California Posted October 21, 2021 Author Share Posted October 21, 2021 (edited) 49 minutes ago, abatt said: The Koch stage looked very cramped. I'm pretty sure they were using fewer Wilis in Act II because the stage was too small, but maybe others can confirm that. They also cut down the number of peasant girls who were dancing from 8 to 6 due to space problems. With a little googling...the Koch stage is 56' wide and 54' deep. Met Opera is 103' wide and 80' deep. Seems odd-- Is the Met really TWICE as wide as Koch?? I was at the Wednesday performance and will just add that the Wilis seemd unusually good -- great unison and position compared to some performances from the past, especially in the famous "chugs." I was also at the afternoon Friends rehearsal. It's not appropriate to discuss performances, so I won't. But we saw brief sections rehearsed by Royal/Trenary (Act II), Boylston, Bell/Shevchenko (Act I). Is this the first-ever black Albrecht at ABT? I can't think of who an earlier one might have been. Kevin's opening comments said a "few" had chosen to mask for health reasons. It turned out to be Andrii Ishchuk (Hilarion) and one peasant girl. If someone has been exposed, I'm surprised they're on stage at all! At the rehearsal, maybe a third were masked, the rest not. But during discussion/notes afterwards from McKenzie and others, everybody was masked. Ushers in the first tier were very strict in coming around to tell people to wear their masks properly. Edited October 21, 2021 by California Link to comment
California Posted October 21, 2021 Author Share Posted October 21, 2021 (edited) 13 minutes ago, JuliaJ said: Someone commented on ABT's most recent Instagram post that Stearns didn't do the entrechats sixs. Is that true? Corrrect. Stearns did the brises and they weren't very impressive. They don't work as well with tall dancers. Edited October 21, 2021 by California Link to comment
FayBallet Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 32 minutes ago, nysusan said: The fees cancelled out her discount and she was so annoyed she ended up not buying the ticket. Same here. I wanted to use the discount to purchase a ticket to the mixed bill that included Pillar of Fire, but like others, I was turned off when the $29 ticket became a $44 ticket. I'm thinking I'll purchase my tickets in person to avoid the $8 service fee, but I'm not sure how one uses a discount code at the box office. Link to comment
JuliaJ Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 Just my opinion but it's totally nuts to have any dancers in masks. If they've been exposed, they should not be in the theater at all. That's what understudies are for. NYCB managed to do a full four-week season -- and when cases were slightly higher in the city than they are now -- without a single mask onstage. Link to comment
abatt Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 5 minutes ago, California said: Corrrect. Stearns did the brises and they weren't very impressive. They don't work as well with tall dancers. Maybe it's true that the brises don't work as well on tall dancers, but I thought his basic form was not even correct for the brises. He just looked lazy. Link to comment
abatt Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 (edited) 7 minutes ago, JuliaJ said: Just my opinion but it's totally nuts to have any dancers in masks. If they've been exposed, they should not be in the theater at all. That's what understudies are for. NYCB managed to do a full four-week season -- and when cases were slightly higher in the city than they are now -- without a single mask onstage. So does anyone think that the two little boys on the wine harvest cart were 12 or over? They looked too small to be at least 12. Why endanger their health if they are unvaccinated? As for the masked dancers, it was distracting. If they were exposed to Covid, they should isolate, not appear on stage masked. Edited October 21, 2021 by abatt Link to comment
California Posted October 21, 2021 Author Share Posted October 21, 2021 34 minutes ago, abatt said: So does anyone think that the two little boys on the wine harvest cart were 12 or over? They looked too small to be at least 12. Why endanger their health if they are unvaccinated? As for the masked dancers, it was distracting. If they were exposed to Covid, they should isolate, not appear on stage masked. The little boys made no sense to me, although I'm not a good judge of ages for kids. Their health matters, but so does the health of the other dancers. Kids can be asymptomatic carriers, as I understand. I am stunned anybody exposed was put on stage, even with a mask. Link to comment
fondoffouettes Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 59 minutes ago, abatt said: As for the masked dancers, it was distracting. If they were exposed to Covid, they should isolate, not appear on stage masked. Exactly. ABT never fails when it comes to "what were they thinking?" moments like this. Link to comment
uptowner Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 1 hour ago, abatt said: So does anyone think that the two little boys on the wine harvest cart were 12 or over? They looked too small to be at least 12. Why endanger their health if they are unvaccinated? As for the masked dancers, it was distracting. If they were exposed to Covid, they should isolate, not appear on stage masked. All of Lincoln Center is being quite strict about the 12+ right now, for performers, employees and guests. (See the Koch Theater guidelines here: https://www.davidhkochtheater.com/plan-your-visit/your-safety/ ) I am sure ABT has to abide by these as well as the resident organizations. Some 12yos are very small! Link to comment
Kathleen O'Connell Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 1 hour ago, California said: With a little googling...the Koch stage is 56' wide and 54' deep. Met Opera is 103' wide and 80' deep. Seems odd-- Is the Met really TWICE as wide as Koch?? No, it's not. The 103 foot width specified for the Met includes the wing space. The proscenium openings for the two stages are comparable: 56 feet wide by 30 feet tall for the Koch and 54 feet wide by 54 feet tall for the Met. The Met stage is deeper than the Koch stage: the Met stage is 80 feet deep from the curtain line to the rear wall; the Koch's stage depth is 54 feet at the center of the stage. Link to comment
