BRB 'La Fille Mal Gardee' Bristol - July 2018

[cavycapers]

Surely Celine Gittens was born to dance Lise?  

 

Edited July 6, 2018 by cavycapers

[Jan McNulty]

I saw the 2 performances in Bristol on Saturday and pretty blummin' good they both were!

 

The matinee was Nao Sakuma's final performance with Birmingham Royal Ballet and she danced Lise to her husband Yasuo Atsuji's Colas.  Michael O'Hare was Widow Simone and Aitor Galende made his debut as Alain.  It was a gorgeous, special and very emotional performance.  You could see the genuine affection between Widow Simone and Lise.  Of course Nao was magical in the leading role, in fact she gave a masterclass in how the role should be performed - it seems impossible that she has retired! Of course there was a wonderful rapport between her and Yasuo.  I loved Aitor's interpretation of Alain - he danced his as a rather gauche young man, not a simpleton, and he was very moving in the role.  Michael O'Hare is so very subtle in his characterisation of Widow Simone but every gesture told a story - it really is a privilege to watch him.  I know I wasn't the only one who had a bad attack of hay fever at the end!

 

Nao was presented with more bouquets during the curtain calls and her young daughter toddled on stage to give her another one.  The curtain calls were a total delight.

 

The final performance of a long season was danced by Momoko Hirata and Lachlan Monaghan and it fizzed and sparkled like the best vintage champagne.  It was a joyous performance.  Momoko was a divine Lise and Lachlan was just born to dance the role of Colas!  Their Fanny Elssler pdd and the final duet were SUBLIME!!  Rory Mackay is quite tall for the Widow Simone but proves yet again what a very fine character dancer he is with his warm and loving performance. Tzu-Chao Chou was great as Alain.  It was a fantastic way to end the day and the season.  

 

BRB is looking on wonderful form at the moment with a wealth of talent throughout the company.

 

I'm already having BRB withdrawal symptoms and can't wait for more Fille in the Autumn!  

[Richard LH]

Thanks Jan! Looking forward very much to catching this at Sadlers Wells...

[Rob S]

la fille by Rob Sallnow, on Flickr

 

I went to the Saturday matinee, sadly I didn't get a pic of the flower giving by Nao's daughter as I'd already been told off by the stewardess at that point but her bow just before the curtain hit the floor was so sweet

[Josephine]

Some photos are in this review by David Mead:

http://www.seeingdance.com/brb-fille-11072018/

[Rob S]

3 hours ago, Josephine said:

Some photos are in this review by David Mead:

http://www.seeingdance.com/brb-fille-11072018/

I presume he meant Michael Portillo 😂

[BristolBillyBob]

Just to add to Janet's wonderful review, it's worth mentioning how strong the corps are at BRB at the moment. I've never seen Fille before it arrived in Bristol, but with the lion's share of solos given to just two characters, I suspect Fille could live or die on the corps' performance, and they were sublime. Excellent work throughout the company! 

 

Oh, and lovely to meet up with Janet at both class in the morning and in the evening! That's, by my reckoning, three different cities we've caught up with each other now, right? Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham? Have we ever met at BRB in Cheltenham?

[Jan McNulty]

Don't think so B3 ... yet!  Hope we meet in Leeds or another NB venue too...

[jmhopton]

Slightly off topic but I would love to see Brandon Lawrence in La Fille at the Lowry in October. How far in advance do BRB announce their casting? I've a feeling it's not that far.

[Jan McNulty]

They usually announce about 2 weeks before but this summer they were incredibly late and I think it was only the day before the Birmingham season opened!

 

I think all the casts will be wonderful ... 

[Lizbie1]

19 minutes ago, jmhopton said:

Slightly off topic but I would love to see Brandon Lawrence in La Fille at the Lowry in October. How far in advance do BRB announce their casting? I've a feeling it's not that far.

 

And he's a big Ashton fan! https://www.gramilano.com/2014/08/introducing-brandon-lawrence-birmingham-royal-ballet/

[Jan McNulty]

I don't know how many casts there will be.

 

For Colas I assume Cesar Morales, Mathias Dingman, Tyrone Singleton, Yasuo Atsuji, Lachlan Monaghan who have all performed the role already.

 

For Lise, I think there are only 3 current Lises in the company - Celine Gittens, Momoko Hirata and Maureya Lebowitz.

[Two Pigeons]

I do hope the new Lises include Yvette Knight.  Added to that I expect Delia Mathews will be given a turn.

 

Having said that it is by no means a given that either of these ladies will be able to fulfil the really difficult technique the role requires.  This is absolutely no slur on either of them.  The list of real ballerinas who could be terrific Auroras but never attempted Lise is pretty surprising.  I went to a talk with Jennifer Penney who had success in all of the classics and she was asked about Lise.  She said she would never dance it as it was 'far too hard'.

 

I understand Antoinette Sibley danced it once but was taken out of the role pretty quickly.  Lynn Seymour never tried it, saying in her autobiography that she was 'not the butter churning type'.  I may well undermine my own argument by saying that it may well have been an issue of timing and more recent examples as Sylvie Guillem and Darcey Bussell were viewed as being too tall.   However, my seminal point is that not every ballerina has the right combination of technical talents to give the role its full value.