Coated

Flames was incredible. The whole cast was excellent, the ballet itself was a great romp and Vassiliev's jumps were like nothing I had seen before, and that includes Vassiliev in other performances. It'll take me a while to be coherent about this, at the moment my brain just goes 'OMG, did that really happen? How on earth did he do that?'

 

The performance just flew past, and whilst Osipova and Vassiliev were a bit of a standout, it wasn't by that much - this might have been my Bolshoi dream cast of the current crop.

And another decent Swan Lake, this time with a beautifully mournful and innocent Odette from Smirnova. Chudin was on form as well, and definitely more expressive than when I saw him in his Swan Lake with Shipulina. I love his cabrioles and pretty much any quick footwork he does, he just makes it look so effortless. I might have even welled up a tiny bit at the very end tonight.

 

Odile was perhaps a little too mellow, but the dancing was a joy to watch and this performace was definitely a nice way of ending the Swan Lake run. Only downer was that Denis Medvedev was replaced due to injury

Someone should force-feed them the Highway Code - you know, the bit in which they're instructed to rid in single file on busy/country roads.  Better still, maybe knowledge of the relevant bits of the HC should be a requirement before joining any of these road-riding clubs.  I managed it for my Cycling Proficiency when I was still at junior school, so it's not as if it's hard, or anything.

Hah, it's not only drivers who take issue with 2 cyclists idling along next to each other - as another cyclist, you have a choice of crawling along behind them or throwing yourself into oncoming traffic in an attempt to overtake them. And seriously, what would would make you think cycling 2 abreast is a sane thing to on a busy London main road?

I very much second the Kristina Kretova alert - she really stood out in Rubies and had genuine stage presence

 

I saw Smirnova twice in Sleeping Beauty, wasn't overly impressed with the first performance, rather liked her in the second one and then saw her in Diamonds and was blown away. Either she has grown on me, or she has on-and-off days but the one thing I consistently liked about her is her natural elegance, she is not a loud, look-at-me dancer but draws you in with beautiful lines

I don't think I ever get goosebumps (though its possible I'm to engaged with what is going on to notice what's happening on my forearms) but I well up during most well played violin solos, cry outright during Opera when duets perfectly harmonise (most likely Puccini) and my innards are tied into knots when I even think of Edward Watson sitting at the table exuding anguish at the end of Mayerling.

Viva Svortsov! He managed to breath some live into Swan Lake tonight, or perhaps there was something in the water and the whole company woke up instead of sleep dancing their way through the unwieldy production. He imbued his Siegfried with yearning for Odette, princely ennui when dancing with the Brides and desire for Shipulina's surprisingly coquette and calculating Odile. Those two had some actual stage chemistry, particularly in the second act and it made all the difference.

 

Anna Rebetskaya's Russian Bride was just lovely, the corps was smiley during the Bride dances and Anna Tikhomirova put the icing on my cake when she visibly 'noticed' Siegried's disinterest and then snapped back into cheery potential bride.

 

I'm not a huge fan of Shipulina, but tonight she really pulled all the stops and her Odile was wonderful, she didn't just deliver a dance performance, she was Odile.

 

Though perhaps all of is down to the Bolshoi running out of their industrial hairspray supply - the fierce 70's bouffants of the first performance (couldn't stop staring at Mikhail Kryuchkov's concrete blond helmet that didn't move even a fraction of a millimetre when he swirled around the stage) were replaced by more relaxed hairdos that actually behaved like normal hair.

Wow, just wow. If your mobile goes off mid-performance, the last thing you ought to do is verbally abusing other audience members loudly.

 

This guys mobile goes off, and he starts moving towards the door right behind me in SCS. I assumed he had the decency to quickly pop out since he wasn't able to silence it immediately. The phone went off again and I mouth at 'Get out' when it looked like he was checking who the call was from.

 

So he shouts at me to Shut Up, using a rather loud voice. A glare would have been understandable, an apologetic shrug acceptable. I was completely gobsmacked and just tabbed my forehead, he continued shouting 'Don't tell me to get out'. Charming man.

 

I waited until the performance was over and pointed him out to an usher who was very sweet about it. The guy got a 'Thank you very much for being incredibly rude and ruining the end of the performance for me', of course he did not say anything and pretended to not be there.

 

I guess the only thing one can hope for from people like that is he might switch off his phone next time.

 

Thankfully it was towards the end of the otherwise surprisingly good Swan Lake, so he didn't ruin the whole last act for me.

 

Did I mention that the first act was enhanced by someone's personal stereo merrily playing along for about 20 minutes until they finally noticed it was them and switched it off?

Oh, tonight's performance was the Bolshoi I was waiting for. Emeralds fell a bit flat, but both Rubies and Diamonds really sparkled for me.

 

Kristina Kretova was full of sass and a delight to watch in Rubies, I wish I could see more of her. I have nothing insightful to say about Smirnova and Chudin in Diamonds, I'm just plain smitten and my hands still hurt a little from clapping a bit too enthusiastically.

