ABT Met Season 2024

[NinaFan]

6 hours ago, Mary Mellowdew said:

Thanks for that heads up on the casting changes on Onegin. I decided to go only  because I had never seen it, even though reviews of their performances in the last 20 years or so were not so good. I have tix for Friday night, and am so pissed. About the last three people I want to see do anything are Schevchenko, Stearns and  Ahn. Ahn in particular. I have never understood why he has the position he has -- can only assume it had something to do with a need for a male partner of a certain height. I'm sure he is or was a great jumper at some point, but as far as I'm concerned watching him dance is about as exciting as  watching a can opener or a stick of wood dance. I also have tix to see Misseldine and Bell in Swan Lake at July 3 matinee. Can't wait for them to cancel that too. Maybe I'll just throw all my tix out the window and forget about it.

Susan Jaffe needs to get her  freaking act together. I don't know about other patrons but this is likely the last time I will  ever buy tix to ABT in advance, if at all. I am fed up with this, sick of giving someone "a chance." And if Jaffe can't do anything, maybe the board needs to step in. If they're going to continue to act this way they need to start OFFERING  ADVANCE PURCHASERS A REFUND,  I know the fine print says "casting subject to change," but what is the freaking point of announcing casting 3 months ahead if you're always going to change it and won't refund? They think all their patrons are  naifs who don't know anything about their company and different dancers? Why don't they adopt NYCB's policy if they some think some dancers "might not be up to it" and might result in bad opening night reviews.

 To add insult to injury it's going to be 95 Friday and I can only assume they will be using the same policy they used last year, when on very hot  and humid days they made people line up single file outside the Met, with a line stretching practically to Broadway,  and  would open only one set of doors,  wouldn't open all the doors because they didn't want "too much heat" getting into the theatre, at least that is what I was told when I complained. I thought I was going to faint. I have never understood why they just accepted the restrictions related to the Met's schedule changes, didn't just find another theater, SO THEY COULD DO MORE PERFORMANCES WHEN THE WEATHER WASN'T SO HOT AND HUMID. In any event, I hope they fold up their tent soon and get out of town for good. I think the weather in Orange County Ca is more mild in summer so maybe they should just move their permanent base to Segerstrom.

I’ve exchanged a number of my ABT tickets already. I see matilda has provided the exchange information above. However, casting is always a crap shoot at any company until the curtain comes up. 

I live in NY and would hate for them to relocate to the WC. While ABT is not even close to what they once were, I still look forward to the few performances that bring me pleasure. And even though there are few, I always try to look for new exciting dancers and the special spark which attracted me to ABT in the first place.

[abatt]

I was not able to make the Thursday Misseldine show, so these casting changes have motivated me to take a half vacation day to see her in the Wed matinee.  

The law of averages is that during any season there are going to be casting changes in lead roles.  It happens every year at ABT.  Thanks for the people here who actually review the info closely and spot the changes pretty quickly. 

[Mary Mellowdew]

On 6/12/2024 at 6:08 PM, nanushka said:

ABT has had weak marketing as long as I've been seeing them. One of my greatest hopes, when McKenzie retired, was that he'd be replaced by someone who saw that and led an overhaul of the marketing department. It's terribly ineffective.

I think there are also branding problems. "America's national ballet company"? Who cares? Are New Yorkers going to go to the ballet en masse as a patriotic act? NYCB has the spirit of the city. The company looks like the city. Even ABT's name seems like a lost opportunity. Are theatre-lovers going to be drawn to a piece of theatre specifically because it's presented through ballet? Are ballet-lovers going to be drawn to a ballet performance specifically because it's a theatre piece? I just don't see the big pull there, for today's audiences. Maybe there could be a pull — but does ABT's marketing play into that?

They are "America's national ballet company" only because they hired some dopey PR person who told them this was how they should brand themselves and if they got a member of Congress to read that in the Congressional record then that is what they would BE!   I loved how that blew up in their face several years  ago in Singapore when someone who was put out by Misty's performance in Swan Lake started blasting the American government in their social media posts for sending "America's national ballet company" to Singapore.

