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English National Ballet - Le Corsaire, 2013/14

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Jan McNulty

Jan McNulty

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Well, what can I say, I was there for the evening performance on 17th October and I loved the production from the moment I clapped eyes on the front cloth till the moment the curtain fell at the end.

 

I know the story line is a bit thin and convoluted but it doesn't matter a jot - it just provides a framework for some fantastic dancing.

 

I loved the sets, particularly act 1 with its backcloth of Istanbul(?) that could have been painted by David Roberts or Edward Lear.  The boat was fantastic too.  I loved the gaudy costumes.  The tutus in the Jardin Animee scene are breath-takingly beautiful.

 

The whole company seemed engaged and relishing the challenge.  I liked the way the townspeople in act 1 portrayed village life carrying on from the terrified slave girls waiting to be sold to the market sellers selling their wares.  The pirates were suitably piratical.  Juan Rodriguez (a favourite of mine since I saw him as Elvis with the Schaufuss company) was absolutely hilarious as the Pasha's Assistant.

 

I thought the three Odalisques (Lauretta Summerscales. Alison McWhinney and Shiori Kase) were delightful - all danced beautifully.

 

In the Jardin Animee, for me, Nancy Osbaldeston also stood out.

 

Vadim Muntagirov was just stunning as Conrad, such a beautiful dancer whose stage presence has just grown and grown.  His elegance may have told against him in this role (does anyone ever think of pirates as elegant?) but he acted the role so well it seemed just right!  Alina Cojocaru looked as though she loved every minute of being on stage - such joy - a wonderful Medora.  Erina Takahashi was sublime as Gulnare.  Dmitri Gruzdyev shone as Lankendem.  Junor Souza and Jonah Acosta were both outstanding as Ali and Birbanto respectively.

 

You may have gathered by now that I just loved this production!!!

 

Congratulations to Tamara Rojo and the whole company for giving us such a wonderful  and joyous production to enjoy.  I hope it is a riproaring success for them.

 

I can't wait to see it again!

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Bruce

Bruce

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Don't's do this v often but wanted to draw attention to ENB's latest - from the start a very, very, good show. The review w pics is at:
http://dancetabs.com/2013/10/english-national-ballet-le-corsaire-premiere-milton-keynes/


English National Ballet
Le Corsaire
Milton Keynes, Milton Keynes Theatre
17 October 2013
http://www.ballet.org.uk
Tour details
http://www.ballet.org.uk/whats-on/lecorsaire/

Yes, yes, yes!

Well those are the answers, and my questions were:

1) Do you sometimes long to go out for some pure escapist ballet fun where nobody really gets hurt and you can grin yourself silly ear to ear?

2) Do you long for wonderful classical dancing in spectacular costumes and gorgeous sets?

3) Do you think English National Ballet have got an enormous winner of a production on their hands?

As you can see I had more than a good time at the first night of ENB's brand new Le Corsaire. It might have a bonkers plot worthy of Crossroads or Acorn Antiques (think pirates, concubines, ship wreck, pantomime Pasha and slaves) and the music might have all the nuanced depth of Looney Tunes but this is wonderful entertainment based on deep professional understanding by all involved. There is a palpable sense of purpose and swagger around ENB at the moment.

The production, sympathetically put on by Anna-Marie Holmes and based on her 1992 version for Boston Ballet, burrows back into the Russian ancestry for the action and score with its Adolphe Adam base and 8 other composer credits from Delibes to Minkus. It's a terrific work for the male dancers in a company and all these additions and alterations along the way are really about upping the sparkle and bravura for all. The Holmes production is notable for being very fast-paced - each of the 3 acts is barely longer than half an hour and within minutes of curtain up the story is established and you are knee-deep in colourful dance. No boring bits here.

Much has been made of Bob Ringwood's involvement - he designed Batman and Alien 3 and I was worried what he might do to the old warhorse. Well no worries - the designs are very traditional with painted multi-layered vistas receding into the distance and richly colourful costumes for all from pirates to harem. And with tons of glitter to catch the eye, too - how the old pasha, Michael Coleman, manages to walk I don't know.

