Scheherezade

Thank you, A Frog and Don Q Fan, that is very helpful.

...  Just wish they had gone to another theatre so many bad sightlines in the Chatelet due to some rather peculiar high wiry barriers...

Can anyone advise in more detail about the sightlines, and how they compare to the restricted view seats at the ROH?

Another belated, and brief, comment, and only marginally connected to Andrea Chenier.

I just wanted to add my voice to Ruth's regarding Zelijko Luci who, for me, was the stand-out in this production. And the most compelling reason for snapping up tickets to the forthcoming Trovatore.

A very belated response to this - so busy over the last few weeks - and I enjoyed the production far more than the first run. The doppelgangers were far less intrusive this time round although I could have done without the younger, lightweight, dancing Onegin who seemed totally at odds with the austere, unsympathetic figure that we are asked to accept. Personally, I believe that the 'younger' selves would have been better served by projections but the effect was far less alienating than the first run so overall a great improvement.

The singing was superb - Hvorostovsky, I am glad to say, was in fine voice, with great support from Fabiano and Carr - and wonderful conducting from the fabulous Semyon Bychkov.

I brought some friends along for the opening night with the same cast as Sim. Gheorghiu is still the Tosca for our times but, sadly, Riccardo Massi was an underpowered Cavaradossi, begging the question of what on earth Tosca could see in him.

Yes, he could hit the notes but he showed all the animation of those stone pillars lined up in formation on the battlements of the Castel Sant 'Angelo. Park and bark from the get-go and not a jot of chemistry between them, although it wasn't for want of trying on Gheorghiu's part.

Oh for the dream team of  Angela, J.K. and Bryn, of a few years back, although I must say I found Samuel Youn a commanding Scarpia with, mercifully, a less-repellent wig than the one worn by Bryn on recent outings.

I agree that the minor parts were well-sung and, despite my reservations about Cavaradossi, still an enjoyable evening.

Yes, many congratulations to Laurretta, and much deserved! I saw her Gulnare on opening night and found her dancing characteristically beautiful and beguiling although, as others have hinted, Tamara's feisty, minx-like Medora alongside Laurretta's more reserved and ladylike Medora, might have been better suited to alternative casting. I saw Shiori Kase the following Friday and she brought strong soubrette qualities to the role but, as others have pointed out, when teamed with Tamara's Medora it did feel that there was not all that much differentiation between lead females.

So on to the fantastic roster of virtuoso males. Corrales danced Ali at each of the performances that I  saw and deservedly brought the house down at both. It is, of course, a gift of a role and total crowd pleaser and can diminish the other male roles when delivered with assurance and dynamism, as it was here. I was therefore disappointed by Gouneo, a dancer whom I had been looking forward to seeing, whose Conrad seemed, at least on opening night, unsteady and uncertain and I don't think that I was the only one who held my breath during some of the overhead lifts.

Perhaps it was lack of rehearsal time, perhaps a question of chemistry, but for me Hernandez was, by way of contrast, an utterly convincing Conrad who more than held his own, even with Corrales on dazzling form, and put me in mind of Vadim's terrific Conrad during the last run.

Which leaves the fabulous Brooklyn Mack. What can I say? More, please, and soon!

I haven't yet seen Hayward and Hay in Rhapsody but I have to say that I loved the McRae and Osipova debut on Wednesday, in turn, electric and lyrical, and I can't wait to compare their performance with Hayward and Hay on the 30th.

As for Two Pigeons, I fully endorse everything that has been said about Choe and Campbell and, yes, please nurture this totally convincing partnership! Having been lukewarm about the somewhat arch McRae/Salenko interpretation in the pre-Christmas run, Choe and Campbell's dancing, acting and chemistry  - delightful, without in any way being mannered - won me over completely. Yuhui Choe was so totally natural, and Alexander Campbell, whom I haven't previously seen in a major role, made total and moving sense of what, in other hands, could seem unsympathetic and shallow. He has moved right to the top of my 'must see again and soon' list!

