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The Royal Ballet: Mayerling, in anticipation, April 2017


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9 hours ago, Jillykins said:

Me too! Looking forward to Friday. Went to Vienna last October and learnt a lot more of the history. Will feel the benefit on Friday. 

That is commendably thorough, my goodness!

 

 

There is Monday too of course..a BH matinee, usually rather quiet in my experience..and then next week..

 

I am very intrigued to see how McRae tackles the role.

 

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I have a hunch about Steven McRae and Sarah Lamb,I was watching the Watson DVD a while back and although they don't dance together, they were so good as Bratfisch and Larisch that I booked to see them! Have you seen the photo of them holding the gun in rehearsal?

 

I was watching a documentary last night that I recorded, the episode took in Vienna, the Hapsburgs and Mayerling, and continued to WW1, Franz Josef had a tragic life, everyone he loved died in horrible ways, I remember going to Vienna and Mayerling, and I always thought that although it was the perfect cream cake and Strauss waltz fairytale city, there was still a very dark undertone.

 

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McRae is the only cast I am not seeing (which makes me sad to miss Sarah Lamb as Vetsera and Emma Maguire's wonderful Princess Stefanie) because I had to draw the financial line somewhere and I just can't imagine him as Rudolf.  If everyone then says he is brilliant I will duly kick myself.....

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1 hour ago, penelopesimpson said:

I'm doing all three Watson performances and one Macrae.  I can't imagine him in the role at all because for me he is cheeky chappie but I suspect he will surprise us and be excellent.

I didn't like Frankenstein, but he was a brilliant Creature: not remotely cheeky. He is also my personal favourite Oberon. He has a strange other-worldly side. So I think there is much more to him than cheeky chappie. Though there is that.

 

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Sarah Lamb's expression in that photo tells a whole story and is so intriguing I wish I was seeing her cast as well now. I agree that the Creature showed another side of McRae and wonder how he will be. 

 

I'd like to see multiple casts for some of the female dancers (especially Cuthbertson) but can't justify the cost. Unless I read some amazing reviews here, which is quite likely! 

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  • John Mallinson changed the title to The Royal Ballet: Mayerling, April-May 2017
On Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 14:28, Beryl H said:

I was watching a documentary last night that I recorded, the episode took in Vienna, the Hapsburgs and Mayerling, and continued to WW1, Franz Josef had a tragic life, everyone he loved died in horrible ways, I remember going to Vienna and Mayerling, and I always thought that although it was the perfect cream cake and Strauss waltz fairytale city, there was still a very dark undertone.

 

Hi, what was the documentary called?

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I am going to Vienna for the first time on May 22nd for Hubby's Big Birthday.  Is Mayerling easy to do in a day trip from there....and is it worth seeing for someone not too interested in ballet?

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1 minute ago, Sim said:

I am going to Vienna for the first time on May 22nd for Hubby's Big Birthday.  Is Mayerling easy to do in a day trip from there....and is it worth seeing for someone not too interested in ballet?

There are organized coach half-day trips that leave from in front of the opera house, go into the Vienna woods, stop at Heiligenkreuz Abbey (which is quite lovely) for a tour, then proceed on to Mayerling, where there is a visitor centre. Mayerling is a must-see for ballet lovers or people interested in the Hapsburgs but otherwise I would say not all that interesting. The coach tour also visits a large underground lake which is quite interesting.  You can't get to Mayerling easily by train. Depending on how long you are in Vienna, there are so many things to see in Vienna itself I wouldn't take time out for the Mayerling trip.

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15 hours ago, CHazell2 said:

Hi, what was the documentary called?

 

I can only think that BerylH was referring to the final part of Lucy Worsley's brilliant three part series "Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia". If so it's still available on BBC Player!

 

 

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8 minutes ago, RMM1 said:

More likely the final part of Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream with Simon Sebag Montefiore, which isn't currently available on i-player.

 

I haven't seen this - according to one reviewer it is "full of historical errors" but I'll certainly look out for it. Meanwhile, perhaps BerylH will enlighten us?

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20 minutes ago, David said:

 

I haven't seen this - according to one reviewer it is "full of historical errors" but I'll certainly look out for it. Meanwhile, perhaps BerylH will enlighten us?

 

I enjoyed it, but I don't know enough on the subject to know whether it was accurate or not. I am sure you will not have to wait too long for it to be repeated on BBC4.

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11 hours ago, Sim said:

Thanks Tours.  We are there for three full days plus the afternoon we arrive and the morning of the day we leave, so probably better to concentrate on Vienna itself for a first visit!

I would say so. I went to Vienna several times before I did the Mayerling thing.

 

6 hours ago, hfbrew said:

Watch out for the cake shops! And there are pandas at Vienna zoo..

 

Check out my "Katherine's Viennese cafe crawl" and some hotel recommendations here:

http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/p/travel-tips-for-ballet-lovers.html

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Talking about historical inaccuracies, I don’t think the amazing Freeman/MacMillan reconstruction has been properly recognized - sifting through all the varying, often conflicting accounts, memoires, biographies, police and medical records available to them at the time, rejecting speculation regarding political assassination, botched abortion and the like and settling on the narrative outlined in the Ballet. They didn’t have the benefit of the forensic examination of Mary’s remains in 1992/3 or Mary’s farewell letters discovered only 2 years ago but as far as I can see all the subsequent evidence has supported the MacMillan/Freeman narrative. It was a remarkable piece of research!

Incidentally, when I get the RB programme tomorrow I will be interested to see if it has been up-dated to take account of the public release of Mary’s letters since the last time it was performed by the Company.

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2 hours ago, RMM1 said:

More likely the final part of Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream with Simon Sebag Montefiore, which isn't currently available on i-player.

 

I've checked the BBC website and it is episode 3 of this series, it was broadcast in December 2016.

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