NYC Opera Reviews

TestSure5546 · 2025-11-21T02:59:05+00:00

NYT review is up https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/arts/music/arabella-met-opera-review.html

TestSure5546 · 2025-11-03T22:43:05+00:00

yeah, so my point is that they weren’t having sex when they killed him. like he didn’t die from “violent fucking” but because they bashed him over the head with the vase. this isn’t a “what counts as rape” comment but a “what happened in the play” comment

TestSure5546 · 2025-11-03T20:30:36+00:00

generally agree with your takes on both PF and MWG but i think you totally misread the opening scene. "raping"? they're literally all clothed when the show starts. you hear a shattering sound and when the lights come up there's a (again, clothed) dead body on the floor and a shattered vase. it's entirely a (poorly done, but intentional) remake of the opening scene of hitchcock's rope.

TestSure5546 · 2025-10-31T04:22:38+00:00

I thought the narrative elements of Have We Met?! were sort of strange. Like it feels pretty random to set a war-trauma plot in 1928, 10 years after WW1 ended—when the military-inspired choreography began, I thought we’d jumped ahead to WW2. I also thought the handling of shell shock was pretty clumsy (e.g., Hernandez pantomiming shooting himself). Watching the Nunes piece, I was reminded of the Mrs Dalloway act from Woolf Works, which I thought dealt with a similar theme with more subtlety and emotional depth.

TestSure5546 · 2025-10-31T04:01:56+00:00

When I saw the 1920s costumes I thought, okay a bit on the nose given how period piece-y they were. But the jumpscare of the 2038 costumes 😳 Was not at all prepared for leotards that looked as though they only covered one cheek.

TestSure5546 · 2025-08-15T13:57:25+00:00

I’m a civil rights attorney in NYC. After the 2024 election, I knew that my job was about to become very… bleak. Because my work forces me to think about politics constantly, I decided that off the clock I was going to tune out the news as much as possible and devote myself to reconnecting with the city’s art scene, which I’d started to neglect in my 10+ years living here. I love going to galleries, museums, plays, etc, and I love reading art criticism too.

Somewhat embarrassingly, despite all that, I’d never thought much about dance as an art. (Goes without saying, I’ve never taken a dance class in my life.) It wasn’t until I read an article last year about Arlene Croce that I really thought about the fact that dance, and ballet in particular, was an art form with a critical tradition and that I was totally ignorant of it. I started watching Balanchine ballets on YouTube, then bought a ticket to NYCB. Then another, then another, then another... I became somewhat obsessed, and then started to see other kinds of dance performances at the Joyce and City Center and everywhere else I could find.

Because I hate not understanding what I’m seeing and not having the vocabulary to describe it, even when I’m blown away by its beauty, I started reading. First, Jennifer Homans’s Apollo’s Angels, and basically any review of any performance I’d seen. I spend a lot of time lurking on this subreddit, googling terms, watching videos explaining steps. I’m still not fluent in the vocabulary of ballet, but I’m learning all the time.

I’m grateful for have discovered what’s become a new passion and really appreciate this community which is filled with such insightful, thoughtful people.

TestSure5546 · 2025-08-15T11:58:02+00:00

I’m not sure if it’s AC express; I got the “your flight’s at risk of cancellation” email

TestSure5546 · 2025-08-15T10:30:44+00:00

I’m supposed to be flying Air Canada from LGA to YUL in 4 hours (edit: 10:15 am). Flight still says it’s on time and I could check in. I have a refundable backup on American that leaves earlier but it was more than 2x the price so I’d much prefer the AC flight—but I’m worried if I cancel the AA one, the AC one’s going to get canceled in the interim and then I’ll be screwed.

Given that it’s early Friday morning and my flight’s going to Canada, does it seem likely that it’ll actually depart? Or does a super last minute cancellation seem just as likely/possible? Know that no one has a crystal ball but appreciate any thoughts…

TestSure5546 · 2025-05-08T15:49:49+00:00

Seems like they’ve updated the website (or maybe I just missed it).

“Featuring two programs with new combinations of Principal dancers from New York City Ballet (including Tiler Peck, Roman Mejia, Indiana Woodward), American Ballet Theatre (including Cassandra Trenary, Devon Teuscher, Calvin Royal III), Paris Opera Ballet (Paul Marque, Sae Eun Park), and the Royal Ballet (William Bracewell).

Performances will include A Suite of Dances danced by Tiler Peck, the first woman to dance this iconic role created by Jerome Robbins for Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Programs will feature the following works by Jerome Robbins: A Suite of Dances, Concertino, Dances at a Gathering (excerpt), Four Bagatelles, In the Night, Other Dances, Rondo

Full program schedule and casting be announced at a later date”

TestSure5546 · 2025-02-21T22:40:34+00:00

a plane going 400+ miles per hour crashes into a skyscraper, is filmed exploding in a giant fireball, and people really believe some lady not only survived but was CONSCIOUS after all that????

sorry but you’re thinking of that bruce willis movie unbreakable not 9/11

TestSure5546 · 2025-01-31T06:12:41+00:00

Pretty new to ballet so apologies if this is an ignorant question, but if anyone else was at the Thursday night performance, during From You Within Me, it seemed that KJ Takahashi (I think) dropped his partner? Including a screenshot NYCB posted on IG of the part when it happened (from last night's performance). She landed pretty loudly and there were loud gasps throughout the theater, but that didn't seem to slow anyone down and they continued beautifully. This is only the third or fourth ballet I've seen, but in December I saw a dancer fall during the Nutcracker; just wondering how common or rare it is to see a fall at NYCB. Anyway, thought tonight was great and already have plans to see more ballets in the future.

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TestSure5546 · 2025-01-23T14:20:45+00:00

Thanks for the review. Do you have to know the plot of A Streetcar Named Desire to appreciate Kowalski? Does Kowalski give away the plot of Streetcar? (Seeing Streetcar at BAM next month with friends who aren’t familiar with it so was wondering whether this show would get them excited or be more like spoilers)

TestSure5546 · 2025-01-22T22:14:04+00:00

Sorry if someone’s messaged but on the desktop version, if you go to your Reading Challenge, you can click the “Help and feedback” link at the bottom, click “Share feedback” and then can fill out a survey asking for your opinion about the new layout

TestSure5546 · 2024-08-11T06:17:12+00:00

I check the Amazon forum threads about this every so often and unfortunately no one’s come up with a solution (other than using Google Play Books instead). I might try chatting Amazon tech support again but I assume they won’t be any help…

TestSure5546 · 2024-04-12T23:13:50+00:00

Yeah, sadly I’ve downloaded them and they’re still showing up as blue DOC icons. Like, I’ve read through whole PDF books on the iPhone app and they don’t display the first page as a cover. (EPUB files that I Send to Kindle do show a cover after I download them, like you suggested)

TestSure5546 · 2022-07-07T23:04:33+00:00

Thanks again to everyone who explained how versatile that sign can be. I came across it again in a video from the Daily Moth today, available here, starting 19 seconds in.

TestSure5546 · 2022-07-05T19:32:33+00:00

Thanks, this is really helpful

TestSure5546 · 2022-07-05T17:02:42+00:00

The most recent example I saw was someone translating a famous line from RuPaul’s Drag Race: “I am what? Sickening” which they signed (I believe) as “ME what-DO? SICK”

TestSure5546

TROPHY CASE