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miriskusnik

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Posts posted by miriskusnik

  1. For those wondering about R&J casting, I wrote to the ROH customer service email in late January about when casting for other roles in the ballet would be announced and received this back:

     

    "Further casting will be announced nearer to the time on our website."

     

    This never materialized, so I emailed again on Monday and received the following:

     

    "The current policy from The Royal Ballet for the casting on the website is that they don't detail many roles as they often have to change casting due to injury or illness."

  2. 15 hours ago, capybara said:

     

    I did too! I think that William Bracewell's winning stage persona got us all confused.

    But why, then, is Irina sad and seemingly being comforted after Tusenbach loses the shoot out?

     

    In the play, the sisters speak often of their desire to return to Moscow, where they grew up.  Irina dreams that she will meet the love of her life there.  When it becomes clear they're not going back to Moscow, Olga urges Irina to marry Tuzenbach.  Irina decides to do so because she respects him, she believes he is a good man, she knows he loves her and will treat her well, they share a similar goal (they both want to work and see value in it), and she doesn't see another way out.

     

    Solyony, in the play, is never really a serious option for Irina - he is awkward, rude, and off-putting (doing things like imitating a chicken).  He acts this way to hide the fact that he's painfully shy.  No one really likes him apart from Tuzenbach.

     

    I think Irina is sad when Tuzenbach is killed because, although she confesses before the duel that she doesn't love him, she still cares about him, and it derails her plans of leaving and finding work with a husband she can trust.  Ultimately she still does decide to leave, but I think her plans are a little less stable and more difficult without the baron there.

    • Like 3
  3. 21 minutes ago, JohnS said:

     

    I think you're in for a real treat as you've never seen Onegin before - the 2015 Royal Ballet performances were fabulous and a great shame there was no cinema relay/filming.

    They were wonderful, weren't they?  I'm so hoping it's programmed for next season.

     

    My DVD is in the post - I haven't seen this ballet since that run so I'm thrilled I'll finally be able to see it again!

    • Like 3
  4. On 06/11/2018 at 18:37, alison said:

     

    Thank you, miriskusnik - I'm amazed at the amount of detail you managed to remember!  I'd need a filmed version and to go back to it again and again to produce anything like that.  You're making me regret even more that I had to watch that cast from the amphi, without binoculars, because most of that passed me by.

     

    On 06/11/2018 at 20:08, bridiem said:

     

    Fascinating blog, miriskusnik! Really makes me wish I'd seen Soares too. Thank you so much for sharing it.

     

     

    Thank you so much for your kind words, and thank you for reading!  I was very, very lucky to see this cast twice from front row center in the stalls, which is I guess ideally placed to catch the details.  It really helped to have two lengthy intervals to take notes during, too!

     

    I thought Soares' take on Rudolf was really interesting and different from what I've seen from other dancers in this role, and I've seen very few reviews of this cast compared to others, so I was really keen to capture what I saw as best I could and get it out there into the conversation.

    • Like 5
  5. I have a new blog post up about the Soares/Cuthbertson cast of Mayerling - well, mainly about Soares but I couldn't resist discussing some of the other dancers as well.  It's here if anyone's interested (warning: it's quite long).

     

    Also, on the topic of the music - I also find it so frustrating that it's never been released on CD.  I put the DVD on in the background sometimes if I want to hear it, but I'd love something more portable.  I think the music selected for the ballet fits it perfectly so it's disappointing that after all this time there's still nothing.

    • Like 6
  6. 17 minutes ago, John Mallinson said:

    It depends on the relation of the rehearsal to the opening night. Bayadère, for example had its general rehearsal yesterday with the first cast and it opens tomorrow. Sometimes the rehearsal and opening are on the same day in which case it won't be first cast, probably second or another. Casting is never announced publicly in advance but you can phone the ballet office at ROH to find out.

     

    That answers all my questions! Thanks so much for sharing these details - really appreciate it. 

