California Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 27 minutes ago, NinaFan said: IMO, this is a gorgeous ballet, with lots of great dancing. I've seen MacMillan's Manon many times with The Royal Ballet and ABT and have never been able to get enough of it. But like any ballet, it is important to get a good cast as that can make or break a performance. It's is a very dramatic ballet with a bit of comedy as well. The story line is completely different than Romeo and Juliet, however there are some gorgeous lifts reminiscent of MacMillan's lifts in Romeo and Juliet which fit and add to the drama. The final scene leaves me thoroughly drained. Don't miss it. Put me in the group that loves Manon. Can't get enough of it. Four extraordinary pas de deux for the principals and plenty of other dancing. MacMillan reportedly was fascinated with pairs figure skating when he choreographed it and you can see some efforts to emulate that (e.g., throw double twists). I agree about that final PdD -- extraordinary. Link to comment
abatt Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 I've always felt that Manon was much weaker than R&J. However, compared to Jane Eyre, Manon is a masterpiece. One thing that is concerning is that its success is highly dependent on the casting. I'm spoiled by having seen some really great Manon casts in the past, like Ferri/Bolle, Kent/Bolle, Vishneva/Gomes. Will any of the current casts at ABT measure up? We'll see. At the recent YAGP gala, Seo and Stearns did the bedroom pas from Manon. I hope they've been practicing a lot since then, because based on what I saw both of them needed vast improvement. They were the dullest couple in the bedroom pas I had ever seen. Link to comment
mille-feuille Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 Based on these responses, I will give it a try! Which cast would y'all recommend? On the one hand it'd be nice to see Bolle, but I've found Seo bland in the past. Lane/Cornejo would usually be my choice, but he may not be able to dance by then. Boylston/ Hallberg? Link to comment
CTballetfan Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 4 minutes ago, mille-feuille said: Based on these responses, I will give it a try! Which cast would y'all recommend? On the one hand it'd be nice to see Bolle, but I've found Seo bland in the past. Lane/Cornejo would usually be my choice, but he may not be able to dance by then. Boylston/ Hallberg? Lane can emote dramatically. Boylston is more of an athletic performer, in my opinion. And Seo can be bland, although in certain roles requiring delicacy and grace she can be good. No one can match Alessandra Ferri, who owned this role, but I have also seen Julie Kent, whom I liked in the role. Bottom line, I will keep my ticket for Lane/Cornejo and hope for the best. Make of this what you will. Link to comment
fondoffouettes Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 3 minutes ago, CTballetfan said: Lane can emote dramatically. Boylston is more of an athletic performer, in my opinion. And Seo can be bland, although in certain roles requiring delicacy and grace she can be good. No one can match Alessandra Ferri, who owned this role, but I have also seen Julie Kent, whom I liked in the role. Bottom line, I will keep my ticket for Lane/Cornejo and hope for the best. Make of this what you will. I think Lane is the best actress of any of the Manons who've been cast. I'm also curious to see her transformation from innocent young woman, at the beginning of the ballet, to a manipulative (and manipulated) courtesan; I think she could pull that off very well. Why am I not at all shocked that Stearns and Seo turned in a bland bedroom PDD? It's true that much of the success of this ballet depends on the chemistry between the leads. Link to comment
NinaFan Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 1 hour ago, mille-feuille said: Based on these responses, I will give it a try! Which cast would y'all recommend? On the one hand it'd be nice to see Bolle, but I've found Seo bland in the past. Lane/Cornejo would usually be my choice, but he may not be able to dance by then. Boylston/ Hallberg? I'd go with Lane/Cornejo, with my second choice being Boylston/Hallberg. Yes, Cornjeo may be replaced, but Lane should be absolutely gorgeous in the role. If Cornejo is replaced (hopefully not), perhaps a young dancer will be given a debut in the role (Bell would be nice). Link to comment
lacdescygnes Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 1 hour ago, mille-feuille said: Based on these responses, I will give it a try! Which cast would y'all recommend? On the one hand it'd be nice to see Bolle, but I've found Seo bland in the past. Lane/Cornejo would usually be my choice, but he may not be able to dance by then. Boylston/ Hallberg? I have tickets to both Bolle/Seo and Cornejo/Lane. I couldn't miss Bolle's NYC farewell, and I have noticed in past years that he really gets the best out of Seo (who with Stearns is indeed very bland). So I would go with that cast if I were to see only one, especially with the uncertainty of Cornejo being injured. Link to comment
California Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 Cornejo's name has disappeared from the Corsaire casting, but remains for Manon. Nothing new on his Instagram. Boo-hoo! Link to comment
FauxPas Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 (edited) The master calendar on the ABT website is full of oddities currently. They have retired ABT principal and current staff coach Keith Roberts listed as Prince Desiré partnering both Sarah Lane and Cassandra Trenary. The Metropolitan Opera website lists Roberts as dancing Carabosse at those performances and Gorak partnering Trenary and Cornejo partnering Lane. Sloppy! Update: Rechecked and the ABT calendar is being updated to include the Lilac Fairy and Carabosse but they have the order of the dancers wrong! Edited June 6, 2019 by FauxPas Update Link to comment
ABT Fan Posted June 6, 2019 Author Share Posted June 6, 2019 13 minutes ago, FauxPas said: The master calendar on the ABT website is full of oddities currently. They have retired ABT principal and current staff coach Keith Roberts listed as Prince Desiré partnering both Sarah Lane and Cassandra Trenary. The Metropolitan Opera website lists Roberts as dancing Carabosse at those performances and Gorak partnering Trenary and Cornejo partnering Lane. Sloppy! Update: Rechecked and the ABT calendar is being updated to include the Lilac Fairy and Carabosse but they have the order of the dancers wrong! They must be in the middle of updating everything because I just looked at the calendar 10 minutes ago and none of this was there. And, if you look at the Sleeping Beauty page, not on the calendar, they have some Bluebirds listed (Shayer), but only for some performances, and no Florine's. It seems like whenever they update their site, each individual update goes live instantly, as opposed to uploading all of the changes (and making sure they're correct) and having them hit the site at once. It's a bizarre system. Link to comment
ABT Fan Posted June 6, 2019 Author Share Posted June 6, 2019 This page take the cake! Ahn as Romeo! https://www.abt.org/event_dates/sleeping-beauty-7-6-19-800pm/ Link to comment
angelica Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 17 minutes ago, ABT Fan said: This page take the cake! Ahn as Romeo! https://www.abt.org/event_dates/sleeping-beauty-7-6-19-800pm/ This isn't in the ballet Romeo and Juliet. It is likely in the suite of dances in Sleeping Beauty at the wedding , including RR Hood, Hop O' My Thumb, etc. Link to comment
ABT Fan Posted June 6, 2019 Author Share Posted June 6, 2019 Just now, angelica said: This isn't in the ballet Romeo and Juliet. It is likely in the suite of dances in Sleeping Beauty at the wedding , including RR Hood, Hop O' My Thumb, etc. I know this isn't R&J, that's why I said it "takes the cake". Their casting names are all off, but over the past few minutes they've begun to correct some. I'm pretty sure Ahn is doing Bluebird, but for some reason he's listed as Romeo on the Sleeping Beauty page. Major typo. Link to comment
dirac Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 19 hours ago, California said: Put me in the group that loves Manon. Can't get enough of it. Four extraordinary pas de deux for the principals and plenty of other dancing. MacMillan reportedly was fascinated with pairs figure skating when he choreographed it and you can see some efforts to emulate that (e.g., throw double twists). I agree about that final PdD -- extraordinary. I hadn't heard that about the figure skating element. Interesting. I have some issues with the ballet, but the scene where Manon gets passed from man to man is just wonderful – summing up the milieu, the status of women, and the character perfectly in dance form. Link to comment
DPell Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 On 6/5/2019 at 10:31 AM, ABT Fan said: Gonzalez has an Instagram story (public facing) showing him in costume and ballet slippers for Jane Eyre last night. Maybe it's a part that has very little dancing (and/or little or no partnering)? If anyone was there and and can comment, (and on the ballet itself, in the Jane Eyre thread...). At least he's not dealing with something serious, it seems. He said he hurt his shoulder. He's still dancing, just not partnering. Link to comment
bingham Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 3 hours ago, DPell said: He said he hurt his shoulder. He's still dancing, just not partnering. Carlos did the role of Wedding Vicar in Thursday performance. There was no real dancing involved but he did it well. Link to comment
NinaFan Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 (edited) Sleeping Beauty change - I just noticed that a few performances have Craig Salstein listed as Carabosse! Edited June 17, 2019 by NinaFan Link to comment
