Fall Season

[Helene]

8 hours ago, On Pointe said:

I'm sure TPTB were determined to get rid of him by not renewing his contract after the humiliation of losing the AGMA arbitration.

Since dancers at NYCB are on short-term contracts, the only determination they had to show was not offering him a new contract.  Not exactly a hard bar.

[NinaFan]

10 hours ago, On Pointe said:

For Ramasar's sake I hope West Side Story has a decent run,  but I truly doubt that it will succeed.

Why do you truly doubt the show will succeed?  As far as projecting whether a show which has not premiered yet will have a decent run, it looks like the the advance sales are very high.  I already have tickets for the show, but decided to get another set for an earlier date, and I'm having trouble getting anything decent before February. 

11 hours ago, On Pointe said:

With the Spielberg film version coming,  could be that the public is not in the mood for yet another WSS,  especially since there's nothing wrong with the original. 

While I agree that there is nothing wrong with the original film (which I love and have watched a million times),  what's wrong with having another version with today's dancers?

Film and stage are two completely different forms of entertainment.  I attend Broadway shows much more frequently than the movies.  Also, movies can be seen worldwide, but this show is in NYC.   So while they are being done simultaneously, IMO it's unlikely that they'll be competing for an audience.

22 hours ago, mille-feuille said:

Yes, I agree that the tone implies more than just a temporary leave. If that's the case, I look forward to seeing more of the up-and-coming men.

 

Ramasar has not been holding up and coming men so you should have been seeing them anyway.  If the AD deems fit to cast them, then he will.   I just saw Preston Chamblee in a principal role a few days ago, and he was gorgeous. 

[NinaFan]

22 hours ago, canbelto said:

Ask La Cour also implies that a retirement is imminent:

 

Hopefully he'll hang on for a bit longer as he's still dancing beautifully.

[On Pointe]

48 minutes ago, NinaFan said:

Why do you truly doubt the show will succeed?  As far as projecting whether a show which has not premiered yet will have a decent run, it looks like the the advance sales are very high.  I already have tickets for the show, but decided to get another set for an earlier date, and I'm having trouble getting anything decent before February. 

Because four out of five Broadway productions do not succeed. 

 

54 minutes ago, NinaFan said:

While I agree that there is nothing wrong with the original film (which I love and have watched a million times),  what's wrong with having another version with today's dancers?

Film and stage are two completely different forms of entertainment.  I attend Broadway shows much more frequently than the movies.  Also, movies can be seen worldwide, but this show is in NYC.   So while they are being done simultaneously, IMO it's unlikely that they'll be competing for an audience.

I'm speaking from a business point of view.  Like many a show before it,  the critics and a large segment of the public may consider it an artistic triumph,  but with its large cast,  it may be unsustainable over the long run.

West Side Story is now a classic.  Whether on stage or film,  it has a fan base that loves Jerome Robbins' original conception.  When done well,  it's exciting to see his choreography danced by today's young dancers,  especially as there are now plenty of Latino artists to cast as the Sharks.  (Although it must be said that,  like black Americans regarding Porgy and Bess,  many Puerto Ricans have a love-hate relationship with WSS and resent that the best known,  best loved representation of their ethnicity is a show that casts them as knife-wielding gang members.)

I hope that Amar Ramasar can use WSS as a springboard to new endeavors,  as I suspect he will not be offered a new contract with NYCB.  (I'd love to be proved wrong.)

[Peg]

But this production of WSS has Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker as the choreographer. It could be very strange to say the least . But I’m assuming the Robbins Trust had to approve it. 

[BLalo]

30 minutes ago, On Pointe said:

Because four out of five Broadway productions do not succeed. 

 

I'm speaking from a business point of view.  Like many a show before it,  the critics and a large segment of the public may consider it an artistic triumph,  but with its large cast,  it may be unsustainable over the long run.

If the critics and a “large segment of the public” consider it a triumph, is the show then not a success? Is longevity the only factor in determining something’s success? 

If that was the case, only a handful of shows would truly be successful. 

[NinaFan]

54 minutes ago, BLalo said:

If the critics and a “large segment of the public” consider it a triumph, is the show then not a success? Is longevity the only factor in determining something’s success? 

