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CatherineTheMediocre

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  1. On the subject of dancers' heights, there was, and might still be, a list of RB dancers and their heights on a pinboard in the wardrobe department, visible through the furthest window on the public terrace. Nonchalantly glance through the window in the evening when the room is empty and see if it's still there.
  2. I saw the triple-bill last night. The McGregor piece was the worst experience I’ve ever been subjected to at the ROH – it was excruciating. Nearly 24 hours later and I’m still spitting feathers about it. Never before have I been tempted to walk out DURING a performance. But I persevered until the end, for some of the time with my thumbs rammed in my ears to see if watching the dance in (almost) silence was an improvement. Yes it was, vastly, but 35 minutes was too long to suffer the physical pain of pinched ears so instead I had to suffer the auditory pain of listening to the ‘orchestral soundscape’ that bore absolutely no relation to the choreography. To borrow Nogoat’s phrasing, there are times when movement and music meld into a synaesthetic high. This McGregor piece is not one of them – in fact it does the exact opposite: the disconnect between soundscape and dance actually detracts from watching the dance. For me, the level of incongruity was intolerable. As soon as the dancing stopped I shot out of the auditorium, spitting expletives, and headed to the bar like a heat-seeking missile, for an anaesthetising glass of wine (and I never normally drink at performances). Corybantic Games was in a similar vein of music-not-matching-choreography but it was less intolerable and I only needed a consoling ice-cream in the second interval to get over it. The start of Anastasia didn’t put me in a much better mood, but after the characterisation started there was actually a point when I realised that I had been so absorbed in what I was seeing that I had stopped registering what I was hearing. Despite the bleak subject matter, Anastasia was the saving grace of the night and I left feeling not entirely dispirited. Fair enough, people’s tastes are subjective and we can’t like everything we see. I’ve spent over 20 years visiting the ROH and, cumulatively, have spent many an hour disengaged with what was happening on stage (ironically mostly during classical repertoire, especially Ashton) and instead passing the time looking around the auditorium/at the orchestra/at the ceiling and just generally thinking about something else. But last night was something else altogether - it was painful.
  3. Mine are a small pair of binoculars, bought from Argos many years ago, probably for about £20. They're 8x22 magnification which is similar to the National Trust ones linked to upthread (and which are only available online, according to that NT webpage). Argos don't seem to have an equivalent now but this Kodak pair might be the closest: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1979453?clickPR=plp:6:8 They're 10 times magnification which is quite strong for theatre use but probably OK from the ROH amphitheatre.
  4. Thanks Rob! I found a picture on his Instagram account of him as Bluebird from an earlier performance and he wasn't wearing earrings then.
  5. Calvin Richardson was wearing earrings tonight (Friday). Is that part of the Bluebird costume? I haven't noticed it before.
  6. Lauren Cuthbertson has some lovely photos on her Instagram account of her and Nela sitting in front of a 'Covent Garden' sign at the tube station, surrounded by their bouquets: https://www.instagram.com/londonballerina/
  7. I've just experienced the phantom £3 that prevents successful payment while trying to buy a ticket for the Swan Lake Ukraine fundraiser. I had deleted the optional £3 donation and on the payment page the total due was £112, but the transaction kept being declined because the system was trying to process payment for £115 instead. I checked the basket to see if the £3 donation was showing but it wasn't, just the ticket. After a few attempts I deleted the ticket from my basket and then the £3 donation appeared in the basket, which I also deleted (it hadn't been visible when I'd looked before). Fortunately I was able to purchase another (better) ticket after refreshing the booking page a number of times and that payment went through first time. Is the phantom £3 a common problem? Has it been reported to the box office?
  8. I saw the film at Sadler’s Wells and thought it was wonderful! There were times when I was so transported into the film I had to bring myself back and remember I was sitting in the auditorium. If anyone has the opportunity to see it in a cinema and is still undecided about going, definitely go and see it! This is what I remember from the Q&A session (from memory and in no particular order): Michael Nunn, William Trevitt, William Bracewell, Marcelino Sambe, Matthew Ball – interviewed by someone whose name I didn’t catch. It was filmed in Hungary and the sets already existed, having been created for the TV series The Borgias. There were a few indoor/outdoor changes: the Capulet’s ball (Dance of the Knights etc) was set in a garden/courtyard rather than inside, because there wasn’t a suitable set for an indoor ballroom. Juliet’s bedroom was originally the set for the Pope’s garden, so they added a ceiling and dressed it as a bedroom [I was rather taken with the furnishings, especially the voile curtains!]. When asked if there had been any resistance to making the film, Michael Nunn said no. In fact Deborah McMillan had said the ballet was “unbreakable”. The hardest part had been getting funding. The dancers had done screen tests (some for more than one part) and had no expectation of getting the parts. Nunn and Trevitt had decided to go with dancers closer to the ages of the characters and therefore the main parts had gone to younger dancers and not older/more experienced dancers. The interviewer said Matthew Ball hadn’t performed Tybalt on stage before he performed it on film [but I saw him as Tybalt in May 2019 – when was filming?] and that people had commented that he brought something extra to the stage version [I would agree as I found his performance very memorable]. Challenges of filming: having to do multiple takes and not matching the level of emotion expressed in the first take (Marcelino Sambe). The swordfight scene where it ‘rains’ towards the end – pressure of having to get it right because the rain wets costumes and scenery and it’s not easy to reshoot (Matthew Ball). Michael Nunn: it didn’t always matter if the footwork wasn’t perfect as they could just cut out the feet [an advantage of not filming it as a stage performance]. Speed: the score is slightly faster than they are used to dancing [Sambe spins at a speed I didn't think was humanly possible - I'm not sure if the nature of film makes him look faster than real life]. Nunn/Trevitt said they would like to do more films but didn’t say which ballets. Michael Nunn said he would like to have more animals next time!
  9. Bumping this because it was previewed in the RB segment of World Ballet Day yesterday. As stated up-thread, there is a limited showing in some Curzon cinemas, mostly on 16 December but a few (Oxford and some London Curzons) have a second date (either 18, 22 or 23 December). https://www.curzoncinemas.com/victoria/film-info/romeo-and-juliet-beyond-words PLUS (drum roll please)... There will be a showing at Sadlers Well on 9 December (with a post-show talk with Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, leading cast members and creatives). Priority booking opens on 28/29/30 October (depending on your membership level) and public booking opens on 1 November. https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/2019/romeo-and-juliet-beyond-words/
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