Haglund's Heel

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Tony Bennett!

Oh, what a night at the Metropolitan Opera House.  Oh my, my, my, my, my.

At 85 years old, Tony Bennett made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera House this evening.  The concert tickets sold out pretty quickly when the date was announced last summer.  Haglund scored one of the last seats in the far-front side box of the dress circle.  Little did he know how perfect that awful seat would be.

The stage floor of the opera house was extended over top of the orchestra pit, and Tony's four piece orchestra was set up in front of the red curtain.  The sightline from the side box was such that not only could Haglund clearly see both hands of the pianist, but he could actually read the front of the teleprompter.  A teleprompter?  Why would Tony need a teleprompter?  Is he forgetting lyrics these days?  Hardly.

When Haglund opened the Playbill, he gasped in utter disbelief.  How did they manage to keep this a secret?!  Tony Bennett was bringing friends to the opera house to make their own debuts with him!  Aretha Franklin.  Unbelievable.  Alejandro Sanz from Spain.  Unbelievable.  And  S I R   E L T O N  J O H N !!  Unbelievable^10x10!

Haglund was losing it, right there in the Met.  He was trying to text everyone he knew, but couldn't get a signal.  All of a sudden, the house lights dimmed, and everyone calmed down waiting for the announcer to introduce Tony Bennett.

Announcer:  Ladies and Gentlemen.  Please welcome President Bill Clinton.

OMG!  BILL CLINTON!  Yes, THAT Bill Clinton walked right out onto the Metropolitan Opera House stage to do the warm-up for Tony Bennett.  Well, it was actually a tribute – and a pretty nice one at that.  He noted that as most singers age, their voices change and they sometimes have difficulty with pitch.  He then spoke about all the great humanitarian contributions that Tony Bennett has made as well as his Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria and his internationally acclaimed paintings.  Clinton concluded by saying that Tony Bennett had led "a life of perfect pitch."  He then introduced Tony who nearly got knocked over by the crowd's roar when he came out on stage. 

Clinton then left the stage and retreated to the Parterre where he sat for the whole concert with Hillary.  Yes, HILLARY CLINTON WAS THERE TOO.  Unbelievable^10x10!

Tony Bennett sang and sang, and then Aretha Franklin came out for a song.  They used the teleprompter to keep straight who would sing which lines.  Tony sang some more after which the young Alejandro Sanz came out for a duet.  Tony sang some more and then the Great Elton John came on stage dressed formally in black and nothing pink.  He and Tony sang one duet, and then Tony solo-ed the concert home.  He sang so many old favorites, and when he got to Shadow of Your Smile, he laid the microphone on the piano and came to the front of the stage to sing unamplified to the audience in the mammoth Metropolitan Opera House - just like all the great ones do.  The audience had to be especially quiet at this point, but Tony got his voice to the top of the house. 

Tony Bennett.  Tony Bennett.  Style.  Substance.  Staying power.  Oh, and he did tonight's concert free as a donation to the Met.  Style.

Ananiashvili @ AFH in Ratmansky program

Nina Ananiashvili will return to Lincoln Center with dancers from the State Ballet of Georgia and Musicians of Russia in an all-Alexei Ratmansky program at Avery Fisher Hall on Saturday, November 5 at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets are on sale now from $35 to $150.  Tickets for a reception are also being sold.

The program will consist of Ratmansky's Charms of Mannerism, Bizet Variations, and Dreams About Japan.

Performances will also take place at Brooklyn Center for the Arts on Friday, November 4 at 7:30 p.m and at the G.W. Lissner Auditorium in Washington DC on Sunday, November 6 at 6:30 p.m.

This is awesome news!  Buy online at lincolncenter.org or at the AFH box office.  For performance/reception tickets, call 646-383-7972 (International Concerts).

 

Sarahsota Swan

Jose Carreño has lined up Sarah Lane to dance the major Swan Lake PdDs with himself and Joaquin De Luz as her partners during the August 27th Festival of Stars which closes the Carreño Dance Festival in Sarasota, Florida.  She will dance the White Swan PdD with De Luz and the Black Swan PdD with Carreño.  The performance will take place at the Sarasota Opera House.

Performers for the evening include Gennadi Saveliev, Melanie Hamrick, and Jacoby & Pronk.

Click here to purchase tickets.

Much thanks should be extended to Jose for giving Sarah the opportunity that her home company has senselessly denied her.  How fast can we get the video up on YouTube?

 

It's enough to give you gas

Once again, the guys in the Weather Modification Office must be drinking on the job.

 

The arts are building

There is a flurry of new performing arts venue construction and major renovations going on during this stalled economy.

New York City Center opens its refurbished doors with a Grand Re-Opening Celebration on October 25th.  No program information yet, but you gotta assume the evening will include at least a little dance.

Down in Gainesville, Florida at Santa Fe College, they're about to have the inaugural performance in the new $17 million Fine Arts Hall which has a state of the art 606 seat theater.  September 24th is the date for the Light Up The Night program which will include an appearance by Jose Manuel Carreno and Sarah Lane.  Alberto Alonso served on the dance faculty at Santa Fe College for the last 15 years of his life.

