NYCB at SPAC July 18-22, 2023

[FPF]

The schedule for NYCB's too-brief summer season at SPAC was released today:

Tuesday, July 18, 7:30 PM: NYCB On and Off Stage

NYCB Principal Dancers Tiler Peck and Adrian Danchig-Waring host a unique “behind the curtain” experience featuring excerpts from the week’s balletsincluding Swan Lake, Fancy Free, Firebird, new works Play Time, Love Letter (on shuffle), Copland Dance Episodes, and more. A compelling evening for newcomers and aficionados alike!  

Immediately following the program is a celebratory “dance party” in the Hall of Springs. 

(I am kind of disappointed that they continue to repeat this educational program instead of having a regular performance and have also eliminated the $5 or free educational programs that used to be before the performances). 

Wednesday • Jul 19, 2023 – Thursday • Jul 20, 2023: SPAC Premieres

Highlighted by music from Solange Knowles, James Blake, and Arvo Pärt. Gianna Reisen’s Play Time, Kyle Abraham’s Love Letter (on shuffle), and Christopher Wheeldon’s Liturgy make their SPAC premieres. Justin Peck’s Scherzo Fantastique returns for the first time since its World Premiere in 2016.  

Scherzo Fantastique (Stravinsky/Peck)

Play Time (Knowles/Reisen)

Liturgy (Pärt/Wheeldon)

Love Letter (on shuffle) (Blake/Abraham)

Thursday • Jul 20, 2023 – Saturday • Jul 22, 2023: Peck & Copland

After his award-winning foray with Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes, Resident Choreographer Justin Peck goes all-in with Aaron Copland, featuring four of his most acclaimed musical scores:  Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid, Fanfare for the Common Man, and Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo, creating an original full-evening work in collaboration with painter and sculptor Jeffrey Gibson. 

Copland Dance Episodes (Copland/Peck) 

(I guess we will still be pretending that 1 1/4 hours is a full evening)

Friday • Jul 21, 2023 – Saturday • Jul 22, 2023: Swan Lake, Fancy Free & Firebird

Get swept away into worlds of magic, beauty, and celebration with three renowned story ballets featuring the choreography of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.

Swan Lake (Tschaikovsky/Balanchine)

Fancy Free (Bernstein/Robbins)

Firebird (Stravinsky/Balanchine, Robbins)

Tickets go on sale for SPAC member on February 14th at 10 am and for nonmembers on February 23. Beware, they instituted dynamic pricing last year.

[BalanchineFan]

19 hours ago, FPF said:

(I guess we will still be pretending that 1 1/4 hours is a full evening)

I've seen Copland Dance Episodes twice and it seems like a full evening to me. Put two intermissions in there and you'd only go home later.

By contrast, the Donizetti, Haieff, Valse Fantaisie, SVC program has 70 minutes of dancing, all Balanchine, of course. That's less dancing than the announced Copland running time.

[FPF]

I attended both the matinee and the evening performances yesterday. 

The matinee was Peck's Copland Dance Episodes. I like some Peck ballets and am bored by others. For me, this was a hit. I think an important factor was the choice of Copland music, which is very suited to dance. And it was a great way to show off the great NYCB dancers. The cast was: M. Miller, Maxwell, Janzen, Chan, Phelan, Laracey, Gerrity, Gabriel, Villarini-Velez, Mejia, Corti, Clark, O. MacKinnon, Dutton-O’Hara, Applebaum, Alberda, Bolden, Knight. For me, the standout here was Chun Wai Chan. Whenever he was onstage, my eye was just drawn to him--what a beautiful, charismatic dancer! Alexa Maxwell also looked great. The two of them got the biggest applause of the afternoon. I almost didn't recognize Russell Janzen, who has cut his hair super-short, but I'm very happy to have had a chance to see him again before he retires in the fall. Miriam Miller was also beautiful. In fact, all of the dancers were great, but I can't always tell who is who--NYCB needs to update their website with recent pictures of all of the dancers. I also really appreciated (especially after the evening performance) the lighting and costumes, which seemed designed to show off the dancers. The audience loved this--it got an immediate and sustained standing ovation.

I found the evening performance of "SPAC Premieres" much less satisfying. Note that there were casting substitutions, but the announcement was so noisy that I have no idea who didn't dance or who replaced them.

The opener was Scherzo Fantasque, which premiered at SPAC 7 years ago. I wasn't crazy about it then and I think pretty much the same thing now. The cast was Brittany Pollack (my first time seeing her in years, I think), Harrison Coll, Miriam Miller, and  Anthony Huxley in the principal roles. I always enjoy seeing Huxley and Miller also looked great. 

