Joffrey Cancels N.Y. Performances

“Financial prudence” has led the Joffrey Ballet to cancel its spring, 1992, repertory season in New York City, company Executive Director Robert Yesselman said Wednesday. But he said the company still plans to honor its two upcoming engagements in Los Angeles and has canceled no other scheduled tour stops for 1992.

The Joffrey, which lost its resident status at the Los Angeles Music Center earlier this year when the company could not show financial stability, is still due to dance “The Nutcracker” in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center Dec. 18-29. The spring season at the Wiltern Theatre May 8-June 7 is also still on the schedule, Yesselman said.

Yesselman acknowledged that poor box-office performance for the Joffrey’s Nov. 14 to Dec. 1 “Nutcracker” performances at New York’s City Center Theater, the company’s home since 1966, was in part responsible for the company’s decision not to perform next spring in New York. He blamed the box-office disappointment on the early performance dates. After Thanksgiving, sales were “absolutely spectacular,” he said.

“Nutcracker” ticket sales in Los Angeles are “the best in our history,” Yesselman added. Several matinee performances and the Dec. 23 evening “Nutcracker” are already sold out.