The Royal Ballet: Anastasia, October 2016

[Sim]

I can't read the FT because of the paywall! Am surprised at Crisp, but he is often at odds with others....which is why I like him! So Mr Watts is in good company. ☺

[Fonty]

Clement Crisp gives it five, Sim!

 

Goodness, I think I felt the world stop turning for a moment!

 

I am not surprised that Osipova is been given rave reviews for the final act.  In fact I would have been astounded if anyone had been tepid about her performance, as she has always been a performer with strong dramatic skills.

 

I am trying to remember who I saw in the role when the RB previously revived it.  Leanne Benjamin seems an obvious choice, surely she must have performed it?.

Edited October 28, 2016 by Fonty

[capybara]

Goodness, I think I felt the world stop turning for a moment!

 

I am not surprised that Osipova is been given rave reviews for the final act.  In fact I would have been astounded if anyone had been tepid about her performance, as she has always been a performer with strong dramatic skills.

 

I am trying to remember who I saw in the role when the RB previously revived it.  Leanne Benjamin seems an obvious choice, surely she must have performed it?.

 

Recent Anastasias (well in 1996 and 2004) included (from memory) Sarah Wildor (wonderful), Viviana Durante, Leanne Benjamin, Mara Galeazzi and Gillian Revie.

[Sim]

Goodness, I think I felt the world stop turning for a moment!

 

I am not surprised that Osipova is been given rave reviews for the final act. In fact I would have been astounded if anyone had been tepid about her performance, as she has always been a performer with strong dramatic skills.

 

I am trying to remember who I saw in the role when the RB previously revived it. Leanne Benjamin seems an obvious choice, surely she must have performed it?.

In 2004 I saw Mara Galeazzi do it...I think also Laura Morera, but I can't be sure as it was 12 years ago! I definitely remember Mara, though. ☺

[MargaretN7]

So has someone got the definitive answer, Yudes or Vincenzo?

I think it was Yudes at dress rehearsal and Vincenzo on 1st night

[alison]

Morera's new to the part, surely?

[FLOSS]

In  the 2004 revival of Anastasia the title role was danced by Galeazzi, Revie and Benjamin. I found Benjamin by far the most compelling in the title role, in fact i thought that she was the only one of the three who made a strong case for the viability of the three act version. Morera was far too junior to have been cast as Anastasia in 2004. At that time her main claim to fame was her general usefulness and ability in all those technically demanding bits of Ashton which are scattered across the company's repertory such as the Neapolitan dance.

[alison]

Having read Clement Crisp's review, I would be interested to read the one he refers to from the time, by Andrew Porter, which he implies really understood the ballet, but of course it's not online.  While looking for quotes, courtesy of the MacMillan website, I came across this one by Alexander Bland:

"He has provided an evening packed with classical dancing which is always distinguished in that quiet way which rewards repeated viewings:"

 

So, I wonder, will repeated viewings be rewarded in this case?  (I hope so, since I have several scheduled)

[Lindsay]

Bruce, I agree that MacMillan's choreography (unlike you I can't speak from experience of the man himself) can often tend towards the "creepy".  But while in the Judas Tree, I might not always find it artistically successful or compelling, I totally accept his artistic freedom to portray adult characters portrayed by adult actors in such a way.  The Invitation moved a bit further towards "uncomfortable" because the character portrayed as being raped is a child.  But at least she is played by an adult dancer.

 

My problem with the treatment of Alexei here is that the part is played by a child.  And adults responsible for that child, presumably his teachers, have effectively consented on his behalf to the moment.  Unlike in The Invitation, the choreography was not essential in moving the 'plot' along.  And the child was entirely passive throughout, treated only as an object of display in a manner which was blatantly pederastic.

 

Many people query McGregor's choreography in pas de deux where female dancers are "splayed" with their legs apart in the direction of the audience.  Those are adult dancers and they are also active participants in the pas de deux.   This is a million times worse than that and it amazes me that multiple adults, living in today's society with all that we know now, saw that choreography in rehearsals and let it pass unchanged.  

