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Royal Ballet Casting Winter 2016/17


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I have pencilled in that, in the normal way of things, we could be receiving casting details for the Winter season in a couple of week's time, including of course the Xmas performances of Sleeping Beauty. However given the delays in casting announcements that seem to be becoming the norm, I fear that's probably overly optimistic? General Booking for the Autumn season doesn't open till the 19th July, so, although they overlap in December, I suppose any announcement re the Winter Season will await that and probably beyond!

 

Unfortunately unlike the Ballet World, the rest of the performing arts are now booking 12-18 months ahead and one can't afford to wait. One can only hope that with the recent promotions, Mr O'Hare et al now feel they know their dancers' strengths well enough to make earlier commitments  to the programme they have announced!

 

 

 

EDIT: My apologies for there not actually being any casting information in this thread as yet, but the Autumn thread was starting to run into Winter too, and I thought it better to start a separate thread.

Alison

Edited by alison
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I'm in a state of total despair  :( as I've only now realised that I will miss the debuts of Naghdi, Calvert and Stix-Brunell as SPF in The Nutcracker... suddenly not feeling so smug for having locked in flights out of the UK on December 19th before casting details became available .... :wacko:

 

I also have missed out on several performances in the Autumn Season that I would have attended because of the late receipt of casting details. Now I've just received the Winter House Magazine with the Winter Schedule and as I feared, once again there are no casting details tho it does show a hike in ticket prices! There isn't even the usual intro/apology from Kevin O'Hare and if he has said somewhere when the Winter casting lists will be made available I haven't been able to discover it. Have I missed it? Can anyone help please?     

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OUCH!  What about the bottom prices (she asks in trepidation)?

 

Actually, are these across the board (i.e. all programmes)?  Sleeping Beauty is in Winter, isn't it?  I could see them charging more for that, I suppose, given that they have historically tended to do so, and there are all the new costumes to be paid for.

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Actually, are these across the board (i.e. all programmes)?  Sleeping Beauty is in Winter, isn't it?

Yep it includes the Sleeping Beauty performances falling within the autumn period and Nope, not even casting details for those!!!!

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I imagine the SB prices will be the new top price for all the popular full length ballets, in the "cheaper" range the brown seats in the Amphi are £39, the pink £28, the blue £17, lilac £11 and yellow £7.  Woolf Works has a top Amphi price of £49 and the triple bill £25, so it does balance out.

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I'm reading the Winter brochure now and have just noticed the price increases, top ballet £130 and top Amphi £77.

 

:o

 

Oh dear.  The chances of my getting a birthday or Christmas trip to the ballet have just been reduced to zero.  Unless I go on my own, of course.  I remember the days when a top seat in the stalls was less than they are now charging for the Amphi.   

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I have been sympathetic to Kevin O'Hare's explanations as to why casting is not included in the Opera House Magazine - mainly, as I understand it, because the timeline associated with printing and distribution is so very long that he would be making decisions virtually a year ahead and he wants to minimise changes. All well and good. However, I do think that an indication as to when the details will be available should feature somewhere - if not in the magazine itself then in the accompanying letter. Everyone feels the need for constant reassurance that they will know who is dancing ahead of the opening date for their own particular booking.

 

BTW, I agree with those posters who are suggesting that we should be allowed to know also who will be the Lilac Fairy. This used to be the case (as it once was with Myrthe and Widow Simone) and it does make a difference to one's choices. I am sure I heard Kevin (sort of) guarantee this early in his tenure.

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I have been sympathetic to Kevin O'Hare's explanations as to why casting is not included in the Opera House Magazine - mainly, as I understand it, because the timeline associated with printing and distribution is so very long that he would be making decisions virtually a year ahead and he wants to minimise changes. All well and good. However, I do think that an indication as to when the details will be available should feature somewhere - if not in the magazine itself then in the accompanying letter. Everyone feels the need for constant reassurance that they will know who is dancing ahead of the opening date for their own particular booking.

 

 

Yes, because apart from a few opening nights it's of very limited use knowing when performances are if you don't know who's dancing and therefore which performances you will be wanting to book/which dates you need to keep free.

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Yes, because apart from a few opening nights it's of very limited use knowing when performances are if you don't know who's dancing and therefore which performances you will be wanting to book/which dates you need to keep free.

 

If any performances at all! There are certain dancers that  may tempt me into London for Sleeping Beauty, but I really don't like the new production and don't think it worth the long trek from Bristol. I'd rather watch a dvd at home....  preferably (and I know this may be regarded as heresy) one with attractive costumes and a male dancer in the role of Carabosse!