If that was the case, only a handful of shows would truly be successful. 

I agree. 

[NinaFan]

1 hour ago, Peg said:

But this production of WSS has Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker as the choreographer. It could be very strange to say the least . But I’m assuming the Robbins Trust had to approve it. 

Good point.  I just hope it's not too weird.    At least the film with have Robbins choreography.

[FPF]

Won't the Broadway version  have about a year head start on the film? The film could even increase the audience for the show--lots of people seem to want to see the Broadway Disney musicals when they could easily stay home and watch the movies and just by generating more buzz about WSS in general. 

Also, isn't Justin Peck the choreographer for the movie?

[NinaFan]

59 minutes ago, Leah said:

I thought Peck was doing the choreography for the film? Or is he just staging the Robbins? (Hope it’s the latter)

Oooops my mistake, Peck is doing the choreography.    While I would have preferred Robbins, Peck works for me as I enjoy most of his work.

57 minutes ago, FPF said:

Won't the Broadway version  have about a year head start on the film? The film could even increase the audience for the show--lots of people seem to want to see the Broadway Disney musicals when they could easily stay home and watch the movies and just by generating more buzz about WSS in general. 

Also, isn't Justin Peck the choreographer for the movie?

Yes, and yes.

[On Pointe]

2 hours ago, BLalo said:

If the critics and a “large segment of the public” consider it a triumph, is the show then not a success? Is longevity the only factor in determining something’s success? 

If that was the case, only a handful of shows would truly be successful. 

You are correct - in economic terms,  only a handful of shows are truly successful.  If you make a career in theater,  there will be occasions when you pour your heart,  soul and body into a beautiful work that does not run.  I've done that,  and while I can look back in pride at having been part of the creation of a work of art,  it didn't  change the fact that the investors lost their money and I was out of a job.

Some shows fail on Broadway but succeed in regional productions.  Seussical and Be More Chill are two of the most produced works in the US.  But those are original musicals.  The Van Hove De Keersmaeker  West Side Story may do very well on a national tour,  but odds are against it running a long time on Broadway,  as they are for every show.

[On Pointe]

1 hour ago, FPF said:

Won't the Broadway version  have about a year head start on the film? The film could even increase the audience for the show--lots of people seem to want to see the Broadway Disney musicals when they could easily stay home and watch the movies and just by generating more buzz about WSS in general. 

Maybe.  One oddity is the overlap in casts - some of the dancers in the film are also cast in the stage production.  (The other oddity is Spielberg reaching out to Puerto Rican activist groups to assure them of a respectful representation of their culture,  then casting non-Puerto Ricans in the leading Puerto Rican roles.)

[canbelto]

Adrian Danchig-Waring is not amused by Alastair Macaulay's nickname for him:

 

[miliosr]

Regarding this comment of Danchig-Waring's:

"What I do know is that, by ballet standards, I’ve always had more muscle mass than is “desirable” for the “lean style” advocated by George Balanchine."

One of the responders in the comments made this excellent reply:

"And, as for what Balanchine advocated in a dancer’s body, that’s always been overplayed. His principals and soloists, especially, were more physically diverse (though not racially so at the time) than people liked to think. Violette Verdy, Anthony Blum, Gloria Govrin, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Judith Fugate—all these brilliant dancers, and many more, didn’t fit the supposed mold. I watched the company when Balanchine was alive and selected his dancers, and he was never as myopic as people liked to think."

[sidwich]

14 hours ago, On Pointe said:

Because four out of five Broadway productions do not succeed. 

 

I'm speaking from a business point of view.  Like many a show before it,  the critics and a large segment of the public may consider it an artistic triumph,  but with its large cast,  it may be unsustainable over the long run.

WSS is hard to do justice to AND make the economics work for a long for-profit run.  Besides the large cast, the score is complex and require a real orchestra.  I think the original orchestrations are for more than 30 musicians and anything like that that's hard to make work with the economics of a Broadway house now.  Please note: I have no idea what orchestrations they're going to use for this production, although if they use one of those cut-rate synthesizer things like in the last "Sunday in the Park with George" revival, I will probably be a great deal of pain...

