jmhopton

Not really the right thread for this but it doesn't seem worth starting a separate one. My local Vue cinema in Preston is starting a British Film Institute series and its first film on Dec 21st is one called Corsage. It is about an imaginary year in the life of Empress Elizabeth of Austria (why does she need an imaginary one when she had such incredible events in her real one!) Just thought it might be of interest after Mayerling though the timing is rather unfortunate, so close to Christmas.

I must say I have to agree with the comments made about Russian dancers acting. While the principals like Lantratov may excel in the acting department the company as a whole (whether Bolshoi or Mariinsky) don't seam to commit to the sort of team effort we see over here from all the UK companies. Didn't Lady Macmillan actually take Manon off the Mariinsky many years ago for some reason? Even when watching the POB recording of Manon with Aurelie Dupont several years ago I can't say I was overly impressed with some of the roles such as Monsieur GM and the Mistress. However, this is just a personal opinion. Others I'm sure, see it differently. I just think we're spoilt by the likes of Gary Avis, Christopher Saunders, Bennet Gartside, Kristen McNally and Elizabeth Macgorian (to name just a few of the RB excellent character dancers) and possibly seeing others in the role, even if they're good, just doesn't seem the same. Anyway, back to Vadim... An utterly incredible, heart breaking experience. I've been a 'ballet regular' for over 30 years and I'm sure that was the pinnacle of my ballet watching experience. I don't think you could ever see a better dance/acting performance and his beautiful classical line enhances the heartbreak and the drama, not lessens it. In Vadim's case (a bit like Bonnellis) less is more and it just shows what a powerful impact you can make without going over the top with a lot of dramatic gestures. With Vadim, the drama comes from within and that is why his mental and physical deterioration is just so powerful; it is the small looks and gestures; the posture, sidelong tortured looks, the droop of the shoulders. At the start, when he makes his entrance he strides across the stage, apparently confident, but never looking at his bride and giving off a strong aura of barely suppressed anger at doing something he doesn't want to do. However, this changes when he meets his parents (did I imagine he held out his hand for his father to shake and was ignored)? Then his yearning looks at his mother who coldly ignored him and gave him the minimal salutation. This small scene sets the tone for the tragedy that follows and was just so incredibly moving. But of course, like all ballets Mayerling was a team effort as Vadim graciously acknowledges on his Instagram account, thanking all the teachers who'd helped him achieve his incredible performance. I only hope Irek Mukhamedov was able to see at least one of Vadim's performances. It would be wonderful for him to see the result of all his coaching. The rest of the cast were also brilliant in their own right and not just a support to Vadim; Fumi gets better every time I see her and I though Yasmine really settled down into her role and gave a great performance as Mary. Was also great to meet balletfanp and JohnS at the stage door and have a chat. That's one of the best things about the Forum, you are introduced to people you may never have otherwise met and who share your enthusiasm. Everyone before me has spoken so eloquently there isn't really anything more to say except to thank him (and all the team) for the amazing performance and the anticipation of many more to come. Bit of a change in a way for us viewers who've got so used to such heightened drama to have to return to several seasons of 'ordinary' princes in Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella but I'm sure they'll be equally rewarding in their different ways. I'm just so thankful that he chose to settle and become a citizen in the UK so we can see him so regularly. Irek said to Vadim that his performance as Rudolf will affect his performances in all other roles as he will approach them differently so it will be interesting to see if this happens. As Paddington (nearly) said Thank you, Vadim.... for everything.

At the stge door last night I said how much I was looking forward to his Onegin and he agreed. I also asked Kevin o'Hare if Vadim's next performance could be filmed as it was so exceptional but he was understandably more non committal.

It's certainly the greatest role I've seen him in though living a distance away I haven't seen anything like all his performances. But then there isn't really a role like Rudolf to compare it with, that is so all encompassing for the male dancer. I suppose the nearest is Spartacus but that's more physical than psychological. I've seen him in roles like Month in the Country and Symphonic Variations in which I thought he gave an exceptional interpretation and performance but difficult to compare them to Rudolf. It's 1.45am and I'm still on a high after his performance. It seems terrible we may have to wait several years for him to reprise it. And will he be filmed? He should be. I'm wanting a film already to capture such a really special perfect performance. It was lovely to see him receive flowers onstage which he said was a first. They were certainly deserved!

This is what I've been thinking for ages Sim but nothing seems to change. Also James Hay. I know he's only a first solo but many other first solos have been cast in leading roles. Indeed, that's what I thought the position of First Soloist was for; to assess suitability for major roles and possible promotion to principal. I know James was cast as the prince in both the last run of SB and this one but this role, though a major classical role, hardly stretches the person's acting ability, an important pre requisite for any RB principal. I'd like to see both James and Alex given a greater variety of important roles.

