Sophoife

Yes @alison sadly we missed each other. However, I did see Dame Monica coming out stage door and tell her the production needs a glitter shower and she said "Oh last Saturday we had one, for the Coronation!" And when I suggested maybe the King and Queen would have preferred to be in the House that evening she agreed. Said he really loves music and appreciates ballet all the more because of it.

Jonathan Lo as music director of AusBallet ought to be there as they are performing at the Sydney Opera House at the moment. However we do understand that he had commitments made before he accepted the position, but it's still weird for me I've heard him three times in London and not at all yet in Australia (Charles Barker was in the pit the night I saw Don Q in Melbourne, and Simon Thew in Sydney).

Yes, my left hand neighbours were all lovely. I've just spent a week in Paris so my French vocab is currently better than usual. When I spoke for the third time, she did look a bit shocked, but it was the clincher 😈 Happily the family's misbehaviour didn't affect me personally but I couldn't let them behave so badly to others without saying something. Right is right, and even if I don't personally benefit I do try to stick up for it when necessary.

Thanks for the casting update @Bluebird, I don't think I've ever seen Yasmine Naghdi on stage before, so I'm pleased to have the opportunity to do so. Very late replacement, yes, especially with a prince she ?hasn't danced this with before...

Last night my left hand seat neighbour was a young woman whose third performance ever this was, and she has an excellent programme planned for the rest of the year: "now I've discovered it I'm telling all my friends they have to try it". She has even persuaded her boyfriend in to a trip Abroad that "coincides" with Dutch National Ballet's upcoming Forsythe programme. Her neighbour was a gentleman in his fifties whose first live ballet this was. He had escorted an elderly former regular now unable to travel in to London to a number of cinema relays and was finally inspired to attend in person. He was enthralled and excited and it was delightful to see. Unfortunately for the ladies in front of and behind us, my right hand neighbours were a family of French people who wriggled, leaned forward, and put their feet up on the backs of the seats in front of them 😳 The poor ladies whose backs they were kicking asked them to stop, but they pretended not to understand. I told them in French how unacceptable their feet were, the third time rather pithily, which they finally accepted. They then got up en masse and left, noisily, before the curtain had even come down on the final note.

