The Royal Ballet: Mayerling, London, April/May 2017

[Lindsay]

I saw McRae this afternoon (and Watson on Friday).  They are such different dancers that a direct comparison seems unfair, but while this was a very valiant first attempt, I am just not sure that this is McRae's part.  Technically it's a breeze for him - the tricky opening solo was beautifully danced and the partnering pretty secure throughout, but McRae has such a naturally extrovert and ebullient stage personality that I don't think he is able to convey the subtleties of Rudolf's descent into madness.  The  angry faces began in the first act pdd with Stephanie and that was pretty much character development done.  The very strong control McRae has as a dancer actually played against him a little in the later scenes, perfectly smooth controlled turns and tidy jumps with just a slump of the head on landing stripped the steps of some of the abandon that Watson brought to them.  This isn't a reflection on either dancer - McRae is a really excellent technician and I love him in Jewels or Fille.  And this was by no means a bad performance - obvious thought had gone into the portrayal and Sarah Lamb as Mary was very interesting and helped things along.  But Watson's general air of twisted tragedy is in my opinion just far more suited to Rudolf. Makes me think back to some of the good discussions on this board in the past about 'type' and whether dancers should be cast across the whole repertoire....

Edited May 1, 2017 by Lindsay
Typo

[penelopesimpson]

15 minutes ago, Lindsay said:

I saw McRae this afternoon (and Watson on Friday).  They are such different dancers that a direct comparison seems unfair, but while this was a very valiant first attempt, I am just not sure that this is McRae's part.  Technically it's a breeze for him - the tricky opening solo was beautifully danced and the partnering pretty secure throughout, but McRae has such a naturally extrovert and ebullient stage personality that I don't think he is able to convey the subtleties of Rudolf's descent into madness.  The  angry faces began in the first act pdd with Stephanie and that was pretty much character development done.  The very strong control McRae has as a dancer actually played against him a little in the later scenes, perfectly smooth controlled turns and tidy jumps with just a slump of the head on landing stripped the steps of some of the abandon that Watson brought to them.  This isn't a reflection on either dancer - McRae is a really excellent technician and I love him in Jewels or Fille.  And this was by no means a bad performance - obvious thought had gone into the portrayal and Sarah Lamb as Mary was very interesting and helped things along.  But Watson's general air of twisted tragedy is in my opinion just far more suited to Rudolf. Makes me think back to some of the good discussions on this board in the past about 'type' and whether dancers should be cast across the whole repertoire....

Surely the answer is, they shouldn't.  I was quite suprised Macrae wanted to do this role.

[Sunrise]

That's a bit unfair, it's a dream role for many male ballet dancers where most of the principal roles are princes supporting the ballerina.

 

My gold standard Rudolfs have to be Cope, Kobborg, Mukhamedov. I have to admit I find Watson`s mania from previous runs too much for me, but I look forward to seeing him tomorrow anyway. I thought McRae was a very fine Rudolf this afternoon and let his character's misery and desperation speak through his beautifully emotive dancing. My only reservation was that I wonder if Lamb might be a bit tall for him for the pdds. Nonetheless he earned great applause and whoops behind me from none other than Jonathan Cope and Leanne Benjamin ☺

Edited May 1, 2017 by Sunrise

[Sim]

I wasn't there this afternoon, but a friend told me it was more Frankenstein than Mayerling.  Sounds like this is the Rudolf who will divide opinions the most!  I didn't buy tickets for this cast so am interested to hear what people think.    

[Lindsay]

I don't think male principal roles in Rubies, Fille or even Giselle or Swan Lake should be described as merely supporting the ballerina.  All of those ballets and others hold considerable virtuosic (and in some cases, acting) challenges for male dancers and McRae has more than proved his worth in such roles.  Not to speak of roles like the Mad Hatter specifically made on him.

 

I do understand that Rudolf has become a kind of "Hamlet" for male dancers, but that doesn't mean it demands simply "more of the same" in relation to the rest of repertoire.  It requires a different skill set - just as Fille is not suited to Watson, Mayerling is not suited to all male dancers.  

 

But I am glad that you enjoyed today's performance - as I said it was a very respectable effort.  It just did not, in my opinion, play to the strengths of this dancer.

[penelopesimpson]

I didn't mean it as a negative about Macrae.  I was simply expressing the opinion that not all dancers should be expected to do everything.  Watson makes no secret of the fact that the 'princely' roles are not for him.  I cannot, for instance, imagine Matthew Golding doing Rudolf, however technically gifted he may be.

 

By the way, is he still injured?

[Odyssey]

I am enjoying the thread and would want to just add this to the discussion about dancers extending across the whole repertoire - why not?

How limiting for a dancer and for an audience. There is a whole raft of dancers who have surprised us and I can only admire those who strive to move from being typecast as a soubrette, classical, dramatic or whatever dancer.

