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Royal Ballet - Don Quixote - Spring 2019


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32 minutes ago, RHowarth said:

Didn't they used to have a symbol next to the dancer's name - and then an explanatory key saying it was the dancer's debut? 

I thought so, marked with an asterisk, but clearly we are both wrong!  😃

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Cast changes used to be annotated in this way, with a footnote.

 

Looking at my cast sheets it would appear this stopped at the beginning of the 2017/18 season. The cast sheet for Mayerling on 13th May 2017 indicates that Takada was replacing Lamb. The cast sheet for Alice on 28th September 2017 does not say that O'Sullivan was replacing Lamb. Neither are noted as debuts, though both were. 

 

Incidentally, none of my cast sheets for performances by Ferri, Salenko, and Shklyarov mention that they were guests or their parent company. At least Camargo is not alone...

Edited by Saodan
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1 hour ago, Saodan said:

Cast changes used to be annotated in this way, with a footnote.

 

 

Indeed they did.  I could have sworn that debuts were also marked this way as well, although I have looked through some of my old cast sheets and can't see any.  But that could just mean that I haven't seen a debut for a very long time.

 

I thought they also used to put the year of the first performance of a particular ballet, as well as the number of performances that the company has done.  Was that a figment of my imagination?  They certainly don't do it now, which is a pity, I think, as I don't always remember to check.  I was reminded of this when I got chatting to a couple of people at 2P, and we were trying to guess how long ago it was created.  I was closest, and I was about 4 years out.  

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I don't remember the year being recorded, although possibly that depends on how far back you go.  Again, the booking brochure would have had the year the production was created, but that might not be the same as when the ballet was first performed.  It certainly isn't the case for the opera, which not infrequently changes production on a pretty regular basis, even for works which aren't a particular staple of the repertoire (again, thinking of the 3 or 4 productions of Eugene Onegin we've had since I first saw it in, I think 1994).

 

Anyway, perhaps it's time to get back to discussing Don Quixote ...

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Suddenly (at least I think this is the case) there is a whole block of  over 100 seats for sale for Don Q 01 April  (Culbertson / Ball) - all in a virtual block, to the rear of the  Orchestra Stalls. This seems rather strange, given all other areas for that performance are shown as sold out, as are all performances prior to that date; plus for the following  last 2 performances (03 and 04 April) there are  currently only 17 and 6 tickets available respectively. 

 

Can anyone offer a likely explanation for the sudden release of this  large  block of OS seats for  the 01 April?  other than April Fools Day of course......

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37 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

Suddenly (at least I think this is the case) there is a whole block of  over 100 seats for sale for Don Q 01 April  (Culbertson / Ball) - all in a virtual block, to the rear of the  Orchestra Stalls. This seems rather strange, given all other areas for that performance are shown as sold out, as are all performances prior to that date; plus for the following  last 2 performances (03 and 04 April) there are  currently only 17 and 6 tickets available respectively. 

 

I noticed that too ...

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53 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

 

Thanks Lizbie. It just seemed such a large block, appearing out of the blue. 

 

I wonder why a) the ROH gives so many tickets to agencies given how popular their performances generally are anyway, and b) why this performance seems to have sold so poorly through the agencies when DQ has generally sold so well through the ROH itself?

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1 hour ago, Richard LH said:

Suddenly (at least I think this is the case) there is a whole block of  over 100 seats for sale for Don Q 01 April  (Culbertson / Ball) - all in a virtual block, to the rear of the  Orchestra Stalls. This seems rather strange, given all other areas for that performance are shown as sold out, as are all performances prior to that date; plus for the following  last 2 performances (03 and 04 April) there are  currently only 17 and 6 tickets available respectively. 

 

Can anyone offer a likely explanation for the sudden release of this  large  block of OS seats for  the 01 April?  other than April Fools Day of course......

Could’ve been travel agency? 

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3 hours ago, Richard LH said:

Suddenly (at least I think this is the case) there is a whole block of  over 100 seats for sale for Don Q 01 April  (Culbertson / Ball) - all in a virtual block, to the rear of the  Orchestra Stalls. This seems rather strange, given all other areas for that performance are shown as sold out, as are all performances prior to that date; plus for the following  last 2 performances (03 and 04 April) there are  currently only 17 and 6 tickets available respectively. 

 

Can anyone offer a likely explanation for the sudden release of this  large  block of OS seats for  the 01 April?  other than April Fools Day of course......

 

the same thing happened with the Osipova Mayerling two years ago.

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I am afraid I don't agree with you Sim !

 

I think Fumi Kaneko is an extremely elegant and beautiful dancer,  she has a strong and complete technique but she seemed miscast as Kitri.

