The Royal Ballet: New Swan Lake Production, Summer 2018

[Sim]

 I just adore this photo of Natalia Osipova giving Matthew Ball the thumbs up just before the Act 3 pdd.  You can just about see him in the opposite wing.  Fabulous!   With thanks to Andre Uspenski.

 

 

[Sim]

Does anybody know if there is some way I can get a link to the final 10 minutes of the Dowell Swan Lake?   I have looked on YouTube but all there is is a brief clip discussing Act 4 (Kish, Yanowsky, Avis, Westcombe).   A friend of mine went to SL last night and we were discussing the ending earlier.  I was telling her about the apotheosis, and she would love to see it to compare it with last night.  Many thanks!

[RuthE]

I don't know, but if you don't get a better answer and you're going to next Tuesday's performance (which is the next and final time I'm seeing it) I could lend you my 2009 Nunez/Soares DVD.

Edited June 6, 2018 by RuthE

[Sim]

Thanks Ruth....I also have that DVD, but just wanted to send a link.  Anyway, I have sorted it now.    

[Minxette]

2 hours ago, Sim said:

 I just adore this photo of Natalia Osipova giving Matthew Ball the thumbs up just before the Act 3 pdd.  You can just about see him in the opposite wing.  Fabulous!   With thanks to Andre Uspenski.

 

 

 

Am I being blind Sim but where is Matty Ball?!

[Sim]

He's standing in the opposite wing....you can just make out his legs behind her right arm. 

[Minxette]

10 minutes ago, Sim said:

He's standing in the opposite wing....you can just make out his legs behind her right arm. 

 

You must have X-ray eyes as I can only see black in the wing. Time for Specsavers!

[Sim]

Can you enlarge the photo?  That would help!

[alison]

It depends on your screen, the angle, and all sorts of things, I think.

[Rob S]

Stick it in Photoshop and adjust the Levels 😉

[capybara]

I can see him on here - but I think that I probably have a 'homing device' on Matthew Ball whenever and wherever he is on stage 

[LinMM]

Took me ages of looking ....but by by enlarging slightly you can just about make out a pair of legs in pale tights....I think!!

[Lizbie1]

7 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Took me ages of looking ....but by by enlarging slightly you can just about make out a pair of legs in pale tights....I think!!

 

But... Siegfried wasn't wearing pale tights, surely?

[LinMM]

Oh well that means I'm imagining things and can't see anything at all!! 😀

[LinMM]

What colour are his tights Sim?🙃

[MargaretN7]

Re colour of tights. I asked the costume dept at the Behind the Scenes event what colour Benno's tights are in Act 3. I didn't believe they were the tasteful(?) shade of pale mauve they appeared to my eyes. They said they are a light stone sort of colour but the lighting was affecting them.

[Sim]

I have asked the photographer and he says that either the light is shining on the tights to make them look lighter than they are in the photo (Siegfried wears dark grey tights), or that's someone else and Matthew is completely obscured by Natalia's body....but it is definitely him to whom the thumbs-up is directed!

[Lindsay]

Alexander Campbell as Benno came on behind Matthew Ball at that entrance and went to stand by the queen so perhaps it is his legs you can see?  (I had the end seat in the slips for that performance and saw Matthew give his thumbs up - nice to see the “other end”!)

[Rob S]

Two thumbs up from me if anyone can direct me to a list of who has danced each of the roles that normally appear on the cast sheet during this run....is there such a thing somewhere?😊

Edited June 6, 2018 by Rob S

[Sim]

5 hours ago, Lindsay said:

Alexander Campbell as Benno came on behind Matthew Ball at that entrance and went to stand by the queen so perhaps it is his legs you can see?  (I had the end seat in the slips for that performance and saw Matthew give his thumbs up - nice to see the “other end”!)

That makes sense, Lindsay, you are probably right.  If only you'd had a camera!  

[Saodan]

15 hours ago, Rob S said:

Two thumbs up from me if anyone can direct me to a list of who has danced each of the roles that normally appear on the cast sheet during this run....is there such a thing somewhere?😊

 

I have been keeping notes based on the reviews here and photos posted by dancers and audience members on instagram. My incomplete records are below. (Disclaimer: Things get less complete the further down you go. If anyone can add to this I would love to hear. Please do not book based on this; it is not guaranteed to be correct, nor is it injury-proof! I have aimed for scheduled pairings where possible. Corresponding Odette cast should not be relied upon; it is mostly educated guesswork and probably subject to change. I haven't even attempted the Waltz and Polonaise.)

