Ratmansky Departing ABT

[volcanohunter]

3 hours ago, nysusan said:

Too bad so many performances are taken up by Ahn, Boylston, Seo, Royal, Stearns, Teuscher and Whiteside. And let's not forget that Copeland will be back at some point.

Boylston, Seo, Stearns and Whiteside are in their latter 30s, and Copeland is 40, so they are closer to the ends of their careers than to their beginnings. 

[Papagena]

On 12/22/2022 at 2:53 PM, bingham said:

       I'm probably in minority here but  it looks like except for the Seasons and Seven Sonatas , none of his ABT  commissions  has been very well received to be revive.. Instead of a resident choreographer, ABT would be better off hiring an additional coach of Irina Kolpakova quality. Just my opinion.

Very true. For full/half length story ballets, his Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker and Firebird seemed to be the only pieces with staying power. Although most of The Firebird success has been the Osipova + Copeland star power factor (with both Hallberg and Gomes in the A cast - was this the end of ABT's star power?). 

I can't even think of a current choreographer who would be worth the commitment. Ratmansky has a rare balance of international prestige and a brilliant ease with classical  vocabulary ...  but even then it often didn't quite work out for general audiences. His interests always seemed a bit niche, which is artistically valid but perhaps not business savvy. I loved bits of Harlequinade to death because of the gorgeous choreography and enjoyed the novelty, visuals and flashes of brilliance of The Golden Cockerel, but would never suggest them to a casual ballet goer. 

I do hope they keep many of his works in rotation, especially the shorter works that really let his choreography shine. This has also, obviously, been a difficult year for him with his family and colleagues being directly affected by the invasion of Ukraine. I wish him well and look forward to his new work - I'm betting he will freelance for a while.  


 

Edited December 27, 2022 by Papagena

[Drew]

2 hours ago, Papagena said:

Very true. For full/half lengths, his Sleeping Beauty and Firebird seemed to be the only pieces with staying power.


 

I expect Shostakovich Trilogy will have staying power, if not at ABT then at other companies -- other companies already perform it. (I think the Piano Concerto no 1 on its own works very well. Possibly a case can be made for the other acts as stand alone ballets.)

For my taste, Whipped Cream is another full length that deserves a long term place in the repertory. (I haven't seen Of Love and Rage.)

[MoMo]

8 minutes ago, Drew said:

I expect Shostakovich Trilogy will have staying power, if not at ABT then at other companies -- other companies already perform it. (I think the Piano Concerto no 1 on its own works very well. Possibly a case can be made for the other acts as stand alone ballets.)

For my taste, Whipped Cream is another full length that deserves a long term place in the repertory. (I haven't seen Of Love and Rage.)

It’s time for those in the Corps de Ballet, some of whom perform soloist roles, to get their just recognition. ABT is in transition mode now. Give those dancers their due: Jarod Curley, Carlos González, Jonathan Klein, Patrick Frenette, Zimmi Coker. Promote them or at least showcase them. Then people will see how good ABT is now. 

[California]

4 hours ago, Drew said:

I expect Shostakovich Trilogy will have staying power, if not at ABT then at other companies -- other companies already perform it. (I think the Piano Concerto no 1 on its own works very well. Possibly a case can be made for the other acts as stand alone ballets.)

For my taste, Whipped Cream is another full length that deserves a long term place in the repertory. (I haven't seen Of Love and Rage.)

The Trilogy was a joint production with San Francisco, as was Seasons. I love Symphony No. 9 and it was performed alone at City Center in 2012 before the others were completed. I love the Ratmansky Nutcracker -- just very different and fresh -- and they need it for their Segerstrom engagement in December. I have to think they'll keep doing Whipped Cream and OLAR, after the investment in those productions.  Tempest was a joint production with Canada, but they never performed it and substituted the Trilogy instead, a smart move. 

[matilda]

They'll probably keep Whipped Cream for the long-run. It does pretty well with ticket buyers as long as ABT isn't trying to make it an annual thing. Would I personally see it again? Not for at least a few years. But I really liked Of Love and Rage and hope that stays in rep. It had the misfortune of coinciding with the pandemic and by the time it premiered at the Met last spring (with terrible marketing), it didn't find the audience it deserved, sadly. 

[Kathleen O'Connell]

I'd add Serenade after Plato's Symposium to the list of keepers. (It's actually my favorite of the ballets Ratmansky did for ABT.) 

It's odd: I think every ballet Ratmansky did for NYCB is a keeper—even though not all of them are crowd-pleasers—but his work for ABT seems more hit-or-miss.

[Papagena]

47 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

I'd add Serenade after Plato's Symposium to the list of keepers. (It's actually my favorite of the ballets Ratmansky did for ABT.) 

