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ninamargaret

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  1. ninamargaret
    Just back from the final performance and I thought it was stunning. I loved Bonelli's Leontes, beautifully danced and you could feel the grief and remorse. Kaneko and Takada both lovely, particularly Takada with Alexander Campbell. And I noticed Joseph Sissens thoroughly enjoying himself, well on the way, to my mind, being an excellent dancer with good partnering skills. Quite surprised at the highly enthusiastic applause for the orchestra, rather more than for the dancers. Even the tree got applauded! Have now seen 5 different Leontes - it really is,a marvellous part for a dancer and a part that each has bought something different to.
  2. ninamargaret
    I get the impression you don't like it!!
  3. ninamargaret
    not bad at all. Pleased to see Firebird, Mayerling, the various triple bills, and am I the only one on the forum who would like to give Frankenstein another chance? Maybe there will be some changes to it following its run in America.
  4. ninamargaret
    I wonder if the difficulty in getting tickets, and the general aura surrounding Fonteyn and Nureyev added to our enjoyment? These days we can get our tickets without leaving our homes or offices, we can visit different web sites for information, look at Facebook etc - even use this forum! We have been able to see more foreign companies and dancers and can travel pretty easily so can see even more. So we are probably better informed, more knowledgeable, but maybe the downside is that a little bit of the excitement in going to performances at that time has been lost. And companies have become more open in providing things like open rehearsals, insights - things I used to wish I could see when they were not available. I don't think I'd want to go back to those times.
  5. ninamargaret
    That says it all!!!
  6. ninamargaret
    Saw him with Fonteyn quite a few times, including a ballet choreographed by Roland Petit called Paradise Lost. It must be one of the most ' modern' ballets that Fonteyn did. Nureyev was definitely a stage animal - and what about his performance in the film about Valentino and the famous tango with Anthony Dowell?
  7. ninamargaret
    I may be wrong, but I think this version used Ashton's marvellous Arabian Dance, which I read one critic describe as a miniature ballet in itself. And I think.Nureyev's Drosselmeyer showed how much he enjoyed himself playing a character part.
  8. ninamargaret
    I cheated by recording it and watching it this morning so could use the pause button! But in general I agree about font sizes - thought it was just my elderly eyes.
  9. ninamargaret
    I rather agree about the gpdd even when danced by him with Merle Park; maybe in an ideal world we need a compilation of all the best bits of the many different Nutcrackers! And as far as the production is concerned, that's my opinion too!!!
  10. ninamargaret
    I think it's a pity that the ROH dropped the Nureyev production of Nutcracker. I rather liked the 'Russianness' of it and particularly the Snowflakes scene. I also remember seeing Nureyev take a curtain call as the producer of the ballet wearing a very glamorous brocade coat and thigh length boots - very out of the ordinary for those days! He certainly had style.
  11. ninamargaret
    Have just,watched this. Like Ian MacMillan I totally lost my way but enjoyed the Dancing, particularly Ferri. Apart from losing my way I found the whole thing difficult to see - dark clothes, low lighting, low lit venues. I may just be getting old but I do like to see what I'm supposed to be looking at! I know I'm not the first poster to complain about this. And I was fascinated to see how many people were involved in making the programme -should think they were all falling over each other!
  12. ninamargaret
    can't wait to see this next Friday! The Times review gives it four stars but manages to say little about any of the three ballets and doesn't mention a single dancer.
  13. ninamargaret
    glad someone else feels about it as I do! I feel I should enjoy it more but can't.
  14. ninamargaret
    It seems to me that the whole 'Bernstein centenary' has been treated poorly by the RB. Until recently we had no idea what music was involved - still don't think we've had it for the Wheeldon- no titles were given until recently, the Insight has only just been put on You Tube and we still don't know who is dancing when. Doesn't seem a very good way to celebrate Bernstein to me.
  15. ninamargaret
    no problem - just a case of trial and error because I got so fed up with the comments! I just swiped the screen from left to right and they disappeared as if by magic! Could just have been beginners luck so not sure if it would work on other devices
  16. ninamargaret
    Totally agree that these should be on You Tube. As RHowarth said it's much easier to use You Tube on a,smart tv - my TV takes ages to negotiate web sites and I ended up watching this Insight on my Kindle - not the best way to watch ballet. I did, however, manage to remove the mostly inane comments.
  17. ninamargaret
    Yes please, back to wigged flunkies and yes please to flowers for the men. I seem to remember that in the past they were given horrible laurel wreaths - sure they were provided by the props dept!
  18. ninamargaret
    have just noticed that there is a DVD of the John Neumeier Nijinsky ballet being issued in April
  19. ninamargaret
    Considering that it's a celebration of Bernstein it seems,strange that so little information has been about the music on the ROH web site. I suppose they're not particularly worried given that it's nearly sold out.
  20. ninamargaret
    I suppose, to be strictly correct, the statue is supposed to be marble and therefore white. But the object shown in the ballet resembles Shakespeare's ' cream faced loon '- surely Leontes would have got a better sculptor for the job!
  21. ninamargaret
    I can't agree with your comment about Polixenes being a bit of a non role. I think the intention, in both the play and the ballet,is to show the difference between Leontes rather formal court and the more,exotic court of Polixenes. He has his own court with him, brings his musicians, and altogether lightens the stuffier court of Leontes. To my mind, Bonelli gets it just right. I have no issue with Matthew Ball's dancing, but the interpretation was, to me rather flat. I have every agreement with you about the statue! I remember a magazine, American I think, called Mad.. it had a picture of a goofy looking boy on the front of it, and the statue always reminds me of it.
  22. ninamargaret
    And I got the giggles years ago at a performance of, I think, Raymonda Act3. The lead make dancer, who is no longer with us and shall be nameless, was somewhat past it, and during his solo executed a series of rather clumsy entrechats jumping about three inches off the ground. I'm afraid I wasn't the only one to get the giggles.
  23. ninamargaret
    I remember the much loved (and rather well endowed)Rita Hunter singing Brunhilde and managing to put her foot through a large artificial rock.The lovely lady kept singing while trying to wrestle her foot out of the scenery to muffled giggles from the audience. The Ring seems to be made for mishaps - on another occasion Siegfried slew the Dragon most dramatically and the audience was treated to the sound of an ambulance siren just outside the theatre.
  24. ninamargaret
    My biggest giggle ever was at the ROH many years ago. It was Sleeping Beauty. At the lilac Fairy's entrance for the vision scene her tutu caught on a piece of scenery and gradually unravelled. Things went from bad to worse when she tried to show the Prince the vision of Aurora. There was a lighting malfunction and he was looking at nothing. The final mishap was that the Boat got jammed and wouldn't move! Apart from that it was a,fine performance.
  25. ninamargaret
    Thoroughly enjoyed the matinee today. I found the Hirano/ Cuthbertson/Ball/Lamb cast very interesting. They seemed to give the whole ballet a softer,gentler feel. Hirano was particularly effective in the last act, his style of dancing is so different from Ed Watson's, but to me it was a perfectly valid interpretation. No criticism of the dancing of Ball or Muntagirov -how could there be?, and their less incisevely drawn interpretations were perfectly in tune with the general tone of the performance. But I missed Bonelli's more exotic Polixenes ( wonder what he'll make of Leontes). Impossible to choose between McRae and Muntagirov, a real case of you pays your money and you takes your choice! Lovely to see Sambe back and looking good and I noticed Joseph Sissens dancing well and looking as though he was thoroughly enjoying himself.
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