Sophoife

That's actually normal for trains from The Country to The City here, Sim. They're not allowed to go faster and if it's hot (like, 30+ C) they are slowed to 80km/h on some parts because the tracks suffer from the heat. I am going to need to see this Spartacus at least another couple of times to properly assess it, and my idea of Crassus comes from Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series, where he was basically likeable! He was co-consul with Pompey the Great and then with Pompey and Caesar. Brief impressions for right now: the haka, the knife-like Tertulla, and the suddenly-touching effect Robyn Hendricks' Flavia had on me in the final scene. Most unexpected, but of course welcome.

Thank you @Ian Macmillan and @BMC for the casting info. I absolutely ❤️ Leanne Stojmenov and Andrew Killian as Valencienne and Camille. Yes, Njegus is former Camille, AD David McAllister, and Zeta the fabulous former Danilo, Steven Heathcote. Luke Marchant has been a great maître d' for some years now, and Brett Simon retired at the end of June, his last (only) principal role was Danilo (he learned it at 21 with Hong Kong Ballet from John Meehan). Amber Scott didn't dance in Melbourne as she is Otherwise Engaged. We of course have to wait until November to see it.

That could be exciting. I had the felicity of seeing Bonelli/Morera last year as my first live Mayerling, was so blown away I went to the box office in the interval and bought a ticket for that night (Soares/Cuthbertson). Then, thanks to @Bluebird I got one for Watson/Osipova as well. I would happily have watched any of those casts again, and ... well, the whole trip was timed around those shows, as Mayerling wasn't one of the cinema relays!

My point about The Merry Widow, exactly, Bruce! Love the Trocks. Once saw them at a matinée, then AusBallet in the evening. Not a great idea 🤣

I always thought she was considered a suicide because, knowing her weak heart, she yet continued to dance... Pretty uncompromising local priest, but. Hallberg was such a generous partner. It was Stojmenov's debut, too. Originally we were supposed to have Super Surprise Guest Osipova with Hallberg, but she withdrew claiming injury...yet was still able to rehearse and then perform Pure Dance. Just tell us the truth, woman, that you bit off more than you could chew, and that the whole Pure Dance was you so Giselle had to go. We're understanding people. But the young cast of Callum Linnane and Dimity Azoury was something way special. Wow.

Parallels meant, apparently. Currently on a train (taking 4½ hours to go 300km because not allowed to go over 100km/h) en route to my first viewing of this Spartacus. Thank you for your detailed critique, yet without spoilers! Very neatly done.

Aww, so pleased you enjoyed it, Ian and jmhopton! Yes, the Sydney Opera House stage is a problem. As originally designed, what is now the Concert Hall was supposed to be the ballet and opera theatre, and unfortunately what is now the Joan Sutherland Theatre has vestigial wings and a quite small stage. One reason we'll never get Mayerling apparently. Other regular venues performed in by TAB (Melbourne's State Theatre, every few years Adelaide's Festival Theatre, every few years Brisbane's QPAC) are bigger, but the company is locked in to a long-term contract to perform at SOH regularly, for longer seasons even than at its home theatre in Melbourne, so ... By the way, from the publicity info, it's impossible to tell who was dancing the four main roles in the recording. Could someone please tell me? Thanks in advance.

I have to say, that's one of the more curmudgeonly comments I've read lately. "Inconsequential and superficial" - that's a description that might, on a grumpy day, be applied by me to many things, but it doesn't stop them being enjoyed! Yes, the title role was specifically made for a 57 year old Fonteyn so no, there isn't much breadth of steps required for Hanna. However, that's why Camille and Valencienne are so prominent. Their act 2 pdd is really rather lovely. And what exactly is wrong with a ballet looking glamorous, and people enjoying it? Get them in the doors and their bums on the seats with this, or (as jmhopton said) Fille or Coppélia. They'll enjoy it, and be happy enough to come back and see something else. Grow the audience and over time they will develop into more broadly-interested ballet-goers! Quite right. The acting is one of my primary reasons for enjoying it! There are times, dear friends, when we want to be whisked out of ourselves and into a frilly, frothy, glamorous world where Madame Bumblebee is funny, not annoying; where an old man married to a very young woman can accept that she loves him and honours him even though she also loves a younger, handsome man; where a peasant girl can marry a rich man and, widowed, reconnect with her first love; where that first love, embittered by his parents' refusal of her, can rise from the bottom of a bottle to reconnect with her; where a man's touch on a woman's shoulders gives the audience ALL THE FEELS (see photo below); and where everybody returns to themselves as they leave the theatre, smiling, and perhaps humming one of the melodies. Adam Bull and Olivia Bell in The Merry Widow, The Australian Ballet, 2011. Still from promo video on TAB's YouTube channel.

