theorist

In previous runs, with Avis or Gartside as Gremin, I remember being very moved by the pd2 with Tatiana. Not, I'm afraid, with Brændsrød this evening, when I saw little tenderness on display.

10 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

May I ask who this is? As there's no-one with this surname in the current RB company. Is she a former dancer returned to guest, like Hayley Foskitt did in SB recently?

Sian Murphy -- an Assistant Ballet Mistress and former First Artist at the RB.

FWIW Segal's views about Mayerling seem spot on to me. In particular, all that business in front of the curtain while they're changing the set has always seemed inept and tedious to me.

2 hours ago, Mary said:

Could not agree more about Month in the Country,  Beryl.

 

I am puzzled by the very strong differences in opinion about Hallberg in Month though- wonder if anyone who didn't like his interpretation can say more about why??

 

To me Hallberg seemed gauche and awkward. I wasn't entirely sure whether this was deliberate. After all, Beliaev is usually supposed to be not entirely aware of the effect he is having. So perhaps Hallberg was aiming for a sort of naive and inexperienced charm. At any rate, for me it didn't quite come off. Ball the previous evening was a bit more believable. My favourite in this role remains Pennefather, however. He brought just the right amount of knowingness, I thought.

Firebird I thought Saunders was disappointing as Kostchei on Wednesday. I always find the apple throwing tedious even when the dancers manage to catch them (which they often don't). This time one apple even landed in the pit.

Month Osipova's Natalia Petrovna was better than I remembered it from her previous run---very impressive indeed---but the supporting cast didn't quite reach the (extremely high) standard of the first night.

Symphony I thought Choe was excellent, as were the corps in all four movements. Other than that I agree with most of what has already been said.

I'm so glad I was there this afternoon. It was a very fine performance all round, I thought.

I too saw Alexandrova last night, and I found her performance disappointing. I also agree with Sim that there was no chemistry with her partner. More generally, I found the performance underwhelming. Quite a few of the soloists seemed to find the choreography challenging, and a lot of the acting was poor. I would except from that Stina Quagebeur's excellent debut as Carabosse.

I thought Hayward was even better tonight than I remember from her debut.

Watching Fille yesterday evening, I was reminded of an open rehearsal I saw a couple of years ago, when Christopher Carr was teaching Tom Whitehead the role of Simone and stressed to him that he should think of her as a mother, not a music hall drag act. It would be good if Alastair Marriott could take that to heart. 

I saw Thursday evening's performance.

In Petrushka, Olsbaldeston as the Ballerina and Reimair as Petrushka were both impressive. But the shape of the narrative was a little obscure: the chase sequence lacked any sense of menace, and the Charlatan's troubling character barely registered.

Song of a Wayfarer was very well danced, and the music was beautifully played, but I find it difficult to enthuse about Béjart's choreography.

Raymonda was a mixed bag with some lovely solos (especially Muntagirov).