ABT Fall 2023

[coffeelover]

Didn’t Robare rehearse Oberon with Trenary last year? He seems like a logical choice to be a replacement for the role. But alas😂

[miliosr]

Do we all remember this discussion from over nine years ago?

2014 Met Season - American Ballet Theatre - Ballet Alert! (invisionzone.com)

On p. 11 of the '2014 Met Season' thread, forum members - many of whom are still with us! - discussed the embarrassing spectacle of ABT having to draft Andrew Veyette from City Ballet to replace an injured Cory Stearns in Theme & Variations. This, despite the fact that there was time to teach an ABT soloist or corps member the part - Jared Matthews being the prime candidate.

Edited October 5, 2023 by miliosr

[Helene]

Odds are,  if you start a sentence with "I heard," what comes next is a violation of our "official news" policy.

The exceptions are when "I heard" is followed by "at [name of public-facing event]" or "on [name of official podcast] or [mainstream media stream/radio/TV station]". 

[bingham]

 I had high hopes when Susan J came in with a wonderful Fall program but apparently has not learned from previous mistakes. 

[ABT Fan]

1 hour ago, coffeelover said:

Didn’t Robare rehearse Oberon with Trenary last year? He seems like a logical choice to be a replacement for the role. But alas😂

Yes! I saw the clip on IG. I think he’s too untested for a major role at this point though, so to beat a dead horse: give it to Curley!

1 hour ago, miliosr said:

Do we all remember this discussion from over nine years ago?

2014 Met Season - American Ballet Theatre - Ballet Alert! (invisionzone.com)

On p. 11 of the '2014 Met Season' thread, forum members - many of whom are still with us! - discussed the embarrassing spectacle of ABT having to draft Andrew Veyette from City Ballet to replace an injured Cory Stearns in Theme & Variations. This, despite the fact that there was time to teach an ABT soloist or corps member the part - Jared Matthews being the prime candidate.

I sure do. I suppose we should be grateful that ABT hasn’t recruited Veyette again, or Gordon, Huxley or any other NYCB guy to take Oberon (despite it being Balanchine vs MacMillan).

[Josette]

3 hours ago, ABT Fan said:

I sure do. I suppose we should be grateful that ABT hasn’t recruited Veyette again, or Gordon, Huxley or any other NYCB guy to take Oberon (despite it being Balanchine vs MacMillan).

MacMillan?

Edited October 5, 2023 by Josette

[ABT Fan]

3 hours ago, Josette said:

MacMillan?

Sorry, brain fart. Balanchine vs Ashton. 

[Papagena]

On 10/5/2023 at 2:21 PM, bingham said:

 I had high hopes when Susan J came in with a wonderful Fall program but apparently has not learned from previous mistakes. 

This is literally the first season she's put together. Why not keep the hopes high? 

[cobweb]

James Whiteside was in the audience at NYCB tonight. Hope he was taking notes! ABT has a lot to live up to after NYCB's recent performances of Ballet Imperial. 

[Papagena]

8 minutes ago, cobweb said:

James Whiteside was in the audience at NYCB tonight. Hope he was taking notes! ABT has a lot to live up to after NYCB's recent performances of Ballet Imperial. 

The NYCB men in particular have been fabulous in everything. Roman Mejia is such a star - gorgeous work from Gilbert Bolden III, Jovani Furlan and Joseph Gordon and as well. 

For everyone getting upset about delayed promotions, remember that Jaffe did not choose the rep last Spring - this program is her first and closer to glory days ABT rep. It's and a real testing ground to see how people dance her repertory preferences. 

[Barbara]

I agree wholeheartedly that her first season rep is wonderful but how can she assess the dancers ability if they are not cast? Example, Curley in The Dream. 

[lmspear]

6 hours ago, Barbara said:

I agree wholeheartedly that her first season rep is wonderful but how can she assess the dancers ability if they are not cast? Example, Curley in The Dream. 

We don't know who has been cast as an understudy.  I think that Jaffe will be watching rehearsals and classes   I think that ABT is just beginning to emerge from the McKenzie era.

[bingham]

2 hours ago, lmspear said:

We don't know who has been cast as an understudy.  I think that Jaffe will be watching rehearsals and classes   I think that ABT is just beginning to emerge from the McKenzie era.

In my deeper thoughts, I really think it will be better but it’s just frustrating now when it seems there is no other dancer who could dance Oberon aside from Daniel Camargo.

[California]

I went to the Works and Process at the Guggenheim Sunday night with Susan Jaffe. Two pieces of news I hadn't heard: (1) Alessandra Ferri will do two performances of Woolf Works next summer at the Met, and (2) Chloe Misseldine is prepping to do Swan Lake in February at the Kennedy Center and at the Met next summer. She did openings of white Swan pdd and black Swan with Thomas Forster.

