The Royal Ballet: The Sleeping Beauty performances, 2016-2017

[LinMM]

Thanks for reminding me of Deanne Bergsma....another great Lilac fairy from the past.

 

And for all the info about origins of this role....much appreciated and fascinating.

[CHazell2]

 

Also I think that Sergeyev Vilkhav possibly misread the notations and also there were some confusion about which steps to use.[/quote

 

Sorry I meant Sergei Vilkharav

[penelopesimpson]

 CHazell2 is absolutely right about the post revolutionary emigres becoming persona non grata simply for leaving Russia but I think that there were other factors which prompted the long term denigration of Marie Petipa and Nicholas Sergeyev. In  Sergeyev's case it was the removal of the production records containing the Stepanov notations of a number of Petipa ballets from the Mariinsky Theatre. In Marie Petipa's case I think it was the fact that she did not participate in the 1905 dancer's strike followed by Sergei Legat's suicide which prompted antipathy towards her long before the Revolution.These events made people all the more ready to accept and endorse the assertions of  Lopukhov and others that Marie Petipa could not dance.

 

The response of the St. Petersburg dance establishment to the 1999 reconstruction of Sleeping Beauty is fascinating It was a production which restored the text using the Stepanov notation for the ballet, now housed in Harvard, but did not attempt period performance style  It seems to me that the response reveals, not only the local dance establishment's emotional attachment to Konstantin  Sergeyev's 1952  version of the ballet but how much of a professional stake they had vested  in claims for its authenticity. It seems that because several generations of the Russian ballet establishment had characterised Nicholas Sergeyev as a thief it enabled critics of the 1999 reconstruction to question its accuracy and the authenticity of the material on which it was based simply because it deviated from the " authentic" text which had been preserved and continued to be danced at the Mariinsky,even though that text only dated from the early 1950's. Their "argument" seemed to be that the contents of the material which he had removed or stolen were inherently untrustworthy because they had been in the possession of a thief.. .

 

 De Valois' acquired Sleeping Beauty and the four other nineteenth century ballets which she described as the "classics" because the choreography is demanding.De Valois' classics are not simply a test of technique, but of the entire company's artistry and stage craft.While the ballet may have been created to display the technical skills of the Mariinsky's latest Italian guest artist it was also intended as a showcase for the company itself. Petipa created the ballet to show his own dancers to best advantage and display their individual skills, something which I think sometimes gets lost in performance and discussion. The character dancers' abilities are just as subject to scrutiny as those of the dancers performing the obviously classically based roles.

 

I don't think that the modern fashion to dance slowly and emphasise uniformity in classically based choreography helps either the performers or the audiences of this ballet. More than a century of describing it as the "Greatest of all Classical Ballets" has also had an adverse effect on it in performance as it has encouraged everyone to treat it as a monumental work rather than a work full of characterful dances, speed, lightness, contrast and elements of musical and dance historicism.The choreography of the Fairy Variations would have been tailored to emphasise the individual character and skills of the original cast. It now tends to be performed at a speed and in a style which emphasises a dull uniform classicism rather than providing the sort of contrasts of speed and style which were originally intended. 

 

We all know that the the roles of Aurora, her Prince, Florine and the Bluebird present challenges but I don't think that we often consider the difficulties which the role of the Lilac Fairy presents to the performer except in terms of the technical challenges of the RB's Prologue solo which I know is not the choreography created for the role's originator. Petipa created the role for his daughter and I think that it is safe to assume that its structure played to her strengths. She was famed as character dancer which is why the role takes the form it does but its form seems to cause casting problems today in a way that I don't recall when I first started ballet going..But then the choice was between Bergsma and Mason both of whom had the technical skills to perform the solo with apparent consummate ease and established a commanding stage presence for the three acts which follow the Prologue. Is the fact that it is essentially a crossover role which is the root of the problem or is it the lack of exemplar performances which is really to blame?

