Missfrankiecat

Gosh, I thought Marianela utterly superlative and I thought the swan corps very well rehearsed on opening night. The only raggedness I noticed was the men in Act One (and I do think the staging is very busy and crowded there, although I quite like it). I thought the swans were a bit ropier in the Naghdi/Ball cast the other night (but I was much further away and higher and I do think viewpoint makes a difference - will be interesting how it looks on the Live stream. PS - re the comment that Vadim is the only swan - I will say that the only 'disadvantage' of having Vadim in the RB is that almost anyone looks inferior by comparison. And not just when dancing. I can remember looking at him in Act 1 standing around doing not very much next to Benno (Luca Acri) and various others and, whatever their heigh, they all looked slightly muscle bound or otherwise 'chunky' next to those perfect lines.

Did your friend offer more detail - on the face of the comment I would judge it as damning of the overall standard of the dancing or at least characterisation rather than staging but maybe I misunderstand?

Me too - she was a huge loss.

Magri's tumble in DQ last Autumn was edited out of the Encore screening let alone subsequent streaming/DVD. I was impressed that they must have got a new version out within 48 hours!

I agree - good that the surgery was successful and he is looking cheerful. He also posted two lovely photos of Liam Scarlet in his insta stories with a touching inscription about missing him. The ROH also posted a more conventional photo saying he and his family were in our thoughts but I note turned off the ability for followers to comment which is unusual.

You have perfectly articulated what I was thinking about their respective performances. They were both radiant. Re 'door piano', aka Ryoichi Hirano, it looks from one of his instagram posts as if the issue might have been a worsening of the issue for which he is going to have surgery. Fingers crossed for a successful procedure and speedy rehab.

Yes, Isabella has had a wonderful few weeks showing her versatility and character. I always find her to be such a graceful, classical dancer and hope she will have further impressed the powers that be over the past weeks, so we see her in more leading roles.

In @Rob S photo, Francesca looks genuinely surprised to receive it. I agree it is a nice gesture to thank those who slot in at the last minute whatever plans they had to keep the show on the road.

Sambe has been an absolute trooper. They all are but he has had a particularly gruelling schedule these past weeks.

I always think that too - they are off alone for a long time. Of course, in reality they are limbering up for the big climax!

I'm not sure the ending is 'universally' disliked. It works for me and for some others. There are always problems in applying logic to myths/fairy stories but I don't have any problems with Sigfried's 'lack of agency' or failure to put up an effective fight in the final battle. It is entirely consistent with his character throughout and he is, after all, the only human on stage in the final act - all the others are supernatural beings to some extent, representing forces of good and evil. If we are looking at a cosmic fight between good and evil, it is hardly surprising that a mere human stands no chance in defeating evil through his puny attempts. I have always regarded SL as mirroring aspects of the Christian theology/mythology (depending on your faith view). Evil doesn't win by Odette's self-sacrificing death, rather this is a familiar story of self-sacrificial death by a pure being resulting in redemption from the clutches of evil for her followers - this presumably includes Siegfried (the hopeless human) who will be able to return to rebuild the ruined court now that Rothbart is destroyed. If the true endgame is less to do with a flawed man (who can't even tell the difference between his true love and an imposter that all the audience see a mile off!) getting the girl and more to do with the redemption of a whole kingdom from supernatural evil, then the euphoria in the final music also makes sense.

This is how I feel - though I think I have seen and enjoyed his Swan Lake more than once over the years. As much as the choreography, his overall concepts for productions and designs are so strong, and so "Matthew Bourne" that I always enjoy a first viewing but wouldn't really want to see each show again.

Great minds think alike ... I too am hoping Takada is back to dance with Sissens when I have booked (also Osipova). Takada is such a soulful dancer, I am really interested to see her SL.

I guess part of my problem is I can only go on the relatively rare and poor quality recordings of Margot, which are mostly from late career. One can easily see the difference in technique and I think a lot of her obvious charm and artistry does translate but the precise quality of emotional interaction with an audience is more ephemeral.

I didn't mean to convey any pejorative description - of either Yasmine or Dame Margot. In our over-sharing world, it seems 'reserve' and a certain distance are now regarded as personality defects. Not by me! I would, however, maintain that, when interviewed in the company of others, Yasmine is often the more reticent and considered in her responses and she doesn't share much as much personal stuff on her social media as others. For eg Marianela - whose cats I could pick out of an ID parade just as I could tell you what colour her bathroom tiles are. Not a criticism of either woman.