FionaM

1 hour ago, penelopesimpson said:

Take your point, Fiona, but the only thing Matthew Golding ever convinced me of was that I wished I had booked for someone else.  Like DH, for me his style is not RB

personally MG didn’t work for me either, but at least he can do the lifts.  He looks great in videos elsewhere. Don’t know why ROH seemed to stifle him.  I’d like to see him do Onegin with Osipova. I can’t see that Vadim is up to doing that role yet.  Happy to be proved wrong.

(sorry - going off topic) 

I watched the double Manon showing yesterday ... I had booked the matinee ages ago, and then stayed for the evening on a whim. 
 

I’ll start with the worst ... imagine the killing of the gaoler scene as follows:  David Hallberg as Des Grieux .. oh-shock-horror ... hand-over-mouth ... look-what-I-have-done .... in a ham acting way .... and then next moment all prissy upright dancing.  I nearly guffawed out loud it was so awful.   I noticed he (she?) altered some of the Act one bedroom pdd lifts - I assume he hasn’t the strength.  His lines are beautiful but it seems to me he has lost lots of muscle tone. The lyrical solos were not musical, no soft extending plies and too many rushed adagio movements and noisy landings.
 

Natalia Osipova was authentic to her interpretation throughout and it was convincing.  It may not be true to MacMillan’s original.  She is allowed liberties, which may be a good thing?   We don’t want to see copycat ‘acting’.  But oh for a stronger and more convincing partner for her. Bring back Matthew Golding, Vladimir Shklyarov.... Someone is going to have to tell her that David is undermining her impact. 

Back to the matinee. It proved to be the dream cast for me.  All four main dancers were special.  Frankie captivates throughout. Such an exceptional portrayal.  She has strong technique (not at the Nuñez level - who does!)  but boy can she send over a convincing character journey.  
 

The revelation for me was Alexander Campbell - where has he been hiding that super liquid adagio technique?  Soundless soft landings, multiple slow turns with control and ease, fully using all the music, high extensions, long lines (yes really ... has to be seen to be believed).  Wonderful musicality added to his cute young lover portrayal. Totally convinced by their partnership.  So emotional, sigh.

As an aside, I thought Nuñez danced a wonderful Manon last weekend too - Bolle really transports her to a better level, although his Des Grieux is beautiful but unemotional. He does try and his beauty carries us along.

Almost forgot to write about Cesar Corrales who was utterly brilliant ... superb comedic timing in the drunken solo and pdd and fully immersed in his cunning plans.  If I hadn’t been to the matinee I would have been thrilled with Ryo Hirano’s Lescaut.  I love his range of emotions - both comedic, conniving and scheming.  However, Cesar is technically amazing as well as grabbing one’s attention with his character that he far outshone Ryo and  Marci Sambe in this role.  
 

I loved all the Lescaut mistresses I’ve seen.  Mayara Magri at yesterday’s matinee had the edge, her accomplished technique allows her to enjoy the role and play with her interactions with the other characters.  Impressive debut.  Claire Calvert  (last night) has good comedic timing and expressions and Yuhui Choe (at Nuñez/Bolle performance) was coquettish and had gorgeous sensuous soft arms.  Bravo all.

Are we not blessed with the best ever character artists?   They are all brilliant.  I preferred Thomas Whitehead’s M.GM (with Frankie) and can’t chose between Bennett Gartside and Gary Avis as they gaoler.  They are so hardworking too, appearing in almost every performance as there are so many roles (the old gentleman, brothel clients) for them, Christopher Saunders, Philip Mosley and others (Enrico Montes I noticed).

i will never forget this special matinee performance of Manon.  Wonderful.  .    

13 hours ago, Rob S said:

Obviously when Lescaut gets told his scheduled mistress is injured and is asked who he wants as a replacement they all want the same one, and who can blame them? 🙂

 

 

agree.  I absolutely loved Yuhui’s interpretation, so much more lyrical light and coquettish than others.  Such beautiful soft flowing arms.  Brava 🌟👏

There were parallel streams last year, in addition to subsections within the main host sections.  I can recommend running multiple devices simultaneously ... if your WiFi can cope... to see the dancers / rehearsals you prefer.  Personally I’ve found the RB school section too bland and usually switch over at that point.  

