bridiem

I do agree about the tempi at times, JohnS. In particular, when Odette came on to protect her swans from Siegfried in Act II and started to plead with him, I thought for a moment that the conductor and/or orchestra had actually gone home since there was complete silence when the music normally starts. But in general I found that just when I was getting dubious about the tempi, they either picked up sufficiently or were used so luxuriously by Nunez that I no longer cared. I also thought the Neapolitan was both somewhat slower than usual and less sparkling. And I did get frustrated by Siegfried lying there in a comatose state in Act IV for so long (or indeed at all).

Thanks very much Odyssey!

I wish that the documentary made at the time of the creation of Mayerling would also be re-shown - I think it was a South Bank Show?

Just when you think Nunez couldn't possibly get better, she does. Just when you think Muntagirov couldn't possibly get better, he does. AND Sambé, Magri, Kaneko - scintillating. Gartside a sleazy, pale, sordid Rothbart - embodying Evil, and finally eclipsed not with a bang but with a whimper. McGorian such a beautiful, imperious Queen. The four princesses (Mendizabal, Hamilton, Choe and O'Sullivan) giving full value to their roles and watching Odile capture their prince with a mixture of awe and hatred. Terrific swans and perfect cygnets. The ending - sadly anti-climactic. The sets and costumes - gorgeous. The performers - unbelievable.

Email just received from ROH: Our records show that you are due to attend a performance of Swan Lake on Wednesday 11 March 2020 at 7.30pm. We are contacting you to let you know that Principal Guest Artist David Hallberg is replaced by Reece Clarke as Prince Siegfried. This is due to commitments related to his recent appointment as Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet.

Thanks Alison - I'd noted the time, but then failed to register it when arranging to meet my friend beforehand! So thanks very much for the reminder.

Francesca Hayward has posted on her Instagram that she and Corrales were doing a stage call of Swan Lake today. It is rather confusing. And no, I see that tomorrow is the last performance of The Cellist.

So Corrales doesn't get to dance the role at all? That's such a shame.

Clearly I don't get out enough...

Spot on, JNC. I almost wonder if at some level Cathy Marston lacks confidence in her actual choreographic skill (as opposed to her ideas and her thoughts on staging etc, about which she is very clear and articulate and interesting). The dancers often only move or intertwine very briefly before stopping or transitioning to another lift or scene change or whatever, so it's all very stop and start, or even static, a lot of the time. I know this is deemed to be her 'style'; but I find it strange and frustrating. I wish she would give herself free rein!

So sorry to read this, penelopesimpson - I was hoping you (and others!) would really enjoy it. And I'm not an opera person at all, but my sister has invited me to go to the live screening with her and I was keen to see it because of all the hype so I said yes. I will still look forward to the music/singing (and I hope Kaufmann revives), but the production does sound grim. (I see the Telegraph calls it 'silly'. How can a major opera house mount a production that is considered 'silly'?!).

Thanks JennyTaylor - I just had to try and express my feelings about the performance. I SO wish now that I had booked more often for Soares. More fool me!