 

Queen: McGorrian (Nuñez/Osipova), McNally (Lamb/Takada/Cuthbertson), Harrison (Naghdi)
Von Rothbart: Gartside (Nuñez/Cuthbertson), Whitehead (Lamb/Takada), Avis (Naghdi/Osipova)
Benno and sisters: Campbell/Hayward/Takada or Dyer/Calvert/Stix-Brunell (Nuñez), Acri/Magri/Gasparini or Hinkis (Lamb), Sambé/Kaneko/O’Sullivan (Takada), Hay/Calvert or Magri/Choe (Cuthbertson), Ella/Heap/Gasparini (Naghdi), Campbell/Mendizabal/Stix-Brunell (Osipova)
Swans: Calvert/Magri (Nuñez 1st and Osipova), Hamilton/Mendizabal (Nuñez 2nd), Kaneko/Cowley (Lamb), Stix-Brunell/Choe (Takada), Heap/Harrison (Cuthbertson), Grennell/Turk (Naghdi)
Cygnets: Harrod/Hinkis/Pajdak/Stock, Dean/Pitchley-Gale/Gasparini/O’Sullivan

Spanish Princess: Mendizabal, Cowley, Magri
Hungarian Princess: Hamilton, Heap, Kaneko
Italian Princess: Choe, Harrod, Hiniks
Polish Princess: Stix-Brunell, O’Sullivan, Calvert

Spanish dance: Heap, Cowley, Storm-Jensen
Czardas: Cowley/Dyer, Stock/Dyer, Grennell/Acri
Neapolitan Dance: Hinkis/Sambe (Nuñez), Gasparini/Hay (Takada), O’Sullivan/Kay (Cuthbertson), Pajdak/Kay (Naghdi), Magri/Dyer (Osipova), and poss. Choe/Yudes (poss. Lamb)
Mazurka: Harrison/Bracewell, Parish/Donnelly, Harrison/Mock

 

Edited June 7, 2018 by Saodan

[alison]

I was most disappointed last night - having battled for weeks to get a ticket - to find that the casting was far from first cast throughout: instead, I got a number of dancers who I'd already seen in various roles, and will presumably totally miss out on quite a few dancers I'd really wanted to see in roles they "created".  I guess this is why they were filming last week's performance and not yesterday's as the backup.  Thankfully, at least I'd managed to get one of the few cheap seats, because if I'd paid out for one of the exorbitantly inflated ones I would have been really cheesed off.  Had I known, I'd have gone to see ENB's Sleeping Beauty instead.

[RuthE]

Interesting that the casting of the Italian Princess is all dancers I would think of as potential Neapolitan Dancers (though I'm not sure if all have actually done it, either in the current or previous production - has Harrod?)

 

I wonder if that's intentional, and if so, why.  I would still prefer to see the princess in each case be the person who leads her own National Dance.

[capybara]

There were some other pairings last night:

 

Neopolitan Dance: Yuhui Choe and Luca Acri

Mazurka: Grace Blundell and Nicol Edmonds

 

 

[Rob S]

1 hour ago, Saodan said:

 

I have been keeping notes based on the reviews here and photos posted by dancers and audience members on instagram. My incomplete records are below. (Disclaimer: Things get less complete the further down you go. If anyone can add to this I would love to hear. Please do not book based on this; it is not guaranteed to be correct, nor is it injury-proof! I have aimed for scheduled pairings where possible. Corresponding Odette cast should not be relied upon; it is mostly educated guesswork and probably subject to change. I haven't even attempted the Waltz and Polonaise.)

 

 

 

👍👍

[bridiem]

Impressive work, Saodan! Many thanks. Calvert (with Kaneko) was a Big Swan for Lamb on Tuesday.

 

I see that all the Bennos are on the short side, and yet the sisters include quite a few tall dancers and sometimes taller and shorter in the same pairing. Seems a bit odd to me. (Not that the man always has to be tallest - but in partnering terms it obviously matters, and the choreography for the sisters seems to me to be less suited to tall dancers.) Or, Benno could perhaps sometimes be danced by someone taller. (Though maybe then there really would be confusion with the prince, who has generally been on the tall side.)

Edited June 7, 2018 by bridiem

[RuthE]

1 hour ago, bridiem said:

I see that all the Bennos are on the short side, and yet the sisters include quite a few tall dancers and sometimes taller and shorter in the same pairing. Seems a bit odd to me. (Not that the man always has to be tallest - but in partnering terms it obviously matters, and the choreography for the sisters seems to me to be less suited to tall dancers.) Or, Benno could perhaps sometimes be danced by someone taller. (Though maybe then there really would be confusion with the prince, who has generally been on the tall side.)

 

As I think I've said earlier in the thread, for my taste, most of the taller dancers seem an ill fit for the PD3 in general, no matter how good they are.  Though I'll make an exception for Yuhui Choe, and used to enjoy her and Melissa Hamilton in the old production (if memory serves, often cast together in it).

 

I was also surprised to see Choe matched with Yudes for the Neapolitan, with her being mid-height and him being tiny. I know there's no real lifting, but still.

