Royal Ballet 2018/2019 Winter Season Casting

[Anna C]

It is nice to see.  I always feel rather sorry - for the first couple of years anyway - for the men who join the company as an Aud Jebsen Young Artist and during the following year or so.  Having spent a reasonable amount of time on stage while at Upper School (albeit in “Spear Carrying” or drink-pouring roles, they suddenly seem to disappear and get less stage time, rather than more. 

 

The ladies in that position seem to be used much more as Corps dancers so their time performing seems to remain quite steady without that sudden drop off.  It must be a harder transition for the men as there are fewer roles for male Aud Jebsen dancers and new Artists of the company.  

[Riva]

Are we now led to believe that cast changes won’t be announced full stop then? When there were changes for Mayerling, there was no web post as we’ve seen in previous years pre- open up, but those who had booked for affected performances were emailed (can’t remember if it was also posted on social media?). 

 

But no such email for Nutcracker, Les Patineurs or Two Pigeons.

 

Should we therefore conclude that if we want to be kept updated on cast changes the onus is on us to be checking the website regularly?

[Douglas Allen]

Even though some casting information has appeared it is still both confusing and insultingly limited, especially this close to the performance date. I don't know who is responsible for this mess the Royal Ballet or the web-team at the Opera House.

 

Looking at the site for the triple bill, there is just a list of dancers without any indication of who is dancing in what. If someone is due to appear in more than one ballet I don't know how they would cope. Then, when you go to the web page for each individual ballet, the casting given is insulting; one person listed for The Concert signally fails to appreciate the (relative) importance of each role. For Patineurs, to give only (presumably) the casting for Blue Boy is pathetic. No-one can try to pretend that there isn't casting finalised this close to performance date.

 

This farrago suggests that what is meant to be our country's leading artistic institutions is negligent of its responsibilities both to performers and to its audience.

 

By the way, who is due to be the pianist in The Concert? The website usually manages to give the concert master's details, but no mention (so far) of the solo pianist.

[capybara]

Unfortunately, the casting on the ROH website isn't to the clear format: (BALLET A) name, name, name / (BALLET B) name, name, name, name / (BALLET C) name, name, name

 

The slashes between the ballets make all the difference and allow for dancers to be named twice. When I read the reply quoted here, I thought that they had cracked this problem, but apparently not.

[Dawnstar]

I'm pleased Naghdi is still dancing 20th Dec eve (hope she won't be too knackered by then!) but disappointed that Corrales won't be. It would also be nice to know who some of the rest of the Patineurs cast is supposed to be. I've not seen the piece before but I understand that it's a mixture of solos, duets, trios and groups so there must be more than one member of cast - unless the RB has run so short of dancers that they're re-choreographing it as a solo piece!

 

I'm another one who is disappointed that there are no proper casting notifications now being sent. In the last couple of months I've started checking the ROH website almost every day to see if the casts I'm supposed to be seeing have changed, as evidently no one is bothering to alert us.

Edited December 11, 2018 by Dawnstar

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Douglas Allen said:

Even though some casting information has appeared it is still both confusing and insultingly limited, especially this close to the performance date. I don't know who is responsible for this mess the Royal Ballet or the web-team at the Opera House.

 

Looking at the site for the triple bill, there is just a list of dancers without any indication of who is dancing in what. If someone is due to appear in more than one ballet I don't know how they would cope. Then, when you go to the web page for each individual ballet, the casting given is insulting; one person listed for The Concert signally fails to appreciate the (relative) importance of each role. For Patineurs, to give only (presumably) the casting for Blue Boy is pathetic. No-one can try to pretend that there isn't casting finalised this close to performance date.

 

This farrago suggests that what is meant to be our country's leading artistic institutions is negligent of its responsibilities both to performers and to its audience.

 

By the way, who is due to be the pianist in The Concert? The website usually manages to give the concert master's details, but no mention (so far) of the solo pianist.

It's a sign of the times. Chaos! 

[MrsBBB]

3 hours ago, Douglas Allen said:

By the way, who is due to be the pianist in The Concert? The website usually manages to give the concert master's details, but no mention (so far) of the solo pianist.

 

It’s Rob Clarke. He spoke about the role and acting rehearsals in the recent Balanchine & Robbins insight evening (which was about their use of music and didn’t involve any dancers, other than in a bit of archive NYCB and POB footage).