Thank you for posting these very poignant photos, MJW and Rob S. They are a reminder of a performance I will never forget. I found Soares' Onegin absolutely heartbreaking. Very different to the other Onegins I've seen, and revelatory. In Act I, he isn't cold or arrogant or contemptuous; he's immediately sympathetic towards and attracted to Tatiana, he encourages her to dance with him, and he sees her worth. Only then does he realise that if he allows himself to acknowledge this, he will have to drop his façade, his armour of indifference and boredom that protects him from others and from living a proper life. And that terrifies him and forces him to pull back. The bedroom pas de deux - beautifully performed by both Soares and Mendizabal - is therefore not just Tatiana's dream/fantasy - it's his too. It's how they could have been if he'd had the courage. In Act II, he is constantly drawn to Tatiana and wants to show his love for her, but cannot; he wants to accept and delight in her letter, but cannot; whenever he's tempted to do so, he pulls back. And when he finally tears the letter up, he knows how much he's hurting her and can barely do it; he's full of shame and self-hatred. And the more he loathes himself, the more he pursues Olga and the more atrociously he behaves. He's rejected Tatiana's goodness and love, and he turns to casual cruelty as if to prove to himself that he didn't deserve Tatiana anyway. When Lensky challenges him to the duel, he tries not to go through with it but when Lensky continues to provoke him his pride and anger explode and he carries it through. And then, only then when it's too late, does his façade come down. He sees Tatiana, in effect his conscience, and collapses. The tragedy is his and hers as much as Lensky's (and Olga's). In the final act, Mendizabal's pas de deux with Gremin (Lukas Bjorneboe Braendsrod - excellent, but I do think I prefer an older Gremin) was intensely moving, as we see how Tatiana has found a peaceful and grateful love with her husband. Soares' face as he watched them dance was so full of pain, dismay and grief that it was unbearable. This wasn't him realising his love too late; he'd known it all along, and had lost Tatiana through his own pride and fear. When they finally express their mutual love, the dam bursts for both of them. But it is too late - for him, and for her. And the only way she can convince him of that is to tear up his letter, although it causes her as much pain as it causes him. He finally flees, and Tatiana is left in a state of shocked and agonising turmoil. Soares' performance was that of a truly great dancer and actor. Complex, nuanced, convincing, gripping and altogether brilliant. And Mendizabal was a worthy Tatiana for this magnificent Onegin. She portrayed a young woman taken out of her introverted, bookish world by her love for this man, whose inner being she sees better than he does. She acts always out of love and goodness (looking after elderly guests at the ball, comforting Olga, trying to dissuade Lensky from duelling, etc), and then builds a loving marriage when she accepts she has lost Onegin. Her dancing was terrific too. David Donnelly was excellent as Lensky - young, handsome and impetuous, but some of his landings were so noisy that they were a distraction. Meaghan Grace Hinkis did well as Olga, but I didn't find her particularly interesting or moving. I so hope that Onegin will come back soon, preferably next season. The sadness being that Soares will not come back too. He got a tremendous reception, and Kevin O'Hare made a very warm and appreciative speech with many other members of the company coming on stage too (and Dame Monica Mason). Flower throws, bravos and tears. Magnificent.

I found it very moving at the end too this time, which I didn't at the live screening. Seeing it live made it more possible to block out the irrelevant characters on stage and focus mainly on the principal characters, but also to get a slightly clearer picture of the whole. I still found the first three quarters of the work very tedious and the choreographic style and vocabulary very limited and repetitive, but towards the end the clutter cleared somewhat and it was possible to get involved with what was happening. It's a shame, I think - there's a good chamber ballet (a bit like The Suit, which I really enjoyed) trying to get out of The Cellist, but there's just far too much going on to absolutely no point, and too much literalness (if that's a word) in the ideas. And too little dancing - the only people who actually dance to any degree are the Instrument (Calvin Richardson was very good, but didn't dominate in the way Sambé did on Tuesday) and the Conductor (Matthew Ball again, also very good with what he's asked to do). Beatriz Stix-Brunell as the Cellist was tremendous and really moving; but she does very little dancing - she spends most of her time being lifted, often with her legs in the air for no apparent reason, or turning/being turned on the spot. Without space and movement, dance can't breathe. (Maybe the set is partly to blame here? It seemed to take up a huge amount of space leaving little room for the dancers.) At any rate, I did at least get something out of it this time, and the dancers were excellent. I loved Dances at a Gathering again. I'm interested to read the comments above about the piano playing - I did notice some fluffed notes, but I'm no expert and it didn't stop me enjoying either the music or the performance. Wonderful to see Tierney Heap (Green) back on stage, commanding and playful by turns; and Sarah Lamb (Pink) glittering like crystal. Marcelino Sambé (Brown) blazed around the stage with the most amazing charisma (and terrific technique). A beautiful and very moving performance.

I'm so sorry, FlowerPower! That's so sad and frustrating for you. I really hope your recovery progresses as quickly as possible and that in due course you will be able to resume classes. Just think of Steven McRae or Tierney Heap - you're in good company having to fight your way back after injury!! So glad you're walking again and that you've had such good support.

That's not a very helpful/enlightening reply. I always keep my coat (if I have one) on my lap, but if we're at the end of the row (which we generally are) my friend leaves hers on the floor in a free area there (not obstructing anyone or anything and very close to her seat). A lot of other people do the same sort of thing (and have always done so). And I don't think anyone takes their coat out with them during intervals. Are we supposed to do that now? (I wouldn't leave any valuables in my coat anyway, just in case!).

