Haglund's Heel

Flesh and Bone on EW free just for today

Enjoy the first episode of Flesh and Bone for 24 hours on EW at this link:

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/11/02/flesh-and-bone-starz-premiere-exclusive

 

 

observations 10/24

The hotly anticipated new Starz series Flesh and Bone starring Ben Daniels, Irina Dvorovenko, and Sascha Radetsky among others has been converted into a "limited series" with a final ending from its original ongoing series status. Oh dear. One reader of the announcement/article in Deadline Hollywood commented, "that’s the nicest “you’re cancelled before you even get on the air” statement I’ve ever heard of...."

Maybe the silver lining in all this is that Ethan Stiefel, the consultant and choreographer, is now free to tackle a great big new job.

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This Sunday, October 26th, the season's first live cinema presentation of the Bolshoi Ballet will be transmitted from one end of Balletdom to the other. Grigorovich's famous Legend of Love will star Sveltlana Zakharova and Denis Rodkin. It's a long one – 3 hours 45 minutes – but will surely have all the very entertaining little extras that come at intermission. Go here to find your local movie houses where the cinemacast will be shown.

 

observations 4/24

Well, the Times is almost a month behind the times, but better late than never.

They finally caught wind of the fact that Sascha Radetsky's final performance with ABT will be this spring. Haglund reported that last month. Here's the NYT blog post which also allows for comments/tributes, etc.

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2015 is going to be a huge year for ballet stars branching out on the stage and screen. Here are Haglund's Predictions:

Emmy nominations for Irina Dvorovenko and Sascha Radetsky for Flesh and Bone.

Tony nominations for Robert Fairchild in An American in Paris and Tiler Peck in The Little Dancer - both of those productions are expected to hit New York in 2015. No theaters assigned yet, though.

Who will win? Well, Irina, of course. But it could be a sweep.

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Some exciting casting coming up during NYCB's second week of the spring season.

Tiler Peck will debut in the 1st Movement of Symphony in C opposite Chase Finlay.  Maria Kowroski and Sara Mearns will each have two performances of the 2nd Movement. Lauren King gets four performances of the 4th Movement: two with Adrian Danchig-Waring and two with Sean Suozzi. And Ashley Isaacs has a big debut in the 3rd Movement.

Raymonda returns with Megan Fairchild and Joaquin DeLuz followed by Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette.

 

 

Radetsky will hang up his cleats

Somehow it's fitting that Sascha Radetsky will bow out in the same season as Derek Jeter. They both joined the big leagues in the same year - 1995. And if fans nicknamed Jeter Mr. November because of his heroics during the post season, Radetsky could have been called the same. He sometimes carried the fall season for ABT with his brilliance in works by Tharp, Welch, De Mille, Fokine and an unforgettable performance in Tudor's The Leaves Are Fading opposite his wife, Stella Abrera. That's not to say he was less valuable in the spring, only that he was often more visible as one of the team's power hitters and clutch players in the fall season.

Lots of people are excited about Radetsky's future after ABT. His upcoming starring role in the TV series Flesh and Bone and more of his thoughtful writing are both things we will look forward to in the near term. Jeter hasn't given us a clue what he'll do.

It'll be tough to lose them both, though.

 

Fleshing out the cast for Flesh and Bone

According to the Post's Page Six, Lawrence Bender is in town conducting call-backs for the cast of Flesh and Bone which is being developed by Starz and produced by Bender Brown Productions. Irina Dvorovenko and Sascha Radetsky previously signed up as show regulars. From those two "characters" alone, Bender could glean years of series material. Throw in his partner's sister's (Leslie Browne) stories during the Baryshnikov era, and oh lord – a lot people are holding their breath wondering if this or that is going to pop-up in the show somewhere.

There's still no word on who is going to portray the shadowy blogger whose face is always hidden behind the latest issue of Pulp Pointe Magazine. Perhaps Lawrence is too shy to call up Haglund and ask him, or perhaps not.

 

Flesh and Bone coming to your living room

Last January Haglund alerted everyone about the "dark and gritty" TV series in the works from Starz Networks and Bender-Brown Productions about a ballet dancer with a troubled past who joins a New York ballet company.

Here's an update:

The name of the new series is Flesh and Bone. Yes, you read that right. Really, would you expect less from Lawrence Bender who produced Pulp Fiction and most of the Tarantino films?

Irina Dvorovenko and Sascha Radetsky have signed on to be in it.  No word about Sascha's future dancing plans but the press release does identify him as a Current Soloist at ABT with a capital C and a capital S. Arizona Ballet's Raychel Diane Weiner will also participate.

Ethan Stiefel will serve as consultant and choreographer.

This sounds like it could be a mean and dirty little TV series that could prove addictive. The big question remaining is Who will portray the insipid but insightful and shadowy blogger? The other big question is Will the episode in which the guest artists get knocked off be early in the season or saved for the finale?

Perhaps Haglund is assuming too much too early. Perhaps not.

 

Not your ballet sit-com

As if the ballet world hasn't been portrayed as cruel and gruesome enough lately, here comes a new "dark and gritty TV series" about a ballet dancer with a troubled past who joins a New York company.  The series is being developed by Starz and will be produced by Bender-Brown Productions.  The Brown in Bender-Brown is Kevin Brown, brother of Ethan, Leslie, and Gabrielle Elizabeth*, and son of Kelly and Isabel -- all of whom danced at ABT.  The Bender in Bender-Brown produced Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds, An Inconvenient Truth, and most of the Tarantino films.

For sure, the producers have endless ideas about plot lines, but well, if they need any help, we're always here for them.

*Thanks to FrmrDancer for the correction.