Your desert island Triple Bill

[Two Pigeons]

P.s.  saw both parts of Nicholas Nickleby in one day!  Oh, what it was to be young.

[ninamargaret]

3 hours ago, Two Pigeons said:

P.s.  saw both parts of Nicholas Nickleby in one day!  Oh, what it was to be young.

Did the RSC 's complete histories in 2008, 8 plays over 4days, with 2days having 3plays on each. And each play was around 3hours long!. So at least some theatre goers are a hardy bunch

[alison]

5 hours ago, Two Pigeons said:

Etudes with Andria Hall and Patricks Armand and Dupond   Ditto

 

Was that a reality, or just a fantasy?

[Two Pigeons]

It was reality and it was really exciting.

[JennyTaylor]

If we are playing fair and choosing ballets that would only be in a real triple bill then 

Symphony in C

Marguerite and Armand with Sylvie Guillem, but I suspect Zenaida might blitz that next month

The Dream

not necessarily in that order

 

If we are selecting an act of any ballet * 3 then that's really difficult

Swan Lake - final act - in the round 

Onegin - final act

Manon - final act

 

but that could change at any time.  

    

[Melody]

Les Patineurs

Symphonic Variations

A Month in the Country

 

Then again, I totally agree that adding Elite Syncopations or The Concert would be brilliant. If I was stuck on a desert island, I'd want something to make me smile. Pineapple Poll would do that too.

Edited May 6, 2017 by Melody

[Lizbie1]

4 hours ago, Melody said:

Then again, I totally agree that adding Elite Syncopations or The Concert would be brilliant. If I was stuck on a desert island, I'd want something to make me smile. Pineapple Poll would do that too.

 

Exactly what I was thinking after seeing BRB doing Pineapple Poll last night - I don't think anyone left without a smile on their face.

[loveclassics]

On 04/05/2017 at 10:08, Lizbie1 said:

 

Speaking as an opera goer, the fuss about the length of Angels in America had me thinking that fans of straight theatre must be lightweights

Good point.  Think of those dedicated folk who happily sit through 19 hours of the Ring Cycle on the dreadfully hard seating at Bayreuth!  I'd join them if I could but I understand you have to apply years in advance?

 

Linda

[Scheherezade]

On 04/05/2017 at 10:08, Lizbie1 said:

 

Speaking as an opera goer, the fuss about the length of Angels in America had me thinking that fans of straight theatre must be lightweights

 

The trilogy of James plays at the National, anyone? Actually the National seems to have a thing about endurance sittings.

[ninamargaret]

I think Theatre goers would win the endurance stakes! For years the RSC has put on tri!ogies of Shakespeare plays coming in at around 9 hours, and apart from the James plays at the National there have also been trilogies by Shakespeare, Chekov, David Hare and Tom Stoppard. How about a ballet trilogy of Nutcracker, Sean Lake and Beauty? 

[bridiem]

1 hour ago, ninamargaret said:

I think Theatre goers would win the endurance stakes! For years the RSC has put on tri!ogies of Shakespeare plays coming in at around 9 hours, and apart from the James plays at the National there have also been trilogies by Shakespeare, Chekov, David Hare and Tom Stoppard. How about a ballet trilogy of Nutcracker, Sean Lake and Beauty? 

 

I'm in!!

[Guest]

2 hours ago, ninamargaret said:

I think Theatre goers would win the endurance stakes! For years the RSC has put on tri!ogies of Shakespeare plays coming in at around 9 hours, and apart from the James plays at the National there have also been trilogies by Shakespeare, Chekov, David Hare and Tom Stoppard. How about a ballet trilogy of Nutcracker, Sean Lake and Beauty? 

That rings a bell. Didn't Peter Schaufuss produce something call Tchaikovsky Trilogy? Some kind of of version of the big three? I never saw it though.

[Guest]

12 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

Exactly what I was thinking after seeing BRB doing Pineapple Poll last night - I don't think anyone left without a smile on their face.

I love Pineapple Poll. I'd love to see some of the current RB dancers in this. I can see Morera, Hayward and O'Sullivan as Poll. Did Campbell dance Belaye in BRB? Yanowsky, Arestis and McNally as Mrs Dimple.

[ninamargaret]

19 minutes ago, Darlex said:

I love Pineapple Poll. I'd love to see some of the current RB dancers in this. I can see Morera, Hayward and O'Sullivan as Poll. Did Campbell dance Belaye in BRB? Yanowsky, Arestis and McNally as Mrs Dimple.

Yes please to Campbell as Belaye!  Haven't seen it since it was a speciality of David Blair's.

[Guest]

19 hours ago, JennyTaylor said:

If we are playing fair and choosing ballets that would only be in a real triple bill then 

Symphony in C

Marguerite and Armand with Sylvie Guillem, but I suspect Zenaida might blitz that next month

The Dream

not necessarily in that order

 

If we are selecting an act of any ballet * 3 then that's really difficult

Swan Lake - final act - in the round 

Onegin - final act

Manon - final act

 

but that could change at any time.  

    

Jenny, I really like and appreciate your 'fair play' selection. When I started this thread, I admit, I really wasn't clear about the parameters I had in mind. And I may have confused matters by choosing an act from a full-length ballet, however, in the 'old days', one act of Bayadere was the norm as is one act of Raymonda . But yes, I was thinking of a triple bill that an artistic director would have to compose (and most probably the AD of the RB). There are many things to consider: running length; use of whole company; contrasts etc. In my own selection, I chose three of my favourite pieces, but I also left out so many pieces that I love. I find the composition of a triple bill fascinating: for example, I love Bayadere Shades as an example of classicism and Ashton's Monotones and MacMillan's Gloria, but they are all such 'white' ballets I would never like to see them programmed together. In some triple bills I can think of, all three pieces have been lit very darkly, such as the recent Dawson/Wheeldon/Pite bill; I am sure that they would have all looked even better combined with different companions. I thought that Mason's composition of Asphodel Meadows/ Enigma Variations/Gloria looked like heaven on paper (three of the finest works that each of those three choreographers have ever created), but somehow that combination didn't quite work for me in reality. Thinking further back ...Prodigal Son/Checkmate/La Ronde were very strange bedfellows from the Dowell era as were La Fete Etrange/Pierrot Lunaire/Marguerite and Armand from Mason's tenure, even though half of those are ballets which I love. I found the marriage of Birthday Offering/A Month in the Country/ Les Noces particularly pleasing ditto Les Biches/Symphonic Variations/A Month in the Country. Also Concerto/Las Hermanas/ Requiem worked so brilliantly together. 

 

Now, if I was going to compose a thematic triple bill based on RB/NYCB connections it would look like this: Ballet Imperial/Illuminations/New Wheeldon. And I think it may satisfy my criteria of conforming to feasible running length, using the whole company and providing an evening of contrasts.

 

I'm interested to read that a couple of posters would include Bintley's 'Penguin Cafe' as their desert island ballet.  I'd much rather take his Tombeaux - such a beautiful piece. I can imagine many of the present generation of RB dancers in Tombeaux, but I can't think which other pieces it should be programmed with. Suggestions please.

 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Darlex said:

I love Pineapple Poll. I'd love to see some of the current RB dancers in this. I can see Morera, Hayward and O'Sullivan as Poll. Did Campbell dance Belaye in BRB? Yanowsky, Arestis and McNally as Mrs Dimple.

Plus Hay, Kay and maybe Sambé as Jasper. Lara Turk as Blanche. Soares possibly as Belaye.

 

Edited May 6, 2017 by Darlex

[Jan McNulty]

No he didn't dance Belaye at BRB.