It's odd: I think every ballet Ratmansky did for NYCB is a keeper—even though not all of them are crowd-pleasers—but his work for ABT seems more hit-or-miss.

Yes - both Shostakovich Trilogy and Serenade after Plato's Symposium are keepers and my comment was generally referring to the expensive story ballets. I think the attempts at story ballets have been the major issue (especially since that's ABT's bread and butter) as they land with a louder thud than any other type of ballet when not received particularly well. 

[ABT Fan]

This news isn’t too surprising, given the changes in artistic leadership and the continual economic free fall. Whatever the exact reason though, it’s indeed unfortunate, but for me it’s less about losing his choreographic contributions and instead his identifying and fostering young talent by giving them ample opportunities to develop and shine. We don’t know how Jaffe will lead so she may do a much better job than McKenzie in that area. 

[abatt]

Whereas I would always show up for a new Ratmansky, Wheeldon or Tharp work, I rarely show up anymore for new works that ABT presents by other choreographers.  There are a seemingly vast supply of very bad choreographers out there.    Best of luck ABT.  You are going to need it.

Jaffe should acquire rights to Ratmansky's Swan Lake  and his reconstruction of Giselle  for a future season. 

 

[California]

On 12/23/2022 at 11:20 AM, abatt said:

Jaffe should acquire rights to Ratmansky's Swan Lake  and his reconstruction of Giselle  for a future season. 

Having seen both of these reconstructions in the theater, I wholeheartedly agree that it would be great if ABT could acquire Ratmansky's Swan Lake and Giselle.

I think Giselle would play well. Many balletomanes are likely to go see the United Ukrainians at the Kennedy Center in February and I suspect they would agree. The famous Willis Fugue, the elaborate ending with the return of Bathilde, and Giselle swallowed up by the earth are highlights. They wouldn't even need new sets, except for the contraption at the end.

I'm not so sure about Swan Lake. I saw a report some time ago that La Scala is going back to their more standard Swan Lake, and Bolle never performed in the reconstruction. We also don't know if Miami might have exclusive rights for a time in North America. (They presented it last year.)

EDITED TO ADD: Having just watched the Polish National Ballet's new production of Giselle on YouTube (which is very similar to what we're familiar with at ABT),  the downside of the Ratmansky reconstruction is that several things we have come to expect are missing, as they were not in the original. E.g.: Giselle's pas de poissons. Albrecht's flying brises (or multiple entrechats). The tabletop lifts in the lilies PdD. The Willis Fugue is the most interesting thing in the reconstruction that we've never seen before, but it would be a real trade-off to switch productions. 

Edited December 26, 2022 by California

[abatt]

6 minutes ago, California said:

Having seen both of these reconstructions in the theater, I wholeheartedly agree that it would be great if ABT could acquire Ratmansky's Swan Lake and Giselle.

I think Giselle would play well. Many balletomanes are likely to go see the United Ukrainians at the Kennedy Center in February and I suspect they would agree. The famous Willis Fugue, the elaborate ending with the return of Bathilde, and Giselle swallowed up by the earth are highlights. They wouldn't even need new sets, except for the contraption at the end.

I'm not so sure about Swan Lake. I saw a report some time ago that La Scala is going back to their more standard Swan Lake, and Bolle never performed in the reconstruction. We also don't know if Miami might have exclusive rights for a time in North America. (They presented it last year.)

I'm quite certain that Miami has exclusive rights to North American performances of the Ratmansky SL for  a few years.  I wish they would bring it to NY as I was not able to see it in Florida last season.  

[Helene]

The premiere of Ratmansky's "Tchaikovsky Overtures" is tonight; Julian Mackay posted about it to his Instagram account:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmgteBQKsWV/

While I wouldn't expect new creations of Ratmansky works to enter other companies' reps for a few years, it may be possible for ABT to get the rights in the future, especially since this will premiere in Europe (Munich).

[California]

1 minute ago, Helene said:

The premiere of Ratmansky's "Tchaikovsky Overtures" is tonight; Julian Mackay posted about it to his Instagram account:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmgteBQKsWV/

While I wouldn't expect new creations of Ratmansky works to enter other companies' reps for a few years, it may be possible for ABT to get the rights in the future, especially since this will premiere in Europe (Munich).

 I think the middle section of "Tchaikovsky Overtures" is the Tempest! I have to wonder if anything from the full-length Tempest he did for ABT has been recycled for this!

[nanushka]

Ratmansky’s Tempest ballet was set to music by Sibelius.

[Quiggin]

In San Francisco we have been fortunate to see "Shostakovich Trilogy" (SFB co-production with ABT) and "Seven Sonatas," one a big boned work and the other a wonderful miniature, both with great casts. I also thought that the ABT broadcast Bernstein/Bubble was great fun, full of witty touches, one which I didn't tire of watching it several times over.

