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

[jmhopton]

if we're asking for info. could someone please explain to me who everyone is at the docks in Act 3? Who are the ladies dancing? Are they ladies or are they courtesans for the soldiers? I'm only unsure because they only have knee high dresses (though of course long dresses would make dancing difficult!) Also why are they there? have they just come to ogle the latest prisoners or do they want to help? Also the soldiers; what function do they have? There seems a lot if they're just to police a few half starved women. I've been wondering for a while. It may be explained in the programme but I don't buy them and the Southport cinema info just gave casting and no plot details. (I think they'd missed a page!)

[BMC]

Alison - I thought Reece missed one of the lifts in the bedroom pas de deux when she runs to him and he lifts her over his head - it was very soon after the misstep so agree that there simply wasn't enough time to get fully back on track. And didn't something go awry in the final pas de deux when Lauren ended up on the floor (unexpectedly).  It wasn't a big deal as the story and music just carry you along and any mishaps just look like part of someone dying in a swamp!!

[bridiem]

19 minutes ago, jmhopton said:

if we're asking for info. could someone please explain to me who everyone is at the docks in Act 3? Who are the ladies dancing? Are they ladies or are they courtesans for the soldiers? I'm only unsure because they only have knee high dresses (though of course long dresses would make dancing difficult!) Also why are they there? have they just come to ogle the latest prisoners or do they want to help? Also the soldiers; what function do they have? There seems a lot if they're just to police a few half starved women. I've been wondering for a while. It may be explained in the programme but I don't buy them and the Southport cinema info just gave casting and no plot details. (I think they'd missed a page!)

 

The synopsis doesn't explain, and I've always been a bit confused about this too, jmhopton. I thought it was just me!

[RuthE]

No, definitely not just you! It’s one of my unanswered questions too.

[Rob S]

46 minutes ago, jmhopton said:

if we're asking for info. could someone please explain to me who everyone is at the docks in Act 3? Who are the ladies dancing? Are they ladies or are they courtesans for the soldiers? I'm only unsure because they only have knee high dresses (though of course long dresses would make dancing difficult!) Also why are they there? have they just come to ogle the latest prisoners or do they want to help? Also the soldiers; what function do they have? There seems a lot if they're just to police a few half starved women. I've been wondering for a while. It may be explained in the programme but I don't buy them and the Southport cinema info just gave casting and no plot details. (I think they'd missed a page!)

 

There aren't that many soldiers around, but they've got to guard and then escort an unknown number of prisoners to the prison and police the dock...clearly the arrival of a prisoner ship is a form of entertainment for a variety of the New Orleans population....it's going to be years before the jazz clubs and the NFL franchise move in

Edited May 7, 2018 by Rob S

[JennyTaylor]

Well, the music gives the queue, so you have to know that, and then he enters from the middle right hand wing as you are looking at the stage, although I think one Des Grieux came from the far right hand.  It is difficult to spot and I'm always determined to do it, so this thread has really resonated with me.  I note, that in all the performances I've seen this time round. poor Des Grieux hasn't had a single round of applause on entrance.  Mind you, the Manon's haven't fared much better.  Is this something that's fading out?     

[penelopesimpson]

1 hour ago, jmhopton said:

if we're asking for info. could someone please explain to me who everyone is at the docks in Act 3? Who are the ladies dancing? Are they ladies or are they courtesans for the soldiers? I'm only unsure because they only have knee high dresses (though of course long dresses would make dancing difficult!) Also why are they there? have they just come to ogle the latest prisoners or do they want to help? Also the soldiers; what function do they have? There seems a lot if they're just to police a few half starved women. I've been wondering for a while. It may be explained in the programme but I don't buy them and the Southport cinema info just gave casting and no plot details. (I think they'd missed a page!)

Can't say for sure but in those days it was the custom for well-to-do ladies to go to see femail convicts, particularly if they were to be whipped or some other punishment.  It was a type of promenading.  Horrible but wonders if the subliminal message from their husbands was 'you'd better behave....'

[aliceinwoolfland]

In the bit when they’re doing the final swamp pdd and the characters from earlier are weaving in and out and dancing behind them, is that the ghosts from their past reappearing to haunt them as if part of a hallucination, or is it literally courtesans in the swamp? 

[Balletfanp]

I always assumed that as Manon is ill she is delirious and hallucinating about figures from her past.