I was wondering about Muntagirov/Japan. I do hope he doesn't have to pull out of Swan Lake next week!

I don't think all the press reviews been raves, in fact. A lot of positivity, yes, but also some reservations/criticisms (and one stinker, as discussed above). And I think the response on this forum has ranged quite widely too.

I was just thinking that, J_New - there didn't seem to be much dancing that actually travelled, and a lot of quite static (and quite clumsy-looking) lifts. Maybe as you say it was partly the camerawork and seeing it live would (will) give more sense of movement.

That's crazy! They know it's a live performance and the timings are approximate, and it can't have 'overrun' by much. It clearly wasn't the ROH feed cutting off since other cinemas were OK, so why would a cinema have a time limit?!

I saw the live screening of this bill at the Ritzy in Brixton tonight. No sound at all until just before curtain up! Which was a bit disappointing (no idea what Christopher Wheeldon was saying) and stressful (in case the sound never materialised, but fortunately it did in the nick of time). I found Dances at a Gathering absolutely breathtaking, from beginning to end. I've only seen it a few times, and not for many years, and I felt as if it was the first time. Alexander Campbell's opening solo was so beautiful and so beautifully danced that I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven. And really that continued for the rest of the piece. Gorgeous music, constantly interesting and absorbing and beautiful choreography, and tremendous dancing from all the cast. Towards the end, when the whole cast stood looking out and up, slowly moving their gaze from one side of the auditorium to the other, each one lost in thoughts, feelings, reflections, I felt moved to tears. Will Gompertz's article last week about beauty came to my mind in respect of this work which distilled all I love about classical ballet and was performed to the highest possible standard. Unfortunately I didn't feel the same about The Cellist. Possibly it will look better in the theatre (I'm seeing it on Friday); possibly filming did it no favours because of all the people milling around and the low level of lighting. But it seemed to me to be murky and turgid and messy, and although it had a few good moments (the orchestral surge in the Elgar Cello Concerto, the wedding, the solo for the child Jackie near the end) I never felt invested in the characters (even when I knew who they were) and I found the choreography for the leading characters largely clumsy and inexpressive and the use of the other dancers a strange combination of symbolic and literal and not working on either level. There were obviously a lot of ideas going on, but ideas have to be translated into effective choreography. The dancers all did as well as they could, especially Cuthbertson and Sambé, but I didn't feel the production was worthy of them. BUT, I hope I may get a different impression on Friday when I will be seeing the whole stage from above and so may be able to see what was going on more clearly.

But it doesn't say 20% of the tickets for each performance. So there could be individual performances - or even productions? - where fewer - or no? - tickets are held back?

Yes, it was M&A. I also thought that casting sounded surprising/unlikely, but since I used to sit out M&A sometimes I couldn't be absolutely sure. After reading Alison's post, I've done some googling and I see that Vera Liber's 2013 review is actually referring to Choe and Campbell in Voices of Spring, when they replaced Cojocaru and McRae; Rojo and Polunin then danced M&A. That's rather embarrassing isn't it?! You'd think someone would at least quote themselves accurately! See https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/la-valse-med-royal-opera-hou-8542

Excellent and surprising (to me) review of The Cellist by Will Gompertz, the BBC Arts Editor, on the BBC website. He starts with the thought that the concept of beauty suffered under 'the relentless march of modernism with its frigid less-is-more dogma and strict no-frills dress code', and that classical ballet was one of the victims of this; he considers this 'a shame' (which is a rather milder verdict than I would pass, but never mind). I'm not sure how often he goes to ballet, or why The Cellist in particular should have brought produced this epiphany for him, but he does go to the heart of the matter when he says 'beauty should be cherished not banished. It is not uncool or naff, it is an ideal worth believing in and striving for and appreciating'. Amen to that! See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51591280

What a phenomenal performance tonight from Naghdi and Bonelli. Even more satisfying than the wonderful Nunez/Clarke performance I saw 2 weeks ago, because the chemistry between these two was evident and they matched each other in terms of their complete absorption in their roles and in each other and the incredible level of their artistry. Desperately moving at the end, and they were greeted by a huge roar from the audience at the curtain call. O'Sullivan was an excellent Olga and Sissens a promising Lensky. All the pas de deux in this ballet are so beautiful, interesting, intriguing, moving, fascinating, expressive, poetic. What a ballet, and what a performance.