That was really interesting. I wish Michael Sugrue could be hired by the RB or ENB to do the same for their dancers...

I think that's spot on for the overall productions so far, especially Swan Lake. There are moments where some of their Dancers overcome the production and insert a bit of that elusive thing, but it's a bit of an uphill battle.

Excellent plan. One could start a gentle discussion about upcoming dancers, move into choppier waters discussing the merits of the RB 'vs' the ENB and end with a rousing rendition of 'Does the Nationality of its Dancers define a company'.

I liked it on Monday, loved it on Tuesday - I can see everyone of the criticisms (though thankfully didn't see the floor from above) and don't disagree but I have to love any ballet that gives me a Christmas version of Dunsinane, the BEST wolf ever and so many pretties.

 

David Hallberg was certainly worth seeing (would have been nice if he could do more performances) and his Charming was charming. I liked Zakharova better in this than in Swan Lake and ended up staring at her feet a lot after she twirled endlessly without the slightest wobble - they are like some super powered ballerina pedals that might need their own mention in the cast list.

 

Both Bluebirds (Rodin on Mon, Ovcharenko on Tue) were delightful to watch, Carabosse and his creatures were fun, but I really need a colour coding chart for the fairies of Kindness to figure out who/what I'm watching. The only one I could easily identify was Tikhomirova (who again was very watchable in any of the roles she was dancing)

 

The Lilac Fairy is a strangely forgettable role in this production. It was nice to get a glimpse of Smirnova, and Shipulina didn't do a bad job either, but all I can remember of either of them was that they were wearing a lilac hat/wig and took the prince for a boat ride.

 

And the one thing that completely cracked me up was the cat fight between Yulia Lunkina and Denis Medvedev on Monday. BEST cat award clearly goes to both of them, they really felt feline.

 

Red Riding Hood and the Wolf were excellent in both Mon & Tue. Maybe the Russian psyche enables all dancers to channel an inner wolf. I had to restrain myself from howling as a sign of appreciation and stuck to the more traditional clapping instead.

 

Though the one thing I find unforgivable are yellow/brown outfits combined with pinkish purple feathered hats. Mercy.

It looked more like a temporary equipment issue than Obratztova being off form. She kept stumbling only during the scarf pdd, went off stage for the scene change, and was completely sure footed after her return. Change of shoes?

Volchkov was just replaced on the ROH website (today, I think, checked quite recently) with Lantratov for the Sat matinee for Flames of Paris. Guess they might need to do a few more switcheros.

Yes. Though it's not provoking a lot of nice thought. Maybe doctors should stop scrubbing up, seeing that they didn't do that for a few thousand years either.

 

His argument only works when you come from the premises that the noise in the theatre would be related to his show. Does he think Shakespeare's drunks were discussing the quality of the monologue, or some wenching they were hoping to get done later?

How happy would he be in his fringe show when I have a nice loud rant during the show about a domestic topic of my choice?

Thank you for that, Alison. I had actually forgotten about that but booked anyway. Am now a leetle worried that because we shall not be able to pick up until about 7.15 we may not get the "best" selection. But I guess that's the price of a half-price ticket, as it were. On our only other Time Out evening we were there on the dot of 6.30 and got pretty good seats . . . We'll see. .

The time you pick up the ticket does not change which seat you get - they are all printed out and allocated by 6:30 which is the earliest time for pick-up (we once tried to pick up earlier and that is what we were told)

 

Some timeout seats are allocate based on when you booked the ticket (first ome first served)

Hooray, I'm glad to hear that the Bolshoi has finally delivered that special thing they can be so good at

 

And checking my remaining tickets, I have actually booked for the Smirnova/Chudin Swan Lake and my only Jewels ticket is for the night she is on. Looks like my slightly random approach to buying tickets might finally pay off.

According to twitter Alexandrova's injury was to the Achilles tendon, which would definitely spell an end to this season. I hope it is not too serious and that twitter is wrong.

 

Tikhomirova was an excellent Gamzatti in today's matinee, beautiful dancing and even more beautiful acting. Sitting quite close to the stage, I was blown away by her stage presence and she will definitely be on my future Bolshoi booking wishlist. This was the first bayadere where i felt Gamzatti was the wronged party (particularly when Tikhomirova was pleading with Nikiya) and quite agreed with the snake-to-throat plot. Though it was a bit hard to see how Solor was inspiring this depth of feeling, there wasn't a lot of onstage chemistry going on between him and either of the woman vying for his love.

 

I'm a horrible judge of the Golden Idol, since the first one I saw was Vasilliev and I still expect them to fly. Though this version has so many children jumping around on stage during his performance, it's hard to pay attention to the idol.

 

Loved the hammy acting of the High Priest, am still confused about the profusion of parrots (were they in the previous Bolshoi version? How could I forget that many parrots?) though they provided me with a lot of amusement and I fail to understand why they didn't un-blacken the tiny heathens seeing that this is a recent new version.

