Haglund's Heel

Cincinnati Ballet @ the Joyce and Frampton!

Haglund told everybody months ago to get tickets to Cincinnati Ballet's gig at the Joyce Theater this May because rock legend Peter Frampton just might possibly turn up in connection with the Hummingbird in a Box dance for which he composed seven new songs.

Well, he's coming.

In a vaguely worded article in the Cincinnati Enquirer, David Lyman reported:

Cincinnati Ballet has confirmed that rock 'n' roll superstar Peter Frampton not only will attend the company's May 6 opening night performance in New York's Joyce Theater, but he also will give a curtain speech introducing the company.

But what does that mean? What exactly does "will attend" mean? Is he really going to come up here from Nashville just to sit in the audience?

Frampton.

Backing up Ringo Starr at the Grammy's in January:

 

Frampton. Guitar God. Legend. Show Me The Way:

 

It's been a long time – too long – since Haglund stood up and waved his lighter over his head at a ballet performance. Do you remember that one Swan Lake at the Met Opera House years ago with Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes when the people in the orchestra section suddenly jumped to their feet and began waving their lighters over their heads during Act IV? Then pretty soon all 4000 people in the opera house were on their feet waving their lighters as Veronika and Marcelo jumped to their doom. It all seems like a dream now.

Oh, man, Frampton.

 

Percentages

As of this moment, it appears that the poorest selling performance of ABT's Kennedy Center run is the Saturday matinee with Isabella Boylston and Daniil Simkin followed by the Sunday performance with Paloma Herrera and Ivan Vasiliev. Maybe audiences have finally had their fill of you-know-what. Surely this will change as ABT desperately distributes free tickets through its reach-out, accessibility-for-anyone-who-will-sit-through-it-and-scream-for-us programs. Gosh, it's surprising that neither Boylston nor Simkin have been slotted for opening night to insure their inclusion in media reviews. It's so unlike McKenzie to allow Abrera and Lane to be seen by opening night reviewers who, God forbid, might say something wonderful about them.

Tue., Apr. 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Les Sylphides--Seo, Gorak, Abrera, Lane; Aftereffect--Company;
The Dream--Kent, Gomes, Cornejo  35% remain

Wed., Apr. 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Les Sylphides--Part, Gorak, Abrera, Hamrick; Aftereffect--Company;
The Dream--Reyes, Whiteside, Simkin  35% remain

Thu., Apr. 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Don Quixote--Murphy, Gomes  26% remain

Fri., Apr. 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Don Quixote--Part, Whiteside  28% remain

Sat., Apr. 19 at 1:30 p.m.
Don Quixote--Boylston, Simkin  37% remain

Sat., Apr. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Don Quixote--Reyes, Cornejo  35% remain

Sun., Apr. 20 at 1:30 p.m.
Don Quixote--Herrera, Vasiliev  36% remain                 

 

Hold onto your hats, Washington DC!

Just announced:

Marcelo Gomes is going to dance Basilio to Gillian Murphy's Kitri for the opening night of ABT's run of Don Quixote in Washington, DC on Thursday, April 17th!

Marcelo rarely ever dances the role but usually flashes around as Espada to Veronika Part's sultry Mercedes. This is a rare, rare, rare opportunity: Murphy, Gomes, Abrera, and Radetsky - all in the same Don Q cast for one smoking-hot night only.

DCers, you don't want to miss this – it could be the last time. It could be a great contest or no contest at all. As the guy in the picture knows well, a good goring by a pair of provoked pointes can make a fella wish he'd never climbed into the ring.

Additional cast change: Joe Gorak will dance in Les Sylphides in place of Cory Stearns on the opening night.

 

observations 4/6

Reminder: Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild will premiere Twyla Tharp's brand new Cornbread Duet this Thursday night at BAM during a concert by the Carolina Chocolate Drops. There are still some tickets available and they are reasonably priced.

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Jared Matthews stepped in for Cory Stearns and thrilled the audience with his Albrecht to Paloma Herrera's Giselle on Friday night in Minneapolis. Here is Tim Rummelhoff's photo:

Jared repeats today (substituting for Alex Hammoudi) dancing opposite Hee Seo before flying off to St. Petersburg with Veronika Part to dance at the Mariinsky Festival next Sunday. When is ABT going to give this guy the respect that he has long deserved by promoting him to principal?

