nycvillager Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 I was just coming here to see if there was an update since this forum is always well informed. I had emailed ABT and Met Opera yesterday to check on the status of the season and my tickets, as I have not been able to check my mail in the city. I'm not surprised by the news, but had hoped that there would be some season even if later in the summer. I really do hope for a proper farewell for Stella, as she has been my favorite female ABT dancer since I started attending. I was looking forward to a few things this season: Gillian back, Osipova, Hallberg, Simkin, Kimin Kim, Sarah Lane, and T&V. I don't get very excited about their short fall season, but I'll probably try to attend more this year. Hope all the dancers can take this time to heal injuries and recharge and can be in great shape come fall and next year. It's unfortunate but not unexpected. I had just been thinking about how soon I'd be willing to sit in the Met Opera House or Koch Theater for several hours in close proximity to others and the coughs that typically annoy me would actually worry me. Hope you are all staying safe out there. Link to comment
LadyBubbles Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 1 hour ago, Leah said: Hopefully promotions will happen after the fall season. I was fully expecting to see Bell promoted (and maybe Forster if he had delivered). But, I suppose promotions will depend heavily on the budget. How disappointing and how disheartening for the dancers. I feel for everyone but especially for those without any additional sources of income and who are struggling financially. I know it's easy to think, oh they should get a job, but it's incredibly difficult to find any job right now. I hope they're able to get help. Link to comment
ABT Fan Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 3 hours ago, abatt said: How sad. Will we ever get to give Stella the send off she deserves? This was to be the year of Tom Forster. How much longer will he have to wait for those opportunities. I wonder if they’d do Giselle in the fall, which would give her her proper farewell. I kinda doubt they’d do any classics at the Koch though, but maybe they’ll consider this. Agree about Forster. I’m most upset over his lost opportunities. I think his promotion this summer was a given. All around sad. I also can’t imagine a summer without the ballet. Hopefully, the dancers (and other staff, musicians, etc) were all able to file for unemployment back when the tours were canceled. Link to comment
California Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 36 minutes ago, ABT Fan said: I wonder if they’d do Giselle in the fall, which would give her her proper farewell. I kinda doubt they’d do any classics at the Koch though, but maybe they’ll consider this. Here's another complication: Colorado Ballet is doing Giselle October 9-18. Last time around, they rented the ABT sets and costumes and I assume they plan to do that again this year. Could they get them trucked back to NYC in time for the end of the Koch season? I suppose so, but who knows... Then again, to listen to the gloomy predictions for a second wave of COVID-19 this fall, perhaps there won't be any fall seasons for anybody. I shudder to think about the next year until they develop a vaccine by mid-2021... Link to comment
California Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 The message ABT sent to ticket holders and the web page say nothing about getting a refund on tickets already purchased (including subscriptions). To get that, log into your account on the Met Opera page. It knows which tickets you hold and gives you a choice of a refund or a donation. https://www.metopera.org/ Link to comment
angelica Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 1 hour ago, California said: The message ABT sent to ticket holders and the web page say nothing about getting a refund on tickets already purchased (including subscriptions). To get that, log into your account on the Met Opera page. It knows which tickets you hold and gives you a choice of a refund or a donation. https://www.metopera.org/ Thank you, California. I just went to that link and it was very simple. Link to comment
Marta Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 Now that Lincoln Center has cancelled all summer programs, I wonder if there will be any fall seasons. NYCB, ABT, Paul Taylor? Link to comment
nubka Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 Hopefully, Covid-19 won't rear it's ugly head during next Fall's flu season, but I wouldn't count on it...☹️ Link to comment
abatt Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 On 4/8/2020 at 3:22 PM, Leah said: Obviously this is the right thing to do for health and safety, but living in NYC without any culture is pretty awful. My only hobbies right now are refreshing FreshDirect and struggling with my office’s VPN. Yes, all the drawbacks of living in New York City come into sharp focus when you remove culture, restaurants, sporting events and so on from the equation. This is just an overpriced, overcrowded, filthy city without any of the positives to counterbalance the negatives. Link to comment
atm711 Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 With my beloved city suffering this is the last thing I need to read! For Shame!!! Link to comment
Helene Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 This was written for a show when NYC was on the verge of bankruptcy: Link to comment
fondoffouettes Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 (edited) What is any city without its cultural and communal life? But yes, I understand the burdens of city life can come into high relief when there aren't the benefits to offset them. The parks were the last "normal" thing I'd been enjoying in Jersey City, where I live, but they've now closed the last of them. Edited April 10, 2020 by fondoffouettes Link to comment
Helene Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 It's also so relative: here I am in Seattle, living in a house with a front yard and a backyard, but when we got the announcement that the parks were going to be closed this weekend, there was sadness in this household. (Well, not so much me, because I'm happier being a lump. But I empathized.) Link to comment
