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The Royal Ballet: The Winter's Tale, Spring 2014


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I had read the synopsis, reviews anf much else besides before coming to London. I also knew the play

Yes I could follow the story but I could not get any pleasure from it. That may have been because I was tired and hungry but the only thing that kept me in my seat was the thought that I had paid a lot of money and come a long way. I started to get into the show in Act II and I really enjoyed Act III. I need to see this work again to aee whether the slow burn was down to me or down to the show. I can certainly report on what I saw and heard and how I reacted. The question is whether I can do justice to the show.

 

Then yes, seeing it again before a review is essential I reckon. And i'm not just saying that because I loved it all to bits - but you may end up writing something you later regret or change your mind about.

 

Ok, just wondering how y'all would react if I were to say, "Because I'm Canadian, the NBOC is my home company, and the Royal Ballet and ENB don't mean anything to me so I don't want to pay for a DVD of them performing a ballet".

 

sounds fair enough to me!  ;-)

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Erm ..... It isn't.

 

Am I alone in feeling Items No. 50 and (especially) No. 53 border on being offensive?   (Don't worry I won't feel offended if you say I am.)  I myself wonder what those Canadian-born alumni who have served in the Royal Ballet - amongst whose number off the top of my head include Lynn Seymour, Wayne Eagling, Jennifer Penney, Tamara Rojo, etc., might well think should they ever care to read - or be passed - such commentaries as those as herein referenced on this Forum.   I pray Canada has - as the current British coalition government might well put it- "broader shoulders" than good ol' 'Little England' in this instance.  Sadly - as my mother used to say - 'such words can but speak for themselves'.  

 

Merely adding - and my own writing must have crossed with your own post - WELL SAID, KATHERINE.  

 

 

 

To me there is nothing offensive  (Post 50 and 53)  Meunier, everyone has their own opinion and I'd rather spend my money on a Royal Ballet DVD too  (I am familiar with the RB company&dancers and I don't know NBOC at all).

Edited by Nina G.
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Then yes, seeing it again before a review is essential I reckon. And i'm not just saying that because I loved it all to bits - but you may end up writing something you later regret or change your mind about.

 

 

sounds fair enough to me!  ;-)

 

Many people do not have the luxury of seeing a production more than once in a run and I think it is valid to go for first impressions.  It could also be that later you change your mind and say so!

 

The very first time I saw Giselle I was absolutely bore rigid.  It took me several years to realise that it is a masterpiece.  Should I not have told people I was bored rigid at the time rather than waiting a couple of years (and a number of performances in different productions later) to say that I had changed my mind?

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I'll be fine with that, it's your money and your choice. I'd have more of a problem with people laying into you for having an opinion that differs from theirs.

 

Just to clarify, I don't think I can be accused of "laying into" anyone. I'm all in favour of supporting our "home" companies, but I don't think that means we shouldn't want to see other companies (and that's my opinion, to which I am also entitled). We would be depriving ourselves of a heck of a lot of ballet. But indeed, if that's your choice, that's your choice.

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To me there is nothing offensive  (Post 50 and 53)  Meunier, everyone has their own opinion and I'd rather spend my money on a Royal Ballet DVD too  

 

Thank you for sharing this fact, Nina.  As for myself, I so enjoy seeing companies from different countries - especially dancing repertory with which I am familiar.  The different accents and perceptions often enhance my own viewpoint/enjoyment.  To me that would, I think, be a selling point ... but as you say we are all different.  Thank heavens.

 

I don't know NBOC at all.

 
How sad.  They are a wonderful company with a fantastic repertory.  I wish you had an opportunity to see more of their considerable and diverse work.  I had the privilege of taking my PhD at the University of Toronto (after completing my undergrad studies at Cambridge during which time I continued to build my firm appreciation for both the Royal and - as it was then - London Festival Ballet).  This was during the period when Erik Bruhn was running the NBoC, a Company founded by the wonderful English woman, Celia Franca, who, herself, had danced with Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet.  I certainly benefited by many of the riches I was able to share through the NBoC during that period.  I still remember sitting at what was then the O'Keefe Centre preparing to watch Bruhn's glorious production of La Sylphide (to this day the best production I've ever seen and I've seen a goodly few such as Koborg's for the RB, Bolshoi, etc. ).  An announcement came over the loudspeaker.  The dancer who was scheduled to dance James would not be appearing and he would be replaced by a graduating student from SAB.  The audience groaned I remember.  The curtain went up and there was (a then unkoown) Fernando Bujones.  He remains the best James I have EVER seen.  It was a totally magical afternoon.  (The woman dancing the proverbial Sylph, Nadia Potts) went on to run the National Ballet of Canada School.)  I realise that Bujones did not dance very much in London but he was I think the finest technical male danseur I ever saw - or perhaps may be like to see although one lives in hope.  There was no question but that the current NBoC's AD, Karen Kain, reigned supreme as a performer at that time at the NBoC.  You could see why she was one of Nureyev's favourite partners. I treasure my memories of the many diverse and glorious performances I saw her give.  I wish you had been able to see those too, Nina.  I feel confident you may well have enjoyed them.     
Edited by Meunier
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Well, I like to see as many companies as I can, time and money permitting. We're lucky that so many come to the UK. They have different styles and flavours and different repertoire (sometimes different ballets and sometimes different productions of the same ballet). I do sometimes regret that the companies often bring the old staples, but as we Brits seem to be rather conservative it's to be expected, I suppose, given the huge costs of touring. I frequently see references on this forum to ballets which are not performed here and wish that they could be brought to the UK.

