Two Pigeons

To pay for a top price ticket I would need to have a pretty clear indication who I was expecting to see.

I have to say that I am less keen on this production as I vastly prefer the earlier production by SPW. I particularly miss the pas de six in the first act as this has reverted to the traditional pas de deux which I find less interesting. Having said that I have absolutely no dispute that with the right casting it is worth seeing. If I could book for any combination of Celine Gittens, Delia Mathews, Samara Downs or Yvette Knight with Tyrone Singleton, Brandon Lawrence, Cesar Morales or Mathias Dingman I would happily book. This brings us back to the eternal blister that is the BRB practice of not announcing the casting until about 2 weeks before. Aside from that I endorse Janet's love of the Mary Skeaping's production for ENB. To me it is the essence of the Romantic ballet.

When one of my all time favourite great ballerinas, Nina Ananiasvili, took over at the State Ballet of Georgia she introduced a fair bit of Ashton into the rep there. Given the huge success of Iain Webb at Sarasota if Miyako does the same in Japan it would be terrific to have more and more international balletomanes have the chance to experience his work. Given the history of David Bintley's and SPW's influence in Japan much of the Ashton rep would probably be a good natural fit for the company there.

Janet and Naomi, who did we have in Prince of the Pagodas? I remember the terrific guests we had from Japan for Aladdin but I am sure we had at least one guest for Pagodas too.

May I say that as a distance viewer of the RB, ie only ever see them on film, that I am really sorry there isn't more film of Laura Morera as the little of her I have seen and everything I have read about her makes me want to see much more of her. I was especially sorry she wasn't in the broadcast of Two Pigeons as I gather she is a very fine Ashton dancer and there are all too few of those around these days.

Like Janet I have wonderful memories of Miyako from her SWRB/BRB days and she is an artist to treasure. I saw her graduation performance when she shone in the Bluebird past de deux with Errol Pickford and it was so clear that here was a future star par excellence. As well as her dancing, flawless though it was, I admire her hugely for her devotion to Sir Peter Wright. When the company relocated to Birmingham she came for the 5 years he was director as an act of total loyalty to him. As the years passed the signs that the devotion was both mutual and permanent. You only have to read his autobiography to how much he adored and was so proud of her. I have told this story before but I will always remember her last performance (as Aurora) in 1995 with her great friend Kevin O'Hare. As he took her hand and as she boureed to the front of the stage the tears were pouring down her face. During the curtain calls she hugged him as though she would never let him go. This is a lady of committed loyalty to her friends and they adored her in return. It is one if my eternal regrets is that I didn't see enough of her when she joined the Royal. I tried a number of times but I missed seeing her as Ondine, Cinderella and Raymonda (amongst others) as she was injured. I began to wonder if I was a jinx on her. So, having missed much of her later career I will just cherish the memories I have. I saw her in all the classics but i think my absolute favourite was in Plymouth in Coppelia. The cast was Miyako as Swanilda - obviously - with Kevin as Franz and Michael O'Hare as Dr Coppelius. They were all having such fun on stage it was totally infectious. She will be so much missed but, boy, what a career!

If we are talking about Massine - Choreartium deserves a mention.

P.s. Added to that, Theme and Variations for Balanchine?

Good see Fokine being included, I think he gets overlooked two often. May I suggest that Tudor should also be included, for all that his work is very rarely performed. So Lilac Garden Shadow play Dark Elegies I would also add Requiem and Song of the Earth to the Macmillan list

Excellent point! We should also include Iain Mackay as director of the Yorkshire Ballet Seminars too. Either way, Sir Peter and David Bintley must be very proud of all their proteges.

Yes indeed. It's scheduled to be part of a triple bill next June. I was thinking about Snow Queen's comments about dancers from SWRB/BRB becoming directors. From those I can think of we have - Kevin O'Hare obviously Iain Webb at Sarasota Ballet Peter Jacobsson previously at Royal Swedish Ballet now at Ballet de Lorraine Miyako Yoshida future director of National Ballet of Japan (as far as I know) Graham Lustig Oakland Ballet Company There are probably others which do not come to mind immediately.

