Sim

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!

Thank you Penelope, and welcome to the forum!  I think just about everybody in the House felt like we did at the end of the evening last night....the twittersphere was buzzing immediately, with everyone reacting in the same way.  That in itself says so much about what a magnificent performance it was. 

I have just about recovered from last night's opening performance of Mayerling.  I cannot imagine that there will ever be a better cast, from the two leads right down to the girls in the brothel. 

Ed Watson was unbelievably good, technically, dramatically and emotionally.  He inhabits Rudolf to the point where he IS Rudolf, not Ed dancing Rudolf.  He charts his descent from disturbed to drug-fuelled despair with empathy, understanding and edge-of-the-seat drama.  He understands the psychological complexities of this very sad man looking for love and acceptance (especially from his mother), and the consequences of finding neither.  By the end of the ballet, I could only feel relief that he had removed himself from the abject misery that had taken hold of his whole being and enveloped him tightly within it, not allowing the prospect of escape except by death.  A tremendously moving performance, one that I will never forget. 

Mara Galeazzi, as Mary Vetsera, was Watson's equal in all ways.  Sexy, manipulative, feisty, obsessive....this Mary understands how to hook her prince.  However, by their final pas de deux, she is a terrified young woman, but will stick to her guns (pardon pun) and carry through the suicide pact with Rudolf.  Ed and Mara understand each other totally; they trust each other and they can tell us so much without speaking a word;  they have been dancing together for more than ten years, and theirs is a MacMillan partnership the like of which, in my opinion,  hasn't been seen since David Wall and Lynn Seymour and, I venture, won't be seen again for a good while.  Mara showed us last night what the Royal Ballet, and its audience, is going to be missing when she's gone.

Big hurrahs for the rest of the cast too:  a wonderful performance from Emma Maguire as Princess Stephanie.  Her terror in the bedroom pdd was manifest as she was being thrown around like a rag doll (almost overthrown at one point!) and terrorised by this maniac of a new husband.  She is definitely a star of the future;  I was very impressed with her dancing and her acting all the way through.  Zenaida Yanowsky as Empress Elizabeth maintained an outward air of coldness towards her son, but the occasional tender look, outreached hand, showed that deep down, beneath the protocols of State behaviour and her veneer of frigidity, there is a woman who, like her son, is looking for love and being able to let go.  She finds this in Bay Middleton, a small role but as always Gary Avis made the most of it, leading us to believe emphatically that Elizabeth would look to him for what she wasn't getting at home.  Laura Morera reprised her role as my favourite Mitzi Caspar, dancing with a spring in her step and, at the end of her scene, turning into a deceiver with a small flick of her eyes.  The four Hungarian soldiers were also very good, but Ryoichi Hirano stood out with a marvelous show of virtuosity in every jump, jete and turn. A merit too for an on-form Ricardo Cervera's touching portrayal of the loyal Bratfisch.

And finlly, to Sarah Lamb as Larisch.  Again, a wonderful actress who really understands this woman and gets under her skin and into her soul.  Larisch is the only character in this ballet who really loves, and cares about, Rudolf.  She is always there to pick him up when he falls, and to give him a loving touch of comfort.  The fact that she manipulates a young girl to go and be his plaything (she must think it will cheer him up) without any thought for the potential consequences to her or her family must make her seem very scheming, but underneath it all I think she does it to try to help Rudolf.  Since she can't have him, being able to decide who can will enable her to keep an eye on him from close quarters....but it doesn't turn out like that.  Sarah has one of the most expressive faces (especially her eyes) in the Royal Ballet.  The slightest of movements of her eyes or mouth can change the whole feel of a scene.  The look on her face when Elizabeth ejects her from Rudolf's bedroom is searingly heartfelt, as is the moment when she desperately gestures to a despairing Rudolf, slumped on the chair having just injected himself with drugs.  "Instead of concentrating on me, just look at your son.  Do something...."  is the plea from that one move of her arm.  A superlative performance from her. 

The ovations at the end of the evening were loud and long.  When Ed came out for his first red run there was shouting, cheering and feet being stamped.  He was so overwhelmed by the reaction that he put his head in his hands and was almost in tears when he came up again.  Many of us were in tears too.  Don't be surprised Ed....your accolades and ovations were thoroughly deserved.  A huge bravo to him and and the whole cast....they have set the bar so high that I will be very interested to see how other casts will be reaching for it.

Johan Kobborg once said that after the first act of Mayerling he feels as if he's already done three acts of Swan Lake!  Chris, if you ever get a chance to see the SouthBank Show documentary filmed as David Wall and Lynn Seymour were creating the roles of Rudolf and Mary it is fascinating!

The thing is, the plot of ME is well known, and even if one didn't know it, there must have been a synopsis in the programme. So if it was found to be squallid or shocking that was to be expected.  I remember the Bolshoi bringing the Rite of Spring to Calcutta eons ago and the audience being outraged. There it was a question of inadequate information, if people had known what it was about I don't think they would have gone to see it. I remember feeling very sorry for the ballerina who was brilliant and gave her all, I was too young to notice names then, alas. But the look on her face is one of the reasons why I would never boo a performance, I would limit myself to perfunctory applause for the dancers and not the production, or just not applaud at all.

