ABT 2022: Of Love and Rage

[California]

50% off for every performance except the opening Monday, Wednesday matinee, and the Saturday matinee!

Special Offer for ABT Members Get 50% Off Tickets for Alexei Ratmansky's Of Love and Rage We are excited to offer ABT Members a special discount on select performances to celebrate the New York Premiere of ABT Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky's Of Love and Rage! Of Love and Rage 50% Off Tickets in Orchestra Prime and Side Tuesday, June 21 at 7:30pm Wednesday, June 22 at 7:30pm Thursday, June 23 at 7:30pm Friday, June 24 at 7:30pm Saturday, June 25 at 8:00pm Code: ABTMEMBER Offer available until Saturday, June 25 *Subject to availability, limit of four (4) tickets per performance Get 50% Off Tickets Special support for Of Love and Rage, part of the Ratmansky Project, has been generously provided by Elizabeth Segerstrom, John Rallis and Mary Lynn Bergman-Rallis, and through an endowed gift from The Toni and Martin Sosnoff New Works Fund.    Leadership for the Ratmansky Project has been provided by Avery and Andrew F. Barth, the Blavatnik Family Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton E. James, and the Ted and Mary Jo Shen Charitable Gift Fund.

Edited June 18, 2022 by California

[abatt]

Thanks for posting.  I tried the code in a "cheaper" area of the house, and it didn't work.  So once again there are unspecified restrictions in this offer.  It apparently only applies to higher priced areas of the house.

[California]

14 minutes ago, abatt said:

Thanks for posting.  I tried the code in a "cheaper" area of the house, and it didn't work.  So once again there are unspecified restrictions in this offer.  It apparently only applies to higher priced areas of the house.

Yes -- in the fine print in the box: 50% Off Tickets in Orchestra Prime and Side

[Papagena]

I'm not surprised - the amount of open seats right now is pretty depressing. Who would have thought an antiquated and overall unknown story with no marquee name dancers to hold it up would be a hard sell with the public.

Very much looking forward to the production, but not the number of empty seats. Always feels like an elephant in the room. 

[abatt]

There is also competition next across the plaza from Pacific Northwest Ballet, but I don't think those tickets are selling very well either. 

[JuliaJ]

Not sure how much difference it has made but their ad campaign this season has been unimpressive. Is advertising the season as "Kevin McKenzie's farewell season" really supposed to resonate with a mass audience? And who's idea was it to use just a picture of Isabella Boylston's face as the poster for Don Q? Sounds like their marketing team could use an overhaul to accompany the management turnover. 

I hope they can find a way to fill some more seats for Of Love and Rage, even if it means giving them away. It sounds like a great production. A theater of nearly 4,000 is an uphill climb for most shows to fill, especially for something unfamiliar and new. Sigh. 

[Papagena]

36 minutes ago, JuliaJ said:

Not sure how much difference it has made but their ad campaign this season has been unimpressive. Is advertising the season as "Kevin McKenzie's farewell season" really supposed to resonate with a mass audience? And who's idea was it to use just a picture of Isabella Boylston's face as the poster for Don Q? Sounds like their marketing team could use an overhaul to accompany the management turnover. 

They definitely need a new marketing team or agency. Boylston has a pretty big following and is quite marketable, but it's odd they didn't capitalize on the signature joy and fullness of her dancing (thinking of the iconic Herrera Don Q shots). 

But I'm wondering if there even is a good way to market Of Love and Rage? A convoluted storyline where the female lead is the 'most beautiful woman in the world' trope, tossed around by men, and story's hero almost kills her in a fit of rage? I just don't know what the draw is here besides my enjoyment of watching Ratmansky's choreography and how difference dancers adapt to it (which could even get me through multiple showings of Harlequinade).  

I know opera is more popular than ballet so it's not a fair comparison, but even the undersold week nights at the opera are about as full as the better sold weekends at ABT. Akhenaten sold out on both runs with tons of first-time opera goers and people begging for tickets outside. The production had a strong identity and felt glamorous and fascinating, weird and moving. If ABT could harness just a fraction of that energy ... 

