Giselle -- Feb 3-4 and Feb 9-12 Plus Streaming Option

[sandik]

I went to the dress last night, and just wanted to say that, in the way that rehearsals often have glitchy moments so that performances can go better, one of the Wilis lost her wings in a big sweep across the stage.  They're not small, and they were in a central location, so I was hoping that someone would find a way to remove them.  And Elle Macy stepped right up, scooping them up with her left hand as she made a transition across the space, transferred them to her right hand (which was already holding the myrtle branch), and then, after the branch "breaks" she tossed them both off stage exactly where the choreography tells her to. 

Bingo!

[Helene]

Dylan Wald is no longer on the cast list as Albert (Sunday, February 12 at 1pm).  Lucien Postlewaite will partner Madison Rayn Abeo.

 

https://www.pnb.org/season/giselle/

[Helene]

I'll post more later, but there are two things I want to mention now, having seen the second of two performances from the back half of the Second Tier boxes:

1.  The corps was magnificent!  Every pattern, transition, and spacing was clear and disciplined while remaining natural.  In both acts.  There aren't enough  for them and the people rehearsing them.

2.  Madison Rayn Abeo has every reason right now to be over the moon.

[Bored_on_Wall_Street]

8 hours ago, Helene said:

I'll post more later, but there are two things I want to mention now, having seen the second of two performances from the back half of the Second Tier boxes:

1.  The corps was magnificent!  Every pattern, transition, and spacing was clear and disciplined while remaining natural.  In both acts.  There aren't enough  for them and the people rehearsing them.

2.  Madison Rayn Abeo has every reason right now to be over the moon.

I haven't come out to see a show at PNB since Carmina Burana in 2019, and there have been a lot of changes in the company since then (let alone when they last did Giselle) but this really remains the showpiece for the company.  While there were parts of the saturday matinee that were underwhelming and my worry about a degradation in the particular style this production needs,  sunday made up for it.  In addition to what you mention, the acting/miming--which is really important to the restored production-- was more refined, complementing the natural articulation of the corps.   Also, as opposed to saturday's casting, Iliesiu's Myrthe was imperious with touches of sadness.  Very nuanced.

 

[Helene]

The stream with the Opening Night cast will be available this Thursday, February 16 through Mondy, February 21 (11:59 PST).

Tickets are available here:

https://order.pnb.org/23-digital/giselle

 

They are $35+tax.

[tutu]

Helene, would love to hear more about Abeo’s debut — a new soloist whom Ratmansky has spotted stepping into her first full-length?  Sign me up!

[California]

On 2/14/2023 at 5:52 PM, Helene said:

The stream with the Opening Night cast will be available this Thursday, February 16 through Mondy, February 21 (11:59 PST).

Tickets are available here:

https://order.pnb.org/23-digital/giselle

 

They are $35+tax.

Let me enthusiastically recommend the Digital option for PNB's Giselle this weekend with unlimited viewings until Monday, Feb 20. Especially if you saw Ratmansky's reconstruction (either the Bolshoi theater stream in January 2020 or the United Ukrainians), it's fascinating that both versions apparently had access to the same historical materials but made so many different choices.  A few notable things for me (by no means comprehensive or in any particular order):

• The PNB costumes are gorgeous, but it seemed strange that Hilarion and the hunters wore long formal jackets with velvet collars and vests. Isn't Hilarion a poor peasant? Albrecht also wore one in Act II for the lilies pas de deux, which seemed (to me) to interfere with some of his dancing. (He loses the jacket for his return after Hilarion's death.) The fresh, pristine Willis costumes with ribbon hems also seemed odd, like they were jilted at the alter yesterday. I liked the slightly greyed ragged skirts for the Ratmansky Willis -- they've been buried for a long time.Think of the wear-and-tear of climbing in and out of those graves every night! (I do realize the Ukrainians had to work with borrowed costumes from Birmingham.)
• The Willis "chugs" had only four across (two in each direction), when we're used to six (or more!). Although well-performed, it seemed to lose some of the impact.
• I love that PNB retained the tabletop lifts in Act II, as well as the pas de poissons. Ratmansky said in interviews that they weren't in the original, so he left them out.
• I loved the return of the hunters in Act II, not once but twice, the second time engulfed by Willis.
• I prefer the white lilies Albrecht brings to the grave, instead of the red roses in the Ratmansky. I am guessing there was something in the historic record that led Ratmansky to the red roses, but lilies just seem much more appropriate.
• In the passage where we once saw Baryshnikov's flying brises, Albrecht did the endless series of entrechats facing the audience, my least favorite choice at that point in the music and not at all what we saw in the Ratmansky version.
• I missed the Fugue that Ratmansky re-installed. Also missed the passage where Albrecht flies Giselle across the entire front of the stage.
• PNB's ending that brought back Bathilde and others was nice, but not nearly as dramatic as Ratmansky's. And Giselle just vanished into her grave instead of being swallowed up by the earth, a little more like what we are used to seeing.
• I hope I'm not breaking any rules here, but Leigh Witchel saw both versions and makes some very interesting comparisons: https://www.dancelog.nyc/the-present-the-past-the-future-all-at-once/