Great video @MJW and from the complete opposite side to where I was sitting, too. This post has become very long, for which I apologise in advance. As always, lovely to meet up with other forum members, particularly @DelphiumBlue as we turned out to already be friends from a different strand of interest. Thanks so much for stage-dooring with me, and lovely to finally meet your book-buyer too! @JohnS it was a pleasure to meet you: I do admire your choice to stay over and see more shows because of the trains, and you've reminded me I need to go back to Cumbria. @Bluebird it's always a delight to see you. I love the designs, they really are pure fairytale, but Lilac Fairy's tutu only reinforced for me how very derivative Cinderella's Fairy Godmother's Romantic tutu was! The fairies in this production do wear gorgeous tutus and it's clear at least to me which fairy is which. Lilac's attendants' tutus also beautiful. Male fairies' escorts/cavaliers danced beautifully, with Benjamin Ella standing out as always. So good to see him back on stage. Was it Nicol Edmonds who was Lilac's particular cavalier? The glories of the early 17th century court dresses with their contrasting sleeves and the very attractive style of ruff. King and Cattalabutte wore enormous wigs a tad out of period but the Queen...! Kristen McNally glittered and shone and dazzled the eye with not only her gowns but her sheer presence. Annette Buvoli as Lilac Fairy, as I said earlier, radiated confidence and serenity. I was very much reminded of the stage presence of Claire Calvert. And then we had the arrival of Carabosse. Piqued by her lack of invitation she allowed her true malevolence to boil over and it was great fun, particularly after Itziar Mendizabal's beautiful Fairy Godmother two weeks ago. By the time we get to the birthday celebration (poor girl, why so young to be told here are your princes, make your choice) we've already had such a plethora of gorgeous looks with dancing to match I didn't see how it could get better. Then Akane Takada delighted the eye. Again as mentioned earlier, her balances! Absolutely rock solid, the best I've seen since Lucinda Dunn. I got the feeling she didn't need any of those princes to hold her hand. She was a delight in her delicacy, the loveliest Aurora I've seen since Miwako Kubota. I got the giggles when the King's mime told Aurora she had grown up and now it was time to get married (see this meme from Cloud and Victory on Instagram for why - used with permission). Nice touch to have the princely suitors carry the now-sleeping Aurora to her room, but I remain puzzled as to their fates: did Lilac magic them home, unsleeping, or were they still somewhere in the palace? Act II of this production immediately shows, from the costumes of the hunting party, that 100 or so years have passed. It is much less boring than some others. When a production has the Prince tearing around a lot of flat trees, desperately pretending to fight his way through, it does look a bit silly. This one worked better, despite the clunky exit of Lilac's conveyance, albeit I felt the repelling of Carabosse a bit of an anti-climax. Some lovely dancing from the hunting party, the fairies and of course Vision Aurora in her snow-white tutu. As for James Hay, I was delighted not to hear any of his landings, and he gave off an air of handsome princeness that I suspect he could pull off however physically unattractive he might be (which he isn't, I hasten to add). So now for the wedding. The biggest disappointment for me in David McAllister's Sleeping Beauty was that he ditched the fairytale characters in the last act, so I was very happy to see them appear here. Puss in Boots and the White Cat, Red Riding Hood and the Wolf (a pair that seemed a little under-rehearsed to me), Florestan and his nameless sisters, and my personal highlight Princess Florine and the Bluebird. David Yudes' Bluebird was lighter than air, and the only dancer besides Mr Hay whose landings I couldn't hear. Wonderful! Not quite matched by his Princess, delightful though Sae Maeda was. The grand pas de deux was a brilliant climax to a fabulous show, although I did think the ending, Aurora and Prince centre stage surrounded by reclining fairies and the Court and fairytale characters, felt a little flat. The end of the McAllister production has a glitter shower (photo taken by me) and, I feel, fits the grand music a little better. The end of the Stanton Welch production (which I will probably never see again 😥) has a grand défilé or procession of Princess, Prince, Court and all from downstage right to exit upstage left, the stage is empty, then Carabosse appears downstage right and follows the procession on the final triumphant chords. Think again, my pretties 😈 I'm so happy (thanks @Rob S) I get to see it all again tonight! Re Jonathan Lo: wonderful conductor, I do understand he had prior commitments when accepting the AusBallet music director role, but I've heard him conduct more here in London than in Australia this year! He only did two Don Quixote shows in Sydney and has done no Jewels or Identity at all. On the plus side that meant we got former assistant music director Simon Thew back from Houston Ballet for a stint, and also Charles Barker, music director over 20 years ago, from ABT.

What an absolutely wonderful experience. I don't remember having seen this production live on stage and I was dazzled, not least by Miss Takada's rock solid balances (who needs princes?), Mr Hay's almost silent landings, Mr Yudes likewise (sadly the floor seemed generally particularly noisy from my spot in row C of the amphi). Miss Mendizabal, such a delightful person, was a truly nasty Carabosse, and I thought Miss Buvoli exuded serenity. She herself claimed nervousness but I couldn't believe her. The Messel-Farmer designs are just right for a fairytale, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia sounded good...

Does anyone have the slightest hint to offer as to who might be dancing besides the lead couples on Thursday and Friday this week? Enquiring minds want to know 😉

Oh there's a bunch on Facebook who were screaming in anger at the number of people taken last year from the school and the number of recruits from elsewhere. I don't subscribe to their narrow views, and probably should have put 🤣 after my earlier comment 😉 Any new hires should be quality dancers and will definitely be those who fit the AD's vision, whether they're fresh out of any school or not.

Ooh, that's going to put the cat among the pigeons over on Facebook 😈

That's the most nausea-inducing article I've read in some time...and who is Princess Kate?

...I wasn't the earliest in my row to arrive in the amphi on Thursday night, and half a dozen were kind enough to stand, allowing me to squeeze past. Not the last man. He was hauled up by his companion. I sat, and was about to remove my bag from across my body and place it on the floor, when said bag flew across my lap and hit the young lady on my right. Mr Less-Than-Courteous had taken exception to its position, without giving me time to move it. I turned and asked him how dare he touch my stuff and he said it had hit him as I sat down. Yes, as I sat down. Evil me. After an exchange of views he told me he was a regular and would have me removed. I wished him good luck sweetheart as I've been coming to this House since 1969 (true, but misleading). He chuntered away, in his veddy refained voice, telling his companion how rude I was. First interval I chose to leave the other way. Came back and asked him ever so politely please not to lean on me if he was trying to see more clearly, as it made me uncomfortable and he was in my personal space. Again with the threats to have me removed, repeated at the start of the second interval. Night saved by lovely girls on my right who said if he did try, they would support me to the usher, and apologised for his behaviour even though they had nothing to do with him. One of the lovely girls works in the ROH marketing department!

