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I don't suppose this has been filmed? Sadly I couldn't get to it and it sounds wonderful!

I have always wondered this about Swan Lake: if they are supposed to turn back into maidens at night, why are they always in swan costumes and still behaving like swans all night?!

I was in Row L of the amphi and saw it from there.

A lovely photo taken just after the performance. With thanks to Andre Uspenski.

Uh oh, looks like Jan has competition!!

Yes, that same music is there, LinMM, but IMHO not used to the same effect as in the Dowell version, as I said on one my posts above. The ending here is too gloomy for that uplifting and beautiful music! Yasmine's official debut is actually May 28th! But either way, it doesn't matter because she will be wonderful in both performances!!

Well hopefully with the sudden demise of her father that puts paid to her power as well!!

Not a review as such, but just some random jottings-down of my thoughts on the production itself as they occurred to me this morning: Swan Lake Random Thoughts Prologue: In the true Gothic tradition. Quick but effective…..really liked it. We see Von Rothbart turning Odette into a swan, although we don’t know why. All is revealed later as it is clearly part of the monster’s grand plan to grab power from a weakened, widowed and grieving queen. By ensuring that Siegfried can’t be king, this opens the way for him. But we don’t know all this until the end of Act 3. Act 1: Costumes perhaps too white. Should contrast more with Act 2. But that’s just a pedantic niggle on my part. Love the set. No Tchaikovsky waltz (in any of his big three ballets), despite the most valiant attempts, has ever held my attention for more than a few minutes, and this is no exception. Why are Tchaikovsky’s waltzes so darn long? Must have been popular at the time. The pdt, with the three principals, was wonderful, with Akane Takada’s classical technique on fine and beautiful fettle. I like that they are Siegfried’s young sisters, and I like how we can see his misery and melancholia when he indicates that he doesn’t want to dance with them, so tells Benno to do so instead. I also like the fact that Benno’s role has been enhanced. I thought it was interesting how the Queen seems to almost just go through the motions in telling her son that he has to marry. His father has just died, and she mimes that all this is now his kingdom, that he will soon be crowned king, and therefore has to marry. She seems sad about having to make him do this. This contrasts with the Dowell version where she is angry and insistent when he indicates that he isn’t interested. Interesting how Von Rothbart recoils and clutches himself when Siegfried says he is going to shoot some swans…it’s as if he realises he’d better get back into monster form to try and save all his evil plans from being scuppered! That must be the quickest costume and makeup change I’ve ever seen. Prior to this, we do get the feeling that VR, acting as the Queen’s advisor, is already machinating things in the palace prior to his takeover bid. I want to know more about VR: was he born a monster (literally/figuratively)? Or is he also under a curse? Act 2: Largely left alone. All mime left in. Thank goodness on both counts. Love the set and the beautiful moonlit lighting. I didn’t see Siegfried mime the ‘I swear’ sign to Odette, but I guess we are just supposed to guess that he has expressed loyal and undying love to her by that beautiful pdd. Act 3: A real tour de force in all respects: set design, costume design, choreography, music and lighting (thank you, thank you, for ensuring that the audience can see every minute of this beautiful production. All other lighting designers please take note: the audience pays to actually be able to see what they’ve paid for!). I love how Siegfried has to be dragged to the party after Benno is sent to look for him; he just doesn’t want to be there, and doesn’t want to meet any other woman. Again, in the context of the narrative, this makes much more sense than the happy and jaunty way he enters the party in the previous version. Loved the four princesses, and how they fit into the rest of the act: each one sitting on a chair with her minder standing behind her, and each one giving filthy looks to Odile as they know they stand absolutely no chance with Siegfried with her around. If looks and glares could kill, Odile would be dead on the floor and they might have a chance after all! Really liked the national dances, but I wish Tierney’s fabulous Spanish skirt was just a bit shorter so we could see all the footwork happening under there. I really enjoyed the pdt here as well, to reinstated music that was beautifully played. Loved how at the end of the act VR steals the crown from the Queen’s head; it gives a point to why he’s done all the things that he’s done: he’s simply a power hungry megalomaniac. Lots of black swans flooding the stage was also unexpected and very effective. Act 4: Beautiful lighting at the beginning, really giving the impression of a lake. I love what Scarlett does with the swans, keeping the traditional style but making some changes. Fabulous new pdd to that lovely reinstated music. I love how the swans very slowly walk off the stage as the pdd is being danced, wistfully looking back at the couple as if they already know that they are doomed. Very clever and very effective. Goosebumps and a lump in the throat always accompany that glorious music when Siegfried runs onstage, and Vadim looked so utterly bereft that I just wanted to jump onstage and give him a hug! But I digress from comments about the production itself….I really like all the little touches added here, such as the four cygnets reprising a bit of their Act 2 dance, but they break from each other almost immediately: this is no longer four happy little cygnets; they have had to grow up fast as the doom brought to the lakeside by Odette has cast a bleak pall over everyone. They all believe that they are going to be marooned by the lake under this curse for all eternity. Step in Odette, who dies for all of them. I love the effect when Siegfried walks into the lake to retrieve her body; he just disappears into the gloom, then reappears with Odette, in human form, limp in his arms. As he grieves, the ghost of swan Odette appears, giving us hope that she will somehow always watch over the man she loved.

