JennyTaylor

OK, some light relief. I took my husband to the performance this evening because we already had tickets for West Ham v Spurs in the afternoon and I was desperate to see the Matthew Ball cast again, having been so wowed last week. Only way to achieve this was to book 2 tickets for this performance and go after the football. The last live performance my husband saw was Darcey Bussell's final performance, but Mayerling was actually the first performance we ever saw together at the ROH (early 90s / Irek). I remember, but he doesn't. Last night we had the following conversation: Me - do you remember we went to Mayerling when we visited Vienna and saw where it all happened H - oh, is Mayerling a place? I thought it was a person. You can probably understand now why we have agreed that I go to the ballet on my own and he pursues his passion for diving (equal to my ballet passion) when we are on holiday (I'm claustrophobic under water) . However, he did join in the standing ovation with me at the end this evening.

She was dropped - yes, and I think they missed a lift early on. Interesting, as this pdd was also flawed last week - at different points, but all the other pdds in the ballet were fine. Full marks to both of them for carrying on 110% on both occasions and giving it their all. The physicality was amazing in both performances.

Standing ovation for Matthew Ball and Melissa Hamilton this evening! Utterly mesmerising ......….so I was able to stand up in the Orchestra Stalls and applaud these two as I had so wished to do at last Saturday's matinee. What chemistry they have. Matthew Ball added even more characterisation this evening - just little touches. I'm wondering what makes him so good in this role, and I think it's because he is so believable. There's no OTT acting but such depth of expression even so. There were some mistakes in the Stephanie pdd but there was no hanging back, that's for sure. As for the Rudolph / Mary interactions - electric. Once again, I loved Olivia Cowley as Larisch. She is so expressive, with her face / eyes, but also with her hands. I love this cast - what an evening

I went to La Scala last night to see Manon and particularly to see Roberto Bolle, as I suspect there will not be too many more times for this particular treat. Seeing a well loved ballet performed by another company is always interesting but I was particularly struck by audience reaction and behaviour. So, - Lots of flash photography apparent throughout the ballet. An usher stopped a woman from videoing in the Stalls close to me, but otherwise, it's very difficult to control based on the theatre's layout of individual boxes on all levels except the Stalls. . - Absolutely no reaction throughout the Lescaut and mistress drunken pdd in Act 2, nor any applause at the end. I put my hands together to clap but there was silence. As far as I could see, it was performed extremely well - and it wasn't a Roberto Bolle applause only night - the 2 harlots soon afterwards received a laugh and applause, so I'm mystified. - The French couple behind me talked throughout - very annoying but that can happen anywhere. - Loads of curtain calls at the end - far more than in the UK. I noticed this last year when I went to see Bolle and Marianela in Onegin. If I'm being honest their performance transcended last night's quite significantly, but this curtain call encore upon encore is clearly a thing at La Scala for their favourite etoiles. I love it - you can choose to go or choose to stay, but with no rush to catch the train at Waterloo, I loved it. How I wanted to give the same applause to Matthew Ball last week, but no real opportunity. Finally, the programme was 10 euros which made me blink, but it's like a book with loads of lovely photos and translations in 4 languages.

Go and see Ball - there are still tickets left!

