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Jamesrhblack

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Everything posted by Jamesrhblack

  1. Jamesrhblack
    Ditto
  2. Jamesrhblack
    How wonderful to have seen them boith live
  3. Jamesrhblack
    Yes, the love in the auditorium from both sides of the pit was palpable. Truly, a very very special evening.
  4. Jamesrhblack
    Renata Tebaldi was so beautiful physically, and, in the right repertoire, so beautiful and eloquent to hear. There’s also a remarkable film of her as Madama Butterfly which is not a role to which I would ever consider her physically suited and she’s absolutely convincing.
  5. Jamesrhblack
    Very sad for Akane Takada, but a lovely bonus for Meaghan Grace Hinkis after she lost out on her Sugar-Plum Fairy debut last season.
  6. Jamesrhblack
    I don’t see ENB very often, so am looking forward very much to the matinée.
  7. Jamesrhblack
    Same here. Two front row Grand Tier for Manon with Kaneko / Muntagirov on 23 February for me too and only booking.
  8. Jamesrhblack
    I’m not sure any interpretation can ever be considered definitive, and my experience is very RB based. Nevertheless, over their repertoire here are the ones that really stick in my mind :- Swan Lake Odette / Odile - Fumi Kaneko / Monica Mason (can’t choose) Prince Siegfried - Federico Bonelli / David Wall (can’t choose) The Sleeping Beauty Princess Aurora - Lesley Collier Prince Florimund - Alexander Campbell Giselle Giselle - Laura Morera / Natalia Osipova / Merle Park (can’t choose) Albrecht - Federico Bonelli / David Wall (can’t choose) Myrtha - Monica Mason I don’t go to The Nutcracker so no placings there Manon Manon - Antoinette Sibley / Zenaida Yanowsky (in order) Des Grieux - Alexander Campbell / Anthony Dowell (in alphabetical order) Lescaut - David Wall Lescaut’s Mistress - Monica Mason Mayerling Prince Rudolf - Irek Mukhamedov / David Wall (can’t choose) Mary Vetsera - Mara Galeazzi / Laura Morera (can’t choose) Marie Larisch - Sarah Lamb / Merle Park (can’t choose) Romeo and Juliet (MacMillan) Juliet - Marguerite Porter Romeo - William Bracewell / Alexander Campbell (can’t choose) Mercutio - Alexander Campbell / Stephen Jefferies (can’t choose) Romeo and Juliet (Nureyev) Juliet - Patricia Ruanne Cinderella Cinderella - Antoinette Sibley The Prince - David Wall La fille mal gardée Lise - Lesley Collier / Ann Jenner / Roberta Marquez (can’t choose) Colas - Mikhail Baryshnikov /Alexander Campbell / Irek Mukhamedov / David Wall (can’t choose) A Month in the Country Natalia - Laura Morera / Antoinette Sibley (can’t choose) Beliaev - Mikhail Baryshnikov / Anthony Dowell (can’t choose) Four Schumann Pieces Anthony Dowell Onegin Tatyana - Mara Galeazzi Onegin - Thiago Soares Raymonda - Act 3 Raymonda - Antoinette Sibley Jean de Brienne - Vladimir Muntagirov I have been so lucky to see truly wonderful dancers over the years, but in my preferred repertoire these are the ones who still resonate in memory. I’m also conscious that there are many wonderful dancers I’ve not seen, or not seen enough to have an informed recollection of them. I’m also conscious that some of those who have left the most indelible memories were not partnered together…
  9. Jamesrhblack
    The view isn’t so bad, although cut off by the overhang. However, the sound, because of that overhang, is simply dreadful: the aural equivalent of looking down the wrong end of the opera glasses.
  10. Jamesrhblack
    I thought Osipova was terrific in this back in 2019 and am very pleased she has the broadcast, especially with Alexander Campbell (who was such a moving Des Grieux opposite Hayward) as Lescaut. Sorry that Corrales is still out. His foxily sinister Lescuat was terrific opposite Magri in that wonderful Hayward, Campbell cast last time. Naghdi and Kaneko have certainly struck gold in their partners for their debuts, as (I anticipate) have those who will be lucky enough to see them. Kaneko / Muntagirov for me and I can imagine Dias and Sissens being a sizzling partnership in their respective roles too.