The great Alina Cojocaru, newly and surprisingly now a member of the company, was Medora and clearly having cheeky fun while delivering the flashy steps with gorgeous musicality. Erina Takahashi (Gulnare) was also well on top of the technicalities and full marks to the 3 Odalisques (Shiori Kase, Alison McWhinney, Lauretta Summerscales), all delivering delightfully honed steps from the outset and very together. On the male side Vadim Muntagirov (Conrad) showed a more effervescent personality then I ever expected and competed with Cojocaru for technical chops (if he still, in his understated way, has a little bit to learn yet). Junor Souza as Ali went for bravura broke, ditto Yonah Acosta as Birbanto and the Pirates proved themselves anything but ramshackle. Was it all perfect - well not quite perhaps, but it's the vivacious enthusiasm of all on stage that makes the show such a hit.

A first night of superlatives and Tamara Rojo's done the country (not just London) a terrific service in her first full-evening commission. You'd be daft to miss Corsaire as it tours the UK. Bravo all.

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MAB

MAB

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I agree with everything I’ve read about this Corsaire, it is an almighty hit and it looks as if it will provide a host of interesting roles for the company members.  I went to the two performances on Saturday and apart from admiring the production as a whole, I was amazed at how quickly the dancers were settling into their roles with everyone displaying a degree of verve and panache that usually comes with dancing in the ballet for years.  Both casts I saw were excellent but the matinee with Takahashi and Acosta-the-younger was one of the best things I’ve seen all year, a Medora of charm and mischievousness matched with impeccable technique and a dashing Conrad providing a display of jaw-dropping virtuosity including that spin to the knee at the end of one of his variations that Mukhamedov used to do so well and that few can emulate: young Mr Acosta has star written all over him.  The Gulnare of Shiori Kase who danced at both matinee and evening was just gorgeous and I hope the ENB powers-that-be give her a Medora at some point as she is more than ready to dance a lead.  In the evening Junor Souza had his best role with the company so far as he is an ideal Ali with a little of the feline quality I used to admire in Nureyev and Ruzimatov in that role.

 

A fabulous day out.  Thank you ENB.

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MrZee

MrZee

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Travelled from London to watch ast night's show at Southampton, and our efforts paid major dividends.  The performance was spectacular . . . Tamara as Medora was her usual divine self, Vadim as Ali displayed virile power, and Guest Mathew Golding as Conrad showed off his handsome best.  Soloists (especially the lovely Lauretta Summerscales) and corps in top form and, as most prior posters have stated, the scenery and costumes are top-notch.  Will try to see the show again (and again) at the Coliseum in January.  Highly, highly recommend this ballet to anyone interested in enjoying a great time watching excellent dancing!

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Beryl H

Beryl H

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Travelled from London to watch ast night's show at Southampton, and our efforts paid major dividends.  The performance was spectacular . . . Tamara as Medora was her usual divine self, Vadim as Ali displayed virile power, and Guest Mathew Golding as Conrad showed off his handsome best.  Soloists (especially the lovely Lauretta Summerscales) and corps in top form and, as most prior posters have stated, the scenery and costumes are top-notch.  Will try to see the show again (and again) at the Coliseum in January.  Highly, highly recommend this ballet to anyone interested in enjoying a great time watching excellent dancing!

 

I'm glad to know that Vadim Muntagirov dances Ali at some performances,  am excited about seeing several casts at the Coliseum!

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Bruce Wall

Bruce Wall

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ENB's Le Corsaire (which I had the great good fortune to see at its opening performance on Tuesday at Southampton's vibrant Mayflower Theatre) doesn't just begin. It explodes.  The orchestra as lead by the insightful Gavin Sutherland blasts forth the opening notes.  You jump from your seat at this mix of nine composers and remain elevated BY ALL for a full three acts.  

