Kirkland's appearances have been announced in Sleeping Beauty, in addition to fuller casting than we expected for the production.

From the company's press release:

CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR THIRD AND FOURTH WEEKS
OF AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE’S SPRING SEASON
AT METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE

Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes to Lead World Premiere
of The Sleeping Beauty, Friday Evening, June 1

Casting for the third and fourth weeks of American Ballet Theatre’s 2007 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

The Company’s performances of George Balanchine’s Symphonie Concertante and Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Dream will continue through May 31. On the evening of Tuesday, May 29, Maria Riccetto will debut in Symphonie Concertante and Diana Vishneva, Angel Corella and Craig Salstein will dance the leading roles in The Dream for the first time.

American Ballet Theatre’s all-new production of The Sleeping Beauty will have its World Premiere on Friday, June 1, led by Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes, with Gillian Murphy as the Lilac Fairy and Martine van Hamel as Carabosse. Debuts on Saturday, June 2 include Paloma Herrera as Aurora, Angel Corella as Prince Désiré, Michele Wiles as the Lilac Fairy and Carmen Corella as Carabosse at the matinee, and Julie Kent as Aurora, Ethan Stiefel as Prince Désiré and Stella Abrera as the Lilac Fairy at the evening performance. Debuts for the fourth week include Gelsey Kirkland as Carabosse on Monday, June 4, Irina Dvorovenko as Aurora and Maxim Beloserkovsky as Prince Désiré at the Wednesday, June 6 matinee, Diana Vishneva (Aurora) and Vladimir Malakhov (Prince Désiré) at the Wednesday, June 6 evening performance, and Gillian Murphy (Aurora), David Hallberg (Prince Désiré) and Maria Riccetto (Lilac Fairy) at the Saturday, June 9 matinee. Staged by Kevin McKenzie, Gelsey Kirkland and Michael Chernov, after choreography by Marius Petipa, The Sleeping Beauty is set to a score by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky and features sets by Tony Walton, costumes by Willa Kim, and lighting by Richard Pilbrow and Dawn Chiang.

Countrywide Financial is the National Sponsor of American Ballet Theatre. Superfund Asset Management, Inc. and Northern Trust are the sponsors of ABT’s Metropolitan Opera House Season. The 2007 Metropolitan Opera House season is also made possible with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Tickets for American Ballet Theatre’s 2007 Metropolitan Opera House season, priced $24-$110, are available at the Met box office, online, or by phone at 212-362-6000. The Metropolitan Opera House is located on Broadway between 64th and 65th streets in New York City. For more information, visit ABT’s website at www.abt.org <http://www.abt.org/> .

Complete casting follows:

THIRD WEEK

Mon. Eve., May 28, 8 P.M. SYMPHONIE CONCERTANTE – Kent, Herrera, Gomes
THE DREAM – Reyes, Stiefel, Cornejo

Tues. Eve., May 29, 8 P.M. SYMPHONIE CONCERTANTE – Dvorovenko, Riccetto*, Saveliev
THE DREAM – Vishneva*, Corella*, Salstein*

Wed. Mat., May 30, 2 P.M. SYMPHONIE CONCERTANTE – Abrera, Murphy, Malakhov
THE DREAM – Kent, Gomes, Cornejo

Wed. Eve., May 30, 8 P.M. SYMPHONIE CONCERTANTE – Wiles, Part, Beloserkovsky
THE DREAM – Muprhy, Hallberg, Lopez

Thurs. Eve. May 31, 8 P.M. SYMPHONIE CONCERTANTE – Dvorovenko, Riccetto, Saveliev
THE DREAM – Vishneva, Corella, Salstein

Fri. Eve., June 1, 8 P.M. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY (WORLD PREMIERE) – Part, Gomes,
Murphy, van Hamel, Reyes, Cornejo

Sat. Mat., June 2, 2 P.M. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY – Herrera*, Corella*, Wiles*,
C. Corella*, Lane*, Lopez*

Sat. Eve., June 2, 8 P.M. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY – Kent*, Stiefel*, Abrera*, van Hamel,
Riccetto*, Radetsky*

