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Ah! In which case you are quite right.

Yes it would...but sadly female opera directors are a very rare breed.

Not that rare... to name but a few with production credits with the UK's major companies: Francesca Zambello, Deborah Warner, Phyllida Lloyd, Katie Mitchell, Annabel Arden, Fiona Shaw, Olivia Fuchs, Rodula Gaitanou, Marie Lambert, Mariame Clement... (edited to add: ...and of course Annilese Miskimmon, who I wouldn't have hesitated to mention were she not already the subject of this thread!)

They are certainly very under-represented in the industry in comparison with men, but they aren't that rare.  I'd have more trouble trying to name female choreographers with work being presented at a similar level of prominence.

But after all this opulence the second act seems to be quite bland. A very pale and very empty Kingdom. Doesn’t the SPF and her Prince have a royal household? There’s no indication what the national dances mean and why they are there. I like my second act more colourful, more festive. This was overall marshmallow-ness, what a pity.

Totally agree and always have done.

I was there tonight OS B so got a good view of the incident. During the PDD, Lauren was knocked into by Nehemiah going in opposite directions and she seemed winded/disoriented as a result. She did well to carry on so quickly.

I didn't quite see what happened (I was in the Balcony) but straight afterwards I thought it looked as if she might have hurt her left arm in some way.  Glad to see this didn't seem to cause her any further trouble.

Lots of "oops, live theatre!" slips, really. Bit of a shame on broadcast night but there you go.  As well as the things mentioned by others, the blue curtain got caught up on the left on its way down (as the Nutcracker is left injured by the Mouse King) and there seemed to be a near-miss during the Chinese Dance when one of the leap-froggers almost didn't make it over his partner.  Some very untidy moments in the orchestra, too, and as for the audience... people seemed to be dropping heavy things at regular intervals, there was a mobile phone ringing AS the music began (for some reason, the house didn't make the usual announcement about phones and photography), I was distracted throughout the first scene by a young woman on the right-hand side of the Grand Tier with an iPad brightly lighting up her face, and there were flash photos right at the beginning as well.

Edited to add: I'm not a Golding fan, but I was disappointed he was out - the main reason I had a ticket last night, given that other than the SPF and Prince it was almost exactly the same cast I saw last Tuesday, was out of curiosity to see him and Lauren in the GPDD having seen them coached on it in the RB In Rehearsal event a few weeks ago.

Onward to tonight. Really looking forward to Anna Rose O'Sullivan's first Clara!

Meanwhile I'm very tempted to go and see Opera North's new production after Christmas...

http://www.operanorth.co.uk/productions/andrea-chenier

I completely agree too.  I love Elena Zilio, tiny little woman (and in this case also a tiny little role) but always completely unforgettable, both for her stage presence and wonderful Italian singing.

I enjoyed the production - a bit tame by my standards (I usually find McVicar a lot more interesting) - and thus far none of you have mentioned Zeljko Lucic's singing, which was one of my favourite things about it.

I'd seen the RB one many times before I realised that the Act 1 cake was just an Act 2 set model!

The 'party business' drags if you have seen the ballet before and there is little actual dancing during the party scene. The dancing for the children is quite dull. Some of the 'themed' dances in Act 2 are unsatisfactory, particularly the Chinese one in the RB version and the Arabian one in ENB's. Personally, I feel that the RB's version is a more clear cut telling of the story, particularly for children: Clara rescues the Nephew and then goes on a journey to the Kingdom of the Sweets where she meets the SPF.

I disagree that the "party business" drags, but then I always feel a bit of a fraud considering myself a ballet lover because I'd much rather watch narrative than pure dance, even when it happens to be in a ballet.  Any ballet with whole acts full of pure dance/divertissements - *yawn* as far as I'm concerned.  I love Act 1 and tend to get bored in Act 2, from the Spanish Dance right up to the grand finale before Clara gets returned to the real world.

One aspect of the RB version that I personally find unsatisfactory is that there's little suggestion that it *is* a Kingdom of Sweets, other than the fact that it's set on the "cake" of Act 1, and that most of its inhabitants seem to be covered in pink and white frosting.  I don't get any reference to sweets at all, and think it's a shame that the various National Dances etc don't evoke more of this theme, as much as I always enjoy watching the Arabian and Russian dances particularly.  The Chinese one is fun, but... hmmm.

