Silke H

Ticket now re-homed. Thanks

Selling 1 ticket for The Royal Ballet's Nutcracker on Thursday 21st December 7:30pm, on behalf of my friend visiting from the New York (his schedule changed).

Amphitheatre L-71, £32

Cast: Francesca Hayward, Alexander Campbell, Thomas Whitehead, Leticia Stock, Taisuke Nakao

Please leave a note here and send a personal message.

Many thanks,

Silke

Hi Angela,

May I please have them?  I just messaged you, too.

Many thanks,

Silke

6 minutes ago, alison said:

Do we know when he's on?  I don't remember noticing his name in the casting.

most likely the original Bennet Gartside dates

NYCB has 47 Nutcracker performances this season, and they squeeze those in from 24th November through 31st December.

I love the RB's friendly, smiley snowflakes.  As @LinMM said, they are magical.  Plus, they are paving the way for Clara and Hans-Peter to get to the Kingdom of Sweets.  And if that isn't something to smile about then I don't know what is 😃

1 hour ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

Hopefully in a grouping that has returned to the correct number!

I would love a proper snowstorm back too, not just the soft fluttering.

However, I have heard from a reliable source that the reduced number of snowflakes has been approved by Sir Peter Wright (not just as a Covid measure) and that they will keep that to account for injuries and sickness 😢  Let's hope that the powers that be realise that a proper blizzard is so much more fun to watch and at some point return to the waltz's original number of snowflakes

2 hours ago, Sim said:

Did they dance Swan Lake together?  Dang, how did I miss that??

01 March 2022

Hi Anna - I've just messaged you.  Thanks

6 hours ago, Linnzi5 said:

I couldn't identify who retrieved the fan but I was so impressed with the way that was done. I obviously knew the fan had flown off but the way it was handled by the male dancer was so, so  professional. Did you see who it was? Because he deserves much praise.

It was Stanislaw Węgrzyn

Instagram 17-11-23

Facebook - 2023 run

Just now, Dawnstar said:

 

I too was surprised to see the "wrong" Sasaki listed but in terms of a replacement being noted on the cast sheet isn't that only done for roles that have been announced in advance, i.e. in Don Q only for Kitri & Basilio?

possibly.  you might be right, @Dawnstar 

but in any case, I think it's a typo by an unknowledgeable or non-caring ROH admin person as Sumina Sasaki has just a few minutes ago put her earlier wall post up in her stories.

I own the Pulsio Air and am happy with it.  Comes with 5 different heads (currently £69.99 on their website) and you can choose from 6 different colours.  Dispatch was quick and efficient.  Can recommend.

Is there another error on the cast sheet for tonight?  Mariko Sasaki is listed as Queen of the Dryads but I was expecting to see Sumina Sasaki.  Sumina even posted on her IG  about it this morning.  I am happy to see either Mariko or Sumina (both are gorgeous dancers) but I would expect a note on the cast sheet if Mariko is replacing Sumina tonight.

https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/43/don-quixote-by-carlos-acosta/cast-list/56226

10 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

I'm currently sitting on the fence as to whether to brave another trip to London on 17th for the final Don Q (if I do I'll probably be the only person in the audience not there to see Osipova) 

That would be you and me then.  I'm going for the cast around Ms Osipova but not really for her.  Admittedly, I think Kitri is the only RB role I appreciate her in. 🤐

My notes on Saturday's matinee:

I very much enjoyed Ms Osipova's act 1 but thought that act 2, particularly the solo, is not really in her wheel house and she didn't look all that comfortable.  In act 3 Ms Osipova was again in her element and she delivered - even if some parts of the choreography had been adjusted!  However, I must admit, I agree with @Paco that I could clearly see in Ms Osipova's face how much effort she had to put in to execute certain jumps and other technical feats that used to come easy to her.  Her walking back on stage after each of her solos to take a bow like she was a farmer's daughter and not a ballerina playing an innkeeper's daughter was a sight to behold  🤭

Reece Clarke's Basilio debut was accomplished and his technique has improved so much over the last few years.  With his height (and long legs) his switch leaps looked most impressive.  But his Basilio characterisation was the sweetest yet cheeky and slightly cocky and even more noteworthy than his technical execution.  The way he adored Kitri and kissed her hand after that naughty ear-whisper in act 2 where where she hits at him...  And kudos to Mr Clarke for always being prepared to just go with whatever Ms Osipova unexpectedly throws at him, sometimes quite literally herself.