Anyway, still looking forward to the premier on Monday! I am, however, having a very hard time convincing people to come with me (even on rush tickets). 

[Helene]

People who travel all over the world to see Wagner's Rings are called "Ringheads."  Anthony Roth Costanzo said in one recent interview via the Met that people are traveling to follow this Akhnaten production wherever it lands.  (I don't think they have a name yet.) Unlike other first time smash hits at the Met for very new or very old operas that were revived to play empty(ish) houses, similar to the Seattle revival of the very popular Florenzia of the Amazons, this one has legs.

Maybe I'm being cynical, having watched the Seattle Opera online Marriage of Figaro (for ticket holders whose tickets weren't scanned in the theater) and having listened to the broadcast with the other cast on KING FM this morning, but I find the subject of "Of Love and Rage"  tone deaf.   But without big names and jugglers, it may be like most new ballets that aren't set to very popular music and/or aren't Dracula and that need word-of-mouth to gain traction, especially if they're relying on tourists for any part of ticket sales.

[Drew]

8 hours ago, California said:

Yes -- in the fine print in the box: 50% Off Tickets in Orchestra Prime and Side

 

8 hours ago, abatt said:

Thanks for posting.  I tried the code in a "cheaper" area of the house, and it didn't work.  So once again there are unspecified restrictions in this offer.  It apparently only applies to higher priced areas of the house.

In what was copied here to this thread, the limits on the seats available are very clearly in bolded print--by no means the "fine[st] print"  in the announcement and they are placed immediately underneath the title of the ballet, which is the only thing in larger print.  It's easy to get confused anyway--I do all the time with these types of pitches-- but I don't think ABT screwed this up particularly or was at all misleading.

(Personally I am dying to see Of Love and Rage and very sad to be missing it. And I think it's a shame there isn't more of an audience for a new full length ballet by one of the best classical choreographers around.)

Box office? It's very depressing. But ABT is stuck with the Met this season....As I understand from reading this site, NYCB--which seems to be on a high in terms of talent and has a fantastic repertory and a loyal audience and (at times) nifty marketing--regularly closes cheap sections of its considerably smaller house to make sure the lower sections fill up.  I think classical and neo-classical Ballet is far more accessible to the uninformed/uninterested than many other high art forms but getting people to come and getting them to keep coming for anything other than Swan Lake seems to be a bit of a conundrum everywhere. Not to let ABT off the hook entirely--ABT does need better marketing--but ....

[volcanohunter]

2 hours ago, Helene said:

...it may be like most new ballets that aren't set to very popular music and/or aren't Dracula and that need word-of-mouth to gain traction, especially if they're relying on tourists for any part of ticket sales.

Khachaturian's Gayane does include some very popular music. Perhaps it should be emphasized in the marketing.

But the title is horrendous.

Ticket sales for evening shows from Wednesday onward are dismal. ABT must be praying good word-of-mouth will spread really quickly.

[abatt]

I think the scheduling of  an extended period of Swan Lake was meant to subsidize the anticipated dismal ticket sales for Love & Rage. 

[abatt]

CASTING UPDATE -  Cory Stearns is replaced in Love and Rage by Jarod Curley, as per the ABT website.

[ABT Fan]

So, Curley is now playing Mithridates 6 times?! I haven't seen the production yet, just rehearsal clips - it seems to have some difficult choreography, but maybe it's a short role. Still. Wonder why they didn't spread the love amongst him and Frenette, the later who is only doing it twice. Sorry to hear that Stearns is either ill or injured. But, a good opportunity for the corps fellas.

I wonder what the Plan B is for SL which is only the following week, in case Stearns is out of that as well. He has 2 shows.

[abatt]

11 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

I wonder what the Plan B is for SL which is only the following week, in case Stearns is out of that as well. He has 2 shows.

I was wondering that too.  My guess is Ahn will get the call to partner Devon if Stearns can't perform.  He and Bell are the only two dancers tall enough to partner Devon, and Ahn right now has only one SL. 

