ABT Announces Casting for First Two Weeks at The Met

Casting for the first two weeks of American Ballet Theatre's 2017 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin Mckenzie.

The season will begin on Monday, May 15 with eight performances of Don Quixote, led by Gillian Murphy (Kitri), Cory Stearns (Basilio), Hee Seo (Mercedes) and James Whiteside (Espada). On Tuesday, May 16, Misty Copeland, Jeffrey Cirio, Luciana Paris and Calvin Royal III will lead the ballet for the first time, and the matinee on Wednesday, May 17, will feature debuts by Christine Shevchenko as Kitri, Devon Teuscher as Mercedes and Blaine Hoven as Espada. Christine Shevchenko and Thomas Forster will debut as Mercedes and Espada, respectively at the evening performance on Saturday, May 20. Staged by Kevin Mckenzie and Susan Jones, with choreography after Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky, Don Quixote is set to music by Ludwig Minkus and features scenery and costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by Natasha Katz. The McKenzie/Jones staging of the current production was first performed by ABT on June 12, 1995.

The 2017 Spring Gala on Monday, May 22 at 6:30 P.M. will feature the New York Premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's Whipped Cream, set to a score by Richard Strauss and featuring scenery and costumes by pop-surrealist artist Mark Ryden and lighting by Brad Fields. Whipped Cream received its World Premiere on March 15 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California, led by Daniil Simkin as The Boy, Stella Abrera as Princess Tea Flower, David Hallberg as Prince Coffee and Sarah Lane as Princess Praline. This same cast will lead the New York Premiere on May 22. The week's additional performances of Whipped Cream will feature New York debuts by Herman Cornejo (The Boy), Hee Seo (Princess Tea Flower), Cory Stearns (Prince Coffee) and Cassandra Trenary (Princess Praline) on Tuesday evening, May 23, by Jeffrey Cirio (The Boy), Gillian Murphy (Princess Tea Flower), James Whiteside (Prince Coffee) and Skylar Brandt (Princess Praline) at the matinee on Wednesday, May 24, and by Isabella Boylston (Princess Praline) and Alban Lendorf (Prince Coffee) at the evening performance on Wednesday, May 24.

The second week of American Ballet Theatre's Spring season will continue with four performances of Giselle, beginning Thursday, May 25, with Hee Seo, Cory Stearns and Veronika Part in the leading roles. Misty Copeland and Alban Lendorf will dance the roles of Giselle and Albrecht, respectively, for the first time in New York on Friday, May 26. On Saturday, May 27, New York debuts will include Sarah Lane (Giselle), Daniil Simkin (Albrecht) and Christine Shevchenko (Myrta) at the matinee and Gillian Murphy (Giselle) at the evening performance. 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.

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 64th and 65th streets in New York City. For more information, visit ABT's website at www.abt.org.

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