JennyTaylor

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.

The 3rd performance in Madrid tonight with Sarah and Ryo, received another standing ovation at the end. I'm so enjoying this, my first ever RB tour. It's a journey, because it feels so different from seeing the company in the ROH. It's like an away match and I'm really anxious for them to do well every night and impress the Madrid patrons. They are playing to full houses each night and it seems the Spaniards are loving it, which is marvellous. The casts are following the same pattern as in London, although obviously there are always tweaks. It's a very challenging schedule with 2 performances tomorrow and the final one on Sunday. The dancers will deserve medals at the end!

Back to Von Rothbart - so, he definitely goes off the stage to the left as we look at it, and tonight, I think the Von Rothbart double was also in that same mix of people at the back of the stage and then climbed up the stairs with the crown before being lit when he was half way up. He definitely did not come down from above. So, no need for 2 crowns. .

I'm in Madrid to see the RB Swan Lake tour. So far we have had seen 2 performances and so far it is an unqualified success with Spanish audiences. The first night was the all star first cast with Marianela and Vadim on top, top form. A first class performance from the entire cast resulted in a standing ovation at the end - everyone standing - stalls / all levels of the theatre. A great triumph for Liam Scarlett who also appeared to take a bow at the end. Last night was Yasmin and Matthew Ball as a result of a Osipova injury. Great to see these 2 paired together again and their Act 4 in particular, showed why their Romeo and Juliet was so acclaimed. Deep heartbreak was depicted so emotionally with a few extra touches of grief and anguish added from the norm. Absolutely marvellous. Goose bump time. Act 3 not quite so powerful as other pairings though I must mention the beautiful, controlled hold by Yasmin. Other highlights include James Hay as Benno last night, plus we are seeing more of Gary Avis's Von Rothbart, which is always a delight. Everyone who shone in London, continues to shine here - a great advert for the RB.

I think he runs off the stage to the left (as we look at the stage) - looked really carefully last night. Body double is on the stairs as far as I can see. I will look again tonight.

Yes, I saw it last night. Along with Luca Acri as Benno, Kristen McNally as the Queen, Thomas Whitehead as V-R, and Mayara Magri and Meaghan Grace Hinkis as the princesses. I thought Sarah and Ryo danced extremely well, but lacked any chemistry, so I really wasn't moved. Overall the performance had less impact on me that Marianela/Vadim, but I feel it would be difficult to surpass their performance. I'm interested to read from other reviews that some choreography has been changed (I hesitate to say dumbed down as that seems rude considering the high quality of dance being performed) and I felt this was the case last night too. Perhaps we should accept that Vadim and Alexander Campbell are in a class of their own and have done with it. I thought the quality of all the Act 3 national dances was high, and for me, this is one of the highlights of the production, in that this section of the ballet has really upped it's game. Tierney Heap shone as the Hungarian Princess. Overall, the audience was extremely appreciative of the dancers, the set and the costumes, with a round of applause at the start of Act 3. Having sat in the Orch Stalls last night, but also in the Grand Tier and Amphi, this production is definitely better viewed higher in the theatre, to get the full impact of the corps swans and the beautiful patterns they produce. Sarah gave it her all, especially in the Act 3 high profile solos/ fouettes. As she went for attack and speed, she didn't quite nail it on the spot, but that is being extremely picky. Ryo was impressive here too. I do like the additional scope given to Benno and the 2 princesses and Luca Acri gave it his best as Benno. Nice to see him back in a role lack this after so much injury.

I would also like to know more details of future casts. Who is playing major roles along with the 2 principals eg. Benno, 2 princesses, von Rothbart. Anyone have any information please? o

I sat there last week - A45 - and it was absolutely fine - and I'm 5'1"