Marcelo Gomes to Celebrate 20th Anniversary with ABT on Tuesday Evening, May 30

Marcelo Gomes in Giselle.

Casting for the third and fourth weeks of American Ballet Theatre’s 2017 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

Performances of Giselle will continue in the third week, beginning on Monday, May 29, with Isabella Boylston, James Whiteside and Veronika Part in the leading roles.  The performance on Tuesday, May 30 will honor Principal Dancer Marcelo Gomes as he celebrates his 20^th Anniversary with the Company.   Set to music by Adolphe Adam, with scenery by Gianni Quaranta, costumes by Anna Anni and lighting by Jennifer Tipton, Giselle features choreography after Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa and has been staged for ABT by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.  The world premiere of Giselle, one of the oldest continually‑performed ballets, occurred at the Theatre de l’Academie Royale de Musique in Paris on June 28, 1841.  The ballet was first presented by ABT (then Ballet Theatre) at the Center Theatre in New York City on January 12, 1940 with choreography by Anton Dolin and scenery and costumes by Lucinda Ballard.  The leading roles were danced by Annabelle Lyon and Anton Dolin.  American Ballet Theatre’s sixth production, featuring scenery by Gianni Quaranta and costumes by Anna Anni, was created for the film Dancers, produced in 1987 by Cannon Films.  This production’s first public performance was given on March 20, 1987 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, with Marianna Tcherkassky as Giselle and Kevin McKenzie as Albrecht.  The current staging is by McKenzie, using the Quaranta and Anni designs.

Four performances of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Golden Cockerel will begin on Thursday, June 1, led by Stella Abrera (Queen of Shemakhan), Alexei Agoudine (Tsar Dodon), Cassandra Trenary (Golden Cockerel) and James Whiteside (Astrologer).  Set to music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov with sets and costumes by Richard Hudson, Ratmansky’s The Golden Cockerel is inspired by Michel Fokine’s original production. Anne Holm-Jensen Peyk staged the ballet for ABT.  Based on Alexander Pushkin’s folktale, The Golden Cockerel was first presented on May 21, 1914 at the Théâtre Nationale de l’Opera, Paris, with choreography by Michel Fokine and scenery and costumes by Natalia Goncharova.  Ratmansky’s choreography for The Golden Cockerel received its World Premiere by the Royal Danish Ballet on September 29, 2012 at the Copenhagen Opera House, Denmark.  This production received its American Premiere by ABT on June 6, 2016, led by Veronika Part (Queen of Shemakhan), Gary Chryst (Tsar Dodon), Skylar Brandt (Golden Cockerel) and Cory Stearns (Astrologer).

The season’s first performance of Le Corsaire on Monday, June 5 will be led by Maria Kochetkova (Medora), Herman Cornejo (Conrad), Sarah Lane (Gulnare), Daniil Simkin (Lankendem), Jeffrey Cirio (Ali, the Slave) and Craig Salstein (Birbanto).  Debuts for the week include Alban Lendorf as Conrad at the Wednesday, June 7 matinee and Joo Won Ahn as Ali, the Slave at the Wednesday, June 7 evening performance. Based on the Lord Byron poem “The Corsair” (1814), the ballet features choreography by Konstantin Sergeyev after Marius Petipa, and staging by Anna-Marie Holmes after Petipa and Sergeyev, with music by Adolphe Adam, Cesare Pugni, Léo Delibes, Riccardo Drigo and Prince Oldenbourg.  Scenery and costumes are by Irina Tibilova, with additional costume designs by Robert Perdziola and lighting by Mary Jo Dondlinger.  Le Corsaire received its Company Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on June 19, 1998 with Nina Ananiashvili (Medora), Giuseppe Picone (Conrad), Ashley Tutttle (Gulnare), Vladimir Malakhov (Lankendem), Jose Manuel Carreño (Ali, the Slave) and Angel Corella (Birbanto).

Tickets for American Ballet Theatre’s 2017 Metropolitan Opera House season, beginning at $22, are available online, at the Met box office or by phone at 212-362-6000.  The Metropolitan Opera House is located on Broadway between 64^th and 65^th streets in New York City.  For more information, visit ABT’s website at www.abt.org.

Complete casting follows.

American Ballet Theatre’s performances of Giselle are generously supported through an endowed gift from Sharon Patrick.

Leadership support in celebration of Marcelo Gomes’ 20th Anniversary with American Ballet Theatre has been provided by the Lloyd E. Rigler – Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation.

Leadership support for The Golden Cockerel has been generously provided by Linda Allard, Avery and Andrew F. Barth, the Blavatnik Family Foundation, The Ted and Mary Jo Shen Charitable Gift Fund, and Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton E. James. Additional support has been provided by Sarah Arison, Lisa and Dick Cashin, The Susan and Leonard Feinstein Foundation, Brian J. Heidtke, Lloyd E. Rigler – Lawrence A. Deutsch Foundation, Melissa A. Smith, The H. Russell Smith Foundation/Stewart R. Smith and Robin A. Ferracone, the Martin and Toni Sosnoff Foundation, Sutton Stracke, and an anonymous donor.

American Ballet Theatre’s performances of Le Corsaire are generously underwritten through an endowed gift from Irene and Fred Shen. 

American Airlines is the Official Airline of American Ballet Theatre. 
Northern Trust is the Leading Corporate Sponsor of the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. ABT is supported, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

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