Scheherezade

I feel particularly disappointed to have missed both the Naghdi and Hayward performances during this run. I knew that I couldn't make the Naghdi/Ball dates but had hoped to see Hayward last Monday. Well, that wasn't to be, so thanks to everyone for posting their impressions on her debut, which is the next best thing.

As others have said, Takada did a lovely job on Monday, even more remarkable given the dearth of rehearsal time with Alexander Campbell, the Bluebird to her Princess Florine on Thursday. I am assuming that she was standing in for Frankie Hayward on that occasion too?

Nunez and Muntagirov were, of course, everything that you expect of them, particularly Muntagirov who, as always, just left me wanting more, and not only me if the bravos from the amphitheatre were anything to go by. Nunez was her usual polished self, hard to fault in any respect, although if I had to criticise I would say that Takada injected more youthfulness into the role when she burst onto the stage in act 1. Nunez, by comparison, was already a fully-formed, mature princess. Jillykins has mentioned that Nunez seemed to be struggling with the Rose Adage. Similarly, on Monday, Takada's balances seemed unsteady. From what I have read, Naghdi has been rock-steady throughout and she also stood out on Thursday as the Fairy of the Woodland Glade and one of Florestan's sisters with her musicality and her beautiful arms.

Which leads me on to Yuhui Choe. My daughter asked me on Monday whether she was still dancing as she hadn't seen her for a while. Well, she was dancing on Thursday. She didn't have a lot to do but drew the eye as she always does.

And, finally, I absolutely loved the endearing and spontaneous hug that Nunez gave Muntagirov during the curtain calls.

I agree. It shows that the audience has been caught up in the performance and the mood.

Three cheers for the usher in the upper slips this afternoon who leaned over and ordered the woman sitting just below us to switch her phone off

Hear, hear, and rather different from the situation in the front few rows of the side amphi on Thursday evening when, after the prologue and act 1, a young women moved into an empty seat in row A. Her phone flashed continually throughout act 2 distracting everyone sitting behind her and she leaned so far forward that the couple next to me couldn't see the stage at all. During the pause before act 4, more than one person sitting behind her asked her to switch off her phone and sit back and when she completely ignored them, my neighbours asked the usher to intervene.

I was surprised, first of all, that the usher needed to be asked and even more surprised when, as the young woman ignored him too, he moved away and left her to it with the result that the couple next to me missed the whole of act 3 as well as act 2. My friend and I advised them to have a word with the management. I really hope that they did.

I rather like toursenlair's initial thought - you Boot!! Could be adapted according to feelings involved. You Clog!! You Slipper!! You Flip-Flop!! You Stiletto!! Unfortunately You Pointe Shoe!! doesn't have quite the same ring.

And each type of shoe could be directed towards a particular type of person.

How on earth can you be a classical ballet dancer, and hate classical music?  

Went through the RBS, was offered a place at the RB, had the technical ability and enjoyed the physical side.

I quickly snapped up a ticket! There are still some available

Yes, but upwards of £62 so out of my price range.

Oh, I do hate it when people talk! I wish that there was silence throughout the whole ballet (other than the music!)

One question...it's a bit embarrassing but on the intervals I just have to DANCE! It's like I've swelled up like I'm going to explode and I just dance in a clear area! Last week, I was the lilac fairy and Aurora and my cavalier/prince was a chair! I was hurriedly called back by my mother who told that I was being rude and breaking theatre etiquette... Is this really bad? I will try not to do it again, but... I don't know how to explain it. I feel like I must dance ❤️

ArucariaBallerina, please don't stop, I love seeing such spontaneous joy and enthusiasm.

I have had many illuminating chats with strangers in the amphitheatre and almost all of them enjoy, and are knowledgeable about, classical music.

On the other hand, a friend who is ex-Royal Ballet readily admits that she can't stand classical music and would happily live without any music of any type and it drives her mad when her husband is home since he plays music pretty much non-stop.

I had no idea Frankie was so unwell, so her performance is amazing, hope she is O.K for Monday I am going to see that as well. 

As I'm going on Monday, I hope so too, SPD444, will be gutted if not!

That's certainly true - a chap behind and along from me at Woolf Works was wearing stripy tracksuit bottoms, which is a new sartorial low point for the ROH, surpassing my previous benchmark of a neighbour wearing manky Crocs...

My worst experience at the ROH involved the girl sitting next to me quite openly removing her old and very smelly trainers to reveal extremely whiffy feet. The trouble was she was so friendly I really couldn't say anything. And how do you say what you would like to say in those circumstances anyway? 

I always thought Leonard was a lot keener on her than she on him in the end but perhaps I haven't remembered this very well.

