bridiem

Asphodel Meadows is one of the most beautiful ballets I've ever seen.

Oh no!

So sad. Prince Philip has always been there. I feel so sorry for The Queen and for all the Royal Family and I give thanks for his life of service and his contribution in so many areas. In many ways like Prince Albert, but for so much longer. May he rest in peace.

I probably would have fallen for this one too, if I hadn't already fallen for another one! (Now I know the date.)

Brilliant! 😆 Just shows how trusting I am 😄 - I'd never have thought it of you... (actually I was a bit surprised, but didn't suspect for a minute).

It's actually a really austere ballet - a Russian peasant wedding, no tutus or confetti and the dancing is very non-balletic! But I think it's very beautiful and powerful too.

Though actually the guide prices mentioned for the ballet items seemed rather low to me! (Not that I could afford them, or house them, of course!).

That's such a shame, Sim. But the prospect of the ballet has already had one good outcome for me - I decided in the first lockdown that I would finally read The Divine Comedy (in English), in preparation for the ballet, and I did so. I can't say I exactly enjoyed Inferno - very grim, though also very interesting - and I'm not sure that Purgatorio was really much more fun, but I made it to Paradiso by which time I was pretty exhausted. Will that also be my reaction to the ballet?! Who knows.

But it's the same wording that has been sent to Friends to inform them about the season. And the press release is very long (too long, in my opinion) so a few more words saying WHICH Ashton ballets would have made no difference and would have informed and probably pleased the core audience of the ROH/RB.

If social distancing is still in place in the autumn/winter, it won't matter how popular the works are - everything will be operating at a big loss. So I just hope that it will have been relaxed by then.

I so hope that Laura Morera will be cast in Month in the Country this time.

Brilliant! I wonder why they didn't put that in the press release?!

I'd forgotten about this! I see from my records that I saw it twice at the time, but (clearly!) I don't really remember it.

Not sure why it should be an unrealistic idea, Candleque - the RB performs so much contemporary work now, and Morris is actually quite balletic compared to many others. I prefer trained ballet dancers to dance mainly ballet rather than contemporary, but if they're going to do contemporary Morris would be my number one choice!

I've never heard of Kyle Abraham until now. I've just looked him up, but has anyone seen any of his work?

What is the booking date, capybara? I can't find it at the moment.

I don't think I'm surprised, really. I mean he is the master of beauty/purity/lyricism/romance/joy/harmony/optimism etc and is therefore a feast for the eyes, heart and soul at any time but would especially be so after all that has happened.

Good thinking, Dawnstar; but I seem to remember that last time I saw Winter Dreams my eyes were very far from dry... 😭

I will add another vote for Requiem in an attempt to ensure that it appears on our final list. 😊 (Romany Pajdak in the Pie Jesu is a brilliant idea! Also Sarah Lamb.) (If I had three votes - just saying 😉 - I'd add Penguin Café and Ashton's Cinderella with Muntagirov and Campbell playing against type as the Ugly Sisters. 🙂)

Wonderful news!

Yes - I actually record every programme that I'm going to want to watch, even if occasionally I do end up watching something 'live'; not everything is on catchup, and even if it was it would be difficult to keep track of things or to watch them before they disappear.

I thought Flight Pattern was terrific, but I'm not sure two new works by the same person on one bill is a great idea unless they're very different from each other (which of course they may be - I'll be interested to hear what the actual works are). I wondered if it's somehow helpful in limiting the number of extra people coming in to rehearse the company? But since both works are new to company presumably that means more rehearsal overall (in quite a short period of time, really) than would have been needed for one new work and another revival. Anyway I doubt if I'll feel ready to go straight to the ROH in May anyway. Just the prospect of going to a café or someone else's house feels quite dizzying enough! But I'm sure there'll be a lot of people who will be ready, and I'm so glad that the dancers will get to perform again.

Very sad. I'm watching the old Upstairs, Downstairs on Talking Pictures at the moment, and she is so vivid - really captivating. RIP.

Thanks very much, TTP! Believe it or not, I actually recorded the Kenneth MacMillan Desert Island Discs when it was aired in 1983 - on my treasured old cassette recorder with the separate microphone pointing at the radio, and hoping that no-one would come into the room during the programme... those were the days. During the first lockdown last year, I found the tape and wondered if it would still work; it did, for a while, and I was really enjoying listening to it; then, KM's voice gradually started getting higher and higher and faster and faster until towards the end he sounded as if he was full of helium and completely incomprehensible. It was a bit sad but also very funny. Anyway, I will now aim to listen to it as it was intended to be heard!!

I've just finished watching it (for the first time). Yes, it must have been a very daunting role to play! I thought Anne-Marie Duff did as well as possible considering that she's not a dancer. I found it very odd though because I'm so familiar with Fonteyn and Nureyev et al that it felt a bit as if I was watching people acting members of my family! So I didn't for a minute believe that I was actually watching them. (Though Derek Jacobi was surprisingly convincing as Ashton.) But although I took it all with a very large pinch of salt, in the end I thought it did give at least some sort of idea of her life and of what happened, with a fair bit of artistic licence, and it did make a real attempt at balletic authenticity. So it could have been worse. (If that sounds like damning with faint praise, it probably is!). What it couldn't and didn't capture was what made Fonteyn so unique and so special; but it did convey something of the uniqueness and drama of her life.