New York Premiere of McGregor’s Woolf Works to highlight American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Season
American Ballet Theatre‘s 2024 Summer season at the Metropolitan Opera House, 18 June – 20 July 2024, will feature the New York Premiere of Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works.
Alessandra Ferri, former Principal Dancer with ABT from 1985 to 2007, will make a guest appearance for two performances, on Tuesday 25 June and Friday 28 June. The performance on 28 June will be dedicated to honouring Ferri and her career.
Artistic Director Susan Jaffe said the season will also see the return of Christopher Wheeldon‘s Like Water for Chocolate, as well as classic productions of Onegin, Swan Lake, and Romeo and Juliet.
The New York Premiere of McGregor’s Woolf Works is on Tuesday 25 June at 7.30 pm. The award-winning ballet triptych is based on three of Virginia Woolf’s novels: Mrs. Dalloway, Orlando, and The Waves. It won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production, and McGregor was awarded the Critics Circle National Dance Award for Best Classical Choreography for the work.
McGregor created the work for The Royal Ballet in 2015, and it is structured into three acts: “I Now, I Then,” “Becomings,” and “Tuesday,” each starkly distinct in visual design and choreography. As well as choreography by McGregor there is an original score from Max Richter; set designs by Ciguë (“I Now, I Then”), We Not I (“Becomings”), and McGregor (“Tuesday”); costume design by Moritz Junge; lighting design by Lucy Carter; film design by Ravi Deepres; and dramaturgy by Uzma Hameed. Woolf Works will receive its North American Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on 11 April 2023 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
