Royal Ballet - 2018/19 new season wish list

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Fonty said:

 

Watching clips of it, I can see steps that are also used by Wayne McGregor.  Except those by Page seem less exaggerated and more musical.  To me, anyway.  I was out of the country when Ashley Page was choreographing stuff for the RB, so I missed a lot of what he did.  But I would really like to see this again, and see how it compares with the ballets produced by the current resident choreographer.

Fearful Symmetries was the best of Ashley Page's creations that I saw. I read somewhere that Monica Mason wanted to revive it, but Page's schedule at Scottish ballet clashed with the proposed slot for Fearful Symmetries at the RB. Alongside Bintley's beautiful Tombeaux (mentioned here by previous posters), it is probably the only ballet created at Covent Garden in the 90s worth reviving. I am a fan of MacMillan, but not of Judas Tree and I find his Winter Dreams much too long to put it politely. I also have fond memories of sections from Bintley's The Planets (1990) - actually, I wouldn't mind seeing that again.

[ninamargaret]

I think Spartacus is one of the most over the top, bombastic, loud ballets ever and I would happily beat Jillykins to be first in the queue to see it! The only other contender might be the Leningrad Symphony, which I saw the Kirov do during a season at the Royal Festival Hall. I'm sure it hasn't been danced for years, but I remember being bowled over by it at the time.

[Lizbie1]

Absolutely adore Spartacus because of, not despite, what others foolishly consider its faults but can't imagine it being done justice on a stage smaller than the Bolshoi's. (I don't mean to sound such a snob!) Or can someone who has seen it there and elsewhere reassure me? Apart from watermelons (yes, really!) it's the thing I miss most about Moscow, but I haven't been able to bring myself to see it elsewhere.

[toursenlair]

I have seen it at the Kennedy Centre in Washington and at the Nationaltheater in Munich and would say justice was done in both places. Haven't seen it at the Bolshoi though.

[zxDaveM]

10 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

Absolutely adore Spartacus because of, not despite, what others foolishly consider its faults but can't imagine it being done justice on a stage smaller than the Bolshoi's. (I don't mean to sound such a snob!) Or can someone who has seen it there and elsewhere reassure me? Apart from watermelons (yes, really!) it's the thing I miss most about Moscow, but I haven't been able to bring myself to see it elsewhere.

 

I'll foolishly be happy to never see it again, thanks very much

[Jillykins]

It worked well on Coliseum stage. However like idea of it in round. 

[assoluta]

12 hours ago, ninamargaret said:

I think Spartacus is one of the most over the top, bombastic, loud ballets ever and I would happily beat Jillykins to be first in the queue to see it! The only other contender might be the Leningrad Symphony, which I saw the Kirov do during a season at the Royal Festival Hall. I'm sure it hasn't been danced for years, but I remember being bowled over by it at the time.

 

Being "one of the most over the top, bombastic, loud ballets ever" is for me a much lesser fault than being simply "crude". No amount of athletic masculine prowess or acrobatics will save in my eyes something that is crude. I had a chance to see Maximova, Vasilyev, Bessmertnova, in it, and I passed it over. If, for some, Grigorovich's "Spartacus" is an epitome of the "Bolshoi style", then I can understand why they are hostile to any attempts of instilling into that company much needed refinement. Of the two Soviet "Spartacus" productions, I prefer much more the earlier one, by Jakobson.

[MAB]

What about that incredible high camp Spartak danced by the Mikhailovsky that we saw at the Coli a few years back now?  I'll never forget Denis Matvienko in the title role.  Oh how the critics hated it...........and how the fans loved it!

 

I think it's very much a 'marmite' ballet and you either love it or hate it.  I love it but wouldn't want the RB to dance it.

[ninamargaret]

I think Spartacus is very much 'Soviet' ballet, a product of its time and the political thinking at the time of its,choreography. The old DVD with Mukhamedov is stunning and Acosta was not too bad either!  I don't really think it's a RB piece, I don't even know if the Bolshoi still does it. Very much a piece of it's time. But I'd still love to see it on stage again.

