Bluebird

They probably don't know yet which dancers will definitely appear. There have been very long cast change slips at recent performances (due to illness or injury) I imagine that they want to keep their options open until the last minute.

Partial casting has now been announced: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/6104-ballet-in-the-cinema-2013-2014/?p=84153

Partial casting for tomorrow's cinema broadcast of the Royal Ballet Sleeping Beauty is now on the ROH website. http://static.roh.org.uk/showings/sleeping-beauty-2014/en.pdf PRINCESS AURORA SARAH LAMB PRINCE FLORIMUND STEVEN McRAE KING FLORESTAN XXIV CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS HIS QUEEN ELIZABETH McGORIAN CARABOSSE KRISTEN McNALLY LILAC FAIRY LAURA McCULLOCH PRINCESS FLORINE YUHUI CHOE THE BLUEBIRD VALENTINO ZUCCHETTI GRAND PAS DE DEUX SARAH LAMB, STEVEN McRAE Edited to correct the link

Unusually, this run, there have only been 4 attendants on stage in Act III. In the past, when some of the attendants from Act 1 have been used in other roles in Act III (eg the White Cat or Red Riding Hood) the numbers have been made up by students. This season, there have been many injuries in the corps and they don't seem to have used students to fill in the gaps. This, presumably, explains why they have only fielded 6 attendants in Act 1 (instead of 8) and only 4 in Act III. In my opinion this is a mistake as the overall impact has been consequently diminished. It will be interesting to see if they augment the numbers of attendants for the cinema broadcast.

It was definitely Tierney's debut. As for Christina, I suspect it was her debut but don't know for sure.

Symphonic Variations please - seems like ages since it was last on.

He also has a Romeo (July 29) and a second Swan Lake (August 14).

I'm afraid all productions are the same price. No discounts for mixed bills this time.

Thanks for that, BBB. It would seem that they've abandoned the £55 price mentioned in the ROH magazine.

The price chart was there originally. I wonder why they’ve taken it off? The chart, which was up until recently, showed the following prices for the amphitheatre: The lilac seats at the sides and rear of the amphi: £32. The brown seats in the rear amph: £25. The pink seats: £20 The turquoise seats and standing places: £10 Edited to add that the more expensive seats (yellow, olive green and blue) are presumably £48,, £55 and £60. Since these seats are way out of my price range I didn't look at them when the prices were on the website.

I've just realised I posted the London Coliseum Pagodas casting in the wrong forum. Here it is in its rightful place! 26 March 2014 7:30 pm Princess Belle Sakura: Momoko Hirata The Salamander Prince: Joseph Caley Empress Epine: Elisha Willis The Emperor: Rory Mackay King of the North: Mathias Dingman King of the East: Chi Cao King of the West: James Barton King of the South: Tyrone Singleton Court Fool: Tzu-Chao Chou Court Official: Jonathan Payn Conductor: Koen Kessels 27 March 2014 2:00 pm Princess Belle Sakura: Yaoqian Shang The Salamander Prince: Yasuo Atsuji Empress Epine: Delia Mathews The Emperor: Jonathan Payn King of the North: Kit Holder King of the East: Chi Cao King of the West: Lachlan Monaghan King of the South: Brandon Lawrence Court Fool: Lewis Turner Court Official: Valentin Olovyannikov Conductor: Koen Kessels 27 March 2014 7:30 pm Princess Belle Sakura: Jenna Roberts The Salamander Prince: William Bracewell Empress Epine: Samara Downs The Emperor: Valentin Olovyannikov King of the North: Oliver Till King of the East: Tzu-Chao Chou King of the West: Feargus Campbell King of the South: Tyrone Singleton Court Fool: James Barton Court Official: Tom Rogers Conductor: Paul Murphy 28 March 2014 7:30 pm Princess Belle Sakura: Miki Mizutani The Salamander Prince: Mathias Dingman Empress Epine: Céline Gittens The Emperor: Jonathan Payn King of the North: Oliver Till King of the East: William Bracewell King of the West: Feargus Campbell King of the South: Yasuo Atsuji Court Fool: James Barton Court Official: Valentin Olovyannikov Conductor: Paul Murphy 29 March 2014 2:30 pm Princess Belle Sakura: Momoko Hirata The Salamander Prince: Joseph Caley Empress Epine: Elisha Willis The Emperor: Rory Mackay King of the North: Mathias Dingman King of the East: Chi Cao King of the West: James Barton King of the South: Tyrone Singleton Court Fool: Tzu-Chao Chou Court Official: Jonathan Payn Conductor: Koen Kessels 29 March 2014 7:30 pm Princess Belle Sakura: Jenna Roberts The Salamander Prince: William Bracewell Empress Epine: Samara Downs The Emperor: Valentin Olovyannikov King of the North: Kit Holder King of the East: Tzu-Chao Chou King of the West: James Barton King of the South: Brandon Lawrence Court Fool: Lewis Turner Court Official: Tom Rogers Conductor: Koen Kessels

