art_enthusiast

25 minutes ago, Geoff said:

Dancers I have spoken to are grateful for applause as it increases the time they have to recover. 

Good to know, that’s what I thought

4 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

It doesn't sound at all interesting to me - only the Balanchine answers to that description, but then I don't like Wheeldon or McGregor and have learned to wait for others' opinions of the RB's commissions.

 

I'll certainly catch some of the Cinderella casts, probably the same for Onegin, and R&J will be very cast dependent.

Maybe more interesting from my perspective as I have never seen Onegin or Alice!

I hope that Anna Rose and Mayara will be debuting Cinderella this time around. 

Sounds like an interesting season, very promising with the Balanchine triple bill, Onegin and hopefully some exciting R and J debuts. Also intrigued about Alice but not overly so - depends on casting. (I was hoping for R and J in the Autumn instead but oh well) Looks like I will mostly be going after the New Year
 

And none of the Tchaikovsky big three - refreshing (not that I dislike any of them, there’s just been a lot of them lately)

31 minutes ago, Geoff said:

 

There is also established stage practice for making such an exchange really magical. 

 

So how should it be done then? I’m intrigued. I personally do like it as it is, but I am aware that the lack of similarity in looks between human/swan dancers cracks the believability a bit. I still find it quite dramatic and exciting though as it’s the first glimpse of Odette before the rather long opening waltz and so on.

3 hours ago, Mora said:

On the topic of cinema relay for the next season, I do crave that if Fumi and William are going to be cast in R&J together again (fingers crossed), their performance is streamed and/or uploaded to the ROH stream service.

Yes, definitely.

Also curious - has Fumi danced Alice in Alice in Wonderland? Or is she likely to be cast as Queen of Hearts?

Trying to guess casting, I'm sure it will be a while before anything is announced though.

11 minutes ago, Scheherezade said:

It’s gorgeous, isn’t it. The camera loves both of them and they are each so convincing in what they portray. Add Matthew Ball’s glorious Tybalt to the mix and what you have is pure gold. 

Yes, and Marcelino's Mercutio (which I was fortunate to see live in the 2022 run when he stood in for someone, can't remember who). Perfect casting

I very much like that Romeo and Juliet film that pairs Hayward and Bracewell together, very beautiful.

10 hours ago, MildConcern said:

It’s not Francesca Hayward’s wheelhouse but she gave it a good attempt and was better as Odette. I’m afraid her Odile was rather unconvincing, though I do give her plaudits for managing to muscle through the fouettés when she was clearly out of steam and laboured.

 

That was my impression after seeing her portrayal in 2022. It sounds like she’s made advancements as Odile though, I don’t think she got through all the fouettés last time.

In terms of classical roles, I really liked her Aurora last year. 

A very interesting insight with lovely dancing. I had no idea there was another version of Giselle set in New Orleans, it would be great to see the whole thing.

16 minutes ago, Silver Capricorn said:

And it was Vadim, who was asked in the course of the interview whether the applause during the performance after the variations disturbs him, who answered that he welcomes every such interruption, because every second of applause means a moment to rest and catch his breath for the next dance. Few people can imagine the physical strain dancers are exposed to during a performance. For me personally, it certainly does not spoil the artistic experience.

Exactly. I know from watching Kathryn Morgan’s ballet commentary videos on YouTube that they use that applause time to breathe. So they should certainly have it - not for too long obviously but I see the need for it.

On 23/04/2024 at 22:47, Roberta said:

Ballet Shoes on film,  a discussion.

 

1975 v 2007 versions (with comments underneath) 

 

https://pargoletta.livejournal.com/126261.html

 

 

 

I think some of the 1975 series is on YouTube. I watched some of it a few years ago and thought the child actors were pretty good 

I assume it helps if the cygnets are all of similar height? As they have to stay linked together the whole time. I don't think the casting is always the same height wise though.

On 20/04/2024 at 22:40, San Perregrino said:

Can we expect the same for Ballet Shoes or some gender swapping of the characters perhaps? 

I am hoping for colour blind casting, otherwise I hope they don't change much.

On 21/04/2024 at 08:22, CCL said:

‘Garnie’ and Theo were rivals for the love of Mr Simpson, if I remember correctly? That put me right off! 

Yes and I have to say I found that hilarious, given that he is happily married in the book. I liked the actor for Mr Simpson though, I remember seeing him in Doctor Who around the same time. His bond with Petrova was sweet and well done on screen (loved the Petrova actress, though since this and Sarah Jane adventures I haven’t seen much of her which is sad). I think it was pretty well cast overall, all the sisters had a good family bond on screen.

