English National Ballet - Manon - National Tour & London, 2018/9

[capybara]

Just now, Dawnstar said:

I'm in awe at @Irmgard's reviews. Reading them makes me feel not only that I shouldn't presume to comment on what little ballet I've seen but also to question whether I should even be seeing it, as I know I'm incapable of appreciating it in anywhere near such profound depth.

 

 Don't worry, Dawnstar. Most of us on here don't have specialist knowledge but we appreciate ballet in our own way - and we can appreciate Irmgard's reviews too! 

[Bruce Wall]

I have seen several casts in this particular ENB run of Manon and the one that - by some considerable distance - stands out for me is that led by McWhinney and Frola.  They were mesmerising from the get go - and each gave vital individual detail to their inputs without ever over-guilding their lillies or - as can sometimes happen - make the ballet seem entirely episodic.  Their chapters were all very much of a whole much as their dancing - together and apart - was delivered in stellar fashion.  Frola is - for my money - up there with Dowell, Gomes and Muntagirov as DG.  His partnering - much as his dancing - was exemplary - and entirely rooted in the overall arc of his extraordinary dramatic performance.  McWhinney continues to astound in her development.  She was so entirely winning in her innocence on entrance - loved the wink to Coleman's endearing old man - and was still a vital spirit in the final PDD up until the ultimate stroke of fate was so harshly brandied.  I rarely find the emotion that so many expound about here - but this afternoon I did at the tail end of the this extraordinary performance.  I shared Forla's grief every bit as much as I did the audible sincerity of the audience's cheering rapture.  How lucky we are to have both of these extraordinary artists in our midst. 

 

A final shout out for Shale Wagman who on Friday afternoon - with the aforementioned leads again dazzling - was one of the finest Beggar Chiefs I have EVER seen.  The acute originality of his musicality continues to astound.  

 

[Irmgard]

2 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

I'm in awe at @Irmgard's reviews. Reading them makes me feel not only that I shouldn't presume to comment on what little ballet I've seen but also to question whether I should even be seeing it, as I know I'm incapable of appreciating it in anywhere near such profound depth.

Please, please, please continue to watch ballets and let us know how you react to them!  Apart from paying tribute to the wonderful performances I am privileged to see, I would hope that my reports enhance your viewing pleasure by pointing out some of the lovely details to watch out for.  Yes, I do have specialist knowledge but the biggest pleasure of having that knowledge is to share it with others.

[Mandy Kent]

Thank you Irmgard. I truly appreciate your insights , reports and knowledge, it helps me to understand more about ballet .

[CCL]

8 hours ago, Irmgard said:

Please, please, please continue to watch ballets and let us know how you react to them!  Apart from paying tribute to the wonderful performances I am privileged to see, I would hope that my reports enhance your viewing pleasure by pointing out some of the lovely details to watch out for.  Yes, I do have specialist knowledge but the biggest pleasure of having that knowledge is to share it with others.

Irmgard, your long review above did exactly that for me when I read it yesterday morning and it really whetted my appetite for yesterday’s matinee, different cast notwithstanding. I’d like to echo the thanks of other posters for your deeply insightful responses. I was profoundly moved yesterday afternoon by the performance of Frola and McWhinney; the thunderous applause they received was richly deserved. They had total chemistry as a partnership, the first bedroom pd2 in particular was just everything I want to feel when I go to the ballet. 

[Irmgard]

I have already written much about the two performances I saw on tour of the fabulous new partnership of Begoña Cao and Aitor Arrieta.  On Thursday evening, there was a real buzz amongst the almost-capacity audience for the only performance by the company’s “home-grown” ballerina and perhaps one of the youngest dancers to take on the challenging role of Des Grieux.  As reported in my previous brief post, due to sometimes unintuitive conducting from Orlando Jopling, the performance did suffer from an orchestral accompaniment that, although ravishing, did lack some impetus, particularly in the Act II pas de deux, and it was for that reason alone that it did not always reach the dizzying heights of the performance I saw in Southampton.  However, that is a very small niggle in an otherwise unforgettable evening and of course anyone seeing this cast for the first time would have been completely unaware of it, such is their artistry.