Sorry, I meant Great Western Railways, not South Western. Didn't check the name, always a mistake, especially as they're not my usual company which is the dreaded Avanti who of course are also involved, so I can't go from Preston even if I wanted to. Here are the Companies involved. As they're all train drivers it will probably be more effective than the last Avanti strike which only included train managers. The 12 companies facing the fresh strike are Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, Greater Anglia, London North Eastern Railway, London Overground, Northern Trains, Southeastern, Transpennine Express, and West Midlands Trains.

Thanks Lizbie1. I might risk it. Fingers crossed!

Well, South Western trains are affected so that might scupper my Raymonda matinee in Bristol. I seem fated not to see it as I had to cancel my January Raymondas as our dog was ill. The final coach back to Chelt is 5.30 and the performance starts at 2pm. I haven't been to the Hippodrome and don't know how far it is from the coach station. Does anyone know how long Raymonda lasts and if I'll need to leave early to get back to the coach station? I am going to the Thurs matinee so I should manage to see it if I decide to abandon Saturdays.

Yes, I thought this too. Is Alex the only established male principal not to be cast as Rudolf? I'm not including Bracewell, Clarke and Coralles as they are very new principals and its right they should wait until next time but it does seem very unfair not to cast Alex.

There was mention in a Broadway World review of the programme in yesterday's links that there was going to be an Ashton and Macmillan piece included in the programme so hopefully all is not lost. Looking forward to Valentinos new ballet as I loved his previous two.

What do you mean 'one of'? 😊 What about THE Greatest! (Don't take me too seriously. I admit to being a touch biased and am speaking slightly tongue in cheek. I know everyone has their favourites and quite right too. No complaints, please!)

Lucky Japan! They get to see Vadim's Diamonds which is more than we do! Also he seems to be doing the Wheeldon For Four on the same night. I wish someone would record/stream either that performance or, better still, his Month in the Country. As a programme I prefer it to the Diamonds Celebration.

Hi Jenn Great to have you on the Forum. I'll take the plunge first but I don't know if our tastes really coincide. I tend to go for more traditional ballets and some of what you like is a bit modern for me, but here goes. You mention a couple of Christopher Wheeldons ballets. Have you tried his Winters Tale? It's not a massive favourite of mine but it is very dramatic. There is one dvd with Edward Watson and the original cast. I'm glad you mention enjoying Crankos Onegin as that's my favourite all time ballet. It's very dramatic and has some great choreography. Have you tried MacMillan’s Manon or Mayerling? There are several great RB recordings available of both. If you like Scherezade you must like the exotic. I love the 1990ish recording of the Kirovs Corsaire with Faroukh Ruzimatov. Also the Osipova RB or the Bolshoi recording of La Bayadere. One modern ballet i do like is Christopher Maillots Taming of the Shrew. The Bolshoi cast is great but there may be others. If you like Pineapple Poll and Coppelia you must appreciate humour in ballet. Have you tried Ashtons La Fille mal Gardee or Petipas Don Quixote? For the latter I would recommend the Bolshoi Osipova/Vasiiev version. Also Ashtons 2 Pigeons and his version of the Dream are both humouruous and beautiful. If you don't want to splash out on dvds without knowing the ballets you can subscribe to Marquee TV or the new ROH streaming service. The latter you can have for a 2 weeks trial before any money is taken out of your account so plenty of time to see if its for you. I think you can browse both services before purchasing so you can see what they have before committing yourself. Finally, YouTube is a great source for getting a taste of a ballet before committing yourself to purchase. Good luck and happy discovering!

I am still quite cross that Vadim isn't dancing Diamonds with Nuñez, especially as he was passed over for the full length recording a few years ago. That said, I'm pleased he and Marianela are getting the cinema recording of Cinderella and hopefully a dvd or stream eventually. I also wish that the Hayward/Campbell cast were being filmed for Sleeping Beauty and not Naghdi/Ball. I love seeing the latter couple but they have had several recordings recently with Romeo and Giselle. Alex especially hasn't had nearly enough. Even his Don Q was unscheduled as he was taking Steven's place. Also I saw Haywards first Sleeping Beauty when she was ill and I thought her and Alex absolutely terrific together and it's not especially a favourite ballet. Still, looking forward to some great casting and performances. I'll definitely be coming to Vadim's Cinderella matinee as he doesn't do that many and it saves an overnight stay. Pity the Hayward/Campbell and Morera/Ball Cinderella pairings don't have a matinee as overnight stays really eat into my budget, especially with the horrendous ticket prices. I hope we're not expected to plug ROH Arts Council deficit with even more ticket price rises. Ironically, it's the ticket prices that contribute to making the ROH 'elitist'. During a recession and a cost of living crisis how many 'ordinary ' people on small salaries or pensions can afford £70 for a restricted view seat? Especially if you also have to pay about £150 for transport and accommodation to get there.

