Geoff

Here is a (positive) review from the Guardian of the Handel show currently at the ENO. I add it to this thread for the single and rather thought-provoking comment by a reader, which compares it with the ROH Meistersinger:-

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/mar/16/partenope-review-handel-on-a-night-out-with-beardy-bohemians

What about those shows - with posters announcing "Nureyev will dance at every performance" - which I remember carrying on into his fifties?

Fine last night last night (within limits: apart from the impeccable principals I have some reservations) but I have a tiny question. I spent a bit of time looking through binoculars in the prologue at the gifts the pages bring in on cushions Most were clear enough, but the first fairy turns up with what to me looked like an oyster. What is it - and why?

 

It is possible that there are descriptions in the programme or else it is something obvious I am just too stupid to get, so help would be appreciated.

Gone now

Unexpectedly I have the seat next to me available for Tuesday night 14th. Amphitheatre Row E, £17. Please PM if interested as well as posting here.

The first night was last night. Wasn't there myself but I have just read the Twitter comments. Mostly ecstatic, particularly for Sir Bryn and for the production. In fact one of the most active tweeters says he has criticised Kasper Holten for years but crashed the first night party to tell him personally how much he liked this.

Huh?? This production features Bryn Terfel, yet there are over 100 seats online for the 15th? What's up?

I just checked and you are right. But a hundred or so of the unsold seats that night are priced at more than £200 each, which may have something to do with the speed of take up.

 

And speaking purely personally - and definitely not commenting on any dress rehearsal performance - I have been going steadily off Bryn's voice these last years: his voice has, imho, been getting overstretched (too much Wotan, perhaps?) and is no longer quite such a draw. Imho.

This no doubt explains not only the odd structure of the role of the Lilac Fairy

...another reason being Marie Petipa doubling Lilac Fairy with an appearance as Cinderella in Act III, which inevitably restricted any Act III appearance by the Lilac Fairy to no more than a walk on (played by somebody else).

their published cast lists often read like your wish list of everyone (well, or almost everyone) you'd want to see on stage

By chance I happen to have a little insight into what goes on. A few years ago this Russian gala announced that a dear friend of mine would be dancing. For various reasons, I am being discrete, this would have been something of a sensation so there was a fair bit of interest. But when I spoke to her (no names, no names) she told me no one had even contacted her. They had just stuck her name on the list.

 

I ended up getting involved professionally in this, as she asked me to find a lawyer (she didn't want her name taken in vain, as it were) but in the end thought better of making a fuss.

 

Nonetheless I will be there on Sunday. There are bound to be things worth seeing, there always are.

I wonder why the "western" version of the variation differs from the Russian one? Does anyone know if the RB version is derived from the 1921 Diaghilev production? I believe that Bronislava Nijinska danced the Lilac Fairy in that production, so perhaps she changed the choreography for that variation

The various versions have a long history, in fact, so far as we know, this goes right back to Petipa. It seems there were two Petipa versions of the Lilac Fairy variation, an easier one (marked as being for his daughter Marie, a favourite with the public) and a harder one. Now over to those who really know all this!

 

Meistersinger with added horses?

John, that reminds me of the famous story of perhaps the Zefirelli Don Carlos, where Phillip II entered with two borzois. The critic for "Horse and Hound" (not Hugh Grant in Love Actually) is reputed to have titled his review "No horse, two hounds".

 

I hope someone with a better memory can give a reference for this tale.

This hasn't opened yet so no comments but on the strength of yesterday's dress rehearsal, I think it safe to post for those who might be worried about a new production. This is an intelligent and subtle blend of old and new. Nothing to frighten the horses and plenty to enjoy. Nuff said.

Well, that's a list with at least two surprising items. Cost was awful, and as for Renée Fleming, I can imagine some kind of lifetime achievement award in the role but surely not for this last run.

On both occasions, I could not see the Song Bird soloist do the fluttery hand movements behind her back.  It could be that I was sitting the wrong side of the stage for the live performance, but it didn't show up in the cinema either.  Do they still do it?

Sometimes they do it but (my impression is) this seems to be another of rather too many subtleties - see other posts - which are getting forgotten.

Oh and the presenter took great care to act and present herself as sloppily as possible, so as to provide a courteous contrast to some of the most elegant people in Britain. How thoughtful of her to help make the guests look as good as possible....

I watched online

...in which case you will have missed an interesting introductory talk, which would have been even more interesting if it had been longer, by Stephanie Jordan, which somebody at ROH had deemed too - what, boring? highbrow? dunno - for the online audience.

 

There used to be a time when Insight events were truly intelligent and one would always learn a lot. Now the focus seems to be on entertainment, with a bit of learning if one is lucky. I enjoyed last night enormously but feel sad that the historical/critical/analytic bit, provided by a professor of dance, was deliberately dropped from the online presentation. No point in making this point to RB I suppose...

I suspect the brass section is now so bored with the long run that they are either sending in deps or getting too many beers in at the intervals....

Don't blame the ballet! I go to the opera a fair bit as well and the ROH brass are getting worse and worse (I would introduce regular re-auditions but presumably the unions forbid this). Maybe a long run is good as it makes them practice, if only by performing over and over...

Just to say (for those who believe there are never tickets for ROH Insight evenings) looking on the website a few tickets have just come back for this one:-

 

http://www.roh.org.uk/insights/insights-national-opera-studio-masterclass

I heard that too re Cinderella from a senior RB dancer. Toxic mix of Prokofiev royalties, dissatisfaction with set and reluctance to replace due to relative newness and cost.

 

There is also the problem that it has been a v long time since the Ugly Sisters were danced as Ashton intended, rather than as unmusical panto clowns. But - to make the obvious point - that is not the fault of the production, rather it is (perhaps) another example of a failure of RB institutional memory, as discussed in another thread in relation to SB coaching.

Might I just clarify, as my post on Audience Behaviour started this diversion to mid-number applause? My query was specifically as to why the whole of the rear amphitheatre - but no one else in the auditorium - applauds at a certain point during the SB garland dance. Is it because they are seeing something the rest of us are not, or maybe, based on subsequent comments, perhaps this is because tickets in this area of the house are sold to particular groups?

 

I would not ask if it just happened once, but I have been to a fair few SBs this run, and it keeps happening.

One ticket gone (as above) but I now have another one spare. I will give this to the Box Office tomorrow, Monday, evening, unless someone wants it.

Apropos back of the amphi, I have a question, also relating to last night SB but not only last night. At the start of the garland dance (not my favourite part of the ballet but that is another subject) there is introductory moving around, which finishes with the corps lined up in two diagonal rows. Last night - but not only last night - the back of the amphi, and no other part of the house, applauded this, even though it was not the end of anything, rather a brief break before "the start of the dance".

 

And when I say it was the back of the amphi, I don't mean eight people, I mean most of those rows, a whole section of the auditorium.

 

What is it that they are seeing - or think they are seeing - from back there that the rest of us are not seeing?

 

(Please move this to the SB thread if people feel that is the better place)

Many thanks - just sent you another PM

I have a ticket for this opera masterclass which I now can't use (school meeting):

 

http://www.roh.org.uk/insights/insights-national-opera-studio-masterclass.

 

It cost £17. If interested please PM as well as posting here. Thank you.

I am extremely partial to the 1955 NBC recording of the Sadler's Wells production, reduced though it is, if only for a Fonteyn performance and Beryl Grey's miraculous Lilac Fairy variation. It is currently on YouTube, in sections, starting from here:-