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The Royal Ballet: The Nutcracker, December 2018 - January 2019


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3 hours ago, annekh510 said:

 

I was at the Paul Hamlyn performance and this was not the Clara that day, unfortunately I didn't get a cast changes list (nor did I get a program which were free that day), it being my first time at the ROH. I think Clara was Isabella Gasperini, but I was sat quite far away and am guessing based on the blonde hair and the fact there was a rehearsal broadcast with her and David Yudes, due to injury.

 

 

Oh ok, that situation sounds familiar now

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1 hour ago, alison said:

If Clara was blonde, wouldn't it have been Meaghan Grace Hinkis?

 

I've looked at both their pictures and the rehearsal video on youtube and I'm pretty sure that despite my faulty memory that it was Isabella, her hair looks quite a light shade of brown, the stage lights could have lightened that a bit. I wish they put accurate cast lists online, or train the ushers better, especially with a house full of newbies. They announced a cast change at the beginning, which was how I knew I'd missed some others on paper.

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10 hours ago, annekh510 said:

I wish they put accurate cast lists online

 

Quite right annekh510 - the Paul Hamlyn performance was 15 December and the website still shows Ashley Dean as Clara:

 

https://www.roh.org.uk/events/gr2l9

 

It would help enormously if the ROH would ensure that casting is properly updated after each performance and ideally with a full cast list not just the principals - apologies for sounding like an an old LP stuck in the groove but some of the basics do require attention.

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6 hours ago, Saodan said:

Ashley Dean seems to be under the impression that she danced the 15th December Matinee. #15december2018 #matinee

 

huh, well I'm confused, I looked at the photo above and my first thought was that's not the Clara I saw, I don't know the Royal Ballet corps well enough to identify Ashley Dean, so I simply didn't know on the day, merely wondered knowing she was injured less than 3 weeks earlier. I could have sworn the hair was shorter with some natural wave/curl and fairer.

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A poster on balletalert reports that in Hamburg on New Year's Eve john Neumeier decided that to celebrate the day and the 300th performance of his Nutcracker, everyone should get to see their favourite dancers - so all the main roles were cast with 3 or 4 dancers. And they appeared all at the same time - somewhat chaotic but a lot of fun, by the sound of it. How about that for the last night of the current RB run?

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I have a thorny question. The SPF and Cavalier wigs are so white and powdered that they only look good on very fair-skinned dancers. What happens when dancers of color dance this role? Do they still wear the white powdered wigs? Like what do you do for dancers like Hayward and Carlos Acosta?

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I'm sure if Acosta had danced the Prince he'd have worn the white wig in just the same way that other dancers do e.g. in Manon - it was just the fashion at various times in history, regardless of skin tone.

 

And I too think Francesca Hayward really suits the white wig - if you think anyone does :)  (I do think they changed the shade of the blonde wig for Princess Stephanie in Mayerling for her, though)

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Personally I think the frosted wigs look a bit odd on the dancers with East Asian skin tone, but look fine on black/white mixed heritage dancers. They certainly don’t look as bizarre as when any darker-skinned dancer gets landed with one of the pale ginger courtesan wigs in Manon, perhaps because the frosted wigs aren’t trying to appear natural, and therefore can look equally unnatural and therefore equally splendid on most.

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3 hours ago, James said:

Jonathan Cope didn't wear a white wig when I saw this production in 2001. His wig may have been glittered, but it was certainly dark.

 

I'd need to check the video, but I don't think Miyako Yoshida did either.  I certainly remember her doing a Sugar Plum Fairy with frosted hair.  OTOH, that might not work too well on blondes.

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On 27/12/2018 at 22:09, Fonty said:

That is such a poignant bit of music.  Sometimes I think it is inappropriate for a pdd being danced by a sugar plum fairy and her prince in a cheery Christmas ballet, and instead should be incorporated into a piece featuring a pair of doomed lovers. 

 

  

Graeme Murphy's reimagining Nutcracker: the Story of Clara is the one you need to see, then, Fonty...

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53 minutes ago, Mary said:

I have watched that Cope/Yoshida performance so often I wore out my computer, Ivy Lin.

My favourites, both of them! and the hair does look better.

 

And I also love Alina Cojocaru and Ivan Putrov in this and Dowell too - it's just a perfect cast! It's great to spot all the future principals in smaller roles too like Watson and Morera.

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On 27/12/2018 at 09:00, Sim said:

This music chokes me up every time I hear it.  That and the SPF pdd music. 

And in my mind's eye, no matter how many  times  hear it, I only ever picture Alina and Ivan dancing this beautiful pdd....

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On 27/12/2018 at 13:59, Ivy Lin said:

 

My favorite Nutcrackers are George Balanchine's version which really gives very young ballet students a chance to shine, and has a much more intimate Christmas party. I also enjoyed Alexei Ratmansky's version, and Mark Morris's The Hard Nut. Also enjoyed on video the Kent Stowell production.

 

I just find that every year Peter Wright's version gets stuffier. I adored the Collier/Dowell video as well as the version he made for BRB so many years ago. But that video now seems quaint in its simplicity and charm and I think the RB production is overstuffed. Sometimes you get subtraction from addition.

Horses for courses I guess because I have never really taken to George Balanchine’s version despite trying several times when I lived in New York. 

I don’t think there’s a perfect version (disliked ENB’s version) but I’ve come to appreciate the RB’s version.

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23 minutes ago, alison said:

I don't suppose anyone has any idea of who might be the Rose Fairy tomorrow, or on the 15th?  Who's been dancing it this run?

 

I can tell you tomorrow evening if that helps 🤣

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24 minutes ago, alison said:

I don't suppose anyone has any idea of who might be the Rose Fairy tomorrow, or on the 15th?  Who's been dancing it this run?

Mayara Magri, Elizabeth Harrod, Claire Calvert, Beatriz Stix-Brunell as far as I’m aware.

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