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~~~Mermaid Musings~~~

 First things first, since this may be the only place you can find it online: the complete ballet libretto (the ‘story’ part of a ‘story’ ballet or opera for you newbies) for John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid ballet, which I provided last season, can be found here.

My live performance review of The Little Mermaid (I was there each evening of filming for the DVD/PBS broadcast, though this one is based on the opening night cast with the same leads, except for SFB’s Pascal Molat who was the honored Poet that evening) is here, photos of some of SFB’s other fine leading ‘Mermaid’ cast are here, and my quite extensive 2011 preview, based on several viewings of SFB’s 2010 inaugural performances, is here. The links are well worthwhile for the tons of additional photos, reviews, articles, and interviews, even though some of the oldest links are now nonfunctioning (SFB has a brand spanking new web site that’s gorgeous, but it unfortunately ‘broke’ my old SFB links when they upgraded).

(A link to my review of The Little Mermaid film version will appear here soon, as well as links to other pertinent writers’ reviews.) 

~Complete Cast List~

I have received requests for a complete cast list from many of you who have just recently seen the PBS/DVD/Blu-ray version of San Francisco Ballet’s production of John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid…enough to warrant another labor of love. Yep, I took the time and energy to type it in its entirety for you here.

(Chocolate, ballet tickets, or ballet DVD’s are always welcome.)

(Yo-yos are cool too.)

(and iPads. Really like those.) 

(but really…chocolate’s cool.)

Quite simply, aside from knowing the SFB dancers well enough to recognize each of them in the film version of The Little Mermaid (there’s close-ups aplenty and, yes, that is Luke Willis being picked up and lovingly cradled by The Poet in Scene 11 on board the ship), I was there for both evenings of filming and this comes straight from those SFB cast sheets. If there’s an error it would be due to a cast change in the Corps de Ballet (not the Principals) which SFB does not ‘announce’ prior to curtain. I trust the dancers will inform me of any changes I need to make within the next 24 hours. (Yes they do read Odette’s Ordeal!)

So here it is.

The Complete Cast of San Francisco Ballet’s Production of Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid as televised on PBS’ ‘Great Performances Presents’ and on the DVD/Blu-ray version (all hyperlinks will take you to dancer bios or web sites):

San Francisco Ballet

The Little Mermaid

A Ballet by John Neumeier after Hans Christian Andersen

Recorded live in HD from the War Memorial Opera House on Tuesday May 3 & Thursday May 5, 2011, for PBS’ ‘Great Performances Presents’ and C Major Entertainment’s DVD and Blu-ray release (<click to purchase^) 

The Ballet The Little Mermaid is dedicated to Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, with sincere admiration.

-John Neumeier, March 2005

 Composer: Lera Auerbach 

Choreographer, Scenic, Costume, and Lighting Design:

John Neumeier

Staged by: Kevin Haigen, Leslie McBeth, Niurka Moredo, Lloyd Riggins

Lighting realized by Ralf Merkel

Conductor: Martin West

Violin Soloist: Roy Malan

Theremin: Carolyn Eyck

San Francisco Ballet Orchestra

Film Directed by Thomas Grimm

Cast

The Poet: Lloyd Riggins (Guest Artist, courtesy of Hamburg Ballett)

The Little Mermaid/His Creation: Yuan Yuan Tan

Edvard/The Prince: Tiit Helimets

Henriette/The Princess: Sarah Van Patten

 The Sea Witch: Davit Karapetyan

Part 1

Scene 1   Prologue: On a Ship

The Poet, Henriette, Edvard

(Bios for cast names not appearing as hyperlinks, below, can be found here and then by choosing ‘Soloists’ or ‘Corps de Ballet’)

Wedding Guests:

Dores Andre, Clara Blanco, Jordan Hammond, Madison Keesler, Alexandra McCullagh

Diego Cruz, Isaac Hernandez (5/3/11), James Sofranko, Benjamin Stewart (5/5/11), Matthew Stewart, Hansuke Yamamoto

