Scheherezade

So very sad. An inspirational man whose death marks the end of an era.

And, yes, I was so affected by Magri’s remarkable Juliet that I didn’t mention what an impressive debut Richardson also delivered last night. It was lovely to share in their delight, captured so beautifully in Rob S’s photographs, at the whoops and cheers from a rightly appreciative audience.

I so agree! Unexpected and totally wonderful. I was anticipating good things from Magri but her Juliet exceeded my every expectation. From the unforced innocence of her opening scenes to the visceral, searing heartbreak at the close, she held me every extraordinary step of the way. If this was her debut, what can we expect from her in the future? This girl is truly a class act!

Anyone with a delicate stomach might need to stock up on the smelling salts - some convincingly raw acting, particularly from James Laing's Tamerlano, but even my more easily shocked friend was totally wowed. Only two more days to go ...

For anyone who hasn’t seen Bajazet in the Linbury, grab tickets before the run finishes. For my two penn’orth, Adele Thomas’ fabulous production knocks Theodora into a cocked hat. An object lesson in how to give a modern twist to a period piece without engaging the cringe factor. And wonderful singing too. If this is an example of what the Irish National Opera can do, I’ll be off to Dublin pronto.

Clearly I should've gone to Specsavers!

I think that Matthew Ball has set a new bar when it come to Tybalt but, that said, I didn't find Thomas Whitehead's rancorous Tybalt as unpalatable as others seem to have done. That could have been because my expectations were lowered, and, yes, his Tybalt was more the drunken, confrontational thug on the football terraces than the entitled nobleman but a valid interpretation all the same and, in mitigation, Mercutio's fatal stabbing was very clearly accidental; I almost gasped out loud when he fell backwards onto Tybalt's sword. I was also more impressed than others by the red-haired (Meaghan Grace Hinkis?) harlot. She was getting in there, giving it some, flouncing, kicking, spitting at the Capulets, lifting her skirt; as street-wise and reckless as they come, although her co-harlots were perhaps a little more genteel than they might have been. As expected, James Hay and Leo Dixon gave well-characterised and beautifully danced performances as Mercutio and Benvolio. The camaraderie factor was high, convincingly fleshed out with spontaneous little touches that brought added authenticity to the tripartite friendship with Romeo, whose extraordinary chemistry with his Juliet made the inevitable tragedy of Act 3 more heartbreaking than ever. I just loved the Sambe/O'Sullivan partnership. There wasn't a moment when I wasn't totally convinced by their all-consuming, and ultimately tragic, young love; when I didn't empathise with Anna Rose's Juliet as, in turn, she gave her heart to Romeo and shrank in horror from Paris; when I didn't ache for Romeo as each tender and telling gesture signalled the depth of his feelings for Juliet and reinforced his despair as events, and the stars, conspired to drive them apart. There were lots of individual little touches that marked out this performance and made it so real, not to mention the post-performance "Aw" moment captured in RobS's gorgeous curtain call photos, when Marcelino lifted Anna Rose off her feet to embrace her with the biggest bear hug. And slightly off at a tangent, but are Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio usually blessed by a passing priest in the street scene with the mandolin players or is this new, because if it isn't, how can I possibly have missed it on each and every one of the countless previous performances I have attended?

True. But I do think that we shouldn’t be in the position of having to be grateful for small mercies. And if the Chicago Creature tour is the real reason for the decision to ‘adapt’ the programme, could this be another case of Adele-itis, albeit considerably milder since so far this is not a full cancellation and it comes with plenty of advance warning.

Many thanks, Bluebird. I wouldn’t have known. Or even guessed.

My feelings exactly, SheilaC. And even if it hadn’t been in their rep, 9 weeks is surely enough time to perfect “work of the highest artistic quality”.

Who knew! Well, I didn’t, at any rate.

Thanks for that, Alison.

Not quite sure what happened there with those quotes but I meant to add that yes, of course, it was the Thursday cast not Tuesday. And, very true, Alison, the vision of wedding guests does seem to be particularly problematic in a balletic context.

