DoctorDerry

14 hours ago, Fonty said:

Well, there seems to have been quite a party of ballet forum people there last night.  How come I never seem to find anybody?   Next time I will parade up and down the floral hall holding a huge placard saying "BalletCoForum make yourselves known."  Or better yet, I shall wear a sandwich board with the same message.

 

Anyway, it gave me the chance to finish the cryptic crossword during the intervals, so I suppose that is something.

 

I am really interested to know why people hate Different Drummer so much?  I thought it was very powerful.  I have sat through things that felt far worse, usually new pieces by current choreographers.  

Edited to add could the posts regarding the Ashton triple bill be put in a separate thread?  Or in an existing one if it has already been started.  

Well in summary. I did not like the music I disliked the story. I found the choreography indifferent and the dancers I saw did not impress me. Sorry

20 hours ago, Richard LH said:

Anyone else going to see Fumi and Will tonight??

How I wish I was. Lucky you

Just a quick review of last night’s performances ,but before that a ‘Thank You’ to forum members for your erudite and helpful previous discussions about Different Drummer, much needed to follow the story.

We found Dances Concertantes great fun, really well danced by everyone,the costumes are certainly eye openers and must have been quite astonishing in the grey years of the 50s. Could not stop thinking of the teletubbies unfortunately.

I really disliked pretty much everything in DD and although I would have preferred to see the first cast I suspect they would not have rescued it for me. Never again.

Requiem was glorious We agreed that if they did it again we would be back  asap

wonderful ensemble work and beautiful duets, plus some of my favourite music. Heaven

Thank you Dawnstar and Silke for your photos

On 01/03/2024 at 11:38, JNC said:

I’m of the perhaps controversial opinion that if anything there are perhaps too many principals now.

 

this leads to current principles being under-utilised, and or very long runs of the same production so every principal can have their go (whilst still not casting certain principals ahead of first soloists or others ironically!). I do appreciate long runs may not be driven by this alone but it does seem like everyone has to have their go at swan lake unlike what for example Paris Opera Ballet do which is having more limited principals in a certain production and each principal tends to dance a few more performances as well. And of course another way of solving this could be solved by having more diverse repertoire with shows running overlapping in some dates (eg a contemporary mix against a classical or balancing a large company set piece against something requiring much fewer dancers). 
 

I don’t think it should be a “race” to become a principal and personally in my untechnical inexpert view I don’t think there is anyone ready to be a principal right now. That’s not to say they don’t have talent and potential and shouldn’t still be cast in principal level/style roles (this seems to be happening already anyway) but my preferred dancers seem to be the ones that have the most experience and so I think you generally only get better with time. 
 

also interestingly I found I preferred some dancers as first soloists rather than principals as I saw them more but also found I preferred them in first soloists type roles, and the occasional principal role that felt it was suited/tailored to them. There’s one first soloist who I always made a point of seeing and then they were promoted to principal. I then found I didn’t enjoy them as much in some principal roles and now don’t tend to book for them as there are other principals I prefer and find to be more balanced across the repertoire. If I had unlimited money and time I’d happily see everyone but unfortunately that’s not the case, and I miss seeing my favourite first soloists in the same production as my favourite principals. (Selfish I know and regardless of my thoughts the promotion I thought was well deserved.) 
 

Of course you need to balance all this against motivating the younger ranks and giving them interesting casting opportunities but I think that is already happening. (But again sometimes at the expense of principals/first soloists who we don’t see for months, again could be solved by diversifying the repertoire.) 

I pretty much agree with all of this. Currently too many principals,all doing a bit of everything. Obviously excluding Campbell and Morera who were allowed to do almost nothing….very odd indeed

11 hours ago, alison said:

I quite agree, bridiem - although of course Kevin O'Hare does have a habit of promoting early.  I find it a bit offensive to the dancer who is leaving to suggest by implication either that they are doing the ballet equivalent of bed-blocking, or that they can simply be replaced in the rankings by another dancer.

Could not agree more with that comment.Sad to see Alexander leaving at a relatively young age but I am sure he will be a fantastic teacher and administrator.

We are currently very top heavy with principal dancers. No more please.

7 hours ago, LinMM said:

Unfortunately I have had to return my ticket for next Saturday matinee’s Manon ( Hayward cast) as the travel both that Saturday and Sunday is just too problematic with two replacement buses via Haywards Heath and Three Bridges plus train and will take two and a half hours ( instead of one hour). I was also told there’s still a shortage of replacement bus drivers so there might be some waiting around involved.

This was to be my first trip up to London since my accident so a bit nervous anyway so decided in spite of a great cast the pain would be more than the gain! 
However all is not lost as discovered yesterday that the encore cinema showing of last Wednesdays Manon performance is on in Brighton on  Tuesday afternoon so will be going to that with a ballet friend instead 🙂

Have still got Fumi and Vadim to look forward to on the 27th and weekdays are usually okay for travel! 

