Le Bateleur Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 (edited) Casting for the NYCB Chicago shows in March has been announced https://www.harristheaterchicago.org/new-york-city-ballet Edited February 27 by Le Bateleur typo Link to comment
BalanchineFan Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 It looks like Isabella LaFreniere and Gilbert Bolden have two performances of Sanguinic in 4T. Wish I could see it. Link to comment
maps Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 (edited) On 3/3/2024 at 9:26 PM, BalanchineFan said: It looks like Isabella LaFreniere and Gilbert Bolden have two performances of Sanguinic in 4T. Wish I could see it. Great program. Harris Theatre has excellent advanced sales on the high priced Balanchine-Robbins. NYCB was last there 18 years ago on the 1st subscription series. 21st Century has significantly lower advanced sales and discount codes further reduce the lower base prices. KenCen presents NYCB annually and this season is 7 Jewels. Edited March 13 by maps Link to comment
Le Bateleur Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 Tiler Peck, Joseph Gordon, and Samuel Melnikov have all been subbed out for other dancers in the most recent update. Link to comment
cobweb Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 33 minutes ago, Le Bateleur said: Tiler Peck, Joseph Gordon, and Samuel Melnikov have all been subbed out for other dancers in the most recent update. Unfortunate! ... but at the same time, there are lots of great dancers who could be stellar replacements. Please keep us up to date if you see the performances. Link to comment
On Pointe Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 The NYCBallet opened with a dinner and a six o'clock performance tonight at the Harris Theater. The Harris is a unique venue with only the box office lobby at ground level. From the outside it looks like there's no there there, but the large theater is underground - you walk down to the second balcony. The early curtain worked out well for me, although I felt a little shortchanged. The program, with pauses but no intermissions, ended at about 7:40. My Lower Balcony ticket was $155.00 before tax. The opening ballet was Serenade, with Sara Mearns, Emily Gerrity, Indiana Woodward and Taylor Stanley. It has been years since I've seen it live and I found it thrilling, especially the Waltz. The orchestra sounded fantastic. The quality of the string playing was at a very high level, far better than in years past. Next came Christopher Wheeldon's Liturgy. While it was beautifully danced by Unity Phelan and Chun Wai Chan, I didn't find it particularly engaging, and the lighting was so dark it was hard to just see it. The last piece was Justin Peck's Partita. I'm not the target audience for a sneaker ballet, even one as well danced as this one. I was impressed with Indiana Woodward's ability to knock off double outward pirouettes in attitude in those clunky white shoes, and India Bradley and Alexa Maxwell also stood out. But the old dance captain in me was preoccupied with what a nightmare it must be to teach and maintain this piece. I was thrilled to see the company again here in Chicago. I'm sure it could play here for a much longer run, even with just one ballet, like Jewels or Midsummer Night's Dream. The audience reception was rapturous. Link to comment
BalanchineFan Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 Thank you so much for the report, @On Pointe! It sounds like a wonderful evening. I hope I get to see that theater at some point. Link to comment
Le Bateleur Posted March 22 Author Share Posted March 22 I attended the Thursday night Balanchine/Robbins program and all I can really say is "Wow". Serenade was beautiful, as would be expected. Erica Pereira was much more buoyant than the last time I saw her in another show, and really impressed me. Miriam Miller stood out as well, and the gravity she brought to her role looked almost effortless, in the best possible way. In The Night was a huge crowd pleaser, at least in my section, and the Veyette/Phelan pairing really got everyone sitting up in their seats. They brought energy that most of us weren't prepared for, and it payed off massively. Their dancing had a very cinematic quality and I heard a few hushed "oh, my"s from the ladies seated within a stone's throw. The Four Temperaments really sealed the deal on a great evening and led to a standing ovation immediately afterwords that was meant for all of the evening's performers. It was well earned, and Chicago clearly loved what had been delivered. Isabella LaFreniere and Gilbert Bolden were as good as advertised, and both Adrian D-W and Mira Nadon were relentless. Some Corps members who stood out, imo, were Sarah Harmon and Laine Habony, who always has extremely fluid movement. But everyone looked really solid and I don't think Chicago got any worse of a show than NYC. One minor issue, unrelated to the dancing, was that the Harris Theater allows guests to bring drinks to their seats. I don't recall what the policy is at the Koch Theater, but it smelled like booze the whole show and there were wine puddles in the rows. If they can fix that problem, I'd love to see many more shows of this kind at this venue. Link to comment
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