Ivy Lin

8 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

Oh - one very frivolous question I have about the Peck is: what’s with the tights-over-leotard look? I get that it’s a “rehearsal clothes” thing, but it seems to be particularly popular at NYCB, or at least that’s my perception. (I can’t say I’m an admirer.)

I think it's a practice clothes thing but it became an actual costume in Peck's new work. I've never seen it this way in an actual costume. Balanchine probably would have been appalled -- he was such a fan of the clean leotard look.

41 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

Wow - congratulations Ivy Lin, and lucky Bachtrack!

 

I meant to reply about how much I enjoyed reading your NYCB review a couple of weeks ago a really honest review of what sounds like a mixed bag of performances. The Kyle Abraham ballet looks terrific from that clip (and I speak as one with zero knowledge or appreciation of hip-hop). Completely agree - from what I heard - about the Sufjan Stevens score for the Peck, which is somehow offensively bland. 

 

Thank you! I'm still going to be reviewing dance on my blog simply because I see more dance than I can cover in single performances but I'm really excited for this new gig at bachtrack!

Some debuts in NYCB's Sleeping Beauty:

https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/02/nycbs-sleeping-beauty-has-radiant-new.html

Plus I am officialyl writing for Bachtrack!

https://bachtrack.com/review-to-create-a-world-gallim-dance-joyce-theater-new-york-city-february-2019

Yes his simple happy stage presence is always a joy. I first heard him in La Sonnambula and was amazed at the beauty of his voice. He's been one of my favorite tenors since.

I know Javier Camarena is singing Tonio in Covent Garden later this year. Dont miss him he is wonderful! 

https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/02/la-fille-du-regiment-vive-la-france.html?m=1

Justin Peck's Principia, Herman Schmerman Revival, and other NYCB Winter Season Diaries:

https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/02/nycb-winter-diaries-justin-pecks.html

The first week of winter season at nycb had a lot of debuts:

https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/01/city-ballet-winter-season-brings-new.html

Anyone going to the HD today? 

Well I prefer to remember them in happier times:

Great review! Interesting what you say about Kaufmann. I saw him in this role in a concert and he and Gheorghiu both have that extremely careful way of singing. However I must say that together they both made ravishing sounds. I read from Gheorghiu's biography that Kaufmann and Gheorghiu have fallen out. Too bad. They sure made some beautiful music together.

1 minute ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

I'm not great at spotting references, but this one was fairly extended, including a comic attempt at the lovers' knot (not specific to Ashton, I know). It may have been altered for a non-ROH audience.

I do remember an attempt at a cat's cradle except horribly bungled up. There was also some refernce to the gypsy-like dancers Ashton liked to sprinkle into his ballets. Anyway it was one of the better ballet-in-an-opera I've seen in awhile.

18 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

Thanks for the review! It does seem an odd choice for Netrebko: maybe it was planned when the unexpected direction her voice had taken had caused a couple of prominent cancellations, so she saw this as a safe option? Or is that too fanciful?

 

I can only dimly remember this production now, but does the ballet reference Ashton's Fille fairly heavily or am I thinking of something else?

 

Otherwise, I can mostly remember Gheorghiu phoning it in on that particular occasion, and the size of the stage-within-a-stage making the rest of the action appear fairly cramped at ROH. But I did like it!

Well there is the ribbon aspect of the Judgment of Paris ballet but it's more of a baroque ballet parody. Paris is almost ridiculously Adonis-like. 

Trying to find a video of it but can't.  

Has made its way across the pond. I already had the Gheorghiu/Kaufmann/Borodina DVD, but I got to see the production live with Netrebko/Beczala/Rachvelishvili.

One of my favorite parts of the production is actually Andrew George's Judgment of Paris ballet. I thought it was a good parody of baroque-era ballet and I'm so glad they did not include pointe shoes as those would not have been used in the baroque era.

Anyway here's how I felt about the whole production:

https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/01/adria-anna-lecouvtrebko.html

Here is the video. Both of them go for this silver frosting:

I have a thorny question. The SPF and Cavalier wigs are so white and powdered that they only look good on very fair-skinned dancers. What happens when dancers of color dance this role? Do they still wear the white powdered wigs? Like what do you do for dancers like Hayward and Carlos Acosta?

One of the changes Sir Peter Wright made to Nutcracker was that in the original, the dolls emerged from these cute cabbages. I thought that was a clever touch. But now they've been replaced by these moving closets.

The whole production is here. You can decide what to think:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzD_ngUbHl35V2w0OW1uVjRxMTg/view?usp=sharing

2 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Nice to see a programme from 1995, when I saw the BRB Nutcracker on a school trip. Unfortunately I can't remember the cast I saw, apart from Simone Clarke as Clara, but it's interesting to see some possibilities.

 

Tangental query: is it the BRB Nutcracker where the Mouse King has a curved sword for a tail?

