Jeannette

Already in NYC early for this evening’s Eastern. US premiere of LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE. Woohoo! Good rail journey from DC. 🚆 Back to Puerto Rico on Saturday. ✈️ 

1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

It's interesting you mentioned Jane Eyre (which had been created on Northern Ballet by Cathy Marston).  IIRC the New York public & critics were underwhelmed to say the least but the Chicago audience and critics loved it.

You’re right, Jan. There’s joy and art in the Literary Classics Genre but Met audiences expect a certain old style glamour…tiaras and tulle. Even the divide between the NYCB/Balanchine-Clean and ABT/Petipa-Bling audiences is notable.

I believe that the rich and colorful design elements (by Bob Crowley and teammates Katz and Halls) will make a difference in the reception of LWFC. Grand in the RB film and, I’m sure, even more impressive live at the Met.

7 minutes ago, Benjamin said:

Excited to hear about ABT’s interpretation on the met opera stage. I just wanted to say I recently checked on ABT’s website to see how tickets had sold on theses run of performances, last time I checked there were a lot of empty seats. Do these shows need a shorter run? I’m not saying that the met opera company is doing well in terms of sales either but Shouldn't ABT be doing less shows?

Benjamin, I’m going to the opening night to support the present ABT. It’s up to the new AD, Susan Jaffe, and the Board, to lead the company to a repertoire that pulls it up. Hopefully they realize that classics - pointe shoes, tutus, tiaras and grand Petipa-style set pieces - are the bread and butter of their existence. Ratmansky knew this when he crafted Whipped Cream - a new ballet full of old-style glamour. Literary classic Jane Eyre just told a tale, without a tutu or fouetté in place. I hope that LWFC strikes a happy medium with the crowd.

p.s. I’ll try to move this to the performances thread once that there’s a review. 😉 

Opening a thread for the NY Met season premiere, featuring the Eastern US premiere of Wheeldon’s Like Water for Chocolate. I can’t wait to see and review this special event, with:

Tita - Cassandra Trenary

Pedro - Herman Cornejo

Mama Elena - Christine Schevchenko

Rosaura - Hee Seo

Gertrudis - Catherine Hurlin

Dr. Brown - Thomas Forster

??Juan - Aran Bell or Carlos Gonzalez?? (Bell danced Juan at the Orange County premiere in March.)

Conductor - Alondra de la Parra

Nacha may be played by corps member Courtney Levine, who was a co-presenter of ABT’s recent insight event - a pop-up Book Club - which can be viewed on YouTube (also with Trenary, Cornejo, Esquivel & Wheeldon and co-moderator Amy Brandt of POINTE Magazine):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oqnMhJBCs0&pp=ygUpTGlrZSBXYXRlciBmb3IgQ2hvY29sYXRlIHBvcCB1cCBib29rIGNsdWI%3D

Lets go, ABT! 🎉 

On 15/06/2023 at 04:34, Angela said:

Jeannette, the author is 80 years old. Publishing houses normally announce new books only when they are complete and ready, so it may have to do with his age or other unforeseen events. This will certainly be an important book, so let's be patient 🙏

Not to be too harsh, I’m a huge admirer of Prof Wiley. I have & adore his earlier tomes on the Tchaikovsky ballets, Lev Ivanov, and the history of 19th-C Russian ballet. As you can see, I was very excited at the beginning of this process.  I am simply gobsmacked at the very long time since the initial pre-order time (March 2022?) and now….and the multiple times that the publication date has been shifted. By now, we are going through two of my birthdays (late August) and two end-of-year holiday seasons. It’s just an odd timeline. Maybe the eventual publication will help me to make up for my many years awaiting the publication of Arlene Croce’s biography of Balanchine (just via rumor; the Croce bio was never on the pre-ordering track, that I recall).

7 hours ago, capybara said:

 I think that titles such as this one about Petipa are more usually ‘advertised’ only a month ahead of the date they are due to come out - i.e. once the book is fully ‘ready to go’.

One month is fine. Not two years ahead of time. I’m thinking that perhaps Prof Wiley is waiting for sources (or OKs) from Russia? 