[Jamesrhblack]

I've not yet seen this revival but remember that moment being uncomfortable to watch last time round. However, isn't it the point that it is a representation (graphic and exaggerated through nightmare) of Rasputin's manipulation of the Romanovs through his seeming ability to control Alexei's haemophilia. It's not comfortable to watch but nor should it be. The situation will have been explained to the child taking the role and cleared with his teachers, the ballet staff and the chaperone department and, from my experience as a child working, admittedly as a singer, in an adult environment meany years ago, I don't think you should under estimate the emotional maturity and understanding of children working at a young age in a sophisticated "adult" world. I'm not condoning child exploitation: rather, guarding investing the emotional reaction to a theatrical situation with a sense of it taking place in a "real" situation. I'm not sure I've expressed myself as clearly as I wish on this but hope many will understand what I'm trying to write.

[Johnpw]

I can't read the FT because of the paywall! Am surprised at Crisp, but he is often at odds with others....which is why I like him! So Mr Watts is in good company. ☺

 

Usually I too find I can't access the FT review as a link to it brings up the registration/subscription page and I already feel over-registered. Just occasionally I've struck lucky and got the actual text but have never been able to work out why. Possibly some reviews become accessible after a time lapse.

However I just performed an experiment. After clearing "History" (and presumably cookies) I googled "Anastasia Osipova" and then clicked the tab "News". A variety of links to reviews came up including the FT. I clicked on the link and, behold, Clement Crisp's review appeared in all its glowing praise.

Hope this revelation doesn't contravene any "posting rule" - if an internet ignoramus like me can work this out, it can't be too "crafty". Perhaps there's some permission extended to Google.  

[Ian Macmillan]

John:  You're not the first to find that clearing cookies can extend access, if not always universally so, and I agree that Google seems able to create access denied via other entry points.  And if you do Twitter, you may find access to links sometimes easier from Tweets from the newspaper concerned.

[alison]

It may be that you're not perceived as having used up your monthly limit, John.  I must admit that I can't see any rhyme or reason to it either!

[bridiem]

I've not yet seen this revival but remember that moment being uncomfortable to watch last time round. However, isn't it the point that it is a representation (graphic and exaggerated through nightmare) of Rasputin's manipulation of the Romanovs through his seeming ability to control Alexei's haemophilia. It's not comfortable to watch but nor should it be. The situation will have been explained to the child taking the role and cleared with his teachers, the ballet staff and the chaperone department and, from my experience as a child working, admittedly as a singer, in an adult environment meany years ago, I don't think you should under estimate the emotional maturity and understanding of children working at a young age in a sophisticated "adult" world. I'm not condoning child exploitation: rather, guarding investing the emotional reaction to a theatrical situation with a sense of it taking place in a "real" situation. I'm not sure I've expressed myself as clearly as I wish on this but hope many will understand what I'm trying to write.

 

I understand what you're getting at, Jamesrhblack; but I don't actually think that any child is or can really be emotionally mature. They may find themselves in unusual/sophisticated situations, and so may be treated as if and even feel and behave as if they are sophisticated; but they're children, with the limitations inherent to being a child. So they need to protected.

[Sim]

Morera's new to the part, surely?

 

That's why I said I wasn't sure, and that I definitely remembered Mara but not Laura. I think Mara was wonderful in the role and also really got it.

[Lindsay]

But James, that "justification" for the choreography doesn't follow logically.  There is a strong argument of course that Rasputin cynically manipulated and exploited the Romanovs through the illness of their son, but I have never read any historian argue that he was suspected of abusing Alexei.  Even the stories of sexual liaisons with the Tsarina have been largely shown to be pure gossip.  So why choose to convey this notion of manipulation through an overtly sexual movement?   It is wholly gratuitous.

 

I also disagree that is it appropriate to explain this "sophisticated adult world" to a child performer. It might have been thought so in the 50s and 60s but now we have a much better idea of how young children, who might appear mature beyond their years, can suffer lasting damage when they grow up and come to understand the significance of something.  In fact, I would argue (through my experience of young musicians in elite training) that talented children, who are advanced well beyond their years artistically, can often be rather immature in terms of emotional development.  Of course this is not universally true, but a careful eye should be had to the protection of such children.  They are children first.  Artists later.