Scene 2   The Bottom of the Sea

The Poet, The Little Mermaid, Henriette, Edvard

Magic Shadows:

Gaetano Amico, Daniel Deivison, Garen Scribner

The Mermaid’s Sisters:

Elana Altman, Kristina Lind, Elizabeth Miner, Danielle Santos, Jennifer Stahl

The Sea:

Kimberly Braylock, Charlene Cohen, Courtney Elizabeth, Pauli Magierek, Alexander Meyer-Lorey, Rebecca Rhodes

Steven Morse, Sean Orza, Jeremy Rucker, Athony Spaulding, Myles Thatcher, Quinn Wharton

Scene 3   On Board a Ship

The Poet, The Prince

Naval Officers:

Diego Cruz, Isaac Hernandez (5/3/11), James Sofranko, Benjamin Stewart (5/5/11), Matthew Stewart, Hansuke Yamamoto

Sailors:

Daniel Baker, Francisco Mungamba (5/5/11), Benjamin Stewart (5/3/11), Raymond Tilton, Sebastian Vinet, Luke Willis

Scene 4   In the Sea

The Poet, The Little Mermaid, The Prince, The Sea

Scene 5   The Storm

The Poet, The Little Mermaid, The Prince, The Sea Witch, Naval Officers, Sailors, Magic Shadows, The Sea

Scene 6   Quiet after the Storm

The Poet, The Little Mermaid, The Prince, The Sea

Scene 7   On a Beach-by a Church

The Prince, The Princess, The Poet, The Little Mermaid

School Friends of the Princess:

Dores Andre, Clara Blanco, Jordan Hammond, Madison Keesler, Alexandra McCullagh

Nuns:

Elana Altman, Jennifer Stahl

Scene 8   Transformation

The Poet, The Little Mermaid, The Sea Witch, Magic Shadows

Part II

Scene 10   On the Beach

The Poet, The Mermaid, The Prince

Scene 11   On board a Ship

The Poet, The Little Mermaid, The Prince, The Princess, Naval Officers, Magic Shadows

Passengers:

Charlene Cohen, Courtney Elizabeth, Dana Genshaft, Pauli Magierek, Alexandra Meyer-Lorey, Mariellen Olson, Shannon Roberts

Steven Morse, Sean Orza, Jeremy Rucker, Anthony Spaulding, Myles Thatcher, Quinn Wharton, Luke Willis

Stewards:

Sean Bennett, Trgve Cumpston, Evan Hewer, Alexander Reneff-Olson, Christopher Warhuus

Part III

Scene 12   The Little Mermaid’s Room

The Little Mermaid

Scene 13   In the Prince’s Palace-The Wedding

The Poet, The Little Mermaid, The Prince, The Princess, The Sea Witch, Magic Shadows, Naval Officers, The Mermaid’s Sisters, The Sea

Wedding Guests:

Charlene Cohen, Courtney Elizabeth, Dana Genshaft, Pauli Magierek, Alexandra Meyer-Lorey, Mariellen Olson, Shannon Roberts

Steven Morse, Sean Orza, Jeremy Rucker, Anthony Spaulding, Myles Thatcher, Quinn Wharton, Luke Willis

Bridesmaids:

 Dores Andre, Clara Blanco, Jordan Hammond, Madison Keesler, Alexandra McCullagh

Scene 14   Epilogue: to Another World 

The Poet, His Creation

The Little Mermaid-Music by Lera Auerbach, used by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc., publisher and copyright owner. Scenery and Costumes courtesy of Hamburg Ballett.

Now there’s only one thing left to do today: head over to the War Memorial Opera House for another ‘Nutcracker’…to check out new SFB Soloist Victoria Ananyan as Queen of the Snow with SFB Soloist Garen Scribner as her Snow King.

Wondering about this new Armenian soloist? Thought you might be-stay tuned for my upcoming interview with Victoria and an exclusive Odette’s Ordeal photo shoot to go with it!

See You at the Ballet!