Correction - Royal and Forster are also tall enough, but they already have two SL assignments.

 

Edited June 19, 2022 by abatt

[MarzipanShepherdess]

19 hours ago, Papagena said:

They definitely need a new marketing team or agency. Boylston has a pretty big following and is quite marketable, but it's odd they didn't capitalize on the signature joy and fullness of her dancing (thinking of the iconic Herrera Don Q shots). 

But I'm wondering if there even is a good way to market Of Love and Rage? A convoluted storyline where the female lead is the 'most beautiful woman in the world' trope, tossed around by men, and story's hero almost kills her in a fit of rage? I just don't know what the draw is here besides my enjoyment of watching Ratmansky's choreography and how difference dancers adapt to it (which could even get me through multiple showings of Harlequinade).  

I know opera is more popular than ballet so it's not a fair comparison, but even the undersold week nights at the opera are about as full as the better sold weekends at ABT. Akhenaten sold out on both runs with tons of first-time opera goers and people begging for tickets outside. The production had a strong identity and felt glamorous and fascinating, weird and moving. If ABT could harness just a fraction of that energy ... 

Anyway, still looking forward to the premier on Monday! I am, however, having a very hard time convincing people to come with me (even on rush tickets). 

Agree with so many of the points you make here. Or think of BAM's recent very successful run of Akram Khan's Giselle with English National Ballet, which attracted a young, diverse audience beyond die-hard balletomanes even though it's a reworked 19th century classic, ENB hasn't toured here in 30 years, and none of the dancers in the company are well-known in the states. It can be done!

ABT has a marketing problem, but also a programming problem. I love Ratamansky's work and will buy tickets to anything he does, but in reading his interview about 'Of Love and Rage' in the program last night I was really struck by how completely out of touch he sounded when talking about what a beautiful love story Callirhoe (the source text) is because the heroine forgives the hero after he almost murders her in a fit of rage. In 2022, those sentiments do not fly with many prospective audience members. They make ME queasy, but I am so interested in Ratmansky's choreography that I'll still show up. But yes, similar to you I am finding none of my friends have any interest in the production given the subject. It sounds like Susan Jaffe is a bit more enlightened in this area than some of her predecessors, so hopefully under her leadership ABT will do better.

[miliosr]

On 6/18/2022 at 10:44 AM, Papagena said:

Very much looking forward to the production, but not the number of empty seats. Always feels like an elephant in the room. 

Here's another elephant in the room: Just how popular is Alexei Ratmansky with ABT's core audience? He has a following among critics and seriously committed ballet fans. But how much of an audience does he have at ABT beyond that?

[vipa]

On 6/19/2022 at 12:50 PM, MarzipanShepherdess said:

Agree with so many of the points you make here. Or think of BAM's recent very successful run of Akram Khan's Giselle with English National Ballet, which attracted a young, diverse audience beyond die-hard balletomanes even though it's a reworked 19th century classic, ENB hasn't toured here in 30 years, and none of the dancers in the company are well-known in the states. It can be done!

 

The thing about BAM is that it regularly draws a somewhat different crowd than the Met. The BAM audience is younger and more diverse in general. It's an audience that's used to going to  see new works, Mark Morris,  music and dance from different cultures, etc. When I saw Giselle at BAM, I was surrounded by people who had never seen a production of the traditional ballet. It was a BAM audience. ENB may have done a good marketing job, but the BAM audience is ever ready for something new.

Edited June 20, 2022 by vipa

[canbelto]

1 hour ago, miliosr said:

Here's another elephant in the room: Just how popular is Alexei Ratmansky with ABT's core audience? He has a following among critics and seriously committed ballet fans. But how much of an audience does he have at ABT beyond that?

Well ABT's spring Met audience is extremely conservative and would probably want 5 weeks of nothing but Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet. This is an audience that finds T&V avante garde. I think Ratmansky's full lengths of Sleeping Beauty and Harlequinade were fairly popular. His other works less so. 

