alison

I too appreciated the company's production of Bayadère a lot more than their Swan Lake. I've tried in the past to get to see it, but they performed it so rarely in the UK, and either the timing or the venue or both never worked for me. After seeing her Odette/Odile, I wasn't sure that Kolesnikova would be suited to Nikiya, but actually thought she was very good for the first two acts, although I found her perhaps a bit ... steely? ... in the Shades scene. Not that I can remember. I suppose it makes sense: her shade reminds him of his broken vow, he's overcome with remorse and, seeing the basket with the snake, decides on death by snakebite, like his beloved. Unfortunately, I think that on the first night the bag containing the snake was cleared off the stage by accident, and had to be pushed back on, which probably robbed the moment of some of its power. I wouldn't say the audience on the first night was sparse: the stalls were full, the Dress Circle pretty full, and I'd guess the Upper Circle about the same. It was only the Balcony which hadn't sold well, and I'd guess that would have been because it was put on sale so late. Agree about the slowness of the first act - well, certainly the first scene - and Denis Rodkin. I'd already seen him in Bolshoi broadcasts, but will be looking forward to seeing more of him: great jumps, elevation and presence, to name just a few things. (And yes, why is it that costumes for Solor are rarely got right? Everyone else gets bright colours, and in this production he gets pale lilac. Solor is a demanding role, and yet he always seems to be put in costumes which, colour-wise and material-wise, aren't suited to the demands of the role. I've lost count of the number of performances I've seen where e.g. his turquoise costume is discoloured in large patches due to the amount of sweat produced. This one suffered less than most in that respect) The corps in the Shades scene, albeit a little wobbly in places, looked very unified - even down to the angle of tilt of the tutu skirts - I guess they are indeed getting most of their dancers from the same school, still. It's just a shame that some subtler lighting effects couldn't have been used to give some more mystery - the light was rather cold and harsh. I was particularly pleased to note the lack of anyone blacking - or even browning - up in this production: even the fakirs were in some sort of mesh all-in-ones with "paint marks" applied on top. What did surprise me somewhat was the length: despite not having a final act, the production still managed to come in at perhaps only 10 minutes short of the Royal Ballet's version - and this without the insertion of the duet for Nikiya and the slave in Act I Scene II, or Manu in Act II, among others.

I suspect that was planned: it was what we got with Kolesnikova, too. Not only that, but apart from Odette's they were totally devoid of any "swan" features. They could have been taken from a production of "Suite en Blanc" for aught that I could tell. And the Coliseum are very good with the disabled, in my experience: when I turned up at something on crutches many moons ago they happily upgraded me to a convenient place in the stalls. Totally agree. I was really regretting that it wasn't ENB's - or even the Royal's - production. I'm not sure I'd seen her prior to this: given the company's tendency to perform out of London when they were touring regularly in the UK, I tended always to get the "second strings". I mean, I think I had to put up with Elena Glurdjidze's Giselle at a matinee in Woking once - although I didn't recognise her back then How terrible, eh?

Yes, but I didn't expect to see it being used for a late addition to a programme at the Coliseum.

A belated welcome to the forum from me too, caseybeatrice. And good luck with Japan - I hear ballet tickets are very expensive over there! I think you and Quintus are both right: the information is all over the internet once you decide to look for it, but it's a question of getting as far as *wanting* to look at it. I mean, the ROH website is a good resource now, although I'm still amazed at just how long it seems to have been for companies to really use the power of the internet to get information out there: I think it was when I was recovering from a knee op in 1998 that I was drawing up plans for how you could use websites to draw people in by linking to video and audio clips and the like. Oh my goodness: so we have to find someone who *admires* us? Gulp ... Such a shame. After all, there's not exactly any prancing about in tights in Onegin, and it's the sort of thing which can really inspire someone to get interested in ballet. Isn't it, Janet? I've found this too. It's always me having to do the donkey-work. And you have to book so far in advance at the ROH to get the cheaper seats. By the time they might think about going, I've probably already had my tix for months.

How sneaky.

I guess ENB's loss is the Joffrey's gain. Quite a culture change, I should imagine, though.

Ridiculous. It's really time this stopped. But I noticed at the end of one of the intervals in Swan Lake on Thursday that people were still queuing up to buy champagne from the "champagne bar", so guess they were allowed to take it in with them. (Call me a snob, but the thought of sipping champagne from a plastic "glass" doesn't really do it for me )

Three? That's a lot, given how demanding the role is.