 

The last-minute spate of injuries and seasonal illnesses, presumably the reason for not displaying all the casting on the website as was done for the autumn tour, meant that some alterations in the pairing of the supporting roles have been made since then, but I was delighted that the brilliant partnership of Ken Saruhashi’s scheming Lescaut and Crystal Costa’s Mistress remained intact.  To say that Costa’s Mistress is a ‘tart with a heart’ is to do an injustice to her gorgeously refined dancing but her warmth, charm and vivacity lit up the stage whenever she appeared, making the heartless slap by the controlling Lescaut in the first scene  seem particularly cruel.  As before, the haunted look on her face when she realises deportation could be her fate was intensely moving. 

 

Arrieta’s Des Grieux is definitely the bookish young man of Abbé Prévost’s story (who is seduced away from the priesthood by Manon after she first abandons him – a scene which is retained in Massenet’s opera).  He is an innocent abroad, unsure how to react to the teasing of the Courtesans at the coaching inn, but we can see that his life will change completely as he falls utterly in love with Manon from the moment he sees her.  With a beautifully pliant, long lean body, Cao’s Manon is already aware that she can fascinate, as witnessed by the way she hands her cape and hat to the obliging gentlemen, but not yet of how devastating this will power will be.  There is something so ethereal yet sensual about the way she moves, and her whole body looked breathtakingly beautiful as Lescaut effortlessly lifted her whilst teasing the Old Man.  Her materialistic side is already evident in her facial expression as she realises the Old Man’s bag left with her to guard is filled with money.  When Des Grieux danced for Manon, there was something genuinely touching about the gentle, elegant way he expressed his feelings, as if daring to hope they might be reciprocated.  I noticed that he took both her hands to kiss them and Cao then brought her hands to her chest in a gesture expressing an inner joy.  When he led her from the chair, her bourrées were so exquisite, it seemed as if she was floating and then there was that lovely moment when she stands so still, en pointe, as if the sudden love she experiences is almost overwhelming.  And then those gloriously eloquent legs and feet of hers, expressing total rapture in the aerial walks!  And how lovely to see her eloquent quicksilver épaulement in the little series of steps where Arrieta repeatedly turns her to look at him and then away again! This was MacMillan choreography danced in the style of Ashton at its very best!  As with Dronina in the afternoon, Cao’s beautiful, seductive way of stretching her feet to the very ends of her toes so that it appears she is not wearing pointe shoes at all is the hallmark of MacMillan’s conception of Manon so that Monsieur GM’s obsession (and MacMillan’s!) is completely understandable. If the music for the bedroom pas de deux lacked the expected impetus, Arrieta and Cao made up for it by an almost languorous sensuality and in those astonishing lifts with Arrieta carrying Cao on high with her amazing backbends, one could feel her ecstasy pulsating through the glorious arc of her body.

 

It was so good to see Junor Souza back onstage, after his injury shortly before his scheduled Siegfried in the autumn, emanating danger and lust in his imposing Monsieur GM.  With the manipulative Lescaut, the pas de trois reached new levels of eroticism with Cao’s tantalising developpés and huge eyes hypnotising him. 

 

