Culture Notes
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
TEN BUCK TIX Good news for penurious theater fans: Tickets to Julia Cho’s “Durango,” which begins previews at the Public Theater on November 7, will be $10 on Thursdays, the theater announced yesterday.Those tickets can be purchased the day of the performance, by phone or at the box office. For other performances, there will be a limited number of $20 rush tickets available at the box office an hour before curtain.
The artistic director of the Public Theater, Oskar Eustis, has been hinting since he took over the position last year that he wants the Public to offer free tickets during its regular season, as it does during the summer with Shakespeare in the Park. In September, the Public offered a special free performance of David Hare’s “Stuff Happens,” which had recently closed downtown, at the Delacorte Theater, as what Mr. Eustis called a “celebration”of the production’s success. According to Mr. Eustis, the Public will take some “baby steps” toward the ultimate goal of accessibility.
Mr. Eustis’s push to make theater more affordable comes at the same time that other performing arts entities — the Signature Theatre Company, the New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, and New York City Center — are experimenting with offering low-cost tickets.The Signature is the only company so far to make all its seats $15, which it has done with the support of Time Warner.
— Kate Taylor
RETIREMENT Italian ballerina Alessandra Ferri, one of American Ballet Theatre’s most celebrated dancers, will end her 22-year career with the company in 2007, the company announced yesterday. Ms. Ferri, a principal dancer with ABT since 1985, will bid farewell with the role of Juliet in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s “Romeo and Juliet” at the Metropolitan Opera House on June 23, 2007. Ms. Ferri, currently in Argentina, could not be reached for comment.
The Milan-born Ms. Ferri, 43, joined ABT as a principal dancer after a position with London’s Royal Ballet, and was quickly pegged as fiery technician. She is an arbiter of complex portrayals of classic heroines in ballets such “Giselle,” “Manon,” and “Onegin.” But Ms. Ferri had a longstanding stage partnership with Julio Bocca, a former ABT principal dancer who retired last June.
Accompanying Ms. Ferri for her last performance in June will be ABT guest artist Roberto Bolle, who, like Ms. Ferri, has danced as a permanent guest artist with Milan’s La Scala ballet company.
