Bitten by Ballet Bug

This morning I went down to Lincoln Center for the opening of the box office for the New York City Ballet's Spring season. I hate standing on line. When I was younger it was sort of fun. I'll never forget being on the very first ticket line when the new Met opened in 1966; that was surely a once in a lifetime experience. As the 1960s drew to an end I remember spending lots of mornings on line at the State Theatre for standing room tickets to Beverly Sills performances. Those were very social occasions as I was part of a group called the Beverly Sills Snowstorm Crew. It was our (self-appointed) duty to create confetti snowstorms for Beverly whenever she sang.

This morning there was a very long line; I got there at 9:00 AM and was #20 but within minutes the line had tripled and by the time the windows opened it snaked all around the lobby. The kindly security guard kept everyone orderly and soothed tempers as some of the first people on the line took an inordinate amount of time, specifying exact seating choices. My only purpose today was to get tickets for the Kyra Nichols farewell on June 22nd. {The Paul Kolnik photo of her at left is from MOZARTIANA} and by 11:00 AM I had the seats I wanted. Aside from Kyra, all the talk was about the upcoming new production of ROMEO & JULIET. 

Kristin Sloan of THE WINGER  has been making a series of really exciting video 'episodes' about the creation of this production (which is already controversial!) at the NYC Ballet website. You can jump there directly from the City Ballet link in the right-hand column.   As I found out on the ticket line this morning, there is a terrific buzz about this production and about Kristin's videos. Ballet lovers LOVE going behind the scenes; nothing excites a ballet groupie more than seeing a favorite ballerina sewing her toe shoes, or that danseur you've got a crush on applying his make-up. For the dancers, these are mundane chores but for the fans these are little glimpses of magic.

What's making the Peter Martins ROMEO so controversial? Partly it's that NYCB doesn't do a lot of full-length classical ballets..and some folks think that they shouldn't: that the time & energy that goes into something like R & J should be better expended working on Balanchine and Robbins rep. And that is certainly a valid argument. On the other hand, as someone who goes to NYCB 3 or 4 times a week, I can easily survey the house from my seat and see that the recent runs of SLEEPING BEAUTY and even more so of SWAN LAKE have drawn very large audiences to the theatre whereas on many mixed-bill nights there are unfortunate swatches of empty seats on every level. My feeling is that, to the general public, titles like SWAN LAKE and ROMEO & JULIET really MEAN something whereas they are not quite sure what LIEBESLIEDER WALTZES or FANCY FREE might be all about.  And therefore hesitate to spend their entertainment budget on something  unknown.

Peter has further complicated the situation by hiring the same scenic artist, Per Kirkeby, to create the ROMEO production after his widely-disliked visual interpretation of SWAN LAKE. It is a puzzlement to me, but since I don't like the music of ROMEO I probably won't want to see it very often anyway. I did learn after a while to tune out the sets and some of the costumes of SWAN LAKE because I think it is an exciting production to watch, with an extremely powerful ending.

Of course the present controversy is only the latest chapter in the ongoing Peter Martins controversy: his choreography, his artistic choices and whether he is right or wrong to present his visions of these ballets. I understand why he's doing it though that doesn't mean I will like his ROMEO. But I have to say that Kristin's videos dealing with the various aspects of the production have me much more excited about this ROMEO than I would otherwise have been. And since my passion for the Company stems mainly from my admiration for the dancers Peter employs, I imagine I will come to terms with ROMEO just as I eventually did with SWAN LAKE.

After getting my Kyra tickets, I went over to the Met where the crew was busy preparing to hoist an enormous banner for IL TRITTICO onto the facade of the opera house. In the lobby I realized that ABT tickets are already on sale and - lo and behold - there was not a soul on the box office line. I took advantage of that unusual situation to get tickets to ABT's up-coming new SLEEPING BEAUTY. Thanks to the helpful suggestions of my friend Susan, I chose a Diana Vishneva/Vladimir Malakhov evening. It will be a birthday gift for Wei. (Don't tell him, OK?)

These are some of Willa Kim's costume designs for the upcoming BEAUTY which would appear to be very traditional. I've heard a few rumors about the rehearsals but I'll just leave it at that.

And here are the two stars I've chosen. Ironically Mr. Malakhov was one of the last customers I ever helped while I was working at Tower; he was a really sweet man. I haven't seen him dance for quite a while but I do like the DVD about him (TRUE PRINCE)...and BORN TO BE WILD, of course.

Comments

[tonya]

Oh crap -- I can't believe the line was that long ... I was going to go tomorrow, but I worry everything's going to be sold out already, especially with the new 4th Ring discounts!

Everyone seems to love Vishneva and Malakhov, so it sounds like you chose well. I got a ticket to see them perform ... I think it's Manon ... but maybe I'll get one for Sleeping Beauty too. Of course I first have to see you know who dance it with Veronika Part :):):)

[tonya]

I got three tickets this morning: opening night gala / r&j premier, wheeldon premier, and kyra nichols farewell. Nichols is almost sold out. The ticket agent laughed at me: "you're getting all the unpopular nights!" he joked. "That's why I'm here now," I said.

[Evan N]

Fortunately, I was able to get the R+J tickets I wanted this morning. Do you happen to know if there will be more than one cast for the lead roles?

[philip]

With this many performances, I would think there would be multiple casts.

[perky]

HI Oberon,

I'm going to be nosy and ask if you have heard anything about Gelsey Kirkland working with ABT on the new Beauty? I'm not sure if she is staging or coaching or perhaps a bit of both.
I've been watching Kristin Sloans excellent posts on R&J. Unfortunately every time you click on it that music booms over the speakers. I really dislike that score! Makes me want to bang my head againest the wall.

[philip]

Hi Perky, I think you just scored the 30,000th visit to my blog!

I'm going to e-mail you with regard to your question.