Poor poor Steven McRae.  My heart goes out to him.  He is having a very tough time having been out for so long with multiple surgeries and now another injury on his first performance back.  Reminds me of David Hallberg’s calf injury in Giselle on his first performance at ROH after 2 years out.  There can be a better future 🤞

Thrilled to hear of how wonderful Akane was (she is perfect IMO) and also of how good was James Hay’s interpretation of Lescaut.  I agree he has been under utilised from my first seeing him replacing Steven McRae in Les Lutins 10 years ago in Cuba.  So talented. 

My congratulations to Reece for stepping in, though the height difference between Akane and Reece is rather incongruous.   Surely one of the other ‘smaller’ principals could have been on standby.  I believe that is what other theatres (eg Mariinsky) do.  

18 hours ago, alison said:

Do they have a particularly large number of customers in Bristol?  (Or a smaller number who buy a lot of tickets - quite possible?)

 

Wed design agency might be based in Bristol?

I did get this response to my feedback that a calendar was of the utmost urgency ....

I’ve just received an invitation from ROH to participate in a ‘webpage user testing event’.  I cannot attend - it’s rather short notice.  Friday 25th October in Bristol.  Shame ... I could have been very helpful and would have reflected all the suggestions from here too.  

..... I have to add the timing is amusing me no end .... as the reason I cannot attend is that I am flying to Munich to see Sergei Polunin in Coppélia!

 “SP 1, ROH NIL”

There is one in orchestra stalls on sale on ROH website at the moment.  Worth checking and refreshing there every few hours for other late returns if you miss this one.  Good luck.

22 hours ago, capybara said:

By the way, Osiel Gouneo is not injured and will still be appearing in Laurretta Summerscales' Gala in Woking on 10th November.

Interesting.  What’s the story of why he is not performing in Coppelia in Munich?  Maybe not best suited to the role.

4 hours ago, Bluebird said:

 

Yes. If you look at the link I posted above (from the Time Out website), you’ll see it was the first live relay.

https://www.timeout.com/london/dance/the-nutcracker-live-screening-4

I did ask the ROH collections archivist and they have confirmed your information 👏

15 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

 

I don't know the exact date but the earliest one I remember was in 2008.  It was a screening of The Nutcracker with Alexandra Ansanelli and Valeri Hristov

 

Edited to add that I've just googled it and found a date on the Time Out website: December 28 2008

https://www.timeout.com/london/dance/the-nutcracker-live-screening-4

 

Thank you, that was a very quick response!  I knew someone on here would know.  Much obliged.

 I found this link which refers to the first ever ‘season’ of live cinema relays, which is not quite the same as the first ever live one-off relay that you have found.

https://www.roh.org.uk/news/cinema-season-201112-launched

I am doing a bit of historical research.  Does anyone know when the first live screening in cinemas from the Royal Ballet was?

1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

Such news should only be put on the Forum if it is already in the public domain.

Yes it’s been on Bayerische Staatsballett website public since early yesterday morning that Sergei Polunin will dance Coppélia in Munich on 26 October 2019.  Sadly for his fans, the show was close to sold out beforehand with only some standing tickets and restricted view seats left.  

As I have said before, I do not have inside information on Sergei, just timely insight to public announcements.  

https://www.staatsoper.de/en/staatsballett/translate-to-english-meldungen-ballett/guest-performances-in-201920.html

On 07/10/2019 at 13:27, Angela said:

 

Some more casting news for Munich's Coppélia:  Osiel Gouneo is out.

Swanilda: Laurretta Summerscales, Virna Toppi or Maria Baranova. Franz: Yonah Acosta, Denis Vieira or Dmitrii Vyskubenko.

