How do dress rehearsals work in ballet?

September 2, 2013 9:18 PM

Since professional ballet productions have several casts, how do they manage dress rehearsals? Does each cast do one dress rehearsal? Does the opening cast do the dress rehearsal and then everyone else rehearses after opening night? How does it work?
posted by jaguar to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (4 answers total)

I've worked professionally in ballet, but I've not worked with a double ballet cast, but I have worked with a double opera cast.

Generally you do two dress rehearsals. The timing depends on the theatre. We did both before opening night but you could conceivably do a cast B dress after opening night if there was time in the theatre. Orchestras aren't so keen on doing two run throughs a day (especially where one is a performance, and if the company is putting on two different shows it's a nightmare for the stage people, but I never see them or what they do unless they show me pictures or the set falls into my pit...) so dress and performance in one day is a bit much.

But a double cast suggests a long run in the home theatre so time in the theatre isn't such a burden to get in and out the theatre (opposed to touring). So, yeah, double dress rehearsals. Often double many rehearsals. Generally before opening, but doesn't have to be.
posted by jujulalia at 11:36 PM on September 2, 2013

If your Ask is prompted by watching Breaking Pointe last night -- the answer must be that each cast does one, because Christiane and Rex were the B cast of Cinderella. And though they kept referencing "opening night" it was clearly opening night for THEM - not the real "opening night" for Cinderella.
posted by BlahLaLa at 6:50 AM on September 3, 2013

Every cast has a full dress rehearsal, usually they are done on separate days but both before First Cast's (ie. the actual) Opening Night. I suppose you might do one after the opening night but usually Second Cast's "opening night" is right after First Cast's so there wouldn't be time unless you wanted to do dress the same day as opening night and no one wants to do that.

I've never done a three cast production like in Breaking Pointe's Cinderella but I imagine it is basically the same.
posted by magnetsphere at 7:29 AM on September 3, 2013

Response by poster: If your Ask is prompted by watching Breaking Pointe last night -- the answer must be that each cast does one, because Christiane and Rex were the B cast of Cinderella. And though they kept referencing "opening night" it was clearly opening night for THEM - not the real "opening night" for Cinderella.

It was! And thanks -- I couldn't remember if they were A cast or B cast.

Thank you, all! I could tell that the reality tv editing was (unsurprisingly) confusing, but I couldn't quite figure out how it was supposed to work in real life.
posted by jaguar at 7:54 AM on September 3, 2013