Village Cinemas is the brand name in Victoria and Tasmania for the chain known as Event Cinemas to you. La Scala is as I said at Palace Cinemas which has a different pricing structure and offers different screening times from the Event/Village chain. Quoting $16 as your price paid at Palace as a gold movie club member isn't the same as saying to the casual viewer (those we need to attract in order to keep screenings viable) "oh it's $24, yes more than a Hollywood blockbuster but it's going to be wonderful". Having spoken to a marketing person at Event HQ today, neither they nor Village will be showing the Bernstein centenary bill and/or The Winter's Tale at all, and apparently they are even reviewing hosting screenings at more than one cinema in each capital city with no regionals next season.

Hi Sheila, the announcement to which I referred is on La Seine Musicale's Facebook page, it's an hour and 25 minutes or thereabouts of video originally broadcast live. I must thank the French ballet tweeter who drew it to my attention! Unlike this year with the Robbins theme then the PNB stand-alone visit, no mention was made of any theme for 2019 Etés de la Danse.

jmb, I certainly never paid only $20 at Palace (the previous chain) - it was always at least $24 if not $28! So Village at $20 is at least a 20% reduction. But what you haven't noted is that Village and Event cinemas are not even showing all the ballets they could. Available for 2017/18 were Alice, Nutcracker, Winter's Tale, Bernstein centenary triple bill, Manon and Swan Lake. Event only offered Alice, Nutcracker, Manon and Swan Lake, and Village didn't even show Alice! You can thank your lucky stars you don't live outside Melbourne or Sydney (I think Sydney?). I live in Albury, and came from Hobart. The only ballet screenings in Tasmania until last year were in Devonport, four hours plus driving each way. My mother can now go to a ballet film fairly close to home which as a physically-challenged 70-something (she'd shoot me if I Revealed All) is very much to her taste. From Albury I have to either drive to Canberra or to Melbourne - I will drive to Sydney for live ballet but not for a film. Also I don't know where you are getting Friday screenings, Village (Victoria and Tasmania) are only offering Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday mornings, as are Event (NSW not Vic). Palace used to have Friday screenings for some films. Sharmill was the Australian distributor for POB, RB, La Scala, the Met and Bolshoi but no longer. You will be pleased to discover that Bolshoi are showing at Dendy cinemas, and as you say Palace still have ONP and La Scala plus Opera di Roma.

Thank you alison for the information! Re the cinema broadcast: Australia gets it the weekend of 3 November. The UK gets it, at least in Odeon cinemas, on 20 September! Also a warning on publicity photos: the one on the Odeon site (I believe originally taken by Jeff Busby) shows Olivia Bell from 2011 with a number of others who have also since left the company, and the poster with the (in my eyes) maroon background shows Adam Bull and Amy Harris, who I don't think danced together at all!

I actually wanted to make a couple of edits to my post above but don't seem to be able to: All the better female dancers are too tall for him and the preferred shorter ones such as Reiko Hombo and Natasha Kusch have left. (IMHO she has more artistry in herself than at least a specific four of the current principals put together) (some Lego-like cast changes had to be done due to injuries) Meaning that at some shows it was Jones/King-Wall/Bemet/Rodgers-Wilson and others Jones/King-Wall/Kondo/Guo and others Jones/King-Wall/Stephenson/Wright and yet others Simon/Harris/Stephenson/Wright - the couples seemed to be slotted in rather like Lego bricks, wherever it worked! They did have seven Camille/Valencienne pairs but I think only five Danilo/Hanna variations.

jmb, Lana Jones was of course the original Firebird in this production, and is as stunning as ever. A pity Chengwu Guo had not returned from injury, as he was the original Kostchei and would have been interesting to see this time around. I agree that Chynoweth did an outstanding job. I felt the programme to have been unbalanced - the first "half" was over twice as long as the second. I would have preferred the short extracts, interval, Grand in its entirety (which was not actually the case), interval, then Firebird. I was also surprised that the only piece in a programme celebrating Murphy's 50-year association with TAB actually created for TAB was Firebird, but apparently he was given complete free choice over what was presented. There was a set element missing from Sheherazade which was noticeable if you'd seen it before, but including the moving piano in Grand almost made up for the omission. I had to laugh, though, as watching the entire programme, all the "Murphy signature elements" were on show, so it didn't really matter that we didn't get any of Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Nutcracker - the Story of Clara, Beyond Twelve, Tivoli, or Gallery. I would particularly have liked to have seen Gallery again. Special mentions to Valerie Tereshchenko, Andrew Killian, Yuumi Yamada and Leanne Stojmenov dancing with Kevin Jackson.

