bridiem

I positively hated Marguerite and Armand, and then I saw it with Rojo and Polunin... Mind you, I still have some reservations about it. I've gone through phases with Enigma Variations; it was the first ballet I ever saw and so occupies a very special place for me, but for quite a few years thereafter it didn't really grip me (except for the music). It's only in recent years that I've really begun to appreciate it again. But yes, casting can make a huge difference, and so can the changes in one's own life and perceptions.

4 minutes ago, MJW said:

 

Well not a good start as missed Concerto due to train delays as a result of fallen trees on the line, and, despite running up 193 steps at Covent Garden, it had already started. Watching on a big screen in the Crush Bar is not quite the same thing ! Anyway despite not being in the best frame of mind, I thoroughly enjoyed Engima and Raymond - Osipova clearly having a ball. I can hopefully watch it all when I see the cinema screening on Tuesday night.

What a shame, MJW! I hope you enjoy the screening.

2 minutes ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

What an evening.  I think this qualifies as the performance during which I have shed the most tears in a whole lifetime of ballet-going.  Hirata and Morales were both superb.  In fact Hirata was better than superb; so utterly delicate throughout.  She immediately enraptured the audience with the sweet joie-de-vivre that we knew was tragically doomed.  This version is close to the original 1841 production and to me it seemed the perfect ballet in every aspect.  The music was so sensitively played, the scenery was delightful/scary, the whole thing was completely memorable.  I usually write quite long reviews but tonight I am speechless with wonder and gratitude. Well done BRB.

Just going off to find a fresh pack of tissues.....

I echo your words 100%, maryrosesatonapin. I am stunned by the beauty of this production and of the performances tonight. Perfect indeed in every aspect. Magnificent sets and costumes and Hirata and Morales were - perfect. The whole company were magnificent. Samara Downs was an icy Myrtha, with just the tiniest hint of a smile as the wilis dealt with Hilarion. Absolutely flaming terrifying. A horse. A waterfall. Flying wilis. A ruined cathedral. Marion Tait prefiguring the wilis as she gestured furiously for Albrecht to leave at the end of Act I. Albrecht's long, slow walk of shame early in Act II. A fantastic series of entrechats from Morales. Simply exquisite dancing throughout from Hirata, and every aspect of Giselle's character so clearly portrayed. Kit Holder a wonderful Hilarion. A superb peasant pas de deux from Parma and Chou. And at the end, a vision of a peaceful, loving Giselle at rest in eternal life and watching over her redeemed Albrecht.

I too am speechless with wonder and gratitude.

I'm glad you did get a reply, JNC. But at the risk of labouring the point, the problem is that it (and Alex Beard's earlier statements) are in direct opposition to what several members of this forum (and so presumably others) were told by ROH staff on several different occasions. So, either both/all the staff involved were wrong; or, the policy was rapidly changed when the controversy became clear to the ROH. Either option (and I lean towards the latter) reflects very badly on the ROH, as does the lack of transparency (to use a polite word) about what has been happening.

But, I do think/hope the ROH will now have to be a lot more careful in future about this issue, which is all to the good.

I'd never seen this partnership in Manon before last night, and I'm very glad I have now seen them. Morera's Manon is very different from the others I've seen; she does look a lot older, and more mature, and she knows (or thinks she knows) exactly what she's doing. She's not Lescaut's pawn, she's his equal partner and co-conspirator, with some of his arrogance too. At first I found that a bit difficult to absorb, but once I accepted her on her own terms it became not just acceptable but fascinating. This Manon has seen too much to allow her unexpected love for Des Grieux to derail the possibility of riches. Bonelli's Des Grieux really is an innocent - he sees the good at the heart of Manon, falls for it, and will never let it go. So whilst she plays her dangerous and ultimately fatal game, he is like her conscience - always there, reminding her, pleading with her, wanting her to turn to the light. But by the time she does, it's too late. Morera's Act 3 is somehow even more shocking than usual, because this Manon has been so confident, so elegant, so apparently in control; and now she is wrecked and broken and lost. Beautifully danced, beautifully acted, and horribly tragic.

I really liked Luca Acri's Lescaut - I found him very believable as a cocky, unprincipled but charming chancer, and he danced strongly. I was less convinced by Meaghan Grace Hinkis as his Mistress; she didn't seem to me to have the sensuality the character needs. Gary Avis was once more a distressingly evil Gaoler, and James Hay was an excellent beggar chief, the only issue being that when he and Luca Acri are near each other they look like identical twins... which was a bit distracting.

But another great performance of this great ballet.

I suspect they haven't replied because there's nothing sensible they can say. They've messed up big time, and been rumbled.

As Cilla might have said, that's a lorra lorra flowers!!