Ah, that must be what it was. Thanks, Lynette.

I notice that there are tickets for both StPBT Bayadère performances available at tkts in Leicester Square - not unreasonably priced, either.

Update on the replacement casting for Rupert Pennefather: http://www.roh.org.uk/news/cast-changes-casting-announced-for-romeo-and-juliet-the-nutcracker-and-giselle

It's standard to film a previous version as backup: I can't imagine what a "different purpose" might be. And if they don't have any film of the correct partnership available they do sometimes take footage from the earlier recording to illustrate some of the pre-performance items.

Don't know why, but I was under the impression McRae wasn't available at the beginning of the season ... That still leaves some speculation as to R&J casting unanswered, then ...

Well, in all fairness, having suffered from the need to be "re-seated" myself, I would say that if time is pressing the ushers may spot an unoccupied seat and ask you to sit in it while they sort out something more permanent. The whole of the couple of minutes it took to change the scenery between Acts I and II last night seemed to be taken up entirely with getting latecomers to their seats - and that after what I'd have thought would be a record number of people arriving after 7.30 and being shown to their seats anyway! Incidentally, can someone who had a cast sheet please tell me who the two Big Swans in Act IV were? (Do I gather there was no budging on the cast sheets this week, unlike with La Sylphide? I'm sure there were just as many balletomanes catching different casts as there were for that one. How did you manage?)

Well, they've only been back at work 3 days, so perhaps it's a bit early yet.

You have to blame Chopin for the latter part

Perhaps he is? After all, before he became Director he was in New York, discovered from Ratmansky's people that he had a slot available in the diary and decided to grab him, on the assumption that whoever the new Director was s/he would be glad to have a Ratmansky piece. It could well be that he wants Ratmansky back, but has to wait because the man is, deservedly, so popular.

People with babies who think that mini prams count as "buggies" for the purpose of travelling on buses! I know a lot of people already take the mick with the definition of "buggy" as it is, given some of the miniature tanks I see them trying to squeeze onto public transport, but this was ridiculous. She spent quite a long time trying to manoeuvre the pram into the wheelchair space, which was already occupied by one buggy, only to get off at the next stop! Transport for London's rules are quite clear: a "buggy" must be able to be folded in case the bus is busy and/or the space is required by a wheelchair. If you expect to be travelling on buses a lot, you buy one which complies with the regulations. Full stop. Or is that too much to ask?

Really?! They shouldn't be doing that: there is still a signature option on all cards, for people who may have difficulty remembering a PIN for whatever reason. But I think if you delve into it there are a lot of security holes in the chip & PIN system too.

Aha. Thank you, Jane.

That's poor. My bank claims to get you a new card in 2 days - but perhaps that's debit cards only? As for "how", let me count the ways ... Multiple online scams, user error, "skimming" scams in restaurants ... About 10 years ago I got clobbered a couple of times in a restaurant I used to use quite frequently when going to the Coli/ROH. I didn't realise what was happening the first time, had suspicions but nothing more the second. The third time, I actually pretty much baited a trap for them by carefully using the replacement card which I'd barely used, and that one got compromised as well. Then a friend and I went there - I was paying cash only by now - and I warned her about using a credit card, and told her my suspicions. She said she barely ever used the card, so we'd know who it was if anything happened. Sure enough ... I guess the fraud squad must have had ample ammunition by then, or possibly someone in management found out, or something. I've been back there numerous times in the last 10 years, and thus far haven't had another problem. The advent of at-the-table chip & PIN machines certainly helped, and so did my keeping an eagle eye on my card any time it was taken away from my table.

Oh dear. It's a Sunday, isn't it? Hoping a suitable theatre which is "dark" that day can be found.

Interesting. To what extent is that because it's (based on?) the old Kirov production - or have they changed it since last time I saw it? That's what I always complain about with the Mariinsky Swan Lake.

Oh, was that who he danced Romeo with? I never knew that - slightly before my time. Yes, almost certainly. Cass was very new to the company, I believe - maybe only a year or so in?

Oh well, more or less the same thing, then - thanks. Except of course that Romeo is physically more demanding than Juliet, so possibly having the First Artist being the male might be more difficult.