ABT is sending around a self-congratulatory letter with the fall season brochure which boasts that its Met Season ticket sales were $243,000 more than last year. Well, hello?! They had MORE performances this year than last. In 2011 there was no 4th of July performance. The ole math don't look so great now, dood it?
By adding that extra performance, they only got an additional $243,000? Why is anyone bragging about that?
Maybe some of the core audience isn't ballet alert enough to catch this but most everyone else will either figure it out or read it here and then claim that they figured it out.
I just counted the performances on the casting sheets for the past two years, and I believe they both come out to 63. Though they did not perform the evening of Monday, July 4, 2011, they were able to have two performances on Wednesday, July 6, 2011, whereas this year they were only able to have one performance Wednesday, July 4, the evening performance being scrapped due to the holiday.
That said, I was really surprised by how empty the house was for many of the ABT 'home team' performances I attended, so I wonder if the increase in the box office numbers is due to the dynamic pricing scheme rather than increased attendance.
Posted by: fondoffouettes | July 18, 2012 at 11:24 AM
Yep, you're right FOF about the number of performances. I wonder if ABT wants to claim that the guest artists were the big factor in the "increase". Would they be so bold as to claim that they yanked Marcelo Gomes as Ali on July 4th in order to insert Vasiliev because he would sell more tickets?
The truth will be in the paid attendance numbers- how many seats were actually sold this year as compared to years past, and how many were sold at full price - not 2 for 1.
That declaration of victory in sales is likely to be hollow indeed considering the increase in expenses with all the guest artists.
Posted by: Haglund | July 18, 2012 at 11:36 AM
The one thing I did like about the dynamic pricing and two-for-one deals is that it helped to get the house filled for the July 4th matinee, when greatly reduced tickets were offered. I remember an absolutely glorious Part/Gomes Swan Lake from a July 4th weekend several years ago and the house was rather empty, which seems like a shame (especially when the dancing is so beautiful!).
Posted by: fondoffouettes | July 18, 2012 at 12:02 PM
But then lots of people learn to wait to buy tickets until the discounts come out. I know for a fact that the dynamic price increases were a deal-breaker for some people to attend - not because they couldn't afford the increase but because they viewed it as not worth it.
Posted by: Haglund | July 18, 2012 at 12:14 PM
On a related tangent, Barcelona DonQ casting went up today. Some good news and some gross news.
Posted by: Rachelmarch | July 18, 2012 at 03:28 PM
You and I both know that Jared should be doing Don Q with Yuriko. The magic is there. If ABT was so sure that Simkin and Boylston were a great match in S.L., let them dance together in Don Q. A Stearns and Boylston duo is going to have the same non-wow factor as Stearns and Wiles had.
Posted by: Haglund | July 18, 2012 at 03:38 PM
And poor Yuriko, dancing with Daniil does nothing for her - Jared would be so amazing with those lifts Danill can barely do! Jared's espada is really powerful - I really think he could pull of an interesting Basilio. If they really want Cory to succeed they're going to have to find him a partner with some ooph to force it out of him. He was good with Simone in the Volpi and interesting with Hee in a rehearsal of Onegin, but other than that I've never seen him spark with anyone. All I can hope for is they give Hee back to Cory for R&J next season and give Yuriko a shot opposite Hammoudi (if not Jared). I think it would be AMAZING.
Posted by: Rachelmarch | July 18, 2012 at 03:44 PM
I was thinking about Simone and Stearns in Don Q, too. I hated the Volpi piece but thought that Stearns really did kick it up a notch when he danced with Simone.
Posted by: Haglund | July 18, 2012 at 03:50 PM
Yeah - I thought they had a real interesting chemistry. Like the similar animal energy they had in Upper Room last year too. Or kind of like the much less polite/refined version of the strange chemistry David Hallberg had when they used to let him dance with Stella in things like Meadow or Afternoon of a Faun (or...Espada and Mercedes for that matter).
Posted by: Rachelmarch | July 18, 2012 at 03:53 PM
Back to the original tangent - I really hope some fans in Korea get a youtube up of Yuriko and Jared's Giselle this weekend so everyone can see what we saw in Chicago! Too bad Jared wasn't in town to see the POB version, I think some of that characterization would really suit him.