10 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

I would hope he would have a Birmingham base for during the week.

Yes, though I know from experience that that sort of set-up is not great for family life.

26 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

Bridie - I love your evocative description of A Brief Nostalgia - so much more articulate than me.  Thanks!

Thanks Jan, but I was only building on YOUR very helpful description!

9 hours ago, Tony Newcombe said:

Easy trip. I regularly travel along the Cross Country trains Routes from Bristol to Plymouth and to Birmingham and Manchester(Salford for Janet McNulty) to see BRB

That's not what I call an 'easy' trip if it's to be done (presumably) on a moreorless daily basis when the company's not on the road. David Bintley clearly found it necessary/desirable to live in Birmingham.

I've just seen a photo online of Hayward in Manon Act 3 last year, and her dress was still raggedy but knee-length (it's a Facebook photo and I don't know how to post it here or if it would be OK to do so). So the dress has obviously been considerably shortened for this run. I wonder if that was for 'dramatic' effect or for practical reasons?

I saw this bill at Sadler's Wells tonight. I very much enjoyed A Brief Nostalgia. I thought the music was rather lush and old-fashioned - a bit like the accompaniment to a black and white film (which I mean as a compliment), only this score accompanied a black and white ballet. Or rather black, grey and white. The dancers' silhouettes on the screens were cleverly and beautifully used, and the constant changes of lighting and dancers and their regular contact with the screens/walls produced a restless, claustrophobic and anxious atmosphere that was very effective. The steps were often interesting and expressive too, and Delia Mathews in particular had really beautiful steps to dance and danced them with enormous expressiveness. I'd like to see the piece again because there was too much to take in at one viewing.

I also really enjoyed The Suit. A sad and ultimately heartbreaking tale told in a quirky, interesting and sometimes witty way, but also generating a real sense of the tragedy at its centre. Brilliant performances from Cira Robinson and José Alves in the lead roles, and the 'chorus' were used very effectively, watching, participating, assisting, suffering; this is not just a personal disaster but one that affects all with whom the couple have contact, and the whole of society. No man is an island...

I had thought that Nine Sinatra Songs would be a fun end to the evening; unfortunately it didn't work out that way for me. Obviously there are some great songs involved; but I'm always surprised when I hear Sinatra at how bland his singing seems. He has a pleasant voice but I don't find it at all expressive. But, there are the songs... The choreography, however, I found unutterably tedious after the first few minutes. It added nothing at all to the songs and towards the end I started closing my eyes so that I just heard the music. The dancers, of course, performed very well, but to me it all fell completely flat.

But: two hits out of three is not bad going!

I didn't often book for Bussell, because I didn't find her very interesting or deep from a dramatic point of view. Now, and especially after I'd watched her final Song of the Earth performance (recorded from the TV), I regret that very much. Her dancing really was glorious, and in the right role/s she could be profoundly beautiful. 

37 minutes ago, capybara said:

Another 'all time low' for ES reporting. Apparently Acosta is about to do "a stint" at BRB. The opportunity to make something of that important appointment should have been seized by him, if not by the ill-informed reporter.

Yes - it did rather make it sound as being director of BRB will be just one amongst his many activities. I hope that's not indicative of the amount of time he will be able to devote to it (especially since he now lives in Somerset, which is quite a long way from Birmingham).

I really don't understand this 'exclusivity' with Osipova and Hallberg. Unless/until the partnering issues improve I would have thought it would be pretty stressful (and so unsatisfying) dancing with him (as it can be stressful, and so unsatisfying, for the audience watching them at times). And there's a danger of becoming artistically complacent by only being willing to dance with one partner in the big roles.

I'd have no objection to work being created on Hallberg if a choreographer wished to do so, but he's very much a classicist and I think would look completely out of place and misused in McGregor choreography. (Mind you, I think that about most of the RB dancers most of the time in McGregor work.)

24 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

I have to say that I felt the Nimrod variation last night, performed by Gary Avis, Christina Arestis and Tom Whitehead, was incredibly moving (and probably more so than any time I've seen before).

Yes, me too. Less really is more.

35 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

When the media say people suffer from Instagram envy, does that cover when you look at @Rob S's brilliant curtain call photos & despair of ever being able to take anything a fraction as good?!

