Sim

Thanks Cathy....just downloaded. Best £1.29 I've spent in ages!!

Oh, and his final performance in London will be as Bratfisch on June 15th, so will be a bittersweet night, saying goodbye to him and Leanne

I've been a big fan of Brian's for many years, and will miss his performances loads. He's always been a very loyal and reliable member of the RB, no matter which roles he was dancing. He did have some unfortunate injury problems, but always came back even better than before. He tells me he is going to be working with some German sports scientists who are developing a special strenghthening programme for ballet dancers, so his experience will stand them in very good stead. He will still be based at the ROH so will still be around. He said he wants to quit while he's ahead and is still in good physical shape. Knowing what a good guy he is, he will be helping the younger dancers in all kinds of ways. I wish him loads of happiness and every success in his new venture.

Denmark, with an ok song but by no means the best one!

There is no way that the UK or Ireland will ever win again....in the past 20 years with the addition of all the new countries who just vote for each other, no matter how bad the song, neither of these two countries stands a chance. As is said in post #3 above, there are obvious voting blocks every year, which is why the contest has changed so much, and why neither of the countries I mentioned here will win for a very long time, if ever. Hubby and I, together with Graham Norton, were right almost every time about which country was going to give 10 and 12 points to whom. Hardly a fair and unbiased competition. But who cares? We have the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, Yes, ELP, David Bowie, T-Rex, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Oasis, Blur, Fairport Convention, Adele,.....the list goes on and on. Who needs Eurovision??!!!!

Whew....I was worried there for a minute....but only for a minute. Just another case of poor, sloppy journalism.

Carabosse being invited to Aurora's christening at the same time as everyone else...

Now....I know many of you went to this, but no postings yet, so.....for those of us who couldn't be there, what did you think? What were the high points for you? I've just seen some photos of Andre Uspenski's on Facebook and it looks like it was a great evening. Over to you!

Fabulous, John. Thanks so much!

Do let us know your thoughts, LinMM!

Thank you Amelia....I wish those videos lasted longer

Welcome to the forum, Coated, and thanks for your impressions. I'm looking forward to seeing it tomorrow night.

Thanks for this wonderful review, Anjuli. You have brought a very special evening to life for those of us who weren't there. Here's to the next 20 years and more!

I also agree that last night's performance was one of the best I've seen. I loved Roberta's Nikiya with Bonelli on the opening night, but last night with her regular partner Steven McRae she took it to a different level. He was wonderful not only technically, but gave Solor a force of character not often seen. Yuhui Choe was excellent as Gamzatti, portraying her more as vulnerable than evil. I got the feeling in her beautifully danced third act solo that she was desperately begging Solor to love her, despite what she'd done. With another sublime performance from the Corps in Act 2, Valentino Zucchetti a brilliant Golden Idol and Eric Underwood and Gary Avis gracing the stage, it made for a marvellous and moving night at the ballet.

ChrisChris don't get confused if you read Jenny Gilbert's review today. She says Rudolf was 25, but Bangorballetboy is correct...he was 30.

Best of luck with it Angeline!

Alison, he studied at the RBS for a year or two.

I certainly have my eye on him!! It would be great if he moved to London....but I guess his wife would have to come too as she is a dancer with DNB. They could do a Bonelli/Kobayashi!!

Capybara, they were wonderful. A great partnership, equal technically and dramatically. I had never seen him dance before and I'm very, very impressed with him! He is a wonderful turner, has lovely height to his jumps and lands silently. He is also an excellent partner, and gave very good characterisation to the rather bland Solor. Gosh, how did the RB let him slip through their hands??!! James Hay made his gold paint shine brilliantly in his debut as the Golden Idol. Very well done to him! Must agree, the audience was terrible.

I think that in addtion to the touring that ENB does to take ballet to those who don't often get the chance to see it, we should also mention all the excellent outreach programmes that they do with local schools, both in London and when they are on tour. Furthermore, they have the Angelina Ballerina and the 'My First....' programmes which are aimed at getting children interested in ballet. Furthermore, we know from experience that if ENB were to tour a programme containing only new works, not many people would go along to see them and money would be lost. They have to draw a very fine line between taking new works out there and taking out the classics which they know will put bums on seats and earn money. Tamara is very aware of this and will, I'm sure, get the balance right. I think that ENB are fully deserving of every penny of tax payers' money that they get.

If anyone sees this debut tonight please let us know how it goes. I have to wait until Tuesday!!

I didn't think he was restrained at all....especially after the total decimation he made of the National Ballet of Canada (quite unfairly, in my opinion!).

A very rare phenomenon: brilliant reviews across the board from the critics for the opening night of Mayerling! Mr Crisp is especially laudatory, giving it 5 stars. Praise indeed!

Is this MacMillan's version?

Fab photos Dave....as always!