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Ok, just wondering how y'all would react if I were to say, "Because I'm Canadian, the NBOC is my home company, and the Royal Ballet and ENB don't mean anything to me so I don't want to pay for a DVD of them performing a ballet".

 

I wouldn't. It's your opinion, which you're entitled to, I don't know you, so - again with all due respect - I wouldn't mind one way or the other. It's your choice what you spend your money on and what you don't. The Royal Ballet means something to me, the National Ballet of Canada doesn't, and that's just the way it is. When we lived in San Francisco we had season tickets to the San Francisco Ballet, and also saw quite a lot of the Smuin Ballet, Oakland Ballet, and Ballet San Jose, but the high point of those years for me was the time the Royal Ballet visited there and I got to see them dancing Ashton again. I never really developed an emotional connection to any of the local companies, and I haven't seen much of the Washington Ballet since we moved here although Septime Webre has made it a lot better than it was in the 1980s.

 

And Meunier, honestly - broader shoulders? I don't think Canada is going to lose sleep over my opinion. And I am never going to apologise for being a Little Englander. Like I said, decades of being an unwilling expat can really harden the feelings of patriotism.

Edited by Melody
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Ok, just wondering how y'all would react if I were to say, "Because I'm Canadian, the NBOC is my home company, and the Royal Ballet and ENB don't mean anything to me so I don't want to pay for a DVD of them performing a ballet".

 

 

I would say that is a normal reaction for a Canadian who likes ballet, isn't it? 

 

Unless they travel all the time to the UK, they would probably prefer a recording of dancers they know well, and see frequently, than a performance by a company that they aren't so familiar with.   Unless, of course, the company in question has Principals with the international reputation of, say, Fonteyn and Nureyev.  But how often does that happen?

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I would say that is a normal reaction for a Canadian who likes ballet, isn't it? 

 

Unless they travel all the time to the UK, they would probably prefer a recording of dancers they know well, and see frequently, than a performance by a company that they aren't so familiar with.   Unless, of course, the company in question has Principals with the international reputation of, say, Fonteyn and Nureyev.  But how often does that happen?

 

No, in fact I don't think that's normal. It's not a question of preference between two recordings of the same ballet. Since there are in fact almost no DVDs of the NBOC, and it's certainly not as if we have the choice between, say, Royal B's Wheeldons and NBOC's Wheeldons, this would mean we would have the following attitude: "ABT? Royal Ballet? Mariinsky? Bolshoi? Hamburg? Paris Opera Ballet?  Dutch National Ballet ? Royal Danish Ballet? NOPE! Don't want any of those! I'd rather have NO ballet DVD than any of those."

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I've had a "thing" about NBoC since I saw their recording of Onegin many years ago (used to watch it constantly actually).  I had the pleasure of seeing the company perform Onegin in Toronto in 1996 or 97 and was so thrilled that they were coming to London last year that I drastically changed plans so that I could go and see them.  (Jon Renna dancing Tybalt was an additional draw I must admit!).

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No, in fact I don't think that's normal. It's not a question of preference between two recordings of the same ballet. Since there are in fact almost no DVDs of the NBOC, and it's certainly not as if we have the choice between, say, Royal B's Wheeldons and NBOC's Wheeldons, this would mean we would have the following attitude: "ABT? Royal Ballet? Mariinsky? Bolshoi? Hamburg? Paris Opera Ballet?  Dutch National Ballet ? Royal Danish Ballet? NOPE! Don't want any of those! I'd rather have NO ballet DVD than any of those."

 

 

Er - I think I must have had too much sun or something, I'm not following your argument at all!  :wacko:

 

I wasn't referring specifically to The Winter's Tale, I was just talking in general terms about buying DVDs of performances.  Now, I hardly ever do that, I don't like them very much, and I think it is rare that a recording does a performance justice. 