[Lizbie1]

58 minutes ago, ninamargaret said:

I think Spartacus is very much 'Soviet' ballet, a product of its time and the political thinking at the time of its,choreography. 

 

IIRC Grigorovich has since insisted that it was meant as an act of (covert) subversion. You could say that he would of course claim that, but it does work as a reading.

[MAB]

1 hour ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

IIRC Grigorovich has since insisted that it was meant as an act of (covert) subversion. You could say that he would of course claim that, but it does work as a reading.

 

Indeed, a very valid reading.  He wasn't a very prolific choreographer, he encountered censorship and ultimately there were a limited number of themes to pursue.

[petperj]

As someone barely a year past going to my first ballet, I don't have much of a frame of reference for wish lists. But the one that does spring to mind is that I'd love a return of Arthur Pita's Metamorphosis.

 

Seeing clips online it just seems so visceral and exciting. As far as I can tell, it hasn't been staged since 2012, but I have no idea if that makes it more or less likely to be staged in the future.

[alison]

I'm wondering if the new Linbury will retain the old one's flexibility so that it can be performed again?  And of course it will depend on how long Ed Watson can carry on performing it for.

[MissMonk]

Ya know, I just listened to some of the music from "Cinderella" and I think I'll add that to my wishlist. I've never seen a ballet version of it but the music is so magical.

[buflesse]

Why hasn't the RB done Cinderella for so long? I'm desperate to see it!

[Vanartus]

Waiting for new designs and budget ...

[Guest]

2 hours ago, buflesse said:

Why hasn't the RB done Cinderella for so long? I'm desperate to see it!

Such beautiful choreography for Cinderella and the entourage of fairies.

 

[Guest]

On 1/4/2018 at 11:50, capybara said:

What I would most like to see is:

 

1) An Ashton Celebration including a 'full length' ballet (hopefully Sylvia/Two Pigeona, please not Ondine), a triple bill, including Rhapsody and Month in the Country, and miscellaneous pieces such as the Blessed Spirits solo

 

2) Mayerling with at least two new Rudolfs  (Muntagirov? Ball?)

 

3) Triple Bills which include ballets focused on the man ( e.g. Prodigal Son, Pierrot Lunaire, For Four (Wheeldon), Apollo, Songs of a Wayfarer)

 

4) The inclusion of one or more of the following in triple bills: Etudes, Suite en Blanc, Theme and Variations, Symphony in C, Ballet Imperial/Piano Concerto No.2

 

5) La Bayadere (agree with Timmie (above) about the Muntagirov/Nunez/Osipova combos.)

 

6) New works by Crystal Pite and Annabel Lopez Ochoa

 

7) Greater selectivity with regard to MacGregor and Wheeldon revivals (not all their work merits repeat showings)

 

8) Different casts from the original 6 in Swan Lake (if it returns)

 

9) Raymonda (full ballet)

 

10) Something else (Cinderella?) running alongside Nutcracker over the festive season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agree with all 10, but definitely want to see the return of Ondine led by Hayward, plus a more adventurous Ashton bill in addition to that proposed

[Fonty]

On 18/01/2018 at 23:18, Vanartus said:

Waiting for new designs and budget ...

 

Is that definitely on the cards, or just a wish? 

 

On that topic, what is wrong with the old designs?  I appreciate costumes and so on show signs of wear and tear and need to be replaced every so often, but why would it need a redesign?

 

Just asking!

[bangorballetboy]

16 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

Is that definitely on the cards, or just a wish? 

 

 

 

O'Hare is on the record as saying Cinderella will be back, but redesigned.

 

I, for one, would be happy to see the end of the pumpkin being thrown off-stage.

[MissMonk]

17 hours ago, Fonty said:

On that topic, what is wrong with the old designs?  I appreciate costumes and so on show signs of wear and tear and need to be replaced every so often, but why would it need a redesign?

 

Just asking!

 

Redesigning makes it more fresh wouldn't it? I mean what they have is all well and good but changing it up every few decades makes it different and new. Its a good bushiness decision cause then people would go see it just to see the different. Kinda like when they remake a movie or series that you liked. You'll go see it just to see how its different and if it measures up.

