Don Q Fan

I haven't waited more than a few minutes for my coat at ROH since Open Up either. Its very quick.

Lovely performance yesterday at the matinee with the effervescent Mayara Magri and Cesar Corrales. Some lovely photos above too thank you they're great! I've posted a couple of my own below. I really like Mayara Magri and she is growing into these lead roles beautifully and with such confidence. I do hope she will be promoted in the near future although the competition is stiff with Anna Rose O'Sullivan as well! Cesar is just great I have always liked him ever since I saw him as an amazing Ali in Corsaire with ENB. I was interested that Melissa Hamilton was "replaced" she was in fact dancing in Italy in "Roberto Bolle And Friends " Tour....slightly surprised that if a dancer is cast in a parent company show they are allowed to then go off to do private work? Assume that is in their contract and I suppose it gives other dancers a crack at the whip. Yuhui Choe was of course delightful as Aurora and it pains me that she seems to be such an underrated dancer, when every time I have seen her she has always been so lovely. I fear she is destined to the bridesmaid and never the bride (principal) at the Royal Ballet. Thomas Whitehead was excellent as well as Coppelius. All in all a very good afternoon! Ensemble Whitehead/Magri/Corales Whitehead and Choe Mayara with her beautiful flowers!

His final performances are 18 Jan matinee, 22 Feb and 29 Feb. I am seeing the Onegin matinee and really looking forward to it as Thiago is a really great brooding Onegin, so I'll be very sorry to see him go. His Mayerling was great too. Funnily enough I saw him as Franz in Coppelia with Marianela in 2010 they were fantastic together.

As readers will know I take curtain call pictures - I never take any during the performance as it is not fair to those around me and as the dancers are moving anyway would only be a blur. I like a curtain call pic as a souvenir as I see so many ballets and the dancers like to have them as well.

I agree it is very hit and miss - and yes the attitude could be improved.

Fiz you are correct - people have no manners these days and it's all about Me ME ME. Mary - As for coats there is a coat deposit WHY do people not use the facility it IS free after all? I can't wait to dump my coats and free myself from it. Coats in the auditorium drive me nuts - as well as people who rustle plastic:- Friday 20 Dec Triple matinee - persistent rustling of plastic at the start of both Enigma Variation and Raymonda from Amphi Right for at least 10 minutes when people have just had 30 minutes interval beggars belief. I was seated Balcony Centre and could hear it so what the neighbours of the perpetrator thought I don't know. I would certainly have been telling them to stop it.

Really pleased for Sir David (at long last!) and all the others.

She is a delightful dancer - in the performance I saw she was the Chinese Dance lead. You can just see her in green in my first photo behind Drosselmeyer (all in black)

Sorry if I had added to any confusion. The casts are always "subject to change" and I cant see Novikova listed now for Rome. However my main want was for Marianela and Vadim so as long as they turn up I'll be happy. I hope the London show is an improvement on 2019, in fact it probably will be now because I am not there!

I know and it was just in that thrilling bedroom pdd but they kept going - Laura was in tears after she came off stage according to Federico!

I saw the opening night with the same cast as in Terpsichore's review. Kase (Clara) and Mack (Prince) were delightful and Souza (Nutcracker) and Streeter (Mouse King) were great. James Streeter really relishes the role of Mouse King. I particularly enjoyed the male dancers in the Spanish and Russian dances they were both really amazing dancers and jumped very high - definitely 2 young men to watch! I can't find my cast sheet but I know the the Russian dancer's first name was Daniel. The Spanish dancer was very elfin like and soooo sharp with his poses. (Definitely need ENB to do DonQ.) Overall the whole cast shone and considering this was opening night for the whole Nutcracker run in Liverpool and London, I thought the snowflakes were fabulous, they were so precise and perfectly aligned, it was quite wonderful to see and I didn't want that scene to end. It was a beautiful show, and I really like this production. The company received very well deserved rapturous applause from the audience and it was pretty much full house. Some photos from the curtain call below. Ensemble Shiori Kase with Brooklyn Mack Junor Souza as Nutcracker and James Streeter the Mouse King, Precious Adams in pink as a Mirliton Kase and Mack

I am giving this years RI a miss but shall see Les Etoiles in Rome on the same day instead where interestingly a few dancers listed are the same as for here, most notably Novikova. Nunez and Muntagirov will be in the Rome gala which swayed my choice.

Even with that screaming woman in the audience!! That is one show I'll not forget!

Saturday 16 May 2020 Matinee 1.30pm Naghdi/Ball 1 standing ticket (in the old Balcony Right section of the theatre) Balcony B70 (warning applies - "not suitable for persons of small stature, heads of patrons in front may block view" etc..) £11 E ticket so can email upon receipt of payment.