  11. Jamesrhblack
    I probably shouldn’t comment as I’ll not be going to The Nutcracker, but I am slightly surprised not to see David Yudes cast as Hans-Peter (he was delightful when I did actually see The Nutcracker in 2022). Also, does anybody know if Romany Pajdak will be back? After years of neglect, she seemed suddenly to be getting some lovely opportunities but has been missing for over a season now it seems…
  12. Jamesrhblack
    Delighted, in particular, re Isabella Gasparini, Hannah Grennell and Liam Boswell.
  13. Jamesrhblack
    Yes, Antoniette Sibley danced Natalia until 1988 by which time she was 49. Her last performance was on 22 November with Anthony Dowell, although according to the biography I read she had intended to give a further performance on tour which didn’t materialise so she had stopped without necessarily realising that she had done so.
  14. Jamesrhblack
    I absolutely agree re the Giselle in 2021. It was so beautiful I went again. Also, Natalia Petrovna (why so long to be cast) and Mary Vetsera (ditto), also her remarkably vicious Larisch. Very pleased to have have seen her bring her particular charm, technical accomplishment and imaginative absorption to Cinderella, Tytania seeming to shake off the memory of the encounter with Bottom in the final de deux, and loved her Green Girl in Dances at a Gathering. Hopefully, her Manon Bedroom pas de deux from the lockdown screenings will emerge at some point.
  15. Jamesrhblack
    Safely in London 🙂
  16. Jamesrhblack
    Having flown back from Vienna to see Morera this evening I would have been joining you in Casualty Dawnstar !!!
  17. Jamesrhblack
    With that ravishing Fauré score…
  18. Jamesrhblack
    Flying back from work in Vienna to see Laura Morera as Cinderella. A year ago I was flying back from New York to see her as Natalia Petrovna. She is a dancer who has really grown on me and I will miss her on stage very much. Like Shade, I have treated myself to Grand Tier this evening.
  19. Jamesrhblack
    Re the oranges, isn't the point that Prokofiev quites from his opera The Love for Three Oranges at that point, so it’s an “in” joke?
  20. Jamesrhblack
    This score is absolutely ravishing and the production is looking very good on the Big Screen, even if we lost the transformation of Crone (who was actually very glamorous) to Fairy Godmother (who, being Fumi Kaneko, was even more so).
  21. Jamesrhblack
    Sold out, apparently, here in Rye
  22. Jamesrhblack
    I used to love Four Schumann Pieces. And the A minor quartet is so beautiful. Of course, Muntagirov would be exquisite in it but I can also imagine its long lines and lyricism sitting well on Joseph Sissens.
  23. Jamesrhblack
    I can’t remember who I am paraphrasing but the greatness of Fille lies in the fact that whilst its subject matter may seem slight, Ashton’s treatment of the material is anything but that.
  24. Jamesrhblack
    I grew up listening to a Suite from the score (an RCA Victrola LP with Romeo and Juliet on the other side) and am looking forward to hearing the score in the theatre again. As I recall the minor key waltz at the end of Act 2 hinting at imminent disaster and the drama of the clock striking have a nightmare quality that looks right into the darkness at the heart of most fairy tales and the soaring melancholy of the opening is deeply touching. i’d second all the praise for the Sibley, Dowell DVD. The latest remastering is much clearer than the old (which I still have somewhere as well). They are, of course, truly glorious, but it’s a particular pleasure to watch Vyvyan Lorrayne as Summer.
  25. Jamesrhblack
    For what it is worth, all opinions my own, the Woolf / Septimus sequence is two people, one real, one fictional, driven by suicidal impulses but reaching, for now, different conclusions. The fictional character is driven, literally, over the edge. The creator, for now, finds solace in their work and the tranquillity of Monk’s House. This is, of course, in stark contrast to the end of the triptych.
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