As well as having technique of the highest quality, Saruhashi and Costa are exceptionally fine actors and know how to be genuinely funny without playing for laughs.  Therefore, their drunken pas de deux in Act II was a masterpiece of comedy, looking completely spontaneous and natural (and some of the ‘drunken’ ladies and gentlemen onstage should take note of how it is done!).  The Mistress has to allow her body to be manipulated into some of the most ungainly positions ever seen onstage and Costa was brilliant at this, especially when Lescaut is staggering around, holding her upside down, and she relaxed her upper body so much that her head was bobbing about in a truly comic way but totally believable.  Cao’s glittering entrance showed her transformation into a woman of such sophistication and dignity that one could sense the feeling of awe from everyone else in the room, and the almost gloating pride of GM.  Cao is supreme in the Act II solo, imbuing every movement with a tantalising sexuality, again with that gloriously languid upper body and ports de bras which almost glow with electricity.  Arrieta’s Des Grieux could only watch with a sense of increasing hopelessness as this evolved into the hypnotic and erotic manipulation of Cao by the gentlemen and there was something so touching about the desperate way he sought to intervene, only to be rejected again by Cao, her alarm showing in her luminous eyes.  His solo of yearning for her was heartbreaking, and her descent from sophistication into a broken woman as she realises her all-consuming love for him had me welling up with tears!  It was in the subsequent pas de deux that I keenly felt the lack of pulse in the music which is needed to drive the pas de deux onwards, so superbly drawn from the orchestra by Gavin Sutherland at the afternoon’s performance but then he is, for me, the best ballet conductor I have come across in my many years of attending performances, intuitively understanding the support each individual dancer needs.  However, Cao and Arrieta magnificently overcame this with a most tender, soulful reconciliation, Cao again letting the ravishing sound flow through her entire body. 

 

If such a small moment in Act II had me welling with tears, Act III was almost unbearable, starting from Cao’s descent from the boat with her limbs and body taking on such an air of fragility but still with her luminous beauty attracting the attention of Daniel Kraus’s quietly authoratitive Gaoler, with Arrieta’s young, distraught Des Grieux powerless to stop him.  Cao is so fragile by the time of the Gaoler’s sexual assault that, as I said of her previous performances, her body appears totally broken as she literally lies in a heap on the floor.  The final, desperate pas de deux had me inwardly gasping at so many moments as Arrieta seemed to be trying to bring Cao back from her delirium by reliving the precious moments from their previous pas de deux and Cao desperately attempting to respond to him and then that final, off-balance arabesque as a heartbreaking distortion of its previous appearance as an expression of their ecstatic love, caught with such passion by Arrieta that it brought me to tears before Arrieta’s anguish when he realises she is dead finished me off completely.

 

When Cao was presented with a huge sheaf of flowers following the company bow, it was wonderful to see everyone onstage and in the pit break into spontaneous applause for her magnificent performance, in which Arrieta also proved what a superb artist he is.  To respond to a comment in an earlier post about the lack of flowers for Dronina, there have been flowers for the dancers at every performance but it appears entirely random as to which are presented onstage and which are delivered to the dressing rooms!

 

For those who were at this performance, I hope my report will bring back memories of this very special evening and, for those who were not, will provide a glimpse of what the audience was privileged to see.

[JohnS]

I do hope Irmgard is at today’s matinee, particularly for those unable to go (like me).

Edited January 20, 2019 by JohnS
Clarification

[annamk]

Irmgard - very very grateful to you for this, it does indeed bring back memories of that wonderful Thursday evening and the remarkable performances. As you've said elsewhere, so sad this cast had only a single London performance. 

[BeauxArts]

Irmgard: I was not able to go to this performance - much to my regret - but your description has allowed me to have a real sense of what it was like, for which I am very grateful to you. I am wondering if you will be writing about the Takahashi/Cirio performance on Friday evening? You wrote about their performance on tour and this galvanised me to buy a ticket for Friday night (along with my own positive experience of seeing Cirio's Siegfried the week before and the valued opinion of another ballet-going friend)? I hope so! 

 

For my part, I was really moved by Takahashi and Cirio's performance. She was exquisite, especially alluring in Act 2 I thought, and his reading of the role was vivd,  intelligent  and beautifully danced.  I also saw Cojucaru and Caley - another wonderful  performance but just not quite as moving for me as the later cast. 

 

An honourable mention too for Daniel McCormick as Lescaut in the Takahashi/Cirio cast. (Perhaps not quite ready but surely he is an Onegin for the future?!).

 

I have really appreciated the opportunity to see how the company have danced this familiar, some might say over-familiar, work: it has been so refreshing. I hope we have the opportunity to see them dance it again before too long.

