Coated

I saw tonight's performance at Sadler's Wells, and was very taken with it, a mix of spoken word and dance that doesn't follow any traditional storytelling but manages to express the of inner world of a deeply traumatised survivor. A slow start setting a claustrophobic tone in an unsettled environment, an exploration of a shattered mind, the psychological aftermath of a not quite specified catastrophe slowly unfurling on stage. At times it felt as if you're in someone's mind where nothing is fixed and everything returns to the one moment in time where life was irreversibly changed. The first half seemed lighter on dancing than the second, more movement with episodes of sinister tab dancing and a few cabaret style sequences. The second half had some longer dance sequences that really made you notice how good the dancers were and how well the choreography worked for a difficult concept to express on stage. Hat off to all creatives involved. It wasn't everyone's cup of tea and a small number of people left at the intermission, though most of the Sadler's crowd really seemed to like it and it ended with big standing ovation.

I hated Atomos with the fierce passion of a thousand suns. I saw it a couple of years ago at Sadler's and felt the dancing was subsumed by an overwhelming wall of sound attempting to direct emotional responses. The rest of the audience seemed to love it judging by the applause I heard on my way out. There is the possibility that I could have enjoyed it wearing industrial ear mufflers.

I thought it was an slight, gossipy article to appear on page 3 of a serious newspaper. It did go on to mention comments AMc made about a sugarplum fairy looking like she ate a few sugarplums too many. The overall message of the article seems to be 'oooooh, someone's been a meany'. Odd.

Whatever happened at ONB, I admire Alina Cojacaru's heart, worn beautifully on her sleeve in this english message to her colleagues https://m.facebook.com/graham.watts.374/posts/10153990898030943

I hope they have a surprise cast stashed away or this could turn into the Lamb show. She'd probably never want to hear the word Frankenstein again if that happened...

Oh, this does sound rather exciting. I feel a trip to Denmark coming up - also an excellent opportunity to stock up on salty liquorice

I was trying to delicately imply that the orchestra playing for the Otello piece was perhaps not on best form that night

Sadly most asthmatics have plenty of coughing experience, and most of them are pretty good at muffling it reasonably unless it's a quite serious attack. The coughers that drive me mad are the ones that just fold their hands on their lab, open their mouth wide and give it a good old go. My moan is about a standee who decided to do some sort of excercise or walkabout during the mad aria in Lucia. Instead of listening to Damrau, I was treated to stomp-stomp-squeak. Eventually an usher traipsed over as quietly as possible (amazing how loud everything is during quiet singing) to put an end to it. And I love the "don't cough" announcements at the Wigmore Hall. Keeps the casual coughing and throat clearing right down and prevents inexperienced visitors from being lynched. A little while ago I overheard a first timer describing the audience as 'very hard-core'.

It's not common in Vienna, but once they decide they really love something they'll demand an encore. Seems they have a soft spot for 'E Lucevan le Stelle' and both Pavarotti and Domingo have done encores of it for a ferociously enthusiastic Viennese audience

Oh, good news since I accidentally booked twice for this.

I was very pleased that they switched the tab of, particularly for the last act. Castronovo really was a bit of a revelation in Lucia, and heartbreaking in the last scene. I remembered him as quite alright from previous appearances at the ROH, but after hearing him in Lucia he's now moved up into my 'book, no questions asked' category. One more to for me with Rucinski as Enrico. Loved his stand-in debut as Giorgio Germont a while ago and have been waiting to see him again since.

I think they might have been better off with their usual orchestra

Graham Watts has a few posts about this on his Twitter account. This is just becoming more and more bonkers.

To see Tyrone is to admire. Particularly sans shirt

They put the magic into Shakespeare I was a teeny tiny bit worried that they land on an audience member's lap with the smaller thrust stage, but of course they managed R&J beautifully. Lovely camera work as well, so many nice shots of both of their dancing and expressions

I didn't get the email at all. Not really impressed with the streaming, the presenter talked over Cope at some point, ushered Watson, Cuthbertson and Cope out of the studio like small children and read from a list of plays to inform those of us who don't know about Geoffrey Streatfeild credentials. A list of two plays. Sure, there's a lot of random detail in programmes like this, but if you can't remember at least just look at your crib sheet instead of telling me about it. He seems to have a fair share of ego and comes across as patronising at times. Come back, Darcy. All is forgiven. ETA: ah, he's a sports journalist. That pretty much explains my dislike of tone for me (at this point I probably need to state that I will run for the remote as soon as any sport show comes on to change channels asap to avoid feeling irritated)

