Ballet in the cinema - 2012-13 season

[patsomerset]

Thanks, Joan. I was about to say that it was definitely showing in their "Culture" brochure, but there were no dates when I checked the other day. May have to brave Wimbledon (via IKEA) on a Sunday ...

Yes, the cinemas showing Pharoah's Daugher have just appeared in the last few days. A very select few though, so I am waiting to see whether they will add more. Pretty poor pickings for us here in the west country for example. Does anyone else share my frustration at the Odeon chain in particular? No one ever seems to know what is going to be shown or what is going on. It doesn't matter who you contact or how, neither the local cinema itself or guest services ever seem to able to tell you what is coming. All I get is a meanless answer, telling me to watch the website which is something I could work out for myself. I gather that is is the distrbutors who decide what is shown where, not the cinemas themselves, but I don't know how they make their decisions or how you can contact them. You just feel voiceless and helpless

[alison]

Just bumping this for Pharaoh's Daughter this coming Sunday. For me, it appears that it'll be a question again of dodging the engineering works ...

[alison]

I notice Cineworld have acquired Picturehouse cinemas. Hope that's not going to have an adverse effect on the live relays.

 

Oh, and RB Nutcracker coming up on the 13th.

[aileen]

I saw the Bolshoi's Nutcracker today. It was quite similar to the RB's in many ways but there was no SPF and the Clara character (Marie - Nina Kaptsova) danced the SPF's dances with the Nutcracker prince (Artem Ovcharenko). They made a handsome couple. The Nutcracker doll was played by another smaller dancer (possibly a woman) who was carried about by Drosselmeyer (Denis Savin). The party scene was not as sumptious as the RB's and the transformation scene was not quite as dramatic IMO. The snowflakes were really lovely and were probably thr highlight for me. They whirled about against a lovely snowy backdrop which cleverly included a frosty Christmas tree with toys around it which looked exactly like the one in the Stahlbaums' living room. The big pdd for Marie and the Nutcracker prince was not quite as affecting as the RB's which I really love. I wasn't particularly keen on the national dances. I found the costumes rather gaudy and some of the choreography a bit dull. The Mirltons dance was danced by a man and a woman in what looked to me like 18th century costumes, accompanied by a toy sheep on wheels. I found that a bit twee. All the dancing was very good, as you would expect. Nina Kaptsova had some incredibly intricate footwork in places which she executed at breathtaking speed. I'm glad that I went to see this cinema relay although the start was delayed by at least 20 minutes because the cinema started to play the wrong Nutcracker (the RB's) and then we had to move to a different screen!

[alison]

I note that some Curzon cinemas are showing the Mariinsky 3D Nutcracker later this month: http://www.curzoncinemas.com/events/o2q94/opera-and-ballet-at-curzon/

[aileen]

That looks interesting. I wonder how it compares to the Bolshoi's. I assume that it's not live. Alison, you are a mine of information. Thanks for posting the details.

[alison]

But I still haven't found out anything about the POB Don Q ...

 

Aileen, there were some reviews of the Mariinsky showing a few days ago in the Links forum, I think, if you want to know more.

[aileen]

In case anyone wanted to see the Bolshoi's Nutcracker yesterday but couldn't, it's being shown at 3.30pm at the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton.

[Don Q Fan]

Paris Opera Don Q is on at The Wirral Light cinema Tuesday at 6.30pm

[alison]

Oh, is that an independent? I haven't seen any signs of it anywhere else. (Aren't you lucky, then, DQF?)

[Don Q Fan]

^^ I would have been had I not been away in - PARIS!! Not sure about Light I think they are newish player in the cinema world. The cinema is brand new and very nice. Will be going for Alice and maybe La Boheme.

[jmhopton]

I see the Odeon Culture plus have announced their locations for their screening of the Bolshoi Bayadere on Sunday January 27th. At the moment they are; Basingstoke, Blackpool, Braehead, Colchester, Covent garden, Guilford, Harrogate, Hatfield, Kensington, Kettering, Lincoln, Maidenhead, Milton Keynes,Salisbury, Taunton, Whiteleys, and Wimbledon. if it is anything like The Pharoah's daughter other venues may get added later. From a personal point of view I'm very pleased and relieved to see Blackpool still on the list, despite there being only a handful of people attending Pharoah' Daughter there. I'm surprised they don't show it at Preston where I attended the RB Nutcracker and there seemed to be about 100 people in the audience. I wish someone would publicise these screenings more. I'm sure they'd get better audiences if people knew they were being shown.

[alison]

I've written to them twice suggesting a "Culture" mailing list that people could sign up to, but they don't seem interested ...

[patsomerset]

I see the Odeon Culture plus have announced their locations for their screening of the Bolshoi Bayadere on Sunday January 27th. At the moment they are; Basingstoke, Blackpool, Braehead, Colchester, Covent garden, Guilford, Harrogate, Hatfield, Kensington, Kettering, Lincoln, Maidenhead, Milton Keynes,Salisbury, Taunton, Whiteleys, and Wimbledon. if it is anything like The Pharoah's daughter other venues may get added later. From a personal point of view I'm very pleased and relieved to see Blackpool still on the list, despite there being only a handful of people attending Pharoah' Daughter there. I'm surprised they don't show it at Preston where I attended the RB Nutcracker and there seemed to be about 100 people in the audience. I wish someone would publicise these screenings more. I'm sure they'd get better audiences if people knew they were being shown.

