ABT Like Water for Chocolate Met 2024

[ABT Fan]

Last week of the season is already here. I didn't see LWFC last year and I'm catching Friday's for Cornejo. I find it odd that Cornejo's 25th anniversary celebration is paired with this ballet, but at the same time I think it must have been his choice. He's a star after all. He's from Argentina and the story is Mexican, but maybe he feels a cultural affinity in this ballet.

As noted on other threads, Trenary is injured so Brandt is replacing her as Tita. So Brandt is doing 3 Titas as well as her 2 scheduled Gertrudis.

Since this is the last week, we should be hearing about other promotions and the fall season in a few days. Fingers crossed for Coker this time around.

[DPell]

It's a long week for Skylar, I'm glad I can catch her as Tita on Friday. 

[abatt]

21 hours ago, ABT Fan said:

 I find it odd that Cornejo's 25th anniversary celebration is paired with this ballet, but at the same time I think it must have been his choice. He's a star after all. He's from Argentina and the story is Mexican, but maybe he feels a cultural affinity in this ballet.

 

Although the ballet was not created on anyone at ABT, Cornejo did the ABT premiere, so it may have special significance to him.  Additionally, he has a long history of injury, and the demands of this role are low.  So it was more likely that he would be able to appear in this ballet even if was not at his best physically.

 

Interestingly, Carmago withdrew from Romeo last week due to injury, but apparently is appearing in LWFC.  

[DPell]

Zimmi posted on her story that she’s out of Water for Chocolate this week because of an injury. 

[MarzipanShepherdess]

1 hour ago, DPell said:

Zimmi posted on her story that she’s out of Water for Chocolate this week because of an injury. 

Sad news. She’s such a talented dancer. I was looking forward to seeing her as Gertrudis this week, she was one of the reasons I picked the cast I did. I’d love to see her move up to soloist but I fear management may be spooked by her injury history. 

[ABT Fan]

On 7/15/2024 at 8:56 AM, abatt said:

Although the ballet was not created on anyone at ABT, Cornejo did the ABT premiere, so it may have special significance to him.  Additionally, he has a long history of injury, and the demands of this role are low.  So it was more likely that he would be able to appear in this ballet even if was not at his best physically.

 

Interestingly, Carmago withdrew from Romeo last week due to injury, but apparently is appearing in LWFC.  

 

Cornejo said in the Conversations on Dance podcast that he chose this ballet for his anniversary because it's the first time he's played a Latino in a ballet.

 

7 hours ago, MarzipanShepherdess said:

Sad news. She’s such a talented dancer. I was looking forward to seeing her as Gertrudis this week, she was one of the reasons I picked the cast I did. I’d love to see her move up to soloist but I fear management may be spooked by her injury history. 

 

Very unfortunate for sure. As a corps dancer, I really wonder as well if this could hold her back from a promotion. As her replacement, Hurlin takes one and Granlund gets the other as a debut (the last performance, so I'm guessing she's cramming all week to learn the role and rehearse). 

[Kamicos]

11 hours ago, ABT Fan said:

Very unfortunate for sure. As a corps dancer, I really wonder as well if this could hold her back from a promotion. As her replacement, Hurlin takes one and Granlund gets the other as a debut (the last performance, so I'm guessing she's cramming all week to learn the role and rehearse). 

Unfortunately, I think it will prevent her from being promoted this spring and I think that would be grossly unfair. Coker has been dancing principal and/or soloist roles in every season for the last three years (at least) on a Corps salary. Dancers get injured, Brianne for example, was out for almost 2 years due to injury shortly after she was promoted and had been injured before her promotion. Chloe got promoted mid season with no idea whether or not she could’ve been injured this year. Please know I’m not dissing Brianne, Chloe or anyone else. I’m just pointing out that there is a disparity in how ABT dancers are treated. I was hoping that Jaffe would be different as everybody knows, McKenzie was notorious for treating dancers unfairly and picking favorites. 
 

I hope we don’t lose Coker, though I wouldn’t blame her if she left. My hope for her is a speedy recovery and an incredible Fall season.

Edited July 17 by Kamicos

[ABT Fan]

Roxander posted on his IG stories that he’s debuting Lead Revolutionary on Thursday.

