Rob S

Two thumbs up from me if anyone can direct me to a list of who has danced each of the roles that normally appear on the cast sheet during this run....is there such a thing somewhere?😊

Stick it in Photoshop and adjust the Levels 😉

4 minutes ago, Balletfanp said:

Great interview, ToThePointe. In fact, I remember her being interviewed at some length on the radio a while ago, and thought then how nice and down to earth she sounded.

And the podcast ‘Inside The West End ‘ (Episode 20)

It was a really good read , in fact when I got an Instagram notification about it I had to pause my watching of Swan Lake to read it immediately 😂

4 hours ago, MRR said:

 And videos of her Odette/Odile in Korea didn't show her to have the presence to carry Swan Lake,

 

 

I adore those two videos and they do wonders for my train journeys!!

9 hours ago, Xandra Newman said:

 

I do appreciate Yuhui Choe's dancing in some of the repertoire but imo she'll never be promoted to Principal.

Not only Akane Takada surpassed her, two more female dancers - Naghdi and Hayward - flew through the ranks and joined the Principal rank whilst Yuhui remained a First Soloist. 

Rub it in, why don't you!😆

3 hours ago, Riva said:

I agree with you that it seems highly unlikely that Yuhui Choe would now be promoted to principal based on so many years as First Soloist, but with regards to these two points - I try to book specifically for her casting dates (I’m gutted she isn’t cast as Nikiya or Gamzatti this Autumn), and in my humble, technically useless but nonetheless ballet-mad and passionate opinion, in the performances I’ve seen she’s always had complete authority over the stage. 

 

I should point out that although I’m a huge Yuhui fanboy I do recognise that it seems unlikely that she will become a principal when she’s been a first soloist since 2008 ( during which time Akane Takada has gone from apprentice to principal). 

And although the ‘Yuhui for principal ‘ chant is a common one on any ROH video in which she appears I thought I’d post it here just to get an educated opinion rather than several hundred likes 😁

I too am disappointed she’s not going to be Nikiya or Gamzatti but at least have her Princess Stephanie to look forward to.

Someone has to say it so I will....Yuhui for principal!!!!😆

12 minutes ago, JohnS said:

 

Thanks Rob.  The problem with just updating an online version (if that's what the Sunday Times does)  is that the mistake has already been set in motion and risks becoming an accepted fact: 'it must be true, I read in the Sunday Times'.  That still remains a risk as a reader of the uncorrected review may not see a correction but they are more likely to read a correction if displayed prominently, for example in a future ballet review, than going back to reread a review on the web just in case it's been amended.

 

My penny worth is now on the Royal Opera House web and I've taken the opportunity to highlight David Dougill's (and others') missed sighting of Odette's spirit, hopefully diplomatically.

With the internet as it is it maybe the corrected review will get more people reading it than the old one. I find myself reading reviews of things from several years ago.

Has anyone emailed the reviewer to tell them they were wrong about the vision being added after the opening night?

10 minutes ago, JohnS said:

 

Sorry to go back to this but I see on the Royal Opera House comments:

"Also liked the addition of the vision of Odette right at the end which wasn't there on opening night."

I don't know if the review helped shape the poster's comment but I wonder if David Dougill will make a prominent correction next time he has a review published or if the Sunday Times will publish a correction?  I really don't like the idea of fake news gaining credence.

Surely if it was a mistake they’d just update the online version of the review.

2 hours ago, Blossom said:

Do we assume that the pique turns were a statement of solidarity after the Copeland furore or just mixing it up a little?

As it was a bank holiday I expect it’s more likely that fouettés had to be cancelled due to engineering work and a replacement pique service put in their place. 

13 minutes ago, Sim said:

I notice that VR removes the crown from her head, like he does to the Queen in Act 3.  Clearly has a power complex!

VR is clearly the inspiration for James Bond's foes, it's the thrill of the plan for domination that's far more satisfying than just doing the simplest thing and killing the hero at the earliest opportunity.

End Seigfried's family's line of succession  by making him too heartbroken to want to marry anyone because he's feeling responsible for the death of the only woman he's ever loved.....or killed himself by throwing himself in to the lake.

21 minutes ago, Myddle said:

 I don't quite understand the need for the Prologue - it explains the "how" but not the "why" Rothbart turns her into a swan (unless I've missed something and if so I am ready to be enlightened!).

