During the intermission of last Saturday’s final performance of ABT's Romeo and Juliet, Haglund and his friend, Warner, were leaning against the bar sipping some very cool Bolle Slurpees. All of a sudden Warner looked up and howled, “Come ooo-on. Give me a break!” There were Mister Steinbrenner and Hal pushing their ways to the head of the line to get their Bolle Slurpees. They’d just tried to step in front of opera-crossover Lois Kirschenbaum who whacked Hal’s knees with her cane. Now they were standing directly next to us – bar left.
Mister Steinbrenner: She’s a scrappy old bird.
Hal: We should have her in the outfield.
Mister Steinbrenner: Crap, no. We got enough fluttering and limping going on out there.
Hal: The season is shaping up pretty well, don’t you think?
Mister Steinbrenner: No doubt we’re the best team, but can we bring it all home this year?
We got some problems in the secondary. Stearns, Matthews,
Hammoudi. They’re blanks and Stearns can’t throw a decent
eschappe battu.
Hal: What should we do?
Mister Steinbrenner: Keep them away from that wus Johnny Damon, that‘s for sure. Bring
up Hoven, Zhurbin, Stewart and Tamm. Have ‘em work with Radetsky.
Hal: You don’t have Radetsky anymore. You traded him to The Dutch.
Mister Steinbrenner: Crap. Are you sure? Didn’t we just have him do several performances
of Albrecht in Giselle?
Hal: No, that was with The Dutch.
Mister Steinbrenner: Wha . . . didn’t he just do the lead in Prodigal Son???
Hal: In Amsterdam.
Mr Steinbrenner: Crap.
Hal: Good thing we picked up Roberto Bolle. The guy is gold.
Mister Steinbrenner: But can we keep him happy?
Hal: Drink your Slurpee.
Mister Steinbrenner: It tastes okay, but what’s in it?
Hal: Crushed Acqua Fiuggi cubes. Lime. Mint leaves.
Mister Steinbrenner: Mmmm. Thank the lucky stars for celebrity endorsements!
Hal: You said it.
Warner said it best when he first saw Roberto Bolle “This guy can bring the heat!” Roberto was definitely one of the season’s highlights in his incredible Swan Lake with Veronika Part and the two Romeo and Juliets with Irina Dvorovenko. The season’s bittersweet memory will be Nina Ananiashvili’s glorious performances, especially her final Giselle with delicious Jose Manuel Carreno.
Haglund went to 32 out of 63 performances – a resounding majority in ballet season terms – and concluded that the company is in superb shape. On those occasions when it messed up, it was because it was trying to extend itself.
Now on to an abbreviated season at Avery Fisher Hall in October where the company will probably mess up again while it is trying to extend itself with new choreography. Haglund hates this whole effort of ballet trying to make itself "relevant" to new audiences by dumbing down to hip hop, so-called new music, and street-coolness.
Classical and romantic ballet has stellar reputations and attendance in Europe without having to dumb itself down. Roberto Bolle and Julio Bocca have drawn rock-star sized crowds to performances of classical and romantic ballet. Why can’t we manage to do that in this country?
Drink Acqua Fiuggi and hope for a Times Square billboard featuring Roberto Bolle soon.
Copyright © 2009
10 responses to “ABT – All-Stars Wrap-up”
Now that the season is over, what can we expect from ABT next spring?. With the poor economy, i guess we will not see a new full-lenght production of a classic. I would not mind if they revive La Fille.. and Onegin. or a coproduction w/ the Het National ballet of Ratmansky’s new Don Q.That would be a money saver,i think.
Now that the season is over, what can we expect from ABT next spring?. With the poor economy, i guess we will not see a new full-lenght production of a classic. I would not mind if they revive La Fille.. and Onegin. or a coproduction w/ the Het National ballet of Ratmansky’s new Don Q.That would be a money saver,i think.
All great ideas, Jose! Roberto Bolle’s calendar shows that he will be performing Onegin with La Scala in the Fall of 2010. This December, however, he’s premiering John Neumeier’s new production of Orpheus at the Hamburg Ballet. That could be interesting to see here.
Mayerling is still at the top of Haglund’s list for new productions. Don’t know if New York audiences have the patience to sit through it though.
The Dream would be nice to see again.
We shall see. We shall see.
All great ideas, Jose! Roberto Bolle’s calendar shows that he will be performing Onegin with La Scala in the Fall of 2010. This December, however, he’s premiering John Neumeier’s new production of Orpheus at the Hamburg Ballet. That could be interesting to see here.
Mayerling is still at the top of Haglund’s list for new productions. Don’t know if New York audiences have the patience to sit through it though.
The Dream would be nice to see again.
We shall see. We shall see.
Mayerling’s hero would be a great role for Marcelo and david but NY critics will probanly hate it
Mayerling’s hero would be a great role for Marcelo and david but NY critics will probanly hate it
The critics might well love it, but the general ballet-going public might take a couple of seasons to warm to it. Franz Liszt isn’t as hummable as Tchaikovsky or Prokofiev or Adam and it might be challenging for the New York ballet audiences.
First choices for Rudolf would be Marcelo and Isaac Stappas. For Mary Vetsera – Dvorovenko and perhaps Misty Copeland.
If ABT doesn’t bring Mayerling here in the next couple of years, the Royal Ballet really should invite Marcelo to dance it in London. Can you imagine that?!!
The critics might well love it, but the general ballet-going public might take a couple of seasons to warm to it. Franz Liszt isn’t as hummable as Tchaikovsky or Prokofiev or Adam and it might be challenging for the New York ballet audiences.
First choices for Rudolf would be Marcelo and Isaac Stappas. For Mary Vetsera – Dvorovenko and perhaps Misty Copeland.
If ABT doesn’t bring Mayerling here in the next couple of years, the Royal Ballet really should invite Marcelo to dance it in London. Can you imagine that?!!
Isaac Stappas!! YES!!
Isaac Stappas!! YES!!