That was always my impression too.

Wonderful opening night at the Adriana Lecouvreur revival and what joy to experience, at long last, a production as appealing to the eye as to the ear.

It goes without saying, as I'm sure many already have, that Adriana is a role that sits perfectly on Angela Gheorghiu but, my goodness, how fabulous were Ksenia Dudnikova, bringing brittle glamour to the Princess de Bouillon, Brian Jagde, a vocal powerhouse as Maurizio, and on top of all that Gerald Finley, totally scene-stealing as a nuanced and heartrending Michonnet.

More casting of this quality, please, and let's have more David McVicar instead of some of the appalling productions that have been foisted upon us in the recent past.

I see the score is by Max Richter who is behind the music for the current BBC Drama series....I'm completely hooked on....Taboo( would make a great ballet)

 

 

Taboo, mmm .... Definitely one for Liam Scarlett.

Congrats to all the winners.

I am especially thrilled that Chase Johnsey won Best Male Dancer (classical). He has whipped off some of the best fouettees I have ever seen. He's a great dancer so very well deserved.

Congratulations to all the winners. Particularly pleased about Chase Johnsey! 

Yes indeed, Chase Johnsey could give anyone, male or female, a run for their money!

If Kevin really wants to keep everyone happy and give the younger dancers an opportunity to shine he needs to programme more early Ashton such as Les Rendezvous and Les Patineurs and more of MacMillan's classical choreography and fewer performances of full length works which only give a bare handful of dancers an opportunity to dance.

 

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I am sure that most posters on this forum would agree with this, Floss, and that we would add our votes from an audience perspective as well as that of the development of the younger dancers but, regrettably, how likely is it that the the inevitable 'bums on seats' considerations will be ditched in favour of more imaginative scheduling?

But there is surely an argument to be made as to how worthwhile it is to have dancers guest simply to perform for what, a maximum of 15 minutes in a standalone number?  (And I'm not having a go at Salenko: I said the same thing when they brought in Cory Stearns "merely" to dance the Sugar Plum's cavalier/prince, or whatever his title is).  

Wasn't Cory Stearns part of a RB/ABT swap with (McRae?) or am I mixing this up with something else?

I'm pretty sure that Row B is much cheaper. And B has by far the worst sight lines. Perhaps A is as cheap as it is because of the (very) limited leg room

A heavy ballet weekend for me: Woolf Works on Saturday (evening), Giselle on Sunday, of which more elsewhere.

I'll try to keep Woolf Works brief. I wondered whether it would stand a second viewing. Answer: absolutely yes!

I came with four WW virgins ranging in age from 25-70, one of whom was a big Wayne McGregor fan, one most definitely wasn't and the other two fell somewhere in the middle. All four agreed with me.

For myself, I was particularly pleased that the Mrs Dalloway piece, atypical McGregor, continued to impress. Why hasn't he done more works like this? Oh, and Francesca Hayward was lovely, as always.

I wasn't surprised that the Orlando piece still worked for me as I generally enjoy his big, colourful works the most. Not surprised, either, at the audience reaction as this is a piece that connects. And it reminded me how fabulous Osipova and McRae are together. Why, oh why, isn't there a repetition of their awesome Rubies casting in the next run of Jewels?

And although the third piece lacked the immediate impact of the other two, this felt both appropriate and deliberate and, as a result, it wrapped up the triptych in a moving and meaningful way.

Cesar Corrales delivered a stunning and assured debut. That boy is heading straight to stardom, isn't he?

 

I expected his dancing to be very good, and he superseded my expectations - by the time he delivered his entrechats I might have forgotten to breathe regularly.

 

What I really didn't expect was his finely tuned dramatic delivery - It felt like I could 'hear' his Albrecht think at times, his character was fully fleshed out as a carefree young man in love, realising what he has done and fervently wishing he could make amends. I might have dropped a tear.

 

He had a lovely chemistry with Elena Badenes, whose Giselle I enjoyed, particularly her lovely little 'skips' (dunno what they are actually called)

 

I don't think I need to say more about Lauretta Summerscales Myrtha other than see her if you can. Best wicked glint in town.

Those entrechats: of course there is the question of authenticity, if only to the intentions of this production. But if you do them as well as Corrales delivered last night, I found that they actually make some kind of narrative sense (ie not showing off but somehow expressive of the dance-till-you-die, what-am-I-going-to-do-I-love-her-but-shes-dead, they-all-want-to-kill-me crisis Albrecht is in at the end) Never felt that before, so perhaps this is an example of the power of dance. Imho.

