Sim

Agree. A final curtain call would have taken about three minutes, and lord knows they deserved one. 😤😤

Her Juliet blew me away...

I have recently interviewed Ruth and will be posting it up in the next few days.

Sorry I was on holiday at that time so I haven’t seen this before. Maybe one of the other mods can explain.

I will just reiterate that when a post has been reported by someone, or if we feel that it breaches AUP, the moderators hide it in the first instance, then discuss it to see if we agree with the report or with each other and if so, how to proceed. As we all have lives of our own, this is usually not an instantaneous process, which is why we always say that the post has been hidden as it's under discussion by the mods, which is indeed what I did here. The people involved are then contacted privately by us.

Hi Anna, it’s yours. Please PM me so we can make arrangements. Thanks, Sim

D32 now gone, D33 still available.

Matinee is at 12:00 on June 7th. Central Balcony Standing tickets (D32 and 33), £8.00 each. I will be at the ROH 1 June matinee and 4th June so could do the exchange then. Or can post them if sold quickly. Thanks, Sim

The photo I posted on the previous page, in March, illustrates this article beautifully!

I agree Alison. The world should see Sambe as Mercutio! No disrespect to Valentino Zucchetti, who is fine, but it’s very rare that we have such an outstanding interpreter of the role.

And if it's the same as the schools matinee cast it's Zucchetti as Mercutio and Ella as Benvolio.

Not me.

I don’t think that would stop any of us! If I spot you I will definitely introduce myself.

I think that would just about finish me off!!

I have already written about the Hayward/Corrales cast so will try not to bore you again. I can only reiterate what I said about this up-thread. What I really want to emphasise is what raised their three shows up to another level was the sensational supporting cast. Every last one of them contributed hugely to making this one of the most beautiful, believable, emotional, technically wonderful and heart-wrenching performances of this ballet that I have ever seen. The three boys (Corrales/Sambe/Hay) were as one.....a three-way bromance that I felt has spanned the ages: were they in Renaissance Italy, or were they in 21st century London? It could just as easily have been either. They joshed around beautifully together, and you could really feel the affection they held for each other. They are each so different, and each had something different to give, but it all coalesced into one amazing little band of brothers, who had each others' backs. This makes it so easy to see and understand Romeo's fury at Tybalt when Mercutio dies. And boy was Corrales furious!! I just didn't know where to look with my binoculars; although this was my third of three of their shows, there was still so much to learn, to see, to enjoy. I could hardly take my eyes off Matthew Ball, already staking a claim to being one of the best Tybalts ever (no surprise there, considering he was coached in the role by another classic Tybalt, Gary Avis). The same goes for 'Marcicutio'.....again, already one of the finest Mercutios I can ever remember after 40 years of watching this ballet. And James Hay's incredibly expressive eyes were magnetic. Whilst Mercutio and Romeo sniggered after being told off by the Prince of Verona, Benvolio looked suitably chastened. Once again their mask dance in Act 1 showed how very in tune the three boys are with each other. So beautifully done, and none of them trying to be the one who everyone notices; they are a trio; they dance like one and they act like one. Seldom has the loss of these five young lives made me feel so barren, and so angry at the waste. Once again Gary Avis, Christina Arestis, Thomas Mock and Romany Pajdak all had their parts to play in enhancing an amazing 'core cast.' And once again Corrales and Hayward broke my heart. Their balcony scene was danced with such joy, such abandon and such exuberance that I totally believed in their young love. As an old cynic I often think of R&J 'oh come on now, really? Two young people are going to kill themselves for each other after knowing each other for only 48 hours??' Well these two made that seem completely logical and believable. The wedding scene, where Corrales just couldn't tear his eyes away from his love. Their heartbreak in the tomb scene, mirrored by my own, willing each of them to wake up. I just loved how devastated Corrales was when he covered Hayward's face in kisses as she lay on the floor, and not even that woke her up. He wrung his hands in despair and it was this that made him realise that she was really 'dead'....if his kisses couldn't wake her, nothing could. When the lump in my throat (which had been there for most of the evening) turned into tears was Hayward's sad smile as she looked at Romeo in her final seconds; so happy that this was the last thing she would ever see on this earth, and so happy to have shared his love. I am so happy to have shared all three of their performances, and I so hope that they are cast together in future, a lot. They have such a wonderful, natural and emotional connection, and of course chemistry.....I am praying to the ballet gods for their Manon, followed by SL and SB...... In my dreams, probably.

We all saw the poke in SCS and it got a good laugh! I wonder if Matthew was expecting it?! 😱🤣

I totally agree, Anna. Tonight’s performance was pure, joyous perfection and I feel privileged and eternally grateful to have been there. Because I didn’t watch it, I experienced it.

She is feisty and fabulous as Juliet!

She always reminds me of a young Faye Dunaway....

Getting back to Sergei (my apologies for largely being the reason we have veered away from topic)... I hope that FionaE and anyone else who goes to the Palladium shows will report back.

I thought the same of his Albrecht, which added much to an extraordinary performance of Giselle with Francesca Hayward.

Thanks Richard. Hmmmm, 'so quick to shut things down'? We often get told by forum members that we let controversial threads run for way too long. Why do we do this? Because we believe that people should have their say to the greatest extent possible, and as Alison says we really dislike having to lock or hide threads or posts, and as you say Richard we only do that when it has really gone too far. We could easily clamp down a lot more than we do, but that isn't how we want to run the forum. Seems we're damned if we do and damned if we don't.

That is a ridiculous statement, Colman. Conversation on this site is hardly 'tightly controlled', otherwise we wouldn't be having this debate, nor many others that we have had. Furthermore, no-one is advocating being rude and abusive to people weaker than others. That is a completely different issue from being able to say what you think without people deciding on your behalf what is acceptable and what isn't.

That's a totally different issue, and very, very sad, but many people, not only gay boys, have committed suicide from things people have said/done to them. I don't believe that people should be prevented from saying what they think because some people might commit suicide. If they are being trolled, personally insulted, harassed or bullied, then that is of course a different matter, and of course it should stopped and dealt with by the authorities. However, I am talking about people being able to express their opinions, no matter how odious some people might find them. There is a difference between this and someone being bullied. Polunin was expressing his warped opinions in a general way.

I don't think so....we have been naming quite a few potential Lenskys here. Nicol Edmonds danced him last time, but was disappointing. However, I am sure that four years on he would make a great job of it now.