Scheherezade

Thanks for this, Emeralds. Sounds like a plan for the May half term.

As someone considering taking my 10 year old grandson to the right ballet for someone who loves music and movement but has had no exposure to ballet - football is his thing - what does anyone think? RB or Northern Ballet R&J?

That was just lovely, Roberta. I have indeed had a good wallow and as someone who couldn’t make last night I felt I needed it. Just gorgeous.

What a lovely memory, RHowarth, and doesn’t that sum up the wonderful Me Campbell perfectly.

Bridie and Sim, and James in the parallel thread, between you have said everything that I think all of us feel about Alex’s departure. It’s odd, isn’t it, how some people touch us in a way that others never can. Or perhaps not so odd. It’s the human side, isn’t it, that natural, genuine warmth and lack of artifice that always lit up Alex’s performances, and I think that’s why we all feel such a sense of loss. He will, I have absolutely no doubt, shine equally brightly in his new role and I, too, send my very best wishes for a wonderful future, but we will miss him here.

Beautifully put, James. I hope he is aware of that warmth and the regard in which he is held.

Gorgeous photos, Rob S.

I am looking for 1 SCS or Balcony D standing for Wednesday 20 March. If anyone has a spare, please DM. Many thanks.

I couldn't be there tonight - although thankfully I was there on the 2nd - so thank you so much for uploading the curtain call and speeches, Lady Emily. It is all much too soon!

I was just about to ask: Anybody?

And many years ahead of him so lucky us.

Well, who knew? I certainly didn’t.

It suits The Trocks very well. And the sightlines are good pretty much everywhere.

Me too!

I came round to Calvin’s Des Grieux more slowly than others and, like JohnS, I liked Act 3 best, largely, I’d say, because I felt more of his personality came through, something that was missing for me in the earlier acts. I agree with Sim on his Act 3 partnering. Those double twists and the last minute catches as Melissa plunged head first to the ground were breathtaking and I felt that his hesitation and confusion on setting foot on Louisiana soil was perfectly judged, ditto the alarm and initial lack of comprehension as to what to do next on killing the gaoler. Here, as in the earlier acts, Melissa’s Manon was the primary moving force, which felt very much as it should be since her magnificent Manon was the author of her own destiny from her first steps down from the carriage in Act 1 to her defiant tussle with the gaoler in Act 3. More puppeteer than puppet, hers was a Manon who knew her worth, her power and what she wanted and who was prepared to do whatever it took to get it. A blazing independent spirit who wasn’t prepared to give up until her very last breath. This was James Hay’s first Lescaut for me and what a Lescaut! It was on another level and without doubt worth my ticket price - and the price of a far more expensive ticket - alone. And, yes, I was also impressed by Lukas BB’s gaoler. He is showing himself to be a fine actor, something that is always welcome.

Richard LH, don’t be confused - not completely, not even a little bit - because you are absolutely right. Mind you, by that point I was confused too so it wasn’t just you.

Yes. Such as social media following.

Nooooooo!!!! I post no more ... 😮

Thanks for picking that up, and that will teach me to check what I’ve written before posting. I actually meant to say she had to miss Vadim and Fumi but was totally wowed by Alex and Frankie. 😅

I haven’t posted re Saturday evening’s Manon but wanted to say a big thank you to the fairy godmother that magicked up tickets for me and a friend who had to miss Vadim and Frankie through illness. I was so glad to have the chance to see one of Alex‘s last two performances and that he was dancing with Frankie - many happy memories of their other performances together - and it lived up to and surpassed all my expectations. Alex always brings something different to his performances and Saturday was no exception. His Act 1 DG wasn’t going to be pushed around by Lescaut and his earlier Act 1 solos also showed someone who knew his own mind, something that he carried into Act 2 where, despite his dejection, it was always clear that he wasn’t going to give up on Manon or be pushed aside by the competition. As with the other casts - and they have all been so good it is really hard to choose a favourite - the heartbreak grew to a devastating Act 3 climax and one that was propelled both by DG’s determination to bring Manon to safety and the wonderful chemistry and mutual trust shared by him and Frankie, whose Manon was utterly breathtaking. The standing ovation from where I was standing was pretty much instantaneous - I had to move to an aisle to see any of the curtain calls - and I’d agree with the posters who suggested that it didn’t seem to be the response of a partisan fan crowd there to say their farewells. So glad and yet so sad. I can’t believe I will never see Alex dance again at the RB or see him and Frankie dance together again. Too soon! Too soon by far!

I thought he was really starting to come into his own just before his last injury. Having always enjoyed him in the virtuoso roles, and following on from his performances in LWFC where for me he totally stole the show, it came as something of a surprise to me just how good his Siegfried was in the last SL run.

Hi Jacky. If the ticket is still free, I would like it. Will PM.

I’d say it sounds very much the cup of tea of the newspaper reviewers. Less so mine.

I never get the offers. I have always assumed that it’s because I don’t buy expensive tickets and it doesn’t bother me particularly because even the discounted prices are more than I would generally be prepared to pay but there could be that time, and I do feel that it really isn’t good enough to offer discounts to selected individuals only. They should be offered to all Friends and to everyone else who regularly buys tickets. They have our details, what’s the difficulty here?

Personally, I'd rather have a website that worked without hiccups from the outset than one that told me what I already knew.