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Scheherezade

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Everything posted by Scheherezade

  1. And that the listed casts aren’t shifted around with the random frequency of the Nutcracker and Giselle performances. Please!
  2. I really enjoyed them at the general rehearsal, Dawnstar. Seems a long time ago now.
  3. Or, for those of us of a certain age: "All the right notes but not necessarily in the right order."
  4. I am personally more alarmed by the photoshopped images that lead some young people down the path to dangerous, sometimes fatal, surgery in an attempt to replicate the unreal and suicide if they can’t.
  5. Agreed. On both fronts. I am keeping my fingers crossed that these ballets will come to London, and with the same casts, and I would love to see both Goldberg and Invitus Invitam revived by the RB, and/or a new commission for Kim Brandstrup, whose choreography I far prefer to almost all of the RB’s current commissions.
  6. I did enjoy the segment in the Facebook link, Bruce, and I too wish that NYCB were bringing this to London instead of Rotunda.
  7. And, sadly, highlights the utter uselessness of the home team.
  8. Just one viewing for me and like many others I was, and remain, in two minds. I am glad to have seen La Strada. I didn’t hate it but didn’t love it either. I did enjoy the music and I felt that the sets and costumes worked well. Overall, I was impressed by the dancers generally, and the two angels in particular and I also felt that Zampano’s brutality could have been highlighted a little more. It was wonderful to see Alina and Johan on stage again, especially Alina, whose magic remains undiminished and whose childlike vulnerability sat perfectly upon Gelsomina and gave the whole production its heart. I did wonder whether it might have fallen a little flat with anyone else. well done, all the same, to everyone involved.
  9. I always politely tell them that I already have one and they respond with a beaming smile.
  10. Sorry Geoff, I didn’t like it at all. I found the doubling made it impossible to engage with the characters which, for me, made it emotionally sterile.
  11. Could this be a reference to Kasper Holten's oh so complimentary observation that if UK audiences, unlike their better-informed northern european counterparts, couldn't appreciate what was being served up to them, they would have to be re-educated.
  12. Thank you Buddy. That was me. In another life.
  13. True, but fruit that is especially forbidden - and the risk in Catholicism extends to the immortal soul - always tastes that much sweeter.
  14. Shifting sideways a little, A Song at Twilight is scheduled for July at Richmond’s fabulous Orange Tree Theatre (very possibly my favourite theatre at the moment - Trevor Nunn’s Uncle Vanya will be running somewhat earlier in March and April), along with Noel Coward’s Suite in Three Keys.
  15. Ah, but the irresistible lure of sin has always been a big part of Catholicism - the bigger the no no the greater the appeal.
  16. An annoying split stage throughout that totally diminishes the tension and, if you're sitting or standing to one side of the auditorium, makes it very difficult to see what's going on in the other half of the stage. Iirc, Lucia's madness is put down to a miscarriage, but at least it retains the Victorian Gothic so despite its flaws its not the worst I've seen at the ROH..
  17. It’s a wonderful idea but one that, sadly, I can’t see ever taking off in London. The ROH and other theatres won’t run with it unless the cost is met by someone else and neither TfL nor the mayor is likely to forgo a single penny in potential income.
  18. Me too, Balletyas. I so agree with all your wishes, Capybara.
  19. Wasn’t it just! And it was the physical and emotional heft of Act III that we took away.
  20. I’m with JohnS on this. Ausrine Stundyte, who has previously sung this role with Pappano, impressed me too, and having heard of Nina Stemme’s problems at both the general rehearsal and first night, I was relieved to have her for the whole of the performance that I attended. And aesthetically pleasing too, no visual horrors either, so one to see, I’d say.
  21. So much has already been posted about Saturday’s wonderful triple debuts that it really is difficult to find anything to add, but I have to say that much as I enjoyed Act 1, for me the emotional connection between Naghdi and Bracewell moved into another gear with the Act 2 pdd and reached a breathtaking, heartrending climax in what can only be described as a truly unforgettable Act 3. The controlled lyricism in Bracewell’s dancing allied with the unforced dramatic integrity that we have come to expect from him formed the lynchpin of this performance and made the tragedy of Manon’s downfall all the more poignant, as Yasmine’s Manon moved seamlessly from the avaricious hedonism of shallow self interest to a moving and untimely recognition of the beauty and value of enduring true love. The emotional intensity and pitch-perfect partnering - those Act 3 aerial spins in particular- had me catching my breath more than once. Whose heart could not break for the cruel fate that met this Manon and this Des Grieux? Mine is still more than a little splintered. A shout-out too for Anna Rose O’Sullivan’s spirited, minxy mistress and Luca Acri’s Lescaut, another complex, shifting and ultimately tragic victim of the venal society of haves and have-nots in which this cautionary tale is set. There are those who have said that the gaoler’s scene is hard to watch. Yes it is, but life in those times for convicted prostitutes in the penal colonies was hard and to paper over this would be disingenuous and would also dilute the impact of the rest of Act 3 and of the ultimate tragedy that befell Manon. And I have to say that sleazy as Gary Avis’ gaoler was, memories of David Drew’s gaoler back in the ‘70s are imprinted in my memory as far more uncomfortable to watch. But coming back to the present, what wonderful performances from the entire cast for those of us lucky enough to be in the audience last night and how very glad I am that I was there for the stunning debuts from Yasmine, Will and Anna Rose.
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