chrischris

Shame. He was, in my opinion, by far the best Rudolph and Des Grieux the RB had.

If he stays in ballet, I wouldn't be surprised to see him at the ENB. I believe Rojo mentored him quite a bit in his early days at the RB.

It does seem like his body just can't take a full season any more. Shame.

Would have liked to have seen Morera as Juliet.

And I wish Pennefather was cast in something other than R&J and Nutcracker. He never gets cast in anything new. He must get so bored.

Shame about Cuthbertson. Get a bit fed up with Lamb always being the cover for injured dancers. There are others.

Maybe they just like to give the costume department something to do?

Does it really matter if roles change and people don't perform them they way they did 50 years ago?

Is Golding the tallest male principal?

If you look at any photos of the original production you will see that Dowell (who created the role) always wore a rather bouffant blond wig.  I'm not crazy about this latest version but it IS a slight improvement on the original.  Mind you last time I saw this in 2005, both Murro & Cope wore their own hair and looked much better, and younger, for it.  I really think any wig that distracts from the dancing should be banned!

Thank you. I've seen RP in Month in the Country before and he didn't wear the wig, and I thought he was also wearing a wig in Manon this time around, so I just wandered if it was just a new thing with him. Hope Bonelli didn't have to wear the lego hair. That would be.......odd

Very insulting, personal and offensive comments about Natalia Osipova.

You post comments like this every time someobody makes a slightly critical comment about a dancer. This place would be very boring indeed if we all had to be positive all the time, and if the ancers themselves found these mildly cticial comments insulting, personal or offensive I would suggest they are in the wrong profession.

I don't know, but whatever has been done hair-wise didn't help in my appreciation of the performance

 

I didn't go, but looking at the photos it looks like he's wearing Lego hair.

Slightly off topic but has Pennefather started wearing a ginger wig for his performances?

I cant say I was that impressed with Kish/ morera this afternoon, though I did enjoy Morera's mature, less sympathetic interpretation. I don't think she and Kish have any chemistry really. My view may have been clouded by how awesome last night was, but it felt a bit flat today.

Absolutely breathtaking tonight.

I saw Steven McRae and Roberta Marquez last night and they were fantastic, This was how Manon should be and I knew it from the very first pdd. This was in complete contrast to all 3 performances I have seen so far (not seen Vadim and very regretful of this).

Interesting post. Who else have you seen this run?

Now i've seen SL/RP, my favourite Manon pairing, it's Yanowsky i'm most looking forward to. Can't wait to see how she plays it.

Great videos. Would be equally interesting to hear what the guys think about playing DG.

"Showing off"?  As Des Grieux?  That wouldn't seem like very good characterisation ...

Showing off is maybe too mean. He always just has so much bravado that it just puts me off a bit. Just a personal thing I guess.

Ha ha sorry. I don't know. he's so talented but it's all just too much for me. I just sometimes want him to chill a bit and stop showing off.

I enjoyed the performance yesterday, though was more impressed by Lamb than Vadim. He's a great dancer but I didn't feel he had a huge stage presence. It was a very affecting portrayal though, and I can imagine him being a great Romeo. Not sure about him in Don Q or Mayerling, but will be interesting to see him develop.

Was actually really impressed with Marquez on Saturday. She often gets overlooked but it was a fantastic performance. Mcrae was typically Mcrae

Anyone see Morera and Kish? Twitter reaction seemed to be mixed.

In Ghent, just eat. It has the most amazing veggie restaurants (I believe the highest density of them in the world), and just soak up the atmosphere and the amazing architecture.

Chrischris, that's interesting that the partnership has worked more successfully in some productions than others. You would think that a successful partnership would work whatever the production. Perhaps some of the individual roles didn't particularly suit them. It's good to hear that RP danced so strongly yesterday. Whenever I've seen him he has always been rather subdued.

It's just my interpretation of course. Others may disagree. For me, they are both quite cool and reserved, and I think sometimes they just appear too cool and detached with each other, whereas in Manon you can feel the chemistry and characterization even up in the amphi. I'm not a big fan of Lamb's Juliet generally, so it may just be certain roles I don't think suit them.

I agree about RP. You never quite know know which RP is going to turn up on the day, or turn up at all, given how injury plagued his career has been.

Yes, unfortunately, Lauren is injured. Sarah is dancing her Manon performances and so she will be dancing with Vadim.

She's dancing it on both Thursday 9th October and Friday 10th October, which must be pretty brutal on the legs.

After seeing Lamb and Pennefather I went straight online to check for the next date they are dancing only to discover that I have a ticket for a sold out show elsewhere that day. After dithering for a few hours I decided to ditch my friend on the 10th and book another L&P Manon instead. As annamk said upstream, they were terrific in the rehearsal; today's performance seemed even more gripping, and I couldn't bear the thought that I might never get to see this combination again.

 

This is definitely the best role I have seen Lamb in yet, she creates the perfect ingenue torn between the Good Life and love (and maybe in need of a moral compass). She manages to express longing, loathing, despair with just a look, I never realised her eyes can be that expressive.

 

Pennefather smouldered so intensely, I expected a fire alarm to go off any minute. His moment of hope just before the end nearly broke my heart.

I agree, and it's interesting how some partnerships work in some roles and not so much in others. L & P are my favourite dancers individually. I thought they were ok/good together in Swan Lake, was pretty underwhelmed by their R&J and thought they would have been better with other people, but their Manon is unbelievable. It's a shame RP was injured for their Giselle.

The matinee today was my first viewing of Manon.  After reading some of the comments I wasn't expecting to like it, but was very pleasantly surprised. 

 

This was a very beautifully danced and acted performance from start to finish.  The principles were pitch perfect and having booked for the 5th Oct particularly to see Lauren Cuthbertson, I will now be happy to see Sarah Lamb again.

 

I was particularly impressed by Rupert Pennefather who was amazing I could feel the power of his performance coming off the stage, I can't wait to see him in Alice in Wonderland on 31/12.

 

Watching todays show I enjoyed the cast throughout and thought the final scene was totally beautiful.

Completely agree. Also thought Alexander Campbell was great as Lescaut (is that how you spell it?). Hopefully he will get some of the big lead roles soon.

Yeah I was up in the slips today and I could see quite a few empty seats further down.