 

But IF I did, I would probably get one as a momento of a performance that I  have seen, with dancers I particularly like and am familiar with, as a lasting memory of a happy occasion.    Which is going to be something by one of the London companies, probably,  as I am a Londoner, and those are the ones I see regularly.   That is what I meant by "normal".   

 

That is not the same thing as saying that I would never buy a DVD of a foreign company.   That is not what I was saying at all, and I don't know where you got that impression from. 

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Then yes, seeing it again before a review is essential I reckon. And i'm not just saying that because I loved it all to bits - but you may end up writing something you later regret or change your mind about.

 

 

sounds fair enough to me!  ;-)

 

If and when I see the ballet again I will review it again.

 

All reviews are subjective. Unlike other reviewers I mention the circumstances hat may or may not have affected my opinion.

 

I have to say that I had very high expectations of this ballet. I had been looking forward to it for months. The reviews seemed promising, It was a stellar cast. I paid a lot of money for the ticket.  I should have been over the moon..

 

As it happened I quite liked the ballet overall but I was far from over the moon, That may be because I was tired, hungry and flustered, It may be that anything would have been an anticlimax after the quite extraordinary concert that I attended the night before. Or it may be that the work is a bit of a slow burn. In that regard I have to say that Winter's Tale is not in my estimation Shakespeare's best play and it is certainly not performed as often as many of the others.

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Have to agree about that Terpischore have just puts some comments on my past not very good relationship with this play on the what are you reading thread!!

 

Am hoping the ballet will be better!!

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Well, one thing I don't understand in the synopsis is that Leontes is supposed to have seen the error of his ways at the end of Act 1. So why did Paulina see a need to hide Hermione from him for 16 years?

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......................

 

Am hoping the ballet will be better!!

 

I think you may like it better.  The bits of the ballet I liked most were those that had least to do with Shakespeare.   The exuberance of the dancing for the festival and the accompanying music in Act II are an example.

 

I am debating with myself whether or not to see the HDTV on the 28.  I don't want to be put off the work altogether and as I was not enormously impressed by Giselle and Don Quixote, that is a possibility.   On the other hand when will it be staged again after this season comes to an end.

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There's an article on the Royal Ballet School website about the former and current Junior Associates in the production, and it mentions Joe Parker (no details beyond saying that he's nine):

 

http://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/2014/04/winters-tale-starring-junior-associates/

 

I found this from his ballet school, saying he'd been accepted into JA's; looks as though he's from the Torquay area. I think this is the same school that Lauren Cuthbertson attended; not sure if that's significant.

 

http://www.buckinghamdancestudios.com/

Edited by Melody
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Here's my tuppence worth!

 

I was there for the first night and while there are a few things I would think could do with a bit of tweaking, on the whole I thought it was really excellent and I came away buzzing. Cutherbertson and Yanowsky in particular were wonderful. Due to a gap in my Shakespeare knowledge, I had the advantage of not knowing the story beforehand, which is always the best way to watch 'story' ballets. That of course works on the proviso that the narrative is clear enough, which fortunately for me, it was - I didn't even need to read the synopsis they so kindly provided in the cast sheet.

 

I was completely gripped by Act I, thoroughly enjoyed Act II, and was pretty moved by Act III. I agree with some of the comments above about the music in Act I not having enough momentum - I wonder whether the feeling that there was a lack of proper solos and pas de deux in this act was more to do with musical shaping not emphasising these moments sufficiently. However, I thought the juxtaposition of reality and Leonte's inner turmoil was done absolutely brilliantly. Yes maybe some of the choreography for Watson was a bit skittish (a la White Rabbit), but only in a couple places, at least in my view.

 

Act II is packed full of lovely choreography and that tree was just gorgeous (it drew its own round of applause!) and it was a wonderful vehicle for Stephen Macrae and Sarah Lamb. The only thing I would say is that it felt like the plot just stopped for virtually the whole of this act...A bit more character development for the young couple would be good. Seeing as Act III felt rather rushed (as noted by others), I wonder if this Act (particularly the large group numbers, which felt a bit 'samey' towards the end of the act) could be pruned a little, to make a little more time for the resolution...

 

All-in-all though - a very exciting new addition to the repertoire!

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There's an article on the Royal Ballet School website about the former and current Junior Associates in the production, and it mentions Joe Parker (no details beyond saying that he's nine):

 

http://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/2014/04/winters-tale-starring-junior-associates/

 

I found this from his ballet school, saying he'd been accepted into JA's; looks as though he's from the Torquay area. I think this is the same school that Lauren Cuthbertson attended; not sure if that's significant.