cobweb Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 59 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said: ABT never fails when it comes to "what were they thinking?" moments like this. When I went to buy tickets and encountered the massive fees, I walked away from the computer. Only a few weeks later did I decide to go ahead with one single ticket. But - what are they thinking? It would be better to raise ticket prices, rather than add fees that make people feel they are being taken advantage of and deter people at the moment of purchase. Similar to masked dancers. No way! What are they thinking? Link to comment
ABT Fan Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 2 hours ago, California said: I was also at the afternoon Friends rehearsal. It's not appropriate to discuss performances, so I won't. But we saw brief sections rehearsed by Royal/Trenary (Act II), Boylston, Bell/Shevchenko (Act I). Is this the first-ever black Albrecht at ABT? I can't think of who an earlier one might have been. Yes, Royal will be the first. He will also be the first black Siegfried assuming he gets his deferred debut when they do SL again. The last (and only) black male principal they had was Desmond Richardson but he didn’t perform the leads in the classics. He is mostly known for his Othello and other character roles. Link to comment
volcanohunter Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 2 hours ago, California said: Stearns did the brises and they weren't very impressive. They don't work as well with tall dancers. 2 hours ago, abatt said: Maybe it's true that the brises don't work as well on tall dancers, but I thought his basic form was not even correct for the brises. He just looked lazy. I've seen brisés look great on tall dancers and bad on short dancers. It depends on the quality of the jumps and especially the angle of the upper body. Link to comment
lmspear Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 39 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said: No, it's not. The 103 foot width specified for the Met includes the wing space. The proscenium openings for the two stages are comparable: 56 feet wide by 30 feet tall for the Koch and 54 feet wide by 54 feet tall for the Met. The Met stage is deeper than the Koch stage: the Met stage is 80 feet deep from the curtain line to the rear wall; the Koch's stage depth is 54 feet at the center of the stage. I was lucky enough to get backstage tour of the Met several years ago by one of the set builders. At least for the opera, there are three platforms the size of the stage, one behind each wing and one behind the stage area.😲 The set pieces and props are preset on each platform which is then rolled into place for the appropriate act. The tour was before a performance of Hansel and Gretel that I took my then 7 year old niece to see several years ago. The family home was on stage, the forest to the right and the witch's house complete with gingerbread children was to the rear. The fly space had room and rigging to preload scenery for multiple operas as well, at least five or six. We also got to see the shop areas, but that's not a ballet story. Link to comment
nanushka Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 The Met actually offers tours like that to the public, for a fee. I took one once and was pretty satisfied with how much we got to see, for the price. Link to comment
abatt Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 Sadly, all such tours of the Met are suspended until further notice due to Covid. Link to comment
fondoffouettes Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 44 minutes ago, volcanohunter said: I've seen brisés look great on tall dancers and bad on short dancers. It depends on the quality of the jumps and especially the angle of the upper body. Who has done them well in recent memory? The last dancer I can recall doing them with a real wow factor was Corella. I've seen Cornejo perform them adequately but they didn't make much of an impact. I feel like I've only ever seen them in their full glory from Baryshnikov (in the old video) and Corella. Link to comment
California Posted October 21, 2021 Author Share Posted October 21, 2021 43 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said: Who has done them well in recent memory? . . . I feel like I've only ever seen them in their full glory from Baryshnikov (in the old video) and Corella. And in case anybody has forgotten, they start at 18:56 in this clip. Baryshnikov does five the first time, six on the second. I think Stearns did three? It must be difficult on dancers when they know we have all seen The Gold Standard! (I think that was filmed on the Met Opera stage, as I remember, so he had a bit more space.) Link to comment
ABT Fan Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 I'm pretty sure Cornejo does the brises and does them well. I mean, he does everything well and I'm sure I'd remember if that wasn't the case. Someone who attends tonight can confirm. Separately, I just noticed that Marshall Whiteley is gone from the corps roster. Link to comment
canbelto Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 David Hallberg used to do the brises very well too. Link to comment
California Posted October 21, 2021 Author Share Posted October 21, 2021 11 minutes ago, canbelto said: David Hallberg used to do the brises very well too. I always think of him in the entrechats camp -- didn't realize he could do both. Here's a clip: Link to comment
ABT Fan Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 Shevchenko has been replaced as Myrta tonight by corps dancer Peterson. She's still scheduled as Giselle on Saturday night. Link to comment
abatt Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 Oh no. I hope Shevchenko is not injured. Link to comment
fondoffouettes Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 (edited) I’m at a loss for words when it comes to Brandt’s performance tonight. She was extraordinary. She exceeded any expectations I could have had. Unreal. Edited October 22, 2021 by fondoffouettes Link to comment
tutu Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 3 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said: I’m at a loss for words when it comes to Brandt’s performance tonight. She was extraordinary. She exceeded any expectations I could have had. Unreal. Yep. Superlative. Feel very privileged to have witnessed this performance. Link to comment
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