love the music, hate the ballet....<P>that's just MY opinion - of Coppélia, not PNB! <P>here's a REAL opinion! actually it's a PREVIEW:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The ballet (Coppélia) has never been absent for long from PNB's lineup, and<BR> this year it opens the company's 2000-01 season.<BR> - - -<P>PNB is not doing a new production. Rather, it is using one from<BR> London, designed by Peter Docherty and staged by Ronald Hynd<BR> and Annette Page. The company premiere is early February.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <A HREF="http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/classical/pnb221.shtml" TARGET=_blank>http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/classical/pnb221.shtml</A> <P><BR>

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>PNB's season opener, "Coppelia," is one of the first ballets<BR> that Kent Stowell choreographed after he and co-artistic<BR> director Francia Russell took the helm at PNB in 1977. "It<BR> was one of our first seasons here and we did it because<BR> they had costumes for it from before," Stowell said,<BR> chuckling. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <A HREF="http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/display?slug=copp22&date=20000922" TARGET=_blank>Seattle Times article...</A> <p>[This message has been edited by grace (edited September 23, 2000).]

now i am completely confused - is this choreographed by stowell/russell or hynd/page? is it opening in october or february?<P>maybe someone who's a more patient reader can suss this out.....and probably tell me i've mixed up 2 different companies, or something equally embarrassing!

I think PNB will open the new season with Ronald Hynd's prodution of Coppelia at the end of Sept.

I know what you mean grace. It's one of those ballets, like 'The Corsaire', which I tend to treat as a series of divertimneti with a bit of jolliness thrown in.

I just checked the casting on PNB website. Olivier Wevers and Thomas Lund (a marvellous danseur from Royal Danish Ballet) are the first and second-cast Franz, dancing with Tobiason and Nakamura.<P>Ronald Hynd's version - which the English National Ballet has - is undeniably good fun.<BR>However I think PNB might have acquired Balanchine's version of Coppelia instead. I haven't seen Balanchine's version but British critic Alastair Macaulay once described it as the best version. Actually both Coppelia and Le Corsaire are great ballets if danced by the right cast and the right company. I love the Kirov's performances of Le Corsaire in London in the 1990s, especially with Asylmuratova and Zelensky.<p>[This message has been edited by Kevin Ng (edited September 24, 2000).]

I think there is a slight bit of confusion here....The version of Coppelia performed by PNB was choreographed by PNB Artistic Director Kent Stowell. Reference to Hynd's choreography is with respect to Sleeping Beauty, due to premiere here in February 2001. Mr. Hynd and Ms. Page were in Seattle throughout much of late August/early September to stage and rehearse Sleeping Beauty.

I'm closing this thread as we have another on-going one at:<P> <A HREF="http://www.criticaldance.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000414.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.criticaldance.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000414.html</A>