nottsballetlover

Saw the matinee today at Sadlers. Wow and bravo to Liam Mower as Edward. He is such an incredibly powerful actor/dancer that I totally felt the whole emotional journey of the character. Had seen this show once before in the original run but couldn't recall so much going on with all the supporting roles- lots to watch and enjoy but today I was mesmerised by Edward all the way through. I've got more performsasnces booked for this run and after today, I am elated about that. For me, it is as clever and absorbing piece by Mr Bourne. Laughter and tears in equal measures and some very ERM 'adult' content!! The ending is by far the most incredible piece of theatre I have ever experienced but I won't spoil it for anyone seeing it for the first time! There is an orchestra for Sadlers and they were fabulous. Loved the jazz numbers. For some reason the audience did not immediately applaud the orchestra and conductor at the beginning of the second act so the percussionist decided to start it off by himself!!! Eventually the audience got it! Bit odd...... So yes, loved it.

Yay - Nottingham!!! And 3 great pieces!

Danish Royal Ballet seem to be doing Act II of La Sylphide on their programme at Peacock Theatre in January according to this: http://balletnews.co.uk/the-royal-danish-ballet-soloists-and-principals-bournonville-celebration/ Programme looks amazing and I already have my ticket! I can't wait! Plenty of tickets left when I looked yesterday.

Thanks for your detailed review of MCB Frank! I haven't seen them for a few years but they are coming to my home town of Nottingham in February to do both Nutcracker and Swan Lake so it looks like I will book both!!

Just home from Shadows of War matinee in Birmingham and scribbled my thoughts down on the train. I concur with ChrisG above that it was a shame it was poorly attended but the audience (myself included) responded warmly to what for me, was one of the best triple bills I've ever attended. Usually I find at least 1 in the 3 pieces dull but today I was engaged in all of them and found something wonderful in each piece (none of which I had seen before btw). With Fin de Jour, although I failed to connect at all with impending war, I loved the piece. Superbly complex Macmillan lifts of the girls by the boys, with all 4 main roles shining throughout: Celine Gittens, Tyrone Singleton, Yvette Knight and Brandon Lawrence. Miracle in the Gorbals I found very powerful and moving and was gripped throughout and felt the story really flowed well. I'm assuming The Stranger is supposed to be a Christ figure; Cesar Morales shone with a kind of divinity in this (possibly helped by amazing lighting on him). Delia Matthews as suicide was sublime. What a wonderful recreation of a past work - one of the best short ballets I have seen for many years. The Bliss score was played blissfully by RB Sinfonia. And Flowers of the Forest was a wonderful end piece. I particularly loved the Britten Scottish Ballad section accompanied brilliantly on double pianos - 2 Steinway's in the orchestra pit! I was utterly swept away all afternoon. BRB is truly a dazzling company to watch right now.

Just come out of matinee Shadows of War in Birmingham. Just amazing, what a triple bill! Will write more when I get home. Having a quick drink before catching train as I feel emotional! BRB so stunning.

Saw Saturday evening performance of Beauty And the Beast at Hippodrome. First time I've seen this ballet and really loved it: really magical, lovely production, got quite weepy at the end with the happy ending!! BRB so fantastic right now. Delia Matthews and Iain Mackay danced Belle and Beast, superb. Rest of cast equally gorgeous and fabulous, especially Celine Gittens as one of the sisters! I love The Hippodrome: such a lovely venue. I'm overjoyed to have realised it's so easy to get from my home in Nottingham to Birmingham and really get to know the amazing company that is BRB. Got that tip from people on this forum so I'm so happy and grateful! I'm back in Birmingham next Saturday for Shadows of War - can't wait!!