[Dawnstar]

14 hours ago, Bruce Wall said:

Frola is - for my money - up there with Dowell, Gomes and Muntagirov as DG. 

 

Gosh. I was extremely impressed by Frola on Friday but, not having anyone to compare him with, I didn't realise he was considered that good. I wonder whether, in a few decades time, I'll be reminiscing about seeing Frola & Muntagirov (the latter not as DG, obviously) on the same day!

 

12 hours ago, Irmgard said:

Please, please, please continue to watch ballets and let us know how you react to them!  Apart from paying tribute to the wonderful performances I am privileged to see, I would hope that my reports enhance your viewing pleasure by pointing out some of the lovely details to watch out for.  Yes, I do have specialist knowledge but the biggest pleasure of having that knowledge is to share it with others.

 

I'm seeing Cojocaru/Caley this afternoon so I probably won't be able to resist saying something afterwards. I'm hoping that I'll be able to notice more details on my 2nd viewing of the production but as I don't know the names of many ballet steps I doubt I'll be able to describe any dancing details even if I see them. I'm just hoping that I find Cojocaru & Caley as moving in terms of acting as I did McWhinney & Frola.

[Irmgard]

1 hour ago, JohnS said:

I do hope Irmgard is at today’s matinee, particularly for those unable to go (like me).

Unfortunately I don't have a ticket for this show but at least it is giving me time to write up all the others!

[Irmgard]

I was so pleased to attend Friday evening’s performance to experience yet again the sublime partnership of Erina Takahashi and Jeffrey Cirio.  They are so perfectly matched and give the gentlest, most tender reading of Manon and her Des Grieux.  Before I write about that, I have to agree with a previous post about the irritating ‘business’ going on around the sides of the stage.  It seems to me that the only direction the beggars, harlots, thieves etc. have been given is “keep busy”, resulting in the pantomimic, caricature ‘acting’ I loathe, especially noticeable when the lead characters are so real and natural, which was one of my niggles when I first saw the production again in the autumn!  However, because I know the ballet so well, I can hone in on the real action and ignore the rest (unless it is really intrusive!), especially when the leads are as immediately engaging as Takahashi and Cirio! However, things seemed to have settled somewhat by Saturday evening’s performance (more about that in another post) or maybe I just became truly expert at ignoring them!

 

As in the autumn, I immediately fell for Cirio with his elegant dancing so full of quiet emotion and always directed towards the diminutive, wide-eyed Takahashi’s Manon.  Her formidable technique is always subjugated to the character she is portraying, and her Manon is full of quiet gentleness, like Cirio’s Des Grieux.  Her exquisite footwork, which I have always admired, is used to perfection in Manon’s first entrance, and I loved the way she imbued all that filigree footwork with a sense of wonderment at the fascination she creates in others.  After Cirio’s beautifully expressive solo, Takahashi also makes much of the stillness as she almost hovers en pointe before taking off into the most joyous pas de deux in which there is such a delightful, youthful intimacy that it can only end with the two of them running off together! 

 

Before that, there was the joy of the wonderfully elegant solo danced by Daniel McCormick as Lescaut and the exuberant Rina Kanehara owning the stage in the Mistress’s solo.  She appears so determined to enjoy life that even his sometimes brutish behaviour towards her cannot diminish her zest (or that phenomenal technique!).  This was especially so in the Act II drunken pas de deux where even an unexpected tumble towards the end (and anyone seeing it for the first time would have assumed it was part of the choreography) could not displace that joyous smile!