[MAB]

7 hours ago, MissMonk said:

 

Redesigning makes it more fresh wouldn't it? I mean what they have is all well and good but changing it up every few decades makes it different and new. Its a good bushiness decision cause then people would go see it just to see the different. Kinda like when they remake a movie or series that you liked. You'll go see it just to see how its different and if it measures up.

 

Not really, it depends on the ballet, some set designs are works of art in themselves and have stood the test of time, to replace them becomes unthinkable.  In some cases a redesign damages the look of a work e.g. Daphnis and Chloe.

 

The last designs for Cinderella were disliked across the board, pity we can't go back to when this ballet looked best (Henry Bardon?).

[Fonty]

7 hours ago, MissMonk said:

 

Redesigning makes it more fresh wouldn't it? I mean what they have is all well and good but changing it up every few decades makes it different and new. Its a good bushiness decision cause then people would go see it just to see the different. Kinda like when they remake a movie or series that you liked. You'll go see it just to see how its different and if it measures up.

 

The trouble is, I have seen redesigns that have not been a patch on the old ones.  And once a company has gone to the expense of redesigning something, you know you are stuck with it for the next 10 years at least, no matter how much you dislike it.

 

With the Ashton ballets, he took so much care and trouble with the overall look of his works, it seems criminal to alter his original intentions.  

[FLOSS]

The company has somewhere in the region of 130 performances on the main stage each year and a large number of those will be allocated to the cash cows in the repertory such as Romeo and Juliet, Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. I have a funny feeling that we shall see rather a lot of Scarlett's Swan Lake during the 2018-19 season whatever it is like. I hope that it proves to be satisfactory as far as both text and design are concerned as we may be stuck with it for a long time. Dowell's production was heartily disliked but it was the company's Swan Lake for the best part of thirty years. There are some who saw it once and vowed not to watch the company in Swan Lake again until it was replaced and they have had a long wait.

 

As people on this website get very exercised by the prospect of dancers moving from ENB to the RB  I am rather surprised to see that there are suggestions that the RB should muscle in on works that have always been part of ENB's standard repertory such as Etudes and a  work that seems to have become part of it namely  Suite en Blanc. Surely ENB should be allowed a few twentieth century ballets which are uniquely theirs rather than being in competition with the RB over performing them? 

 

There are certain ballets which will be common to both companies as no self respecting classical ballet company can hope to be taken seriously if it does not have its own productions of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Nutcracker and Giselle. But apart from these ballets which both companies have in very different productions, it is ballets like Etudes which has been part of its repertory for decades and the Markova Les Sylphides which gave ENB its special identity. 

 

I am in favour of keeping the two companies separate and instantly rcognisable because of their repertory and  for that reason I should not like to see the RB acquire a twentieth century production of Le Corsaire. The RB has more than enough nineteenth century ballets in its repertory and I would happily sacrifice both Acosta's Don Q and Markarova's Bayadere if that meant it would give more time to maintaining its Ashton repertory in as healthy a state as it keeps the MacMillan money-spinners. Romeo and Juliet, Manon and Mayerling .The place to start would be for the company to establish a timetable for the regular revival of the Ashton two and three act ballets. As 2018 is Petipa's bicentenary I  think we shall get Sleeping Beauty as well next year. According to the MacMillan revivaL timetable we will also see Romeo and Juliet next season.