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

I'm pleased Naghdi is still dancing 20th Dec eve (hope she won't be too knackered by then!) but disappointed that Corrales won't be. It would also be nice to know who some of the rest of the Patineurs cast is supposed to be. I've not seen the piece before but I understand that it's a mixture of solos, duets, trios and groups so there must be more than one member of cast - unless the RB has run so short of dancers that they're re-choreographing it as a solo piece!

 

I'm another one who is disappointed that there are no proper casting notifications now being sent. In the last couple of months I've started checking the ROH website almost every day to see if the casts I'm supposed to be seeing have changed, as evidently no one is bothering to alert us.

From the Flickr photos, I would guess that in addition to the Blue Skater, the White Couple are Hamilton and Clarke, or Kaneko and Bracewell. One of two Blue Girls is Choe. One cast of Red Girls are Magri and Stix-Brunell. That's what I have been able to piece together.

 

In previous years we have been informed of casting of the most prominent members of the ballet :Blue Skaters (1 male and 2 females), plus the White Couple (originally Fonteyn and Helpmann). The cast is also made up of 2 Red Girls and the 4 Brown Couples. 

[Sim]

This is almost turning into pot-luck ballet. You turn up, and you get what you get.  Luckily, with the company in its current form, we are unlikely to feel disappointed or short-changed.

[Douglas Allen]

On 31/10/2018 at 19:01, Richard LH said:

Well I have said this before, and I also don't know how detailed advance casting was in previous years,  but it seems to me that notwithstanding a few recent glitches the RB is trying to give us ( Friend or not) as much advance casting information as it reasonably can. Certainly much better than any other company.

As it is now the pantomime season, I feel like saying

 

"Oh no they're not!"

[bangorballetboy]

When I went to Munich recently to see Jewels, the first casting announcement was when the cast was posted on the outside of the theatre on the day of the performance.  Just saying...

[Odyssey]

6 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

When I went to Munich recently to see Jewels, the first casting announcement was when the cast was posted on the outside of the theatre on the day of the performance.  Just saying...

Yes, we do get to hear about the main casting roles well in advance of many leading companies. Until recently,I hadn’t realised just how late some are and this is a perfect example. As someone said earlier, the number of superb dancers there are at all levels in the company means you are not going to be disappointed, particularly with a programme such as the forthcoming triple bill with ballets that have multiple opportunities for dancers to shine.

[Douglas Allen]

2 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

When I went to Munich recently to see Jewels, the first casting announcement was when the cast was posted on the outside of the theatre on the day of the performance.  Just saying...

 

I don't buy the logic of your argument. It's like saying to someone on Universal Credit and a user of food banks that "hey it could be worse, you could be living in South Sudan and you would really know what hunger means". That someone, somewhere else, has a bad situation is neither a justification for nor should be an acceptance of a poor and inadequate information system here.

The Royal Ballet used to provide, and was an exemplar for other companies, significantly more comprehensive casting information than it now does. I  see no reason why we, the paying public, should willingly accept so much poorer a service than used to be provided.

[Anna C]

I think that’s exactly it, Douglas.  Yes, historically the ROH has given us more detailed casting in advance than other companies, but that doesn’t mean the detail can or should now descend to the lowest standard without customers noticing or complaining.  When I book for ENB or Matthew Bourne, I book by date KNOWING that casting will be pot luck (it helps that the tickets are markedly cheaper, mind you).

 

With RB I book for the dates AND particular dancers (illness and injury notwithstanding) which in the past has been possible because cast information has always been available.  What irritates me (and seemingly several others) is the sudden loss of that information without notice, good reason or a corresponding drop in ticket prices.  No organisation can suddenly provide a worse service or less information without people saying “hang on a minute”.

[bangorballetboy]

I tend to disagree with suggestions that there is markedly reduced information about casting.  There is one bill where there's not a lot of info, and matters have been specifically disrupted by the Cats issues.  

 

Patineurs is very much an ensemble piece and, for me anyway, I don't go to see it for any particular performer or part.  Historically, I think (but may be mistaken), advance casting was really only the blue boy and the white couple, but the casting doesn't really affect whether I want to go to see it or not.

 

Casting of the principal parts for Winter Dreams is available, and for the Concert the female lead has been announced and that (IIRC) also follows historical precedent.

 

For the Spring booking period, full standard casting is already announced (including the lead role in a new piece).  This suggests that the issues identified are a blip relating to current circumstances.