[Rob S]

2 minutes ago, aliceinwoolfland said:

In the bit when they’re doing the final swamp pdd and the characters from earlier are weaving in and out and dancing behind them, is that the ghosts from their past reappearing to haunt them as if part of a hallucination, or is it literally courtesans in the swamp? 

 

The former.....the very much dead Lescaut and gaoler feature in that bit...it's all memories.

[RuthE]

And the memories go in reverse order, beginning with the ladies at the docks and going back to the characters from the opening scene.

[alison]

26 minutes ago, Balletfanp said:

I always assumed that as Manon is ill she is delirious and hallucinating about figures from her past.

 

She is indeed - although I must admit that I haven't always seen the link between her and the alleged hallucinations in this run.

[capybara]

I thought that I had said this earlier but apparently not...................

 

I don't yet feel quite ready to share more thoughts about this wonderful Manon run but I wanted to raise a huge shout for Reece Clarke whose debut as Des Grieux this afternoon was absolutely tremendous: believable characterisation and dancing of a really high order. Bravo!

[JohnS]

10 hours ago, alison said:

 

Complete with dry ice?

 

I think the dry ice budget is needed for the Act 3 swamp

[RobR]

57 minutes ago, JohnS said:

 

I think the dry ice budget is needed for the Act 3 swamp

 

The RB bought dry ice in bulk for La Sylphide a few years ago and have been doing their best to use it up in Giselle and Manon 😐

[Anna C]

11 hours ago, alison said:

 

My impression - I'd need to watch the video to remind myself properly - was that something went a bit awry late on in the bedroom pdd, and that because that happened (and where in the choreography it happened - a rather chock-full section) he then didn't have sufficient recovery time to get back on track before the next move, and then that possibly affected the one after that, so it was less than optimum, shall we say.  But that apart, it was a very good debut, and he danced his solos beautifully.

 

I must say, though, I'm not convinced about the (what the Germanic languages call) dark blonde wig Cuthbertson was wearing for the role.  Seen from on high, at least, it seemed to me to reflect (if that's the right word) the light too much, and left her features a bit washed out.

 

Ah, thanks alison.  I spotted the trip (?) in the final pdd but Cuthbertson looked so convincingly exhausted by that point it fitted in quite well! 

 

I was so enjoying Cuthbertson and Clarke's dancing that I genuinely didn't notice the mistake in the bedroom pdd, only Clarke's slip in the corner.  I must admit to holding my breath during the pdds and feeling nervous for both the leads.  Cuthbertson must have had mixed emotions about "getting back on the horse" after that terrible injury she suffered last time.   If the powers-that-be were watching, I hope they forgive the couple of errors and were impressed with Clarke's debut because he really did dance beautifully and I like his chemistry with Cuthbertson.  I'd like to see their second performance now the nerves of Clarke's debut have passed.

 

I agree about the wig - Cuthbertson's pale colouring looks beautiful with her natural brown hair, so why the blonde wigs? 

[alison]

4 hours ago, Anna C said:

 

Ah, thanks alison.  I spotted the trip (?) in the final pdd but Cuthbertson looked so convincingly exhausted by that point it fitted in quite well! 

 

 

I wasn't even sure that it wasn't almost intentional.  If it wasn't, it was very well covered up.

[annamk]

I hope Reece Clarke is feeling very pleased with himself for an excellent debut yesterday. With his beautiful looks and gorgeous line he's always going to be a pleasure to watch but the pleasure was much enhanced by his fine execution of those fiendish solos. Particularly notable was his control in the adagio sections and his light landings, they've been the downfall of much more experienced dancers.

 

The partnering came off brilliantly - the pair looked well rehearsed and the mishaps mentioned by others were insignificant (I've seen worse from established partnerships). What I found especially impressive was that the partnering was risky in the way that Macmillan needs to be, it's part of what makes me sit on the edge of my seat with my heart in my throat. Good for Lauren Cuthbertson who didn’t appear to hold back to accommodate her junior partner - she was as quick as she always is so he had to be absolutely on his game to grab her, and good for him he didn’t miss a trick. 

 

Lauren Cuthbertson just gets better and better, she's at the top of her game, I loved her interpretation and I loved her dancing. 

 

Gary Avis as Monsieur GM was outstanding, is it me or has he toned it down ever so slightly ? 