The lucky opening night audience was treated to Veronika's extraordinary Myrtha, and today's lucky audience will be mesmerized with Stella Abrera's Myrtha. But they wouldn't know it in advance because ABT chose not to release in advance the Myrtha principal casting. ABT wouldn't give the public the option of purchasing tickets just to see either of those two superlative artists because it would have diverted attendance from the Saturday night performance in which Sue Heck and Axl were performing the lead roles with a hokey exchange artist.

ABT has stooped to a new despicable low when it denigrates by omission two glorious artists in order to facilitate the promotion of lesser dancers. It would be hard to fathom that sort of nonsense ever being tolerated by Ms. Murphy in a cast of Giselle for which she was to be Myrtha.

__________

It seems many have been searching for some indication of how Sarah Lane's and Daniil Simkin's debuts in Coppelia went in Abu Dhabi last week. In it's recent email newsletter ABT only promoted the review that mentioned Misty Copeland and Herman Cornejo. So Haglund fished out the review of the second performance from Egypt's Daily News. The review was positive overall although some synchronization problems in the corps de ballet were noted .

"[Sarah] Lane delivered an exquisite performance as she transformed from a fluid and passionate lover to a robotic doll."

So, there ya go....

 

Lane delivered an exquisite performance as she transformed from a fluid and passionate lover to a robotic doll. - See more at: http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/04/02/abt-delivers-gentle-coppelia-abu-dhabi-music-festival/#sthash.vbZgKzlr.dpuf

Lane delivered an exquisite performance as she transformed from a fluid and passionate lover to a robotic doll. - See more at: http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/04/02/abt-delivers-gentle-coppelia-abu-dhabi-music-festival/#sthash.vbZgKzlr.dpuf

Lane delivered an exquisite performance as she transformed from a fluid and passionate lover to a robotic doll. - See more at: http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/04/02/abt-delivers-gentle-coppelia-abu-dhabi-music-festival/#sthash.vbZgKzlr.dpuf

Alessandra Ferri and McGregor?

Well, my goodness, this wasn't in the Royal Ballet's announcement of their 2014-2015 season, but NEWS.GNOM.ES, a newswire service based in Chicago reported that Alessandra Ferri will star in Wayne McGregor's new full-length dance production based on stories by Virginia Woolf.

Woolf Works with music by Max Richter will be McGregor's first full length work for the Royal Ballet. The choreographer will take his inspiration from a number of Woolf's works including “Mrs. Dalloway,” “Orlando” and “The Waves," and according to NEWS.GNOM.ES "will feature the former Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theater principal Alessandra Ferri." And apparently they've got some kind of an email directly from McGregor about the work which is scheduled to run in May 2015 for eight performances.

This will be a big, big, whopping big event if Alessandra Ferri returns to the Royal Ballet for this premiere.

Whopping big.

 

Jared Matthews & Veronika Part @ The Mariinsky

After dancing Albrecht in Minneapolis this Sunday opposite Hee Seo's Giselle, Jared Matthews' next stop will be St. Petersburg to dance in the closing gala at the Mariinsky Festival on April 13 along with Veronika Part.  We don't know what they will be dancing other than classical excerpts. The St. Petersburg audience dearly loves and misses Veronika, and they are going to be captivated by Jared as well. What a tremendous and well-deserved opportunity for this talented artist.

We've noted how Jared's ABT biography includes many examples of his guest artist work which is impressive. Alex Hammoudi's biography includes his guest work. Why, then, aren't Stella Abrera and Sarah Lane allowed to include their international accomplishments as Aurora and Odette/Odile, respectively, in their bios? Why isn't Gillian Murphy allowed to include her RNZB accomplishments? Clearly there is a double standard being applied with ABT trying hard to promote the experience of its men while covering up the accomplishments of certain women.

Update 4/3:

Jared's April is becoming turbocharged with excitement. He's now shown on the presenter's website as also dancing Albrecht on opening night in Minneapolis opposite Paloma Herrera's Giselle - thus, replacing Cory Stearns.