fondoffouettes Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 (edited) 35 minutes ago, NinaFan said: Sleeping Beauty change - I just noticed that a few performances have Craig Salstein listed as Carabosse! Wow! He’ll be great. And in this particular production, I prefer Carabosse as a drag role. The diminutive Raffa has never made any sense to me. Edited June 17, 2019 by fondoffouettes Link to comment
CTballetfan Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 Thank you to all the posters on this forum for your reviews and impressions of the spring 2019 season. I followed you all. I was not planning to see any ABT performances this season, despite having been a past subscriber for many years (I do subscribe to NYCB) but I felt impelled to see Lane and Cornejo in Manon and SB and I was not disappointed. Their chemistry in Manon and Lane’s Rose Adagio and Cornejo’s solo in SB were worth the effort of getting there. What are you hoping/expecting to see in spring 2020? Is it time for Giselle or Don Q or R&J? Will there be any ballets not often performed? Will Gillian be back to dazzle us with her technical mastery? Any clues to any of this? Wishing you all a good summer. Link to comment
ABT Fan Posted July 7, 2019 Author Share Posted July 7, 2019 3 minutes ago, CTballetfan said: Thank you to all the posters on this forum for your reviews and impressions of the spring 2019 season. I followed you all. I was not planning to see any ABT performances this season, despite having been a past subscriber for many years (I do subscribe to NYCB) but I felt impelled to see Lane and Cornejo in Manon and SB and I was not disappointed. Their chemistry in Manon and Lane’s Rose Adagio and Cornejo’s solo in SB were worth the effort of getting there. What are you hoping/expecting to see in spring 2020? Is it time for Giselle or Don Q or R&J? Will there be any ballets not often performed? Will Gillian be back to dazzle us with her technical mastery? Any clues to any of this? Wishing you all a good summer. They are doing SL, Giselle and Bayadere on tour in 2020 so we will definitely see those three at the Met. Also, Ratmansky is doing a new full length which we’ve discussed on another thread. Besides those four, I’m also curious what we’ll see. R&J would be great, if Lane will finally get her debut (and be cast with Cornejo). Murphy had said she’d be back for the fall, but she wasn’t listed in the fall announcement. Maybe they’re doing a wait and see approach. If not the fall, I imagine next summer if not sooner (Nutcracker, tours, etc). Link to comment
CTballetfan Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 Thank you, ABT Fan, for this update. I too would love to see Lane in R&J. I also have my eye on Catherine Hurlin, hopefully for some big roles, and Aran Bell too, whom I have not seen. Link to comment
ABT Fan Posted July 7, 2019 Author Share Posted July 7, 2019 17 minutes ago, CTballetfan said: Thank you, ABT Fan, for this update. I too would love to see Lane in R&J. I also have my eye on Catherine Hurlin, hopefully for some big roles, and Aran Bell too, whom I have not seen. Since Bell has already done Romeo, Siegried and Prince Desire, I suspect he’ll debut Solor and/or Albrecht next year. Bayadere he’d be paired with Teuscher I imagine. Hmm...for Giselle, could we see a double debut with Trenary? Or, would he be paired with Seo? Regarding Hurlin and the other female soloists, they have a lot of competition for lead parts (unlike Bell), especially assuming Murphy will be back by then. Watch the casting for the winter tours! Link to comment
aurora Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 1 hour ago, ABT Fan said: Since Bell has already done Romeo, Siegried and Prince Desire, I suspect he’ll debut Solor and/or Albrecht next year. Bayadere he’d be paired with Teuscher I imagine. Hmm...for Giselle, could we see a double debut with Trenary? Or, would he be paired with Seo? Regarding Hurlin and the other female soloists, they have a lot of competition for lead parts (unlike Bell), especially assuming Murphy will be back by then. Watch the casting for the winter tours! I imagine Ahn will get a debut or two as well (and be cast in Bayadere again). Link to comment
angelica Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 21 minutes ago, aurora said: I imagine Ahn will get a debut or two as well (and be cast in Bayadere again). He really stepped up to the plate this season. Link to comment
LadyBubbles Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 Re: Murphy, she had a c-section delivery. Recovery is much longer than with a natural delvery. She may have to wait a bit longer to be back in the studio, so perhaps she'll wait until after Nutcracker to be back on the stage. I, too, expect some debuts. Bell as Solor...wasn't the first variation he performed in first position one of Solor's variations? I'd totally go watch him. They could do side by side video of 11 year old vs 20 year old doing that variation. Excellent publicity if you ask me. They definitely need a new Solor considering they had to import one (albeit a great one) last time. Link to comment
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