NYCB received a warm reception upon opening its Spring Season Tuesday with the first evening of a week of Black & White programs – programs consisting of those Balanchine ballets which were costumed in black & white. But the theater was far from full this evening, perhaps giving credence to the dancers' claim during their union contract negotiations that the company's programming choices and unsuccessful marketing efforts are contributing to the declining attendance. Management's excuse that attendance has been a victim of the crummy economy hardly holds water when across the plaza the Met Opera fills every seat of a theater twice the size of NYCB's and charges many times more for its tickets than NYCB charges. Economy-shmonomy. What NYCB and ABT need to discover is WHY people are willing to go to the Met Opera frequently, pay huge sums of money for it, and sit through four and five hour programs.
The driving factors for who comes to the ballet are programming and marketing. No question, these are huge challenges – but ballet managements should not blame their own failings on the economy. By the way, the NYPhil frequently fills every seat at AFH and Carnegie Hall frequently fills every seat during its major classical programs.
Back to Tuesday night. The program opened with a pretty decent Square Dance to music by Corelli and Vivaldi. Megan Fairchild was at her strongest during the final allegro section, burning through the choreography with crisp batterie and strong, expansive coupe jetes. Anthony Huxley, new to the ballet this past winter, displayed authority and confidence along with a solid technical performance. In the supporting corps, Lauren King bloomed with enthusiasm and seemed to naturally convey her joy of being on stage whereas some of the other members of the corps seemed to be concentrating a bit too seriously instead of performing for the audience. Devin Alberda, who had to have been short on sleep given the fact that the union negotiations which averted a labor strike didn't conclude until the wee hours of the morning, was positively jubilant.
The middle piece on the program was Agon danced by Wendy Whelan & Sebastion Marcovici, Teresa Reichlen & Andrew Veyette, Amanda Hankes & Craig Hall, and Ashley Laracey & Amar Ramasar. There was a corps of four women. The ballet looked dated, probably due to the fact that so many other, lesser choreographers have borrowed Balanchine's ideas and put their own spin on them. Haglund had the impression that no matter who danced Agon, it would not feel fresh or seem interesting. That said, Andrew Veyette, Sebastion Marcovici, and Amar Ramasar certainly invested their all in it and got the audience's appreciation for it. Wendy Whelan uncharacteristically struggled to hit musical accents and wasn't quite as flexible as expected, and Teresa Reichlen had several off moments in her solos and in her partnering with Veyette. Some of her big leg extensions didn't really qualify as developpes.
It may be time to – gasp, don't say it – think about tinkering with the lighting and costumes of Agon which could enhance the audience's appreciation and enjoyment of the piece. Without question, what should be updated is the program information which refers to the dancers as "Four Boys," "Eight Girls," "Eight Girls, Four Boys" and so forth. There's no reason why casting info in a Playbill should belittle the adult performers like that.
All was forgiven after the intermission when Sterling Hyltin and Maria Kowroski led Stravinsky Violin Concerto along with Amar Ramasar and Ask La Cour. Hyltin and Kowroski, and also Rebecca Krohn who did not dance this evening, always field and fill this choreography with special significance. It always looks fresh, compelling, original, and interesting when entrusted to these particular artists. Even though La Cour might not have been as solid in his pirouettes as Ramasar during the evening, he was his equal in most other ways. Very powerful and weighted dancing from these two men. The corps was especially sharp during the Capriccio section.
Finally, the major league ballet season is open once again. We got a couple of guys on base in this first inning, and now Haglund is just going to chill out with a beer and wait for the RBIs. In the meantime, Haglund is happy that the season is underway and awards to everyone in Stravinsky Violin Concerto this special Alexander McQueen black and white Pump Bump Award that just happens to be supported with some brass knuckles:
4 responses to “NYCB – Opening Night Spring Season 2011”
Although Peter Gelb would love to have the public believe that The Met sells out every night, it is far from true. If you sit in a balcony box as I always do you have a full scan of the house on any evening. I went thirty times this season and only twice was the house anywhere near full: the two Ring operas. And even though both Rheingold and Walkure were billed as sellouts there were empty seats at both. A Tosca I saw had an alarming number of empty seats on all levels and a Boccanegra with Hvorostovsky was nearly as bad. Even the Barenboim Tristans played to surprisingly unsold-out houses.
It’s also important to remember that on week nights 200 orchestra seats at The Met are sold at $20 per ticket. There is also a weekly lottery for $25 orchestra seats and they publish long lists of winners. There is a thriving student rush system, and there’s additional papering most nights.
An usher friend of mine who works the front entry told me they sometimes give him parterre level tickets to give to incoming patrons so that at least the first tier looks full.
The Met will face major contract negotiations this summer; since Gelb likes to tout his ‘success’, the unions will be looking for a larger slice of this imaginary pie. I would imagine one outcome will be further increases in ticket prices.
Although Peter Gelb would love to have the public believe that The Met sells out every night, it is far from true. If you sit in a balcony box as I always do you have a full scan of the house on any evening. I went thirty times this season and only twice was the house anywhere near full: the two Ring operas. And even though both Rheingold and Walkure were billed as sellouts there were empty seats at both. A Tosca I saw had an alarming number of empty seats on all levels and a Boccanegra with Hvorostovsky was nearly as bad. Even the Barenboim Tristans played to surprisingly unsold-out houses.
It’s also important to remember that on week nights 200 orchestra seats at The Met are sold at $20 per ticket. There is also a weekly lottery for $25 orchestra seats and they publish long lists of winners. There is a thriving student rush system, and there’s additional papering most nights.
An usher friend of mine who works the front entry told me they sometimes give him parterre level tickets to give to incoming patrons so that at least the first tier looks full.
The Met will face major contract negotiations this summer; since Gelb likes to tout his ‘success’, the unions will be looking for a larger slice of this imaginary pie. I would imagine one outcome will be further increases in ticket prices.
Hi jrance. It’s good to hear from someone who gets to go to the Met so often. You’re probably a thousand percent correct about an increase in ticket prices on the horizon.
The Boccanegra w/Hvor that I went to (and sat in the family circle boxes) and the Fleming Armida were absolute sell outs. When I tried to get a ticket to another Bocca, the Met ticket website showed it sold out but for a very few pricey seats in the orch. That the new and improved production of Tosca had a lot of empty seats is no surprise. It not only didn’t draw new audiences, it drove away old audiences.
I wasn’t aware of the “upgrading” of patrons to the parterre. Why no upgrades for us little $75 Guild members?
Hi jrance. It’s good to hear from someone who gets to go to the Met so often. You’re probably a thousand percent correct about an increase in ticket prices on the horizon.
The Boccanegra w/Hvor that I went to (and sat in the family circle boxes) and the Fleming Armida were absolute sell outs. When I tried to get a ticket to another Bocca, the Met ticket website showed it sold out but for a very few pricey seats in the orch. That the new and improved production of Tosca had a lot of empty seats is no surprise. It not only didn’t draw new audiences, it drove away old audiences.
I wasn’t aware of the “upgrading” of patrons to the parterre. Why no upgrades for us little $75 Guild members?