 

Thank you bringing this to my attention. To my delight my local Odeon are showing a Bolshoi transmission for the first time. I did think that no one was listening to me but perhaps they are after all. The RB transmissions are now always virtually sold out so I am hoping this will be equally popular. It was not of course on their Culture leaflet which they gave out at the start of the season so let's hope the good old word of mouth works once again

[alison]

I didn't think the original leaflet went much further than December, anyway?

[patsomerset]

I didn't think the original leaflet went much further than December, anyway?

 

You may be correct. I can't put my hand on mine at the moment. I may have given it away to a friend who is not on line

[GailR]

I picked up my tickets from Watford Palace yesterday - they are showing the Bolshoi La Bayadere live on Sun 27th Jan at 3:00 pm and As live Don Q on Sun 10th Feb at 7:30 pm - lucky I registered the time of DQ else I would have turned up at 3:00 !!

[Ian Macmillan]

For anyone who may have missed this morning's Links, Pia Catton of the Wall Street Journal saw the RB Nutcracker live at the ROH on 13 December and then, again, as a HD Cinema screening back in New York some 10 days later. She compares the pluses and minuses of the two experiences here:

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323820104578211783270850290.html

 

Has anyone else been able to make a similar comparison?

[alison]

From Today's Links: Pia Catton does a compare-and-contrast on the live performance versus the cinema showing of the RB's recent Nutcracker transmission: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323820104578211783270850290.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

[alison]

Oops, sorry, Ian - looks as though all great minds think alike

 

It looks to me as though the UK and European showings have all been simulcasts, or only slightly delayed, which makes things difficult, but clearly in the USA and other farther-flung parts of the world there is a significant lag in the showings, so perhaps we'll be lucky and find someone who's seen both

 

Come to think of it, I was there for the Mayerling which was recorded for later broadcast a few years ago, and did later see it in the cinema, but I don't remember if I reported on it at the time, and can't remember all the details now.

[GailR]

Just back from a few days in Brighton and Dukes now have another venue above the Komedia Club in the North Laines - it is very small, less than 100 seats, and extremely comfortable. They are advertising the two Bolshoi productions, La Bayadere live on Sun 27th Jan at 3:00 pm and As live Don Q on Sun 10th Feb at 3:00 pm.

[Bruce Wall]

Forget the cost of ballet .... Has anyone seen yet that the current price for the Metropolitan Opera LIVE opera performances has risen to £30 per seat ..... That is a substantive leap. Still I see that the Parsifal at the Ritzy is almost already entirely full. There is obviously no lack of demand so, who knows, the prices may well increase again in the future.

[alison]

Isn't it "only" £5? The ballet ones (I'm assuming you're talking about Picturehouse here) also went up by £5 at the beginning of the season, but in that case it's a 1/3 increase, which is even worse.

 

Try the Odeons - they can be cheaper.

[Beryl H]

Just back from a few days in Brighton and Dukes now have another venue above the Komedia Club in the North Laines - it is very small, less than 100 seats, and extremely comfortable. They are advertising the two Bolshoi productions, La Bayadere live on Sun 27th Jan at 3:00 pm and As live Don Q on Sun 10th Feb at 3:00 pm.

 

Thanks for this, sounds better for me than the Duke of Yorks, only need 1 bus journey, cheaper too, still hate turning out on a Sunday afternoon though even for the Bolshoi!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ian Macmillan]

BBC 4 ran the film of the Royal Ballet's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" a couple of nights ago - filmed in the early days of the 2-Act first run, and I'm fairly sure I was there that night. I greatly enjoyed it, though I do recall being a bit visually overwhelmed from time to time. Seeing it on the TV screen (not for the first time) I've come to enjoy it more and more, partially thanks to the restricted camera view and the close-ups of Lauren Cuthbertson that I find help the story along - just as they make me think more than I did on the night just how hard she had to work in that 70-minute first Act. (And I relish Zenaida's manic 'Red Adagio' more each time I see it!)

[alison]

Thanks for this, sounds better for me than the Duke of Yorks, only need 1 bus journey, cheaper too, still hate turning out on a Sunday afternoon though even for the Bolshoi!

 

Well, nobody's forcing you to do it, Beryl

[toursenlair]

Casting for the Bolshoi Bayadere on January 27 is up (Zakharova again):

http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/2013/01/bolshoi-live-broadcast-la-bayadere.html

[Mandy Kent]

The Phoenix Cinema , East Finchley is showing the ballet ,opera and theatre screenings: http://www.phoenixcinema.co.uk/whatson/special-events-opera

Must get to some of these...so near for me and I hadn't realised!!

[restor]

These are such good value - Bolshoi Bayadere should be good there are some good productions on the internet too....you get a better view than if you are in many of the seats at the theatre.

[Amelia]

If you missed the recent cinema transmission of The Nutcracker from the Bolshoi with Nina Kaptsova & Artyom Ovcharenko,

you can see it here - the quality is superb: Act 1 and Act 2:

 

Act 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVZlLwXOFmc

Act 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eel4Z4-mIy8

Edited January 6, 2013 by Amelia

[restor]

Thanks for putting this on -

[alison]

In another thread, Ann Williams flagged up this website: http://www.londonnet.co.uk/ln/out/ent/cinema.html

It looks as though it might be a useful source for finding broadcast ballet performances, not only in London, but throughout the UK.

[Ann Williams]

Has anyone else tried to book online for this Sunday's streamed Bolshoi 'Bayadere' at any of the advertised Odeons? I realise that all cinemas these days are coy about publishing their direct 'phone numbers lest it deprive them of the benefits derived from the enforced use of their premium numbers, but even so... ..I've been frustrated at every turn in making a telephone booking for this event at any of the few advertised London Odeons - their system refuses to bring up the necessary booking form. is anyone else experiencing this?