Personally, I wouldn't go to see ME, just as I haven't been able to watch The Judas Tree, because I am squeamish. But if I did and then were to be disturbed by what goes on onstage, that would be a little silly, IMO.

 

I do wonder what the dancers feel when, for example, Carabosse is booed. Do they take it as a response to the character or are they upset by it?

No....they don't get upset by it, they know it is a response to the character!  Some, like Gary Avis, even play along: when he does the red run after playing Von Rothbart and gets roundly booed, he sometimes makes a face at the audience, keeping in character.  I've seen other dancers ham it up also, by pointing a finger menacingly at the audience.  It usually ends in applause after the booing.

Like a couple of posters above, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like ME, so didn't buy a ticket.  If I'm really not enjoying something, I leave at the interval, but that hasn't happened too often.  However, if I'm still there at the end and I really didn't enjoy it, I just rush out immediately as the curtains go down.

I can't imagine why anyone would boo Roberta in this role.  Maybe an ardent Alina fan who would've booed anyone replacing her, no matter how good the performance!!  Let's just hope she didn't hear it.  It is so hurtful.

"The booing at the interval curtain was richly deserved."

These are the words of the Independent's dance critic Jenny Gilbert in her review of 'Midnight Express'.  I must say I was very disappointed to see a critic condone booing at a performance.  Of all people who should know how much work goes into putting on a piece of live theatre, be it dance, plays or concerts, it is the critics.  How does she think it makes the dancers (who by all accounts were doing their best with the choreography) feel to hear people booing?  Even if some members of the audience are booing the production, it is the dancers onstage who have to hear it, and who are never sure if it is them or the production getting booed. 

I can't stand booing, but I thought it would be interesting to ask all of you what you think.  Is it ever justified?  For example, if a dancer has an off night and doesn't complete the 32 fouettees, can't hold her balances, etc?  Or if an opera singer misses his/her high Cs, or goes off key a couple of times?  Do these artists deserve to get booed as the audience has paid lots of money to see a wonderful performance?  Or do we accept that they are human and sometimes the voice or body don't work as expected?  I must say I have seen booing at the opera a few times, but never at a dance performance.....are opera fans more demanding than dance fans?

A few questions to ponder on a Sunday....I'd be interested to hear your views!

RIP Maria...who blazed a trail for many who have come since.  I never saw her dance live, but loved what I've seen on film, and also her interviews;  she always came across as a very nice, very intelligent woman.

Great photos as always, John.  Many thanks for posting.

Peter Schaufuss Ballet opened at the London Coliseum tonight. Aside from the departure of Polunin, does anyone have  comments about the ballet? We'd love to hear them please!

I was about to post some very laudatory words about Graham Watts' piece in Londondance when I saw that I'd be beaten to it by no less than both Janet McNulty and Sim, so I'm in excellent company! 

 

 Graham's piece is admirably balanced and no doubt scrupulously researched, and he's probably right in everything he surmises. His words are easily the best I’ve read so far on this whole sorry issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you very much for those kind words, Ann! 

It does need men.....but tall ones!!  However, I would be delighted to make an exception in Mr V's case.  Looking forward to seeing much more of them in London, and it will be very interesting to see how Osipova interprets the MacMillan repertoire, as well as the more contemporarly pieces.  Wishing her much luck, happiness and longevity here in London.

I think Graham Watt's piece for London Dance (in Today's Links:  http://londondance.com/articles/features/midnight-express-and-headline-stars-part-company/ ) is the voice of reason and a very sensible interpretation of something we will never know the whole story of.

Me too....a very well-considered and balanced piece of journalism.  I wish there were more of it about!

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That's why I bought a ticket to Mayerling on June 15th....I had a feeling it would be her final London performance!  Leanne is an amazing dancer and still looks like a 25 year-old out on that stage.  I will never forget her marvelous performances in the MacMillan ballets, which is where she particularly excelled.  Best wishes to her in her future endeavours.

jm365....Ed Watson is brilliant at Rudolf.  In my very humble opinion I think he is this generation's best male interpreter of MacMillan, both technically and dramatically (well, perhaps excepting Romeo and DG).  I cannot wait to see him do Mayerling with Mara Galeazzi, as she is also a brilliant MacMillan dancer, and last time I saw them do this ballet together I was in awe by the end. The only Rudolf who ever made me cry, however, was Thiago Soares....my reaction was totally unexpected which made me blub even more!!  Can't wait to see him do this with Lauren...should be amazing. 

Thanks Bill! Despite the chance of seeing Sergei dance again, I'll be giving this one a miss!

Ha ha they are, Bill....but I'm not sure they were supposed to keep going up and down like they did!  If they were, it sure looked bizarre as there was no point to it once Giselle's grave had been revealed!  We didn't need them again until she was hidden by the other one at the end!