Utterly loved Vadim's debut today as Des Grieux and thought the partnership with Sarah Lamb was emotionally heartfelt. Lamb was exquisite and brilliant as Manon - the expressions she gave throughout were incredible. How can anyone be that emotional about being given a fur coat? - but she was!!! Vadim said in an interview recently that he was looking forward to some big acting roles with the Royal Ballet and my goodness, in my view he delivered today and this really bodes well for him in future dramatic roles - he is mesmerizing and has incredible presence. I cried more than I have done for many years at a ballet and started with the Act 1 pdd...... The music soared, The rest of the cast this afternoon were fantastic, particularly Valentino Zucchetti as Lescaut and Luca Acri as Chief Beggar. Then there was Gary Avis as Mr GM: so brilliantly acted my flesh crawled at his lechery!! Manon is a very uncomfortable story in many ways, but for me, Macmillan at his finest. And today's performance one of the best I have seen over the years. Can't wait to see Vadim in more roles.

Just been to see Gatsby matinee today here in my home town of Nottingham. First time I've seen it. Loved the music,costumes and staging. Wish I had read the book or seen a film version first as I really struggled to follow the plot! But superb performances from all the cast, really joyfully wonderful dancing to watch and captured the period to a tee. Glorious way to spend an afternoon!

So sad about Lauren: I'm booked for 5th. Wishing Lauren a speedy recovery. I'm quite happy to see Sarah Lamb though in Manon, I'm sure she will be fabulous.

Fabulous to watch!

Westminster service was beautiful and with just such powerful readings and music. Just watched it on TV with my candle. The #lightsout was such a powerful way to remember all those lives lost.

Actually, I've just checked the Manon performance schedule and now feel amazed that the RB can do both 4 October Saturday 2 pm matinee and 7 pm evening of Manon, followed by a Sunday 12 noon matinee....... Is that a norm? I feel for any dancers and crew that may have to do all 3. Hardly worth changing out of costume if in the corps! For a 12 noon matinee I'd be interested to know how early the dancers have to arrive, if they do class before etc?

Me too! It was the cast I wanted. Ticket booked then oops, checked out transport from Nottingham to get to London for 12 noon matinee start. Near impossible :oNot wanting to have an expensive overnight stay in London just for one matinee, I have now got a plan I've convinced myself is 'better value': Nottingham to Birmingham on Saturday to see BRB Beauty and the Beast and stay Birmingham overnight.. Then Birmingham to London Sunday to see Manon at midday. Travel looks like it will work OK I hope...... I think I posted before when the RB 2014/15 season was announced, the trend for early matinees makes coming to ROH more costly for anyone living outside London. Very few 2 pm Saturday ones now....none for some productions.

Well done Janet and snap! I got front row stalls for the one Manon performance I wanted and booking done in minutes. Sorry to hear others had problems - it's clearly a highly temperamental system, especially with certain browsers.

I'm just home from seeing Fille in my home town of Nottingham this evening and I'm still practically skipping around with joyfulness. It's such an uplifting, feel good ballet. Lise and Colas were danced superbly by Maureya Lebovitz and Chi Cao and right from the start, there was intense chemistry between them and you knew that nothing on earth could stop them living happily ever after together forever. Every gesture was so heartfelt and full of meaning. Maureya really is a beautifully expressive dancer - I've not seen her dance a leading role before and I was blown away. Alain was Kit Holder and he was brilliantly funny, as was Rory Mackay as Widow Simone. I was with my elderly Dad tonight, as he wanted to take me for a birthday treat. He's rarely been to a ballet so I was a bit worried he would be bored or wouldn't get it but no - he laughed out loud all the way through and came out feeling much the same as me, as in skipping inside with happiness and joy.He also said how much the mime, acting and facial expressions 'told the story'. I hadn't filled him in much on the plot but he said he got it all completely. It goes to show that ballets can speak volumes and you don't need to be an expert to be touched by its incredible power of telling a story without words. Anyway, wonderful show tonight. Going to bed happy. BRB always seems to make me feel that way, they are such an on form company. I can now feel justified buying a big pile of BRB tickets already for next season......!!

Thanks Janet - so did I!! Got through a pile of tissues during Sunday's performance.....

There is a youtube video of Daria's curtain call on Sunday but I'm not sure I'm allowed to post it here!? From the filming angles, I'm guessing it was taken by one of the company who came on stage at the end, so probably legitimate.

What a wonderful, special, emotional, forever to be remembered and treasured performance by Daria and Vadim this afternoon and the whole cast. I was so elated to be there. Words are not enough so I won't try!

