Fiona

On 19/04/2024 at 10:34, Lynette H said:

From 23 November

this spectacular re-imagining of Noel Streatfeild’s beloved novel, in a new version by Kendall Feaver (The Almighty Sometimes)."

 

Public booking opens 2 May. 

Why does the word "re-imagining" fill me with dread!!

I absolutely agree with the posts above!  A truly wonderful performance, with Osipova just brilliant and Reece Clarke a fantastic Des Grieux, such beautiful lines, and the two of them living their parts. Gary Avis a suitably creepy GM, and Campbell and Magri excellent, plus the Corps and everyone in it. How lovely it is, too, to hear such cheering for the Orchestra as well as for the performers.  So well deserved.

I love to see Naghdi and Ball dance together.  As they both went through the Royal Ballet School from the beginning, their lines and positions match each other beautifully.  They really are a class act! 

I remember Oliver Symons in the Gala Celebration when the ROH reopened in 1999.  He performed one of the Ugly Sisters in the duet from Act 2 of Cinderella when they exit then re-enter holding the oranges, with a travelling step, nodding their heads.  (If you know the ballet it will be familiar to you, and the music is unforgettable!) He was also seen backstage trying on new shoes for the event.

On 04/12/2022 at 16:09, oncnp said:

The tiny print said 27 Jan 2023

 

For any Lauren Cuthbertson fans who don't already have them, Opus Art has repackaged her Two Pigeons and The Cellist 

 

Cellist / Two Pigeons [Region Free]: Amazon.co.uk: Lauren Cuthbertson, Matthew Ball, Marcelino Sambé, Emma Lucano, Cathy Marstiin, Frederick Ashton: DVD & Blu-ray

I do wish that they would release a DVD Blu-ray of Cuthbertson's Swan Lake.  I thought she was wonderful in it.  Are there going to be no other cast DVD releases of Swan Lake, just Nunez and Muntigirov?

Well, I am heartbroken that it won't be Reece Clarke as the male lead in Diamonds, and Anna Rose O'Sullivan will not be dancing the Fille Mal Gardee pdd!  (I had hopes she had time for a quick change before the new work she's in.)

1 hour ago, capybara said:

 

.... cast would have been Kaneko/Muntagirov but I do understand why they are fielding Nunez. I would never post ‘wishful thinking’ on here as fact!)

 

 

My 'wishful thinking' would be (as Cinderella): Hayward, O'Sullivan, Naghdi or Takada.

Surely Wheeldon has more "Dancing" in his productions than McGregor?

43 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

Indeed - I think that on the whole, the production and its choreography are excellent but I have a slight issue with the somewhat repetitive character dances in Act Three, and the opening Valse of Act One. It's of course very exciting, energetic choreography which is great for the opening waltz, but I sometimes feel as if the stage is slightly overcrowded. Particularly the part where there are female dancers turning forwards, and male dancers leaping in the other direction - I sometimes get worried that there might be a collision.

I do actually love the ending though. I agree that it is very tragic (and somewhat similar to Giselle with the recurring theme of females sacrificing themselves) but I do love the part where her 'apparition' rises above Siegfried as he walks forward during the final notes. Very emotionally stirring.

Yes, I always feel that the dancing area in Act 1 is cramped.  The scenery seems to encroach too much, and there is too much of it.  Personally, I was very impressed with Lauren Cuthbertson's Odile.  I thought she came on stage for the pdd with all guns blazing!  I loved Nadia Mullova-Barley's Spanish dance, also I always enjoy Isabella Gasparini whenever she performs. Her smile lights up the stage!

16 hours ago, alison said:

 

Gobsmacked.  Absolutely did not see that coming.  NOT

In fact, had Thursday's live relay of Swan Lake not been designated as celebrating Lauren Cuthbertson's 20 [sic] years with the company, I would have been wondering whether Kevin O'Hare was going to break with tradition and promote Bracewell onstage.

 

 

With three last season, I should hope not - it was time the men caught up.

 

Congratulations to both men - very much deserved.  And it's great that both are British, too.

Yes, it's great that they are British,  and also both trained at the Royal Ballet School all their lives.

Many, many congratulations to them both. So well deserved, I am truly delighted for them and the Royal Ballet. 

Will it be shown online, do you know?  I do hope so!

I loved "The Royal Ballet in Cuba" too!  So interesting, and great to see the dancers of the RB Company approximately 12 years ago.  I believe it was made in 2009?  It is well worth a watch.

I am greatly looking forward to this!  Having read the book I am wondering how all the special effects will be achieved!  However with the magician Bob Crowley costumes and set designs, Natasha Katz in charge of lighting,  a new score by Joby Talbot, (the same team as for Alice Adventures in Wonderland and Winter's Tale), plus the whole production by Christopher Wheeldon, I have no doubt it will be spectacular, with wonderful dancing.

1 hour ago, Fonty said:

 

Oh, I appreciate that.  I suppose I was partly wondering out loud if the Dancing Times still did that as I haven't seen read it for years.  And although I do read the links to the critics on here, I do tend to find that they just do the opening night cast as 

I get the Dancing Times, mainly because the editor, Jonathan Gray, reviews each and every RB cast in their productions, which is the main reason I buy it!  I  also greatly appreciate reading all the opinions on this forum, and seeing the wonderful curtain call photos!