I did email customer services last Friday about this as I couldn't find it a schedule. Hopefully they'll get back to me before Wed. My email is a bit last minute but I kept thinking the schedule would be announced. If we just had the time slot that would be good. Presumably 10-2 or something similar if it's incorporating company class as usual. At least they won't be wearing masks! I spent longer that year trying to work out who everyone was than watching the class.

I can only second everything everyone before me has said about last night's performance. It was terrific, really mesmerising. Several times there was quite a lot of coughing in the auditorium but during the final pas de deux you could have heard a pin drop. It was incredible. I was sat close to the stage and kept forgetting to breath! I thought Matthew really good; an exceptionally moving performance (I hadn't seen him before). Laura whom I had seen before with Bonelli I thought gave the performance of her life. It was just amazing and I kept thinking her dress was going to come off in the last pas de deux such was the violence of their passion for each other. After their amazing Month in the Country together I hoped that Vadim would be partnered by her and was disappointed when he wasn't. Perhaps he will be next time it's staged, as those 2 would definitely be my preferred cast for filming. As previous posers have said it is a great ensemble ballet and the entire cast gave it their all. I love Bratfisch as a character (all the Bratfisch's I've seen have been great) and always wish he had more to do (not sure where or what) as it is such a playful, virtuoso role and gives some light relief to an otherwise very intense ballet. Waited at the stage door afterwards and Matthew appeared briefly, very apologetic for not being able to spend more time but there was a function on he was attending and just came down to acknowledge those waiting which I thought was a lovely gesture.

Oh no, not again. Just when I was congratulating myself on the possibility of a stress free journey, having had to stay in London an extra night last weekend because of signalling problems at Euston. I'm due to get the 10am from Preston and haven't had any notification to say it's problematic. I've just signed up for WhatsApp messaging service so will have to see. At least I've all day to get there, and no, I don't know why Avanti were given a franchise extension. Epitomises how useless this government is.

Just got an email today from the ROH and it seems this months 'new' ballet streaming offering is the 2009 Ed Watson Mayerling. It's not the date I mind it's the fact this is already available on dvd and presumably most people who want it have already got it. I have emailed Kevin O'Hare and asked him if there was any chance of getting non available recordings of multiple casts even if they were just training videos. I'm sure people wouldn't bother about lesser quality just to see their favourite dancers in roles never before seen. However I realise there could be copyright/orchestra payment issues involved. I'll let you know what he says. If all the 'new' content is going to be cinema recordings that are already available it's not going to be worth subscribing to unless it's for new cinema releases not yet available on dvd, such as the Ashton triple. I'm really disappointed as I hoped that would be the Oct ballet release. I also asked Kevin when it would be released as a stream. It seems silly it's on the streaming promotion but not yet available. It looks like the 2021 Rigoletto is the new opera addition.

I've tried near me and the Vue cinemas at Southport, Cleveleys Altrincham and Bolton are showing it at 3pm Nov 6th, though not Preston. I searched under Carlos Acosta's Don Quixote on the BRB website. It defaults to Westminster screenings but just cross that out and substitute your area.

Yes I saw this also at the Odeon Preston where the service has improved to the extent that the lights switched themselves on when they should instead of me having to do it. I thought it a terrific performance, excellently danced and would echo everything FionaE said previously. I always love Brandon Lawrence in anything and was thrilled to see him as the matador. I don't think I've seen Matthias Dingman or Momoko Hirata and was really impressed by both of them especially Matthias. I thought he was up there with Ivan Vasiliev who's always been my gold star Basil. Just a couple of minor quibbles with the tavern scene. I thought the lady who fainted when the matador looked at her (always a good laugh) didn't make it obvious enough what she was fainting for so didn't get much of a laugh. Also I'm not a big fan of Kitri doing her leap into Basil's arms just after getting down off the tables. It's a great moment but the tables make it too rushed and Momoko seemed too close to Matthias to make it really spectacular. But very minor quibbles when you have the chance to see such a wonderful production without planning a long journey or overnight stay.

