she does after all sell a Misty doll that uses the Firebird costume).  To add insult to injury, the people who want to follow their idol and switch into her performance are now faced with all kind of extra fees and mandatory donations to ABT and the Met as part of the ticket switch.  If I were new to ABT and ballet, these events would be enough for me to never do business w. ABT again. Instead of fighting elitism, they are discouraging families and people new to ballet from further attendance.  $20 may seem like a drop in the bucket to many ballet goers, but it is not a drop in the bucket to most people.   If I go to a store and exchange an item for a lower priced item, the store doesn't require me to make a donation, and the store is required to refund me the difference in price. Cultural elitism at its worst.

Edited May 2, 2018 by abatt

[fondoffouettes]

4 hours ago, California said:

ABT and the Met need to look at how other companies are modernizing their subscriptions! Free exchange, choose-your-own combo (with choose your own seats after traditional subscribers have theirs), and discounts on the price for the subscription AND regular tickets. That should be enough. I don't bother with ABT's subscriptions, but find myself with choose-your-own at several other companies I plan to visit in the coming year. The old subscriptions helped cash flow over the summer before the season started. They still could with a few reasonable adjustments. More importantly, the new approaches build audience loyalties.

I wonder who got that e-mail -- subscribers, but not Friends, apparently. This sounds like last-minute panic to unload tickets. I don't remember ABT doing this before, although PA Ballet has had to resort to these sales gimmicks regularly in recent years.

Thanks for offering some perspective on the issue of subscriptions. I'd much rather see them evolve, as you say, rather than die out! If I could choose my specific seats after traditional subscribers and get free exchanges and/or some sort of discount, I'd have no hesitation in becoming a subscriber.

I got the Giselle discount e-mail and I'm a regular single-ticket buyer who hasn't subscribed since the 18-29 program. What seems odd is that they sent it out at 7:00 p.m., and you can only redeem the code through the box office, either in person or by telephone (and the box office closes at 8:00). I opened the e-mail after the box office was closed and couldn't act on the deal. (I realized this after trying to use the code online; the Met's website recognized it as a valid code but wouldn't apply the discount.) In general, 7:00 p.m. is a rather unpopular time for sending a promotional e-mail, and why would they send it at a time that only gives people a one-hour window to act on it that day? Oh well. In any case, I just picked up a ticket for the Lane/Simkin Giselle, and it was the discount that nudged me to go ahead and do so. 

Edited May 2, 2018 by fondoffouettes

[NinaFan]

Arghhhh!  I received the e-mail with a "Mother's Day" discount code on Giselle as well!  I wish I had waited on my Giselle tickets which were single ticket add ons.   To be honest this has pretty much happened to me with NYCB where I am also a subscriber.  Last summer, right after ordering a bunch of add on performances, I received a code for BOGO for specific performances, some of which were the ones I had just ordered online.

[Drew]

4 hours ago, abatt said:

 To add insult to injury, the people who want to follow their idol [Copeland] and switch into her performance are now faced with all kind of extra fees and mandatory donations to ABT and the Met as part of the ticket switch.  If I were new to ABT and ballet, these events would be enough for me to never do business w. ABT again. Instead of fighting elitism, they are discouraging families and people new to ballet from further attendance.  $20 may seem like a drop in the bucket to many ballet goers, but it is not a drop in the bucket to most people.   If I go to a store and exchange an item for a lower priced item, the store doesn't require me to make a donation, and the store is required to refund me the difference in price. [...]

This is what seems very surprising to me about the exchange policy. And even people who don't sweat the $20.00 may not exactly feel well treated.

As a more commonplace practice--theaters now have all kinds of fees that add to the announced price of tickets that I think can get a little disconcerting too. Some of these fees  can be avoided by going to box office, but having the time to go to the box office and even the habit of going (rather than purchasing online etc.) is specific to a very narrow slice of the potential audience. To me, it often feels like bait-and-switch there too, when I plan on buying tickets and discover all of the add-on prices. Of course, I'm used to it now, but even so I sometimes gulp when I learn the fees....I've never entirely understood why it's done that way, though I assume there is some real reason--either marketing research about ticket prices or something about the way contracts are set up between companies and the theaters. 

[abatt]

In fairness, ABT does not charge any "facility fee", which the Met Opera tacks on to each and every ticket purchased to each every opera.  The current per ticket opera fee at the Met is $3.50 I believe.  The Koch also charges a per ticket facility fee of $3.50.

[fondoffouettes]

44 minutes ago, abatt said:

In fairness, ABT does not charge any "facility fee", which the Met Opera tacks on to each and every ticket purchased to each every opera.  The current per ticket opera fee at the Met is $3.50 I believe.  The Koch also charges a per ticket facility fee of $3.50.

On the Giselle order I place by phone today, it shows a $2.50 facility fee (which I'm assuming you'd have to pay in person at the box office, as well), and a $6.00 ticket service fee for ordering via phone. 

But yeah, I think it could be worse.

Edited May 2, 2018 by fondoffouettes

[abatt]

3 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

On the Giselle order I place by phone today, it shows a $2.50 facility fee (which I'm assuming you'd have to pay in person at the box office, as well), and a $6.00 ticket service fee for ordering via phone. 

But yeah, I think it could be worse.

I didn't realize that they were tacking on facility fees to the ABT tixs.  Thanks