 

Such a disappoint for you, but enjoy the cinema and hope trains hold up for your last ‘ go ‘ at Manon live

Not an answer to your question, but we ate in the Piazza restaurant last Saturday and it was very enjoyable.

How much do you think he needs😂🤸‍♂️

I am not often lost for words but last nights Manon has almost achieved that As we left the Royal Opera House my husband, who is not really a fan, said ‘ that is simply the best ballet performance I have ever seen ‘

I completely agree, and that follows my history with Manon,I have never really liked it ,despite the wonderful choreography, successive viewings have never changed my personal view of the ballet as a whole.

This time I had a whole new vision of how this story evolved. It began for me with that amazing lyrical solo from Will Bracewell, his elegant lines and stillness told us about this young man on his way to a seminary having a Damascene moment. Seeing Manon, loving her before he knew her, and knowing his life was changed for ever for good or ill

I was so convinced by Yasmine’s Manon, discovering she was desirable and revelling in this new power she had, having previously been powerless.

Then again I was blown away by Luca Acri’s Lescaut, first rate, nasty , manipulative, a bully,but a man who loved his sister enough to die for her. Great interpretation and dancing.

The performance just got better and better .Phenomenal pas de deux.The spin lifts ,the heartbreaking and utterly believable ending

Best ballet night ever, remarkable cast. So sad it is not recorded 

Thank you Will ,Yasmine,Luca and all

16 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

Some of you may recall my posting in the RB Nutcracker thread in December that I went to a performance with a friend who was seeing The Nutcracker for the first time. Afterwards I suggested to him that he go to see Manon, as it's such a contrast to The Nutcracker & together they show the RB's range in classical ballet. He decided to take up my suggestion & went to this afternoon's performance. I'm very pleased - and relieved! - that he really enjoyed it. He has written a review on his blog if anyone is interested https://www.theatremonkey.com/blog/2024/february/manon-royal-opera-house-covent-garden

Really enjoyed reading his review. Thank you for posting

On 18/01/2024 at 13:41, FionaM said:

Super news and programme sounds interesting.
 

It would be good to know if Alina participates in all the dates as well as the tour … Bath in July, Cheltenham in August 2024. 

well what a delightful surprise,lovely though the Cheltenham Everman theatre is ( a Matcham gem). It is not ideal for dance. Nonetheless I have booked two tickets in the circle Hooray

4 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

I hope it's okay to post this link. The friend who I saw Monday's Nutcracker with has reviewed it on his website. While he's a West End theatre expert, it was his first Nutcracker so it's not a technical review but I thought maybe the opinion of someone seeing the production for the first time might be of interest to some on here. https://www.theatremonkey.com/blog/2023/december/nutcracker-royal-opera-house-covent-garden

Thank you for posting. What a lovely enthusiastic review of a great show.

Sounds useful Sam but for people like me who do not “do” twitter. How could it be accessed?

So glad to hear others were able to enjoy a largely incident free broadcast. We went to Cineworld in High Wycombe for the first time but never again!

we were told on entry that the picture was not ‘ quite right’ and we could have a refund. Having driven a long way we thought we would try it 😂😂😠

Not quite right was hardly the description. The picture was elongated and squashed. Very like those mirrors you have in fun fairs making you look short and fat. Darcy B was as wide as she was high😠

We lasted 10 minutes then opted for a refund

Avoid this cinema at all costs for live relays

25 minutes ago, capybara said:

Looking back, Marco joined the Company at the same time as Daichi. So, yes, he is probably a ‘cover’ for Hans Peter - and very deservedly so.

I think that there’s a bit of hangover from ‘you know what’ in terms of dancers progressing into  🌰cracker opportunities. This year seems to be one for bit of a ‘catch up’ to the benefit of all, not least the audiences.

“ you know what” sounds a bit like “ he who must not be named” in Harry Potter.  Must use it whenever possible.😂😂

39 minutes ago, Scheherezade said:

 

Sorry if my post was misleading. By previously referencing narrative ballets generally, I had assumed that people would make the leap to Macmillan and others. I am less excited by the Bracewell/Hayward Swan Lake partnership since I find Hayward less suited to the classical Tchaikovsky ballets. I would love to see them reprise their Hamlet and Ophelia.

 

 

I do hope you didn't think that I was suggesting this; far from it. Nor was I, in any way, seeking to minimise the special connection that Will and Fumi so clearly share. Merely pointing out that they each seem to elevate whatever partnership they are part of. 