 

Although I enjoyed Ryo Hirano's Lescaut the other day, yesterday I found him uncomfortably close to turning the Lescaut drunk scene into a pantomime piece. 

[capybara]

D'you know - I didn't care a jot that there were a few little mishaps within the arc of such a splendid performance at yesterday's matinee.

 

51 minutes ago, annamk said:

Gary Avis as Monsieur GM was outstanding, is it me or has he toned it down ever so slightly ?

Although I enjoyed Ryo Hirano's Lescaut the other day, yesterday I found him uncomfortably close to turning the Lescaut drunk scene into a pantomime piece. 

 

I feel that Avis's Monsieur GM is distinctly less dominant than at the start of the run.

I agree about Hirano's Lescaut yesterday: less sometimes equals more.

 

Was anyone there for Hamilton/Kish in the evening?

 

[Sim]

A friend of mine was, and said he was asleep on his feet, although he'd really enjoyed their first show!

[capybara]

3 minutes ago, Sim said:

A friend of mine was, and said he was asleep on his feet, although he'd really enjoyed their first show!

 

Oh dear ....... hope that he wakes up for Swan Lake!

[RuthE]

1 hour ago, annamk said:

Although I enjoyed Ryo Hirano's Lescaut the other day, yesterday I found him uncomfortably close to turning the Lescaut drunk scene into a pantomime piece. 

 

Agreed.  I too saw both performances, and I'm glad it wasn't just me.

[Margaret]

I do agree with Annamk about Reece Clarke - such a lovely line as she says and he performed the solos beautifully.  He is obviously one to watch and I will look forward to seeing him next season.

 

I saw both Monday's matinee and the cinema live stream and thought Hirano's Lescaut was very good, maybe a bit over the top in the drunken dance, but full of character.  As usual Gary Avis was superb - such a wonderful dance/actor.

 

Margaret

[capybara]

I think that I now have all the Manon casts in my collection!

 

To state the obvious, this is a ballet which,  more than most others, needs leading dancers who are completely believable but who are also sufficiently secure technically to let their whole bodies 'speak' the emotions through dance.

 

This applies especially to Des Grieux: smooth and flowing with love, sharp and brisk with anger and fear, and contorted with despair. All this has transmitted more to me  from long-limbed dancers, especially Clarke and Muntagirov. Both these remarkable artists (and, in my view, Clarke is already 'right up there') look the part to a T, dance like dreams and show us every nuance of feeling in their youthful faces. Campbell's acting was spot on too but, in the early performances I saw, the other Des Grieuxs didn't have such a range of facial expression - except (says me a touch naughtily) to signal how difficult the partnering was!. But, despite that, it would be a hard heart that did not fall  for Shklyarov's ardour.

 

I have already declared my hand over this year's Manons. Their youth enabled both Hayward and Takada to arrive on stage with the innocent look of someone inexperienced in the world she had entered. This left them better able than others in the role to show us their range of feelings as their story unfolded. Somehow, I lived it all with them more than with others . Having watched Hayward on the opening night, it will now be really interesting to see how her approach might have changed over the intervening six weeks.

 

Which brings me to partnerships. I'm not at all sure that the older man/younger woman or the younger man/older woman pairings  this year were the most propitious. I realise that there were substitutions but, on each occasion, I found myself drawn to follow and feel for the younger one of each pair. And I haven't noticed myself doing that before.

 

Although they all tried a bit too hard (and who can blame them), there was much to admire in the three new Lescauts. Although I liked aspects of Hirano's interpretation, his long limbs seemed to exaggerate the drunken choreography, making it feel overplayed in places. Neither he, Sambe nor Hay quite managed to give us a character whose dancing and acting felt all of one piece - something which Campbell's Lescaut has now got off to a fine art - and I felt that they had a tendency to pull faces rather than let the emoting swell up from inside them.

 

Of the new mistresses, Naghdi made the biggest impression on me. She knew exactly who she was and sustained that persona whatever she was doing on stage. This was very convincing and potentially scene-stealing at times. A Manon-in-waiting for sure.

 

This is getting far too long but a word, also, for Avis's Monsieur GM, Whitehead's Gaoler, and McGorian's Madame - in fact for everyone involved. BRAVO!

 

 

[RobR]

I’ve now seen four casts and enjoyed all their performances, although I found that different performers and differing interpretations have resonated with me for different reasons.