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We shall all know who is going to dance in due course. It can't be too long before the details are published. As far as recent SB productions are concerned  for me there have been problems over design and choreographic texts.We all have our own idea about what constitutes good ballet design and in the same way that you find the current production heavy going I found both the Dowell and the Markarova production difficult to stomach. I disliked Dowell's because the designs were so perverse and distracting in the theatre and Markarova's because of the text that she used rather than the look of it. Although the twee Cupid was rather hard to take. As far as the Mason production is concerned I was not overly keen on Peter Farmer's pastel designs for its first outing either. They were far too bland and did not read at all well from the Amphitheatre.

 

For me the only thing that is wrong with the current version of Mason's SB production is that it is danced far too slowly and without sufficient epaulement and as a result the dancers don't display sufficient individuality and the choreography lacks contrast. As far as the designs are concerned I can live with them in the theatre. The current designs aren't blandly pastel and unlike the Dowell production Aurora is spared her novel entry down a staircase. I have always thought that the Rose Adagio was a sufficient test of a dancer's nerve.The  designer's provision of a staircase for Aurora's entry struck me as positively sadistic while the distortion of the pillars of the palace made it look as if the palace had run aground and was about to sink. Those "innovative" designs kept me away from performances of SB for many years. In fact I think that Dowell's directorship was far from distinguished as far as new works and re-designs were concerned.

Edited by FLOSS
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I believe that Peter Farmer was ill in the run-up to the premiere, so the costume designs were never realised as they should have been.  That has since largely been put right.

 

As for the Dowell production, the concept was supposed to be along the lines of a society which was completely out of kilter, which was only righted with the restoration.  But yes, I agree with you that it was highly distracting - and space-consuming.  Not to mention what I always referred to as the "bruise-coloured" costumes.

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I'm sure someone with more patience than me will post the dates etc and casting for Woolf Works and the triple in the next booking period, but Beauty casting just received shows Aurora/Florimund pairings of Lamb/Golding, Takada/Hay, Choe/Kish, Nunez/Mutagirov, Hayward/Campbell, Naghdi/Ball, Cuthbertson/Clarke, Osipova/Hirano, Salenko/McRae, Kobayashi/Bonelli.  Nice to see some up and coming dancers getting a chance to tackle this.

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So wonderful - so many glorious combinations... Naghdi/Ball ... YES!!! .... [Wonder which one will get the cinema relay ... Perhaps a combination of a few?? .. Now there's an idea ... NOT!]  Still I remain curious about Salenko though.  With so many talented RB women why does this continue to be necessary?  Why?  What about Stix-Brunnell .... She'd be glorious.  (Well, she is so as Aurora at least in my imagination.)  Also - if one is to bring in a guest - why not have a variety of such to share their different skills with the company as a whole; to better educate the dedicated audiences.  Is Salenko an especially noted Aurora??? Am I missing something here? This is nothing against the woman personally.  It's only that she always seems to be the guest selected for McRae.  Having just watched NYCB for the past three weeks, it would be grand - IF THEY NEEDED A GUEST AT ALL - which I suspect the RB doesn't - in fact I personally believe they don't and shouldn't unless ABSOLUTELY necessary  - if they might let someone like Tiler Peck guest - who has been hugely praised in that role (not, of course, that she would ever be partnered with McRae) ... [of course Merrill Ashley had guested with the RB in SB in years of yore] ... or what about Gillan Murphy ... or Smirnova ... or so many others.  Why must it always be the same guest??? WHY???  Surely it defeats the purpose somehow ... or is that just me?  

Edited by Bruce Wall
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I think that we have been over the ground regarding Salenko before !  :) ! Smirnova is rather tall to partner McRae, I think.

 

What a shame that Stix Brunell has been omitted from the roster of Auroras. But lovely to see both Naghdi and Hayward there alongside several male debutantes. The mix of Principals and other ranks is a noteworthy development. Osipova continues to run through possible partners, I note!!!!!

 

The live cinema relay features Nunez/Muntagirov.