Next was Play Time, which, in my opinion, is another Fashion Gala disaster. The costumes were blindingly sparkling and with the dim lighting and the distorting silhouettes, I felt the dancers really sort of disappeared.  The standouts here (as far as I could tell) were KJ Takahashi and Chun Wai Chan. I think India Bradley also did very well. Others in the principal cast as per the program included Christina Clark, Harrison Coll, David Gabriel, Unity Phelan, Davide Riccardo, Emma Von Enck, and Indiana Woodward. I would like to see this again but without those costumes.

Liturgy, with Sara Adams and Jovani Furlani, was next and was the biggest hit of the evening. They were really beautiful together. Standing ovation and extra curtain calls.

Last on the program was Love Letter (on shuffle). I didn't particularly care for it and could not tell who was who in the cast. The audience as a whole seemed enthusiastic.

I kind of regret seeing this program and wish I'd gotten a ticket for the second performance of Copland instead. 

I will report tomorrow on the Swan Lake, Fancy Free, Firebird program. 

[cobweb]

Thanks for this report @FPF, and I look forward to your comments tomorrow! Good to hear that Jovani Furlan (who missed the Spring season) and Brittany Pollack (like you said, out for years) are back in action. And great to hear that the lovely Sara Adams got appreciation in Liturgy. And totally, totally agree on the need for NYCB to post headshots of the dancers. Why has this been discontinued??

[Fernie M]

Does anyone know why Mira Nadon did not dance at SPAC?

[Peg]

I think Mira is fine. She went to classes last week and has been rehearsing for Vail.  Not sure why she was t in Saratoga  

I thought yesterday’s SPAC performances were stellar. Sara Mearns brings all her genius and emotion to Swan Lake. Jovani, Joseph Gordon and Daniel Ulbricht were great sailors, and I love seeing Indiana’s flirtatiousness inFancy Free. I won’t comment on Firebird as I just can’t warm to it or to LaFreniere in the role. 
Last night’s performance—the closing night of NYCB’s week at SPAC—of Copland Dance Episodes was beautiful. Miriam Miller and Russell Jantzen were gorgeous together. You could feel the emotion, as per her Instagram it was their final performance together before his retirement. Mejia dazzled, as he always does. Chun Wai Chan and Alexa Maxwell were also top form.  I’m not sure this is a work that will endure for the ages but I love seeing the Company dance it. Justin Peck brings out some beautiful qualities in these dancers. And it’s thrilling to hear the music.

Yesterday’s matinee seemed close to sold out. This crowd loves story ballets, especially Swan Lake. Sadly, lots of empty seats last night. 
Begore the performance, Jon Stafford announced that znYCB’s SPAC engagement in 2024 will be July 9-13. 

[FPF]

I agree with Peg about the Saturday matinee. The theater was packed--I haven't seen it this full in years for a ballet program--maybe since the pre-pandemic galas or even perhaps the Bolshoi visit several years back. There were busloads of children, perhaps from dance schools--they were fairly dressed up, which is not typical of the camp group that sometimes come. The other two performances I went to seemed to sell well, but not to that extent. In interviews, the dancers often comment that one of the things they like about performing at SPAC is being able to look at and see the audience, so I'm glad that both matinees had large and enthusiastic audiences.

I may be alone in this unpopular opinion, but for me, the Balanchine Swan Lake is the best Swan Lake (and I've seen a number of different productions). I love everything about it and I've never seen a full-length version that I find as nearly satisfying (but hoping to see the Ratmansky version someday). Yesterday afternoon's performance moved me to tears. Sarah Mearns is so beautiful as Odette. I also liked both Megan LeCrone (she seems to have softened her look a bit, she used to tend to look angry) and Emma von Enck in the Pas de Neue and Valse Bluette, respectively. Tyler Angle did a respectable job and was, of course, a great partner for Sarah, although definitely not looking like a young prince. 

Nothing more to add to Peg's review of Fancy Free--great overall. I especially enjoyed Indiana Woodward and Joseph Gordon in the pas de deux. And Daniel Ulbricht doesn't seem to have lost anything with age--he must be around 40 now.

I enjoyed Firebird, especially Isabella LaFreniere in the title role. I also thought that Miriam Miller was great as the Princess--I think this role is difficult to make much of an impression in, but she does. Peter Walker seemed a bit bland as Ivan. 

On the whole, I really enjoyed this season. Thanks also to Peg for confirming that we will have a ballet season next year to look forward to.

[FPF]

A review of the Friday night program (same as Saturday afternoon) mentioned that there were 5000 people in the packed audience--that's roughly 2 full New York State Theaters! https://www.wamc.org/news/2023-07-22/at-nycb-great-ballets-draw-great-audiences.