[Pulcinella]

I've not yet seen this revival but remember that moment being uncomfortable to watch last time round. However, isn't it the point that it is a representation (graphic and exaggerated through nightmare) of Rasputin's manipulation of the Romanovs through his seeming ability to control Alexei's haemophilia. It's not comfortable to watch but nor should it be. The situation will have been explained to the child taking the role and cleared with his teachers, the ballet staff and the chaperone department and, from my experience as a child working, admittedly as a singer, in an adult environment meany years ago, I don't think you should under estimate the emotional maturity and understanding of children working at a young age in a sophisticated "adult" world. I'm not condoning child exploitation: rather, guarding investing the emotional reaction to a theatrical situation with a sense of it taking place in a "real" situation. I'm not sure I've expressed myself as clearly as I wish on this but hope many will understand what I'm trying to write.

When Anastasia was first performed in 1971 the part of Alexei was performed by a female dancer who was short enough to portray a young boy, if I recall rightly the first cast was Susan Lockwood, therefore there wouldn't have been the same feeling. I haven't seen any performances of this run yet (my first one is tomorrow) so my memories don't extend to remembering the exact moment mentioned.

[Jamesrhblack]

As Pulcinella points out, the role was originally danced by a small female adult.

 

However, whilst the moment is manipulative and uncomfortable, it doesn't read sexually to me. That is your interpretation Lindsay.

 

As a matter of interest, would you propound that a boy soprano and (as increasingly occurs now) a child soprano should not be cast as Miles and Flora in Britten's The Turn of the Screw which is undoubtedly about sexual abuse?

[alison]

I can't speak for the revivals prior to 1996, but Alexei has always been portrayed by a young boy in those.

[Lindsay]

A good friend who is a countertenor sang Miles in Turn of the Screw at Glyndebourne as child.  But only after much discussion between his parents and the director over how the nature of the story should be explained to and discussed with him, all parties understanding that this was a problematic issue.  And he still says it was a strange experience. But, as you say, child abuse is a central premise of Britten's opera so, if you consider it artistically justifiable to stage the opera at all, the issue must be addressed in some way. 

 

This choreography is not inherently essential to Anastasia.  You may not have seen it as sexual, but I do not think that I was the only person who did.  It could have been easily cut or altered without destroying the production.

[Vanartus]

I'm starting to find the tone of this discussion (Rasputin/Alexei) far more troubling than the moment on stage.

[Lindsay]

What it is that is troubling you Vanartus?  I think the discussion has been civil and reasonable on all sides.

[capybara]

Yes....Bill Boyd is right. I am reliably informed it was Vincenzo. Very impressive he was, too!

 

 

I think it was Yudes at dress rehearsal and Vincenzo on 1st night

 

 

Thank you. This just goes to show how much this character needs to be a 'named role' on the cast sheet.

[Maria67]

I was thinking I might wait to post my opinion until at least a second viewing. It seems most have mixed feelings towards the acts and so far I agree with what has been said, therefore have nothing particularly interesting to add.

 

This was my first viewing of Ms Osipova and I think it'd safe to say I have been won over. She certainly gives 100%. Her energy reminded me of my favourite ballerina Sara Mearns - I lived in NY for a while - which I was pleasantly surprised with. Ms Mearns also has suffered from injuries in the past and I wonder if this energy is the culprit for both of them. I fear I'm becoming too off track though so I will stop.

 

A mixed evening. I enjoyed Act II for the music although I found it very strange to be paired with anything other than Balanchine. I wonder if my lukewarm reaction will improve upon a second viewing? I may notice more things with the benefit of hindsight...

[Jane S]

I haven't seen the full-length Anastasia in 40 years but I just looked up the first-night review and I was struck by John Percival's description of one of the few bits in Acts 1 & 2 that really impressed him:

 

"... the short passage when Rasputin comes to the aid of the Tsarevitch Alexei who has fallen over. The danger of falling for a haemophiliac is that bruises can cause bleeding into the joints which can... thus induce a kind of paralysis. So Rasputin, on his knees, slowly compels the child to walk stiffly forward until ...Alexei again walks freely on his own."