 

Reading this thread, as someone who's seen a lot more opera than ballet, I find it interesting that all the productions discussed seem to be a) attractive in appearance & b) reasonably suitable for the plot. If the Nutcracker were an opera we'd probably be discussing the latest production set in a 20th century dictatorship with the grey trenchcoat-clad mice toting Kalashnikovs & the Kingdom of Sweets turned into a polemic on capitalism causing an obesity crisis! Thank goodness it's a ballet!

There actually wss a post-apocalyptic Nutcracker that the POB did in conjunction with Iolanta a few years ago. 

Here is their grand pas de deux:

I changed a few of the videos on my Nutcracker writeup. Realized that some of the dolls video I chose was not from the Royal Ballet production. Also found Nunez's celesta variaton.

So here is the NEW version of this U.S. vs. British faceoff:

https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2018/12/comparing-nutcrackers-across-pond.html

In my experience dancers are not as chatty as opera singers at the stage door. The reason is that many of them are leaving with their friends in the company and want dinner. A lot of them are tired or in a rush to leave.  Opera is different -- over the years I've seen some of the BIGGEST stars come out of the stage door alone, and walk (alone) to their hotel room. Unless they are sick/tired/have a party to be at many of them seem to relish talking to fans after the show. And it's always an odd sight to see them lugging big bouquets and gifts to their hotel room alone. I've always thought that singing must be one of the loneliest professions. 

I also saw the Bolshoi transmission. I thought Shrainer and Chudin were very fine and I like the grand pas de deux with all those fancy lifts but Grigorovich's Nutcracker is not my overall favorite. I always think that their snowflake wigs look like Mrs. Bates.

3 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

What a blummin' good read Ivy.  I have seen (and really don't care for) SPW's production for the RB but I have never seen the Balanchine version so your take on them was really fascinating.

 

It always surprises me that SPW did the version at RB and the version at BRB.  When I saw the cinema relay a couple of years ago I noticed that a number of the diverts in Act 2 of the RB version now match those in the BRB version.

The BRB production and the original RB production both make more sense for the companies he set them for. BRB a smaller company, maybe a more intimate story. RB a bigger company, based on the 1892 notations. However now that he's made a hybrid for the RB it doesn't really work. JMO. 

By the way I love the BRB video with Miyako Yoshida. I think that version really works on its own.

6 minutes ago, Thalia said:

 

I think this is because of the association with Christmas. Nutcracker is all pervasive at that time of year — it’s the one ballet

you can sure will be on. If you were taken to see it as a child it’s likely tied into happy memories. Plus, nearly everyone knows most of the music regardless of whether they’ve seen the ballet. 

I do like the RB version because of the distinct narrative of Clara on the cusp of womanhood and I have many good memories of being taken to see it when younger. I go on a total nostalgia trip when I see it now. 

The RB wasn’t the first version I saw, though. I have vague, hazy memories of seeing a version by the London Festival Ballet on the south bank. I think it was one where the SPF (or someone, might not have been her!) came down some steps en pointe. I don’t know which version that was or exactly when it was but think it was early/mid 80s. Is my mind playing tricks – am I conflating it with something else and mixing my ballets or companies up? Perhaps someone here can shed some light on it. I don’t trust my kiddy memories. 🙃 I remember more about the shop than anything else. 😆

Hmm ... coming down steps on pointe is the signature step for Ashton's Cinderella ball entrance ...

1 hour ago, Richard LH said:

Hope you are feeling better - and congratulations for your in depth review!

 

Personally I much prefer the  RB version. I find the narrative of  the somewhat older Clara discovering romance, and expressing her youthfulness and joy through dance, generally to be a welcome and cohesive thread throughout the whole ballet. As is the Hans-Peter story and his relationship with Drosselmeyer, whose appearance throught Act 2 keeps the narrative going. 

 

I find there are too many small children in the Balanchine version !  And of course it misses out completely on the beautiful Act 1 PDD between Clara and the released H-P, in which the RB  makes a superb use of  one of Tchaikovsky's loveliest pieces of music. 

 

For me, the RB version looks to have the more accomplished choreography overall. Just one example would be the Arabian  dance with RB's lady entering and leaving sitting high up on one of the three gentlemen's hands held up at full stretch, before engaging on a series of  intricate and sensuous movements. The Balanchine Arabian lady looks a little lost on her own!  

 

Plus I prefer the  RB sets and costumes! 

 

Finally, no I don't see any particular   resemblance between the RB Prince and Joffrey from Game of Thrones - other than they both wear crowns!

 

Happy New Year !

I think that for Nutcracker whichever version you grow up with becomes your favorite. It's odd because I don't feel this way about, say, Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty. But I have noticed this with Nutcracker above all other ballets ...

I saw the Bolshoi Sylphide. I compared it with the 2012 broadcast. I actually preferred the James and Sylph here (Chudin and Staskevitch) but I thought otherwise the mime and sequences with Madge really suffered. I think in 2012 Johan Kobborg was on hand to personally teach the mime, and this time he wasn't. Danish mime is one of those things I think really needs to be hand-taught. It's so clear and concise when done correctly.