Good point Alison. It's a challenge at New Street! The Hippodrome's website advises people to use the Hill Street exit and that's what I used on my last 2 visits. There is a flight of steps down on Hill Street exit from the station to street level but there is a lift for people with disabilities. I really hope it's working on Saturday for the friend I am with when we go to Fille matinee! I can't wait until the New Street station work is finished - the Hippodrome itself has such wonderful disability access and so many seats for wheelchair users. It's just a fabulous theatre in so many ways and I have lots of BRB performances booked for the next year!

I'm just back home from Saturday matinee of Darkness and Light. I kind of gasped when I downloaded the casting and running time yesterday and found out the actual dancing in this triple bill was just 64 minutes (my travel time to and from Birmingham is 4 hours!!). But I do feel today's performance has been worth it. What a treat - a triple Ashton, danced so well by BRB who are all on such great form. I won't say much about Facade or Les Rendezvous other than that they are great pieces, lovely to watch, wonderful dancing from the company. What was very special and very moving was Dante Sonata. What a piece, just what an amazingly powerful piece of dance and choreography. Just the music alone, with the Liszt piano music played so brilliantly by Jonathan Higgins. And the dancing - well words fail me. As Two Pigeons said above, the experience of seeing it will stay with me for a long time....I cannot put it into words what the brilliant Ashton put into dance......How possibly could I?? What a piece. How wonderful that this genius piece of work has been recreated for future generations. How very very lucky it has not been lost. Feel so happy have seen it danced today.

Aileen - I was centre front row stalls so rather good view!!

I saw the Saturday matinee of Scottish Ballet's R&J and really enjoyed it. I'm a huge lover of the MacMillan version (I spent a small fortune going to 3 of the most recent RB run!), but I'm always intrigued to see different ballet interpretations. For me, Pastor's version worked really well and I found myself emotionally engaged all the way through with the story, choreography and dancing. Although condensing the story into 1 hour 40 minutes of stage time left less time for the relationship between Romeo and Juliet to develop, Remi Andreoni and Bethany-Kingsley-Garner got across the youthful emotion as the pair and the final death scenes were powerfully performed and very moving. I loved the stripped back sets and having the Capulets in black costumes (including black-shirted fascists). I liked the setting of the whole thing in 20th century Italy, and using the time changes and video backdrop to highlight the endless family feud and ongoing violence. The lovers are taken away separately after death - no happy reconciliation or remorse by the feuding families in this version. I also liked the central, dancing roles for Lord and Lady Capulet, yesterday danced convincingly by Lewis Landini and Claire Robertson. In fact, Pastor has Lord Capulet as an absolute monster, which is utterly chilling all the way through, and gave this version of the story a lot of its impact for me. It is still unfortunately all too relevant today to have a mobster, head of the gang, warlord-type figure inciting violence. The stand out performance for me yesterday was Daniel Davidson as Mercutio and his relentless taunting of Tybalt to the point where you couldn't blame Tybalt for rising to it. Mind you, the fight was (excellently choreographed) hand-to-hand combat only and unlikely to have been fatal, until Lord Capulet chillingly slipped Tybalt a knife....... So, I found the whole production exciting, punchy, fresh, relevant to modern times. And what a great dancers Scottish Ballet has - the whole company seemed really gelled together and all giving a fine performance as 'a whole'. I hadn't had the opportunity to see them perform before so I'm so pleased I went down to Sadlers (thanks for the recommendation a few months back on the forum Janet!). The matinee yesterday was very warmly received by the audience, which was well-deserved. I would definitely see Pastor's version again and more of his work - for me, it was extremely thought-provoking and moving.

Hi Alison, Details of the Scottish Ballet production here: http://www.scottishballet.co.uk/romeo-juliet/romeo-a-juliet.html Halfway down it says running time '2 hours with one 20 minute interval'. I'm looking forward to the matinee at Sadlers on 17 May!

I'm beyond happy about the live cinema stream for Winter's Tale.. Only live matinees are 12 noon and that is so tricky if, like me, you live in the Midlands. So, cinema for me.