Their marketing, even the font used in their programs,  has been out of date for decades.  I don't know who does their marketing calls for subscriptions, but I have had some lulus call me -- usually a guy with a valley girl accent who suggests things like " but don't you want first crack at tickets to see Misty?" or "I am SO excited to see Hallberg and Osipova in Giselle. Don't you want to?"   Stupid, name-dropping idiots.

Edited June 16 by Mary Mellowdew

[volcanohunter]

As Josette wrote earlier, cast changes in Onegin probably aren't a matter of ABT not having its house in order. The Cranko estate (i.e., Reid Anderson) has been known to prohibit certain dancers from dancing the ballet, to withdraw dancers at the last moment (this happened in November to the National Ballet of Canada), to withdraw permission to perform excerpts from the ballet at galas, also at the last minute; I attended two galas at which this happened. The withdrawals have been known to happen when dancers were already in costume, waiting for the curtain to go up.

Collectively the late Dieter Gräfe and Reid Anderson were known as the Cranko Boys, but my mother aptly renamed them the Cranky Boys.

So buyer beware, and get your Onegin tickets as late as possible.

[Mary Mellowdew]

4 minutes ago, volcanohunter said:

As Josette wrote earlier, cast changes in Onegin probably aren't a matter of ABT not having its house in order. The Cranko estate (i.e., Reid Anderson) has been known to prohibit certain dancers from dancing the ballet, to withdraw dancers at the last moment (this happened in November to the National Ballet of Canada), to withdraw permission to perform excerpts from the ballet at galas, also at the last minute; I attended two galas at which this happened. The withdrawals have been known to happen when dancers were already in costume, waiting for the curtain to go up.

Collectively the late Dieter Gräfe and Reid Anderson were known as the Cranko Boys, but my mother aptly renamed them the Cranky Boys.

So buyer beware, and get your Onegin tickets as late as possible.

Don't know if you saw Susan Jaffe interview in Times in past week or so, but she was CLUTCHING notebook with her notes from when SHE did Onegin  and talked in what seemed to me a rather BREATHLESSS manner about her experience doing it as a dancer  at ABT.  Perhaps what ABT needs to do with regard to this work is add a PROMINENT warning in marketing materials and on tickets to the extend that the estate of the choreographer has the final word on casting and that casting proposed by ABT is is just that -- proposed  and likely subject to change.

What almost warned me off seeing this work was bad reviews ABT got doing it in NYC in past and fact that I am not generally fond of Cranko's works. I guess I am just mad at myself for not following my instincts and wasting money on tickets.  So now I have an excuse for not going and subjecting myself to one of those horrible long lines outside the Met.

[California]

14 minutes ago, Mary Mellowdew said:

They are "America's national ballet company" only because they hired some dopey PR person who told them this was how they should brand themselves and if they got a member of Congress to read that in the Congressional record then that is what they would BE!   

Actually, both the House and the Senate passed Resolutions giving ABT that designation as National Ballet Company. Carolyn Maloney sponsored the resolution in the House. 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/house-resolution/751/all-actions

Charles Schumer sponsored the resolution in the Senate: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BILLS-109sres452ats

[nanushka]

5 minutes ago, Mary Mellowdew said:

Perhaps what ABT needs to do with regard to this work is add a PROMINENT warning in marketing materials and on tickets to the extend that the estate of the choreographer has the final word on casting and that casting proposed by ABT is is just that -- proposed  and likely subject to change.

Well, they do say very prominently on their website, in bold and all-caps, "ALL CASTING AND PROGRAMMING IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE"

Immediately below that is their policy on refunds and exchanges:

Quote

For the 2024 Summer season at Metropolitan Opera House, ticket holders may exchange tickets for another performance within the 2024 Summer season up until noon the day of the performance at no extra charge, except any difference in ticket price. No refunds or cancellations allowed.

If a ticket buyer is unable to use their tickets, they may donate them back to American Ballet Theatre until curtain time.

