bridiem

I might just sob loudly... 😁

Have been looking at Instagram. I'm all upset now. 😪

That's interesting about stage sizes, @Bruce Wall. But there must surely be some flexibility about this. I see that there was a festival in 2018 at the City Center (Balanchine: The City Center Years) where 13 of his works were given at an appropriate scale. 13 works at the ROH would satisfy me!!

I thought SW was meant to be a 'dance house' (i.e. all forms of dance). It has a great history of ballet. There isn't really a similar-sized venue for ballet in London, so since when (and why) did SW re-designate itself primarily as a contemporary dance house? I no longer feel myself to be part of its natural audience, which is shocking really considering how often I used to go there. NYCB's last proper season in London was at the Coliseum, which is only occasionally a dance house and (imho) is very poor at marketing its productions. I'd be surprised if a season at the ROH failed to sell.

Of course if circumstances were different Alexander Campbell could/should be doing Rhapsody. Just saying.

Really disrespectful imho (to both the dancers and the audience). It does matter that the audience knows who's dancing.

I didn't even see any cast sheets at SW - I'd have had no idea who was dancing if it wasn't for the sheet posted on this forum on Wednesday. I bought a programme but there was no reference in it (and no announcements) as to where cast sheets could be found.

But that even in London, no-one really needs trains at the weekends.

In spite of the programme, I was so excited at the prospect of seeing NYCB again. And my lovely sister bought us front stalls seats as an early birthday present for me, which made it even more exciting. After the performance: I am still so excited at having seen NYCB again, but (sadly) still in spite of rather than because of the programme. With one big, huge, ginormous exception: Duo Concertant. It gripped from the first moment to the last, was thrillingly danced by Fairchild and Huxley, and just filled me with joy (or actually, in the second section, nearly made me cry - the slowly linked hands, the gentle kiss, the courtly obeisance - absolutely heartrending). So clever, so musical, so quick, so quirky. And wonderful music, wonderfully played. Ballet heaven. I didn't really dislike Rotunda, but I just found it a bit pointless (and the costumes were just horrible) though the dancers did their best to give it interest. I think that Gustave le Grey suffered for me by coming immediately after Duo Concertant - I hadn't yet come down from the heights, and there was another piece in front of me with the piano on stage but all in a very different style. I thought the costumes were actually quite beautiful, but the constriction of the feet/legs by having the fabric joined to the ankles really bothered me. The choreography was very stark and quite striking, but when they started moving the piano across the stage I just wanted to laugh. (Maybe that was what was intended? Don't know; they all looked terribly serious.) The dancers' steps had no real individuality so in that sense it didn't really matter who was dancing (which is a big pity - and the dancers were very good). But I wouldn't object to seeing this again (though I do wish they'd leave the blessed piano alone). I would, however, object to seeing Love Letter (on shuffle) again. I see it premièred at a fashion gala, and you can tell (and that's where it should have stayed). Appalling costumes, and the sort of pointless choreography that any dancers in the world could have performed. Why give NYCB dancers this to do??! All those years of training... I also hated the music. And it went on and on and on... The whole thing was a triumph of (apparent) style over (a complete dearth of real) substance. I actually thought it was quite tragic. I found myself thinking: how have we come from Balanchine, to this? How has NYCB come from Balanchine, to this? A profoundly depressing (to me) reflection of current tastes and trends. And of the thinking of NYCB management - why on earth would they think this is something to bring to show the company off to London? Is this really what NYCB is now?! Anyway, in spite of my gripes I AM still thrilled to have seen the company again after so many years. And I hope they come back again very soon, but with a very different rep. I note that it says in the programme that 'A NYCB tour that does not include Balanchine is almost unthinkable.' Well it should be completely unthinkable; and it should not mean only one short, small-scale Balanchine work, no matter how brilliant that work is. That's paying lip service to Mr B, and that is unacceptable.

I think that all their names have become iconic anyway!

Not very helpful at all. They seem to think that as long as they show a few photos of Hayward or Sambé that's job done. Really feeble.

