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Richard LH

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Everything posted by Richard LH

  1. I think it is an unfair exaggeration to compare the audience reaction with Nunez/Muntagirov to Beatlemania or the sort of mindless (and orchestrated) cheering that takes place on some TV shows. I felt it to be spontaneous, and an unusual and rather surprising, but genuine, sign of appreciation for two wonderful dancers on dazzling form, back on stage at the start of a new season. It certainly wasn't all the time, and if anything I thought it enhanced, rather than hindered, the flow of a cheerful ballet...and the dancers clearly enjoyed the enthusiasm and fed off it to a large extent.
  2. RMT and train operators reach breakthrough in national rail row.....(The Guardian)
  3. Being more positive and less picky about last night, it was clearly a very special event for the Company and their guests, and a great advertisement for the general standard of ballet dancing and production at the ROH. Following on from some of the plaudits above for specific dancers, I agree Annette Buvoli is a super Queen of the Dryads, and that Sae Maeda has particularly shone this run, as a Friend (last night) and also as Amour. I have also loved Mica Bradbury in various roles (leading Fandango lady last night).
  4. True enough but she had essentially finished the fouettes very well (but perhaps a little too fast given the outcome) and just slipped down at the very end. She was back up straight away with no obvious sign of a resulting problem, and finished like a true pro. If you were to close your eyes at the very end you wouldn't know about it (apart from some possible gasps from anyone nearby)!
  5. I was wondering if my wife and I were the only ones rather underwhelmed by last night's cinema screening, but I see a few other posters do seem to feel the same way. The poor screen lighting in our cinema, and the dearth of attendees, didn't exactly help, but even allowing for this I thought that whilst the dancing was technically fine, most of the main dancers failed to achieve the same level of detail in characterisation as other casts we have seen. I was a bit surprised about this in the case of Mayara and Matthew, as, for example, their characterisation in the Carousel Gala segment was brilliant. Perhaps they were overly nervous given the Royalty/screening combo, or perhaps they are more successful at acting as (respectively) more vulnerable/unattractive characters ....(Matthew is a really good Tybalt). Or is it more difficult to act out a similar relationship to the one that you have already in real life?
  6. Same for us (Bedford Vue where only about 20 people attended) and not for the first time for these ROH cinema screenings. Did others suffer the same poor lighting?
  7. Another wonderful, dazzling night for Fumi (those fouettés!) and Will - they dance with so much synchronicity and connection - and the whole Company. Well done Hanna Park for doing better with the Italian fouettés this time! One query that I have about the casting....is it really necessary to double (or triple) up on some of the roles so much? For example Hannah Grennell dancing as Kitri Friend as well as Lead Gypsy, and Annette Buvoli dancing as Dulcinea, one of the Dryads, and Lead Fandango lady. I would have thought there might have been more opportunities to afford less experinced dancers some of the doubled-up roles.....
  8. Takada/Hay would also be lovely, as per the last run of The Sleeping Beauty.....
  9. Takada is not cast to dance Nutcracker for another two months, so I am still keeping fingers crossed for her recovery by January. Without knowledge of her specific problem (she doesn't communicate through social media like McRae does) we don't have any idea of her possible return date.
  10. That seems a fair assumption, if both are fit. On the latter point, both are still cast in The Nutcracker and Manon so hopefully they are not currently ruled out for later performances as matters stand. Certainly Akane Takada usually tends to be cast towards the end of runs for some reason.
  11. How horrible for you @Dawnstar...hoping you feel better very soon..
  12. BTW does anyone know when we are likely to get the casting for Swan Lake and the MacMillan Triple ??
  13. Are you referring to a potential Kaneko/Bracewell partnership in Swan Lake? It would be a great pairing, but Fumi first danced it (amazingly) in 2022, with Federico Bonelli (his Swan Song). (It was Takada/Bracewell in 2018...anothjer great partnership).
  14. Fortunately not as yet... it would have to be a pretty bad play, or whatever, to cause that reaction! For ballets, allowing for the effort in travelling in (and back) I would stay for the last Act, or work, even if I had only really booked to see the first two Acts or works.
  15. Fair point re. the orchestra. The fact that as posted elsewhere, it's a programme of only 2 hours including the interval, surely can't help....couldn't they have included a third work as well?
  16. I see this as a problem of overpricing for what is essentially a mediocre double bill which, if staged at all, would have been better staged in the Linbury, as someone else said. Personally I wouldn't have attended this programme even at discounted prices, bearing in mind travelling costs can't be avoided even if tickets are given away, and for me the money saved will be better spent on other upcoming productions.
  17. I agree...I find him well worth watching in all his different character roles. There always seem to be a number of difficulties for whoever plays Gamache, to do with the costume, or finding his coins, or hankie, or handling the sword, as well having to endure all the planned indignities of the role. Last night it looked as if Tom might have hit his head on the table in his fall as a result of the fish-slapping incident..and later he managed to bend his scabbard at some point during his "duel" with the Don. He managed it all with great aplomb and humour.
  18. Sae Maeda was Amour last night....I agree, she really sparkles in the role.
  19. Marianela's jete out from the curtain gap was a fitting end to her wonderful run as Kitri this time round...and an amusing riposte to Vadim's earlier jump out...."anything you can do" etc .... Edit for @Dawnstar....dancersdiary has captured the leaps on Instagram.
  20. There have been a spate of signalling problems into London from East Anglia recently.... the other day it was on the Cambridge line at Royston, today it's on the Peterborough line at St Neots. Hope you arrive in good time @Dawnstar. Do you change at Finsbury Park for the Piccadilly line?
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