 

Edited June 16 by nanushka

[California]

5 minutes ago, nanushka said:

Well, they do say very prominently on their website, in bold and all-caps, "ALL CASTING AND PROGRAMMING IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE"

Immediately below that is their policy on refunds and exchanges:

 

Those of us old enough to remember the Kirkland era in the 70s know that nothing is certain until the curtain goes up. Regular balletomanes learn who is at greater risk of cancellation -- Osipova, Hallberg, Cornejo come to mind -- and come prepared to be disappointed. Now we know a lot more about the practices of the Cranko estate. At least now, you get advance notice on the internet (normally). Before that, you dreaded that announcement before the curtain went up, as that's when you usually found out first about cancellations. The perils of loving ballet!

[ABT Fan]

4 minutes ago, California said:

Those of us old enough to remember the Kirkland era in the 70s know that nothing is certain until the curtain goes up. Regular balletomanes learn who is at greater risk of cancellation -- Osipova, Hallberg, Cornejo come to mind -- and come prepared to be disappointed. Now we know a lot more about the practices of the Cranko estate. At least now, you get advance notice on the internet (normally). Before that, you dreaded that announcement before the curtain went up, as that's when you usually found out first about cancellations. The perils of loving ballet!

Or walking into the theatre and seeing that dreaded sign at the entrance announcing a casting change. Fun fact: the one time that worked in my favor was in the late 80’s and I had tickets to a matinee of Giselle. I walked in, saw that sign with the announcement that Baryshnikov was subbing for Albrecht. I nearly passed out. I still remember his performance. No clue who his Giselle was or who he was subbing for! He erased all memory of that and that was before I saved programs. 

I will definitely keep in mind for next time the finickiness of the “Cranky” estate. This is my first experience seeing the entire principal/soloist cast replaced. I wouldn’t be so frustrated if they had just replaced Teuscher/Camargo and left Roxander/Coker. Now I know. 😕

[aurora]

5 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

Or walking into the theatre and seeing that dreaded sign at the entrance announcing a casting change. Fun fact: the one time that worked in my favor was in the late 80’s and I had tickets to a matinee of Giselle. I walked in, saw that sign with the announcement that Baryshnikov was subbing for Albrecht. I nearly passed out. I still remember his performance. No clue who his Giselle was or who he was subbing for! He erased all memory of that and that was before I saved programs. 

I will definitely keep in mind for next time the finickiness of the “Cranky” estate. This is my first experience seeing the entire principal/soloist cast replaced. I wouldn’t be so frustrated if they had just replaced Teuscher/Camargo and left Roxander/Coker. Now I know. 😕

Similarly I remember going to see a matinee in the same era and Baryshnikov, who was scheduled, had cancelled, much to everyone's disappointment.

At least until the "new guy" started dancing. It was Julio Bocca. The first time I ever saw him.

[California]

5 minutes ago, aurora said:

Similarly I remember going to see a matinee in the same era and Baryshnikov, who was scheduled, had cancelled, much to everyone's disappointment.

The only Baryshnikov cancellation I experienced was in October 1979 at the Kennedy Center. He was slated to do "Dances at a Gathering" and we learned of the cancellation by announcement right before curtain time. Fortunately, I had seen him the Saturday before in Coppelia with McBride. I can imagine the disappointment of people who were expecting to see him for the first time. I think he was nearing the end of his performing days at NYCB due to injuries. 

[Barbara]

I’ve exchanged my Friday evening Onegin for Thursday as well. I actually enjoy all the lead dancers in the subbed cast, just not in Onegin. I feel bad for the replaced cast if indeed it was the result of the “Crankys”. One wonders what reason they were given and how that must make them feel. 

[aurora]

1 minute ago, California said:

The only Baryshnikov cancellation I experienced was in October 1979 at the Kennedy Center. He was slated to do "Dances at a Gathering" and we learned of the cancellation by announcement right before curtain time. Fortunately, I had seen him the Saturday before in Coppelia with McBride. I can imagine the disappointment of people who were expecting to see him for the first time. I think he was nearing the end of his performing days at NYCB due to injuries. 

ABT I think you mean?