 

Now I hope that we get Cinderella next season. If Kevin feels that he needs to justify its revival he has two. It is sixty years since it was first staged and Ashton is clearly putting his "private lessons with Petipa" to good use in producing a modern take on classical ballets like Sleeping Beauty much as Prokofiev does with nineteenth century ballet music.So if he needs even more justification he can pass Ashton off as a in Petpa's bloodline if not actually his pupil.  Karsavina described Ashton as a "link in the chain". I think that something needs to be done about the ugly sisters who are performed like pantomime dames rather than characters. I know that that de Valois was not that keen on men in frocks and that for a time in the 1950's they were played by women perhaps that would be enough to tone them down, restore them as characters and restore the dance jokes in the choreography. The current designs are a complete failure the Ugly Sisters' costumes invite coarseness while Cinderella's first act costume is of such clean,pretty ballerina style rags that it does nothing to assist the dancer playing  Cinderella to establish herself as a downtrodden girl who is treated as a skivvy by her step sisters. There are other problems with the current designs the Jester's make up is so thick that it is impossible to see his facial expression, and yet as created by Ashton , the Jester is a character who suffers loss during the ballet and not the Soviet style a leg machine to which he has recently been reduced. Whatever  happened to the corps de ballet's act two masks which used to make the end of the second act far more sinister than it now appears? Ashton seems to have intended the audience to experience the chimes of midnight with Cinderella and feel its nightmarish quality. So for me its back to the original Macles designs with the Bardon as second choice.

 

 

May I ask am I the only one who feels uncomfortable with the idea that Kevin seems to feel the need to provide a reason for reviving major works from the company repertory particularly if they are by Ashton rather than just getting on and staging them? It is as if while the MacMillan money spinners, the Dream and Month are simply repertory everything else needs an excuse. It does not seem to be enough that they are exceptionally good works and each generation of the company's dancers has the right to appear in them.

 

Here are a few suggestions,Two Pigeons with either Les Rendezvous, in the Chappell designs, or Les Patineurs would make a great mixed bill and provide some money for the RBS as Derek Rencher left the rights to both of them to the school.

 

As far as other possible Ashton revivals are concerned much as I love Month I think that it is about time we saw works which are not revived so frequently. Daphnis and Chloe is a great but neglected work. It would be at the top of my list for revival as it has not been revived since 2004 and the company has a number of potential casts who would, I think, do it justice. My only caveat would be that the entire cast has to be selected on the basis of their suitability for the roles rather than their seniority or the need to give a particular dancer something to do. The reason for its neglect is nothing to do with the quality of the work and everything to do with its cost. It requires a large orchestra and the opera chorus and the chorus  does not come cheap.

 

Enigma Variations would be wonderful as would A Wedding Bouquet. Then there is Les Illuminations which is so outside the range of works which people associate with the Ashton repertory. I should like to see the company dance Birthday Offering again with a cast selected on the basis  of their suitability  and willingness to dance the variations in the appropriate style rather than their seniority.The 2012 revival was ghastly. It looked as if the dancers had been selected by drawing names  out of a hat. It suffered from the same problem that afflicted the senior casts in the Kchessinskaya pas de deux in Anastasia with dancers so fixated on the technical challenges the choreography presented that in words attributed to Fonteyn's in connection with a staging of Birthday Offering. "They did the steps but forgot to dance the ballet".

 

If the company is to strike the right balance between its nineteenth century ballets, its Diaghilev repertory,the works created for it and its new works then it needs to ensure that the Diaghilev works are all performed sufficiently frequently to ensure that they are part of the company's collective memory and that the entire Ashton repertory rather than a mere handful of his ballets are performed regularly as part of the churn.

 

 If anything the company needs more performance time to ensure that it has the time to tend to the five nineteenth century ballets which de Valois selected for it, its Diaghilev ballets and the works created by Ashton and MacMillan. With the exception of La Sylphide which de Valois wanted for the company it does not need any more full length nineteenth century ballets and perhaps it could do with losing a couple. I for one should be happy to lose  Acosta's Don Q which requires a sort of bold brashness which does not really suit the company and Markarova's La Bayadere which I would happily replace with Nureyev's one act Kingdom of the Shades with a full complement of thirty two shades.

 

So here are my suggestions for revivals and re-acquisitions for the 2018-19 season on the assumption that the season will include more performances of Swan Lake with young casts, Sleeping Beauty and that Romeo and Juliet will be revived next season.