I absolutely loved the Badenes/Corrales closing performance this afternoon. So did the two girls sitting behind me who had apparently seen every cast and excitedly remarked that this was the best of them all.

Coated, I so agree with your observations following their debut. Corrales - what a star! I can't recall coming out on such a high since the Vasiliev/Osipova Don Q when they were still with the Bolshoi but what really astounded me was the emotional depth that Corrales brought to the role. Aristocratic, ardent, yet from the very first this Albrecht showed a touching concern for Giselle, a concern which sharpened and intensified during her mad scene (this was an impulsive Albrecht, not a milksop afraid to face up to his actions or a cad playing with her affections) so that his anguish at her death was convincing, overwhelming and utterly harrowing.

And, yes, the chemistry with Elisa Badenes was there in spades and what a beautiful interpretation from her, too, moving from the girlish uncertainty of their first encounters through the flowering of first love and the distress of betrayed innocence to the selflessness and protectiveness that followed death. Sometimes Giselle's protectiveness is hard to fathom but Corrales painted Albrecht's feelings for her so vividly that in this case it made total sense.

So on to those entrechats, and I have to agree with Geoff. Not only were they thrillingly executed but they also made narrative sense. And, Bill Boyd, only the slightest interruption from clapping. I think everyone was too caught up in the moment.

Alison McWhinney delivered again as Myrthe although perhaps without the steely control that Laurretta Summerscales brought to the role, and Rina Kanehara continued to impress.

Finally, a big shout out to the consistently wonderful corps and orchestra. This company goes from strength to strength!

I can think of a few ballet choreographers (nameless) who could learn a GREAT DEAL about narrative, pacing, smooth transition of scenes, keeping the audience interested, and variation of tone and pace- oh, and fun- from watching this show.

The music was fantastic-most thoughtfully chosen and put together, and it all worked like a dream.

 

My only criticism is that the amplification was just too much- I don't think the music needed to be amplified in that way, and some of the sound effects were really painful to my ears.

My thoughts entirely, Mary.

No, Searcys went about four years ago.  The 'new' ones are not as good

Searcys' staff were terrific. Fast, accurate. They greeted you with a smile, a kind word or seven, such as: 'lovely to see you here again tonight' and relaxed conversation. The current lot are better in the amphi bar than the Paul Hamlyn Hall where the staff, for the most part, are indifferent, grumpy or downright unhelpful. On one occasion, when someone else had helped themselves to the drinks that my friends and I had ordered, we asked three ambulant members of staff for help and they all declined and pointed us in the direction of the three-deep queue at the bar. I caught the attention of one of the staff, who said she would help then promptly turned away to serve four other customers. Finally I located the manager, who replaced our drinks just as the final bell was ringing, which meant all that we had time for was a sip then back to our seats

The Wilis' dresses are a beautiful combination of white and green, darkening towards the hems to give them a 'damp' feel which indicates that they have risen out of the damp earth and are therefore Wilis/vampires rather than sprites or sylphs.  You will notice that Giselle's dress is slightly whiter than the others to indicate that this is the first time (and last!) that she has risen from her grave.  A beautifully thought out concept by David Walker in collaboration with Mary Skeaping and based on the original description by Heinrich Heine.

The only negative was the dearth of curtain calls (again). What is it with ENB and curtain calls?! They’re an essential part of the (I hope) mutual catharsis of a great performance, and it’s really not right to cut them short in this way.

Thank you again, Irmgard, for adding clarity to what felt so right about the costumes which, along with the lighting and, for that matter, the rest of the production, I absolutely loved. I was there on Wednesday and can only echo everything that has already been said about Alina Cojocaru and Laurretta Summerscales, both of whom were, in their very different ways, utterly breathtaking. For myself, I found Hernandez a little bland, much as I did in the equally stunning Akram Khan production, and am looking forward to seeing what Corrales can bring to Albrecht in the closing performance.

Bridiem, I do so agree with your comments about the cathartic effect of a curtain call which allows the audience to express its appreciation. When curtain calls are not allowed to run their natural course, it almost feels as though the performance has summarily been cut short.

I am so glad that you decided to post your article, Irmgard. The background information, fascinating in its own right, will greatly enhance my understanding and enjoyment of future performances.

One more:

Best Wigmore debut:

Rene Pape (and riveting Mussorgsky!)

Probably the most telling thing about this production is that after the regular turkeys served up over the last few seasons, this one felt comparatively like a classic.

Fleming, never the best of actresses, can still deliver a better performance musically than Domingo's recent efforts although twenty years down the line who knows?.

Octavian is always a difficult trouser role to pull off. Did anyone see Tara Erraught a couple of years back?