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ENB Romeo and Juliet Casting June 2014


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The following casting is now on the Royal Albert Hall website:

 

11 June (eve): Rojo/Acosta

12 June (eve) Cojocaru/Voegel

13 June (eve) Rojo/Acosta

14 June (mat) Klimentova/Muntagirov

14 June (eve) Cojocaru/Voegel

15 June (mat) Rojo/Acosta

17 June (eve) Rojo/Acosta

19 June (eve) Klimentova/Muntagirov

22 June (mat) Klimentova/Muntagirov

 

The Rojo/Acosta dates were announced months ago but the above list remains incomplete, presumably because the other principal casting remains undecided. That said, there are not all that many performances left to share among the many aspiring Romeos and Juliets in this talented company.

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That's a shame; I was hoping Max Westwell would get another shot at Romeo (albeit this is a different production) and perhaps James Forbat too. :-(

 

There are fourteen performances, so 5 of them have not yet been announced. I am hoping that Elena Glurdjidze will get a Juliet.

 

Apologies for putting an 'e' in Vogel in the above post.

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To be fair to Tamara, she is probably worried about filling the huge RAH and Carlos is one of the few dancers who can pull the audiences in. As someone said on another thread, only Carlos could fill the Coliseum when the Bolshoi is in town. I have a strong feeling that these will be Daria's last performances, which would be fitting as R&J *with Vadim* is one of her favourite ballets.

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Have just had a quick look at the RAH website and the Carlos/Tamara performances are virtually sold out in the Stalls.

 

On another thread, there is discussion about fame and Carlos appears to be the one dancer of today able to attract huge ticket sales. This is great for him and ENB's finances, of course, but others (especially Vadim) are likely to be the ones to give the superior interpretations of Romeo this summer.

 

Regarding guest artists........ Derek Deane was asked about this at a 'Masterclass' event some years ago. His reply was that the RAH promoter (Raymond Gubbay) insisted on them for publicity purposes/boosting ticket sales and also that, no matter how good the 'home team' was, he (Derek) had always liked to import people as exemplars to inspire the Company. However, as MAB suggests, the strain on ENB's coffers this season has been, and will be, very considerable.

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I think that bringing Friedemann in is a bit of a luxury, given that Carlos is guesting. However, it was probably felt that it was too much for Vadim to perform 5 times in 10 days. In pure economic terms, Carlos may pay for himself if he sells out the RAH four times. It all depends how much he gets paid. ENB needs another male principal but good ones are in short supply and it may actually be cheaper to bring one in as a guest than to employ one. ENB has lost a couple of dancers recently and so, putting it crudely, their salaries can be put towards the costs of bringing in guests.

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I note the director gives herself the lions share of the performances.

 

Understandable, since the production was created on her.  Plus she's dancing with Acosta, so they need to allow for the demand there.  No point in having some performances undersold because everybody (and I suspect this applies to the RAH audience in particular) will want to go for the "big name", regardless of what he's like as Romeo.

 

On another thread, there is discussion about fame and Carlos appears to be the one dancer of today able to attract huge ticket sales. This is great for him and ENB's finances, of course, but others (especially Vadim) are likely to be the ones to give the superior interpretations of Romeo this summer.

 

Well, in this production, it's "superior interpretations" of Juliet that will be attracting me, regardless of who the Romeo is.

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This press release has just been issued by ENB:

 

Principal Casting Announcement for Romeo & Juliet

We are delighted to announce Principal Casting for nine performances of Romeo & Juliet in-the-round at the Royal Albert Hall this Summer.

As well as the world-renowned Carlos Acosta, we are delighted to announce that Friedemann Vogel will join English National Ballet as a Guest Artist partnering Lead Principal Alina Cojocaru. Friedemann previously performed as a Guest Artist in Romeo & Juliet at the Royal Albert Hall in 2004, Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall and Versailles in 2007 and Strictly Gershwin in 2008 and 2011, Royal Albert Hall and Manon partnering Daria Klimentová in 2008/9 at the London Coliseum.