Yes, he wasn't a frequent canceller as I remember (I was a kid), but this was when his knees were giving him grief.

In any case, we were treated to someone who was *pretty* special and at the time was brand new to NY audiences. The disappointment wasn't longstanding!

[California]

1 minute ago, aurora said:

ABT I think you mean?

No - NYCB. Baryshnikov was a member of NYCB from fall 1978 through spring of 1980, when he left to take over as artistic director of ABT. 

When he did T&V with Kirkland on Live from Lincoln Center in late spring 1978, it was already known that he was leaving ABT for NYCB.

[aurora]

11 minutes ago, California said:

No - NYCB. Baryshnikov was a member of NYCB from fall 1978 through spring of 1980, when he left to take over as artistic director of ABT. 

When he did T&V with Kirkland on Live from Lincoln Center in late spring 1978, it was already known that he was leaving ABT for NYCB.

Sorry! I got confused when you said he left NYCB "because of injuries."

I didn't realize he had left NYCB due to injuries* since he continued dancing at ABT until 89. 

*It was before my time watching!

Edited June 16 by aurora

[California]

2 minutes ago, aurora said:

Sorry! I got confused when you said he left NYCB "because of injuries."

I didn't realize he had left NYCB due to injuries* since he continued dancing at ABT until 89. 

*It was before my time watching!

Baryshnikov reportedly had problems with tendonitis and his Achilles tendon while at NYCB: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/02/28/baryshnikov-injured/27c973d3-6f50-4af4-8219-e81fb4403c62/

I don't think I could find a source, but I remember somebody saying that everybody new to Balanchine ballets has problems with tendonitis. And he was dancing a LOT in that era, as this story notes. 

[Helene]

4 minutes ago, California said:

but I remember somebody saying that everybody new to Balanchine ballets has problems with tendonitis

I've read this multiple times.  I don't have the book anymore to check, but I thought Toni Bentley wrote about this in her memoir, Winter Season.  They learn Balanchine technique at SAB, but that's not the same as what would have been eight performances a week in her time, when they had two performances/day on weekends.

[Mary Mellowdew]

1 hour ago, California said:

Actually, both the House and the Senate passed Resolutions giving ABT that designation as National Ballet Company. Carolyn Maloney sponsored the resolution in the House. 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/house-resolution/751/all-actions

Charles Schumer sponsored the resolution in the Senate: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BILLS-109sres452ats

But they are not "America's Nattional Ballet Company" in the sense that the Paris, London ,Copenhagen,  Canadian, Australian companies, etc. are. They are not funded, except incidentally, by the US government. The US government does not pay to send them on tours to Singapore and other places in Asia. They are by NO STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION the best dance company in the US, although I guess that is a matter of opinion. Do you think they are the best company in the US? 

[California]

3 minutes ago, Mary Mellowdew said:

But they are not "America's Nattional Ballet Company" in the sense that the Paris, London ,Copenhagen,  Canadian, Australian companies, etc. are. They are not funded, except incidentally, by the US government. The US government does not pay to send them on tours to Singapore and other places in Asia. They are by NO STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION the best dance company in the US, although I guess that is a matter of opinion. Do you think they are the best company in the US? 

I personally think NYCB is currently the best company, but that's not the issue. My point was simply that the designation was much more formalized by Congress than simply one member reading something into the Congressional Record.

[NinaFan]

And I remember Baryshnikov being replaced by Ross Stretton in Giselle in 1988 (his knee injury). I was in tears. I had just started attending ballets at ABT and NYCB. While I’ve seen him dance a number of times, I never got to see him in a full length classic.

1 minute ago, California said:

I personally think NYCB is currently the best company.......

I second that! 

[Mary Mellowdew]

If I can't get tix for a performance I can make I will just donate back my tix. I am fully aware that all performances ,everywhere ,are subject to casting changes and I am accustomed to them,. I understand people twist ankles, get COVID, have parents die, etc. (After Hallberg left to spend "part of the year" at the Bolshoi I bought tix for about 5 of his ABT performances here. He showed up for I think 2 of them, and those were occasions when he was either appearing in an important premiere or partnering an "important international star.") But I have never seen anything like this (changing entire cast), except once 12 or so years ago when NYCB had so many injuries at the end of the spring season they could not come up with  even a 2d or 3d  cast for one of the works on their mixed bill and simply substituted an entirely different ballet for which they DID have a cast, and they announced this on the day of performance by insert in the playbill.

