Two Pigeons

Gosh! They usually do better than that.

It's really very interesting how so much if Ashton's work is now being taken up all round the world. I am just sorry that it is not subject to the same strictures if performance as utilised by the Balanchine Trust.

I would like to see the first nights of Les Sylphides, Symphonic Variations and Birthday Offering. Added to that I would like to see Ulanova, Markova and Vassiliev, probably all in Giselle.

Happy Birthday Bruce. I hope to catch up with the tape tomorrow.

I really agree with your comments about lighting and special effects etc becoming more prominent than the choreography Aileen. Just think how much of Balanchine's work has the pared down presentation you refer to. Then the choreography sings and is never swamped.

I have just re-read my earlier contribution. I cannot believe is spelt principals wrongly. I blame the spellchecker on my tablet. Apologies all round. I didn't comment on the music. May I just say that the music for the fairy godmother, dance of the stars and the second act waltz are among my favourites in all ballet. Added to that the music for the pas de deux just has me in a sense of awe and wonder.

This is a very interesting thread. I must confess that Cinderella is my personal favourite of the full length Ashton works, although I must accept it is very much a flawed masterpiece. I think much of my fondness is due to the fact that I saw some great casts in the 80s, culminating in seeing Sibley and Dowell about 3 (?) times. I particularly remember Sibley's first return to the role. My DVD of them with Ashton and Helpmann is one of my most treasured recordings. I also have very happy memories of Collier and Dowell as well as Park and Eagling amongst others. I agree fully with FLOSS's points about the jester, the current state of the ugly sisters and anything involving Wayne Sleep and Napoleon. I am very interested and grateful for his observations on the styles of dance for the sisters. I will get out my recordings and have a look at that with different eyes. I have not seen the RB dance this for several years but I must say that I regret the replacement of the Walker designs. The ones I saw last were nowhere near as good, let alone any improvement. Love all the season variations, the dance of the stars and the pas de deux and variations in act 2. At least act 3 is suitably short and the reconciliation can be very touching. Given that for me the Ashton version is the gold standard the other version with which I am reasonably familiar, David Bintley's for BRB. there is one area where I feel it can well hold its own and that is John Macfarlane's designs, especially for act 2. Apart from that I am afraid that the Ashton version casts a long shadow and the Bintley version does not match it for me. Having said that, Bintley's version has a lot to recommend on its own terms. He has made a conscious effort not to produce a poor copy but I do not find his solution to the ugly sisters problem to be an improvement. The first act relies a bit too heavily on the star turn that is/was Marion Tait as the stepmother. I have seen the production about 3 times and I have yet to be persuaded by the Cinderella. I would like to see it again with some of the younger members of the company in the principal roles. I have the DVD but I tend to concentrate on Iain Mackay rather than both principles. I have only seen the Dutch National on DVD. I liked the Cinderella very much and could cope with Matthew Golding. I liked most of the designs and loved the coup de theatre at the end but the rest of the choreography seemed undergripping to me. This is probably not a fair judgement as I have not seen a live performance of the production. Either way, I think it will be a very long time before anyone anywhere, in any production will ever exceed my memories of Sibley with her broom, Dowell's entrance in act 2, Sibley coming down the staircase to meet him, her variation and their pas de deux. That was magic. As always, thank you Sir Fred. You have enhanced my ballet going life so often. You are a very hard act to follow.

Looks very interesting. I wonder if they will admit that she was a prize bitch apparently.

Not just Ashton. Jean Bedells (who revived Job amongst others for BRB) was also assisting with Apparitions demanded her name was removed from the credits.

I agree with Janet. Kevin worked directly with Ashton on Valses Noble et Sentimentals and when BRB had the premiere if their production of Romeo and Juliet under the supervision of Macmillan Kevin was chosen as first cast Romeo when Fadeyechev dropped out at very short notice.

We'll try Aileen but casting tends to get released very late in the day. As someone for whom BRB is the company of choice I agree with what you say. I would automatically go for anything starring Celine and Tyrone but dread getting stuck with the lady principal I am far less keen on.