Maybe it needs a three part prequel to tell that story😂

2 minutes ago, Timmie said:

I managed to miss the final vision on opening night. I'm in the same seat plus 1 for tomorrow's matinee, where should I look please? And is the vision the actual lead lady or a double? Apologies if this is detailed somewhere in the thread - I've read it through once but don't remember seeing it. I attach a rather rubbish picture showing the view from front and centre amphi.

In the area of the top of the rock, I have read on here somewhere that the vision is the actual lead and the woman Seigfreid cradles isn't.

23 minutes ago, John Mallinson said:

 

Which seems appropriate given that she's a spirit!

 

She is very high up in the flies: a friend sitting the upper Amphi only managed to see her feet and I'm sure she's not visible from several parts of the house. 

 

Really!? From what I remember on Wednesday, sat in my second row stalls seat, she's not much higher than the top of the rock....unless, having spotted the vision that I'd read about, my gaze returned to Seigfried and Odette and missed her fly off towards the flies 

2 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

It looks like some forum members weren't the only ones not to spot the final "vision" of Odette on opening night: this is from the review in today's Sunday Times.

 

"Scarlett opts for Odette’s self-sacrifice and Siegfried’s surviving to retrieve her body from the lake in lonely grief. Presumably, on the first night, the choreographer himself sensed a vacancy: two days later he added in a final vision of Odette, living on in spirit."

 

Those of us who did see it must have imagined it

I think the only reason I saw the final vision was because I read about it here, I knew there was something happening somewhere other than Seigfried cradling Odette so actively searched for it , the person sat in front of me (I was in the second row of the stalls) completely blocked that area of the rock.

Clearly the reviewer didn't have the insight on the first night but you would expect a professional reviewer to check such a claim

54 minutes ago, Clara_f said:

Has anyone seen Lamb/Hirano? Interested to hear reports!

I did but sadly posting pics and Notting Hill quotes during the interval  is more my style 🙃

2 hours ago, loveclassics said:

 

Too dark, too fussy and too much unfunny 'business', to put it mildly.  Siegfried and his friends are not upper-class twits to run around a formal ball swatting people on the backside with their swords and royal tutors don't last long if they get drunk and molest courtiers' daughters.  Some lovely costumes but some more like those of a Roger Corman budget horror.

 

Linda

P.S. But Sim is right about the ending - much more satisfactory emotionally.

I haven't watched the one that ended before 1987 but it sounds like you are describing the Dowell's rather than the one Darlex asked about...in Dowell's Benno and Seigfried swat the character in red's backside at the ball and the drunk tutor does...interact...with the young daughters.

I for one love the Dowell production though I have to concede I've only been familiar with it for 18 months rather than 30 years. The costumes are on the whole fantastic except for both of Von Rothbart's though at least the excuse for the Act 3 one is it's fancy dress.

Yeah a Notting Hill reference about a man having to interview someone about a film he's not seen was a little obscure 😂

A pic I took last night, maybe safer ground

swan1 by Rob Sallnow, on Flickr

14 minutes ago, RobR said:

Notting Hill? 😂

Yup 😉

17 minutes ago, capybara said:

The Swan Lake and Me event before the show tonight (23th May) featured Zenaida Zanowsky, William Bracewell and Olga Evreinoff being interviewed by Christopher Cook (who hadn't seen the new production!).

‘I was just wondering, did you ever consider having more horses in it?’😂

13 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

That's interesting as Claire Calvert is doubling up!

Claire normally posts that she's going to be X tonight on Instagram when she's got a performance but her last post was last night, a gorgeous pic of her as an Act 3 Princess. I sound like I'm in denial about tonight, don't I 🙃

52 minutes ago, MargaretN7 said:

James Hay as Benno with Claire Calvert and Yuhui Choe as sisters.  

Nooooooooooo Claire and Yuhui are my dream sister lineup and I'm going tomorrow!!!!😢

I think worse than a jester is a drunk tutor....a la Ballet of Siberia.....all the annoyance of him getting in the way and possible #MeToo accusations in the future with none of the ballet skill you can admire

If the spell says they are only maidens at night shouldn’t the sets of act two and four be daylight rather than moonlit? Or was the spell cast during a holiday in Australia, did Rothbart fail to state the curse applies to Odette’s local time wherever she is in the world !?