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The Royal Ballet: Manon, London, March-May 2018


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Foteini Christofilopoulou was at the dress rehearsal for the Royal Ballet's run of Manon (opens March 29th, through to midMay, 2018). Here are some photos:


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Christopher Saunders, Francesca Hayward, Alexander Campbell
© Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

 

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Francesca Hayward, Federico Bonelli
© Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

 

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Claire Calvert, Alexander Campbell
© Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

 

See more... 

Set from DanceTabs: Royal Ballet - Manon
Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr


By kind Permission of The Royal Opera House

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Thank you for the beautiful pictures. Heartbroken as woke up with streaming cold and had to miss the dress rehearsal. Never mind I have tickets for 1st May, same cast I think. Meanwhile I can enjoy the photos and reviews to come. 

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Lovely photos, so much looking forward to seeing Manon on 13th April with Natalia Osipova and Vladimir Shklyarov, not familiar with Vladimir Shklyarov as a dancer but should be an exciting evening plus it has Yasmine Naghdi,  Marcelino Sambé and Gary Avis!!!!

 

Last time I saw Manon was 2014 with Sarah Lamb and Vadim Muntagirov and that was a magical matinee performance (really glad they have been paired together again for this run, have also booked in for the cinema encore viewing of the ballet on 6th May).

 

Its one of my favourite ballets, love the costumes and I adore the music, am counting down the days. 

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21 minutes ago, ninamargaret said:

Good day for Manon today - picture in The Times and music played on Radio 3 plus an interview with Beatrix Stix-Brunell. Don't need any encouragement to look forward to tomorrow evening but still welcome.

It was Meghan Grace Hinkis interviewed on In Tune!

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31 minutes ago, Sim said:

Wow, Bonelli and Hayward dancing the full ballet two days in row?!  

I'm guessing that the lovely photos are from a Dress Rehearsal on an earlier date. It would be good to know which cast danced at today's General Rehearsal. Sadly I had to miss it.

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  • John Mallinson changed the title to The Royal Ballet: Manon, London, March-May 2018

Just out from a brilliant first night - superb staging, lovely costumes, poignant music, and fantastic dancers. Cannot think of many more superlatives for Francesca Hayward, and she was so well supported by Bonelli. I loved Alexander Campbell as Lescaut - he was so exuberant and also very amusing in the drunken dance scenes, along with Claire Calvert. Get tickets if you can !

 

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I had a ticket but have a horrible flu-like virus so had to give my ticket away.  My daughter just texted me to say that Hayward/Bonelli were amazing.  So go on folks....anyone else want to make me feel even worse??!!  😂😳. I have to wait until their next performance to see them.  

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3 minutes ago, Sim said:

I had a ticket but have a horrible flu-like virus so had to give my ticket away.  My daughter just texted me to say that Hayward/Bonelli were amazing.  So go on folks....anyone else want to make me feel even worse??!!  😂😳. I have to wait until their next performance to see them.  

So sorry Sim - hope you are better soon and I'm sure you will love their next performance. 

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6 minutes ago, Sim said:

I had a ticket but have a horrible flu-like virus so had to give my ticket away.  My daughter just texted me to say that Hayward/Bonelli were amazing.  So go on folks....anyone else want to make me feel even worse??!!  😂😳. I have to wait until their next performance to see them.  

 

Hope you feel better soon, Sim.

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8 minutes ago, Mary said:

Sorry Sim

 Hope you are better soon. I had flu and missed the whole of Giselle. 

But oh... Francesca Hayward's delicate, fluid perfect lines tonight ! 

Indeed - she moves so beautifully, and her arms seem to have several more joints than us mere mortals!

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Absolutely stunning! Even got me tearful, not an easy thing to do. Hayward was so delicate, displaying all the different facets of the character , Bonelli was ardent, very moving particularly in the last act. They looked good together and his partnering was superb. I loved Alexander Campbell, although I missed the nastiness that David Wall used to bring to the part. Needless to say, Gary Avis made the most unpleasant Gaoler! All in all a.marvellous evening. I'm sorry you missed it Sim, hope the dreaded bug goes quickly - you don't want to miss this!

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A fabulous performance from the whole company, but Hayward was simply breathtaking. As others have mentioned, her movements are so fluid; one melting into the next - then when she clenches her hand the contrast makes such an incredibly strong impact. She elevated dance to something really special tonight. So glad I could witness it.

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28 minutes ago, theorist said:

I thought Hayward was even better tonight than I remember from her debut.

 

Yes, she's really matured into the role now.

 

I thought just about the whole company were on excellent form tonight.

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The company were indeed on good form - again- and although I don't have much time today I wanted to single out Alexander Campbell's very good Lescaut and Marcelino Sambe in the three -super- gentlemen, (between Bracewell and Ball I think) as well- and also the marvellous costumes, which add so much to this production in conjuring up a world.

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If you love the ballet Manon & would rather not read a different viewpoint, then you may prefer to skip this post.

But first the positives about last night. I echo all the praise for Francesca Hayward – the quality of her performance gave me goosebumps & I enjoyed her partnership with Federico Bonelli. As other posters have said, I also felt that the company are on great form.

The first time I saw Manon was in October 2014 & I haven’t seen it since.  Last night, viewing from the amphi, the whole set felt tired to me, too cluttered, with too much going on – there were times when I lost track of the main protagonists in particular scenes. 

So that didn’t help my view of this ballet. But the main thing that I was conscious of watching Manon last night, was that this was a story about a woman facing major choices about what she wanted from love & life, up against a male-dominated society, but that this story was very much being told from the perspective of a male choreographer.

I enjoyed Manon in 2014, so am very struck by how much I have changed my opinion.  I think the change is due to the abuses of male power that have been uncovered since then & the #metoo movement.  So, I started wondering what alterations to Manon I would wish to see.

From articles I have read, I understand Kenneth MacMillan really pushed the boundaries of ballet in his time, including with Manon (1974).  In the case of this particular ballet, I personally feel that it is time now for the trail-blazing baton to be handed on at the Royal Ballet; for a female choreographer to tell the story of Manon. I’m thinking of someone with not just the talent, but also the depth of humanity in their work, such as Crystal Pite.  I feel she could really mine the complexities of the character of Manon herself & the experiences of other women in the ballet, plus bring out the relevance these have with our own times, without veering into stereotypes or melodrama.  (The amount of time Kenneth MacMillan spends in Manon focussed on female prostitutes plying their trade & interacting with male clients now feels to me to be salacious; on the wrong side of titillating.) 

I appreciate that others will feel very differently to me. :)  The above post is purely a very personal reaction to Manon & one that has taken me by surprise.

As I’ve already bought tickets for as many other Manon casts as I could, I’m in a bit of a dilemma. I’d love to see those casts, but I really don’t know if I can sit through this production of Manon again.  If I do, it will be purely because of my appreciation of the talent of the dancers currently in the Royal Ballet.

 

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