Hi cavycapers. Please may I endorse everything you say. A great friend of mine once said that the Royal have the best dancers but BRB do more with what they have. I feel that BRB has a clear ethos and emphasis on entertaining the audience. I am so grateful that someone had the foresight to make a permanent record of the original cast of Hobson's Choice. It may not call for virtuoso dancing but by gum you'd find it hard to have a better evening as an audience member. My other great regret is that for so many years we had a dancer like Robert Parker who could have found a place in any company in the world. I cannot think of any permanent record of his career. We have endless recordings of Nutcracker and Swan Lake but none of Edward II, Far From the Madding Crowd or Cyrano. As far as I am aware the only recordings of the Peter Wright Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty were made by either Dutch National Ballet or the Royal Swedish Ballet.

Only that Nutcracker, Cinderella and Hobson's Choice have made it to DVD as far as I can remember. Actually, there is Nutcracker Sweeties although I am not sure if it's still available. Given the amount of new work BRB produce it's a shame more of it is not filmed.

I feel Brandon Lawrence will be due advancement next season as well.

I am very pleased to hear about Mathias Dingman and pleased to hear about Celine. Surely now there are two female principals down her turn MUST come next year. I share in Janet's congratulations to everyone concerned. I will have very happy memories of both Natasha Oughtred and Laetitia Lo Sardo. I wish all those leaving the company every success in this next phase of their lives.

Thank you Duck, I really enjoyed both reading this and watching the trailer for which you supplied the link. I agree that there is far more to Cranko's choreography than just the demi character, comedy pieces which seem to be the ones we see the most. I feel that Onegin, when done well, can hold its place in any line up of dramatic and/or romantic ballets. I think we get the comedy ballets pretty often because for a first time ballet goer they are very good. People may say that Pineapple Poll looks a bit dated now but it is very well crafted and how many ballets on that kind of level have been created in the last 50 or 60 years that we still get to see? I have seen both Holberg Suite and the piece I remember best from only one viewing which was Homage a Bolshoi danced by Haydee and Cragun at a gala. I am so sorry that this utter firecracker is not seen as often as Spring Waters, which seems to me its easiest point of comparison. I am looking forward to seeing BRB dance Taming of the Shrew again next season. I wish we had more Cranko works in the repertory. I have to agee about the comment that the current designs for Lady and the Fool are not that great, but then neither were the previous set. A completely fresh approach would be welcome. If anyone wishes to start a petition for a wider range of Cranko's work to enter the reps of either Royal Ballet company (or both) please add my name to it. As with a similar discussion we had about Anthony Tudor's work, some choreographers do not seem to get the full respect and performance they deserve.

Love Celine and Tyrone in evening dress.

Hear hear Bruce! It seems to me that there is now such a gap between Bintley's early work, Tombeau and Galanteries for the RB and Allegri Diversi for BRB being good examples where the choreography speaks for itself and his more recent work which seems to be far more about production values.

I agree Vanartus. Had Birmingham not stepped up to the plate and invited SWRB to move that company would have ceased to exist within very few years as all the arts funding was cut back. The City's commitment to the company has remained in spite of everything and we have been the lucky recipients. With all the gripes about the variety of some if the repertoire (guilty) the company does have its very own, distinct identity, a quality it shares with NBT.

sorry, that should be home made pasta at the start of paragraph four.