[balletlover08]

1 minute ago, canbelto said:

Well ABT's spring Met audience is extremely conservative and would probably want 5 weeks of nothing but Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet. This is an audience that finds T&V avante garde. I think Ratmansky's full lengths of Sleeping Beauty and Harlequinade were fairly popular. His other works less so. 

Then ABT may be better off sticking only to the classic full lengths for the MET. They can do all the advance garde shows elsewhere, maybe segerstorm or on tour? I think there is an audience for newer modern, jazz works etc. Just maybe not for very conservative audiences. 

[canbelto]

2 minutes ago, balletlover08 said:

Then ABT may be better off sticking only to the classic full lengths for the MET. They can do all the advance garde shows elsewhere, maybe segerstorm or on tour? I think there is an audience for newer modern, jazz works etc. Just maybe not for very conservative audiences. 

Just to give you an idea of how conservative spring season ABT audiences are, I remember the frosty reception to Duo Concertant.

[Drew]

On 6/19/2022 at 8:58 PM, balletlover08 said:

Then ABT may be better off sticking only to the classic full lengths for the MET. They can do all the advance garde shows elsewhere, maybe segerstorm or on tour? I think there is an audience for newer modern, jazz works etc. Just maybe not for very conservative audiences. 

There is a lot in between "classic full lengths" and "advance guard" and ideally there should be room for some of that 'in between' at the Met. There has been in the past.  I also think big name dancers make a difference (whether developed in-house or invited from outside) especially when the repertory is less of a known quantity -- and such dancers are few and far between.

I'm actually very curious to see how Like Water for Chocolate does next season: a ballet based on a successful Book and, later, movie and choreographed by a multiple Tony Award Winner. That's a lot of name recognition even without a "big name" dancer.

Edited June 24, 2022 by Drew
Because Like Water for Chocolate was a book before it was a movie...

[Quiggin]

I remember hearing a man telling his wife at an ABT performance at the MET that he was happy that the next ballet was a story ballet, that they had really"missed the boat" across the way at State Theater by producing so many abstract ballets.

Maybe ABT could have a BAM week where they try out different things, like Love and Rage excerpts (but retitled and with Rauschenberg costumes?) or smaller cast workshop ballets. Was interesting to read Brian Seibert's review of early Paul Taylor works, wonder if there are strands of interesting earlier ABT experimental works that could be revived?

[canbelto]

17 minutes ago, Quiggin said:

I remember hearing a man telling his wife at an ABT performance at the MET that he was happy that the next ballet was a story ballet, that they had really"missed the boat" across the way at State Theater by producing so many abstract ballets.

Maybe ABT could have a BAM week where they try out different things, like Love and Rage excerpts (but retitled and with Rauschenberg costumes?) or smaller cast workshop ballets. Was interesting to read Brian Seibert's review of early Paul Taylor works, wonder if there are strands of interesting earlier ABT experimental works that could be revived?

I remember an ABT performance of T&V where some audience members were complaining that they didn't like these "new" works. They wanted Romeo and Juliet. When I informed them that Theme and Variations is actually older than R&J, they were shocked.

[abatt]

Historically ABT has been the bastion of story ballets and NYCB has been the bastion for modern neoclassical ballet. I can't blame ABT audiences for not accepting ABT's presentation of Duo Concertant a few years ago, because ABT dancers are not trained in neoclassical style.  In addition, I recall that on that program, instead of pairing the short Duo Concertant with another short ballet (as they do at NYCB), ABT  simply put in an intermission, as though the 10 or 12  minute ballet was 1/3 of a full program.  I think that the audience felt cheated by that choice and did not show up.

In addition to Harlequinade and Sleeping Beauty, Ratmansky's Whipped Cream ended up selling pretty well once word of mouth spread.  Of Love and Rage is not a kid friendly ballet, and that negatively impacts sales.

 

[nanushka]

Duo Concertant also just doesn't work well at all on the Met stage. (And it's kind of a weird piece.) I imagine Theme and Variations is quite acceptable to many in the ABT audience, as far as non-story ballets goes. If only it were on a program that really made sense.