Broadway meets ballet in Slaughter on Tenth Avenue which premiered as part of Rodgers and Hart’s Broadway musical On Your Toes in 1936. This mini Broadway musical-like ballet first premiered as a stand-alone piece by New York City Ballet in 1968, with Suzanne Farrell and Arthur Mitchell as the leads.
Ballo della Regina, which translates to "dance of the queen," is a virtuoso set of variations, comparable to the bel canto style of opera. It is set to ballet music extracted from the original opera production of Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlo. Originally created for Merrill Ashley (who will stage the work on the Company) and former Pennsylvania Ballet artistic director Robert Weiss (when he was a principal dancer at New York City Ballet), Ballo della Regina is classical ballet in its purest form, with quick and precise pointe work and grand bravura enhanced by iridescent pastel costumes.
The last of Balanchine’s three collaborative projects with composer Igor Stravinsky, Agon is an abstract masterpiece. Choreographed with extreme precision to the music, Agon is a rhythmic ballet based on a 17th century manual of French court dances. With twelve dancers executing sharp movements, Agon is, in Balanchine’s own words, "like a machine that thinks."
Performances of Slaughter on Tenth Avenue are as follows:
- Wednesday, November 3 at 8 p.m.
- Thursday, November 4 at 8 p.m.
- Saturday, November 6 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
- Sunday, November 7 at 2 p.m.
Ticket prices range from $20 to $99, and tickets are available by calling 215-893-1999 or online at www.paballet.org. Groups of ten or more can purchase discounted tickets by calling (215) 551-7000, extension 1212.
Full season subscriptions are still available and prices range from $72 to $374. Subscribers receive many benefits over single ticket purchasers including priority seating, flexible payment plan, discounts to fine restaurants and other area cultural institutions, advance ticket purchasing for The Nutcracker, and more. There are special discount subscriptions for senior citizens, students and groups of ten or more, as well as the Thursday Night Jumps series, specifically designed for people ages 21 to 35. For more information or to subscribe, call (215) 551-7000.
Founded in 1963 by Balanchine student Barbara Weisberger, Pennsylvania Ballet is one of the nation’s leading ballet companies. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the Company’s annual local season features six productions of classic favorites and new works, as well as the Philadelphia holiday tradition, The Nutcracker. For more information, call (215) 551-7000 or visit the website at www.paballet.org.