atm711 Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 (edited) Thanks Helene. That was a bit of therapy I needed!! With some luck all those naysayers will move to Tuscaloosa! Edited April 11, 2020 by atm711 Link to comment
Longtimelurker Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 On 4/8/2020 at 1:08 PM, nanushka said: This is terribly disappointing — but not at all surprising — news. I so hope that all the dancers who were set to get exciting new opportunities this season will be given the same (or better) chances next year. It's also sad that we've now likely seen the last 8-week Met season of ABT. Why will not see an 8 week Met season again? Very sad if true Link to comment
LadyBubbles Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 Met season will be cut to 5 weeks starting in 2021 because the Opera season will be extended. This was supposed to be the last 8 week season, unless future seasons run into mid-late July. Link to comment
angelica Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 9 hours ago, LadyBubbles said: Met season will be cut to 5 weeks starting in 2021 because the Opera season will be extended. This was supposed to be the last 8 week season, unless future seasons run into mid-late July. Yes! Run the season into mid-late July. Many tourists visit New York in the summer and perhaps ABT can draw an audience from among them, rather than the New Yorkers who flee the city during the summer. Link to comment
JuliaJ Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 Plus, there are plenty of NYC dance fans still around in July. Every time I've been to the Joyce in the mid/late summer it's been full. Smaller theater, but still telling. In some ways it's good that ABT's season will no longer overlap with NYCB's. Link to comment
Drew Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 (edited) On 4/12/2020 at 12:30 PM, JuliaJ said: Plus, there are plenty of NYC dance fans still around in July. Every time I've been to the Joyce in the mid/late summer it's been full. Smaller theater, but still telling. In some ways it's good that ABT's season will no longer overlap with NYCB's. It already overlaps just a week or two -- which has rather been a bad thing for me as an out-of-towner, but of course makes sense. But I gather from @Leah's post and others that the plan now is for a shortened season anyway, not a season extending into late July. And this is assuming that in the wake of Covid 19 and its economic fallout the company doesn't go the way of New York City Opera. Count me as another person rather gutted for Thomas Forster...ABT waited long enough to give him opportunities for major male leads (from the 'outside,' at least, it has seemed mysteriously long) and now...poof! He's not a young dancer with time to spare....and even if he were, ballet careers are unpredictable in a zillion ways. Very sad for all of the dancers and of course the situation must be peculiarly painful for Abrera... Edited April 14, 2020 by Drew Link to comment
Marta Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 ABT canceled its spring season. I haven't heard anything about a shorter season starting later in spring and ending by late July. How confused am I? Drew said: It already overlaps just a week or two -- which has rather been a bad thing for me as an out-of-towner, but of course makes sense. But I gather from @Leah's post and others that the plan now is for a shortened season anyway, not a season extending into late July. And this is assuming that in the wake of Covid 19 and its economic fallout the company doesn't go the way of New York City Opera. Link to comment
Marta Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 Thank you Leah. I did read about next year but then didn't read the forum for a couple of days. Link to comment
FauxPas Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 (edited) In the 1970's, ABT played its Spring/Summer season at the New York State Theater (now the K*ch). In fact, the videos of Makarova in "Giselle" (with Misha) and "Swan Lake" (with Nagy) are filmed at the NY State Theater. They could open their season after NYCB closes in late May and play until July. Most of their productions are designed to tour different theaters so the sets are flexible, so why not move their Spring season to another house? One problem about extending their Met season into July is that the Metropolitan Opera starts prepping productions on the Met stage in July and starts rehearsing in August for their late September opening. Edited April 21, 2020 by FauxPas clarity Link to comment
California Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 1 hour ago, FauxPas said: In the 1970's, ABT played its Spring/Summer season at the New York State Theater (now the K*ch). In fact, the videos of Makarova in "Giselle" (with Misha) and "Swan Lake" (with Nagy) are filmed at the NY State Theater. I still have the Giselle Videotape and it says it was taped at the Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center. But if the issue is whether the sets work in a smaller theater, like the K*och, the Colorado Ballet rented the ABT sets (and costumes) and they were just fine in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver, which seats 2,225. Link to comment
Marta Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 California said: I still have the Giselle Videotape and it says it was taped at the Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center. But if the issue is whether the sets work in a smaller theater, like the K*och, the Colorado Ballet rented the ABT sets (and costumes) and they were just fine in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver, which seats 2,225. Yes. I have the tape too and was just about to post the same thing. Maybe ABT started dancing at the State in the later 70s. Link to comment
Helene Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 ABT performed at State at least in 1971, when I first saw the company live, and through at least 1974, when Baryshnikov made his US debut. Link to comment
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