 

As in the performance I saw in Milton Keynes, the Act I bedroom pas de deux from Takahashi and Cirio was the embodiment of young love and had acquired an even more ecstatic sheen, culminating in that famous dive by Manon onto the bed!  Her euphoria was quickly dashed by the arrival of Lescaut and Monsieur GM.  Dmitri Gruzdyev plays him as a brutish, lecherous predator intent on owning the delectable Manon as he places the necklace around her neck in a gesture purely denoting ownership rather than the seductive quality Reimair gives it.  Takahashi’s Manon appears bewildered and hurt by her brother’s manipulation of the situation and goes through the motions of the pas de trois as if constantly being coached by him as to what to do.  As she goes off with GM, I had the feeling it was only because she was submitting to her brother’s will, as no doubt she would do to GM’s, but that she was not going to enjoy it!  Perhaps a timely reminder, especially with the latest television dramatisation of Les Misérables,  of what women without fortune throughout time have been obliged to do to survive.

 

As before, when Takahashi is paraded around the gambling den, her face is almost expressionless and there is that slight faltering in her walk as she passes Des Grieux.  This is Manon the actress as she performs for GM, firstly her seductive solo, with those smaller arm gestures to Des Grieux, and then the aerial manipulation. When her façade does finally crumble, and she clings to DG, it is intensely moving.  And what a beautiful, yearning solo Cirio gave us!  When they have escaped back to his lodgings, Manon’s relief at finally being able to express her love for Des Grieux was evident, although there was still that almost childlike refusal to give up the bracelet which represented her one piece of financial security.

 

Takahashi’s naturally gamine appearance adds an extra poignancy to Manon’s arrival in the New World and the unwanted attentions of Daniel Kraus’s Gaoler.  Cirio’s distress at seeing her carted away by the guards progressed naturally to his stabbing of the Gaoler and their escape.  Both Cirio and Takahashi were heartbreaking in their response to each other in the final pas de deux, still clinging to their memories of their first joyous love as her strength fades.  They seem such a natural partnership that I hope very much they will be cast together in many more performances to come!

[Sabine0308]

18 hours ago, Bruce Wall said:

I have seen several casts in this particular ENB run of Manon and the one that - by some considerable distance - stands out for me is that led by McWhinney and Frola.  They were mesmerising from the get go - and each gave vital individual detail to their inputs without ever over-guilding their lillies or - as can sometimes happen - make the ballet seem entirely episodic.  Their chapters were all very much of a whole much as their dancing - together and apart - was delivered in stellar fashion.  Frola is - for my money - up there with Dowell, Gomes and Muntagirov as DG.  His partnering - much as his dancing - was exemplary - and entirely rooted in the overall arc of his extraordinary dramatic performance.  McWhinney continues to astound in her development.  She was so entirely winning in her innocence on entrance - loved the wink to Coleman's endearing old man - and was still a vital spirit in the final PDD up until the ultimate stroke of fate was so harshly brandied.  I rarely find the emotion that so many expound about here - but this afternoon I did at the tail end of the this extraordinary performance.  I shared Forla's grief every bit as much as I did the audible sincerity of the audience's cheering rapture.  How lucky we are to have both of these extraordinary artists in our midst. 

 

A final shout out for Shale Wagman who on Friday afternoon - with the aforementioned leads again dazzling - was one of the finest Beggar Chiefs I have EVER seen.  The acute originality of his musicality continues to astound.  

 

Bruce, are you on Instagram? Asking for a reason. I cannot message you here. A certain dancer thanked you...😉. Want to make sure you don't miss it.

[annamk]

For me it was another superb performance for ENB to bring to a close this run of Manon. That the company still looks so fresh and committed after such a long run at the Coliseum is a huge credit to everyone on stage. And off stage the starry line up of guest repetiteurs (Dowell, Durante, Gruzdyev, Harris, Mukhamedov) should be congratulating themselves.

 

I didn't expect to enjoy these performances as much as I have because in the last run of the RB Manon I found much of the ballet outside the pdd bordering on the tedious but I could quite happily watch every cast again next week. I am wondering if part of this is down to the music. The orchestra under Gavin Sutherland have been superb and the score seems to have much more life than it often does down the road, maybe the tempo is slightly quicker, maybe the acoustics are better at the Coliseum. 

