polkadotfrock

Very disappointing news indeed. I love viewing the galleries of photos and had been looking forward to using them to help keep up with the various RB productions throughout the rest of this year whilst I'm abroad for work. In particular I like spotting the various corps members and the shots are always so beautiful

I saw both the afternoon general rehearsal (Nunez/Soares) and evening performance (Cojocaru/Reilly) yesterday and would have to agree with Judith Flanders' report. It might have been in comparison to the rehearsal cast where the emotion and drama really came through, but I found Reilly's portrayal quite bland and didn't feel much from him at all whereas I had been quite overcome earlier in the day by all that was happening on stage. Alina was stunning in the evening and her PDD with Gartside wonderful to watch but I think that it will take time, as you would expect, for her to gel with Reilly to make their joint performance truly believable.

I know it's not the done thing to comment too much on rehearsal casts but Soares was a tour de force in my view, and quite rightly looked triumphant, if exhausted, at the curtain call. His final PDD with Marianela (new to the role I believe, not that you would've thought it given the depth of her portrayal a full week before their first night) was superb. Interestingly, I read an interview with Soares this morning where he stated that Cranko's Onegin was his favourite role. I should point out that I sat in different places in the auditorium for the two casts, and this may have altered my perception of individual performances. I couldn't possibly comment on how "authentic" a performance might be and for me, the emotion it makes me feel is the most important thing when watching ballet. Now I just need to find the time to view some more performances of Onegin!