 

I'm, therefore, giving the RB the benefit of the doubt here and, as I noted, the RB is still well ahead of every other company I'm aware of worldwide as to advance casting information.

 

[Scheherezade]

9 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

... and, as I noted, the RB is still well ahead of every other company I'm aware of worldwide as to advance casting information.

 

 

I think that the point being made by previous posters was that the RB should aim higher then the lowest common denominator.

[Lizbie1]

My beef is with misinformation, for example Hayward being still listed for 2 Pigeons long after it was publicly known that she wouldn’t be appearing. I don’t understand why, if they were still waiting to confirm Naghdi, this wasn’t replaced with a TBC.

[alison]

... Hay still being listed as Blue Skater up until a day or two ago ... Bonelli still showing up in Nutcracker (I believe, from what others said) ... - rather than being TBC'd.

 

I mean, I suppose I mind less provided that I can still see that "this is Cast A, this is Cast B, ..." because then I can make reasonable assumptions that it will probably be the same batch of unlisted dancers for those shows even if the listed dancer changes, but at the moment I have tickets for all 6 Patineurs performances just in case.  I may not want to bother going and seeing the same cast twice for some performances (James Hay doing Blue Skater would have ensured I went to both of those ), but until I've seen them I don't know.

[Josephine]

57 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

Patineurs is very much an ensemble piece and, for me anyway, I don't go to see it for any particular performer or part.  Historically, I think (but may be mistaken), advance casting was really only the blue boy and the white couple, but the casting doesn't really affect whether I want to go to see it or not.

 

Casting of the principal parts for Winter Dreams is available, and for the Concert the female lead has been announced and that (IIRC) also follows historical precedent.

 

For the Spring booking period, full standard casting is already announced (including the lead role in a new piece).  This suggests that the issues identified are a blip relating to current circumstances.

 

 

I agree re: Les Patineurs and re: current information for the Spring booking period.

 

However, I would have welcomed more information for the other works in the Winter mixed bill. Although I've definitely reached an age when memory can play tricks, I am certain that advance casting information was given for the Husband and Wife roles when RB last performed The Concert (apologies if I have misremembered the role names). I have no knowledge of standard practice on this for earlier RB performances of The Concert or for performances by other companies.

 

When RB last performed Winter Dreams the advance information included casting for Kulygin (then Jonathan Cope in first cast). I think this role sufficiently significant for casting to be announced alongside the other principal roles. The recent Culture Whisper interview with Laura Morera tells us that Nehemiah Kish is Kulygin in her cast, so it appears that casting for this role has been decided.

[Xandra Newman]

1 hour ago, Lizbie1 said:

My beef is with misinformation, for example Hayward being still listed for 2 Pigeons long after it was publicly known that she wouldn’t be appearing. I don’t understand why, if they were still waiting to confirm Naghdi, this wasn’t replaced with a TBC.

 

I think there is little or no communication between the RB staff and the people responsible for updating the ROH website casting (or they don't follow up?)

 

Naghdi mentioned in an interview a few weeks ago that she was dancing her debut as the Young Girl in Two Pigeons so it was already decided then, if not long before!

Yet only as of yesterday was her name added on the ROH website -Two Pigeons casting  

[Sophoife]

...or as Joyce Grenfell might have said, "Now, children, we're all going to sit very very quietly and make sure our ears and eyes are working very very hard ... no, George, don't do that ... and now that we are all sitting very very quietly ... no, George ... and now I'm clicking on the casting link so we can all see which of the marvellous Royal Ballet dancers is going to be on the stage and dancing when we go to the theatre. Yes, Camilla, there will be ladies on their tippy-toes. Yes, just like that. Now, we're all sitting very very ... Camilla, I said sitting ... and I'm clicking on the link and ... oh. Very well, children, everyone's been very very quiet for quite long enough now, I think we'd better do some dancing of our own. Who can dance like a snowflake today? Camilla? Sophie? No, George, don't do that ..."

 

With apologies to the late Mrs Grenfell, but I do hope Richard Addinsell was at the piano for this performance! 😉

[JohnS]

I asked the following using the Royal Opera House's contact form 11 December:

"The casting for opening night (Winter Dreams) is still showing TBC.  Surely casting is now known?
There's a lot of criticism about the incompleteness of casting information and I would urge the Royal Opera House to provide better information.  
Having the full cast list for the Nutcracker opening night was an excellent example of what is possible.  It's set the highest standards and given your commitment to excellence in all aspects of performance and experience, I would love the Royal Opera House to meet those standards consistently and for excellence to be the norm."