Edited by capybara
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OK - I was waiting to see if it would go up but here is my summary:

 

Sleeping Beauty:

 

Lamb/Golding 21st Dec; 29th  Dec; 3rd  Jan

Takada/Hay 23rd  Dec mat;16th  Feb

Choe/Kish 23rd Dec; 30th Dec

Nunez/Muntagirov 15th Feb; 23rd  Feb; 28th Feb (cinema relay)

Hayward/Campbell 16th Feb. mat; 20th Feb

Naghdi/Ball 18th Feb mat; 25th Feb mat

Cuthbertson/Clarke 18th Feb; 22nd Feb; 3rd March

Osipova/Hirano 25th Feb; 1st March; 4th March

Salenko/McRae  4th March; 7th March; 14th March

Kobayashi/Bonelli 10th March; 13th March

 

I’ll let the website reveal the fine details for Woolf Works but the Galeazzi cast has 21st  Jan mat; 4th Feb mat; 11th Feb and 13th Feb while the Ferri/Osipova cast dances on 21st Jan; 2nd Feb mat; 4th Feb; 8th Feb; 11th Feb mat and 14th Feb.

 

If you don’t mind, I’ll pass on the Triple Bill for the moment at least.

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Not yet on the website and it should be by rights!

 

Nothing yet about leavers, I notice.

 

Here's more on casting:

 

The Ferri cast for Woolf Works on 21st Jan, 2nd Feb, 4th Feb, 8th Feb, 11th Feb mat, and 14th Feb includes: Lamb, Osipova, Takada, Stix-Brunell, Hayward, Bonelli. McRae, Watson, Avis, Dyer, Kay, Underwood, Ball

 

The Galeazzi cast for Woolf Works on 21st Jan mat, 4th Feb mat, 11th Feb and 13th Feb includes: Mendizabal, Cowley, Choe, Naghdi, Magri, Hirano, Campbell, Edmonds, Kish, Richardson, Hay, Donnelly, Ella, Montano (one more dancer than in the other list!)

 

The Triple Bill (The Human Seasons/After the Rain/New Crystal Pite) has 'mix and match' casting which makes it very difficult to summarise - sorry. It just says The Company alongside the new Crystal Pite.

Edited by capybara
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Ohhhhh my dream has come true.  Yasmine Naghdi & Matthew Ball as Princess Aurora and Prince Florimund.  What a treat, on top of Naghdi/Ball as The Sugar Plum Fairy and Nutcracker Prince!  Lovely to note Campbell is partnering Hayward.

 

I feel an expensive season is coming up :)

 

PS. Also dreaming of Naghdi being partnered by Bonelli one day  (I think they'd look amazing as a dance couple too).

Edited by Nina G.
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Thanks for posting these! I've been checking the website religiously for weeks, and it's great to have the suspense over. It looks like my bank account is set to suffer a lot; time to readjust my budget for ballet tickets! Like everyone else, I'm in a raptures over the Naghdi/Ball Beauty, even though it's going to be relatively inconvenient for me to get there for a matinee. I wager it'll be worth it though!

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Like everyone else, I'm in a raptures over the Naghdi/Ball Beauty, even though it's going to be relatively inconvenient for me to get there for a matinee. I wager it'll be worth it though!

 

Yes - and, because they're doing matinees, Floral Street will once again be thronging with fans. Lovely!

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Yep....a visit to my cyber bank manager will have to be in order come ticket-buying time....

 

Kevin O'Hare, thank you thank you thank you for keeping the wonderful Naghdi/Ball partnership going.  This will be another wonderful chance for them, and they will have danced their Nuts by then so will be back in practice together.  And Hay/Campbell should be very interesting too.  Really pleased that Yuhui is also being given another crack at this one....I so enjoyed her in it last time around.  I am also sad not to be seeing Stix-Brunell here.

 

Much as I like After the Rain, why are we having it again?  There are loads of short ballets from which to choose, that we haven't seen for a while.  I just don't get this new thing of repeating short ballets twice in a year.  I guess it's for rehearsal/financial reasons....

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At last the suspense is over.I am sorry that Stix Brunell is not making her debut as Aurora during the run. I think that she has earned it. Perhaps she'll get Lilac Fairy or will be first reserve if Osipova gets injured during the run. The Cuthbertson Clarke cast looks good to me as well as the casts already mentioned.  Can anyone explain why Salenko is guesting ? Does McRae have the clout to cast his performances? He's good but not that good surely?

 

As far as the mixed bill is concerned we may not know the cast for the new work until  much closer to the first night.Generally choreographers are allowed to select who they want from among the company unless management decides it wants a particular group of dancers to be showcased or particular dancers are already heavily committed to other work during the time allocated to create the new ballet .Thinking about it asking an outsider choreographer to select dancers from among the junior ranks would be very useful as outsiders see things in individual dancers that are sometimes far from evident to those who see them every day.

 

Once again what appeared to be a rather run of the mill booking period has been transformed by the casting.Now how do we persuade Kevin that we really do need to know who is to dance Lilac Fairy, Princess Florine and the Bluebird?

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