 

 

I really agree regarding the forthcoming Swan Lake with Francesca Hayward.  I saw her in the preceding run and was underwhelmed and disappointed. On reading the reviews some were rapturous I felt they must have seen an entirely different performance  ,I was so happy later in the run to see Lauren Cuthbertson in the role ,it was quite beautiful. Will B was Siegfried on both occasions.

been 

5 hours ago, FionaM said:

@Sim

 

nail on the head 👏👏👏 About thieves having far more fun.  Which is what is wrong with this ballet.  
 

This is not Dante’s Inferno of eternal suffering.  Nor is the third act, Dante’s Paradiso of enlightenment.  
 

The choreography and dramaturgy (is that a word?) are not on the same level as the music, set and lighting designs.

 

Completely agree in the role of Dante himself being underused and that Satan is insufficiently different and not overpowering.  
 

The best way to appreciate this ballet is to ignore Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy and just enjoy the dancing itself and whatever mood comes to you from that.    

I was so glad that I (We) made the effort to overcome my lack of enthusiasm for Wayne McGregor and did go to see Dante.This was largely as I am not sure when I will see Will Bracewell and Fumi Kaneko dancing together any time soon as I am not going to a RB  nutcracker.

Nonetheless it is a bit of a curates egg, and I too preferred hell to heaven

So what did I like most? The musical score was really special, despite some repetitive areas, but I generally loved it.

The acting was outstanding ,the thing about WB is that his absorbed stillness when not dancing, so most of the time in Purgatorio still draws your eye to him, more than the lost souls he is watching. I am not sure how that happens. When he did get to dance he was sublime. However I remember someone saying up thread , in praise of Will “ is there anything he cannot do” 

Well I have the answer.. even he cannot make that dreadful costume look like anything other than a cast off of Nora Batty’s from Last of the Summer Wine

The dancing throughout was of the highest order,and so nice to have so many principals and first soloists to enjoy in one show. I was really struck by the whole company of outstanding male dancers, not that the women were not good, they were, but goodness me what a richness of male talent in the current company.

 Moving on to what I did not like, the truly dreadful  costumes!,those black dusty leotards are beyond awful in inferno, please take pity on us audience, the challenge of recognising anyone ,male or female was beyond me.

Then the video in Paradiso was IMO so poor, I have seen much better from GCSE art projects .When you think of the glorious views available on deep space telescopes why make paradise so bland and uninviting ,ditto the majority of the choreography in this Paradise.I am not sure what McGregor is trying to say about heaven but it is not good.

Despite costumes, video ,train disruption, small child without a ticket sleeping in an empty seat next to me (a first I must say) I and my husband really enjoyed the matinee.However I do not think I will ever need to go again when it is next wheeled out

2 hours ago, oncnp said:

As to commercial (and by that I mean financial) success that's one way to look at it. Mine is slightly different.

 

Seats have been filled each night. But do bums-on-seats = commercial success?  Were those tickets purchased or given away? If purchased, at what price? The repeated pattern of masses of tickets simultaneously disappearing several days before a performance is, for me, just a bit suspicious. We know from other posts that stalls tickets have been offered for £ 12.50 and not to the people who have paid for the privilege of being call "Friends".  

 

Bottom line is that without knowing the total box office takings + sponsorship v. the cost of production we don't know, and will never know, if any production was a commercial success.  

 

There are varied measures of success and from many of the reviews here, Dante it was successful. That's wonderful but doesn't keep the lights on. 

 

I met a lovely lady on Saturday lunchtime who was very excited to be coming to the ROH to see the ballet, she has a friend in the orchestra who on Friday got her a stalls circle seat for £12.50 So that is how they fill the seats. I was a bit jealous,we were in the Amphi,but she was so excited. I really hope she enjoyed it.

Just returning to the wonderful Don Q performance on Friday rather than the speculation on celebrity visitors to a later performance.

How special was that evening!  I have to confess to being a fully payed up member of the Will Bracewell appreciation society, and an absolute devotee of Fumi’s diamond bright technique.Nonetheless I was concerned that this casting for Will was against type, I have imagined Basilio as being a short bouncy dancer more like Marci Sambe or Stephen McRae, not an elegant danseur noble type role.

How lovely to be wrong, this Basilio was such an engaging and slightly goofy young man who could hardly believe his luck when the village beauty actually chose him. This is a very special partnership in which they seem to draw something extra and unexpected from each other, on the stage they are in love and nothing and no one else matters.They dance out of their skins because they must.

How I wish this was filmed I could watch it over and over.

On a slightly different note still think I prefer the BRB version, although enjoying both but I would like to do without a lot of the urchins/ beggars/ villages et al who just clutter the stage IMO

So many thanks to wonderful Fumi , Will and James Hay for a special evening with my own love of 56 years…but who is counting .

