DanJL

Ah, have to confess I hadn't noticed the start time (and getting used to shows starting about 5 minutes late in any case!). Perhaps 2 hours 50 might be expected for other nights then?

I'd say it was closer to 3 hours in the end (at least from advertised start time). I emerged from the theatre at 10:35 and was relatively quick getting out from my seat. The curtain call was probably a little extended due to it being the premiere, but only by a few minutes.

I had a fantastic time watching this - what a feast of dancing! In the programme, Rojo talks about bringing this classic Petipa ballet to modern British audiences and for me she has been greatly successful in doing that. The story certainly doesn't have the depth of Romeo and Juliet, for example, but stands up against the plot of many other Petipa ballets. Whilst the focus of the story is the love triangle, for me the Crimean war / nurse setting gave an intriguing new context for both the story and character dances. It also inspired some lovely moments for the corps and the twist at the end, which I found more satisfying than the climax I was expecting. My experience of Raymonda before this was fairly limited. But I enjoyed the wonderful dancing from the Bolshoi cinema broadcast a couple of years ago - and I was very pleased to enjoy similar last night. The dances from the third act were the ones I was most familiar with, after multiple viewings of the recent Royal Ballet DVD. It was wonderful to see them again but with greatly added context. I thought the emotion in the third act added a lot and was driven by a slightly more romantic interpretation of the music. Overall a beautiful ballet and fantastic to have the chance to see it in its entirety.

Wow, I wasn't expecting that! Wonder where my Virgin box got Naghdi and Ball from!! Sorry for those who were looking forward to it 🙁

Indeed, all the evidence today is pointing towards this performance, so it is one already out on DVD (and was streamed for free I think by ROH during the first lockdown). I had a very small hope that it might be a different one - eg was there a Takada / Hirano performance filmed for Japanese TV? But it looks like Naghdi / Ball.

The programme information on my Virgin Media box states that this is from the ROH and specifically mentions Naghdi and Ball.

I wonder if the closeness is due to the delay in streaming? Perhaps the BBC date was already set when the original streaming timing was planned.

I picked up a last minute ticket for this evening after the great reviews from Nuñez and Bonelli's first performance and very glad I did! An outstanding performance from pretty much everyone I thought! I also thought the orchestra sounded incredible under the baton of Alondra de la Parra. Sambé was wonderful as Mercutio, a great angry Tybalt from Whitehead, lovely emotional performance from Bonelli but most of all Nuñez was extraordinary! Such intensity of emotion - she didn't even look like Nuñez in the final act, it was like the distraught Juliet had possessed her. An incredibly engaging performance! But also set up by a really wonderful balcony pdd. A great evening!

I agree with every word Odyssey!

Thanks Fonty, that makes sense! As it happens I do personally enjoy some of the contemporary output but I would love to see more modern works based on classical ballet.

Is the issue the creation of new ballets or the particular ballets / choreographers being used? Surely any ballet company should look to commission new work alongside reviving classics, otherwise the art form stands still.

She coped admirably calmly with the situation considering it was her debut! As she did with a scenery mishap, when the silk came down on her as she went to examine the human nutcracker lying on the floor after the battle and threatened to shut her out of the ballet!

A wonderful evening, so glad the debuts all went ahead and I felt confident enough to travel! So much excitement to see how Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé danced - I agree with capybara that O'Sullivan was sparkling, perfect word to describe her performance! And a really lovely Clara from Sae Maeda. I was very glad to see Leticia Dias's Rose Fairy too, always a lovely dancer to watch. Basically I agree with pretty much everything capybara said! 😊

Really sorry for Takada, hope she recovers soon and has a much luckier stretch. Similarly to Dawnstar I haven't had chance to see her in a leading role (I did see her in Dante Project). Ever since I saw her amazing performance in the Swan Lake pdd in one of the streamed gala performances I've been looking forward to seeing her in person. Hope she recovers soon and has a much luckier stretch. And fingers crossed for Swan Lake!

I can see 95 seats available for tonight. Spread through all areas but particularly orchestra stalls. I've never seen the new checkout process, but these seats all look genuine to me and perhaps not unexpected with caution over covid.

Not sure if this is helpful, but there was a statement last week about staff shortages on trains and they said they would protect first and last services. I'm just going on the statement, haven't checked whether or not this has happened in practice.

I'm similarly dithering about Thursday, which has the debuts I wanted to see (since last year!). It's so difficult to get a feel for the actual risk!

Yes indeed and even to Cardiff, where I saw it! A really great production 🙂

I remember similar comments after Naghdi and Ball's Romeo and Juliet, but that made it to DVD so maybe there's hope 🙂 different cast and higher quality video image could help justify it. Plus I'm sure there would be a market for it.

I feel like I'm easy to please after really enjoying recent Royal Ballet programming - a nice varied programme of ballets is my main hope! Having said that, it would be great to see some of the big ballets I've never seen in person - Mayerling and Fille or Sylvia would be high on that list! I really enjoyed the mixed bill with Les Patineurs and Winter Dreams a few years ago - would be great to see those again. And definitely keen to see more Balanchine. But after the success of Apollo, my vote would be for something different again rather than Symphony in C which was programmed twice relatively recently. In terms of other companies. I'd love another chance to see Northern Ballet's Jane Eyre. And would be over the moon if more companies would tour to Cardiff or even Bristol!

I really enjoyed watching the stream too - wonderfully well filmed I thought and it really did continue to have that impact. Also looking forward to repeat viewings 😊

They're wonderful together! As well as the ballets already mentioned, they were paired in Romeo and Juliet in the 2019 run. For Manon, they were together for at least the last two runs, with a recording from the first of those available on DVD. And they were together in a more recent Winter Dreams as well (December 2018 I think?).

Vadim Muntagirov - now updated on the ROH website. A real shame for McRae, hopefully he recovers quickly. But Lamb and Muntagirov are a really nice partnership too.

Yes indeed and the DVD also features Marianela Nuñez as Myrtha.

Ah yes, fair point, I do have to allow more time either side of the train!