I went to both performances today and was blown away by Matthew Ball, Melissa Hamilton and Olivia Cowley, Wow, wow and double wow. Hard to say where the start, the dancing in the first act was perhaps a little rough around the edges particularly the Stephanie PDD where I found myself fearing for Elizabeth Harrod on a couple of occasions. I was very near the front so had a close up view for which I was so grateful and the passion and intensity they both showed was immense. I thought she performed really well, not holding back at all even though it wasn't always dance perfection. Perhaps the effort Matthew was putting into the lifts even made it more life like than if it perfectly executed. Olivia Cowley was superb as Larisch: mischievous, fun, scheming and oh, those facial expressions and eye movements. So many extra little nuances to the role. Really excellent Then onto Matthew and Melissa. Well, it's the best performance I have ever seen from both of them by far and the pdd - especially the final one were so passionate, so physical. I lost count of the number of times I had goose bumps. His acting was excellent without being in any way OTT. Reminded me a little of how Irek used to play it. I was so excited, that I booked a ticket for next Saturday's performance on the way home. Perhaps it was because the afternoon was so good, that I was strangely unmoved by this evening. I'm afraid Ryo didn't do it for me at all - not a single goose bump, though I can't fault his effort especially in Act 3. The quality of the dancing was very good from everyone. Particular highlights for me were Francesca Hayward as Stephanie - and that was an excellent PDD, Kristen McNally as Elizabeth and of course, the wonderful Gary Avis who I saw twice today as Bay Middleton. I also spent some time wishing Alexander Campbell was on stage for a greater length of time. Everyone who has picked our Cesar Corrales as the 1st Hungarian is absolutely right - can't wait to see him again! .. and there was Olivia Cowley again this time as Princess Gisela. What a trouper that girl is! So for me, the less "stellar" cast turned in the most outstanding show overall

From when I saw him dance it - yes.

I'm not a fan of Steven McRae in this role. His dancing is excellent of course, but I just didn't like his interpretation which I found manic and negative - almost snarling. My preferred Rudolphs manage to bring some sympathy to the role. I haven't booked for McRae deliberately this season, but am really looking forward to seeing two new Rudolphs this Saturday - and I could never miss Thiago in this role.

It was quite a long interview. If you know anything about Alex already, then no surprises, but it covered - his interest in cricket - choosing between ballet and cricket - coming to England at a young age and how he coped - being the only male in his dancing classes in Australia - the physicality needed to be a male dancer - the most difficult lifts / dancing challenges. He named the lift in La Fille (he didn't mention the name of the ballet, but I am sure this is the one he described) - 32 fouettes in Swan Lake - what the ballerina has to do - do men dance on points - his upcoming performances - the fact that being a Principal at the Royal Ballet is the top of tree career wise. Podcast is here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mjjxr/episodes/downloads

No it was an interview. As usual, Alex was very engaging. .. and it wasn't Danny Baker this morning but Cherry Healey and Louise Pepper

Just picked this up from Twitter. The show starts at 9am - BBC Radio 5

I'm glad someone else said - All McGregor - before I did... and I really have tried, but to no avail. This is the no 1 reason why I don't attend many Triple Bills, which means I miss out on some other gems, but I really can't bear it. I agree about too many Nutcrackers, though I love it, but it goes on for too long. I think Cinderella needs a complete rewrite whilst retaining the Ashton gems within it: ie. the Cinderella / Prince, it's the Ugly Sisters who are the problem - men in drag these days, probably not so funny any more - discuss. Perhaps Liam Scarlett's next project?? The music is lovely and there are some really magical bits. If the premise is to retain the RB's heritage, then we could also add some lost MacMillan / Ashton but I don't think that's the question. I'd be gutted it they dropped Onegin and I think you could argue a MacMillan/ Cranko link there to retain it, and I also love Bayadere and DonQ sheerly for the dancing alone. I'm wondering if heritage includes BRB productions. I see little synergy between London and Birmingham and feel that London missed out of some the BRB productions which we just don't see at all. Isn't this heritage too?

Whilst with the RB in Madrid there was a lot of phone filming in the audience with no action taken at all. Apparently - and I have this 2nd hand, but it can be checked, someone video'd Yasmine's Act 3 fouettes at the 10pm performance and posted them online before Act 4 had even started, notifying her of this event too!

The website is a disaster - really, they need to get their act together. Thank you all who are clarifying.