I feel a bit bad that I am not that big a fan of Carmina Burana and I was not that bowled over by the King Dances. Having seen Terpsichore's review above and spending some time last night with a great friend who used to dance with SWRB who was utterly full of praise for the matinee he had seen I suppose I must just take the view that I may well be out of step but I can only record what I felt. David Bintley undoubtedly has great flair for production. The designs for his ballets are usually terrific and Peter Mumford's lighting coped with the now usual black costumes against a black backdrop and his work was a great addition to both pieces on the double bill. I didn't see the first cast of William Bracewell and Iain Mackay but was pleased to see young Lewis Turner have a chance to shine and Tyrone Singleton can do absolutely no wrong in my eyes. Where things fell down for me was the specially commissioned score, which was both lacking in memorable tunes and any real sense of danceability. Here again I may well be well out on my own as the young lady sitting next to me was raving about the score. However, in my defence she was raving about it as a piece of music, rather than a suitable accompaniment for dance. It bodes very well for the strength of the company that they were able to field at least 8 strong, tall male dances and chief amongst the four torch bearers who were featured later in the ballet were Mathias Dingman and Brandon Lawrence who are both well up there on the list of the company's assets. What I would question is how much actual choreography they were all given to do. The stylised nature of the piece meant that any idea of a conventional pas de deux for Le Roi and La Luna (Yvette Knight) was not going to happen but there were some beautiful shapes created. I am afraid I slightly got the giggles when two of the characters in the nightmare scene had wigs which reminded me of the home made pasts I had seen on Masterchief the night before. This was added to when the final scene had a background which made me think of half of Madonna's conical bra and the final coup de theatre was spoiled for me as Lewis Turner in his Le Roi Soleil outfit came down to the front of the stage but he was masked by one of the courtiers who were standing either side but further down stage. Given that I was in the front row and not that far off centre this really rather annoyed me. So, for me - theatre spectacle 10 points, actual choreography 6 points, score 2 points. Having said that the piece was very well received and I had the impression that the cast were relishing performing it. As I said earlier, this programme gives a real chance for the men in the company to perform their hearts out, and so they did. A lot of what was said above can be repeated about Carmina Burana. I was there at the premier 20 years ago and have never been that big a fan of the piece, however popular it remains with audiences. My mother said that at least if the dancing is not for you there is always the huge compensation of listening to the soloists, who were as excellent as you would expect. I have seen some very good individual performances over the years, top of which has to be the great Robert Parker as Boiling Rage. I was sorry to miss Mathias Dingman in this role as I am sure he will have given it absolutely everything he has. Joe Caley was too light weight and miscast for me. The last time I saw the work Fortuna was Celine Gittens with Tyrone Singleton as the third seminarian. On that occasion the two of them pretty much redeemed the whole piece for me. This time we had Samara Downs and Brandon Lawrence, both artists I admire tremendously. However, on this occasion the same magic was not quite there. My friend also said that the physical god that is Brandon Lawrence is so overpowering in his undress that no one could imagine a priest actually looking like that. As a number of us have pointed out frequently on this site, Brandon is definitely one to watch and I really hope that the coming season will give him a great number of opportunities to shine. That William Bracewell is undoubtedly one of the stars of the company has been reinforced by this programme. As I said in my earlier posting, he was the best first seminarian I have seen over the past 20 years. Apparently his appearance as Le Roi Soleil was absolutely staggering. We are lucky to have him but this is definitely being recognised by the company. I do hope he is Beliaev as he will bring a great deal to the role. There is one last point I would like to make. The company fielded two casts for this bill and I am sure that there were equal delights in both of them. However, had the casting been available sooner I might well have tried to see both of them. When I realised which one I was missing it was too late to get a decent ticket for the other. I suppose that undeniable popularity of Carmina meant that the company did not miss my additional financial contribution as it all sold well. I still feel that there is no real justification for denying loyal followers of the company the chance to make an informed choice when booking. All in all there was much to admire and appreciate in this programme but I came away feeling slightly disgrutled rather than on a high. If I am alone in this I am genuinely pleased that lots of other people really enjoyed what they saw. I am looking forward to next season when we are promised some more varied choreography. At least I know we have the dancers to deliver it.

I am sure you will be very taken with Brandon Lawrence's physique. Impressive is too small a word!

I have just got back from seeing this programme and I have come to the conclusion that the scariest three words in ballet remain 'specially commissioned score' seconded by 'imaginative new interpretation'. I will write a fuller review tomorrow of this really odd double bill. It is a really good workout for the men in the company, the girls get their chance next week with Sylvia. All the dancers gave both works their all with fully committed performances but I cannot say that I was that entranced by the evening. I think I will sleep on this now and see what perculates tomorrow. However, I will gave a rave review to Will Bracewell as the first seminarian. I couldn't take my eyes off him.

Whoops! Basic maths error apart, I am staggered it was that long. I remember being not that struck by it but Michael O'Hare was pretty terrific as Mr O 'Reilly. Can't say I remember anyone else.

I am sure you are right FLOSS. It was revived for de Valois' centenary which would mean 2008.