 

It has become a role which gets passed around between dancers with varying degrees of success.In the past thirty years some of the casting decisions for this role  have been truly bizarre. I do hope that we get at least one decent attempt at the role during the course of this run. I don't think that it matters whether the dancer is short or tall but I really don't want to see another terrified dancer struggle her way through the solo or another dancer who while able to perform the solo is a blank during the next three acts. I do wonder why the company can't bring itself to call on the services of one or two of the great Lilac Fairies of the past to undertake some intensive coaching with those cast in the role; much as i wonder why the company does not call on the services of some of the former dancers  who were exemplary performers of the Fairy Variations to fine tune them.

 

Last and by no means least is the real problem about lighting the ballet productions at Covent Garden that follow spots are no longer fashionable in other forms of theatrical entertainment and are therefore deemed unsuitable for any theatrical art form, even ones where they might actually be needed?

What an excellent post, Floss.  I am booked for the Naghdi and Ball casting but purely because I want to see these two together.  I have always found Sleeping Beauty stultifyingly slow  and have often wondered why it has become so ponderous that even the audience seems to get restless.

[zxDaveM]

oh lordy, do we have to start a third thread so we can talk about the performances of 2016/2017....

[Fonty]

oh lordy, do we have to start a third thread so we can talk about the performances of 2016/2017....

But Dave, we have to talk about something when there are no performances taking place.  

[Don Q Fan]

As I have a standing ticket can anyone advise the timings please?  I have a nasty feeling Act 1&2 are back to back before intervals between 2&3 and 3&4. (Act1 being prologue), thank you!

[Don Q Fan]

What an excellent post, Floss.  I am booked for the Naghdi and Ball casting but purely because I want to see these two together.  I have always found Sleeping Beauty stultifyingly slow  and have often wondered why it has become so ponderous that even the audience seems to get restless.

This is where Ratmansky's version for ABT scores as it is fast paced!

[capybara]

As I have a standing ticket can anyone advise the timings please?  I have a nasty feeling Act 1&2 are back to back before intervals between 2&3 and 3&4. (Act1 being prologue), thank you!

 

Prologue: 35 mins

Interval: 25 mins

Act 1: 30 mins

Interval: 20 mins

Act 2: 30 mins )

Act 3: 40 mins )

[SPD444]

As I have a standing ticket can anyone advise the timings please?  I have a nasty feeling Act 1&2 are back to back before intervals between 2&3 and 3&4. (Act1 being prologue), thank you!

 

Below is from the ROH web site

 

 

 

Prologue 35 minutes Interval 25 minutes Act I 30 minutes Interval 20 minutes Act II 30 minutes Act III 40 minutes

 

 

Sorry, Capybara beat me to it

Edited January 2, 2017 by SPD444

[capybara]

I just wanted to record appreciation for last night's performance of The Sleeping Beauty. In a week of 8 shows (mixing SB and Nutcracker), the fact that there were 11 cast changes* gives an indication of the difficulties the company is experiencing - (I see on another thread that ENB is similarly afflicted).

 

There were, however, two real jewels among the substitutions: Yasmine Naghdi was an exquisite Fairy of the Golden Vine and isabella Gasparini showed us as Red Riding Hood that she can do 'terrified' as well as she does radiant.

 

There were no alteration slips in the area of the theatre where I was sitting (only an announcement about one relatively minor change) and my concentration wandered at times because of the fascination of working out who was on. Can that really be Claire Calvert as one of Princess Aurora's Friends? Yes it can! Tierney Heap had replaced her as the Lilac Fairy by the way.

 

 

{ * my count - others may know differently.]

[Loulabelle]

You are correct there were 11 cast changes according to the sheet inside my programme.

[Don Q Fan]

Thank you Capybara and SPD44 looks like I'll be glad when it ends then after an hour plus standing but if it's good, and with the right shoes, hopefully I won't notice????

[capybara]

You are correct there were 11 cast changes according to the sheet inside my programme.

 

But an extra one was announced, so that makes twelve. I wonder which area(s) of the ROH were 'honoured' with an amendment sheet? Or maybe they were only available if one purchased a red programme?

[Shya100]

Hopefully they will all have a bit of break now. Too much burnina the candlead over Christmas...joke.

[Loulabelle]

But an extra one was announced, so that makes twelve. I wonder which area(s) of the ROH were 'honoured' with an amendment sheet? Or maybe they were only available if one purchased a red programme?

Oh yes you are right! I had forgotten about that one. I did purchase a red programme and was sat in the second row of the amphi. I was given the slip in sheet with my white cast/plot leaflet.