 

An earlier poster described how thoroughly venal the lovely Valentino Zucchetti appeared when he performed as Lescaut. My recollection is that the poster had no doubt that his interpretation revealed a character who would not only sell his sister but also his mother and wife if the opportunity arose. I was looking out for this performance last night and he certainly lived up to his BF billing!

 

Another great evening 

[MAB]

On ‎06‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 19:15, Pulcinella said:

 

I have just found my biography of Antoinette Sisley by Barbara Newman and in this she says she had to pull out of some of the creation of the role because of injury. " So before I started getting injured, we did the first Pas de deux, the bedroom Pas de deux, the bracelet Pas de deux, the solo, the Pas de trios, oh, we did a whole lot......So I had done those various numbers, but I hadn't done that adage with the boys and I hadn't done little bits where I'm concerned with other people because I'd never been with groups.I'd never put it together with anybody. I'd done the rest, except for the last Pas de deux - Jenny (Penney) created that - which I could never get together. I hadn't created it, so I could never remember it."

This doesn't seem to me to be someone who "pulled out" of it and then changing her mind. I know Sibley had a lot of time with injury and she seems to have had both hip and knee problems at this time.

 

These events occurred decades ago and I don't think there's much point in raking over history, however Jennifer Penney rarely did interviews at all but when she did she was always brutally frank and was very atypical of dancers of her generation.  The Ballet Association makes transcripts of interviews now but I don't know when they started that practice.

 

Some people tell it like it is, but aren't always admired for doing so.  I had a great deal of respect for Ms Penney's honesty.

[Anna C]

As an aside regarding yesterday afternoon's the drunk scene, my non-ballet watching Husband was my companion yesterday afternoon and he was vastly entertained by Mendizabal and Hirano and impressed at how easy the latter made the "drunk" pdd look.  What verges on panto for some is obviously a winner for others. 

[bridiem]

12 minutes ago, Anna C said:

As an aside regarding yesterday afternoon's the drunk scene, my non-ballet watching Husband was my companion yesterday afternoon and he was vastly entertained by Mendizabal and Hirano and impressed at how easy the latter made the "drunk" pdd look.  What verges on panto for some is obviously a winner for others. 

 

And it is meant to be funny; no matter how well the other Lescauts danced, none of them made me laugh at all.

[alison]

I think that's debatable: I can't find my copy of Different Drummer at the moment to check, but someone (Monica Mason?) recently said that the tenor of the pas de deux was changed to provide some levity in what was, after all, a rather downbeat story.  Light relief.  That doesn't, to my mind, mean that it has to be laugh-out-loud funny, or a slapstick routine complete with pratfalls and/or accompanied by gurning, or anything as extreme as that, in order to be seen as successful.

[Mary]

I never thought it was meant to be funny, and given the context, don't think it shoud be played as comedy-: there should be a wry smile perhaps but laughter in this scene is not the right note. Lescaut is a very nasty piece of work: the audience should not be laughing warmly at his 'antics'.

 

[aliceinwoolfland]

^ I don’t think Lescaut is a one dimensional villain. He does some awful things, but he is just as seduced by the trappings as wealth (and scared of losing everything) as Manon; and I think he misguidedly believes that she will be happier if she has a life of luxury. 

[Jan McNulty]

47 minutes ago, aliceinwoolfland said:

^ I don’t think Lescaut is a one dimensional villain. He does some awful things, but he is just as seduced by the trappings as wealth (and scared of losing everything) as Manon; and I think he misguidedly believes that she will be happier if she has a life of luxury. 

 

And also funds his own life of luxury!

[bridiem]

8 hours ago, alison said:

I think that's debatable: I can't find my copy of Different Drummer at the moment to check, but someone (Monica Mason?) recently said that the tenor of the pas de deux was changed to provide some levity in what was, after all, a rather downbeat story.  Light relief.  That doesn't, to my mind, mean that it has to be laugh-out-loud funny, or a slapstick routine complete with pratfalls and/or accompanied by gurning, or anything as extreme as that, in order to be seen as successful.

 

Well unless the choreography has changed over the years, it's clearly aimed at getting laughs. Someone who is just drunk wouldn't to my mind provide 'levity' - it would just be tedious and inappropriate, especially given that Lescaut is largely an unsympathetic character. And I did usually find this solo tedious and inappropriate, until Hirano danced it. Apart from being funny, you see something of the person under the arrogance for the first time.

Edited May 9, 2018 by bridiem