  7. I also had a frustrating experience today. I'm a Young Friend so did most of my booking earlier this month - I wasn't planning to see Les Patineurs initially but changed my mind a few days ago and thought I'd wait for public booking to see what's available. I'd wanted to see a couple different casts, and there was plenty of availability for one, but nothing at all in the stalls or stalls circle for the other. I'll look out for returns I suppose, but still very odd. 

    • Like 1
  8. I read the discussion in this thread about audience confusion over the plot/characters a few days ago - I've overheard all manner of bewildered comments at Mayerling before, but what I heard last night was a new one.  During the first interval, a woman near me was patiently explaining to the person she brought that Rudolf was gay (!).  "Didn't you see him kissing all those men?" she asked.  I assume she was referring to the Hungarian officers!

    • Like 9
  9. Just to chime in, I'm also very disappointed about Campbell and really can't understand this.  I was dearly hoping (and expecting) to see him as Romeo.  I know he's a fantastic Mercutio but that certainly shouldn't be a barrier to playing Romeo.  I can only hope that he'll get a chance whenever this ballet next comes around, although if they are going with younger dancers I suppose perhaps not.  What a shame.

     

    That said, I will book both his performances of Frankenstein if I can, and will probably see a fair few R&Js - there a number of casts that are very appealing, especially Hayward/Corrales, Naghdi/Ball, and Lamb/Muntagirov.

    • Like 5
  10. 47 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

    This poses is a bit of a dilemma for future ballets, when a new cast/pairing, or indeed a new production run, is coming up - whether to go for the excitement and novelity of the first night, or wait for things to bed in and go later on. 

    I find this to be a constant problem, personally.  The best performances I see tend to be later in the run, so I always think I should just book those.  But there have been so many times where I've planned to see just one performance of a particular cast and gone to their first show, and then been so blown away I book their remaining performances.. which you can't do if you go to the later shows.

    • Like 2
  11. I really enjoyed the production last night, and the wonderful atmosphere, too - it was such an exciting evening and I'm feeling very fortunate to have been there.

     

    I have to echo everyone's comments about Muntagirov - just stunning.  Also agree that Nunez was best in acts 3 and 4 - especially as Odile where she was utterly bewitching.  I loved the sets and costumes, too - that ballroom more than lives up to the hype!

     

    I think what I liked best was the narrative detail - the atmosphere and characters of the court were very clearly depicted and I think this helped add some context to Siegfried's melancholy at the beginning.

     

    Act 3 was incredible from start to finish - I can't wait to see it again.  Tierney Heap was mesmerizing in the Spanish dance.

     

    I loved the expanded role for Rothbart (and thought Gartside was brilliant) but was also left with questions.  In particular, how he came to that position in the court and what his relationship was with the queen - the two of them seemed very close.  I love the Hamlet comparison that Lindsay raised - early on I was wondering if we were supposed to infer more from their relationship than what was presented explicitly.  I'm still not entirely sure what they were going for and would be curious to see how he's portrayed in other casts.

     

    For the moment where he clutched at his sides and ran off, I assumed that he was some sort of were-bird type creature who was about to transform back into his real self, and fled before it occurred.  I think that was the only time in the ballet that happened though so I'm not sure if that's correct.

     

    I kind of loved that even though he was disguised as a human, he seemed to make no attempt to blend in or make himself appear less sinister.   

     

    The ending surprised me, and I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet - I think I'll have to see it again to decide.

     

    I'm looking forward to returning and seeing how the production beds in.  I see a lot more theatre than ballet so I'm used to seeing tweaks in previews, but without that structure I suppose this is pretty much the finished article.  As is, I thought it was fantastic.

    • Like 7
  12. 2 hours ago, alison said:

     

    A great read, full stop.  I wonder whether she paid any attention to anyone else for the entire evening :) 

     

    Ha!  I guess I was fortunate to see these performances towards the end of the run.. it's certainly helpful to know what to look out for in advance, since there's so much going on in this fascinating ballet.  It was a gift to have 50 minutes of intervals to frantically scribble down notes, too!

     

    Thanks so much, everyone, for reading, and for the kind comments (and a huge thank you to Jan for sharing my post).  I really appreciate the interest.  I've just joined the board and I'm looking forward to joining the discussions with you all.

    • Like 3
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