 

Reply just received:

"Please accept our apologies with the incompleteness of casting information. I have been in touch with our Digital team and they are aware of the frustrations and are working hard to rectify the issues to ensure all casting information is available as early as possible."

 

As a footnote and not sure this is the right place as there are comments on casting misinformation in so many threads but I just noticed the Christmas Radio Times has Riccardo Muti conducting the New Year's Day concert on Radio 3 but Christian Thielemann conducting on  BBC2/4 - I'm wondering if I might prefer the radio?

 

 

[Richard LH]

On 11/12/2018 at 07:29, Josephine said:

Claire Calvert, Laura Morera, Akane Takada, Itziar Mendizabal, Marianela Nuñez and Yasmine Naghdi in rehearsal

..... for Winter Dreams 

Good day attending a very entertaining  Backstage Tour (our guide was particularly humorous) - we saw Nunez being coached for Winter Dreams  by Darcey Bussell, and  Soares by another gentleman, whilst  Akane Takada and Sarah Lamb, amongst others, passed right by us in the viewing room. They are as delightful up close as seen from afar! We  also saw Laura Morera in the street. I am feeling rather like a groupie now...

[Dawnstar]

5 hours ago, alison said:

... Hay still being listed as Blue Skater up until a day or two ago ... Bonelli still showing up in Nutcracker (I believe, from what others said) ... - rather than being TBC'd.

Yes, Bonelli is still being listed in Nutcracker. I have a ticket for 9th January & have been checking the ROH website for that performance almost every day for weeks, since it was announced that he was going to be on sabbatical, but there's still no change, even though Sambe has replaced Hay in the interim. I'm not sure whether I should be hoping that Bonelli may turn up after all or if it definitely is just incompetance in not changing his name to TBC.

[alison]

"Due to illness", Marianela Nunez will be replaced in Winter Dreams tomorrow by Sarah Lamb    The change from high drama to comedy within half an hour should be an interesting challenge for Ms Lamb!

[capybara]

Lamb replaces Nunez in Winter Dreams tomorrow night.

 

Edited to note simultaneous posting with alison and to add that, given that Lamb is the lead in The Concert, it would have been a nice option to have had a Morera/Soares combo and see how her amazingness would rub off on him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2019 by capybara

[Blossom]

Just received an email to say that Alexander Campbell replaces Steven McRae in Don Q, dancing with Akane Takada. Finally! Also particularly pleased to see him as I don’t think I have had an opportunity since Manon.

[miriskusnik]

I've just had an email about Asphodel Meadows/Two Pigeons:

 

"We are contacting you to let you know that due to injury Cesar Corrales will be replaced by Tristan Dyer on 19 January at 12pm, 2 February at 2pm and 5 February at 7.30pm. This necessitates that Tristan Dyer will be replaced by Leo Dixon." 

[Sim]

5 minutes ago, Blossom said:

Just received an email to say that Alexander Campbell replaces Steven McRae in Don Q, dancing with Akane Takada. Finally! Also particularly pleased to see him as I don’t think I have had an opportunity since Manon.

So is McRae injured again?  Very pleased that Alex will be getting this chance.  

[bridiem]

1 minute ago, Sim said:

So is McRae injured again?  Very pleased that Alex will be getting this chance.  

 

I assumed it was just because he won't be back from Cats yet - or was he due back by then?

[LinMM]

Oh dear looks like Corrales injury is more serious then ....hope he is back for Feb 27th when booked to see him in DonQ

I didn't realise he was in Two Pigeons anyway.

[Lizbie1]

6 minutes ago, miriskusnik said:

I've just had an email about Asphodel Meadows/Two Pigeons:

 

"We are contacting you to let you know that due to injury Cesar Corrales will be replaced by Tristan Dyer on 19 January at 12pm, 2 February at 2pm and 5 February at 7.30pm. This necessitates that Tristan Dyer will be replaced by Leo Dixon." 

 

I thought it had been deduced that only Principals had cast change notifications sent about them?

 

I’m not objecting to any change in policy, mind!

[Richard LH]

It is because of Cats Sim.

 

I hoped it might be Campbell - Brilliant !  

Edited January 10, 2019 by Richard LH