Sometimes, I have found the party scene a little tedious but there was all sorts of enjoyable detail in guests' characterisations to draw one's eye. Teo Dubreil, for example, plays an older person to perfection with none of the overdone stooping that often afflicts young artistes' attempts to look ancient. The children were well-drilled and delightful but I thought the battle lost something because the mice (even the Mouse King himself) were more endearing than in any way threatening. The scenery and effects are excellent in this act.

 

Despite all the gold in Act 2, I almost found the set and costumes dull and insufficiently distinguishable from one another.

I always love the details in the party scene - and couldn't agree more about Act 2.

However, there is, for me, a fatal flaw in the structure of this Nutcracker insofar as it relies heavily on a more junior member of the Company to carry the role of Clara and, therefore, the audience on her dream journey. This doesn't always work for me and means we have to wait too long to see the headline 'principals'. The Grigorovitch version for the Bolshoi has the ballerina as Clara from the outset and Eagling's (slightly flawed) take on the story for ENB fairly rapidly dispenses with the child and gives us a ballerina as Clara from when the clock chimes in Act 1. This, in my view, adds to the magic and enables the dancing to do full justice to the marvellous score - especially when essayed by the wonderful but now departed Daria Klimentova and Elena Glurdjidze.

I don't see this as a flaw in itself.  These days I always book for performances in which I like the Clara. Certainly the Sugar Plum Fairy is almost incidental in this production, and even when there's a cast with a favourite principal it's unlikely I'll bother booking if the Clara isn't somebody I particularly like.  I'll save my favourite principals for ballets that gives them more interesting things to do... So this run I booked performances in which the Claras are Francesca Hayward, Emma Maguire (whose performance I sadly can't go to any more), Anna Rose O'Sullivan and (purely out of curiosity) Leticia Stock.  I aimed for performances by those dancers in which I also like the Sugar Plum, Prince, Nephew and Drosselmeyer, but the Clara is my priority and I do think it's great to see this regular opportunity for often some of the youngest and lowest-ranking corps dancers to prove themselves in a major role.

For all its faults I find Act 2 makes more sense in the ENB production, when Clara is cast at Principal level from (almost) the start, and "becomes" the Sugar Plum Fairy.  However I do prefer the RB variations for "including" Clara and Hans Peter, as you also said.

May I humbly say that I believe Rojo and Polunin pulled it off.  I certainly loved it.

When I attended that performance of it which Diana Vishneva did on the Bolshoi/ROH tour last year, I got talking to my very elderly seat-neighbour who was a lifelong balletomane. Having seen Fonteyn and Nureyev do it, she said that Rojo and Polunin were her all-time favourite pairing!

(I first saw it with Guillem/Cope and confess it didn't work for me at all, though that was in the days when I wasn't much into ballet and went less then once a year, so I'm not that surprised I didn't get it for whatever reason. It was, however, Rojo and Polunin's performance in 2011 on the Limen/M&A/Requiem mixed bill that sparked my now several-times-a-month ballet habit.)

Thank you, Anne, for leaving that comment until the run had finished

But it hasn't really, has it?  We've still got more to come in the Rhapsody double bill only next month (so cheers for that image which I now doubt I will be able to un-see )

I was there on opening night and had planned to return for closing night of the recent run (as you know, having ended up with my unwanted ticket!) but as much as I did enjoy it, I reviewed my bookings for the after-Christmas run, realised I had exact repeats of the recent opening-night and closing-night cast still to come, remembered I like Rhapsody a lot more than I like Monotones, and decided that Half a Dozen Pigeons would be more than enough in total!  I really am looking forward to seeing the Yuhui/Alex cast when I eventually do so - I enjoyed their World Ballet Day rehearsal footage enormously.

I had never seen this Neumeier ballet before and was impressed, Such interesting, creative use of music, and of silence. Very good creation of atmosphere with props and costumes rather than sets-worked perfectly. Choreographically it was interesting to see some infuence of Cranko ( so far as I could judge) -also to compare to Marguerite and Armand, and Month in the Country-some of the same music.

A fascinating piece.