Yes, the works at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse are fantastic and I doubt that they would have seen the light of day without him. With counter-tenors having such a moment, why not works by Hesse or Vinci? Artaserse stormed though Europe, why not the UK? And Fagioli, so miscast in Idomeneo and, surely, the closest in sound to the castrati of the past, could show us all his incredible range.

I am sure that we all wish him and his family the best and would hope that his decision has not been influenced by the mixed reception to his (relatively) short stint at the helm.

Does anyone have any idea who may succeed him?

Why, has he pulled out of some of them?

He has. I believe that he will be resuming treatment for his brain tumour before the run has finished. I am sure that all our best wishes are with him.

I forgot to mention Tierney Heap, who also impressed me enormously. Diana and Actaeon was as good as it gets and why isn't Majisimo danced more often? A great ensemble piece in which Yuhui Choe once again shone brightly.

Well, I'm with Judith Mackrell and Munchkin. Yanowsky was breathtakingly good. I tend to groan inwardly at the thought of another Dying Swan but I can't remember when I last felt so moved. I loved Nisi Dominus, too. The music helped, of course, and I still preferred the costume to some of the concoctions dreamed up for recent abstract works. And I'd like to give a shout for Yuhui Choe, just fantastic playing totally against type in the Van Cauwenbergh/Piaf piece, she was a revelation.  I generally feel less than enthusiastic at gala-type programmes but this is a must-see!

Yes, indeed, both sad and shocking. Did anyone know that she was ill? Could the R.B. not have put out a statement?

I saw this double bill on Friday evening with the second cast.

I seem to remember that back in the day, the two Monotones pieces were danced the other way round but my memory could be playing tricks with me. Can anyone else remember?

Both casts were extremely well matched in height which, at least from where I was sitting, added to the aesthetic appeal, their timings were, for the most part, spot on, and I couldn't catch any discernable wobbles, suggesting that they have settled in since their first outing. Both seemed to catch the purity and other-worldly beauty of the choreography and of Satie's music.

McRae and Salenko were as pitch-perfect as you would expect in Two Pigeons and Fumi Kaneko was a fantastic gypsy although I would have loved to have caught the fabulous Laura Morera. I couldn't understand why Kaneko didn't receive a bouquet at the end. Have the other gypsy girls? In any event, she received a storming and well-deserved reception from the audience.

I am looking forward to seeing this in a week's time. Enjoyed Antonenko in Otello. Giannattasio isn't my favourite soprano vocally but she is a convincing actress and very easy on the eye. Shame about the reviews for Westbroek. From the photos, the sets look like a cross between the ROH's current L'Elisir d'Amore and Gianni Schicchi. Is this the template for mid-late 20th century Italy?

I am with your wife on the production, Geoff, although I will be going back to give this one a second chance, and thank goodness Hvorostovsky is still scheduled for the night I have booked.

I have to say, though, that I found the substitution of dancers for the characters' younger selves extremely distancing. As a result, I felt totally disconnected from the emotions of the characters and felt, as a result, that the piece failed almost entirely.

I am not convinced that this can be remedied by anything other than a total re-think but we shall see!

I agree about opera in translation and, like many, fail to see why the ENO persist when we have surtitles and a multi-lingual society. Mozart, in particular, sounds dreadful in English, ditto Rossini although The Barber of Seville was worth the effort for the fabulous Jonathan Miller production. Baroque and Wagner seem to survive well in translation. I did not, however, find this production as uncomfortable on the ear as many of the ENO's offerings. Whether this was partly due to the Fagioli factor (the fact that I could not always clearly hear the words) is a matter of speculation but the overall effect, to me at least, was decidedly more lyrical than I had anticipated.

I actually enjoyed The Force of Destiny, despite approaching it with much trepidation. Vocally, it was fantasic .Tamara Wilson alone was worth the (very reasonable) price of the ticket, bearing out Dame Kiri's recent injunction that singers need 'a bit of beef' to perform well. I don't know about anyone else but I have certainly found Anna Netrebko's voice more appealing since she has put on some weight.