FOURTH WEEK

Mon. Eve., June 4, 8 P.M. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY – Part, Gomes, Murphy, Kirkland*,
Reyes, Cornejo

Tues. Eve., June 5, 8 P.M. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY – Kent, Stiefel, Wiles, van Hamel,
Lane, Lopez

Wed. Mat., June 6, 2 P.M. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY – Dvorovenko*, Beloserkovsky*, Wiles,
Kirkland, Abrera*, Saveliev*

Wed. Eve., June 6, 8 P.M. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY – Vishneva*, Malakhov*, Abrera,
van Hamel, Reyes, Cornejo

Thurs. Eve., June 7, 8 P.M. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY – Herrera, Corella, Abrera, C. Corella,
Riccetto, Radetsky

Fri. Eve., June 8, 8 P.M. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY – Dvorovenko, Beloserkovsky, Wiles,
Kirkland, Abrera, Saveliev

Sat. Mat., June 9, 2 P.M. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY – Murphy*, Hallberg*, Riccetto*,
C. Corella, Seo*, Radetsky

Sat. Eve., June 9, 8 P.M. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY – Vishneva, Malakhov, Abrera,
Kirkland, Reyes, Cornejo


Please note: first time in a role:
Tues. May 29 – Riccetto in Symphonie Concertante; Vishneva (Titania), Corella (Oberon), Salstein (Puck)
in The Dream
Sat. Mat., June 2 – Herrera (Aurora), Corella (Désiré), Wiles (Lilac Fairy), C. Corella (Carabosse),
Lane (Princess Florine), Lopez (Bluebird) in The Sleeping Beauty
Sat. Eve., June 2 – Kent (Aurora), Stiefel (Désiré), Abrera (Lilac Fairy), Riccetto (Princess Florine),
Radetsky (Bluebird) in The Sleeping Beauty
Mon. Eve., June 4 – Kirkland (Carabosse) in The Sleeping Beauty
Wed. Mat., June 6 – Dvorovenko (Aurora), Beloserkovsky (Désiré), Abrera (Princess Florine),
Saveliev (Bluebird) in The Sleeping Beauty
Wed. Eve., June 6 – Vishneva (Aurora), Malakhov (Désiré) in The Sleeping Beauty
Sat. Mat., June 9 – Murphy (Aurora), Hallberg (Désiré), Riccetto (Lilac Fairy), Seo (Princess Florine)
in The Sleeping Beauty

Cool. I'll be seeing Vishneva, Malakhov, and Kirkland all in one night (6/9).

You New Yorkers get Martine Van Hamel back on stage again as well as Kirkland. I'm so jealous!

I'm here, I'll be there and I'm jealous, too! Every chance to see Martine or Gelsey is thrilling news.

Van Hamel was on stage last summer in ABT's Cinderella as the Step-Mother so it hasn't been so long since we've seen her.

Kirkland , of course, is another matter all together!

Plus we will have the additional pre-curtain frisson of "Will she or won't she".

now now, i saw her aurora 21 years ago and she did not disappoint.

She never disappointed me .. except when she canceled.

Once. A DonQ pas with Bissell as guests of Eglevsky Ballet, CW Post College. What a schlep! If I hadn't gone, I wouldn't have believed it, but it didn't even rise to the level of bizarre. It was the only dull performance I've ever seen from her.

My main disappointment is that Part isn't dancing the Lilac Fairy. She was so spectacular in it when the Kirov did the old version, I was really looking forward to seeing her again. Talk about being born to dance a role!

A fascinating typo on ABT's site:

By a process of elimination, Gelsey must be dancing the role of Giselle.

Well , apparently not! Malakhov of course has been replaced a while back by Hallberg but I just noticed on the ABT
site that Vishneva/Hallberg is now Herrera/Corella for this evening (6/9).

I hope neither Vishneva or Hallberg is injured.

Just spoke with the ABT press office at the Met and was told that Vishneva was ill.

I think we'll stay home.

Sigh. I'm going to do the same. It can be a tough trip into Manhattan from NJ.
I hope DV is feeling better for Tuesday's Manon.