I have finally found a few minutes to add my thoughts and feelings about last Thursdays matinee. When I first booked the tickets I sold it to my non ballet fan husband on the music on offer. So for different reasons we both looked forward to the performance ,although having read the earlier reviews here it was obviously a programme that seriously divided opinion .

I am so glad we went, it was fantastic, very thoughtful triple bill. I really enjoyed Theme and Variations, the corps could have been crisper but a lovely start ,short enough that my lovely husband did not fall asleep .

I was utterly baffled by Les Noces, the notes really didn't help,I found the so called story line frankly daft, but it did not matter .I really enjoyed the dancing and ‘ well done’ to the chorus it must have been very difficult  music to sing.

We we’re both enchanted by the Dawson ,the glorious singing.What a voice!

and the truly beautiful expressive choreography, I could not have asked for more.

Thank you ENB and Aaron Watkins, it bodes very well for the future and hopefully will allow some more London visits. I had begun to lose hope that the RB would ever put on more than one or two ballets a year that I would like to attend.

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Lovely to meet you last night but it may have been a good thing that we met up beforehand rather than afterwards as we would have certainly disagreed on the programme!!

 

Having finally managed to see Themes & Variations at my second attempt last night I enjoyed it far more than the other two pieces. In fact in a way my very delayed train did me a favour as it meant I inadvertantly saved the best until last. If I'd seen the programme in the order it should have been seen then I think I would have disliked Les Noces even more than I did. As it was I left on a high last night, and got home at five to ten just as the performance would have been finishing! I also had a far better seat for the same price, unrestricted front stalls compared to restricted view front circle.

 

I thought Khaniukova & Frola made a really good pair. I'm surprised they're not paired together more, given she looks the perfect height for him compared to some of the other female dancers I've seen him with who have been a bit too tall for him. I thought their fairly long pdd was lovely. I did wish that Balanchine had given both of them rather longer solos, but I'd need a time machine to request that!

 

I was slightly surprised to see Khaniukova's changed her hair colour again. In the last couple of seasons she's gone brunette to blonde & now back to brunette - it's no wonder she's a dancer I sometimes have problems in recognising when she's part of a group!

 

Another slight favour the delayed train did me was that last night's group of demi-soloists included rather more dancers who I like than Friday's group would have: Velicu, Suzuki, Yeomans & Durand. I could only identify some of the corps dancers but I was a bit surprised to see Downden among them, given he has one of the biggest roles in Les Noces. Though I suppose the male corps aren't on stage for that long in T&V. Does anyone know if it was the same 8 male & 8 female corps dancers in every performance or if the company have been rotating?

 

As no-one has yet posted any curtain call photos on this thread, a couple from last night. I know the tutus have divided opinion but I thought they were really nice.

 

 

Thank you for the photos I was there for the matinee today and thought the tutu’s beautiful 

6 hours ago, Jamesrhblack said:

I don’t see ENB very often, so am looking forward very much to the matinée.

Updating my previous post. Cesar has been replaced on the program by Marco Masciari … apologies if I have spelt his name incorrectly 

I think he is appearing at Hatch House with his partner Francesca Hayward this summer

I saw the live stream from a rather elderly cinema in Penzance, usually it would be at home in  Cheltenham at a modern CineWorld multiplex or live at Covent Garden.

we were delighted at the numbers in the audience all having a marvellous time, it was great to be among them and share their joy.

Having seen innumerable Nutcrackers including last years live stream with Yasmin Naghdi and. Caesar Corrales, this one was a standout for me even without my first choice Drosselmayer ,wonderful ensemble, lovely Clara and Nutcracker and the absolute best SugarPlum fairy and Prince.

we thought the orchestra were in fine form as well.

Thank you Royal Ballet, such a treat after all those Mayerlings, not a ballet I ever want to see again. Personal Preference is just that, not my cup of tea.

Roll-on the rest of the season.

I have enjoyed reading forum friends many and varied comments, and having generally enjoyed the evening at the cinema, apart from the second act, felt I had nothing useful to add.

Then I read the Gramilliano review and felt I might have been to a totally different production , he loved the Toonga etc. shows how we all have such very different tastes.

It did make me wonder if this selection had anything to do with Arts Council funding, trying to be ‘ more relevant’ and ‘ appealing to young people’ and moving away from a classical repertoire, Just a thought.

The discussion on costumes really resonated with me, they were awful in the new works, did they save on everything else then splash the cash on Prima, which looked OK as long as they stood still.  Very catwalk!

On a totally different topic..someone mentioned fear of catching Covid in a full opera house, I watched in the Cinema in Cheltenham together with 9 others in an auditorium which holds two or three hundred. So no risk of virus Infection but not boding well for continuing productions being shown live from ROH