[Mary]

Interesting discussion ( and I look forward to seeing McRae myself before commenting )  But I do not see it as any kind of disrespect or disapprobation of a dancer to say he is not that suited to Mayerling...several of my favourites might fall into that category.

 

 

 

 

 

[Sunrise]

Yes you're right, I didn't mean to over generalise, but I was chafing at the previous comment. I only mean to say that Rudolf is one of the few roles where the male dancer is the star and audiences may book to see him alone, not always for who is Mary Vetsera and other partners will be, and of course it is also a unique dancing and acting challenge. Why would wouldn't any dancer want to have a go at it?

[Sunrise]

Also, I was also one who initially thought some dancers like Cojocaru, Bonelli, Morera, Pennefather were oddly cast as Rudolf and Vetsera, but they have (or seem to have after 1 performance) proved themselves. Maybe more care could be placed in casting for certain choreographic styles, but I think the role of Rudolf can be given to a wider range of dancers. 

Edited May 1, 2017 by Sunrise

[JennyTaylor]

I've seen McRae and Thiago Soares in this run and Watson several times in the past. I booked to see McRae out of sheer curiosity to see what he would make of the role and also because, of course, he is a great dancer.  For me, though he gave it his all, it was somewhat one dimensional. He looked manic quite a lot of the time, and certainly we saw a different interpretation from the other dancers. So, it didn't grip me as the others do, I found no pathos, though he did give it a go in the ballroom scene and with his mother and the pdds with Sarah Lamb really didn't do it for me either, though technically they were fine.  I found his pdd with Stephanie the most moving (Meaghan Grace Hinkis), I think because he was just brutal and she just danced incredibly well in response.

 

In the hunting scene, he played it as mad, and he meant to shoot the courtier.  In the tavern, he was more drunk than most Rudolph's. How I missed the wicked gleam in the eye of Irek's Rudolf, for example in that scene.  

 

All that being said, of course, this might have been what Rudolph was really like - a thoroughly nasty piece of work. For me though, it's not an interpretation which I really enjoy in the theatre. 

 

In today's performance, apart from Meaghan Grace, I thought Kristen McNally shone as the Empress Elizabeth.  I also enjoyed watching the other character parts more than the 2 Principals, sadly.    

[JennyTaylor]

11 minutes ago, Sunrise said:

Also, I was also one who initially thought some dancers like Cojocaru, Bonelli, Morera, Pennefather were oddly cast as Rudolf and Vetsera, but they have (or seem to have after 1 performance) proved themselves. Maybe more care could be placed in casting for certain choreographic styles, but I think the role of Rudolf can be given to a wider range of dancers. 

 

Rupert Pennefather is a good case in point.  He only got one performance first time round and didn't quite get going.  He was excellent when he got a second chance - and that was with Sarah Lamb I seem to recall. I remember being thrilled with their rendition

[BMC]

I agree, Lindsay - the performance didn't quite come to life in the same way that the other two casts I've seen so far, although I did feel very involved by the end. It's a bit of a ballet conundrum that if you dance it so beautifully then you don't somehow convey the total despair. Similarly, when Mukhademov (just about my all time favourite dancer) did the wedding pas de deux, his strength meant he could fling poor Stephanie all over the stage but we, the audience, knew she was in no danger because of his brilliant partnering skills - although he did have bags of acting talent to counteract it.

[capybara]

14 minutes ago, JennyTaylor said:

 

Rupert Pennefather is a good case in point.  He only got one performance first time round and didn't quite get going.  He was excellent when he got a second chance - and that was with Sarah Lamb I seem to recall. I remember being thrilled with their rendition

 

I think that Rupert's Rudolf was with Melissa Hamilton, wasn't it?

[ninamargaret]

Marvellously danced by McRae, but I felt it was all a bit manic. The tavern scene was, I thought, rather over the top - Rudolph appeared far too drunk, rather like Lescaut  in Manon. Of course, Rudolph may have been manic; who knows. I enjoyed Paul Kay's Bratfisch, good Hungarian officers. Will be interested to see Watson and Bonelli this week. 

[Jamesrhblack]

59 minutes ago, JennyTaylor said:

 

Rupert Pennefather is a good case in point.  He only got one performance first time round and didn't quite get going.  He was excellent when he got a second chance - and that was with Sarah Lamb I seem to recall. I remember being thrilled with their rendition

Surely with Melissa Hamilton. Sarah Lamb's public debut as Vetsera (apart from the General on Friday) was this afternoon...

 

Was Emma Maguire replaced as Stephanie?

