World Premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Seasons Scheduled for Spring Gala, Monday, May 20 at 6:30 P.M.

Sarah Lane and Carlos Gonzalez in Harlequinade. Photo: Doug Gifford.

Casting for the first two weeks of American Ballet Theatre’s 2019 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

The season will begin with eight performances of Alexei Ratmansky’s Harlequinade, beginning Monday, May 13, with Isabella Boylston, James Whiteside, Stella Abrera and Thomas Forster in the leading roles.  The performance on Tuesday, May 14, will feature New York debuts by Carlos Gonzalez (Harlequin), Devon Teuscher (Pierrette) and Calvin Royal III (Pierrot).  Tyler Maloney will dance the role of Harlequin for the first time in New York at the matinee on Wednesday, May 15. This production of Harlequinade received its World Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on June 4, 2018, led by Isabella Boylston (Columbine), James Whiteside (Harlequin), Gillian Murphy (Pierrette) and Thomas Forster (Pierrot).  A comic ballet in two acts, Harlequinade is set to music by Riccardo Drigo and first premiered in 1900 in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Ratmansky’s Harlequinade features sets and costumes by Robert Perdziola and lighting by Brad Fields.

The 2019 Spring Gala on Monday, May 20 at 6:30 P.M., paying tribute to the 10^th Anniversary year of Alexei Ratmansky as ABT Artist in Residence, will feature the choreographer’s 2016 work Serenade after Plato’s Symposium and this Spring’s World Premiere of The Seasons.  Serenade after Plato’s Symposium is set to music by Leonard Bernstein and features scenery and costumes by Jérôme Kaplan and lighting by Brad Fields.  The ballet will be danced by Herman Cornejo, Alexandre Hammoudi, Thomas Forster, Calvin Royal III, Gabe Stone Shayer, Daniil Simkin, Joseph Gorak and Devon Teuscher.

The World Premiere of The Seasons will be led by Aran Bell, Hee Seo, Katherine Williams, Catherine Hurlin, Luciana Paris, James Whiteside, Sarah Lane, Skylar Brandt, Isabella Boylston, Blaine Hoven, Arron Scott, Tyler Maloney, Cassandra Trenary and Calvin Royal III.  Set to the score by Alexander Glazunov, The Seasons features sets and costumes designed by Robert Perdziola and lighting by Mark Stanley.

The second week of the Spring season will continue with four performances of an all-Ratmansky program of repertory works, May 21–23.  In addition to The Seasons, the Ratmansky Trio will include Songs of Bukovina (2017) and On the Dnieper (2009).

Joo Won Ahn, Devon Teuscher, Zhong-Jing Fang, April Giangeruso, Betsy McBride, Thomas Forster, Stella Abrera, Herman Cornejo, Gabe Stone Shayer, Jonathan Klein, Catherine Hurlin and Blaine Hoven will debut in The Seasons on Tuesday, May 21.  Songs of Bukovina, with Isabella Boylston and Blaine Hoven leading the opening night cast, is set to music by Leonid Desyatnikov and features costumes by Moritz Junge and lighting by Brad Fields.  The ballet was given its World Premiere on October 18, 2017 at the David H. Koch Theater in New York, performed by Christine Shevchenko and Calvin Royal III, as well as April Giangeruso, Lauren Post, Katherine Williams, Stephanie Williams, Marshall Whiteley, Joo Won Ahn, Duncan Lyle and Patrick Frenette.

The May 21 cast of On the Dnieper will be led by Hee Seo as Natalia with debuts by Cory Stearns as Sergei, Christine Shevchenko as Olga and James Whiteside as Olga’s Fiancé.  The matinee on Wednesday, May 22 will feature debuts by Thomas Forster (Sergei), Devon Teuscher (Natalia) and Catherine Hurlin (Olga).  On the Dnieper, set to a score of the same name by Sergei Prokofiev, has scenery by Simon Pastukh, costumes by Galina Solovyeva, lighting by Brad Fields and projections by Wendall K. Harrington.  Ratmansky’s production of On the Dnieper received its World Premiere on June 1, 2009 at the Metropolitan Opera House, performed by Veronika Part (Natalia), Marcelo Gomes (Sergei), Paloma Herrera (Olga) and David Hallberg (Olga’s Fiancé).  Prokofiev’s score for On the Dnieper was originally commissioned by the Paris Opera, and the ballet received its World Premiere in 1932 by the Paris Opera Ballet.  On the Dnieper was last performed by ABT in 2010.

The second week will conclude with three performances of Whipped Cream, beginning Friday, May 24, led by Daniil Simkin as The Boy, Stella Abrera as Princess Tea Flower, Calvin Royal III as Prince Coffee and Sarah Lane as Princess Praline. Tyler Maloney will make his New York debut as The Boy at the matinee on Saturday, May 25. Choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky, the ballet features scenery and costumes by artist Mark Ryden and lighting by Brad Fields.  Whipped Cream, with a libretto and score by Richard Strauss, is based on the two-act ballet originally created as Schlagobers, which premiered at the Vienna State Opera in 1924.  Ratmansky’s production received its World Premiere by ABT on March 15, 2017 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California danced by Daniil Simkin (The Boy), Stella Abrera (Princess Tea Flower), David Hallberg (Prince Coffee) and Sarah Lane (Princess Praline).

Tickets for American Ballet Theatre’s 2019 Metropolitan Opera House season, beginning at $25, 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.

Leadership support for Harlequinade, part of The Ratmansky Project, has been generously provided by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and The Marjorie S. Isaac/Irving H. Isaac Fund.

On the Dnieper is generously sponsored by Leila and Mickey Straus and through an endowed gift from The Toni and Martin Sosnoff New Works Fund.

Leadership support for The Ratmansky Project has been provided by Avery and Andrew F. Barth, the Blavatnik Family Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton E. James, and The Ted and Mary Jo Shen Charitable Gift Fund.  Additional support has been provided by Dr. Joan Taub Ades, Linda Allard, Sarah Arison, Steven Backes, Lisa and Dick Cashin, Mark Casey and Carrie Gaiser Casey, The Susan and Leonard Feinstein Foundation, Linda and Martin Fell, Vicki Netter Fitzgerald, William J. Gillespie, Brian J. Heidtke, The Marjorie S. Isaac/Irving H. Isaac Fund, Howard S. Paley, Pearl T. Maxim Trust, Lloyd E. Rigler – Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation, Bernard L. Schwartz, John Leland Sills and Elizabeth Papadopoulos-Sills, Melissa A. Smith, The H. Russell Smith Foundation/Stewart R. Smith and Robin A. Ferracone, The Toni and Martin Sosnoff Foundation, Sutton Stracke, and Sedgwick Ward.

Leadership support for Whipped Cream, part of The Ratmansky Project, has been generously provided by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the Lloyd E. Rigler – Lawrence A. Deutsch Foundation.

American Airlines is the Official Airline of American Ballet Theatre.

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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