Yes I agree! I think also I saw Salenko with McRae at some point at ROH as well? Both Royal Ballet and Dutch National Ballet perform Jewels much better I think and NYCB of course!

Tempting but I'll probably pass.

Thank you!

I was just in Berlin to see the performance of Jewels on 31st October. Hmm not sure what to make of it. Overall I felt rather disappointed with Emeralds and Rubies. Emeralds was nice but the second lady Weronika Frodyma did not manage the first set of clock movements which was a pity and I sensed that her partnership with Arshak Ghalumyan was not that great. For the clock moves my benchmark is the unforgettable performance I saw of this section by Leanne Benjamin at ROH years ago when they premiered Jewels. The lead couple was Aya Okumura, recently transferred from Dutch NB, with Cameron Hunter (below) and they were very nice. I felt Hunter was a very elegant dancer, so well suited to Emeralds. I enjoyed the pas de trois team of Iana Balova, Danielle Muir and Ulian Topor, whom I really liked watching. However I do wonder if this performance of Emeralds lacked the presence of a principal dancer? Just to raise it up a level? Rubies was a bit flat for me it lacked the excitement and fizz I witnessed when I have seen when McRae/Osipova with tall girls Yanowsky/Lamb dance and when I saw Nancy Osbaldeston and Osiel Guneo in Munich last year. Dinu Tamazlacaru is a favourite dancer of mine and the only principal dancer fielded in this piece, but I felt he needed a bit more speed in places. The 2 ladies were both performing their debuts and I thought Sarah Brodeck did a nice performance of Tall Girl/Solo and Yolanda Correa with Tamazlacaru did well but lacked the sass I have seen displayed by so many other dancers. I also felt the footwork which is quite "square" in Rubies could have been sharper. Correa/Tamazlacaru/Brodbeck I was also disappointed with the Rubies costumes because, as you can see, the pleats on the dresses have no big gems on them and therefore did not make the click clack noise you get with the original Karinska versions as the dresses move. That is somewhat a part of Rubies for me so I missed that. The set was quite striking for Rubies. For me the whole show was saved by Iana Salenko and Marian Walter who gave a good strong performance in Diamonds, and especially the Grand PDD. I thought Salenko looks on great form after her maternity leave and it was so nice to see her on stage again. The costumes worn by the corps and 4 couples did not quite do it for me again either. I did not see Walter kiss Salenko's hand at the very end though, as it usually ends with the lady being surprised by this? However, Salenko always does the most steady en pointe balances and great fouettes and pirouettes so It was lovely to see these and Walter did his circles of jetes really well with very quiet landings! This couple are just very good together and the partnering is spot on in my opinion. As you can see I had a stalls seat so the choreography does not show "quite" as well as when you sit higher up for Balanchine, but it was still OK. The music was very nice and I think played at the correct speed but there was one horn in Diamonds which seemed to totally dominate the whole sound! As I say I was not over enamoured by the overall performance which was a shame given the effort to get there to see it! At least I have now seen Berlin do Jewels, but really I think their Bayadere is much better and perhaps more them.

Thank you - Front row Balcony (using x50 optical zoom lens!)

It was their debuts!!!! OMG stellar then!

He as absolutely fabulous I loved him! Very strong assured performance and the drunken scene was great! Second only to Carlos Acosta IMHO!

Well I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Manon on Saturday afternoon with Hayward and Campbell. The time seemed to whizz by! Cesar Corrales was just fabulous he was so strong and his steps so assured I loved him! Mayara Magri was great as well. Francesca Hayward played Manon to a "T" and Alex was such a sensitive and caring De Grieux I really liked him, even if Corrales did slightly eclipse him dance wise. Glorious music under the baton of Koen Kessels. What a lovely afternoon - not a favourite of mine, Manon, but this cast was just the ticket. I really enjoyed it and it ended with a tear brought to the eye, so "job done" as they say. Lovely to catch up with some fellow balletco-ers as well - you know who you are! Some photos from the curtain call:- Hayward and Campbell Gartside, Magri, Corrales, Hayward, Campbell, Arestis, Whitehead Hayward and Campbell Magri (and Corrales) Hayward and Campbell

Wow she really was loved. What a lovely send off.

Very sorry to hear of Alicia's passing. RIP. I remember singing Happy Birthday to her once at ROH a few years ago when she was in the Royal Box - I cant remember what the ballet occasion was or why she was there - anyone else remember?

Theres is NO Circle line this weekend and part District service so should be OK from Victoria to Temple/Embankment are ok on District and easy to walk up to ROH from either. The 91 bus from Crouch End to Trafalgar Square ( Kings X and Euston) will terminate short at Aldwych and not go along Strand to Trafalgar Square due to a Peoples' Vote March. 59/68 cross river from Euston looked OK when I checked yesterday.