Edited May 1, 2017 by Jamesrhblack

[JohnS]

Very interested to read the comments about today's matinee having seen the rehearsal where I found Steven's performance fascinating - technically incredibly strong and precise.  I thought Kristen's Empress (and Anna Rose's Louise) outstanding and I prefer Sarah's Larisch to her Mary, although given she was dancing Larisch on the opening night, she may very sensibly have been pacing herself.  I'm very much looking forward to the final performance to see this cast when they can bring the curtain down on what I'm sure will have been a stupendous run of performances.  And given the comments about the Bonelli/Morera cast, I'm delighted to have picked up a return ticket for their remaining performance.

[JennyTaylor]

4 minutes ago, Jamesrhblack said:

Surely with Melissa Hamilton. Sarah Lamb's public debut as Vetsera (apart from the General on Friday) was this afternoon...

 

Was Emma Maguire replaced as Stephanie?

Must have been thinking of Manon where Rupert/ Sarah were fantastic.  Still loved Rupert's Rudolph though

[Mary]

This thread does make  a most interesting read.

 

I notice that not much has been said about Lauren Cuthbertson: wondered if anyone  had any more thoughts about her performance?

[JennyTaylor]

1 minute ago, Mary said:

This thread does make  a most interesting read.

 

I notice that not much has been said about Lauren Cuthbertson: wondered if anyone  had any more thoughts about her performance?

I thought she was excellent. Lovely to see her as Mary at last. She and Thiago had a great rapport. I found the final pdd in particular, very emotional and superbly danced and enacted.   

[Johnpw]

My strongest images of Steven McCrae are as the sunny show-off of Rubies and Florizel. I thought I was watching a different dancer this afternoon. 

Since this was my third time in this run, I had a better idea of what to look out for and used my opera glasses a good deal, even focused on Rudolf when he wasn't centre stage. To my eyes (or glasses), this was more than a one note characterisation and I felt I was seeing some quite subtle character development.

In the Wedding Scene, his face and posture often indicated self-possession, a certain haughtiness or aloofness, which in the solo came across as an outsider's loneliness. There was also tension and frustration. Why? In the moments when Rudolf, Stephanie, Franz Josef and Elisabeth come front stage for a spot of formal greetings, McCrae had a marked look of pain at the cool, distant response of Elisabeth (very good Kirsten McNally) to his hand-kiss. 

That aspect was developed at his entrance for his scene with Elisabeth - while she's pretending to read a magazine, he seemed to me to express "I-know-it'll-do-no good-but-I'll try anyway": since he has his back to the audience, this was expressed through how he stood, his shoulders, his breathing. In the pdd with Elisabeth he went from need, through desperation, to weariness (expressed again in the shoulders).

With the Hungarian Officers (again well-danced) he expressed well the fluctuations of Yes-No-Maybe. I thought he was convincing in “dancing” drunk in the Tavern Scene but then I’m not sure when “drunk” is too drunk (at least he didn’t fall over)

Sarah Lamb was very good, I thought: girlish when with her mother in the Cards Scene but with Rudolf firmly suggesting "I-know-what-I-want-and-I've got-it”. In fact the Lamb/McCrae scenes worked well as they suggested it wasn't an increasingly mad Rudolf taking "poor Mary" along with him, but a meeting of soul-mates with complementary obsessions of love and death. In the Bedroom Scene of Act 3 (I think?), when both are on the floor, it seemed to me that Mary was in advance in stretching out towards the revolver on the table - I don’t recall if that's always the case. 

As the ballet isn’t a historical documentary, but a "based on” interpretation, like a Shakespeare History Play or Verdi’s Don Carlo, what seems to me important is the portrayal of the “characters” in the “world” McMillan has created rather than what the historical people were “really” like. But, if the real historical timescale is respected, almost 8 years pass between the wedding and the events leading to the “Mayerling Incident”. I don’t think that, even in McMillan’s world, Rudolf has to be manic and tortured right from the first scene. I did get a sense of Rudolf’s disintegrating personality especially in the last scene of Act 2 (with Larisch and Mary) and Act 3.

 

My very first Mayerling was Friday, so I had to put in a fair bit of time and effort working out who everyone was and why they were doing what they were doing. That, and marvelling at the intricacies of the choreography, probably meant I missed many of the subtleties of Ed Watson’s characterisation. It was certainly powerful. Federico Bonelli’s portrayal moved me because I felt pity. Steven McCrae’s portrayal also moved me because he transmitted to me a sense of life’s pain and weariness. 

 

Apologies for the length but, since I seem to be in a minority, I felt I had to explain my reaction (even to myself), concentrating on the characterisation - no-one has faulted his dancing. Wonderful, isn’t it, how we can all see things so differently.

 

Warm audience response, plenty of cheering, only a handful standing (so far as I could see). Sarah Lamb gave Steven McCrae and the conductor a rose each from her bouquet: the only Mary to make this gesture (unless I missed it on the other occasions).

[Sim]

Sarah always gives a flower to her leading man, and I love her for that.