There's a complete Paris Opera Ballet performance of it on YouTube, or at least there was the last time I looked.

Thank you SBF for the instructions - I'll leave it till later as I don't want to join halfway through.

I have to say, though, I thought it was originally advertised as being with Evgenia Obraztsova (which was one of the particular selling points for me).  Am I remembering that wrong, or is she injured or something?

Damn, I've had this in my diary for weeks and when today came, I totally forgot about it

Probably not going to work for this trip but if the Universities have broken up then you can rent out some of the student accommodation

I actually looked at this earlier, but it seems it's basically a week too early for anything to be vacant.

Again though, that's dorm accommodation (I see private rooms exist but are neither within budget nor available on the dates in question)...

Are any tube lines or buses not running this weekend?! I might have found somewhere near Archway tube station?

You should be fine re tubes... https://tfl.gov.uk/forms/12392.aspx

But a word of advice - when taking a southbound tube from Archway (assuming you are trying to end up on the Victoria Line) always take a train that goes via Bank rather than via Charing Cross.  Change at Euston from a Bank train, and you'll find the Victoria Line right alongside the Northern Line platform.  Change at Euston from a Charing Cross train and you have a massive walk up and down escalators.

The Victoria Line is nice and fast (and is running this weekend - I checked).  Try looking near Brixton or Stockwell station - that'd give you an easy commute.

Victoria also has the advantage of being very well-connected with 24-hour bus routes, so you may not need tubes/trains to be running.

However, I maintain that the only way you will find three nights' accommodation within reach of Victoria on that tight a budget at this short notice is to opt for dorm accommodation.

This location would be excellent but only offers mixed dorms (I know the area very well - I'm writing this from a block away). http://www.budgetplaces.com/offer/detail/?establishment_id=34331&checkin=2015-12-04&checkout=2015-12-07&guests=1&room_arr=105516x1x1

This place is a little more expensive and a bus ride away but currently has a female-only dorm place available. http://www.budgetplaces.com/offer/detail/?establishment_id=34336&checkin=2015-12-04&checkout=2015-12-07&guests=1&room_arr=105536x1x1

http://airbnb.co.uk/

(People renting out rooms in their flats.)

However, even then, I can't see anything for under £50 a night within the area you're looking for...

This may be stating the obvious, but "London dwellers" are often the least likely people to know about London tourist accommodation, as we never need it ourselves!

However I would say that you will find it hard to find a private room for three nights within £100.  Without super-advance offers that's fairly tight even outside London.  I've done a couple of searches but can't find *anything* that isn't a bed in a dormitory (though if you're prepared to take that option there are plenty of places around, with good central locations too).  Your best option might be AirBnB...

So it looks like Paul Kay has disappeared from the casting

Yep, taking one of Anna Rose O'Sullivan's scheduled Claras with him

Oh! (re the cast changes...)  Emma Maguire and Luca Acri were always down for the 2nd Jan matinee, I'm sure, as I booked for them specially (though now can't make it).  Anna Rose O'Sullivan is still making her debut on 17th opposite James Hay, but it appears that 23rd Dec, which was O'Sullivan with Paul Kay when I booked, is now Meaghan Grace Hinkis and Benjamin Ella.  Not sure how other dates are affected, as I've really only been taking notice of the ones I have tickets for.

Pleased about the rehearsal streaming - I've got a ticket for the real thing - but as much as I like Lauren Cuthbertson and knew the rehearsal repertoire was likely to be Nutcracker, I confess I was hoping for something more interesting (to me) than the Sugar Plum grand pas...

(I'm glad I procrastinated about getting rid of a couple of surplus tickets.  Only this morning I was considering ditching 17th Dec in favour of 23rd - I particularly want to see Anna Rose's Clara, but am also at the performance on 16th and thought it might be sugar overload ) but now she's doing 17th and not 23rd, it looks like I'll have to stick with 17th! And perhaps re-think 16th...)

I just wish it was conducted by somebody other than Daniel Oren!

My main thought about tonight's performance is that the audience deserved better. So did Marianela.

Agreed.  She was wonderful, and a couple of other people stood out as well (Kristen McNally as 1st Harlot, for example) but everybody else just didn't seem to be "on it"...