Fabulous debuts also from Annette Buvoli (Mercedes) and Lukas Brændsrød (Espada).  Theirs is another partnership I'd like to see more of, and I so wish Ms Buvoli was partnered by Mr Brændsrød for her Sugar Plum Fairy debut.

2 further lovely role debuts were Sumina Sasaki (Queen of the Dryads) and Mariko Sasaki (Kitri's friend).

So many debuts in that show.  And great ones at that.  A thoroughly enjoyable Saturday afternoon, spent at one of my favourite places in the world.

4 hours ago, Sophoife said:

She and Vasiliev hammed up the dress rehearsal: fast, strong, and utterly joyous to watch. In the second one-handed lift he got her up, put his arm out, moved into arabesque, then rose on to demi-pointe. And held it. And held it. 

 

That used to be their "party-trick", they did that also when guesting with the Mikhailovsky Ballet in NYC in November 2014.  Their Don Q and Flames of Paris then were quite the show-off-spectacle 😆

Facebook Don Q album

Instagram 11 Nov 2023 matinee

3 minutes ago, PeterS said:

Having seen all the casts including opening night and with the exception of Osipova/Clarke which is yet to come, my vote for the Don Quixote that should have been filmed this season is definitely Fumi Kaneko/William Bracewell. Their lead partnership together with how they inhabited the characters of Kitri & Basilio along with the rest of the Company at their first performance was refreshing and breathtaking. Beyond magical. 

I couldn't agree more.  All three of their shows were fabulous

Just now, bridiem said:

 

I didn't see exactly what happened and I didn't realise it was him, but there was just a trip/stumble  - he didn't actually fall over so I'm sure (and hope) that he wasn't injured.

I don't think he was injured as he finished Act 1 and was back as one of the gypsies in act 2 and danced Fandango lead couple in act 3

30 minutes ago, PeterS said:

 

i agree. it's unfortunate that he tripped over last night and i hope that this doesn't affect him..

It was that horrible backwards jeté around the fellow matadors in the final diagonal where all matadors are always hesitant and careful. I’m surprised we haven’t had any stumbles before

6 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Empty seats? Was it not full? Given many of the seats were presumably either free or greatly reduced in price then it seems odd if it wasn't full.

yes, definitely empty seats in the main part of the Amphi, and only a handful of occupied slips seats (upper and lower).  I can't really speak for the rest of the auditorium but I think I also spotted a few empty seats in the orchestra stalls

22 minutes ago, Scheherezade said:

 

I don’t think it’s that, Candleque, and I’m all in favour of people expressing their appreciation which, I think, makes all of us feel good, but when, in the manner of the standard TV audience audience who, as we know, are told when to yell and clap, you get the same crescendo of whoops and screams for the unexceptional as for the exceptional, it does tend to diminish the impact of the exceptional, not to mention the effect that it may have on the dancers’ concentration. 
My daughter is a natural whooper. She also suffers from misophonia, which she usually manages to control, but the level and frequency of the noise, often at wholly inappropriate times, was so bad that she almost had to get up and leave. 

I agree with @Scheherezade - we sat a few seats apart in the Amphi and the disruption by filming, feet shuffling, people talking to their friends (across empty seats as they had roomily spread out), audience members coming and going as they pleased, drinking from crinkly plastic bottles...  all this added to the over-enthusiastic clapping and whooping did not make for a pleasant viewing.

I actually stayed with friends in stalls circle for the 3rd act, where at least the whooping was less

4 minutes ago, Rob S said:

And while I'm at it, the other thing I don't get is the 'unconscious bloke'.  Cut that bit right out!

squashed by his Nutcracker Trepak replicating friends...

3 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

 

I think you must be right about the clever editing Silke - I didn't notice any clap-happiness, whooping or screaming in the cinema - or did I just edit it out of my brain?

 

I presume broadcast microphones are aimed at the stage/orchestra pit, not the audience, which is probably for the best 🙂