cobweb Posted November 13 Posted November 13 Week 1 casting is up. Joseph Gordon and Alexa Maxwell are both back — great!! Nothing much new casting-wise though. I hope we see some exciting debuts during this run. Looking forward to reports!
vipa Posted November 13 Posted November 13 2 hours ago, cobweb said: Week 1 casting is up. Joseph Gordon and Alexa Maxwell are both back — great!! Nothing much new casting-wise though. I hope we see some exciting debuts during this run. Looking forward to reports! Thanks @cobweb. I typically skip Nutcracker season, but look at the casting as if I'm reading tea leaves! It's good to see Kristen Segin, long time corps member with a very strong, reliable technique and nice stage presence, being cast in Marzipan again. She'll never be promoted to soloist IMO, but deserves to have these moments. On the other hand Bailey Jones in Marzipan could be part of her path to promotion. I look forward to reports. And yes, It's wonderful that Gordon and Maxwell are back. I hope Maxwell gets some opportunities as the casting unfolds.
matilda Posted November 13 Posted November 13 (edited) Baily Jones has been doing both Marzipan and Dewdrop for years and hasn't been promoted. She's joined the corps in 2015, so unless she gets promoted soon, I think it's likely she'll stay in favored-senior-corps-dancer territory like Kristen Segin. The field is a little crowded with petite, allegro-skilled ballerinas right now -- Fairchild, Peck, Woodward, Von Enck, Maxwell, MacKinnon, Adams, Pereira, MacGill -- and current management has shown a general preference for taller ballerinas (for example, casting LaFreniere in Sleeping Beauty and Raymonda, or Nadon as Liberty Bell). Edited November 13 by matilda
abatt Posted November 13 Posted November 13 Given the pandemic interruption, I don't think Jones can be counted out as a potential soloist simply because she joined in 2015. Jones received both the Janice Levin award in 2019-2020 and the Mae Wien award when she was at SAB. Most dancers who receive these awards eventually move upwards in the company. Personally, I wish some of the soloists like Adams and LeCrone would retire already. Jones and Alston Macgill both should be considered for promotion to soloist.
cobweb Posted November 13 Author Posted November 13 2 minutes ago, abatt said: Personally, I wish some of the soloists like Adams and LeCrone would retire already I would add Erica Pereira and possibly Brittany Pollack to that list. I’m hoping Ashley Laracey can hang on for awhile longer, but I’m sure all of these senior soloists will be retiring sometime soon. Agree also about Jones and Macgill.
BalanchineFan Posted November 19 Posted November 19 Kathryn Morgan is also getting in the Nutcracker spirit
vipa Posted November 20 Posted November 20 (edited) Week 2 has some interesting casting: https://res.cloudinary.com/new-york-city-ballet/image/upload/v1732056572/Documents/Casting/2024 Fall/NYCB_Casting_December_3-8_2024.pdf Across 8 shows there are 8 different SPs/Cavaliers and 8 different Dewdrops. Edited November 21 by vipa Add info
BalanchineFan Posted November 25 Posted November 25 (edited) Both Tiler Peck and Unity Phelan are dancing both SPF and Dewdrop, so certain principals get more than one performance that week. On 11/20/2024 at 3:44 PM, vipa said: Across 8 shows there are 8 different SPs/Cavaliers and 8 different Dewdrops. Edited November 25 by BalanchineFan
camarie1085 Posted November 25 Posted November 25 Hi all! Kathryn Morgan just did flowers in addition to snow. It’s such a fun watch!!
BalanchineFan Posted November 25 Posted November 25 She has a lot of insight. I find Kathryn Morgan's Balanchine related posts informative and a lot of fun. I certainly never gave much thought to Demi-Flowers.
duffster Posted November 26 Posted November 26 I really enjoyed Kathryn Morgan's interpretation of the flowers- everything that she said about the spacing and the stamina required to perform this piece was spot on. I danced one of the Demi-Flowers for years with the Pennsylvania now Phila. ballet. At the time the Academy of Music had a raked stage- I don't know if it is still there but jumping downstage at the end of the piece was great fun. I never thought the part was difficult, but maybe dancing in that beautiful theatre at Christmas, and to the inspiring Waltz of the Flowers made me love it.