Posted by: Rachelmarch | July 18, 2012 at 03:57 PM
Totally agree that some of those ABTers could have benefited a lot from seeing POB's Giselle.
NY will flip when it finally gets the opportunity to see the Jared/Yuriko Giselle. It's still hard for me to believe how good it was in Chicago.
Posted by: Haglund | July 18, 2012 at 04:14 PM
I hope I can make it to Cornejo's Don Q in Barcelona, I really do!
During the Met season, I was a bit saddened by the fact that bloggers at least tended to comment more on performances by these guest artists than those by the "home team". To such an extent that even the two farewells of great dancers received less attention. Even though this is not an exact representation of the whole audience that is actually there at the Met, it felt a little sad still.
Posted by: Kallima | July 18, 2012 at 04:28 PM
Kallima! I hope you do get to Barcelona to see Herman's Don Q! It should be a very exciting opening night.
You're correct about the internet attention given to guest artists. It's a "follow the herd" or "follow the fad" mentality. Very sad indeed.
Posted by: Haglund | July 18, 2012 at 04:38 PM
Even in some online magazine or newspaper reviews, it seems like the guest artists now provide the standard by which others, particularly the 'home team', is measured. Jumping higher = better technique = better dancer. This development appears more than just a little disturbing to me. As if the 'better dancer' is always the one that can turn faster, jump higher and has higher extensions. This isn't an Olympic competition after all.
I've been planning to go to Spain, particularly Barcelona, anyway and this announcement will now influence my scheduling for the trip. I really want to see Herman live at least once and this would be a great opportunity.
Posted by: Kallima | July 18, 2012 at 04:50 PM
Kallima, I agree that most of the time the artists are measured by the media in terms of ballet technique as sport. It's kind of a sad state of affairs.
I hope you do get to Barcelona to see Herman. You won't be disappointed!
Posted by: Haglund | July 18, 2012 at 06:14 PM
I will never understand why Jared is not getting more opportunities to do the lead roles at ABT.
He is a beautiful dancer, great actor and is fabulous onstage with not only Yuriko, but other dancers as well.
He & Yuriko were beautiful in Giselle in Chicago and will be again in Korea!!
Posted by: Judy Golden | July 18, 2012 at 06:43 PM
IMO, he would be a fabulous Siegfried, too.
Posted by: Haglund | July 18, 2012 at 07:04 PM
First, apologies for replying to the comments rather than the post. I think Jared is great when he gives 100%. Partnering with Yuriko probably helps a lot with that. I've seen him be inconsistent, though; his acting can be completely blank sometimes, and I remember one Theme and Variations a couple years ago when he was the only one of the soloist men who did not do the entrechat sixes at the end. (I'm only calling that out because it left an impression on me and I think it has influenced my opinion of him) He has gotten better, so we'll see. Cory is also a blank to me, and I agree not thrilling to watch onstage. I do think his promotion was due in large part to the fact that ABT needed someone (else) to partner Veronika and Michele at the time, and nobody else (Jared or Sascha included) fit the bill. Someone of Cory's physical build was obviously needed--he dances almost more than any other principal man except Marcelo.
Posted by: Silk | July 21, 2012 at 08:30 PM
Hi Silk!
Yes, Jared has had some inconsistent seasons - but I'm fairly certain that he's over the hump on technical issues like entrechats six. I don't know if you happened to see any of his recent performances of Tchai PdD around town, but he kills it - absolutely kills it. His acting and dancing in his Giselle in Chicago with Yuriko were incredible and I'm so happy that I made the trip to see it. We in NY were totally robbed this year by not getting the Yuriko/Jared Giselle - especially considering what we did end up getting served.
Posted by: Haglund | July 21, 2012 at 11:50 PM
Totally agree - his Tchai PdD was the only thing that got a standing O at one mixed bill I saw, and everyone else dancing were well-known principals of various companies (though none are my favorite)
Posted by: Rachelmarch | July 23, 2012 at 11:51 AM