Just to comment: in 2009, the previous time Australian Ballet's AD was on the jury, for the first time ever two Australian Ballet dancers were nominated (Kirsty Martin - who won - and Adam Bull). This time around, AB's AD on the jury, bingo! Two Australian Ballet dancers nominated (Ako Kondo and Kevin Jackson). Do not understand why Kondo, in particular, is being nominated for awards left, right and centre as Wheeldon's Alice as when I saw her (twice) she was...less than arresting. IIRC from 2009, pretty much all the jury members had been able to see most of the nominees dance live, and it was commented upon by several that it was the first time in their memories that a dancer had won an award purely based on video presentation (Martin). Interesting that three years in a row Paris Opera Ballet has produced a female winner (Hannah O'Neill, Ludmila Pagliero and Sae-Eun Park), with Hugo Marchand as a male winner in 2017. Jury members from POB in those years were Marie-Agnès Gillot and José Martinez (listed as France but presumably as AD of Compañia Nacional de Danza), Brigitte Lefèvre and Manuel Legris (listed as France but hopefully as AD of Vienna State Ballet), and Nicolas Le Riche and Eleonora Abbagnato (both listed as France, both ADs of companies outside France i.e. Sweden and Rome)...conspiracy alert!! 🤣

I was lucky enough to manage four shows in the Melbourne season: Brett Simon and Amy Harris as Danilo and Hanna with Brett Chynoweth and Jade Wood as Camille and Valencienne, Adam Bull and Kirsty Martin with Andrew Killian and Leanne Stojmenov, Simon and Harris with Andrew Wright and Dana Stephenson, and Ty King-Wall and Lana Jones with Chengwu Guo and Ako Kondo. This season in both Sydney and Melbourne notable for three returns: Martin as Hanna, Steven Heathcote (the video Danilo) as Baron Zeta, and David McAllister (AD, retired in 2001) as Njegus, Zeta's secretary. For Martin, it was her first time on stage since 2011, and for McAllister, his first since 2001. I am told he was surprised how badly his makeup had deteriorated and he had to buy all new! Heathcote was wonderful, better even I think than the ageless Colin Peasley this time around. The "other" Njegus was Franco Leo, always making a role his own in the details. Brett Simon and Amy Harris, the first couple I saw, were gorgeous. Every time they looked at each other was another tug at the emotions. Simon (soloist) and Harris (senior artist) are two of those about whom one thinks "WTH? Why haven't they been promoted?". Too late for Simon now, as he's retiring on 30 June, at just 33. TAB seems to have a problem with retaining or attracting senior dancers, it would be good to see character roles filled by people in their thirties, forties, fifties even rather than (as in the current production) 20 year olds (however "into" the part they get) playing the maitre d' of Chez Maxime. Brett Chynoweth is one of the company's most beautiful dancers but due to his less than robust physical appearance and lack of height will probably never get to take that final step. All the better female dancers are too tall for him and the shorter ones such as Reiko Hombo and Natasha Kusch have left. Jade Wood was delightful but not quite at the standard of her Camille. The most glamorous chorus line in ballet (aka the men in tails, top hats, and white gloves Chez Maxime) showed a new generation can high-kick with the best of them. Adam Bull danced beautifully, but being 6'4", has to do everything so much quicker than the shorter dancers, which perhaps leaves him less mental time to play a role. Martin was, of course, exquisite - this was her retirement role in 2011 and she brought to it all her artistry (IMHO she has more artistry in herself than at least four of the current principals put together). Divine. Stojmenov and Killian a gorgeous couple, he is not such a great classical dancer per se but is one of the company's best actors, and Stojmenov has developed into a beautiful dancer besides being probably the company's best actor, so they were wonderful together. Simon and Harris (some Lego-like cast changes had to be done due to injuries) did a surprise extra show with Wright and Stephenson, particularly affecting for me as I have enjoyed so much the dancing of both Simon and Wright over a number of years, and they are both retiring on 30 June. Stephenson's Valencienne showed a very fiery attitude Chez Maxime, I really thought she was going to kick Wright in the face at one point! She's another who seems to have plateaued, having co-won the Telstra Ballet Dancer Award way back in 2010 with Ty King-Wall, who the following year was promoted to principal. She's still a soloist. Simon and Wright have so often been passed over for others, we audience members will never understand why our preferred dancers don't seem to be preferred by the PTB. Harris is another who should long since have been promoted (in her case from Senior Artist to Principal). The final show of the season was Ty King-Wall and Lana Jones, who had been a delightful Valencienne seven years ago. This time around, her Hanna was as good as I'd hoped it would be, and she even dragged a performance out of her Danilo, who is a beautiful dancer but due to frequent back and other problems is not seen as often as one might like (nor is he usually a very good actor - the only other time I've had an emotional performance from him was as Lensky in 2012). Guo and Kondo can jump high, turn fast and all that, but even though married in real life, weren't to my eyes a couple on stage in these roles. Special mentions to Madame Bumblebee as performed by both Ingrid Gow and Ella Havelka, Drunk Lady (Nicola Curry and Ella Havelka), Smiley Can-Can Girl Jill Ogai, and Cutest Petite (I mean really tiny) Can-Can Girl Yuumi Yamada.