 

The rich colours of Bob Ringwood's glorious sets and costumes blaze forth allowing the wholly befitting vivaciousness of classical balletic shapes here vitally apparent to hold their appropriate and true substance.  It matters not a jot that the narrative shards left over from from the muscle of Byron's verse drift ever further into the decorative ether.  Here they are but bones that house this wonderfully festive dancing flesh.  In ENB's courageous hands Anne-Marie Holmes' production more than breathes; it laughs, it weeps, it sneers (both with and at our human foibles).  Yes, of course, it emotes but it does so with the most vital ornamentation.  This is balletic 'bel canto'.  Above ALL it dances forward with every possible shape of possibility (and, as a result, we believe, probability) both here and to come.  It is a production SO NEEDED for our times.  It sustains with a renewed (and renewing) zeal. THAT for me IS the real achievement; one that marks this calling card out, say, from the careful reserve of the toreadors in the Royal Ballet's new go at Don Quixote. (That is, I think, a fitting comparison as both works share with latticed glee in the absurdity with which they view their original source materials.)  

 

The TRUE victory here - FOR ENB - and let us be clear this IS a TRIUMPH - is that of the courage of TAMARA ROJO.  To shout a mere 'Brava' seems in her vision's regard almost churlish.  This extraordinary young woman possesses the courage not only to stick to her own convictions but to swallow hard on everyone's behalf.  We have, of course, seen her on a cornucopia of world stages spin oh, so many blissfully original effects before our privileged eyes.  HERE she hooks our hearts in a vivid display of her Company's present and future potential.  On this occasion Rojo wasn't even on stage - (Alina Cojocaru led forth with the benevolence of a refreshed gusto that enraptured all within her chivalrous reach) - and yet TAMARA WAS.  She was present throughout.  The vivid sweep of her tenacious solicitation housed within this first fully British production of Le Corsaire invited ALL simply because of the furtiveness of its humanity.  The curtain rose and suddenly we were allowed to taste the plausible excitement for this company's future.  That is what Rojo promised.  THAT is what she delivered.  

 

Not all of it is, as yet, of course perfect.  You wouldn't want it to be:  Ever perhaps.  Still as I looked about the fantastic mint surrounds during this Corsaire's maiden voyage in The Mayflower - so magnificently reflected in this production's 'Jardin' sequence - I was thrilled to watch an audience entirely entranced.  They had come to be entertained.  Here you felt them buoy.  The sensation was palpable.  They did so as Yonah Acosta found an enhanced detail within the glow of his enlarged theatrical size as Birbanto; they positively thrilled to Junor Souza's exciting variation (replete with the length of his legato line) as Ali in the pas d'action; they giggled at the delightful sense made of the nonsensical by the admirable Michael Coleman as the glittering Pasha and were entirely entranced by pristine raillery of Erina Takahashi's noble Gulnare and the filigreed precision of Shiori Kase, Ksenia Ovsyanick (wow), Laurretta Summerscales, Nancy Osbaldeston and the always fine Crystal Costa as either Odalisques or Roses.  It was, in fact, the COMPANY that rose as the leading star.

 

Vadim Muntagriov as Conrad was, of course, held aloft by his always dedicated elegance.  What marked this performance for me was the progression this fine dancer has made in the development of his dramatic armory.  More, I know, will come.  The pas de deux in the second act with Cojocaru (here as enchanting as she was enchanted) was a masterclass in partnering.  The audience literally gasped as he threw the object of his affections into their first significant fish dive of romantic passion.  

 

But then, as I said, we were already suspended in the glory of our disbelief.  We were - and I would suggest are - part of it.  That IS the magic.

 

Thank you, Tamara, for this truly elevating gift.  

 

Bless you.  Bless you for ALL.   

Edited by Meunier
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John Mallinson

John Mallinson

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I am not an expert in ballet, nor in reading reviews.

 

If you think that my thoughts are preposterous, then I shall not post on this thread any longer.

 

No, no. Don't do that. I actually thought you were joking. I assume you disagreed with her assessment – I think all of us find things in reviews which don't match our own feelings about what we've seen.

 

If you think about it the idea that one of the New York Times's dance critics would post in such detail from the USA about a performance not personally witnessed is a bit far-fetched. I hope one can assume that the Jayson Blair incident was a one off.