 

Incredibly boring ! She made nothing of the part !  Daniel Camargo is a bit in the same situation which means Espada and Mercedes were much more exciting tonight !

 

Kaneko and Camargo are very beautiful and lyrical dancers but not for Kitri and Basilio !  And on top of that they had absolutely no connection. :(

 

 

Edited by MAX
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1 hour ago, MAX said:

I am afraid I don't agree with you Sim !

 

I think Fumi Kaneko is an extremely elegant and beautiful dancer,  she has a strong and complete technique but she seemed miscast as Kitri.

 

Incredibly boring ! She made nothing of the part !  Daniel Camargo is a bit in the same situation which means Espada and Mercedes were much more exciting tonight !

 

Kaneko and Camargo are very beautiful and lyrical dancers but not for Kitri and Basilio !  And on top of that they had absolutely no connection. :(

 

 

 Isn't it funny Max that one can have such utterly different impressions. I'm afraid I don't agree with you :)

 

I thought that Kaneko really made something of it, playful, kittenish, joyous, hilariously outraged with her father and gamache. She had me smiling from ear to ear throughout, what confidence and panache in act 1 and 3 and with the technical ability to pull off the choreography! In act 2, she was pure élégant lyrical classical, gosh I'd love to see her in sleeping beauty or Swan Lake, such soft bourrées and yet also sailing through the diagonal of grand jetés, just glorious! She demonstrated to me that she could act and bring a character to life, as well as be both a technical fireworks and a stunningly lyrical classical type of dancer. As Annamk remarked above after last weekend's matinee, a performance worthy of an experienced principal, just dazzling! 

 

Camargo maybe took a little while longer to warm up, but there were some wonderful moments of flirting, teasing Kitri in the first half of act 1, and more tender teasing in the second half. He seemed less at ease with the naturalistic style than the rest of the RB dancers but given that he was parachuted in but a few weeks ago to replace injured Bracewell, I feel like he did a good job and he really came out of his shell by act 3. 

 

I on the other hand liked edmonds and mendizabal as espada and Mercedes, but didn't feel like they set the stage on fire quite like Hirano and Morera for example and I certainly didn't think they stole the show by any means. 

 

Lukas B-B and romany padjak on the other hand as the lead gypsies... Wow what stage presence. Padjak was utterly beguiling with those eyes and backbends, extraordinary! 

 

A final shout out to Anna Rose osullivan as Kitri's friend with her attack and verve, and to all the RB dancers on stellar form. 

Edited by Clara_f
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It’s a shame that Lukas and Romany didnt get a curtain call as the gypsy pair, but by then they are back in the corps in Spanish costume. They certainly deserved a curtain call though imo. Ballet gypsies do get all the fun ( Two Pigeons, Don Q ) !!

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I completely agree with Clara’s excellent post above.  I thought Fumi’s depiction of Kitri was fun, flirtatious, warm, elegant and technically excellent whilst all the time remembering that this is a classical ballet and not the place for vulgarity.  For me, she ticked all the boxes to get this character right. Considering that she and Camargo don’t know each other and had little rehearsal time, and that he is new to the company, they had nice chemistry, flirting and joking with each other, and lots of eye contact. I liked him because he was a very likeable Basilio.  I was also very impressed with Nicol Edmonds as Espada...he got the balance just right:  a jaunty, tongue-in-cheek arrogance coupled with excellent dancing. I really liked Itziar’s Mercedes too. Isabella Gasparini sparkled as Amour, and I would have been happy if she had just stood still on the stage and flashed us that splendid sunny smile!  Lukas B-B and Romany (apt name!) Pajdak smouldered as the gypsy couple.  Gary Avis gave a very poignant account of the Don. 

 

For me, this was a wonderful performance all round.  

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I made sure I watched Romany Pajdak's trick at the end of the gypsy couple piece again, I only just saw it first time around

 

I also loved Yuhui as the Queen of the Dryads, too bad she didn't have a curtain call, she looked beautiful in that dress

Edited by Rob S
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Very happy for Fumi Kaneko that she has danced two terrific shows - saying that especially  in the light of the injury she sustained in Act 1 of the original run in 2013.

 

I was impressed with Nicol Edmonds' Espada. Good characterisation and 'stage energy'.

 

Has there been a show yet where Anna Rose O'Sullivan hasn't either been Amour or one of Kitri's friends? Loving her as both!

Edited by capybara
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1 hour ago, capybara said:

 

 

Has there been a show yet where Anna Rose O'Sullivan hasn't either been Amour or one of Kitri's friends? Loving her as both!

 

And of course on Saturday evening she was both 

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