[Papagena]

Just now, California said:

I went to the Works and Process at the Guggenheim Sunday night with Susan Jaffe. Two pieces of news I hadn't heard: (1) Alessandra Ferri will do two performances of Woolf Works next summer at the Met, and (2) Chloe Misseldine is prepping to do Swan Lake in February at the Kennedy Center and at the Met next summer. She did openings of white Swan pdd and black Swan with Thomas Forster.

Thank you for this! So happy to have Alessandra back at The Met. 

I wonder if adding such a young O/O (Misseldine) to the already stacked SL slots means one or two of their swans are retiring this year (Murphy/Copeland would be my guess). 

[nanushka]

I would be ecstatic if Misseldine and Forster were to do SL at the Met next summer.

(I’m already pretty excited just for her! I’ve been waiting for this.)

[ABT Fan]

10 hours ago, California said:

I went to the Works and Process at the Guggenheim Sunday night with Susan Jaffe. Two pieces of news I hadn't heard: (1) Alessandra Ferri will do two performances of Woolf Works next summer at the Met, and (2) Chloe Misseldine is prepping to do Swan Lake in February at the Kennedy Center and at the Met next summer. She did openings of white Swan pdd and black Swan with Thomas Forster.

 

10 hours ago, Papagena said:

Thank you for this! So happy to have Alessandra back at The Met. 

I wonder if adding such a young O/O (Misseldine) to the already stacked SL slots means one or two of their swans are retiring this year (Murphy/Copeland would be my guess). 

Wow. Huge news for Misseldine! To accommodate, either all O/O’s will only get one show at the Met (Seo or Teuscher usually get two) or they’ll do more than their normal 8 shows. 

Hopefully when Ferri is in town, she will do some coaching as well.

[matilda]

Great for Misseldine, and overall I think ABT has a good roster of Odette/Odiles. I'm much more concerned about the state of the Siegfrieds.... can we please get a new Siegfried too, preferably a few? 

If Misseldine actually ends up dancing the ballet with Forster, that doesn't bode so well for Murphy, who has been paired with him the past few seasons. Unless Forster dances with both. 

Edited October 9, 2023 by matilda

[abatt]

Wonder if Treanary will finally get a Swan Lake

[ABT Fan]

The fall season starts next week (!) and Bell is still listed for Piano Concerto, the gala and On the Dnipro. If he’s injured/sick are his replacements for these ballets still being sorted or was he pulled from Etudes and The Dream for other reasons? (I’m throwing this question out into the universe because I don’t think any of us have seen an official post on any of this. He’s silent on IG. It’s all just odd and frustrating.)

[abatt]

If Bell is not injured, then ABT pulled a major bait and switch on its ticket buyers.  Nothing against Carmago, who is a wonderful dancer.   It is possible that he was injured during the training/rehearsal  period scheduled for the Dream and Etudes.  It is frustrating nevertheless.

Edited October 10, 2023 by abatt

[matilda]

ABT master calendar has upcoming China performances listed now: two shows of Piano Concerto/Petite Mort/Etudes in Shanghai followed by a Giselle run there and in Beijing. Casting is the same as recent performances. Glad they're touring internationally again. 

Edited October 11, 2023 by matilda

[ABT Fan]

22 hours ago, abatt said:

If Bell is not injured, then ABT pulled a major bait and switch on its ticket buyers.  Nothing against Carmago, who is a wonderful dancer.   It is possible that he was injured during the training/rehearsal  period scheduled for the Dream and Etudes.  It is frustrating nevertheless.

 

56 minutes ago, matilda said:

ABT master calendar has upcoming China performances listed now: two shows of Piano Concerto/Petite Mort/Etudes in Shanghai followed by a Giselle run there and in Beijing. Casting is the same as recent performances. Glad they're touring internationally again. 

Thank you, Matilda. I’ve been watching for that.

So, given Bell is cast for this tour in Piano Concerto and Giselle, with performances less than a month away, seems he is not injured or sick. And, he’s still cast in Piano Concerto, the gala and On the Dnipro starting next week. So, was he considered a poor fit for Etudes and The Dream after being initially cast? I would find that hard to believe. What gives ABT?

[volcanohunter]

41 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

So, was he considered a poor fit for Etudes and The Dream after being initially cast? I would find that hard to believe. What gives ABT?

Bell is very tall, and Ashton's Oberon was conceived for a small, slight and very speedy dancer. I'm guessing the original soloists in Etudes were also not particularly tall. I can't say whether Bell is a poor fit for those roles, but he isn't an obvious fit.

[abatt]

 Hallberg, Gomes, Stearns and Whiteside have all successfully performed Oberon.  Is Bell any taller than they are?