 

[Helene]

Hilarion wouldn't be a poor peasant:  he's a gameskeeper, and his employer would have been wealthy, which may be one of the reasons he can suss out Albert so easily, as opposed to just being jealous of the shiny new guy.  In most other productions I've seen, he brings dead birds, ie, dinner, to Berthe, partly to show that he will be able to feed her daughter.  He's not in the fields and subject to an agrarian living.  He meets a group of gameskeepers in Act II; I've seen productions where he appears to be bumping into a group of guys he doesn't know.  Maybe his coat is shorthand for that, because only the hunting party brings back game.

Giselle doesn't have to swallowed up, because by then, she's already passed him onto Bathilde.  It makes me think of La Traviata, where Violetta tells Alfredo that when he finds a wife to give his wife Violetta's locket and to tell her that an angel is watching out for them both.  In Traviata, there's no one specific, whereas in Giselle, it is Bathilde.  I love that his punishment is depicted physically: he's between Giselle and Bathilde, and he has to live out his life in the middle of the great forgiveness sandwich.

There have been a number of changes for each revivial, particularly in the mime, between 2011 -> 2014 -> 2023.  (I'm not sure if there were intermediate/other changes slated for 2020, when the revival was cancelled when theaters closed.)  

[doug]

A note that Hilarion is the captain of the gamekeepers (hunters) and therefore a prominent citizen in the community who works for the Prince of Courlande. The first group of humans featured in Act Two are hunters and the second group (those confronted by the Wilis) are villagers.

[California]

15 minutes ago, doug said:

A note that Hilarion is the captain of the gamekeepers (hunters) and therefore a prominent citizen in the community who works for the Prince of Courlande. The first group of humans featured in Act Two are hunters and the second group (those confronted by the Wilis) are villagers.

Thanks for the clarifications, @doug and @Helene The costumes make much more sense now.

[sandik]

On 2/17/2023 at 9:58 AM, doug said:

A note that Hilarion is the captain of the gamekeepers (hunters) and therefore a prominent citizen in the community who works for the Prince of Courlande. The first group of humans featured in Act Two are hunters and the second group (those confronted by the Wilis) are villagers.

I've often wondered that since Hilarion is a gamekeeper, and so has seen most of the court -- does he actually recognize Loys/Albert before the a-ha moments?

[louisekrebs]

Very very late to the game here, but I wanted to add that Abeo made an incredible debut. She deserved more than just the one show! During the post show talk, she mentioned that she only had four rehearsals with her new partner, Postlewaite, but they had great chemistry and perhaps because of lack of rehearsal, it all seemed so fresh and exciting. Abeo portrayed such youthful joy in act one, certainly more so than any Giselle I've seen. And her mad scene sent chills throughout the crowd. She's an incredible actor and it all felt so heartbreakingly real. I saw Generosa the week before, and compared to that, Abeo really shot expectations through the ceiling. In act two she was so buoyant it seemed she might float up to the cat walk. So, so beautiful. I hope that PNB performs Giselle soon again, and that she gets the chance to blow the audience away again in this role. 

[seattle_dancer]

12 hours ago, louisekrebs said:

Very very late to the game here, but I wanted to add that Abeo made an incredible debut. She deserved more than just the one show! During the post show talk, she mentioned that she only had four rehearsals with her new partner, Postlewaite, but they had great chemistry and perhaps because of lack of rehearsal, it all seemed so fresh and exciting. Abeo portrayed such youthful joy in act one, certainly more so than any Giselle I've seen. And her mad scene sent chills throughout the crowd. She's an incredible actor and it all felt so heartbreakingly real. I saw Generosa the week before, and compared to that, Abeo really shot expectations through the ceiling. In act two she was so buoyant it seemed she might float up to the cat walk. So, so beautiful. I hope that PNB performs Giselle soon again, and that she gets the chance to blow the audience away again in this role. 

Thank you for the report and insights louiskrebs!  Somehow I totally missed that Madison Abeo debuted in Giselle last year, so I really appreciate your report!