As far as the production values were concerned, I have frequently seen worse, including the ROH William Tell, in which I personally found the scene with the 'naked' children far more disturbing than the simulated rape. I also found that production puerile, nonsensical and insulting to the intelligence of the audience whereas, by way of contrast, the Calixto Bieito Spanish Civil War interpretation of The Force of Destiny made narrative sense, even extending to Leonora's suicide, although I do feel that directors' licence should not extend to changing the intention of the composer. If you don't like the story, direct a different piece.

Going back a few years, the Rufus Norris Don Giovanni, which also featured a rape scene - more than one, if I remember correctly, including the rape, rather than seduction of Donna Anna, which made nonsense of everything that followed, and a hideously-depicted gang rape by a mob wearing masks and T shirts carrying the image of Christ, was far less palatable. After the interval, my daughter and I had something of a stand-off with a couple who had more central (and more expensive) seats than ours as all four of us wanted to be as far away from the sight lines as possible - 'You have them', 'No, please, you take them', 'No, really, we couldn't...' And this from my daughter aged approximately 20 at the time, just the age group that the powers that be seem to imagine will enjoy seeing such graphic, distasteful productions.

As to 'that Rigoletto', I should think most of us are down on our knees praying for more David McVicar after some of the recent productions (ok, maybe not the 'Trekkie' Aida) - and on that note, try and catch Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail on the current Glyndebourne tour. Glorious!

Very sorry it's been announced too late to get tickets

Yes indeed, a great pity!

Bit tasteless, isn't it?  (And I'm not talking about the meat)

 

 

I think only sub-text in the sense that Ashton used to say he was usually (always?) the female character in his ballets?  We can draw conclusions from that if we want.

 

 

Do you mean that Cranko actually suggested an openly gay theme, or am I misreading you?

 

And I always assumed the gypsies were in the original libretto.

 

 

Unless I'm mistaken, it was Watson and Bonelli in the last run - but I agree about the wondering bit.

You are right, of course, Alison, and Bonelli was fabulous - I can seldom remember being short-changed by him which makes me wonder why I don't make an effort to book specifically for his performances - but I am sure that Kish stood in for him at one performance and really impressed me, to my surprise. Does anyone else remember that or is it just another geriatric moment?

I think your point about Tudor is very valid FLOSS. The Royal Ballet seem to have a near schizophrenic relationship with his work and pieces such as Dark Elegies and Lilac Garden don't seem to have been performed in Britain for decades. I have only seen Lilac Garden once, at the old Sadler's Wells and by a foreign company. Sorry, cannot remember which one.

Lilac Garden was performed somewhat recently in London, it was part of ABT's programme on their last visit here about five years ago

Gay subtext? Who knew? Not me, anyway.

Nor me, and that would still be the case if Lindsay hadn't enlightened us.

I shan't be seeing this double bill until Dec 4th when Arestis, Kish and Hirano will be stepping up again for Monotones II. There haven't been too many reviews of this trio although Sim preferred them to the 1st cast so it should be interesting to see what they make of it. Whilst not a fan of Kish in dramatic works, this is, to my mind, the type of work that shows him off to best advantage. I seem to remember that he and Watson partnered Nunez extremely well during the last run of Monotones and wonder why the line-up was changed around.

There is at present an eminent Verdian soprano who never seems to get beyond the press night and perhaps a second performance before she is obliged to withdraw.

 

FLOSS if the soprano you're alluding to is the one I'm thinking of (I understand she still somewhat reliably performs in Munich and Vienna), Holten has somewhat publicly said she would no longer be booked at Covent Garden.

 

I am assuming that her last two, somewhat truncated, engagements at the ROH were in Otello and Don Carlo, both of which I was lucky enough to catch. The problem is, of course, that she is rather superb! And Gheorghiu's form on the cancellation front, at least until recent runs, was every bit as bad, if not worse, without the excuse of an ailing spouse.

..... Kaufmann is off so we're talking about Osipova again.  If Pappano were to resign tomorrow would we also talk about Osipova and Bolshoi?