[Mary Mellowdew]

I also second that. Personally, based on what I have seen,  I would rank ABT no higher than 3 or 4 in the US (, maybe 5, based in large part of on what they do and do not perform -- i.e., their repertoire. This is why I find calling them "America's National Ballet Company" so stupid, not to mention confusing to people in other countries, despite what Carolyn Maloney might think. And I would also rank NYCB #1, without question. 

Edited June 16 by Mary Mellowdew

[NinaFan]

1 hour ago, California said:

I don't think I could find a source, but I remember somebody saying that everybody new to Balanchine ballets has problems with tendonitis. And he was dancing a LOT in that era, as this story notes. 

 

55 minutes ago, Helene said:

I've read this multiple times. ....

I've heard/read this too, but have no idea where I've read it. 

[Helene]

Getting federal funding, is only one definition of "national."  How extensively a company tours and how much the local communities to which they tour feel that a company is theirs, is another definition of "national," regardless of the funding.  "National" <> "Best."  The only ones that fulfill both definitions to any extent are Australia Ballet, New Zealand Ballet, and Dutch National Ballet, or at least were until the pandemic put a wrench into everything.

The US government has funded international tours directly when it had a political incentive to do so, like the Cold War, or sending Ballet Caravan to Latin America as an ambassador. The latter was reliant on Lincoln Kirstein's long reach into the American political elite.

National Ballet of Canada is far from national in either sense, especially since the tours outside of the mini-tour to Ottawa, the Federal capital, have pretty much dried up. Royal Winnipeg Ballet toured far more extensively through the mid-teens.  All it NBoC has is the label of "National." There are multiple ballet companies in the UK that have been funded by arts councils, not just the Royal Ballet: there is Northern Ballet, English National Ballet -- which did extensive touring in the UK each year -- and Scottish Ballet.  Paris Opera Ballet is ensconced in Paris rarely tours nationally. 

There was a time when American Ballet Theatre toured the US regularly, but for many people across the US, if they thought about "America's" anything at all, might have thought of the Joffrey Ballet, because of their tours.  There was also when ABT was presenting many mixed bills with numerous American-themed one-act ballets, like Rodeo, Fancy Free, and Pillar of Fire, and other short new works, along with Swan Lake and Giselle, and was advertising its dancers, both American-born and international, when you'd need to go to the lobby each week to see who was dancing at NYCB, that many, many people would have called ABT the best company in the US, at the same time they were lamenting what Peter Martins was doing at NYCB.  This was NYC-centric, of course.

[Drew]

5 hours ago, ABT Fan said:

Or walking into the theatre and seeing that dreaded sign at the entrance announcing a casting change. Fun fact: the one time that worked in my favor was in the late 80’s and I had tickets to a matinee of Giselle. I walked in, saw that sign with the announcement that Baryshnikov was subbing for Albrecht. I nearly passed out. I still remember his performance. No clue who his Giselle was or who he was subbing for! He erased all memory of that and that was before I saved programs. 

 

I don't know if this is the occasion you are describing, but it may have been: one season--at least as I remember things--Kirkland was scheduled for two Giselles--the first with Baryshnikov and the second with Stretton. I had tickets for both. In my experience, any Kirkland performance was worth seeing, but at the first Giselle  her health problems (or, as I later understood, drug problems) were catching up with her and the deterioration of her relationship with Baryshnikov was also in evidence.  I went to the Kirkland-Stretton Giselle with high hopes for seeing her dance the ballet with Stretton since backstage tensions were (I speculated) less likely to show up in the performance. When Baryshnikov was announced as Stretton's replacement, I was probably the only person in the theater who was disappointed! 

Edited June 16 by Drew
Cut a lot that was just repeating the earlier discussion.