[nysusan]

I just got an email from ABT with some casting changes for LWFC. Murphy debuts as Mama Elena on today's matinee (7/17) and repeats the role on Sat eve.

 

Most interesting for me is that Roxander debuts the role of Lead Revolutionary on Thurs 7/18. I recall this role having the most ballet dancing of any of the male roles & being pretty explosive. I would definitely go to this but I don't have more than 1 LWFC in me and I want to go to Cornejo's 25th anniversary performance.

 

Grandlund debuts as Gertrudis on 7/20 Sat Mat

 

Fanqi Li debuts as Rosaura tonight, 7/17

[NinaFan]

Got the ABT e-mail too.  I can't make it tomorrow.  If anyone hears if Roxander is dancing Lead Revolutionary at another LWFC performance....please let us know!  Thanks.

 

Edited July 17 by NinaFan

[DPell]

How was Gillian as Mama Elena?

[TheAccidentalBalletomane]

Was at LWFC last night (Thursday). Saw it last year too. I like the production, this is my 3rd time seeing the ballet.  Hurlin substituted for Zimmi Coker as Gertrudis and Roxander was the lead Revolutionary on the program  (but I did not notice him at first because of the makeup and facial hair) He was clean, athletic and excellent.  I thought the casting was great; Brandt is a personal favorite and Gonzales as Pedro does a very fine job. I understand that it is not classical ballet with a lot of storytelling; but there is plenty of interesting dancing, the music is good and there are some fun (rodeo) and dramatic (last scene in particular) choreography.  Wonder why others have indicated that they would not see it.  The celebration for Herman Cornejo is tonight, I believe, so please someone report as to how it went and what they did with regard to this performance.  

Edited July 19 by TheAccidentalBalletomane

[Royal Blue]

Ballet-goers can judge for themselves whether they want to see a program, and can justify their decision with all sorts of reasons. Moreover, one inevitably forms a preliminary viewpoint regarding a ballet based on what is known or said about it beforehand. Nevertheless, a person cannot fairly evaluate a work they have not seen.

Although I was not planning to attend performances of Like Water for Chocolate this season either (for reasons having nothing to do with any fair personal assessment of the ballet), I changed my mind partly as a result of a favorable review I read by chance on the internet.

Thursday evening was my first viewing of the work, from the vantage point of the Family Circle. Although by no means packed, a substantial number of people were there. Insofar as one may determine, they appeared appreciative of what they saw.

My initial impression of Like Water for Chocolate is that the combination of drama, music and dance is overall more attractive and impactful during its second and third acts.

The lighting design merges advantageously with the set and costume design to immerse the stage with breathtaking colors at many points in the course of the ballet. A contributing factor to the work's beauty is the richness and variety of the large cast.

Helmed by a lovely performance by Skylar Brandt in the central role of Tita, the cast—including Zhong-Jing Fang as Mama Elena, Carlos Gonzalez as Pedro, Betsy McBride as Rosaura, Jarod Curley as Dr. John Brown, and Luciana Paris as Nacha—was solid.

A name often favorably mentioned in posts on this subforum is that of Zimmi Coker. Dancers should certainly, above all, look after their health and nurse their injuries. However, it is a pity that Coker is unable to perform her assigned role in Like Water for Chocolate this season. Although the part of Gertrudis may not be so extensive in the ballet, it is a wonderful one. And Thursday evening, it gave Catherine Hurlin another opportunity to demonstrate her status as a powerhouse on ABT's current roster.

 

 

Edited July 19 by Royal Blue

[ABT Fan]

Tonight was my first and last time seeing LWFC. What an overwrought, convoluted,  unnecessary, long, waste of dancers talent. This is not a story to turn into a ballet and I’d live a happy life never having to see so many flexed feet again. The end was so anticlimactic after Cornejo/Brandt were together, apart, trying to get together, then apart, then what seemed like 15 minutes of excessive passion before they turned into flames. A few people around me laughed. A very disappointing end to the season. 