 

.... and I just wondered if the passage Lindsay dislike so much refers to, or even replaces, this?

 

Also, apparently the bit at the end where the bed goes round the stage looks like that because the theatre in Berlin where that act was created had a revolving stage, which was far more effe.ctive.

 

Also, on the first night the leader of the revolutionaries was named - it was Wayne Sleep.

[alison]

Thank you Jane. I think the part Lindsay is referring to is in Act III, where Rasputin holds the child upside-down and scissors his legs open and shut. Possibly it's then an inversion of that part of Act I, distorted by the recollections/imaginings of a disturbed mind? I hadn't thought of that before.

Edited October 28, 2016 by alison
Corrected facts

[MAB]

What it is that is troubling you Vanartus?  I think the discussion has been civil and reasonable on all sides.

 

I imagine what is troubling is that in forty odd years no one has picked up on this being untoward  before.

[Jamesrhblack]

Indeed Vanartus.

 

Art holds up a mirror to life; sometimes our own interpretations may say more about ourselves than the artistic creator intended. Indeed, I found in my own professional stage career that directors were far from reluctant to have a sense of ambiguity about their intentions rather than dictating a response.

 

Some Art will be uncomfortable. Certainly, although I'd never advocate harm to performers, I'd be very reluctant to see a "safe place" erected around the ballet stage (such as the nonsense seemingly increasingly perpetrated in universities with students protected from confronting issues that might not meet with their own criteria).

[Lindsay]

Ok, I have tried very hard to be civil but I strongly resent the implication from Jamesrhblack and MAB that I am projecting this issue out of my imagination.

 

I know from real life conversations, and from other posts here that I was not the only person to find this disturbing.  I also have huge problems with much of the ideology pushed by the "safe spaces" movement, and would strongly defend freedom of artistic expression(see my posts on Judas Tree, The Invitation and Turn of the Screw above).  However, it does not follow that anything done with child performers on a stage must automatically be acceptable.  There is a limit.  That limit for me was crossed by this choreography.

 

Jamesrhblack has not been able to come up with a convincing argument as to why the choreography was necessary to the ballet, or indeed appropriate, so he has decided, ad hominem, to attribute the problem to my dirty mind. 

[Jan McNulty]

I think this part of the conversation is now going around in circles and perhaps we should move on.

 

I have not seen Anastasia but I can accept that a number of people have expressed discomfort at a particular scene but it has not affected others in the same way.

[Tatiana]

Indeed Vanartus.

 

Art holds up a mirror to life; sometimes our own interpretations may say more about ourselves than the artistic creator intended. Indeed, I found in my own professional stage career that directors were far from reluctant to have a sense of ambiguity about their intentions rather than dictating a response.

 

Some Art will be uncomfortable. Certainly, although I'd never advocate harm to performers, I'd be very reluctant to see a "safe place" erected around the ballet stage (such as the nonsense seemingly increasingly perpetrated in universities with students protected from confronting issues that might not meet with their own criteria).

 

Sorry, can't help myself here. That's not what a "safe space" is! The idea of a 'safe space' is simply that students can be warned beforehand of potentially triggering issues (eg. sexual assault) so they can prepare themselves adequately for a class. No-one's being shielded from anything and nothing is censored. With mental health an increasing problem in younger adults, it's a completely reasonable thing to do.

As for ballet, it has always pushed difficult issues on stage. I'm not sure how I felt about the Alexei-Rasputin sequence in Anastasia, but it did make me and others uncomfortable and surely that's worth exploring? What's this forum for if not to talk about our feelings on performances?

[Lindsay]

And while I appreciate that your sentiment is well meant Janet, I find it difficult to reconcile with the fact that you 'liked' the post that contained the personal attack on me and only asked that the discussions should cease after I had responded.

[MAB]

What personal attack on you? Why do you interpret a dissenting view as an attack?