Thanks, Tony. I've copied and pasted it below (edited to try to correct format) 26 March 2014 7:30 pm Princess Belle Sakura: Momoko Hirata The Salamander Prince: Joseph Caley Empress Epine: Elisha Willis The Emperor: Rory Mackay King of the North: Mathias Dingman King of the East: Chi Cao King of the West: James Barton King of the South: Tyrone Singleton Court Fool: Tzu-Chao Chou Court Official: Jonathan Payn Conductor: Koen Kessels 27 March 2014 2:00 pm Princess Belle Sakura: Yaoqian Shang The Salamander Prince: Yasuo Atsuji Empress Epine: Delia Mathews The Emperor: Jonathan Payn King of the North: Kit Holder King of the East: Chi Cao King of the West: Lachlan Monaghan King of the South: Brandon Lawrence Court Fool: Lewis Turner Court Official: Valentin Olovyannikov Conductor: Koen Kessels 27 March 2014 7:30 pm Princess Belle Sakura: Jenna Roberts The Salamander Prince: William Bracewell Empress Epine: Samara Downs The Emperor: Valentin Olovyannikov King of the North: Oliver Till King of the East: Tzu-Chao Chou King of the West: Feargus Campbell King of the South: Tyrone Singleton Court Fool: James Barton Court Official: Tom Rogers Conductor: Paul Murphy 28 March 2014 7:30 pm Princess Belle Sakura: Miki Mizutani The Salamander Prince: Mathias Dingman Empress Epine: Céline Gittens The Emperor: Jonathan Payn King of the North: Oliver Till King of the East: William Bracewell King of the West: Feargus Campbell King of the South: Yasuo Atsuji Court Fool: James Barton Court Official: Valentin Olovyannikov Conductor: Paul Murphy 29 March 2014 2:30 pm Princess Belle Sakura: Momoko Hirata The Salamander Prince: Joseph Caley Empress Epine: Elisha Willis The Emperor: Rory Mackay King of the North: Mathias Dingman King of the East: Chi Cao King of the West: James Barton King of the South: Tyrone Singleton Court Fool: Tzu-Chao Chou Court Official: Jonathan Payn Conductor: Koen Kessels 29 March 2014 7:30 pm Princess Belle Sakura: Jenna Roberts The Salamander Prince: William Bracewell Empress Epine: Samara Downs The Emperor: Valentin Olovyannikov King of the North: Kit Holder King of the East: Tzu-Chao Chou King of the West: James Barton King of the South: Brandon Lawrence Court Fool: Lewis Turner Court Official: Tom Rogers Conductor: Koen Kessels

Nicholas and Jerome are at White Lodge. Ricardo was, I believe, originally at Elmhurst but is now at White Lodge. Scott was also at White Lodge.

Here is the full list of prizes: YBDY 2014 First: Erik Woolhouse Second: Joseph Sissons Third: Nicholas Landon Sibley Dowell Award for a promising student with potential: Ricardo Castellanos Commendations: Jerome Barnes Scott McKenzie (Joseph Aumeer) Normally there are only two commendations but the Jury felt that Joseph Aumeer was so closely behind that he also deserved to be highly commended Jury Mavis Staines CM (Chairman) Deanne Bergsma Christopher Hampson Stephen Jefferies David Nixon OBE Kevin O'Hare Tamara Rojo Sarah Wildor Congratulations, not only to those who won prizes, but to all who took part.

According to the class lists printed in the 2013 end of year performance programmes, that is correct.

Going by the class lists in last summer’s RBS programmes, only 5 Upper School boys took part in the semi-finals. I don’t know how others feel but I really don’t think it appropriate to comment publicly on their solos, especially as they didn’t all make it to the final.

Isn't that the correct Russian pronunciation? I'd always understood that the stress should be on the first syllable of Pavlova. Maybe our Russian speakers could confirm?

Quote from the ROH website: (The YBDY is) "open to private and vocational students aged 15-17 who are British or have been trained in Britain for the last 3 years"

The semi finals took place this afternoon. Here is the list of those who got through to the final (all RBS): Phoebe Fenwick Isabella Knights Ella Vickerman Connie Vowles Kiely Groenewegen Charlotte Tonkinson Grace Horne Harris Bell Nicholas Landon Jerome Barnes Harry Wright Joseph Sissons Ricardo Castellanos Joseph Aumeer Scott McKenzie Eric Woolhouse Freed encouragement gifts were presented to: Amelia Palmiero RBS Lucinda Strachan ENBS Aiden O'Brien RBS Hanno Opperman ENBS Class teacher for the preliminary rounds and the semi-finals: Maina Gielgud Jury for the semi-finals: Deanne Bergsma, Stephen Jefferies, Sarah Wildor The finalists are to receive coaching from Marianela Nuñez and Thiago Soares. Congratulations and good luck to them all! Edited for accuracy

Yes, I suppose we should have mentioned that Prince Charles and Camilla were in the Royal Box last night.

It was, indeed, a magical evening. Yuhui put so much detail into her performance that I almost felt as if I was seeing the ballet anew. We had a number of other outstanding debuts last night. We not only had Yuhui and Ryo as Aurora and her Prince but, as Beryl says, we also had Frankie Hayward and Marcelino Sambé as a most enchanting Bluebird and Princess Florine. I also suspect that it was Romany Pajdak's debut as Fairy of the Crystal Fountain. She did really well despite the fact that she would have had very little notice that she was to dance. (She was a last minute substitution due to illness)

The reviews I've read have almost all had nothing but praise for Lauren Cuthbertson's Aurora. Indeed a number of them have used superlatives to describe her performance last Saturday. As for the Garland Dance, it seems that the Ashton Garland Dance was initially replaced by a MacMillan Garland Dance (in Anthony Dowell's 1994 production) The 2003 Makarova production presumably had a Makarova choreographed version. The 2006 production was the first to use the Wheeldon version and, interestingly, according to the Gerald Dowler review in today's Links, it has been modified since the production was first staged. Edited to add that I've just discovered that MacMillan also choreographed the Garland Dance for the 1973 production. It was replaced by the Ashton for the 1977 production then, as mentioned above, it returned in 1994. Does anyone remember if there was any difference between these two MacMillan versions?

Some more details here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2014/ballet-season.html

It was already in the public domain, Meunier. Kevin O'Hare came out on stage to make the announcement of the cancellation and it was he who used the word 'concussion'.

There are a lot of videos of rehearsals..etc on the Royal Opera House section of YouTube