[TheAccidentalBalletomane]

I am responding to both Royal Blue who thought it was a worthy production and ABT Fan who obviously did not.  I have been following ABT now, every season, for well over 12 years or so.  I have learned that one person will dislike something that another will love. When I followed Opera, there were those that did not love Pavarotti's voice.  They preferred other Tenors.  But this Ballet for some reason is one of those love it or like it vs., hate it ones.   I have to say that Royal Blue did a nice job of capturing what I liked too, but understanding it is not classical ballet. Convoluted, yes, but no more so than just about any classical ballet I have seen.  I loved some of the story telling dance like moves that perhaps falls short of dancing, like one note singing  in Opera in between arias.  I saw no need for all of the masked women and other dramatic costume affects. I liked the raw and shocking fighting of the mother with the daughter and the way in which they described the abusive tradition upheld till the end by the mother.  I liked the rodeo scenes and the last scene, even though it was melodramatic and I enjoyed the singer and the music generally.  I thought the crazy scene where Gertrudis was overcome by this crazy sex fantasy was beyond weird and not erotic since it was almost campy.  I can't say it was "ballet" but I liked LWFC and I think most people in attendance did.  If anyone can tell us if they did any special celebration for Herman on stage or off, that would be interesting to know.  

[ABT Fan]

The celebration part for Cornejo was they opened the evening with a short video with Cornejo introducing himself, walking us through his career while showing clips/pictures of him dancing in various roles. Brandt, Trenary, and Jaffe each spoke in the video, what they love about dancing with him, what his artistry means etc. Then the ballet started. After, during bows, Cornejo got flowers from a stage hand and Jaffe and Wheeldon came out with more for him while confetti rained down and the dancers onstage applauded. It was also Luciana Paris’ last show before retirement so she got flowers. Cornejo gave her his and he graciously kept pulling her forward for more bows. Honestly, she wound up getting more bows and applause than him. His choice because he kept pushing her forward but I found it odd because his publicized celebration wound up taking a back seat at the end to a soloist retiring, but he insisted. I know they danced together years ago so I believe they’re good friends. She clearly had a lot of fans in the audience and yes she’s been in the company since 2001. I was once an ardent fan of hers years ago, but the past several years I’ve seen very poor dancing from her (a few times downright awful) so my feelings were muted. But, I wish her the other retiring dancers well.

[MarzipanShepherdess]

I also saw the Thursday LWFC show. Very solid cast. Gertrudis and the revolutionary have the most exciting, demanding dancing in the ballet and Hurlin and Roxander really hit it out of the park: lots of brio, super-fun to watch them. Gonzalez and Brandt were very good in their lead roles. I was sitting near both their mothers and it was sweet to see their enthusiasm and pride during the curtain calls (Gonzalez’ mother was waving a handkerchief and shouting viva! Viva!) 

Luciana Paris went out on a high note as Nacha, reminding us of what a fine dramatic dancer she is. Blaine Hoven’s long time away from the stage sadly showed: he looked tense and uncomfortable in his partnering. Rather than this performance, I’ll remember him for his wonderful Espada, especially for the time Herman was injured mid-performance and Blaine gamely finished the last act of DQ as Basilio. Curley didn’t have much to do as John Brown but his acting was good and his partnering was tender. 
 

I brought a relative to this performance who doesn’t see much ballet and she couldn’t stop raving about it: “stupendous!” She enjoyed the emotional storytelling and the stagecraft. 

 

[SwaneyToad]

5 minutes ago, MarzipanShepherdess said:

I also saw the Thursday LWFC show. Very solid cast. Gertrudis and the revolutionary have the most exciting, demanding dancing in the ballet and Hurlin and Roxander really hit it out of the park: lots of brio, super-fun to watch them. Gonzalez and Brandt were very good in their lead roles. I was sitting near both their mothers and it was sweet to see their enthusiasm and pride during the curtain calls (Gonzalez’ mother was waving a handkerchief and shouting viva! Viva!) 

Luciana Paris went out on a high note as Nacha, reminding us of what a fine dramatic dancer she is. Blaine Hoven’s long time away from the stage sadly showed: he looked tense and uncomfortable in his partnering. Rather than this performance, I’ll remember him for his wonderful Espada, especially for the time Herman was injured mid-performance and Blaine gamely finished the last act of DQ as Basilio. Curley didn’t have much to do as John Brown but his acting was good and his partnering was tender. 
 

I brought a relative to this performance who doesn’t see much ballet and she couldn’t stop raving about it: “stupendous!” She enjoyed the emotional storytelling and the stagecraft. 