[Shirley]

But an extra one was announced, so that makes twelve. I wonder which area(s) of the ROH were 'honoured' with an amendment sheet? Or maybe they were only available if one purchased a red programme?

There were cast change slips in the main front of house about 5 mins before curtain up. No idea if they had been there earlier or not as I ran in at the last minute.

[RuthE]

I usually find that Royal Ballet cast change slips are available at the desk at the foot of the staircase up towards the Paul Hamlyn Hall, but almost never at the desk at right angles to it on the right-hand side of the foyer by the lifts.  I've suggested on several occasions that they should sort this out, but they never seem to.

 

( / off topic)

[now voyager]

I usually find that Royal Ballet cast change slips are available at the desk at the foot of the staircase up towards the Paul Hamlyn Hall, but almost never at the desk at right angles to it on the right-hand side of the foyer by the lifts.  I've suggested on several occasions that they should sort this out, but they never seem to.

 

( / off topic)

That was certainly my experience at a  Nutcracker last week!

[capybara]

I usually find that Royal Ballet cast change slips are available at the desk at the foot of the staircase up towards the Paul Hamlyn Hall, but almost never at the desk at right angles to it on the right-hand side of the foyer by the lifts.  I've suggested on several occasions that they should sort this out, but they never seem to.

 

( / off topic)

 

So how is anyone supposed to know where to look? I feel another e-mail coming on. It is discourteous to the performers for their audience to be unaware of the changes and at least one online reviewer has named the wrong dancers in his account of Tuesday night's Sleeping Beauty.

[VickyPage]

Do they not come out with a microphone before curtain up anymore and explain what the changes are (if they are sudden enough to deserve slips rather than proper printing)? I remember they did that at least one night in the Bolshoi tour this summer, so it can't be a completely outdated method of explanation. 

[Tony Newcombe]

The last time that Kevin O'Hare came out to announce that Osipova was injured and would be replaced by Choe

As Princess Aurora, some members of the audience booed at the mention of her name.

As far as I am concerned a cast amendment sheet is fine and I have never had any trouble locating them

[RuthE]

Do they not come out with a microphone before curtain up anymore and explain what the changes are (if they are sudden enough to deserve slips rather than proper printing)? I remember they did that at least one night in the Bolshoi tour this summer, so it can't be a completely outdated method of explanation.

They frequently, by audio while giving the "switch off your phone" announcement, give additional cast change info. For example, on Christmas Eve at Nutcracker there were several cast changes listed on a slip, as a knock-on result of 2 main factors: long-standing injury of Tristan Dyer, and the erroneous listing of Benjamin Ella in two simultaneous roles. But the first I knew of there being a cast-change slip at all was when that pre-curtain announcement referred to changes "in addition to the published slip".

 

In my opinion the ROH needs to make slips available wherever programmes or free cast-sheets are available, because it's quite evident from that announcement that the house assumes that the audience has had access to that information. But some reason I can't fathom, this is persistently not the case.

[Tony Newcombe]

I am sorry but I have to repeat that in my experience cast amendment sheets

are always available at the programme selling points and additionally they are still available

at the main foyer exit at the end of the performance

[alison]

Talking about Choe, with Christmas imminent I suspect many of us had other things on our minds, but I must record her lovely performance as Aurora a couple of days prior.  And for those who were wondering at the time, no, it wasn't Hirano's debut as Florimund: he'd danced the role (with Choe!) last time around too.

[Sim]

I didn't get to see her this time around, but I was at the performance to which Tony refers above;  I was one of the ones who clapped loudly when she came onstage just to encourage her, and she gave a beautiful, nuanced and perfectly-pitched performance.  By the end, even the 'booers' were won over.  Very pleased to hear that she is still on song. 

[Mary]

The first thing I do on arrival is dash to the programme  stand for a cast sheet and ask- any changes? if there are no slips in sight.

I must say in justice to the ROH  that in many many years I have never failed to get a cast change slip- on each level of the House. I find their arrangements in this respect far and away better than other theatres where it is sometimes hard to get even a cast list.

[Fonty]

 I've got confused with all this talk about cast changes.  Apart from Lamb, who has actually danced Aurora during this new run?  