 

Shall I reveal who is going to replace Osiel Gouneo in Coppélia on 26th October in Münich, or would you like to?  

He’s flying in from his own tour to help out ...  there won’t be much rehearsal time ... at most two days if flights work out 🤞

21 hours ago, Angela said:

 

Some more casting news for Munich's Coppélia:  Osiel Gouneo is out.

Swanilda: Laurretta Summerscales, Virna Toppi or Maria Baranova. Franz: Yonah Acosta, Denis Vieira or Dmitrii Vyskubenko.

 

So sorry to hear Osiel Gouneo is injured.  Do we know how serious?  Fracture or strain?

So many unsold seats for Manon .... on a quick look at a few, I see 200+ unsold for opening night tonight ..... 250+ unsold for tomorrow .... 500+ unsold for Steven McRae’s first performance after long injury break.  Even Osipova/Hallberg performances have 100+ unsold.

The only cast that is close to sold out is Nuñez/Bolle.

Separately I notice that Osipova’s programme at Sadlers Wells in 3 weeks is similarly unsold (at most 25% sold).  

What is is going on?  

17 hours ago, Margaret said:

I wrote to  Nike van Schie about this film and have had the reply below.  

 

We are aiming to give the film a wider theatrical release, so please keep an eye on our website and social media for any updates. 

 

Thank you again for your interest in this film and we hope you enjoy it when you get to see it. 

 

All best wishes,

Nike 
 

Nike van Schie

 

Good news

And Russian haute couture designer Ulyana Sergeenko designed the costumes for Rasputin.  Intricate handmade embroidery ....

Is anyone else worried for Shale, as he doesn’t appear to have joined a company?  I do hope he hasn’t been let down by verbal promises, and that it is visa problems or some such difficulty.  It’s now been 3 months since he left ENB.  If he has been let down, I imagine it would be difficult finding a place as I expect most companies are full, however much they might want him.

I remember Xander Parish saying there was a logistical problem with the Mariinsky paying him which took some months to work out.

How inspiring for the dancers to have these beautiful costumes by fashion design labels. 

Fabulous collaborations happening with ballet and fashion.....

Whilst I am pleased this will be broadcast on BBC, the ROH are behind the times in my opinion on this.  TV screenings are ok, but .....

(1) I’m busy with family on Christmas Day. Hopefully it’ll be available ‘on demand’

(2) cinema screenings are far more enjoyable - being both a ‘night out’ and a ‘Big Screen experience’

(3) how is the film going to get international exposure?  

IMO it should be added to the ROH nationwide & international cinema relays.  

They have SERIOUSLY underestimated the interest.  

1 hour ago, JNC said:

 

Alina does seem to have a packed schedule, I believe she is shortly off to Japan after this! 

 

Alina’s Dream Project dates in Japan are 5-6, 8-9 and 11 February 2020, which pre-dates her shows at Sadlers Wells on 20-23 February 2020.  

Well obviously I personally hope it will be Sergei accompanying Alina in M&A, but it could quite easily be Friedemann Vogel (they’ve performed it together before with Johan as Armand’s father).  Or indeed someone else from RB, Mariinsky, Bolshoi .... so many who perform this now.   I would love to see Friedemann or Sergei in this role so I’ll be booking anyway and hoping for one of these two🤞

Sadly I do not have any inside info on Sergei’s schedule.  

Why oh why isn’t this part of the ROH nationwide /international cinema live screenings?  It would be a sellout .  No Curzon’s anywhere near me ... minimum 2 hours travel ... if they had any tickets left.   

Cinema screenings are so much more immersive and enjoyable as a night out than old fashioned TV broadcasts.  

Is there any more information on the Alina programme?  It seems to be 5 shows.  

And is only 10 days after her 6 show programme in Japan co-starring Friedemann Vogel in Ballet Imperial and Sergei Polunin in M&A.

I don’t think Johan’s dancing is up to the demands of Armand.  I’d expect him to play Armand’s father and I’m sure would be brilliant in that role.