@alison very good thought, if I didn't suffer from chronic carsickness. I can manage trains (just had a trip to lovely Bridlington in the East Riding, and arrived in Paris via Eurostar) but coaches are my Achilles heel 🤢

Well, I managed to hit the jackpot this time: the two different unions' strike days of 12th and 13th May mean my overnighter in Nottingham won't happen (seeing a friend of 25+ years' standing whom I've not seen in 6 years because, you know, Australia) 😡

...and I can witness that Miss Morera was carrying that very bouquet/bundle as she exited stage door. She was very complimentary about them, too!

As this was my only performance and the cinema relay isn't on in Oz until the day after I get back (yay!) I can't comment sorry.

After eating early in the excellent company of @Sim which was delicious despite the dilatory service, I took the easy option and the lift up to level 5. There are aspects of this production I don't like - but that's really only some of the costumes. The sets were great, from my seat in the front row (A73) of the amphi I only missed the very front corner stage left. I thought the "garden" set was gorgeous. Sure beats the one AusBallet use for the Ratmansky with its Dali-style décor. Act 1 costumes: who dat Lilac Fairy? Is she a refugee from Carabosse? Children just looked odd. Fairies, Cinders, sisters etc all fine even if Cinders very clean. Very anticlimactic transformation scene. Lovely to briefly catch up at first interval with @Bluebird and her gang on the tiny bit of terrace left after the restaurant expanded. Act 2: what a horrible costume mish mash. Gentlemen in frock coats and trousers from about 1830 with ladies in appropriate ball gowns. A jester in shiny shiny shiny parti-coloured garb, straight out of the Middle Ages but shinier. Suitors for the Stepsisters from 1815. More men in tights that appear to be intended as breeches, as the red stripe only extended to the knee. These men finished up as fairies' cavaliers. A prince from about the 1770s, maybe 1780s, whose costume completely removed his neck. It just looks so strange and I cannot fathom the minds of costume designers when they do things like this. It made the jester seem so out of place as to be almost ridiculous. However. The dancing was gorgeous, Mr Ball taking super care of and presenting his ballerina in exemplary fashion. The Lilac Fairy, sorry, Fairy Godmother, was a late change to Itziar Mendizabal, how lovely to have her and Miss Morera sharing the stage. Annette Buvoli was a lovely Winter Fairy. The Stepsisters, James Hay and Calvin Richardson, were almost muted compared with the comments some have made about other casts earlier in this thread. I loved the kisses from Cinderella at the end and how each sister reacted. The final promenade up the endless stairs under a shower of gold really was a wonderful moment. Also, there was a lady outside stage door with an umbrella that had seen better days: I offered to try and help fix it if it was just a bent spoke. It was @Dawnstar! I persuaded her inside as there was plenty of room due to the nasty drizzle. So nice to meet you, so sorry about the replacement buses, but on the bright side you got to speak to Mr O'Hare, Mr Ball and Miss Morera!

Well done @Dawnstar! See, Covent Garden station being temporarily closed was a good thing 😘 Hope you got your train and not a rail replacement bus.

With reference to the locked prediction thread and the programme as announced, I must say as loudly as possible that Natalia Osipova in Don Quixote should be on anyone's bucket list. She and Vasiliev guested with AusBallet in 2013 and I was privileged to see the dress rehearsal as well as one of their shows. She is incredibly fast, she absolutely dazzles, and all in all it's an absolute must-see. So much Ashton, I'm so envious. Wonder if Mr Hallberg will programme some, including the COVID-cancelled A Month in the Country? Won't know until September at least...

@alisonI'm sitting on my terrace looking out at a garden, in an ibis Styles on the Cromwell Road - which I can't hear!!!! About 100m from Gloucester Road tube station, couldn't be more convenient 🤣 I genuinely enjoyed Prodigal Son, even though the Tippet and the Kylián appealed to me more.