[John Mallinson]

Sarah Lamb, Akane Takada, Yuhui Choe.

 

Nuñez, Hayward, Naghdi, Cuthbertson, Osipova and Kobayashi all to come in February and March.

[Saodan]

Sarah Lamb, Akane Takada, Yuhui Choe.

 

Nuñez, Hayward, Naghdi, Cuthbertson, Osipova and Kobayashi all to come in February and March.

 

 

And Salenko has two dates in March

[FLOSS]

So far the Auroras have been Lamb,Choe and Takada who made her debut when the ballet was last revived. If I recall Mr Crisp was very enthusiastic about her. Lamb's Prince was Muntagirov and Choe's was Hirano. The Choe cast had Naghdi and Zucchetti as Princess Florine and the Bluebird while the Lamb cast had Hayward and Campbell in those roles.

 

Takada's Prince was Hay who gave an exceptional account of the role in which he was making his debut.The reaction to Hay's entrance was interesting. You could almost feel the audience asking "Who is this little guy? Couldn't the RB find someone ..er .. a little taller?" Once he started dancing you could feel the audience starting to settle down with the thought that they might have misjudged the situation.From his  first entrance Hay was a character rather than a cardboard prince.He danced the moody solo as if it was simply an expression of his melancholy yearnings rather than a technical minefield in which the average dancer struggles to make any effect other than to look awkward while performing it and relieved when it is over.His partnering was strong throughout and both the Vision scene and the Grand pas de Deux were exceptionally well danced. Hay's account of the Prince's third act choreography was the best I have seen in a very long time.The movement flowed from section to section, the audience was shown both the choreography's component parts and its over arching architecture and the result was it had an expressive impact as well as showing his mastery of the technique required to dance it.  Takada's Aurora is developing very nicely and I look forward to seeing this pairing again in a few weeks time.We shall see the new Auroras in February as well as seeing some new Princes including Reece Clarke who will be partnering Cuthbertson.

 

I feel that it is only by chance that I have managed to see both Hayward and Campbell and Naghdi and Zucchetti in the Bluebird pas de Deux, Both pairings were very good but I have the feeling from seeing Hayward and Naghdi as Florine within  a couple of days of each other that it is Naghdi who is the true classical dancer of the two. This is not  a criticism of Hayward, merely an observation.If only the powers that be at Covent Garden could find it in their hearts  to say who is dancing the Lilac Fairy, Bluebird and Princess Florine at performances of Sleeping Beauty. I know that the tickets go on sale long before the performances take place but even at that early stage management must know who they expect to be dancing at each performance. I think that we would all understand that the announced casting was subject to revision for any number of reasons including mistakenly allocating a dancer to a minor role at a matinee when he is due to appear in a more important role in the evening.

 

 At the matinee performance of Nutcracker on the 27th December there were cast changes which seemed to be occasioned by the realisation that it was not very sensible to cast Mr Ball in the Chinese dance when he was due to appear in the somewhat more demanding role of the SPF's cavalier in the evening. That change seemed to have a considerable cumulative knock on effect throughout the rest of the matinee cast.This suggests that multiple cast changes aren't always the result of injury or illness sweeping through the company.

 

As far as the cast change slips are concerned while they may be evenly distributed  throughout the theatre and to be found, initially at least,at each sales desks where you can buy a programme or collect a free cast sheet they seem to run out quite quickly at the sales desk at the foot of the escalator and the one positioned outside the entrance to the Amphitheatre. I don't know whether this is because the Amphi audience is more interested in minutiae than the patrons in the posh seats but it does seem to be the case that change of cast slips are less readily available upstairs the closer you get to curtain up. You can, and should ask for them even if it means the staff have to run a few more off while the performance is taking place.

Edited January 6, 2017 by FLOSS

[John Mallinson]

And Salenko has two dates in March

 

My apologies to Ms Salenko, no slight intended!

[alison]

"Takada's Aurora is developing very nicely and I look forward to seeing this pairing again in a few weeks time."

 

Oh? Have they got some more performances somewhere? I thought I was going to have to miss out on them.

[John Mallinson]

Takada and Hay are billed for one further performance on Feb 16.