[capybara]

26 minutes ago, Sim said:

Sarah always gives a flower to her leading man, and I love her for that.

 

Yes - so nice. Roberta Marquez used to do the same.

 

I still can't quite understand why male dancers are not allowed flowers on stage at the ROH as they are elsewhere. Several of the RB's leading men are often to be seen leaving laden with flowers and they obviously appreciate them. [But I think I'm risking taking this thread off topic!]

[Jamesrhblack]

In, for exampe, The Netherlands, all performers (male and female) are presenetd with flowers. As a performer (in opera and concert not a dancer), I remember liking that very much ...

[Mary]

A trivial example of sexism,  but, sexism just the same, and I really think ROH ought to change this.

 

Though not sure Rudolf really goes with flowers. A cactus perhaps...

[ninamargaret]

Seem to remember men sometimes being given awful laurel wreaths. And Ed Watson was given something on his birthday a couple of years ago after Winter's Tale.

[JennyTaylor]

1 hour ago, capybara said:

 

Yes - so nice. Roberta Marquez used to do the same.

 

I still can't quite understand why male dancers are not allowed flowers on stage at the ROH as they are elsewhere. Several of the RB's leading men are often to be seen leaving laden with flowers and they obviously appreciate them. [But I think I'm risking taking this thread off topic!]

I sent Brian Maloney flowers when he retired (this is relevant to Mayerling thread as he was playing Bratfisch). It's the only time I have ever done this but I felt he had had such a journey, he deserved them.  Nothing was presented on stage, but he actually found me on Facebook and said a lovely thank you, which I thought was amazing.  I agree, men should get recognition in the same way as the ballerinas.

[alison]

5 hours ago, capybara said:

I still can't quite understand why male dancers are not allowed flowers on stage at the ROH as they are elsewhere. Several of the RB's leading men are often to be seen leaving laden with flowers and they obviously appreciate them. [But I think I'm risking taking this thread off topic!]

 

If you want to do that, you can do it here :

 

[Geoff]

Reading some of the comments about Watson versus McRae, I think back to the time when Edward Watson was starting out in major roles. Plenty of people did not think much of him: it was felt he was rather a "nothing" performer and there was even some disappointment when he danced Rudolf. 

 

Then during one night of Mayerling people felt Watson "grew up", showing a maturity and depth not previously associated with him. Now, years later, he seems to be seen as some kind of gold standard. It has been wonderful to see this development.

 

I saw Watson on Friday and McRae yesterday. Both gave substantial performances and deserve the praise they have got here. McRae was remarkably good for what was his first time in the role. As it happens this performance moved me more overall - in part because of the pleasures of many of the rest of the cast (particularly Loise, Empress, Stephanie, as mentioned above) - mainly because Sarah Lamb seemed a more vulnerable partner than Osipova (however she hasn't got the beats with the skull and the pistol quite right yet: the first time she saw them she went to them as if she already knew they were there) 

 

Much looking forward to Bonelli/Morera on Friday. 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2017 by Geoff

[alison]

4 hours ago, Geoff said:

Reading some of the comments about Watson versus McRae, I think back to the time when Edward Watson was starting out in major roles. Plenty of people did not think much of him: it was felt he was rather a "nothing" performer and there was even some disappointment when he danced Rudolf.

 

 

Geoff, all I can say is that your memory is very different from mine.  A "nothing" performer, when some of us had been remarking on his stage presence and intensity since about the beginning of the century?  As for disappointment when he danced Rudolf, I remember pretty much the whole of the Linbury Theatre being stunned by his and Galeazzi's performance of the last couple of scenes of Act III in an insight event prior to his debut.  Although I'd been a bit iffy about the prospect of him dancing the role, and had only booked his third performance to give him a chance to work his way in, that showing was enough to make me decide that his debut was going to be unmissable.

[Lindsay]

I agree with Alison.  Watson was more of a 'marmite' than a 'nothing' dancer with much controversy around what many perceived as his delayed promotion and some arguing that he was not really a 'ballet' dancer since his strength lay more in contemporary work.  But by the time he took on Mayerling he no longer needed to 'grow' into the part.  That is a very different trajectory to McRae's.  I don't think they are at all the same dancer at different stages of their career.  In fact It is difficult to think of two more different dancers....

[penelopesimpson]

I agree with Lindsay, two dancers who are completely unalike in almost every way.  I enjoy them both but veer towards preferring Watson because I love his particular style.  Any opinions to who is most like him in the ranks?

[RuthE]

18 hours ago, Jamesrhblack said:

Was Emma Maguire replaced as Stephanie?

 

Yes, she was - the website was never updated (even after I'd picked up the cast sheet which listed Hinkis without any acknowledgement that it was a change).

 

Maguire is currently still listed for this cast's other performance.