 

 

11 Jun 2014
Tamara Rojo (Juliet) and Carlos Acosta (Romeo)

 

12th Jun 2014 
Alina Cojocaru (Juliet) and Friedemann Vogel (Romeo)

 

13 June 2014
Tamara Rojo and Carlos Acosta (Romeo)

 

14 Jun 2014 [Matinee]
Daria Klimentová (Juliet) and Vadim Muntagirov (Romeo)

 

14 Jun 2014 
Alina Cojocaru (Juliet) and Friedemann Vogel (Romeo)

 

15 Jun 2014 [Matinee]
Tamara Rojo (Juliet) and Carlos Acosta (Romeo)

 

17 Jun 2014
Tamara Rojo (Juliet) and Carlos Acosta (Romeo)

 

19 Jun 2014
Daria Klimentová (Juliet) and Vadim Muntagirov (Romeo)

 

22 Jun 2014 [Matinee]
Daria Klimentová (Juliet) and Vadim Muntagirov (Romeo)

 

 

Romeo & Juliet is performed by a huge company of 120 dancers, actors and swordfighters, this epic staging of Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy is set in-the-round at the iconic Royal Albert Hall from 11 until 22 Jun 2014.

 

Tickets are available to book now for all performances. Further casting will be announced shortly.

 

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  If I could, I would love to see the Klimentova/Muntagirov R+J. Do you think they'll ever tour it? I imagine it could pull quite an audience, even up here in the provinces.

 

Didn't they tour it once when it was new, or am I thinking of Swan Lake?  I think part of the trouble is finding suitable venues.

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Derek Deane did adapt his production for proscenium theatres and it was toured.  I've got an idea it was Tamara Rojo whom we saw as Juliet when we saw the production in Manchester.  It came over as a good production in a more conventional environment and I would be quite happy to see it again.

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  If I could, I would love to see the Klimentova/Muntagirov R+J. Do you think they'll ever tour it? I imagine it could pull quite an audience, even up here in the provinces.

 Of course, the Rudolf Nureyev version of R & J was toured by ENB in the 2010/11 season. Daria and Vadim were among the partnerships then.

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I'm confused, is this a new production?  I thought it was the Nureyev one that was created on Patricia Ruanne.

 

The production at the Royal Albert Hall will be Derek Deane's 'in the round' one which was created in 1998 when Tamara was a principal dancer with ENB.

 

The production which ENB toured in 2010/11, and which elicited so many memorable performances, was by Rudolf Nureyev, created for the company when Patricia Ruanne (who staged it in 2010) was a principal dancer. It would be nice to think that the dancers who performed so strongly and so recently in this version will be given similar opportunities this summer. 

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Derek Deane did adapt his production for proscenium theatres and it was toured. 

 

Of course he did :).  I picked up a copy of the programme at Markova House once, although since it never came to London I've never seen it.

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 Of course, the Rudolf Nureyev version of R & J was toured by ENB in the 2010/11 season. Daria and Vadim were among the partnerships then.

 

  Rather upset I seem to have managed to miss that, oh well I can live in hope they'll tour it again.

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I have to be honest and say that the Nureyev production is not a favourite of mine.  We saw Daria and Vadim in Manchester and their performances were glorious but overall I was bored rigid by the production as had been the case some years earlier when I saw it in Liverpool (although was not so keen on that cast).

 

I'd be quite happy to see the Derek Deane proscenium version again.

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As I've said before, there's a rather big hole at the heart of the Nureyev production. It's a bit like looking at a very fancy picture frame - and then realising that what it contains doesn't really match up.

 

Alison your superb analogy has encapsulated my feeling exactly!

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Thank you, Janet - it just came to me this afternoon while I was sitting staring into space :)

 

Aileen, I suppose it rather gives the impression that Nureyev spent so much time filling the production with local colour and Shakespearean and social/historical references, and filling in the other characters that he didn't pay enough attention to the couple at the centre of the story.  I find most other people's productions do that rather better, including of course the Ashton which was sadly jettisoned in favour of this one (which admittedly was there first, so to speak).

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well as far as Elena not dancing in Romeo and Juliet I fifth, sixth, etc etc etc it .......   but I'll say it again,  if you can get to the Stockport Plaza www.stockportplaza.co.uk on Feb 16th at 4 pm you'll have the pleasure of seeing her dance alongside Arionel Vargas,   Bristol Russian Ballet School's Cinderella,  a glorious production with profits going to the amazing Reubens Retreat www.reubensretreat.org.uk       Please support this project if you possibly can,     

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I think it is wholly unfair to criticise Tamara for "giving herself the lion's share" of performances.  She has been one of the most noted Juliets of recent years, often in partnership with Carlos.  If there were another director in charge it would be considered bizarre in the extreme if he/she did not cast her in a good number of performances.  

 

Although I agree that ENB has some very interesting up-and-coming dancers which I love to watch, they are also a business which needs to make money and it makes total sense to me that the Albert Hall runs (which are undoubtedly their "cash cows" for the season) should be headlined by their three most well-known ballerinas/partnerships.  I don't think people can say that their younger dancers haven't been given a fair crack of the whip through the Nutracker/Corsaire runs.

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