Someone did say upthread that some Sarasota tickets were being held back for public booking. So I hope the fact that there are only restricted views available at the moment may not be the case when public booking opens.

It even looks like him!! Brilliant.

I think if the ROH describes a ticket as restricted view it should be advertised here as such.

I got the tickets I wanted (though without the Ashton casting who knows if those are actually the tickets I wanted!) but it was quite stressful. I don't remember before having to queue simply to sign in. And then when waiting for the first seat map to load it suddenly chucked me out and said 'Your basket is empty'. Well, yes - that's because I haven't put anything in it yet... Also I found it confusing that when selecting a particular date on the calendar, it then brings up all the dates for that production; so I initially booked a wrong date at first because I'd assumed it had brought up the performance for the date I'd selected whereas in fact it was the first date of that bill. Anyway I was so tense by the time I wanted to check out that I completely forgot to use up the credit on my account and paid for it all by card. Oops... Honestly. It's worse than going to the dentist.

I would echo all the comments above about this cast. What a performance. I think that both Hamilton and Richardson have a kind of classic Hollywood glamour about them, which works very well in Manon. Hamilton's Manon absolutely revelled in her riches, and her power to gain those riches, and although she loved Des Grieux she had no intention of letting him spoil her plans. And Richardson's Des Grieux was a true innocent, who loved innocently and couldn't understand why Manon behaved as she did. In Act II, he walked slowly round the stage not in despair or anguish but in sheer disbelief. He was like Manon's conscience, their joint conscience, showing himself to her and waiting for her to respond. But she couldn't; not yet. And by the time she could, it was too late. Both of them danced so brilliantly; Hamilton in complete control and able to play with both the choreography and the character, Richardson utterly beautiful in the expressiveness and expansiveness of his line without sacrificing strength or precision. This was indeed the gentlest Des Grieux, and the most romantic. There were audible gasps around me at some of the lifts and throws in Act III. I found the death of this Manon particularly shocking, because she had been so vivid, so confident that she could have everything; and in the end she had lost everything, including her life. A superb performance by both of them, and all of them.

And there are two articles about this in today's Links.

I'm not sure that anyone is going to expect a ballet called 'Requiem' to be a bunch of laughs... but I find it upliftingly beautiful, which is perhaps even better.

Could that make dancers more prone to injury?

A moderator has said upthread that the code should not be shared publicly on the forum.

Agreed! But to be fair, I think the luck is pretty mutual.

I'm so sorry RichardLH! I hope you're OK for Friday's performance.

I've booked, I'm signed up for offers (though I never signed up myself, not knowing that these options even existed) and I haven't received the email. I can't recall ever having received an offer email in fact. (A few years ago I stopped receiving even the usual Friends emails, and when I contacted them they said I must have opted out of them. Which of course I hadn't.) So it doesn't seem to make much difference whether or not you're signed up for offers.

Yes - really, really special. I didn't register until the curtain calls that this could be Sarah Lamb's last Manon (and possibly Hirano's too). She looked very emotional, after a superlative performance by both of them. @Dawnstar has already written so evocatively about this cast that there's not a lot else I can say; but there was something that I'd never seen (or perhaps just never noticed) before, in the third act: at one point when Manon and Des Grieux are in their agonised writhings at the front of the stage, Sarah Lamb knelt up and looked out into the auditorium for a very long time - a really piercing, reproachful, agonised stare - as if Manon was holding us, all of us, in some way complicit in her tragedy. It was chilling, and incredibly powerful. And the end came, with her tiny body wracked with pain and grief, and Des Grieux in the depths of despair as she died in his arms. What really strikes me is the trust that dancers must have to produce performances like this. The level of trust in each other, in the rest of the cast, in the stage team, and in the audience - to make themselves so vulnerable, to take such physical and emotional risks, is just stratospheric. What a privilege to witness such trust, and such courage.

The thread about his appointment does also include a lot of appreciation posts.