However, I do think it would have been a good idea to cast a more unknown actress who needed the exposure as Pauline, instead of Emma Watson - though she was so big at the time casting her was a guarantee loads of kids would watch it. I thought Theo was a good choice of actress minus the love story, lol. Loved Emilia Fox and Victoria Wood’s relationship on screen.

I remember the actor who played Mr Dursley from Harry Potter was also in it as Gum. I watched it so many times as a kid (think we recorded it on a disc) and I used to act out scenes with my friends at sleepovers. Book sales must have had a resurgence around that time, I remember getting a copy for my Xmas present. Maybe because of nostalgia I will go and see this production, not sure yet! I assume they will definitely cast an actual ballet dancer as Posy this time - I very much liked Posy in the 2007 adaptation though. The main thing I didn’t like was how they made Winnifred out to be a bit catty, when she was a sweet child and friend of theirs in the book.

4 hours ago, Lindsay said:

True.  And I suspect Mariko Sasaki (who was a beautiful big swan on opening night of this run) has been focusing on her Odette/Odile debut so we haven't seen so much of her in soloist roles recently either

Yep, I was thinking that might be why she didn’t have a shot at the Mistress role in Manon (I imagine she would be amazing in that)

It’s certainly fine to hum along to the radio in your car, for example. But in a public place where people have paid to hear live music/a live performance, it does seem bizarre. It should be obvious that opera and ballet don’t require audience participation as maybe pantomimes or musicals do. Maybe they need to start putting that on the cast sheets.

I certainly hope people don’t do it at the Proms (I haven’t been for a while so I don’t know)

16 hours ago, Rachel H said:

At the matinee of 'Swan Lake' this afternoon, the couple next to me started humming along during act 2! I shushed them, and the woman looked at me as if to say 'what's the problem? This is jolly isn't it,' and started humming a bit louder. They got another 'shush' from me, which did the trick. Mind you, she was also a finger tapper as well. They behaved a bit better during act 3 thank goodness! I know the conductor was good, but I would rather listen to his interpretation of the Tchaikovsky score, that their off tone humming, personally!

How incredibly annoying. I’ve also had the unfortunate experience of sitting near someone who felt the need to bob their head and wave their fingers around as if they were the conductor… Extremely irritating!

On 17/04/2024 at 18:45, LinMM said:

I just booked Fille at Sadlers Wells today …it seems such a long way ahead but as only three performances thought best to get on with it! 

Same! I am eager to see it live for the first time.

I’m so happy for her.

Just a query, I’m a bit confused as to why he was performing today if he had already pulled out of future shows due to his existing injury? I would have thought he’d be off fully.

Oh dear, I hope he’s OK.

I'm curious about Queen of Hearts casting - really loved Laura Morera and Zenaida Yanowsky in the recordings, not sure who else has done it?

2 hours ago, OnePigeon said:

So far that’s a pretty disappointing season for me as I have no wish to Cinderella again so soon and I’m not bothered about Alice, but I am pleased to see R&J 

Same here, I feel like Cinderella is way too soon - I really liked it but I remember it so well that I don't feel the need to see it again. It feels like they literally just did it (I felt the same when they brought back the Dante Project). I might go but only if there's an interesting debut (or to catch Hayward's portrayal as I missed her in the last run).

I saw R&J so many times in the last run that I would mainly go if there are more debuts at first soloist/soloist level or potentially first artist/artist (Joseph Sissens, Mariko Sasaki, Isabella Gasparini, Marco Masciari, Daichi Ikarashi etc).

Alice in Wonderland I haven't yet seen. I have watched clips from the main pas de deux online, and the Queen of Hearts/Rose Adagio spoof, they do look lovely but I don't know if I would like to watch the whole piece in full... also I don't know if it's something mainly for children, wondering if I would feel odd going without any!

I would definitely be booking for Onegin if it was announced, for the others I'm really not sure and it would very much depend on the casting.

1 hour ago, Richard LH said:

Yes she was cast with Nicol Edmonds as the Prince last time.....wonderful!

Yep, she was originally cast with Sambe who was injured so Edmonds stepped in.

4 hours ago, Silke H said:

Onegin was on January/February 2020 including Thiago Soares' farewell on 29th Feb 2020

Guess they can’t do Feb this time as that’s when Paris Opera are doing it