[sz]

19 hours ago, miliosr said:

One of the responders in the comments made this excellent reply:

"And, as for what Balanchine advocated in a dancer’s body, that’s always been overplayed. His principals and soloists, especially, were more physically diverse (though not racially so at the time) than people liked to think. Violette Verdy, Anthony Blum, Gloria Govrin, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Judith Fugate—all these brilliant dancers, and many more, didn’t fit the supposed mold. I watched the company when Balanchine was alive and selected his dancers, and he was never as myopic as people liked to think."

Adrian Danchig-Waring and his perceived body shaming from The NYTimes.

Bravo to the responder re strong, healthy, awe-inspiring dancers who are not stick thin
such as Adrian.

I do not have an Instagram account, but if any of you here at Ballet Alert do, please
send Adrian your grateful appreciation for his wonderful, beautiful dancing and body. 

[fondoffouettes]

2 hours ago, sz said:

Adrian Danchig-Waring and his perceived body shaming from The NYTimes.

Bravo to the responder re strong, healthy, awe-inspiring dancers who are not stick thin
such as Adrian.

I do not have an Instagram account, but if any of you here at Ballet Alert do, please
send Adrian your grateful appreciation for his wonderful, beautiful dancing and body. 

To be fair, we truly don't know what Macaulay meant by "Double-Barrelled" and Danchig-Waring himself says he's not sure if it's intended as a comment about his physique. It could be a compliment, an insult or just plain dumb. But it obviously triggered what I think is a perfectly valid response. 

I do find Danchig-Waring to have one of the most strikingly beautiful and distinctive physiques at NYCB.

After hearing for years that Balanchine established the aesthetic for thin, willowy dancers, I was amazed when I first started watching old videos of NYCB and saw such a diversity of body types represented, and far fewer women who were stick thin than we might see today. 

Edited October 16, 2019 by fondoffouettes

[nanushka]

Also, Macaulay has something of a history of odd and at times unseemly comments on physical details. So no surprise if he isn’t given the benefit of the doubt.

Plus it’s kind of just a (IMO) dumb nickname. It sounds nothing at all like AD-W’s name and just seems....a bit weird. (And really, you can’t pronounce Danchig-Waring?)

Edited October 16, 2019 by nanushka

[Quiggin]

Maybe for Macaulay it has class associations as it once did in England: Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady or, differently, in France, solid 19 century middle class: Cartier-Bresson. Though it's far more common and accepted now in the US than it once was. It could also be a gun metaphor, like double barrel shotgun. (Interesting how many of those sayings remain in circulation despite all the gun violence in the past ten years, such as: in last night's Democratic debate someone "gunning" for something, having "someone in your sights," or "pulling the trigger," that is bidding on ebay.)

[BLalo]

Honestly I don’t think “double-barreled” was meant as any kind of description for AD-W at all, I think “double-barreled” is just a term for that type of surname.

For example Jackson-Barrett is double-barreled surname. 

[canbelto]

Could it have been a snide referral to Adrian using Danchig-Waring as his surname when I believe his legal name is Adrian Clay?

[nanushka]

38 minutes ago, BLalo said:

Honestly I don’t think “double-barreled” was meant as any kind of description for AD-W at all, I think “double-barreled” is just a term for that type of surname.

For example Jackson-Barrett is double-barreled surname. 

This is an idiom you’ve heard before?

Edited October 17, 2019 by nanushka

[fondoffouettes]

20 minutes ago, canbelto said:

Could it have been a snide referral to Adrian using Danchig-Waring as his surname when I believe his legal name is Adrian Clay?

This old thread from his promotion to soloist seems to suggest that Clay is his middle name and what he uses in place of a last name on social media:

 

[canbelto]

3 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

This old thread from his promotion to soloist seems to suggest that Clay is his middle name and what he uses in place of a last name on social media:

 

Oh ok. I just looked more into the thread and he explains his last name this way:

adrianclay

@susanbarbash Danchig is inherited from my Jewish maternal side from (roughly) Lithuania. Waring is from the Mayflower-adjacent English folks on my father’s side.

[BLalo]

20 minutes ago, nanushka said:

This is an idiom you’ve heard before?

Yes. I didn’t think it was unknown. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-barrelled_name