For me the highlight is the casting of the Two Pigeons, but agree with everyone about the Campbell/ Hayward partnership, which for me is the ultimate "must see". Really frustrating when it's clearly what the audience (the paying public) want to see. I can see that it's really difficult to please all of the dancers and all of the people all of the time, but I'm not sure that either parties are pleased with what we have published so far. For me Alex is my number one ticket booking preference, I can't compare him with Vadim who is also No 1, but in a different way. Equally Francesca is so special. You can say the same about Marianela - but in the different way. It's interesting that no- one has mentioned Marianela / Vadim in this discussion: they are a given. It's what happens with everyone else which is the subject of hot debate. To my mind Alex/ Francesca should also be a given as they are equally special. There seems to be no recognition of this exquisite partnership with the RB management - or what the public want to see. A great shame.

3 weeks

To conclude on this, I've returned home now after the most amazing experience in Madrid. It was my first RB tour and I think I hadn't quite realised the enormity of the entire project of transporting EVERYTHING and everybody to another country and then reproducing the production to an exceptional standard. A project management nightmare and there were certainly some challenges behind the scenes. But, they really pulled it off. I loved the experience. Seeing the performances unfold, one by one, seeing the exceptional dancing, and having the opportunity the meet and talk to the dancers in depth on several occasions. For the RB supporters in Madrid, the tour also included visits to famous Madrid landmarks such as the Royal Palace, Prado, Escorial - all organised to the highest standard. Some of the dancers accompanied us on the tour of the Palace. Yes, you pay for all this, but even so. I also made some new friends, and it was lovely to be able to exchange opinions "in the moment" and also chat about ballet during meals and excursions. A very memorable experience and I'm suffering such withdrawal symptoms. Still, I do have the most wonderful memories to look back on now.

The lighting for the production was dodgy throughout (not the RB's fault) BTW. I've mentioned the flickering moon on Performance 3 - but there were a few other glitches too!

I have a cast list produced by the Royal Ballet in spreadsheet format. It was sent out a week before the Tour started so there might be a couple of tweaks, but essentially accurate. Do you still want this?

I've now also checked with those who have first hand experience of this action - and this is the correct interpretation of what happens! They swap the crown to each other at the back of the stage.

Final performance - just as you thought Marianela and Vadim couldn't get any better - they did! Phenomenal - every superlative you can think of * 10. Quality of dancing, technique, additional degree of difficulty, emotional content, - I'm still on the ceiling, and it finished 4 hours ago. Needless to say another standing ovation. The whole cast pulled out the stops again and deserve huge accolades. What a ballet! I've decided what makes it such a crowd pleaser for me - there are so many more things to genuinely applaud - and that's down to the choreography first and then how the dancers execute. I've loved this whole tour experience - beyond all my expectations and so glad I took the plunge and decided to do it.

William Bracewell / Akane Takada this afternoon - and what a triumph! I can't compare it to Marianela/ Vadim - let's just say it was different but left me with the same wow factor and actually because it was such a revelation, is possibly the high point of my tour so far - and that's saying something as there have been some great moments. Right from the start, Will held the stage: his characterisation was a notch up on any Siegfried so far. He gave Von Rothbart a reluctant salute and my attention was caught immediately and I found myself drawn to see what he would do next. There was tremendous emotional depth throughout Acts 1 and 2: little extra expressions and feelings conveyed. When Akane appeared, their pdd were beautiful and the Madrid audience showed their appreciation. At the first interval my fellow tour companions were all in the same raptures, so huge anticipation for Act 3 - could they pull it off technically as well as emotionally - and yes, they could! We've seen a couple of wobbles from other couples but not these 2. It brought the house down. I came away feeling very excited and thrilled with what I had witnessed - as did everyone else around me. On another note, I spotted Olivia Cowley performing 3 separate roles tonight - I think she must be going for the record of how many different roles you can perform in the shortest possible time. Closely followed by many of the other dancers too - Mayara Magri, Clare Calvert- they will be needing a good holiday after this!

They appear to love it! It has been very impressive in all 3 performances.

Apparently it is slightly deeper than ROH which really surprised us, because we too asked that question, as it doesn't appear to be so. Much less room backstage we were told, though. Act 3 set is still as impressive, thank goodness, but we did have a very flickering moon in Act 2 tonight, which could have been off putting. I hope they fix it for tomorrow.