P.s. trust you to mention young Mr O'Hare! But you are right that his coaching influence was pretty clearly on view. If you had seen the other cast you would have done lots of double takes watching Max Maslen. It was like seeing Michael all over again.

Lovely to hear from you Snow Queen. We had a lovely time didn't we. You have made me think, whatever happened to our two favourite wolves?

I would have had Stephen Jefferies in either role with Jennifer Penney as Aegina.

You are both right. Britten's Scottish Ballad is indeed based on the old Scottish folksong 'Flowers of the Forest' which is a traditional lament for the loss of the nobility at the battle of Flodden in 1513 when James IV rather ill advisedly took on part of the English army while Henry VIII was in France fighting the French. The Auld Alliance in action with disastrous results for the Scots. However, the ballet reflects the loss at Culloden in 1746 where more Scots fought Charles Edward Stuart than fought for him. Spot the lover of all things Scottish (except Frankie Boyle, Neil Oliver and 'Flower of Scotland').

I am rather tardy with this report but I cannot let some of the happiest evenings I have ever had at the theatre go unremarked. I was in something of a sulk about the fact that both my shows at the Hippodrome were to feature the same cast. Oddly enough as it panned out it worked in our favour. those of you who know me will be very aware that for the last 37 years the primary driving force behind much of my ballet going was Stephen Wicks whom I extremely proud to call a close friend. when I married hubby in 2012 Wicky insisted on coming to the wedding and they met for the first time. He also came to my mother's funeral the following year and from the start they got on really well. Alan. who had previously shown absolutely no intererst in ballet whatsoever, became almost obsessed with seeing Hobson's Choice so we watched the excellent DVD of the orginal cast from time to time. this was all after the ballet had had its last outing when the exceptionally good casts of Ambra Vallo and Alex Campbell or Elisha Willis and the great Robert Parker so we had to wait for another 7 years. Rumours began circulating that it was coming back at the end of 2018/19 and that Lachlan Monaghan was the likely first choice for Will Mossop. The moment the booking opened I rang the Hippodrome and got two seats for the Friday night and as the box office guy was so helpful I decided to get two more for the Saturday evening in case there was anything special for David Bintley's farewell. As homework we watched the David Lean film and the first cast DVD again but Alan was less than keen on seeing the same work two evenings running. I just smiled prettily and hoped for the best. I was getting more and more excited about seeing this favourite lovely ballet again and as we got closer to the performances Alan's attitude changed as soon as he heard Wicky was coming to the final night, so two performances it was. I have indicated earlier how impressed I was with Max Maslan and, on the whole, I was pretty happy with all of the cast with an honourable mention for Mr Steegen on the cymbols. I really should not have told Alan to pay attention as he sort of missed absolutely everyone else who was dancing the hearts out while banging tambourines. However, there was one performance by which I less than persuaded and that was Dominic Antonucci as Henry Hobson. He is someone I like very much but I thought his performance was very sketchy and he omitted some details which I remembered from seeing Desmond Kelly (and Wicky for that matter) some years ago. In fact Desmond was the person I missed most from the old days. This was slighly ironic as the following night he was the first person I saw (talking to lovely Sheila Lyon-Hitchman, our much missed Friends' coordinator). At least I had the chance to tell him how much I had missed him. The Saturday evening was one of those nights at the Hippodrome we have very rarely these days. lots of ballet illuminati, previous dancers and friends all together discussing happy memories. it was absolutely right that David B had a great send off. He has done so much to keep the company going through very lean times and he has created a very talent troupe of excellent dancers. OK, some of his ballets didn't work out entirely well but those that did were glorious and Hobson's is the pick of the lot. Lovely evening, lovely show. We took my nephew and his girlfriend who really enjoyed it all (full marks to Mr Steegen once again) and seeing Sir Peter on stage completed it all. By this time hubby had gone from 'I don't want to see the same show twice' to 'let's go to Sadler's Wells for the very last one'. I must stress here that he remained fixed in his real liking of Max Maslan who reminded him so much of John Mills in the film. So, we were all booked up for the Wells (as it will always be in my heart and head) and we battled on, despite the hottest June day in my life time. We had arranged to meet that man