BALLET THEATRE AT THE SHRINE: WHERE ARE THE AUDIENCES?

THANK YOU LOS ANGELES.

All of us at American Ballet Theatre would like to thank the over 65,000 ticket buyers who helped make this one of the most successful Los Angeles engagements in our history. --ABT ad, scheduled for Sunday Calendar

Such a joyous proclamation might come as news to many in the often embarrassingly small crowds that gathered in cavernous Shrine Auditorium for repertory nights during the three-week engagement ending this weekend.

To the 672 who paid to see the March 12 program or the 1,000 or so who witnessed the mixed bill on Tuesday, large crowds were as invisible as Alessandra Ferri, prominently pictured on ABT’s “Thank You” ad, but unseen during the engagement due to injury.

There’s no denying that midweek performances at the 6,226-seat Shrine consistently found the majority of seats unoccupied. Even the gala “Sleeping Beauty” opening failed to draw 50% capacity.

The weekends, dominated by full-length ballets, proved to be quite another story. Both matinees of “Sleeping Beauty” sold out. The same will probably hold true when the last tickets are counted for the new “Giselles” over the current weekend.

The fact that weeknights have been weak nights for attendance seems to have caused hardly a ripple among company administrators. “We are not worried about this short-term shift,” said ABT executive director Charles Dillingham. “If (low attendance) occurred steadily over a three-week period, we might be concerned.”

ABT officials choose to look at what spokesman Robert Pontarelli calls “the big picture.” “We have been averaging $30,000 in ticket sales a day. We won’t top the $2 million from last year, but we’ll be close. If you’re going to say how we’re doing you should say we are doing well.”

(In 1986, Ballet Theatre gave 23 L.A. performances, with ticket prices averaging $2-$4 less than this season, which offered 24 performances.)

Some local dance aficionados expressed concern that near-empty houses might threaten the 30-year relationship between Ballet Theatre and Los Angeles.

“There has been no talk at all of not returning to Los Angeles,” Dillingham said emphatically.

Yet, for those who paid to sit in a near-empty Shrine--and those who have always cherished the company’s repertory evenings--some questions remain regarding whether Ballet Theatre fully promoted its full L.A. season.

With ads concentrating heavily on “Giselle,” “La Bayadere” and “Sleeping Beauty,” have midweek mixed bills been neglected?

No one likes an empty house, Pontarelli acknowledged: “On some nights we just want to slit our wrists.”

Dillingham called poor attendance at mixed bills “a one-year aberration,” caused by the unusual circumstance of two new full-length ballets (“Sleeping Beauty,” “Giselle”) dominating attention simultaneously.

“The real fans of the company--the ones who see us every year--are creating this imbalance,” Dillingham suggested. “They are coming to the second new show as well as the first. Normally, they’d maybe go to one full-length and one rep night.”

Dillingham insisted that the ticket buyers who glance at the ads during the engagement are likely to be casual first-time balletgoers more drawn to the glamorous full-length productions.

“You know,” Dillingham added, “when we made the move to the Shrine (in 1982), everyone told us no one would go. But regardless of who’s dancing what, we’ve drawn well. In general, audiences come to see American Ballet Theatre.”

But “who’s dancing what” has played a significant role in building attendance and public interest, since Ballet Theatre has traditionally offered a roster of big names during its visits here.

In recent seasons, cast lists included such respected figures as Natalia Makarova, Fernando Bujones, Gelsey Kirkland, Anthony Dowell, Alexander Godunov and Cynthia Gregory. Only Gregory remains on the company roster, and she was absent here this year.

In 1987, ABT boasted only one legitimate big name--artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov, who makes his only appearances this afternoon and Sunday as a last-minute addition to the roster.

Why was Baryshnikov not featured more prominently this year, and in more beneficial spots than the already popular weekend “Giselle” dates? Attendance records were set last year with more than a little help from Baryshnikov’s six appearances. Dillingham responded that “the season was not planned around Misha dancing. I didn’t tell him when to appear. He told me (when he would dance).”

Pontarelli used Baryshnikov’s late addition to the tour as a means of underscoring Ballet Theatre’s move away from the star system: “We don’t need Misha to meet budget,” he stated, pointing to the recent Chicago engagement, which was doing well before Baryshnikov’s decision to dance, and which finished $109,000 over projections.

There’s no denying star power as a box office lure: Shortly after Baryshnikov’s local appearances were announced, single-day sales suddenly jumped more than $20,000.

Dancers in the company are well aware of their artistic director’s drawing power. Yet, according to Dillingham, none of them have voiced objections to the under-attended midweek performances. “They’re pros,” he said. “I’ve met with them to discuss any problems they might have, and I’ve heard no complaints about the small houses.

“I think it’s unfair to make a big thing about a short-term phenomenon,” Dillingham continued. “We have no thoughts of doing fewer mixed bills next season--in fact, we may do more.”