JNC

Just bumping this in case there is a taker, otherwise will return to box office next Monday.

I think I meant I didn’t see her being cast in it in future, rather than commenting on whether or not she should be cast. having said that I have to admit she wouldn’t be my preference if she was cast, but we all have our preferences!

I don’t see Choe as Cinderella, similarly not sure if Hamilton would be cast for a similar reason. can definitely see Calvert as Godmother. So imagine new cinderellas would be Cuthbertson, O’Sullivan and Magri to ensure all the principals are cast. I hope it does come back in the 24-25 season. As others mentioned I ended up enjoying the run much more than I thought I might and was so interesting seeing what different casts bought. Would have liked to have seen all of them if I could, so next time will prioritise those I didn’t see (Lamb, Naghdi, Osipova, Takada etc). I probably can’t see them in any case, maybe over the next 10 years!

All for making way for the younger dancers but also knowing Laura’s age and the fact Onegin doesn’t come round too often, I still don’t see why she wasn’t cast. I liked Naghdi in the role but she has quite a few years ahead of her yet so would have had the chance to do the role much more in future so like @Dawnstar would have preferred Morera to get cast. Similarly with so many Aurora’s this year why not cast Morera? I guess the RB can’t win everything. Do too many performances and you’ll get complaints on lack of diverse programming with mammoth runs. Do a shorter programme but then you can’t cast all the principals. Cast the older principals as their time is more limited/running out (this sounds mean but is the reality) but then younger dancers don’t get a go and chance to develop the roles over decades etc. My preferred way of solving the problem would be to increase programming with shorter programmes and less guaranteed slots of the big three Tchaikovsky/MacMillan every three years to free up more slots. But we know that will never happen! To be honest I think O’Hare is pretty good and fair with casting. With the exception of Morera and Hamilton, it seems most principals/first soloists get a go if not at everything at most things, and the guesting will fill some of the gaps for them. I imagine there may be issues next time Giselle comes back with pretty much all principals wanting to be cast but with fewer performances than a swan lake run this could prove problematic. Hayward is a really interesting dancer - I love her as Aurora and the Sugar Plum as well as her Juliet but her Odette/Odile did not do it for me at all (and it wasn’t just a technique issue). Interesting I was also underwhelmed by her Giselle (sorry!). I also can’t see her as Nikiya or Sylvia for example. There’s no real logic to it but to me she is very hit and miss (for lack of a better phrase). Then you have someone like Nunez who never strictly misses, but also sometimes doesn’t bring the human depth that Hayward might because Nunez is so technically perfect. I think whilst casting is generally fair on stage (bar notable exceptions above) it is a bit annoying that for filming it is a bit less fair. Nunez has probably been recorded in everything now; and whilst I love her it’s getting a bit formulaic. For cinema relays they to be fair so seem to mix it a little bit (so we have Naghdi as Aurora this year and last time it was meant to be cuthbertson but ended up being Kaneko), but for DVDs it feels like it’s been pretty much Nunez in everything followed by Osipova for the three acters!

apart from Osipova and Nunez who do seem to have very large followings, are there enough audience members who really care about casting (to the mass of filling the house?). I imagine at least 50%, if not more of each audience to not be so bothered by casting and more about dates that are convenient to them. For example I can’t see even Hayward (who perhaps gets the most PR with her dabbling in modelling and also acting with Cats) filling a house over and above say Naghdi or others. I’m not sure if I’m just naive or incorrect but I think the point is perhaps casting someone like Morera (or anyone else!) in my view isn’t going to make that much difference to ticket sales, positively or negatively (with perhaps the Osipova and Nunez exceptions as I think they may have the largest followings from what I have seen on ticket sales numbers on ROH website). So I can’t see why ticket sales would or should have factored into Morera (or others) being cast or not, at such a significant level. But that’s just my opinion/guess. And I’d take a gather that those who do care about casting are likely to be among us regulars who probably see more than one performance if we can, which will then even out those that aren’t bothered by casting to pick dates with more favourable tickets perhaps? If I’m wrong and sales do shift significantly depending on casting then I still don’t think it’s reason enough to stop casting or alternatively casting those who aren’t right for roles above others. It is very sad Morera wasn’t given opportunity to dance many key roles during her career. Having seen her Cinderella I think she would have been a fantastic Aurora and Juliet (among many others!). I’ll be honest and say I’m not sure if I see her as Odile/Odette but that’s not to say she shouldn’t have been given the chance given her rank - as already mentioned given how frequently swan lake comes around they could have let her have one run of it at least. It’s also very odd she wasn’t cast as Tatiana again.