again and one of my oldest going ballet companions in the Shakespeare's Head. the last time I remember being in there was in 1990 for the last night of SWRB performing at the old Wells theatre. I am sure I have been there since but the main point here is that it had not changed an iota in almost 30 years. It was still a real locals pub, unbelieveably shabby and full of old framed sigh photographs the theatrical artisites of every description. Both our expected guests arrived very hot and late due to humoungous issues with the tube. By this point I was feeling like an oversteamed suet pudding but was past caring by then. It was so hot it reminded me of the old days in the 80s when sitting and sweltering in the Amphi or the Balcony at the Coli before both theatres got air conditioning. there were lots of dancers from the old days. Samira and Alain Dubreuil looked as stunning as ever, making we feel even more like a limp and moist lettuce leaf, but even they were outshone when I saw Mark Welford for the first time for 12 years. It was great to chat to him but he was with the utterly exquisite Leticia Muller and she hadn't changed a bit from 1996 and Bathsheba Everdene which I swear she could have done it all over again. She really is still one of the great beauties of the dance world. I know that there were lots of dancers past and present there but they were all in the circle and we were in the stalls but we saw a fair number of them in the distance, not least throwing carnations at the end. we were in the middle of the stalls and it was an absolute hoot to watch the reactions of the audience as they gradually clocked Mr Steegen on his cymbols totally stealing the show. As it was the very last show he appeared in the finale as well and nearly ran off with that too as everyone was dancing on the shop floor. I don't want to get into a which cast was best as both had tremendous highs but I will say that, for me, Lachlan and Samara Downs were destined to play Will and Maggie and they gelled together really well. What I do think made a big difference was the ever constant and much underrated Jonathan Payn as Hobson. He got everything absolutely right and it was like seeing Desmond Kelly all over again and, for me, it lifted the whole show. Hubby, now a self appointed expert on Hobson's Choice really enjoyed it all but remained faithful to liking Max Maslan the best. On our way out we saw everyone filing into the pub and as we returned to our hotel we agreed that absolutely everything, the cost, the effort, the heat was worth it to have been there on David Bintley's (and possibly Hobson's) farewell to BRB as director. The occasion was much less formal than at the Hippodrome. the banner with 'Thank You David' was a lovely touch, Sir Peter repeated his speech from the week before and David said a few words. I cannot explain it that clearly but I felt the Hippodrome was all about the the BRB years with its formal dinner for wealthy subscribers and the Wells was all about the Dancers, past and present. Given that David had started his career with SWRB at the Wells I felt it very appropriate that the very last show was there. BRB open next season with David's Giselle and the RB are reviving Tombeaux (his finest one act in my opinion) he will not be forgotten. Wicky tells me that David has a lot of work in the pipeline although I believe he and his family are staying in Birmingham to live. I had decided that this is very likely to be my last visit to the ballet but certainly to London and I though I could not ask for a better finish. However, before we left the theatre the four of us had agreed to meet up again in the Autumn to see Coppelia at the Opera House which Wicky is helping to revive. At the end of the day there are more important things than money! p.s. many congratulations to Mathias Dingman who I reckon was in every one of the nine performances, either as Fred Beanstock or in the 'Roland Price' role in the Salvation Army. He was almost as good as Mr Steegen.

Terrific news. Well done to all but special congratulations to Brandon. Interesting that 3 promotions are for character dancers.

Quite right Janet. The official second cast with Grahame and Marion was Nick Millington as Albert Prosser and Kevin O'Hare as Fred Beanstock. I had a few very happy performances watching Kevin fight to keep his moustache on as he eat all the cake he could handle. With neither Stephen Wicks or Nick coming to Birmingham Kevin moved over to be Albert Prosser, keeping Joe Cipolla as Fred, although both Mark Welford and Robert Parker taking on the role over time. I am less reliable with the second cast Alice and Vickey. I do remember Samira Said as the most ridiculously elegant and beautiful Northern shop girl you could possibly imagine. I remember Anne Marie Little and Simone Clarke at times as well as the late Jane Billson with Andrew Allen as Alice and Albert. So many great memories over the years! I saw Samira on Saturday night. Still as beautiful as ever. Seems rather unfair really.