 

There was a brilliant loss of wig for Antonio Savichev's Magedaveya which answered my musing on whether all Bolshoi boys were born with the fierce blow dry hairstyle dominating Swan Lake (nope, dishevelled and sweaty just as normal dancers would be under a wig). I did rather like his performance, and not just because his body is near perfection. Other high points were the Dance with Drum and Anastasia Stashkevich doing the Dance with Jug - she is enormously charming on stage and didn't seem to put a foot wrong during her solo.

 

The shades were great, and looked pretty good from the stalls. If you look for wobbles, you can probably always find some but the overall synchrony was beautiful.

 

Obraztova had a few strong wobbles during her 3rd act solo, and I dont know what happened backstage but both her and Volchkov came back on stage and really cranked up the dancing. I had visions of someone standing in the wings with a large whip.

She seemed both imperious and sweet girly-ish as Nikiya which didn't really work for me, but I'm looking forward to seeing her in Sleeping Beauty.

Not a big fan of heavy perfume wearers myself, and sometimes end up with my hand over my nose for most of the performance in an attempt to block out the cloying scent. Perhaps you could waft sprigs of lavender at them or spray them with lemon juice?

 

Today's gripe goes to aisle hoggers. Just don't do it. If you're planning to stay seated until the stalls are devoid of other living beings after the performance, book in the middle of a row and by all means stay put. If you are able to walk, not very elderly and sitting at the aisle of a row that only has one exit, and people further down the row are standing, waiting for you to move or let them through, do consider moving. A very old man walking very slowly with a stick managed to get out of the end seats of his row in front of us, with no one rushing whilst the aisle hoggers still blocked our row, the only one in the entire auditorium still fully occupied at this point. The same charming people commented rather snippishly "Do you want to get out, AGAIN?" when I got up for the second intermission. Should have peed in her handbag, I guess.

Do not come between me and and a violin solo. Ever. Go to the cinema or preferably stay at home if you are unable to understand that talking is not acceptable during a performance. I might not curse you and your descendants for all eternity for a quick aside during a round of clapping, but anything else is just not on unless you require urgent medical assistance.

Volchkov being injured would make a lot of sense, since he did start of quite sprightly in the first few minutes. And when I next paid attention, he just wasn't and that was that for the rest of the performance.

 

I'm glad I saw Zakharova on Monday and I did love her arms. Some of the corps scenes were breathtakingly beautiful to me. First time the swans come on, standing behind the gauze with just their arms moving? Made me shiver with the gorgeousness of it. The 4 swans were marvellous, and I really liked Lantratov as the 'Evil Genius'.

 

The story telling is somewhat incidental, and I doubt than anyone without prior knowledge could guess what was going on onstage. Siegfried could have been her brother for all the stage chemistry they had on the day.

I have a couple more swan lake tickets, and I'm rather looking forward to see what other dancers will bring to the role, and assuming Volchkov hasn't been severely injured, I'm likely to see him again on the 15th which ought to be interesting just to see how he interacts with another partner.

 

Though i have to admit that I'd go back just for the orchestra even if I hadn't enjoyed a fair amount of the dancing (could do with less court scenes). One of the violin solos during the princess dances was so beautiful that I accidentally closed my eyes to listen better, even though the dancing was excellent at the time (couldn't make out which nationality the princess at the time was though, so I probably won't figure out who was dancing)

It really was quite an impressive flower throw tonight, and Tamara Rojo's onstage hug for Esteban after Wayfarer was very sweet. It looked for a moment that she'll make him stay by simply keeping the hug going. When your boss is seeing you off to new unknown shores, that's a hell of a way to let you know that you are appreciated.

 

Tonight's Wayfarer was indeed stunning, and well worth the expensive ticket I bought for today just to see it again.

The ENB was a real treat tonight, they hit that magic spot where everything is in synch and the energy on stage is just magical during Raymonda. The Berlanga/Muntagirov Wayfarer was mesmerising, I think I am in love with the piece now.

 

If they keep this level of awesome going, I'll feel a strong urge to block book for their next London performances

Eek, I'd love the re-assure you Ann, but you have described my summer theatre dread with an uncanny accuracy. I had a similar experience and never quite recovered. Stay clothed, people! Any part of your body that might end up touching mine should be covered in fabric.

I'm just surprised about how inconsequential and derivative the article itself it. Slow news day? Take the 'exciting' bolshoi drama, provincial disadvantage syndrome as peddled by some papers and construe a story that could be sensationalist if only it had any interesting points or details. Or content. Some years ago, a dancer left. This year two dancers left,and there might very well be an interesting story, but the protagonists chose not to publicise it.

 

Cojocaru left because the RB didn't enable her to dance in Milton Keynes? Surely he could have at least tried to spin an interesting yarn, since it clearly wasn't news reporting.