So I travelled from Albury, Australia to Denver, Colorado to see this mixed bill, as Yosvani Ramos, former ENB and AusBallet principal, was to retire. The programme was all new to me, and I was favourably impressed. Thanks to Yosvani I was able to see two shows, and can now report. The first piece was Clark Tippet's Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 which was made for ABT in 1988 and showed off a small, but beautifully trained company. The soloist was Benjamin Baker, who produced a lovely tone from the pit, and was deservedly applauded enthusiastically as he took his on-stage bows. The costumes, by Dain Marcus, showed tutus cut shorter in front that moved most beautifully as the dancers did, with the men's doublets and tights a little more subdued. Lighting by Jennifer Tipton was well reproduced. The soloists wore a turquoise blue, brilliant red, bright pink, and the lead female soloist was described as purple but the effect with the iridescent blue-green bodice was more that of a peacock. Tippet shows off the classical vocabulary with some diva tosses of the head and arms; all the soloist men did was lift and present, hardly any dancing to speak of. Ramos and his long-time partner Dana Benton (gorgeous line, also retiring this season) appeared from behind the yellowish-green clad corps and didn't dazzle (not that sort of piece) but glowed. He presented his ballerina to her best advantage and it was just lovely. Notable was Kenny Allen whose elevation and joie de vivre stood out. I'm afraid I skipped the rest of the programme on the first night as I went to dinner instead. On Sunday afternoon, The Day, the Tippet was again delightful, and I'd be happy to see it again. On this occasion, the pink couple appeared to be having the best fun, despite the male dancer clearly not being as neat in his footwork as could be desired. He shone for other reasons. Overall it was quite reminiscent in parts of Balanchine, with a touch of Cranko thrown in (those rushing promenaded jetés in act 1 of Onegin). The second piece was Balanchine's Prodigal Son to the eponymous score by Prokofiev. It's an oddity for me, as I don't really like Balanchine, and particularly not his narrative works. This, however, was created for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1929 and almost completely changed my mind. The story is from the parable in the Gospel of Luke, and focuses on the rebellious son who is ensnared by a Siren, robbed by her followers, and eventually returns, to be forgiven by his (tall, bearded, noble-looking) father (Domenico Luciani, born and trained in Naples). The Siren, Asuka Sasaki, was by turns slinky, seductive, arrogant, compliant, and finally dismissive and sneering. Excellent portrayal. The son, of course, was Yosvani Ramos. Stripped and humiliated by the Siren and her followers, he looked damn good for 43! In the first scene we were treated to some wonderful jumping and Ramos-signature turns, in the final scene he was dragging himself along the stage and then on his knees, eventually hauling himself up to his forgiving father's embrace. Flowers, applause, tears, cheers, and a sudden outbreak of bright red streamers shooting across the stage from both wings. A fitting farewell. The third and final piece was Jiří Kylián's Sinfonietta, to the score of the same name by Leoš Janáček. The fun touch was the brass section out in what in the ROH would be the side stalls circle areas, fist-pumping after a bright, clear performance. It's meant to express "the contemporary free man, his spiritual beauty and joy, his strength, courage and determination to fight for victory". It does. The final tableau, dancers facing the backcloth which has brightened to an Impressionistic sunrise, arms raised in salutation or celebration, will linger in my mind. So three pieces, all new to me, all enjoyed (and I was dubious beforehand about the Balanchine), and well worth the trip. As a final note, Colorado Ballet's AD is Gil Boggs, former ABT principal, who told me he had thought long and hard before choosing to add the Balanchine to his company's repertoire, especially for Ramos' retirement. All three works on the programme credited ABT with providing the sets and costumes.

It is quite rare for a retired POB dancer to return as a dancer for any reason. Alice Renavand is doing so as she was injured during her farewell performance - Bleuenn Battistoni had to dance the second act.

Yes, it's a federal mandate. All Opéra employees, dancers, singers and backstage workers, have this, and it was reiterated just recently. Both the Opéra and the Comédie Française have special retirement provisions. Their pensions do kick in at this point. And yes, if Miss Nuñez was a contract dancer at POB, she would be required to faire ses adieux at 42. That's not to say they all stop dancing, but they can't continue with POB.

Yes, it would have been, as the POB dancer retirement age had been lowered to 42 (from 45) in 2002. Management made a special concession or arrangement specifically for him so he could dance as an étoile for three years. And he'd been dancing lead roles for many years (Nureyev's last Solor, for example).

For me it will be slightly surreal, as the only Beauty I'll be seeing is cast as Takada/Hay at this stage - so I'll see Mr Hay as a Stepsister then as Prince Whateverhisnameis 😄