Oooops. I read that as 'worth slaying for', and whilst I wondered a little about the ferocity of the statement, I didn't materially disagree....

brilliant clip of Kaufmann's reaction when his soprano doesn't show up on stage during Tosca 'non abbiamo il soprano' http://video.repubblica.it/spettacoli-e-cultura/tosca-colpo-di-scena-a-vienna-il-soprano-non-c-e/236149/235875?ref=HRESS-4&refresh_ce Edited to add: Apparently Gheorghiu decided to wait out his applause and encore in her dressing room http://slippedisc.com/2016/04/angela-gheorghius-late-show-the-truth-at-last/

I gave up on SW ushers when I had to walk past one mid performance to get a girl to stop filming with her mobile raised up high enough to be right in my sightline. I did have an aisle seat, but I think I was grumpy enough at that point that I might have thrown things at her if I'd been mid-row. The most annoying thing was that I'd asked that very usher in the intermission to make sure that the girl won't film again, even gave her the exact seat number.

I think one thing that has become clear is that the last scene of M-Dao could do with a bit or clarification for future runs

That was my interpretation as well, particularly since Medea mourned over the curtain bodies before gathering them up. The last couple of Medea's I've seen went with the son / daughter version of the myth, so seeing the shadows of a boy and a girl wasn't a surprise. I did think it would have helped if the 'shadow children' held some easily identifiable toys like a doll or a hobby horse to remove any possible ambiguity. I just asked in case I completely missed something happening elsewhere, before she murders her children.

Vicky, I didn't see her kill Jason, even when looking out for it the second time watching it. Was is fairly hidden? Broken Wings was right up my alley, including the wonderful music. I feel a purchase coming on. The visual imagery of the piece was stunning and I loved the skeletons, at time insouciant, threatening or comical, with their costumes an inspired mix of bones and mariachi trousers. I though Tamara Rojo was heartbreaking as Frieda and the world of circus was robbed when Irek Mukhamedov decided to turn his talents to ballet - he has the makings of a world class clown. My favourite visual was probably the deer, I loved that the dancer was tall, thought the costume exquisite and adored the stylised animalistic movements. I'd be more than happy if Broken Wings finds its way into the ENB repertoire. M-Doa really took off for me when danced by Erina Takahashi, her performance was incredibly intense. The jealousy and anguish pulsed through the auditorium, and I felt that I could literally see the moment her Medea decided to kill her children. When she lifted up her 'curtain' children at the end, they seemed real to me. There were a lot of things in the choreography that I liked, some of the hand movements were amazingly intricate and the depiction of Medea's jealously was Watson-worthy, though the overall impression I'm left with was 'pretty dancing' - not bad, but not necessarily memorable. Fantastical beings was even less fantastical the second time around, though I used it to play spot-the-Corralles so I managed to entertain myself reasonably well. There were some pretty nifty moves by Hernandez as well, though most things were lost in the crowd and over in the blink of an eye. The thing I really had a problem with was how the dancing ignored the music. Occasionally the choreography referenced what was happening in the score, but most of the time it seemed at best incidental or even counter intuitive. Based on this piece, I'd probably not chase down work by Aszure Barton with zealous vengeance...

Pennefather was my first Rudolph (ignoring a Mayerling I saw decades ago and pretty much slept through) and I loved him for it. Turned me from an occasional ballet visitor to a rabid repeat viewer. Whilst he could sleepwalk through a performance on some days, I still have a very soft spot for Pennefather when he was 'on'. Apart from Watson (obviously…) I'm not sure that I have favourite dancers, though I have a number of favourite performances involving a wide variety of male dancers.

Ah, forgot about the R&J - probably saw too many in a row

Whilst I don't know who Buggin was, I very much agree. On the topic of McRae, when has he last danced with someone other than Osipova or Salenko? I assumed that I didn't pay attention to all of his castings, but recently noticed that I haven't seen him with any other dancers for well over a year.