I also don't think it will suit her at all, this aside (which I agree with). I can't see her as Gamzatti either for example.

I didn’t see Osipova but the energy for Nunez/Vadim was great!

Did Osipova not get cast as Kitri in the 2019 revival as I vaguely recall? Imagine her performances will sell incredibly well! I have also used up all my likes but reading this thread with interest. There’s so much great repertoire out there that I’d love to see in future years, including Checkmate!

Sleeping Beauty 17 May 7.30pm Naghdi/ball Amphi L39 £34 Please message me if interested.

Yes sorry, too many thoughts! And you spotted soon enough for me to actually edit, thank you!

I've been doing a bit more of a 'deep dive' and some interesting thoughts. Firstly, didn't realise how much swan Lake is spread out - not just beginning to end but some gaps in March/April with some weeks only one (or no) performances! On matinees, it is looking a bit disappointing. DQ - 3 saturdays The Limit (Linbury) - 2 saturdays but both with the Rudd/Wye cast so I wish they would have swapped them for one week so one matinee with Hayward/Campbell Nutcracker - only 1 Saturday (!) there are 3 midweek matinees just before Christmas though (I am not including performances not available to the public Manon - 3 Swan Lake - 5 including 1 on Easter Monday Macmillan mixed - NONE Ashton Mix 1 (Rendezvous) - 1 Ashton Mix 2 (short works) - 1 Winter's Tale - 1 (but the Saturday before a bank holiday Monday so many families may be away on holiday I haven't done Dante or the Cellist bill as I'll be honest I won't be booking for those! I think it is odd that Nutcracker only has one weekend matinee particularly given it is advertised to children. I noticed that for Cinderella, it was the matinees that sold out first so clearly there is an appetite for them. Ditto for Winter's Tale (I know this won't be strictly aimed at children the same way Nutcracker/Cinderella may have been but I can see it appealing more to families than something like Manon which has more matinees!) For non-Londoners who work Mon-Fri and want to save money on accommodation (and we all know trains work better during the week, 50/50 on Saturday and pretty poor on Sunday) it's not great. I'm also not complaining from my side as personally I'm much more likely to see Manon). Interesting to hear a likely gala on main stage for Sarasota - I do hope this will be a matinee but that may be asking too much. I'm also a little annoyed that the Ashton bills aren't better condensed. Even if you had to pay for accommodation, if they did a few performances in a row and you could work remotely, you would at least save on travel costs. I would have liked to see as many performances as possible but envision I'll have to go on two separate trips to catch 1-2 performances each, which considering I could have seen three Cinderella across Friday night to Saturday night in one trip and two overnight stays feels a bit annoying, but hey ho. It's a similar story with Winter's Tale with the first few performances quite spread out, and apart from the early May bank holiday weekend they don't overlap hugely with Swan Lake on at the same time either. I fear I will be spending more to see less, and that's without even thinking about the ticket prices. My priorities certainly will be the Ashton and Macmillan mixed bills, with hopefully a DQ and Manon thrown in if casting/price/dates align.

Not for Linbury I don't think. Half the theatre is restricted or anyway (or so it feels like!)

As much as it pains me to say but I don’t think there will be many tickets come general booking. It is a shame they’re not programmed on the main stage. @Fonty I don’t think the main stage triples will be sold out though!! What makes you think that? the mixed bill with Montones was the Cunningham cenetary one I think?

Is this in the Linbury? I can’t seem to find it on the website, maybe the dates/programme haven’t been confirmed yet?

indeed and the financial side. But it looks like I’ll be seeing very little of RB pre spring to be honest (I’ll make an exception for a manon or two if I can see the cats I want) so I will seriously consider shuffling funds to go to paris!