Bournonville's Konservatoriet

Cinderella instead of Nutcracker

Coppelia

 

Ashton

The Two Pigeons

Les Rendezvous in the Chappell designs

Daphnis and Chloe in the Craxton designs

Enigma Variations

Facade

Les Illuminations

Birthday Offering

A Wedding Bouquet

Please note this list of Ashton revivals is not exhaustive it ismerely  a starter list

 

Balanchine

Apollo

The Prodigal Son

Liebeslieder Walzer

Serenade

Symphony in C

 

De Valois

The Prospect Before Us

 

Fokine

Firebird

Petrushka

 

MacMillan

Agon

Dance Concertantes

The Four Seasons

 

Nijinska

Les Biches

Les Noces

 

Nureyev

The Kingdom of the Shades with a full thirty two shades

 

Robbins

Dances at a Gathering

 

Scarlett

Asphodel Meadows

Viscera

 

Wheeldon

TGV

 

Edited January 23, 2018 by FLOSS

[SPD444]

Nothing by McGregor, Floss?  Surely not.

[Sim]

Great choice, FLOSS.  I would love to see all of those, some of which would be a first for me.  

[FLOSS]

Yes.Nothing by McGregor. I think that he is a vastly overrated choreographer of limited range with a great propensity for repeating himself. Do you leave the theatre after a performance of one of his ballets with clear images of what you have just seen ? Because I rarely do. I tend to remember more about the design than the actual movement which he has devised. For me the best of his works don't really bear repeated viewings as his dance vocabulary is not sufficiently varied or interesting. He will survive. The company has given him a big enough shop window to display his wares. I am far more interested in choreographers with real imagination such as Crystal Pite .

 

At the moment I think that Kevin owes a duty to his dancers and his audience to secure and stage the full range of the company's Ashton repertory, its significant Diaghilev repertory, and the MacMillan works which Lady M tends to ignore because they reveal her late husband to have been a fine classical choreographer rather than a rebel challenging the dance establishment's conventions which he was in her imagination rather more than he was in real life.I would much prefer to see a revival of de Valois Job than to see a MacGregor revival next season. But the caveat is that these revivals have to be cast and staged with real care and sufficient time has to be taken to get the performance style absolutely right rather than an giving an approximate account of it. There is more to Ashton, Fokine or Nijinska than styles which are so superficial that they can be put on and taken off like an overcoat

 

 

Edited January 23, 2018 by FLOSS

[MAB]

With one Señor Cesar Corrales about to join the RB, I absolutely do not want to see Don Quixote dropped!

 

And by the way Konservatoriet used to be in ENB rep, perhaps Ms Rojo could ask that nice Mr Andersen to re-stage it, it goes rather well with La Sylphide.

[MAB]

Woolf Works not interesting?!!!

[Fonty]

Well, there has been so much about Ashton and Cinderella, I thought I might just post this little snippet  in the hope that we shall all be taken to the Ball some time soon.  It is a bit blurry, but Sibley looks as though she is moving forward on roller skates. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDd86ZXij_Q

[Lizbie1]

20 minutes ago, Fonty said:

Well, there has been so much about Ashton and Cinderella, I thought I might just post this little snippet  in the hope that we shall all be taken to the Ball some time soon.  It is a bit blurry, but Sibley looks as though she is moving forward on roller skates. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDd86ZXij_Q

 

One of my favourite clips - and here's Fonteyn floating:

 

 

[Sharon]

41 minutes ago, Fonty said:

Well, there has been so much about Ashton and Cinderella, I thought I might just post this little snippet  in the hope that we shall all be taken to the Ball some time soon.  It is a bit blurry, but Sibley looks as though she is moving forward on roller skates. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDd86ZXij_Q

Just beautiful! Her bouree's are unbelievable 😍 Is this available on DVD?

[Sharon]

25 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

One of my favourite clips - and here's Fonteyn floating:

 

 

I know a lot of you will get mad - but I really don't like Michael Some as a dancer. I just can't see what was so great about him. He looks like a man in tights - not a dancer. His technique is very poor. I watched one old film of Sleeping Beauty and he was incredibly rough in partnering Fonteyn, how she kept that gentle smile on her face I'll never know.