Given that the company only officially announced its October 2018 tour to China a few days ago, and given previous experience, the official Paris visit announcement won't come at the earliest until some time in September when the 2019 programme is announced. China gets the McAllister Sleeping Beauty (about to be performed in Adelaide) and the Maina Gielgud Giselle (in Melbourne in September). Please God this time could they leave the Murphy Swan Lake at home. I think they would be best served by taking a mixed bill of recent local commissions that won't have been seen anywhere else, and a full-length possibly the McAllister Beauty or the Baynes Swan Lake - no Murphy swans please! Having watched (OK, listened to while doing other stuff) the full video announcement of 2018/19 from La Seine Musicale, the venue, and suffered through the presenter's not terribly funny jokes (not even the audience in the hall was laughing), there was nothing mentioned other than the bare facts that the 2019 guests will be Australian Ballet and Hong Kong Ballet. Further announcements later in the year, they said.

Ew, Ian, eww! 😀 That east-west-east would be a real killer. I can get a return economy ticket to London for around AUD900. To fly to Brisbane last July for Winter's Tale, Albury-Sydney-Brisbane-Sydney-Albury, cost me AUD985.

Yes but Brisbane is almost as expensive to get to as Europe from where I am! 😮

Hahaha that wasn't the attitude of several who were cast as Benno in Stephen Baynes' Swan Lake when it premiered..."what do you mean PDT means Benno is a principal role???" which was what they were told. Thank you Bruce.

Well of course Chi Cao is best known down here for exactly Mao's Last Dancer, he came down and did Nutcracker Prince with Madeleine Eastoe possibly 8-9 years ago now, and I was lucky enough that almost exactly this time last year both BRB and I were in Cheltenham and I saw him with Cesar Morales, Samara Downs and Yvette Knight in Moor's Pavane. Those of you, like Jan, who have seen him over many years will I am sure miss him very much.

He's coming for Cinderella which is not until December in Sydney. You get Kevin Jackson for Nutcracker in exchange. Aus Ballet currently performing Merry Widow and working on mixed programme that follows it, plus new Spartacus so I very much doubt Alexander would be coming here to learn the role this early, when you consider what he is already doing in London. It's a helluva long flight for a couple of days in a studio! And it's Ratmansky so possibly he'd be able to learn it in Yurrup anyway...? Anyone know where Ratmansky is atm?

Australian Story, @Jan McNulty, is a long-running programme on Monday nights, usually focusing on some sort of inspiring against-the-odds story. Always Australians, not often those who live and work overseas. Last year's episodes: http://www.abc.net.au/austory/episodes/?year=2017

I felt it was too short and rushed - Australian Story often does two-parters and this I feel should have been such. Did anyone else get the impression the two men don't actually get on at all? I did laugh watching Alexander coming out of the stage door at QPAC to be greeted by the entire family - I was (just) off-camera left, desperately avoiding being caught on film as I had actually sneaked up to Brisbane for the weekend, having fudged my actual whereabouts to family and most friends! I was so pleased to see Winter's Tale live finally, and thrilled my third and final show was Bennet Gartside and Marianela Nuñez, who were utterly absorbing and said so much just with their eyes.

I think Stephen Baynes and Hugh Colman in 2011-12 were on the same page! "...to place the Prince within the context of his court surroundings – a hierarchal, aristocratic, nationalistic and military environment. Within this court the Prince struggles to fit in." "Most importantly, Baynes wanted to emphasise the profound romanticism of Tchaikovsky’s score, not only within the choreography but also by setting it in the late 19th century as opposed to the medieval period in which it is frequently set." Australian Ballet produced a glossy PDF with Baynes' inspirations, readable at the link provided. Quotes above from Australian Ballet's website btw. Photo of Rudy Hawkes, Lisa Bolte and Andrew Killian by Jeff Busby below shows act III. The red wigged violinist is Rothbart. Oh yeah he "plays" the solos. Oh yeah what they "play" bears little relation to what we're hearing from the soloist in the pit.