Jamesrhblack

A double Manon for me today. I think that I’ve been looking forward to the matinée more than anything since Hayward / Campbell in Giselle or, possibly, Bonelli / Morera in Mayerling...

Simply awful for Steven McRae. Of course, Alexander Campbell partnered Akane Takada last time (replacing Steven McRae)...

https://www.roh.org.uk/news/david-hallberg-returns-to-the-royal-ballet-as-principal-guest-artist

Unforgettable as Nureyev’s Juliet, especially her breakdown mourning Tybalt at the end of Act 2. Also, very fond memories of her as Giselle and her last performance as La Sylphide - she had a beautifully rounded shape which was very beautiful in Romantic works. Wasn’t quite so keen on her Aurora or Odette / Odile, but she remains in memory very much favourite, and, if I may so write (and a moderator will remove if I may not), I also thought her extraordinarily beautiful to behold.

I loved Ann Jenner and Rosalyn Written, and Deborah Bull has been one of my favourite female dancers ever. We are now seeing more of Romany Pajdak and I absolutely agree that she is much under-rated artist. I’m not sure how many wider opportunities her relatively late promotion will afford, but I am very pleased it has happened.

Very happy memories of Sandra Magdwick as Aurora with Michael O'Hare at the ROH. A lovely dancer to recall :-)

An absolute delight. I had an anxious moment when presenting my ticket (I had treated myself to Grand Tier) to find I had somehow booked a ticket for Thursday (when I will be en route to Vienna) but even with only ten minutes to go the Box Office staff sorted me out with a ticket even better than the one I had booked. That was at the end of the front row. This was dead centre: I’m guessing an unallocated house seat. So, perhaps I was in the right mood to enjoy anyway, but I don’t think there was anything that didn’t please apart from possibly a rather rushed setting up of the disguise plan at the end of Act One and a similarly rushed finale. It’s a very compact piece, Act One around 40 minutes and Act Two barely fifty. As others have commented, the design is terrific and the score scintillatingly good. It was good to see the dancers earring their human face and evidently having a ball.

Yes, could imagine that too...

I can’t see the current RB managing this, but had a crazy thought back then (which was impossible) that one could just imagine David Wall as Spartacus opposite Anthony Dowell / Wayne Eagling as Crassus. Casting would have dictated Antoinette Sibley / Merle Park as Phrygia with Lynn Seymour as Aegina, but I’d have put that the other way round...

But why, o why is Morera not dancing Tatiana with Bonelli when it may well have been the last chance to see them together in this. And Clarke as Gremin? And where is Campbell 😞

Romeo & Juliet on tour I believe ....

Thanks Alison 🙂

And Campbell’s jump-in Des Grieux was truly wonderful. This could be a magical pairing and it’s certainly my first choice although I will also see Osipova and Hallberg. I understand the concerns re his partnering after the accident at the Fonteyn Gala but I think he’s a most beautiful dancer and that his lyrical, extended style will suit this Dowell role. I also enjoy his stage partnership with Osipova ... Mind you, I’ve never forgotten Sibley as Manon with Dowell and find her Bedroom Pas de Deux with Wall (on YouTube) almost definitive, late as it is in both their careers.

I’m also surprised, even if it seems disrespectful to admit that. I was also surprised to see him cast as Lescaut in the Morera / Bonelli cast, as I can’t envisage that working generation-gap wise at all ...

Yuhui Choe

Just back from the cinema. Early start tomorrow, so will write at more considered length on train (and need to formulate thoughts on Fonteyn Gala), but I enjoyed Matthew Ball more in that than anything else I have seen him do. A really moving performance. Yasmine Naghdi is exceptionally lovely, but I had sympathy with the poster who felt she had become too classical in some ways for this role. The cinema really enables you to catch things you might not otherwise do, and I thought Romany Pajdak's epaulement absolutely gorgeous. You could also how much Mica Bradbury was relishing the moment.

It was before R & J and I was very surprised to see it. Nevertheless, a lovely evening 🙂

Thanks for this. I’d even bought a programme but there was no cast change flyer with the cast list ...