I haven't yet had time to post my impressions and there isn't much that I can add to what has already been said. I saw the Tuesday evening cast of Oliveira/Frola/Woolhouse/Velicu and Kase/Hernandez/Cirio/Conway on Saturday evening. I enjoyed both performances, although Saturday evening edged it for me. It is difficult to say whether this was because it was my second viewing with the benefit of greater familiarity or because of the cast. I suspect there was a little of both. Of Tuesday's cast, I found Francesca Velicu's Henriette utterly riveting. I couldn't take my eyes off her and found it difficult to see how Abdur Rahman could have possibly been more captivated by Raymonda who, whilst gentle and worthy, and beautifully danced by Fernanda Oliveira, would surely have seemed rather bland by comparison. In the same way, Frola surely injected enough charisma into his portrayal of John de Bryan to ensure that his fiancee's head wasn't so easily turned by his more exotic friend, an intense, brooding performance by Erik Woolhouse and quite different from the quicksilver yet nuanced Abdur Rahman of Jeffrey Cirio on Saturday evening. Both interpretations were valid but Cirio, dazzling and convincing as always, made this performance stand out for me and I also felt that Shiori Kase's more spirited Raymonda added to the dynamic of the love triangle and made her last minute and unexpected escape (how is it that no-one in the wedding crowd seemed to notice her slipping away?) a little easier to understand. Other impressions overall? Like others, I felt that the earlier parts of Act 1 (pre-dream sequence, which I enjoyed) could have been pruned a little. Perhaps the divertissements in Act 2, which seemed to pass in a flash, or the pas de deux between Raymonda and Abdur Rahman could have been fleshed out a little more instead? Act 3 might have lacked the dazzle of the recent RB production but it worked beautifully nevertheless, and gave Emily Suzuki in particular the chance to shine. I also enjoyed Precious Adams as Sister Clemence on Tuesday evening. My printed cast sheet listed Alison McWhinney as Sister Clemence on Saturday evening but as others have mentioned that she didn't appear to have danced in this run, perhaps someone else stepped in. Can anyone confirm? All in all, I can't think of any reason why this shouldn't be a keeper. And, as has been said, lots for the men to do, too.

My daughter and I saw some of the Made in Chelsea people posing up a storm from the front of one of the boxes at one of the November Nutcracker performances. Same routine with the poses, camera and flash. Culture is clearly becoming de rigueur for the instagram crowd.

According to my TV it's the Ashton triple bill.

I'm 100% in agreement.

Whilst we are on the topic of the Trocks, does anyone know whether Chase Johnsey still dances, or is he now a full time artistic director and, for that matter, how successful is he in that role?

My Freeview TV says 2019 Macmillan, the great British choreographer.

I’d say that sight lines are good pretty much anywhere in the Barbican, as with most modern theatres. I haven’t sat in those particular seats but have certainly sat in an array of cheaper seats and, subject to correction from anyone with more precise knowledge, would think you’ll have no problem with your seats.

As a woman, and a firm believer in equality of opportunity both for women and across the board, I strongly believe that any appointment should be made on the basis of the best person for the job. Anything less is patronising beyond belief for anyone appointed on the basis of their sex, gender, colour, religion, age or any other attributes other than the ability to deliver optimum performance in the least antagonistic way possible. In itself, this presupposes that whilst equality should and must fully encompass opportunity, it should not extend to equal numbers of appointees. The two do not, and should not, go hand in hand. If they do, we find ourselves firmly in the realm of positive discrimination, the effect of which is undesirable at best and disastrous at worst. Having said this, ENB has awarded a number of extremely well-judged and successful commissions to women. I would suggest, however, that the success of these works owes more to vision and acuity than levelling up the scales.

It is difficult to see where this will end. Works are withdrawn on grounds of context, choreographer, anything whereby merely one single individual may take offence for any imagined slight, however far removed that may be from reality. This must surely soon extend to anyone connected with a work in any way - dancers, repetiteurs, set designers, orchestra members. As more and more people become afraid to put forward balanced, common sense points of view such as those set out by Quintus, we run the risk of being cowed into accepting a state of total, puritanical repression in every area of our lives.

And like Geoff in reverse, I posted my reply on the other thread.

And a gorgeous David McVicar production, that perfectly captures the music, libretto and storyline.

A very valid observation, Ian.