Kansas City, Missouri is about to vault to the top with its brand spanking new 1800 seat Muriel Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts due to have its premiere performance on September 16th.  Placido Domingo will perform as will the Kauffman Center's three resident companies:  Kansas City Symphony, Kansas City Ballet, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City.  Additionally, KC Ballet is about to move into its brand new home, The Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity, which has seven studios including one that can be converted into a 180 seat performing space.  Todd Bolender, you'll recall, danced for a very long time with NYCB and was the Artistic Director of the Kansas City Ballet from 1981 to 1995. 

In October KC Ballet will present the world premiere of Tom Sawyer at the Kauffman Center.  This three-act ballet is being choreographed by Artistic Director William Whitener to a commissioned score by Broadway composer Maury Yeston (Nine, Titanic, Grand Hotel).  Haglund blogged some details about the production several months ago here:  Pas de Twain.  It's exciting to see another new story ballet being developed, and one that is based on important American literature.  If only this could be a trend . . . .  Haglund is still tossing around the idea of going to KC for the premiere.  Hopefully, the NY Times will send its book critic, not its dance critic, to review this important event.  (The book critic recently wrote a meaningful and insightful review of Anna Karenina by the Mariinsky Ballet whereas the dance critic did not.)  It is doubtful that the current dance critic has much knowledge of or fondness for Mark Twain.  He would probably just blow his horn about whether or not he liked the choreography instead of writing about the importance of the event, the production, and the actual dancing.

KC's Tom Sawyer is further proof of the resurgence of creating story ballets in this country.  KC Ballet has the whole city involved in its Twainphoria.  All of Kansas City is reading and talking about Tom Sawyer and there's even a free download courtesy of the local library.

The Alabama School of Fine Arts is in the midst of building a brand new $8.3 million 500 seat venue for theater, music and dance which will open January 25th with a performance by soprano Angela Brown who you may recall from her holy moly performances of Aida at the Met Opera.  That's holy moly as in being screamed by the audience.  Ms. Brown will definitely test the roof and rafters of this new venue like few other sopranos can.  She received some of her vocal training in Alabama, but is originally from the Indianapolis area where there is impressive new construction underway for performing arts facilities.

In Carmel, Indiana which is just outside of Indianapolis, The Center for the Performing Arts, a three venue state of the art complex is receiving its finishing touches.  Michael Feinstein is the Artistic Director of the new center.  The 1600 seat Palladium Theater had its grand opening in January.  It's a beauty with a huge dome and limestone facade and columns.  The 500 seat Tarkington Theater, named after Haglund's relative Booth who was one of America's important writers from the first half of the 20th century, will have its christening performance on August 6th.  The press release mentioned that the evening would include a performance by American Ballet Theater dancers, but it did not give details. 

Choreographers should look more at American literature for inspiration.  Need a new children's ballet?  What about one based on some of Penrod's misadventures?  Give it an out-of-town premiere in the Indianapolis area where every other item in town is named after Tarkington.  Positive press guaranteed.  And then there's The Magnificent Ambersons . . . .

So that's the scoop on a few of the new performing arts venues that are springing up in places we don't read much about on a national basis.  Attention must be paid – to perhaps suggest another story ballet.  There are ideas everywhere. 

 

City Center Fall for Dance Festival 2011

It will take place a little later than usual but will be in the newly renovated New York City Center Theater October 27th through November 6th.  The $10 tickets go on sale on October 2nd at 11AM. 

From BroadwayWorld.com:

 The festival will include performances by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (NYC), The Australian Ballet (Australia), CCN de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne / Compagnie Käfig (France), Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (Illinois), The Joffrey Ballet (Illinois), Liz Gerring Dance Company (NYC), Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba (Cuba), Mark Morris Dance Group (NYC), Maurice Chestnut and The Above Ground Project (NJ), New York City Ballet (NYC), Pontus Lidberg Dance (Sweden/NYC), Richard Alston Dance Company (UK), Royal Ballet of Flanders (Belgium), Steven McRae (UK), Trisha Brown Dance Company (NYC) and Vertigo Dance Company (Israel). Tickets will go on sale Sunday, October 2, 2011 at 11 a.m.

Manhattan Fourth

 

 

 

Good ballet at fair prices

If you're contemplating where to spend your limited dance dollars this fall, remember that Houston Ballet, Suzanne Farrell Ballet, and Morphoses will be at the Joyce Theater in October. 

Tickets start at $10.  Enough said.

 

 

Ukulele Festival @ Alvin Ailey Center

Edukated Fleas

Whistling Wolves

Les Chaud Lapins (the hot rabbits)

Tripping Lily

Pre-war Ponies

If you don't frequent The Uke Hut over on Fifth Avenue around 32nd Street (Thurs & Fri in the basement of Maui Tacos), you may not be aware that The New York Uke Fest 2011 will be held on May 5, 6, 7 at the Alvin Ailey Theater at Ninth Avenue and 55th Street.  You can hear all of the great artists listed above and many more perform over the course of the three days and also attend some nifty workshops.  Now, Haglund thinks the published prices of the tickets are a bit more Fifth Avenue than Ninth Avenue, but you never can tell whether they can be negotiated or not. ($175 three-day pass; $65 full day pass; $40 concert ticket).

More info here or look for the posters along Ninth Avenue.

Lumiere Ballet El Cid photo

Photographer Ben Gancsos was kind enough to supply this gorgeous photo below of Venti Petrov and Gabriela Gonzales in the Lumiere Ballet's production of El Cid which Haglund recently reviewed.  Truly beautiful!

 

Photo © Ben Gancsos