In the US, no new date cited…”temporarily unavailable…” So when was it “available”? Were the $250 pre-orders returned (cancelled) to those who selected it?

https://www.amazon.com/Petersburg-Noverre-Marius-Petipa-Russia/dp/1839984163/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=XS77NEV3PWOQ&keywords=petipa+Wiley&qid=1686805306&sprefix=petipa+wiley%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-1

My $250 pre-order from spring 2022 was deleted a long time ago.

1 hour ago, Emeralds said:

I … a more positive note, glad to hear you managed to get to Washington for a live performance in person, Jeannette! Live-streams and recordings are good but it’s so wonderful to be able to be there to enjoy the performance on stage in front of you. 

 

Indeed, Emeralds! My husband & I are here for the first time since my retirement! Will also go to NYC for the ABT opening gala of LWFC…still hoping to see Aran Bell in the main dancing - true old-style DANCING! - as Juan the Rebel! I enjoy soft movements and miming but especially want, uh…old-style grand ballet dancing. 😉 

NYCB at the Kennedy Center in DC at yesterday’s matinee: I cannot imagine a more perfect mixed bill than what we witnessed at yesterday’s old-fashioned All-Classical program, especially the three Balanchines:

Square Dance (Vivaldi & Corelli) Megan Fairchild - gentle strength, not overdoing musical nuances a-la-Bouder  - and Joseph Gordon - perfect placement, as in a classical dictionary. 

Concerto Barocco (Bach) extraordinary debut by Mira Nadon, of magnificent musicality and Fonteyn face/hair/airs, my now-fave NYCB ballerina; Isabelle La Freniere with luscious lines; and Russell Janzen’s superb partnering of Ms Nadon in the 2nd movement.

Donizetti Variations - starring the leading whiz-bang leaping principal couple of the company, Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia. 

Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun provided a gentle pause, deliciously rendered by Unity Phelan and, in double duty, Mr. Gordon.

Now wouldn’t this be a grand program for London? In place of the modern barrage.
 

As the link to the Ballet Herald’s article (in our Links, 6 June) did not work, try this.

https://www.balletherald.com/pnb-livestream-season-encore/

The performance is this Sunday, 11 June 2023, at 6:30pm local Seattle time. That’s  9:30pm eastern US; I think it’s 2:30am in the UK?

It’s principal ballerina Lesley Rausch’s farewell!

I’m guessing that it’s free to subscribers to the PNB season…others too, maybe? It’s hard to tell with what I’ve read so far.

Correction: ABT’s performances at the Met will mark the Eastern US premiere of LWFC.

Also, I heard from a California friend that one of the dancers who played the high-flying Juan Alejandrez at Segerstrom was principal Aran Bell…so he’ll maybe dance it at the opening gala on 22 June? 

16 hours ago, Jeannette said:

p.s. - My copy arrived today! Will watch tonight. So I’ll get to prepare for the ABT premiere ahead of time.

I watched my DVD of Wheeldon/Talbot’s LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE ballet last night, as I prepare to travel next month to New York City’s Met to see ABT’s US premiere! A handsome production, beautifully portrayed by the Royal Ballet! 💗 
 

As for the ballet, my short takes:

- This is the ultimate Celebration of Mime and story telling, most handsomely decorated!

- There are almost no traditional dances, that could be included in a gala program. The one big exception: a two-minute dance by the revolutionary leader, Juan Alejandrez (Cesar Corrales here)during the Campfire scene near the end of the work. I wonder which fabulous ABT soloist or corps man will essay this role?

- The ghostly head of Mama Elena (Laura Morera here) floating above the stage will be remembered by all!

I’m truly looking forward to my trip next month! ✈️ 

1 hour ago, art_enthusiast said:

I hope the ABT version is also recorded/streamed.

That would be great. All six top named characters at the 22 June gala premiere are Principals on the ABT roster:

Tita - Cassandra Trenary

Pedro - Herman Cornejo

Mama Elena - Christine Shevchenko

Rosaura - Hee Seo

Gertrudis - Catherine Hurlin

Dr. John Brown - Thomas Forster 

p.s. - My copy arrived today! Will watch tonight. So I’ll get to prepare for the ABT premiere ahead of time.