May have to go to Paris to see Fille now!

Ah yes my mistake. It feels like every other year though to me! I agree I also love it but I would prefer a variety of programming!

My thoughts are mixed, and I’ll admit a but disappointed. Overall I think I’m pleased with the mixed bills, but less keen on the full length selection and feel some notable misses. The good Not one but two Ashton bills! I won’t moan too much given but why does Rhapsody have to feature in both - I love it but more diversity so I’m not repeating rhapsody would have been appreciated. Is the second mixed bill all Sarasota ballet or only for one act? I also agree Rhapsody was done quite soon so it would have been fine not to do it at all, but once also, but twice feels. A little uninspired… A mixed MacMillan bill, finally! I don’t know enough about the individual works to comment but at least it’s nothing I’ve seen before. But only 6 performances and no weekend matinee which is a pain for non Londoners. Neutral I’m putting this category for things I’m not personally keen on but I can respect their programming and think they are good choices. Don Quixote I don’t love this ballet but we’ve not seen it for a while and I appreciate it’s a more classical work. I will still go and see some performances if I can as would love to see Osipova and maybe Kaenko and Naghdi in this. Winter’s Tale Never seen it before and feels fair this gets a revival. Having said that not sure it’s my bag but would like to give it a go once depending on cast/pricing. (Has this been revived more recently than than Sylvia / La Fille though…?) Mixed Manon I still think we shouldn’t be obliged this every other year but having said that I’m keen to see Hayward and Kaneko (with Bracewell!) in this role and it is my favourite of the big MacMillan three. Anemoi/Cellist To me it feels too soon for these to return, I’d rather have seen a McGregor mixed bill (Infra/Chroma) or a neoclassical (Robbins/Balanchine/Forsythe) etc. I guess they have won awards recently so that’s why they’ve been included and maybe they’ll sell well? Personally I’ll miss this I think. Nutcracker Not surprised it’s on again at Christmas but please not next year. But a guaranteed money bank is fair enough. Swan Lake Ditto Nutcracker. Can’t even get excited about new casts as think they did all the principals last time round. Don’t even want to think about the prices anyway so I’m unlikely to attend unless there’s a cast I felt I did miss last time, and would only go once. Bad Dante Project Far too soon to return I think, I’m surprised not to see Maddaddam given the Canadian premiere and at least that would have been new/justifiable. I don’t dislike Dante but I am not interested in seeing it again so soon (would have been more tempted next year or year after) Missing Balanchine or Forsythe, Robbins A full length Ashton Bayadere! Overall not a terrible mix but personally it doesn’t really do it for me. There’s only two-three programmes I’m actually really interested in seeing (Ashton/MacMillan bills), one of which has no weekend matinees so there’s an additional complication. In addition there’s 2-3 programmes I would like to see and book for, and swan lake as a potential. So not bad going considering I will have seen 6 programmes this year. It could have been a lot worse and I appreciate some different choices but it doesn’t spark joy, and think I’ll be cancelling my membership to save some cash! Put it this way, I was much more excited by ENB’s more limited programming which felt it had a good mix of things across classical/contemporary and old/new. As others have said at least I’ll save some cash!

At least it would have been new though! Unlike Dante which wasn’t bad but definitely too soon. Did it sell particular well for such a soon revival?