Funnily enough, Indigo, my daughter and I had that same discussion the way home. He disappears altogether, then reappears. My daughter wondered whether he walked on water!!! We were also saying how the rocks are on the shore only just above the water line, so she can't have drowned, unless she was swept out and then back for retrieval very quickly!! But then I told my daughter to stop over-thinking things, and just let it wash (pardon pun) over her. She made a good point and said that it was easier to do that in the previous version because Dowell had made it more of a magic story, whereas here she felt there is much more a touch of reality about it. But as you say, Indigo, we won't be thinking about that in the next few performances!!

Errr.....no! I was actually commenting to someone last night that it is very slow. She said if it were any slower they would have to extend the finishing time!!

Yep....but we want happiness all round!!

So did I; this (and the ending), is completely in keeping with Scarlett's seeming fascination with the Gothic and works very well.

I think that after only one viewing I too prefer Dowell's Act 4; at least, the last 10 minutes (I love Liam's pdd and the reinstated music, and what he has done with the corps). For the ending, to me, the music indicates some kind of apotheosis, or some kind of uplifting spiritual resolution. That second when the music stops then goes really slowly, building up to the final crescendo, and all the swan maidens, on pointe, arms outstretched to the side, turn to face Odette and Siegfried as they go off to swan heaven.....that is an image in ballet that always makes me choke up and get goosebumps. I don't think this new Act 4's ending will have the same effect....but it's a good one anyway, and I love that the ghost of Odette still remains. Poor old Siegfried....I much prefer it when he dies too, then at least he and Odette are together for eternity.....!

I loved this production....it got better and better as it went along. Gorgeous designs, lovely choreography, sensitive use of the reinstated music, narrative sense, lighting that for a change meant we could see everything, beautiful dancing all round....wow! My daughter and I also thought that Vadim rather stole the show....he was simply superb. More tomorrow....but I will say that I was one of the doubters when this mammoth task was given to Liam. So young, and then there was Frankenstein (for which I totally forgive him now!). I am thrilled to stand corrected, and congratulate him and John MacFarlane for doing such a wonderful job. This production is well worthy of, and stands up to, the burden of history that this ballet carries.

Yes, some of us did notice. We assumed that she had simply forgotten to take it off at the table! She divested herself of it very elegantly, as if it were part of the seduction. I loved the way the girls made it part of the scene: fighting over it, taking turns trying it on, and eventually ensuring that it was back at the table for Des Grieux to find before his Act 2 solo. Brilliantly done! Lauren had also got stuck to Ryo earlier, but he undid the problem so quickly that it was hardly noticeable.

I agree, Coated. I loved the whole performance. What beautiful dancing from Reece, and only his second go at the role. A star in the making. Lauren played Manon as knowing, feisty, yet somehow resigned to her fate. A very different interpretation, and it made me think, and therefore it worked for me. Great way to end what has been a fascinating and very successful run of this very complex ballet. Huge congratulations to the whole company.

Sorted! Thank you.

Indeed there are!

Probably in the pd3, as Principals are dancing it this time; even better, it's repeated so we get to see them twice!

I would love to meet some more 'forumers' tomorrow evening, so methinks a gathering at the bottom of the escalator is in order for those who would like to come and introduce themselves.

So glad sense has prevailed! A pox on your bank balance too.....mine would be a lot enhanced if it weren't for my (and my daughter's!) ballet passion, but my life would be much diminished, and that is what I always have to remember when I am depressed towards the end of every month (as someone once said, why is there always so much month left at the end of the money?!).

Throw caution to the wind and GO! It should be a very special night with a great atmosphere. I am so pleased that I have a ticket. A pox on work!!

Thanks Margaret, I have replied.

Have you thought about this before by any chance, MRR?! What a great list!

Read Jann Parry's 'Different Drummer', Shade. It is fascinating and brilliantly written and researched.