How lovely to see that Julia Roscoe and Isabel Lubach were Big Swans last night!  They performed together as the 2 little girls in Act 1  of Sir Anthony Dowell's production of Swan Lake, on DVD with Nunez and Soares, in 2009.

I wonder what Mr Crisp would have thought about today's Royal Ballet dancers?  Surely he would have been impressed?

Yes!  I believe Anna Rose O'Sullivan cleverly performed the diagonal pirouettes this way in the Tchaikovsky  PDD with Sambe.  I first saw this feat performed by Tiler Peck in NYCB.

21 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

There are some very impressive/interesting commissioned scores (particularly some of those for Northern).  There are also some absolutely shocking ones!

I like Joby Talbot's scores for Alice and Winter's Tale very much.  They are melodic and fit the stories beautifully, in my opinion.  I anticipate a good score for the next one: Like Water for Chocolate.  

On 10/07/2021 at 19:56, Lizbie1 said:

 

From where I was looking on opening night, O'Sullivan's wig was very much of its time, which reminds me: I respect the ROH costume department a lot, and I'm all for sticking to the original designs unless there's good reason not to, but I think they have a blind spot about the wigs for 70s and early 80s designs (see also Manon and Nutcracker). I think all too often they just look a bit silly to the modern eye and nothing would be lost with some updating. 

Personally speaking, I find the ROH wigs far superior to those used at the Bolshoi and Mariinsky companies.  (Especially those for the Corps dancers.)

4 hours ago, LinMM said:

I Usually follow skating regularly and have been following the build up to the Worlds for a while now so agree very much with your Thursday comment Dawnstar! 

Its been a bugbear of mine for some time now that the beauty of ice skating is being lost in all these Quad jumps and you get the feeling the skaters are just moving from one jump to the next with not much in between and are all a bit samey.   I wish the scoring would only allow for one quad and you don’t get more marks for a second!! Inspite of the jumps they do some of these young girls have no real sustained power so everything is cut short and so very unsatisfying to watch.  There’s a lot of arm waving and little use of the back into the movement which you see on really powerful skaters.  However often today their  careers are over by the time their bodies acquire this extra strength .. such a shame. 

I find that these days I really only like watching either ice dancing or gala programmes where you get more joy and individuality of performance when  the stress is off for all the jumps. 

But then I do forget I suppose that it is a sport! I didn’t realise a skater actually gets more points for a failed quad than a successful triple. That doesn’t seem to be right somehow. If they knew they would lose marks for a failed jump this might reserve the points for those who can do it more easily and the skaters wouldn’t attempt so many.    It’s like extensions in ballet some bodies are more suited to really high extensions and those that aren’t can  look rather ugly trying to do them. It’s better to go for a lower beautifully placed extension with good line and no body distortion in the end. 
There’s also a move in the women’s skating which has come in more recently where they spin holding their leg up in front of them and it just looks so ugly on most of them!! 
There seems to be a lot of back biting going on in the Russian ice training schools currently for some reason and a lot of the contestants look a bit downcast. Still it takes a lot of courage to go out and perform in these competitions and it’s not the skaters fault what is expected of them by the judges.  
 

 

I am amazed at how the number of rotations has increased through the years.  It used to be that a double jump for the Ladies was the maximum, now they're performing triples, and how long before they emulate the Men with quadruples?  Will the Men soon attempt a 5 rotation jump?  There must be a limit some day, surely?! 

11 minutes ago, Bruce Wall said:

The cherry on top of this illustrious fare for me will most definitely be Sambe/O'Sullivan in the Tschai PDD.  They were blistering in it in NYC and the capacity audiences there present took them immediately to their hearts.  The echo of those cheers will definitely be in my ears when I watch them on Friday.  

Sambe and O'Sullivan in the Tchaikovsky Pdd will definitely be my highlight in the next online performance on November 13th!  After their fabulous appearance in 'Fille' in the 'Back on Stage' programme, I can't wait!

Sorry, I got my CD and DVD mixed up!  I meant to say that I did have a video of the 1999 Gala, and wish they would put it on to a DVD.  (Or even have it on the BBC for viewing.)

Yes, the 1999 reopening gala was fantastic.  Anthony Dowell assembled a brilliant look-back at the RB catalogue of works through the years, beautifully and carefully presented.  I wish it was available too, (also Dreams to Reality which was great.)  As far as I remember, the first Opera section of the Gala consisted of the opera singers lined up on stage with musical scores in their hands from which they sang.  In contrast, Anthony Dowell stole the show!  I did have a DVD of the performance, but no CD seems to have been issued, unfortunately.

1 hour ago, David said:

 

 Meanwhile it's worth saying that IMHO the RB's DVD from 2000 with Leanne Benjamin  and Carlos Acosta and with Mariane Nunez as one of Swanilda's friends is very fine. 

Plus Luke Heydon as Dr Coppelius, who is brilliant!

I am a fan!  I have the CD of Alice and enjoy all the various sections which are so explicit and memorable, to me, of the plot lines in the story.  I would probably buy a CD of A Winter's Tale, too, if there was one available.  Quite honestly, I thing that the production team of Wheeldon's 3 Act ballets could not be bettered.  Bob Crowley is also brilliant, plus Natasha Katz with her lighting and effects.  (I can't wait for the new one!)