My problem sometimes with Ratmansky is that his musical choices, such as with "From Foreign Lands" and even "Four Seasons," seem to me somewhat uninteresting – overly familiar and slightly kitschy straight out of the box. You might say that Shostakovich, Scarlatti, and Bernstein provided stronger and clearer structures on which to build ballets. That said, I would pretty much see any ballet that Ratmansky made.

[Helene]

Ratmansky's Don Q is amazing.  Unless Dutch National Ballet has some kind of very long term rights to it, ABT might want a look at that one.

[California]

34 minutes ago, Helene said:

Ratmansky's Don Q is amazing.  Unless Dutch National Ballet has some kind of very long term rights to it, ABT might want a look at that one.

PNB has also done Ratmansky's Don Q, back in 2012, but not since? https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/arts/dance/ratmanskys-don-quixote-has-premiere-in-seattle.html

Has any other company performed it? 

[Helene]

The sets and costumes were very expensive to ship to Seattle -- I think they may have to have gone through the Panama Canal -- and PNB  only performed it twice.  They had a multi-year contract, and they performed the work in winter 2012 and then again in winter 2015.  Sadly, we haven't seen it here since, and I can think of at least five couples for Kitri/Basilio and Mercedes/Espada, and that's without any effort.

It's got expanded acting roles for Don Q and Sancho Panza.  In Seattle Tom Skerritt did most performances of Don Q, and an amazing local character actor, Allen Galli, was Sancho Panza.  (In the other cast, Otto Neubert and Jonathan Porretta were superb.)  I think that this could be a big selling point in NYC, because there are so many well-known actors they could snag for the leads, especially since they do one week at a time.

[Papagena]

11 minutes ago, Helene said:

It's got expanded acting roles for Don Q and Sancho Panza.  In Seattle Tom Skerritt did most performances of Don Q, and an amazing local character actor, Allen Galli, was Sancho Panza.  (In the other cast, Otto Neubert and Jonathan Porretta were superb.)  I think that this could be a big selling point in NYC, because there are so many well-known actors they could snag for the leads, especially since they do one week at a time.

Oh interesting - reminds me a bit of the Duchess role in La Fille du Régiment (played semi-recently by Kathleen Turner and Ruth Bader Ginsburg), except more prominent? 

Edited December 23, 2022 by Papagena

[Helene]

I would say more like the The Marquise of Berkenfield in La Fille, who has the big music lesson scene with Marie in Act II, where Don Q and Sancho Panza have an extended mime intro scene in Act II.  Neither Don Q nor Sancho Panza are cameos the way the Dutchess of Crackentorp is.  Sancho Panza needs to be physically adept, especially since at one point the crowd tosses him in the air several times.

[Drew]

I saw the Ratmansky Don Q on video and loved it. Another selling point for ABT trying to appeal to a wide audience might be that it is not committed to 19th-century performance styles...and it is a thrilling bravura evening for a contemporary audience. But  the Dutch National Ballet production I would most like ABT to get is their Raymonda which has traditional choreography but jettisons the most problematic parts of the "Crusades" story line by drawing out an element in the story that can be seen as potentially implicit in the original anyway. (Not implicit in its creators' intentions, but in the way that the story plays in the theater. Most of us are pretty ho-hum about Jean de Brienne--but an exciting Abderrakhman?)

When it comes to ABT, I have long been team Ratmansky, but I can't say I'm convinced his Swan Lake is the best choice for them. 

Presumably money as well as legal rights will dictate many of the decisions to be made.

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by Drew

[bingham]

12 hours ago, Drew said:

I saw the Ratmansky Don Q on video and loved it. Another selling point for ABT trying to appeal to a wide audience might be that it is not committed to 19th-century performance styles...and it is a thrilling bravura evening for a contemporary audience. But  the Dutch National Ballet production I would most like ABT to get is their Raymonda which has traditional choreography but jettisons the most problematic parts of the "Crusades" story line by drawing out an element in the story that can be seen as potentially implicit in the original anyway. (Not implicit in its creators' intentions, but in the way that the story plays in the theater. Most of us are pretty ho-hum about Jean de Brienne--but an exciting Abderrakhman?)

When it comes to ABT, I have long been team Ratmansky, but I can't say I'm convinced his Swan Lake is the best choice for them. 

Presumably money as well as legal rights will dictate many of the decisions to be made.

 

ITA with Raymonda .such a beautiful production.

[matilda]

Huge twist in this story--Ratmansky is joining NYCB as artist in residence. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/05/arts/dance/alexei-ratmansky-new-york-city-ballet.html

Edited January 5, 2023 by matilda

[abatt]

Wow.  Take that ABT!  Good for NYCB!

Edited January 5, 2023 by abatt