BalanchineFan Posted November 26 Posted November 26 9 hours ago, duffster said: I really enjoyed Kathryn Morgan's interpretation of the flowers- everything that she said about the spacing and the stamina required to perform this piece was spot on. I danced one of the Demi-Flowers for years with the Pennsylvania now Phila. ballet. At the time the Academy of Music had a raked stage- I don't know if it is still there but jumping downstage at the end of the piece was great fun. I never thought the part was difficult, but maybe dancing in that beautiful theatre at Christmas, and to the inspiring Waltz of the Flowers made me love it. Or maybe you were young and in excellent condition! How wonderful to dance it!!
vipa Posted November 27 Posted November 27 Week 3 casting is already up. https://res.cloudinary.com/new-york-city-ballet/image/upload/v1732657512/Documents/Casting/NYCB_Casting_December_10-15_2024.pdf Pollack is Frau Stahlbaum one day and Sugar Plum the next. That has to be unusual. I don't think I'll be at any NYCB Nutcracker shows, so I hope to hear reports. As usual tickets are selling very well and are expensive.
cobweb Posted November 27 Author Posted November 27 (edited) It is GREAT to see Jovani Furlan is back in action. The lack of major debuts continues to be puzzling. Nutcracker (or rather, Nutcracker ticket sales) seems casting-proof, so it seems like a great opportunity for younger dancers to get a chance in big roles, while going easier on the principals. My requests: Alexa Maxwell as Sugarplum, and Alston Macgill as Dewdrop. Also why not surprise us with a few super-young corps ladies as Dewdrop? Also, I note no sign of La Bouder so far… Edited November 27 by cobweb
BalanchineFan Posted November 28 Posted November 28 (edited) The debuts, so far, are in other areas. Taylor Stanley as Drosselmeier, India Bradley as Coffee, Eli Gruska as Mother Ginger, apprentices Perrone and Waldman as Tea. I'm glad to see Mia Williams is doing Dolls. Olivia Bell must have danced it at some point. I'd love to see Dominika Afanasenkov as Marzipan or Dewdrop. Ruby LIster seems more like a Dewdrop. Alexa Maxwell in anything significant. Glad to see Emma von Enck has more than one SPF. According to her IG, Peyton Gin just got her apprenticeship at NYCB. Congratulations Peyton!! Another Snow and Flower girl for season! @peytonggin https://www.instagram.com/stories/peytonggin/3510886222396195309/ Edited November 28 by BalanchineFan
Mary Mellowdew Posted November 28 Posted November 28 (edited) 20 hours ago, meunier fan said: Nice to see that Furlan is back among the ranks. I was happy to see him back, too. Looked to see if any reasonably priced tix for that night, and no. Maybe will be able to catch him later in season. Anotther nice thing about that night -- Dec 15 -- is that I think Emma von Enck is doing Dewdrop (with Pollack as Sugarplum). Edited November 28 by Mary Mellowdew mistake
cobweb Posted November 29 Author Posted November 29 Just in from a fun afternoon at the Nutcracker dress rehearsal. They ran through Act II twice, presumably to give both casts (I think there are two casts) of children the rehearsal time. For adults, in the first cast we saw Phelan and Chan, with Olivia MacKinnon as Dewdrop; and in the second we had Woodward and Veyette with Hod as Dewdrop. I’ll just say that Woodward looked really beautiful and Hod was a stunning Dewdrop. I wasn’t necessarily planning to go to an actual performance, and after this I don’t really feel a need to see Act II again, but I was sorry they didn’t do Act I scene II, which is my favorite part — the plaintive violin solo, the cold dark house, transformation of the tree, ferocious battle with the mice, swirling bed, and waltzing snowflakes. Guess I’ll have to study the casting and buy a real ticket.
Balanchinomane Posted November 29 Posted November 29 Yes, it was a real treat to see 2 different casts. You’d think that would be enough but like Balanchine’s salted peanuts, it only whet my appetite for more.
cobweb Posted November 30 Author Posted November 30 4 hours ago, DPell said: Are they doing standing room tickets this year? I did standing room for last year’s Nut and would imagine/hope it’s available this year. It’s only when there’s a complete sell-out, which turns out to be fairly rare and usually only happens within a day or so before, or day of, the performance. Also of course, you feel like you’re a mile away from the stage…
aurora Posted November 30 Posted November 30 1 hour ago, cobweb said: Also of course, you feel like you’re a mile away from the stage… True, but you feel the same in back row of 4th ring and those are selling for the (to me) obscene price of $140 a pop. I'd rather pay $40 or whatever Standing Room is. Same view.
cobweb Posted November 30 Author Posted November 30 Totally agree, @aurora! Also btw I looked into buying tickets for a couple of my top-choice performances… and as far as I can tell, they are virtually sold out already! So standing room may definitely be happening.
BalanchineFan Posted November 30 Posted November 30 (edited) 5 hours ago, aurora said: True, but you feel the same in back row of 4th ring and those are selling for the (to me) obscene price of $140 a pop. I'd rather pay $40 or whatever Standing Room is. Same view. 5 hours ago, cobweb said: Totally agree, @aurora! Also btw I looked into buying tickets for a couple of my top-choice performances… and as far as I can tell, they are virtually sold out already! So standing room may definitely be happening. I did standing room last year to see Alexandra Hutchinson and I thought it was well worth it. Particularly for $44 ($40 + $4 fee). Wear comfortable shoes and bring your opera glasses. But the tree and the formations look fantastic, and the audience with all the kids kind of becomes part of the show. * Spoiler: I remember a group of kids in the 4th Ring gasping audibly when Fritz broke the Nutcracker. Edited November 30 by BalanchineFan
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