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Fonty

Fonty

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It is great to see these wonderful reviews.  As a matter of interest, was the theatre brimming with people?

 

It seems that the London venue is starting to fill up nicely, and it has always been difficult to fill that theatre!

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Bruce Wall

Bruce Wall

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It is great to see these wonderful reviews.  As a matter of interest, was the theatre brimming with people?

 

It seems that the London venue is starting to fill up nicely, and it has always been difficult to fill that theatre!

 

The Mayflower on Tuesday wasn't entirely full, Fonteyn22.  (The balcony was closed.)  But then this is the fourth largest theatre in the UK and I suspect it was much fuller for a Tuesday night than it would normally otherwise be.  The friend who I attended with (who is a local) said that one contributing factor might be that many commerical productions (especially ones searching for a family audience) locally begin at 7.00 pm on week/school nights as opposed to 7.30 pm.  One thing I think you can be assured of, Fonteyn22, is that the next time this production sails into town - as it inevitably will, should and MUST- the place WILL BE packed.  There will be just SO many people wanting to take their families and friends to see this for, I suspect, generations to come.  

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capybara

capybara

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It is just great to read such enthusiasm for ENB.

 

Interestingly, the positive press coverage seems to have penetrated people's consciousness and I have spoken to a number of non-regulars who have decided to make Le Corsaire at the Coli their Christmas/New Year family treat.

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Fonty

Fonty

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Thanks Meunier, I am very pleased to hear that.  It is depressing sometimes to see excellent dance productions going to "the Provinces" and then getting poor audiences.  An interesting point about the timing of the show.  Presumably there is a very good reason for starting at 7.30pm?  I am wondering if it is something to do with dancers' recovery time after rehearsal, or something like that?  Never having been a professional dancer, I am not quite sure what sort of hours they work!

 

Otherwise, the savvy Miss Rojo will hopefully read your comment, and maybe adjust the show's timing accordingly.  It does make sense, now I think about it. 

 

Fonty

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taxi4ballet

taxi4ballet

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No, no. Don't do that. I actually thought you were joking. I assume you disagreed with her assessment – I think all of us find things in reviews which don't match our own feelings about what we've seen.

 

If you think about it the idea that one of the New York Times's dance critics would post in such detail from the USA about a performance not personally witnessed is a bit far-fetched. I hope one can assume that the Jayson Blair incident was a one off.

 

You must have been posting this at exactly the same time as I was sending a PM to you :)

 

All I meant was that I found it strange that the first review to appear in a foreign newspaper could be so at odds with every other review, both in the press, and all the tremendously complimentary ones on here.

 

It is the first time I have ever been to a 'First Night', and also the first time I have ever been able to read the reviews having actually seen the performance being discussed (and yes, I did disagree with her review!).

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Bruce

Bruce

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You must have been posting this at exactly the same time as I was sending a PM to you :)

 

All I meant was that I found it strange that the first review to appear in a foreign newspaper could be so at odds with every other review, both in the press, and all the tremendously complimentary ones on here.

 

It is the first time I have ever been to a 'First Night', and also the first time I have ever been able to read the reviews having actually seen the performance being discussed (and yes, I did disagree with her review!).

I was hugely surprised by your initial comment. It's not if you know much about ballet or writing but about doing at least a little research before dishing out a slur about anything in life, or in this case a v well respected critic writing for the best dance newspaper in the world.

 

All critics see things differently and I didn't see the Sulcas review as a million miles away from Judith Mackrell's - who gave it 3 stars.

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LinMM

LinMM

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I will be having my first visit to the Mayflower in May. I had no idea it was the fourth largest in the country though.

 

Thanks for that wonderful review Meunier....every time I read one I can't wait till Jan 12th when seeing in London.....with this and Osipova's Giselle in the same month should see the January blues through nicely!!

 

 

Taxi please keep posting!!

I must admit when you read some reviews you do wonder if the person (not necessarily this lady) was actually at the same performance as yourself!!

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