 

http://www.buckinghamdancestudios.com/

 

 

Fascinating to read on the RBS website that former Junior Associates like Lauren Cutbertson, Edward Watson, James Hay, Yasmine Naghdi (& a few others) are now dancing in a former Junior Associate's (Christopher Wheeldon) Ballet. Wasn't Mr. O'Hare a Junior Associate too before training at the RBS?

That would make a full circle :)

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Winter's Tale reminded me even more strongly of Anastasia, another Macmillan ballet particularly the use of special effects. I saw that ballet twice too and worked very hard on it as I shall with Winter's Tale.

 

On most of the evenings I go to a ballet I leave uplifted even if it is a performance by students such as those of Ballet West or the Bristol Russian Youth Ballet Company. It distresses me to leave the theatre in any other way. I hate leaving less than elated because I am aware of the effort of the choreographer, dancers, designers, lighting staff, engineers and all the other good folk behind the scenes who have worked so hard to make the audience happy.  It is all the worse when everyone else who has seen a work seems to have enjoyed it.  And worst of all is when the performance is by the company that I have followed longest, know best, love most and regard as the gold standard..

 

I tend to blame myself and look for reasons such as tiredness as I did on Saturday. I will be in a better position to judge whether it was I or the ballet who was at fault when I see the HDTV broadcast on the 28. However, the more I think of it the more I fear I shall not change my mind.  There's not much that can be done about the plot. Act I does go on for a very long time.  But we shall see. As I say, I am working, very, very hard to try to like this ballet.

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Terpsichore, why bother 'working very, very hard to try to like' Winter's Tale? If you didn't like it, you didn't like it and your opinion is as valid as everyone else's. I haven't seen Alice and so I'm intrigued to see a full length Wheeldon (but was DNB's new Cinderella choreographed by Wheeldon? I seem to remember a prominent tree in that).

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Terpsichore, why bother 'working very, very hard to try to like' Winter's Tale? If you didn't like it, you didn't like it and your opinion is as valid as everyone else's. I haven't seen Alice and so I'm intrigued to see a full length Wheeldon (but was DNB's new Cinderella choreographed by Wheeldon? I seem to remember a prominent tree in that).

 

Yes, DNB's Cinderella is by Wheeldon.

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Well I try to look for the positives in every performance I go to because I have spent time, money and effort to go and see them.  Why would I book for something if I didn't think I would get at least some pleasure from it.

 

Many of us on this board go to multiple performances of the same piece and, if it is a premiere, have often booked those multiple performances before we see it.  I can quite understand that sometimes "work" is needed to see the positives and enjoy.

 

Quite a few years ago, as usual, my friends and I had booked around 4 performances each of a work that was being premiered.  We hated it at the dress rehearsal and at the subsequent performances over the week.  Two of my friends were carrying on something chronic about it when we were travelling home together from Norwich so my other friend and I decided we would try to prove them wrong by going to see it again later in the tour.  We duly went to see the matinee and discovered that it was no better than we remembered!  But at least we tried.

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Went to last nights performance and thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the last Act's reconciliation scenes with Leontes with his wife and daughter were beautifully conceived and danced by Edward, Lauren and Sarah. Hairs on the back of your neck moments. The first act was a bit long and for one horrible moment I thought the canvas which is raised at the start of the 2nd act had jammed but other than that it was wonderful. I was in the stalls circle and the bear sequence didn't really come across. Beatriz also danced beautifully in the 2nd act as did all the corps. Have got a ticket for the cinema performance and may and try to go and see the 2nd cast. As I admitted in an earlier post of Lest we Forget I struggle with modern dance and likewise with this I don't understand all the strange hand and feet twitches and shakes but Christopher really made it easy to follow the story. Finally, a special mention to Zenaida who played Paulina, only ever seen her in Alice as the Queen of Hearts, so this is the first "serious" role I have watched and she was marvelous. Well done to all.

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Terpsichore, why bother 'working very, very hard to try to like' Winter's Tale? ....................

 

Because it usually pays off in the end and not just with ballet,

 

I had to read Joyce several times before I appreciated his greatness.  

 

In ballet it was The Rite of Spring and most recently Cleopatra to which I was indifferent when I first saw them and now love unreservedly. 

 

The same goes for classical Greek, haggis, Picasso, rugby football, Sierra Leone, wine and many other pleasures of life.

 

Anyway I did not say that I disliked "Winter's Tale".   I just didn't take it as I take to it as I usually do when I see a new work by the finest ballet company in the noblest theatre.   On the positive side.I saw several of my favourite dancers on Saturday and the mere sight of any of them propping up the bar of the Nag's Head would.have been delightful.   I have no complaints of Act II.  If it were performed on its own I would queue up all night for a ticket.   I suppose I was irritated by the court scene and I was so disappointed not to see a bear. I mean that stage direction is the most memorable thing about Winter's Tale  isn't it.

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