13 hours ago, Stevie said:

It is now listed for pre order on Amazon.com, for same release date as UK. 

It’s also been on EBay for the past three weeks…and my copy just shipped!

In looking at my archival materials, I see that PNB used the Imperial-tutus version at least through the 1990s. I saw Patricia Barker as the lead in this. 

5 minutes ago, Ondine said:

 

Digital  collection photo

https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/26439/

 

Oh yes!!! Thank you. This was the 1988 production, with Rouben Ter-Arutunian designs. Best of the best!

3 hours ago, Ondine said:

…

 

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: "Ballet Imperial" 

 

posted by @ear8002 so a Google search will find it.  Coincidentally I was looking at this last week.

 

Many shock horror comments under. 

 

I think it's best as a 'tutu and tiaras' ballet but maybe not THOSE tutus.

Oh, I remember that excerpt from a gala during the ROH’s closing, around 1999. My main problem isn’t the white wigs but the little pointed peplum (with bells?) on the corps ladies’ skirts. Like little harlequins?
 

Also, I don’t care for the dark nightmarish background! A complete opposite of the calm & serene blue-sky and Neva River embankment in the 1960s NYCB & 1988 ABT Imperial versions.
 

I need to find a photo of Susan Jaffe in her magnificent Tsarina Tutu! No wig on Susan Jaffe. That ABT production looked 100% perfect. I hope that ABT can replicate that look.

1 hour ago, Ondine said:

Naturally Alastair Macaulay has an 'essay'!

 

https://www.alastairmacaulay.com/all-essays/dry6w74i5lw1ze3n9gjgd1vm8z2y2e

 

And a photo worth seeing

 

The concluding tableau of George Balanchine’s “Ballet Imperial”, as staged by Balanchine for the Sadler’s Wells Ballet at Covent Garden in 1950, with new designs by Eugene Berman. There were eighteen curtain calls.  Margot Fonteyn is the ballerina, Beryl Grey (kneeling) the soloist.

 

 

Thanks and most fascinating! Oh…I usually love tutus but the Berman ones are unusual…with a little Comedia Dell’arte bite? The recent POB & DNB ones are more mature and regal…as were ABTs from the early 1990s, with the gorgeous imperial Russian tiaras (kokoshniks). Oh well, let’s see if ABT might restore the Imperial look next year. It might be too expensive.

13 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

I thought the new Paris costumes (as Ballet Imperial) were beautiful. There are some pictures under "gallery" here:

https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-22-23/ballet/george-balanchine#media

 

Thanks! So lovely. I wonder if these are the same designs by M. Cherpin, used by DNB? The Imperial look really adds to the ballet, IMO, despite Balanchine having simplified the costumes at NYCB in the ‘70s. 

A bit about the iconic Sea Shadow, to Ravel (with clip of the pdd included):

https://arpinofoundation.org/ballets/sea-shadow/

The Imperial look of Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial, danced by DNB…as the old ABT version looked:

https://www.francoisnoelcherpin.com/portfolio/ballet-imperial/

I may travel just to see this.

One of my favorite Balanchines will be revived by ABT next year - as Ballet Imperial…not Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto…so maybe with tutus & tiaras for the ladies? I loved their old majestic Ballet Imperial, as danced by Susan Jaffe!

https://www.scfta.org/events/2024/american-ballet-theatre

I also noticed that ABT will dance Gerald Arpino’s Sea Shadow within Program A in Chicago’s Auditorium Theater next September, during the Arpino Centennial Festival!

https://arpinofoundation.org/centennial/

This sounds like the pathetically-sold “modern” mid-week programs that the NYCB brings to the Kennedy Center in DC. I’ll be in DC for the run and will attend only the all-classical program (all Balanchine/Robbins). Missing the modern program, which has barely sold.

A great recap of the Coronation Concert day, focusing of the highly-likeable Princess Sophie of Wessex, Queen of Grooving…and wife of very cool Prince Edward. I’m a fan of this royal couple! Move them to the front of the group of working Royals!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe1tkGVtKc0