I can't say I mind at all, given that he's kind enough to share them with us! (The only time I was sitting in the stalls and tried to take a photo, I was so excited that the result was a blur of unrecognisable dancers.  )

I thought the performance this evening got off to a partly shaky start, but then improved, and ended with a great flourish. I was very surprised at how ragged much of Concerto was; it's one of my desert island ballets and I was so looking forward to it, but a lot of the dancers really seemed to be struggling with the speed and the lines were often not as they should have been. Hayward was absolutely superb - like a tiny exotic butterfly flitting and turning, and apparently enjoying herself hugely; Corrales was very good when he could just turn or jump, and he has a strong stage presence, but he seemed to struggle with the precision needed to co-ordinate with Hayward or others and his arms and hands were a bit indisciplined. And I think of him as being not very tall, but for some reason he looked huge next to Hayward tonight. The second movement was perfectly well danced by Hamilton ably supported by Braendsrod, but it didn't move me as it normally does. Calvert led the third movement strongly, but I still felt the dancers were generally not comfortable. I don't really understand it since they're so technically gifted. Perhaps they haven't had quite enough rehearsal time on this piece. But what a wonderful ballet it is, to the most exciting music.

Enigma Variations was beautifully danced and performed, with Gary Avis a deeply touching Elgar and Christina Arestis a lovely Lady Elgar. I also particularly liked Edmonds and Kaneko in their very sweet hammock pas de deux, Campbell as a whirring, precise Troyte, and Calvert as the mysterious Lady Mary Lygon floating deliciously around the stage (and coping very well with a minor costume malfunction when one of her 'wings' got detached from her wrist). I see that the work might seem a bit obscure without a degree of background knowledge, but in the end I don't think that matters; the relationships and feelings portrayed are so human and so sympathetically drawn and brilliantly choreographed that the end result is profoundly moving.

I find Raymonda dazzling and I thought Cuthbertson and Bonelli were wonderful. What a stylish dancer he is, and she really turned on the exotic panache the role needs. The variations were danced by Kaneko, Hinkis, Calvert and Stix-Brunell, and I thought they did very well (though Hinkis had a bit of a stumble). The four men (Edmonds, Ella, Hay and Richardson) were also impressive and got a great response from the audience. The finale is so thrilling that it just fills me with joy. A real spectacle for the eye, the ear and the heart.

I'm in a quandary because I'd love to see all the Prodigal Son casts (esp Sambé/Heap and Campbell/Calvert), but have no wish to see the other two works again at all. I know that as problems go it's not up there; but it's a teeny bit galling.

I'm also in a state of confusion. I have a note of a 'Heritage' programme in the Linbury with BRB 14-19 May 2020. Is it not now happening or are my dates wrong? 

2 hours ago, Lindsay said:

Nothing against Francesca but I think all those involved with this movie are going to be leaving it off their CVs for years to come.  The design choices alone leave it wide open to critical savagery and a tsunami of social media derision.

That implies that all critics and everyone on social media have the same tastes. I had no preconceptions about this film so I don't know what people were expecting. But I'm happy to wait until it opens before panning it (or not, as the case may be).

28 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

I tried phoning the box office first & was told that they only accept ticket returns via email. Has anyone else had this recently? I'm sure that last season I was able to return a ticket by phone. New policy?

In recent years I've always emailed - I was told I could do that some years ago (having previously only ever been able to return tickets in person or by post, so it was a big advance). I assume they want/need written evidence that you're not going to use the ticket. So as far as I know it's not a new policy.

Sounds good! Is it fair that she can sing too???!

8 hours ago, JNC said:

 

I agree with the idea it’s nice to be there for premieres (for example the Dante next year I expect first night to sell very well!). As for debuts, I think it’s nice to perhaps give some support to a favoured dancer in this way but actually I think it may be better to wait till later in the run for them to have developed into the role a little more. I can’t remember who said it (so perhaps useless info!) but I think it was a royal ballet principal when they were interviewed saying they didn’t really understand why people want to see debuts as usually they are better/more confident in the role second/third time around etc. 

Well if you're interested in a particular dancer and following their career, you want to both support them and see how they deal with the opportunity/challenge. Almost as if they're a friend or family member!

1 hour ago, JohnS said:

It strikes me that 9 tickets per performance is very generous and would satisfy most people’s needs.  And of course group bookings kick in if you wish to purchase 10 or more tickets per performance.  So I still don’t understand what limits are placed on purchases of Patrons/Friends tickets, other than for Rehearsals.

I actually think 9 tickets per performance is bonkers. Why on earth should people be allowed to buy that many tickets (unless they think the tickets are going to be hard to shift for some reason)? Someone above suggested that being a Friend should allow you to bring one person with you, as with some gallery memberships etc - maybe stretch that to 4 to be generous, but 9??

I'm fortunate (in this way at least) to live in London, so I only have to consider other commitments. I would always go to a world première if possible - there's a great thrill in knowing that a work is being performed for the very first time. If it's an existing work, I would always choose to see the début of a dancer I like if possible - again it's really exciting seeing someone take on a big new role for the first time. If it's not a début, it's just a question of which of their performances fits in with other things I'm doing - I wouldn't deliberately wait for a later performance in the run.