If Pappano were to resign tomorrow I, for one, would hope that we would be talking about the wonderful Semyon Bychkov!

Of course I am disappointed about Kauffman because I would like to hear him sing just once before I die(!)

As for Jonas Kaufmann, I was lucky enough to see him at the ROH in Tosca.

Me too. The 'dream team' of Kaufmann, Gheorghiu and Terfel. And again with Gheorghiu in Andrea Lecouvreur and Don Carlo with Harteros. Like Sim, I was also at the Winterreise recital and I saw him in Carmen some years ago with the fabulousAnna Caterina Antonacci. It's an odd thing with Kaufmann, he isn't the best tenor ever (Bjorling, Wunderlich, Gigli anyone?) or even, to my mind, the best tenor right now but he is, without doubt, the most consummate performer. What's more, he seldom cancels so I'm sure you will hear him before you die, Penelope.

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET IN BBC FOUR TELEVISION WORLD PREMIERE

The King Who Invented Ballet: Louis XIV and the Noble Art of Dance and Birmingham Royal Ballet’s newest work The King Dancesto be broadcast on BBC FOUR on Sunday 13 September at 8pm.

Bruce has been very eloquent about the first night performance and I could not hope to compete. Friday night had the same cast and, by the way, cast lists were freely available, with instructions to ignore the previous night's date since the castings were identical.

On the positive side, Kolesnikova's arms and back were beautiful and it was difficult to criticise her performance technically. On the negative side, I felt that she was projecting to the audience rather than to the rest of the cast or, more particularly, to her prince, and what a handsome prince Rodkin made, I just wish that there had been more opportunity to see him dance rather than stand around and/or look attentive or distressed. I found the jester predictably annoying, the 'happy' ending unconvincing, Rothbart somewhat underpowered and had to try hard not to laugh at the fight between Siegfried and Rothbart at the end. And was it just me or were the orchestra on go-slow during Odette's solos and pas de deux? In parts, the pace was so turgid that there was almost time for her to milk applause mid-solo.

I found the corps well-drilled in the lakeside scenes although, from my position up in the balcony, some of the shapes looked less aesthetically pleasing than they might. The national dances seemed mediocre and I wasn't sure what was supposed to be going on between Siegfried and the princesses.

Part of the problem may well have been that the last time I saw Swan Lake at the Coliseum was the electrifying ENB Rojo/Lendorf performance and there was no way that this was going to match up. For all of that, and despite appearances to the contrary, I did enjoy the evening. I am not sure, however, whether or not to risk Bayadere for the chance to see more and better things from Rodkin.

I have recently been at the Coli for Cinderella, La Sylphide and, yesterday, for Swan Lake. For Cinderella and La Sylphide, the audience was perfectly behaved, and how wonderful to get an upgrade to row H in the stalls for our £10 Sylphide tickets, although my daughter remarked that, although the view was fantastic, she preferred the atmosphere in our usual seats up in the balcony. Last night, at Swan Lake, I was horrified by the loud and ongoing clamour of conversation whilst the orchestra was playing, before the curtain went up, at the start of each act. It was far worse than the murmur that can sometimes be heard. If anything, it seemed to get louder. And people sitting a few rows from the front came forward to balance their glasses on the ledge at the front. As my friend and I did not finish our drinks before the start of the performance, I asked, in the usual way, to leave our drinks at the bar for the interval and was encouraged by the bar staff to take them in. The waitress looked very surprised when I said that I would rather not take drinks in to the auditorium. I did not recognise the bar staff and I have never had this reaction from the usual staff.

As to letting people in after the start of the performance, I imagine that this is dictated by the lack of a TV for latecomers. I am not sure whether things have changed recently but, for opera at least, the ushers used to allow people to stand at the back of the dress circle (or, I imagine, other areas if this became too full). They were admitted quietly and discreetly and if there was a suitable break, they were filtered in to free seats near the back and allowed to remain there until the interval. This system seemed to work extremely well.