I really enjoyed this afternoon’s matinée which absolutely justified a dawn start from Rye. Interesting how different performances read. I agree with bridiem that Mayara Magri was superb, but found her aggressive, authoritative and aquiline (and not just because I like a bit of alliteration), with a thrilling jump. I was reminded more than once of Karsavina’s injunction, “Here is no human emotion.” Conversely, Ryoichi Hirano partnered well, but I thought his final gesture of authority lacked exactly that. The Enchanted Princess’ apple catching was well below championship standard too (surprised to see Christina Arestis, Claire Calvert, Melissa Hamilton and Beatriz Stix-Brunell-Brunelleschi amongst them). Even so, the glorious final tableau against Stravinsky’s wonderful score raised the hoped for lump in the throat. A Month in the Country was sheer joy from start to finish. It was one of my late mother’s favourite ballets (ideally with Sibley and Wall, although she liked Baryshnikov too), and I wondered if thinking of that raised my emotional vulnerability. I can honestly say that I was damp around the gills for much of it from the exquisite matching of choreography, music and situation. Natalia Osipova seems to bend a great deal more than the last time I saw her in this, and her variety of mood (bored, capricious, despairing, longing, the astonishment of “Natalia Petrova, you are in love”), the fluency of her footwork and the remarkable bleak misery she can convey read strongly, not just in partnership with David Hallberg but in her interactions with Nehemiah Kish too (how wonderful to see him back on stage, even if in a different style of role now). Hallberg may be a little more mature in demeanour than some as Beliaev, but his beautiful long lines, articulate feet and still, burning intensity were absolutely captivating, and he has the glamour of look and magnetism of personality to make Natalia’s and Vera’s fascination, as well as Kolia’s adoration understandable. A lovely maid from Tara-Brigitte Bhavnani (good to see her back so vividly), a Kolia fleet of foot and youthful of demeanour from Luca Acri (I’d never before registered the little bits of gaucheness Ashton puts in to show youth with the upturned foot in a turning sequence) and a Vera of hurt indignation from Meaghan Grace Hinkis, swooning in Beliaev’s arms but incredulous at the hypocrisy of adults. Perhaps I’d invested too strongly emotionally in Month fully to surrender to Symphony in C. I know it is a great favourite of many people, but I have to be honest and write that although I enjoyed it I didn’t experience the euphoria which others have felt. Maybe it was concern at an early slip from Fumi Kaneko, although she recovered splendidly; a slight irritation at the slowing of the orchestral score (well though it was played under Emmanuel Plasson’s fluent baton - lovely pacing of Chopin in Month); a slight sense of Marianela Nunez in Queen Bee form, marvellous as she is; or having read some criticism of Yuhui Choe’s and Francesca Hayward’s technical prowess (bold of anyone to criticise those two on here I’d think) that seemed possibly quasi self-fulfilling in observation. Alexander Campbell was dazzling though (he really has honed his technical prowess to something remarkable - those whiplash turns) and I noticed none of the grimaces of which others have complained. I’ll confess he’s a personal favourite, but I like to think that that means not that “love” is blind but that it enables one also to be honest about failings as well as strengths. He’s going to be a wonderful Troyte. This is a bill that should certainly have reached the cinema and I am sorry to have the chance only to see it once as I would very much like to have seen all The Firebird (including Tierney Heap, as it were) and A Month in the Country casts.

I am so pleased to see Kish developing in new directions. I've always enjoyed his work. He doesn't seem to be listed as yet next season but I wonder if he might be on the cusp of a sideways move to Principal Character Dancer.

Am so looking forward to seeing this tomorrow 🙂

Me too 🙂

Ah, that’s interesting and good news for Hamilton and Clarke, neither of whom appeared on the original PDF casting that was sent at the start of this thread.

And was superb in Swan Lake, as well a developing her own unique company profile in Forsythe. her TV series, Dance, Ballerina, Dance, shows she was a much more versatile (as in non just strong and “modern”) artist than the company allowed her to be.

That was way back in 2004. She got two more chances to dance the role in 2014. Bolle cancelled the first (I think Golding replaced him) but he did dance the second with Acosta as Lescaut ....