Hubby and I have just got back from the Hippodrome. I can only agree George. Bravo Max Maslen! I kept doing a double take as he was so like Michael O'Hare it was uncanny. I will submit a fuller report after tomorrow night. P.s. my wonderful hubby got so fed up of me moping he is taking me to Sadler's Wells next week..I am so lucky.

I must begin this posting by saying that I haven't seen this bill as it had no real appeal for me. I have seen Lyric Pieces often enough and I was not gripped by the other works. However, I did see the vintage suitcase on Bargain Hunt - oh the joys of retirement! - so I can imagine that thought would have struck me too. Not only was i not gripped by the programme but someone else whose opinion i value highly was very unimpressed with the show so I was pleased I had stayed home. I share the concerns expressed above about the quality of the mixed bills in recent years. I must stress that this is absolutely NO reflection on any of the dancers or their peformance but since the company has gone in for these rather gimmicky combinations with supposedly catchy titles the programmes have been somewhat hit or miss. I also take on Alison's point about the poor attendance. However, this does not always reflect poor programming. the double bill we had a few years ago of the Dream and A Month in the Country was one of the finest bills I have seen in 40 years of ballet doing. in the days of Sir Peter Wright, both SWRB and BRB had great mixed bills and there was always something to really enjoy. I always say that my all time favourite was at the old Sadler's Wells and it was Les Rendezvous (in the proper costumes), the Dream and Facade. spot the Ashton fan! I often heard die hard RB fans say that the SWRB triple bills were far more attractive than some of those at the Opera House (I am talking the 80s here). I would suggest that Kevin O'H has learnt from the master and his are pretty uniformally successful where as the BRB ones are going in the other direction. Admittedly funding may have something to do with this. Finally, may I say Janet, that when someone as utterly devoted to BRB as you and with your ability to always find something to appreciate in every performance mentions specifically that there is an increasing problem here it shows that all is very far from well in this respect. Like you I hope that this is not a worrying sign for the future but I fear it may be. New and modern is not always a guarantee of success and it is unfair to expect the excellence of the dancers to be relied on to carry less than successful work.

Don't forget a certain Kevin O'Hare banging the drum and as one of the three men in the trio section. I still think they will find it very hard to beat the utterly scene stealing Brandon Lawrence on the cymbals.

I agree. it goes a long way for making up that I will miss Tyrone Singleton in the Salvation Army.

I would love to have been able to get to the Saturday night at the Wells but this is totally impractical for me these days. Having been to the opening night at the ROH, the first night in Birmingham, the last performance of SWRB in Liverpool, Karen Donovan's last in Plymouth amongst others I would have loved to have completed the cycle with the very last showing. Added to that I would have had the opportunity to see the other cast. I have absolutely no qualms about the excellence of both casts but I had been looking forward to seeing Lachlan in the role for over a year now. At the end of the day, Que Sera Sera.

I am pretty cheesed off that I have booked two performances and they are both with Max Maslan and Beatrice Parma. Absolutely NO offence to them but I really did feel that the occasion of Bintley's farewell would have warranted the first cast. My husband is adamant he won't take a third time. Incidentally, I agree with Janet's disappointment that Mathias Dingman has not been cast. I supposed that as there are so few performances the casts are restricted to two. I was really hoping to see both casts for the Salvation Army bit too!

Don't go on about it! LOL. Remember, you also saw Tyrone Singleton's first Romeo. Actually, seriously, haven't we both been really lucky over the past few decades? It seems a bit petty to moan about the stuff we have missed. Mind you, a bit of pettiness won't stop me seething about one or two omissions. See you for Hobson's. Really can't wait but some casting would be nice.