Can’t add much more to @JohnS review. Morera was just a beautiful Cinderella. I know some people don’t like comparing dancers but she was the Cinderella I saw (Nunez, Kaneko, Hayward) that I connected with most, in every act and scene. (Kaneko was also good but I didn’t get a true sense of sadness from her in Act 1 over the mother’s death the way I did with Morera.) To be honest Ball didn’t bring a depth of character to the Prince that Bracewell did, but he was a solid partner and I was most moved by them in Act 1 after the slipper scene where they are hugging. morera’s face and body is just so expressive, the true dancer/actor/artist and I’m so sad we don’t have any recordings of her in a principal role. (If I’m wrong and there are some please let me know.) Richardson’s sister was the spikiest and meanest I saw and I thought it worked well. Interestingly not so many laughs in act 1 but by act 2 and 3 the audience were into it from what I could hear. I also enjoyed Hinkis’s Autumn fairies (her turns including bends so extreme I thought she might actually topple over!), Buvoli was the chilliest and sharpest Winter fairy and Gaspirani perfectly bright as spring. Interestingly this has been a ballet that has really grown on me the more I watch it. I think the Kaneko/Bracewell performance had a certain overall magic to it but I really enjoyed Morera and the fairies last night. It’s hard to pick a favourite and I feel very lucky to have seen not one, but two exceptional shows. And the two I wouldn’t say were exceptional were nonetheless really good evenings and performances generally all round. I’ve been impressed with how tight and consistently good the corps have been as the stars and dancers in act 2, it feels the company overall is exceptionally strong at the moment across all ranks. And even the music of Cinderella which I thought I disliked has grown on me. There are still chunks of act 1 and 2 I’m not a fan of, but some bits are lovely (thinking act 3 when the stars all light up before the final scene). And I find the final set and costumes really magical; and there are lots of really special touches (the floating cape for Cinderella in act 2, the changeover scene I think is done well in act 2 also), although there are still parts I would personally change (I’m still not won over by the light projections and even though I’ve come round to some of the act 1 fairy costumes I’ll never love them and I still quite dislike summer) overall I’ve been really impressed with the overall production - from the quality of the dancing, to the costumes and sets (love them or hate them they are a spectacle), to the conducting, to creative touches like the glitter on godmother’s hands and the mice pulling the carriage…it’s really something. I’d love to see this revived in probably the 24/25 season, to see Lamb, Osipova, and Naghdi in the roles as I couldn’t see everyone this time! If I lived in London I’d probably be bankrupting myself trying to see every cast and squeeze more in before the run closes. Despite my gripes with ticket prices I hope this has sold well and presumably with all the investment in new sets and costumes we will hopefully see it back soon (although not at the expense of Fille or Sylvia please…)

I don’t have an answer to this but I certainly feel more won over! I feel the dancing is maybe a bit stronger later on in the run and some of the kinks with the set seem to have improved - for example tonight the transformation of the Godmother felt smoother with pitch black before Storm Jensen came on and it was more effective. And I think dancers have moved back in Act 2 so it feels less cramped (has Kevin been reading balletco?) Laura Morera was my favourite Cinderella tonight, a magical performance and I wish it would never have ended. I was so glad to catch her debut before her retirement. I would urge anyone on the fence to book for her next week. I’ll write some more thoughts once I’ve digested but what a lovely dancer, true character and technique, I’ll be so sad to no longer see her dancing. I’m wishing I could travel back in time to see her Lise, Giselle (again), wishing she had a chance to do Aurora, Juliet (don’t think she was cast in those roles…?) and many others. She really wove a spell tonight and made me fully believe in the story and imbued each Act with such depth of story even when she wasn’t dancing and just standing in character to the side of the stage…

ditto. Depends on pricing, casting, and if I can make the dates. Wouldn’t be a “must see” for me. Is it a crowd pleaser that sells well (more than say Sylvia, Bayadere or La Fille?)

Great news and some great detective work! narrowing down the dates people noted above are these the options? 4-17 March 6-21 April 9 June onwards Does anyone have a sense of when dates might be confirmed, and if we’re looking at a short run (3 nights or less) or maybe 5 nights to even a week? When was the last time NYCB toured to the U.K.? Very excited.

I didn’t see their Mayerling but they had little to no chemistry in R&J, and I also saw their swan lake (when Nunez had covid) and that also didn’t move me as much as usual. Maybe they have improved but it’s probably a risk I wouldn’t take given the other solid pairings listed. We know Naghdi/Ball are great, ditto Kaneko/Bracewell. I think Nunez/Ball also worked well in A Month in the Country and intrigued to see Naghdi/Corrales (maybe Manon?). Hayward/Corrales are a real life couple and their R&J was electric - so would like to see them paired again. I don’t mind mixing it up but sometimes it doesn’t work. I can’t picture Hayward/McRae for example.

Good spot! But why have they announced this without announcing the full season yet? still confused as to why they’re holding off so late but no use in moaning and one week to go I suppose.