Well, I don't know what I can say about Vadim's performance that others haven't already said. I was desperate for him to succeed but it's such a huge role and so different to anything he's ever done before that the best I was hoping for was a respectable 'work in progress'; something to build on for future performances. I never expected a fully fledged Rudolf to emerge straight off the blocks and to chart such a distinctive mental and physical deterioration in his first performance. I was just in awe of it all and frankly in a bit of a daze; just couldn't believe it. Like Sim said, his first entrance with his bride looking so regal and yet so distant; not at all the bearing of a young husband, rather that of having been forced to do something he had no inclination to do. His pleading with his mother for love and her rejection, sending him to his young bride in a fury; and what a fury! I had to keep checking it was still him and there hadn't been a substitution. I've never seen Vadim like that and I didn't think he had it in him to be like that. I'm sure a lot of it was down to Irek Mukhamedov's coaching. Irek was an inspired choice for Vadim and I'm sure helped him find his 'inner Rudolf'. Vadim himself in an interview said this was the pas de deux he found most difficult because of the cruelty involved. He obviously found something to unleash this cruelty as it was one of the most physical interpretations I've seen, right to the end when he threw himself on top of his new bride (a great debut by Isabel Gasparini) and ripped open his shirt. In act 2, he seemed to be enjoying himself so much in the brothel scene, joining in with the dances and either not understanding or ignoring his wife's visible distress. The mental and physical deterioration throughout the ballet was charted so well also until, in the third act, like Sim says, he was just a wreck, a shadow of his Act 1 self. It was just an amazing performance and one I will treasure for ever. Can't wait for the second performance when all the debutantes can settle more into their roles and concentrate more on developing their characters and interpretation. It seems awful that all this work goes into just a couple of performances and then possibly no more for 3 years. I haven't mentioned the other performances, possibly because I was concentrating primarily on Rudolf but Fumi's performance was also outstanding. I thought after seeing Laura Morera as Larisch it couldn't get any better but Fumi was really terrific, and excellent for another debut. I sometimes thought of her scheming gypsy in Two Pigeons and though she may have used some of this character in her interpretation of Larisch. She seems another dancer who just gets better every time you see her and I'd love to see her dance more with Vadim. They would make a great couple. I wasn't quite as keen on Yasmine's Mary after seeing Osipova's. I just didn't get the sense of reckless abandon you get with Osipova which I like to see in Mary but everyone interprets the role differently and I'm sure her interpretation is just as valid as Osipova's and perhaps I'll get into it more in her second performance. All in all a terrific performance and I'm glad I paid for a front row seat in the Grand Tier (a first; courtesy of Bluebird) and will be in the same seat for the second performance.

I'm not saying Vadim wasn't given a great reception; he was (especially by me!) It's just the Crystal Pite supporters were louder/more vocal and took me slightly by surprise. Probably because I so seldom attend modern ballets I didn't realise the difference in reaction.

Yes, I'm with you, Fonty. I'm not saying the RB shouldn't commission new works; far from it. I just don't see why it has to have new works every year. This way, the modern catalogue grows all the time but the classical/Heritage catalogue gets less as there is less time to stage and rehearse classical works; especially short ballets. There are so many of Ashton's and Macmillan's short ballets that are in danger of becoming obsolete because of the lack of performance and eventually the lack of anyone capable of staging them. The same could be said of Tudor, Cranko, Robbins, de Valois and some of the Ballet Russes ballets and even Balanchine. These are proven great choreographers but we only get to see a very small amount of their work, yet every year have new modern (often full length) works and triple bills which eats into the budget as well as stage time. The Ashton triple was a huge success both critically and in the enjoyment it gave to so many ballet lovers, but there isn't another one this season. After Mayerling, the only ballet I'm really looking forward to is Cinderella though it's not a favourite Ashton and I wish they'd do Sylvia (only revived once recently and not filmed, which was terrible) or Fille (not staged since 2015 which is criminal). Incidentally, I saw The Crystal Pite on Saturday night as I had an enforced extra night in London because of train signal failure and it didn't do much for me. I didn't see much of what I (and possibly Fonty) would call dance apart from a pas de deux in the first act and another one in the last act. Both OK but the whole experience was more movement to music for me, than ballet. Very impressive movement and patterns but it didn't move me like it appears to do many people who saw it. Of course it didn't help that it came the night after Vadim's triumph in Mayerling and several times I just shut my eyes and drifted back to Mayerling; that was a ballet and a half! No tutus but just fabulous dance/acting and choreography. However, the audience didn't seem to agree with me as the response at the end was tumultuous; the capping and cheering went on for ages; far more than for Vadim the night before which I didn't understand at all. Still, it would be so boring if we all liked the same (though I wish Kevin was more on the wavelength of myself and Fonty and would stage more heritage works)!

I was there and it was searing. I thought at the time what a pity they didn't film this cast instead of the Macrae cast. Nothing against Steven, but Bonelli and Morera were so terrific and both nearer the end of their ballet career that it may have been the last chance to film them and so it has proved. If it isn't staged for another 3 years after this run Kevin will have a dilemma as to which cast to film. Up until last night I thought it would be a shoo in for Ball/Morera but now I'm not so sure having seen Vadim. What a performance! What a debut! I'll say more when I've recovered.

Avanti have just advertised tickets on sale for this Saturday. Whoopi do. Fancy, 2 days notice, they're spoiling us. As I said previously I've booked an off peak return anyway, just not booked a seat, but as they seem to have quite a few trains running despite train managers on strike I'll hope I'll be OK.