[FLOSS]

I suspect that the casting of dancers who are on the short side as Benno has more to do with the number of talented dancers of that height who are in the company at present than anything else. Both Campbell and Hay might reasonably have expected to get a crack at the role of Siegfried in this initial run of this  new production as they were given the opportunity to dance the prince when Sleeping Beauty was revived in the 2016-17 season. On the first night management seemed to be concerned to put as many Principal and First Soloists on stage as it possibly could  presumably so they would all be able to say that they had participated in the premiere performance of the production. The cast included three Principal dancers , Campbell, Hayward and Takada, in the pas de trois with Ball, Hay and Sambe who are all First Soloists among the dancers on stage in the first act. It was I think intended to be a night of the company's stars and stars in the making. I expect that the dancers who danced at the premiere will be those who will be on stage for the streamed performance. Meanwhile I think that Kevin is trying to live up to his promise to keep all his dancers happy by giving them interesting opportunities and that if that occasionally  means some rather odd looking height combinations it is thought to be a price worth paying to maintain company morale and retain the services of talented dancers who might otherwise feel that they were being ignored and might think about moving elsewhere. Of course we don't know how many of these oddly matched or ill-matched  casts in the pas de trois and the Neapolitan dance  were selected from the outset and how many have been forced on the company because of illness and injury. If  you don't announce cast members you don't have to explain their absence.

 

Yudes is not very tall but then neither was Wayne Sleep and I don't recall anyone being that concerned when he was cast with Collier or Taylor in the Neapolitan Dance. They were both as tall as him, if not taller. The Neapolitan Dance is a test of stamina, strength, speed and Ashton style. I  am far more concerned  when a dancer who can't keep up with her partner is cast in it than I am by a pairing in which height might be considered an issue by some. For me so far it has been the pairing of Sambe and Hinkis which has worried me most as she struggles to keep up with him. Before anyone says that the divertisement is being taken too fast I would point out that it is danced more slowly than it was in the 1970's and early 80's when those who thought that Sleep and Collier were the ultimate pairing in it were told quite regularly that what they had seen when they danced it was a pale imitation of what Alexander Grant and Julia Farron had made of it. I suspect that the original cast placed even greater emphasis on  its demi-character style than Sleep and Collier did. It should be full of vigorous character but with each generation of dancers  It seems to become more classically correct and less characterful and so more bland.

 

The debuts on Bank Holiday Monday were not the balletic equivalent of the second coming. They were debuts and as debuts they both showed real promise. If an Odette/ Odile stands out more than her prince does that is in large part because however hard you try the ballet ultimately belongs to the swan queen. However I have no doubt that the lighting design, particularly those for the lakeside acts is a major contributory factor. They  are both dimly lit and the choice of colour for the prince's costumes for those two acts does not add to his visibility.  It is almost as if the audience is thought to be more interested in being reminded that these two acts take place at night than it is in being able to see all the dancers clearly. I look forward to encountering Naghdi's Odette/ Odile and Ball's prince at least once more during this run of  Swan Lake.  I expect both interpretations will have grown in stature when I next see them.

Edited June 7, 2018 by FLOSS

[alison]

3 hours ago, FLOSS said:

If an Odette/ Odile stands out more than her prince does that is in large part because however hard you try the ballet ultimately belongs to the swan queen. However I have no doubt that the lighting design, particularly those for the lakeside acts is a major contributory factor. They  are both dimly lit and the choice of colour for the prince's costumes for those two acts does not add to his visibility.  It is almost as if the audience is thought to be more interested in being reminded that these two acts take place at night than it is in being able to see all the dancers clearly.

 

So true, FLOSS.  Having now seen the ballet from on top, I'm aware that there are times when little more can be seen of Siegfried than his face and hands

[Rob S]

I can add the following to Saodan's list....the performance I saw (Sarah Lamb as O/O) featured

 

Spanish Dance: Natalie Harrison with Donnelly/Dubreuil/Emerton/Montes

Czardas: Romany Pajdak and Paul Kay

Neopolitan: Isabella Gasparini and David Yudes

Mazurka: Lara Turk and Reece Clark

[Richard LH]

9 hours ago, alison said:

I was most disappointed last night - having battled for weeks to get a ticket - to find that the casting was far from first cast throughout: instead, I got a number of dancers who I'd already seen in various roles, and will presumably totally miss out on quite a few dancers I'd really wanted to see in roles they "created".  I guess this is why they were filming last week's performance and not yesterday's as the backup.  Thankfully, at least I'd managed to get one of the few cheap seats, because if I'd paid out for one of the exorbitantly inflated ones I would have been really cheesed off.  Had I known, I'd have gone to see ENB's Sleeping Beauty instead.

Yes it is annoying that the RB are not listing more of the cast in advance. I had hoped to see Campbell, Takada and Hayward again (thinking they were the standard accompaniment to Nunez and Muntagirov) and whilst very good, Dyer, Calvert and Stix-Brunell did not quite pack the same punch of  magic. 

[Saodan]

Thanks for the additions everyone, my spreadsheet has been updated accordingly. If the ROH isn't going to keep the performance database up to date, we may have to take matters into our own hands!

Edited June 7, 2018 by Saodan

[MRR]

14 hours ago, FLOSS said:

On the first night management seemed to be concerned to put as many Principal and First Soloists on stage as it possibly could  presumably so they would all be able to say that they had participated in the premiere performance of the production. The cast included three Principal dancers , Campbell, Hayward and Takada, in the pas de trois with Ball, Hay and Sambe who are all First Soloists among the dancers on stage in the first act. 

Selfishly I wanted Laura Morera to trot out one more Neapolitan for the premiere.

Edited June 8, 2018 by MRR