 

 

[SwaneyToad]

I attended the Thursday night performance. I saw one of the opening performances last year where they had the great Alondra de la Parra conduct the orchestra. On Thursday night the orchestra under Ormsby Wilkins was equally absolutely superb! It was nice to see that during the curtain call  the audience deeply appreciated them and gave them an especially enthusiastic round of applause.

The orchestration for this ballet is one of the richest I have seen in ballet, with traditional instruments, like guitarons, Spanish guitars, two harps, plus enormous strings, percussion and winds and brass sections. I loved how they brought the guitarist on stage in the second act, and perhaps in some parts of ballet some of musicians could be more incorporated in staging and be placed on stage, especially in the first and last acts, where the staging sometimes felt somewhat  empty. I was a bit surprised the corps dancers with their double sided dresses practically didn’t dance in the first act. But again, a special bravo to the orchestra who are some of the biggest stars of this production!

Watching it for the second time from  grand tier center vs up close but less central front orchestra last year, I  appreciated certain sets design elements, like plain white mexican banderas, not overdone but sufficiently addicting to the ambiance. Wasn’t a big fan of projected texts, though  I do understand why they wanted to have it, since the original book is such a family saga when the  passage of time is of the essence. 

Dancing-wise, Gertrudis and Juan Alejandrez (Catherine hurlin and Jake Roxander) were superb, and  I loved Skylar’s reading of Tita. Skylar Brandt  is quite brainy and well-read in real life, and tried to bring some deeper understanding to her Tita, as if she wanted the audience to realize that Tita is not just naive and powerless over what might seem like a  childish infatuation with Pedro, but in fact it’s her destiny and her ancestral  karma of predetermined and mystical origin. I do believe that Skylar actually read and understood the magical realism of the book. Roman Zhurbin was superb in his very short but succinct depiction of don Pascual.  Patrick Frenette stood out and was a very pleasant to the eye in peasant and ranch dances. And of course the kids were super cute.

A special word about the engulfed in flames final scene. When I saw it for the first time from the side orchestra last year and I didn’t understand it but thought that it probably looked different and had some different significance when watched from the center.. however seeing it in its entirety from higher up, as it’s designed to look, I think it needs to be reworked as it cheapens the production.

I hope that besides the fake flame they would rework  some of the techy gimmicks like the projected texts,  overly crazy Halloween lighting, but instead add more human details, for instance deeper incorporate (especially in the first and the last acts) the corps dancers and the musicians to give it a genuine Latin American ambiance. 

If the goal is to further engage the senses why not add some olfactory experience to a show about cooking? They cut real eggplants on stage, why not to use some sort of mild scent machines  with chocolate or some spice scents? Different scents could possibly indicate different time frames though, as with banderas, moderation must be a key word here. Since the original  book is about cooking and de facto is a recipe book  in addition to being a novel, that could be an interesting solution.  I bet that could be commercially successful as it would drive the sales in the intermission, as they can outsource or even proprietary develop company dancers branded  spice or chocolate mixes, or sell tickets to pre-show chocolate tastings in the grand foyer to be creative and think outside of the box, or add additional depth or dimension to the box. There might even be a way to incorporate the tactile experience into ballet productions. However since it’s a ballet, I would prefer to delight my eyes human dancing and with human elements, not pyrotechnics, crazy projections or the necessity to read the text to follow the narrative. It irks me how the mainstream approach nowadays is to trivialize or razzle-dazzle the productions of many Latin themed works. 

No need to assume that to make a production accessible to newer audiences or make it family friendly one needs to lower the bar (or barre if you prefer) and add cirque de soleil elements to draw the Latins into the theatre. In fact, you need to raise the standard to get rid of all the cliches and preconceived notions of traditional high browed audiences. Again, I am very glad to see again this production and big kudos to ABT  for taking on such a challenging endeavor. I hope it’s not the last year ABT produces this ballet it as it needs to be perfected and reworked to develop and maintain its legacy.  Just the musical score and second act alone makes it worth the effort. 

[choriamb]

Thanks for the reviews, all. I'm glad to hear that Luciana Paris had a good last performance and was pulled forward for her final bows...she's served audiences so well over the years! 💐