 

I don't have a single negative comment about any of today's cast: Cojocaru, Caley, Cirio, Khaniukova, Streeter. Cojocaru just gets better and better - her performance was full of her own small additions and details that made me constantly catch my breath. Caley matched her all the way - he was outstanding and the denouement simply heartbreaking. 

 

The huge ovation today - many people standing in the stalls - was so deserved. 

[Geoff]

22 minutes ago, annamk said:

That the company still looks so fresh and committed after such a long run at the Coliseum is a huge credit to everyone on stage. And off stage the starry line up of guest repetiteurs (Dowell, Durante, Gruzdyev, Harris, Mukhamedov) should be congratulating themselves.

 

I didn't expect to enjoy these performances as much as I have because in the last run of the RB Manon I found much of the ballet outside the pdd bordering on the tedious but I could quite happily watch every cast again next week. I am wondering if part of this is down to the music.

 

I so agree annamk but imho there is another factor even more important than how the music is conducted: this ENB run has, as you suggest, been brilliantly prepared. The details of the dancing have been razor sharp, clear to the back of the Balcony, dedicated as much to story-tellng as to expression, and bringing out the moment by moment intention of the choreography. This has particularly been so with Manon and DG, so along with you I single out the guests who worked with them.

 

Edited January 20, 2019 by Geoff

[Blossom]

Having seen the rehearsal on Tuesday night, I had to wait patiently until today’s matinee to see the fully costumed performance. I have to say though, that Macmillan’s choreography can support itself perfectly well, especially with the high quality dancing from ENB, without the need for elaborate stage designs and costumes. 

 

This is probably just as well in places - Act 1 as some have mentioned, is rather sparsely set and the the dangly swamp weeds in Act 3 was probably more significantly lacking. It would be wonderful if a slight amend could be made to the designs.  I can’t remember which newspaper review commented on the costumes being a far cry from Hogarth, however, the costumes were on the whole indicative of an era except for the harlots in Act 2 who to me look like they could be wearing some kind of tutu in an alternative design of Sleeping Beauty with all of those bright-end of pastel colours and bouffy skirts.  I find this act’s costume design particularly disappointing vs the Georgiadis designs which really allow you to understand the hierarchy of the different characters in the brothel scene while overall being a bit more earthy rather than providing a colourful gloss over this period in time. 

Alina Cojocaru continues to delight and I am always amazed at her ability to portray youth and innocence in a role. Whereas the Manons I have seen before have played Act 2 as ‘Queen bee’, Cojocaru’s Act 2 Manon was still fragile and taken advantage of by the brother she seemed to have so much faith in and the man he sold her to. This made the end of Act 2 and Act 3 all the more devastating as Manon was at the mercy of GM and then the gaoler who just thinks she is another prostitute....

 

Joseph Caley was a wonderful Dr Grieux - his solos were so emotive, there was such a connection between him and his Manon and his absolute devastation as Manon died brought a tear. 

 

Cirio danced Lescaut brilliantly - clean, sharp, precise footwork which still allowed him to portray a terrible drunk in Act 2 and an excellent actor throughout- a completely wicked Lescaut. I also really enjoyed Kanukova’s performance today, well danced and made for a comedic pairing in the drunken pdd.

In terms of the other soloist opportunities, the 3 dancing gentlemen of Act 2 were particularly good and displayed the high standard of dancing we can expect from ENB- Aitor Arieta, Ken Saruhashi and Daniel McCormick all showed perfect technique. Great comedy was also shown with the 2 fighting courtesans.

Macmillan’s choreography is so emotionally powerful with such charged pas de deuxs and the sensual passing of Manon between the men in the brothel. The final pdd in Act 3 was heart wrenching. 

It was sad to see the big trucks outside ready to pack this performance up and take it back into storage as we left the theatre. It has been a wonderful run and good to see that under Rojo’s directorship, ENB continues to push boundaries by bringing ballets which aren’t just the tutu-classics to audiences around the country.   Louise Levine in the Spectator back in October asked why ENB bothers to take such productions to ‘the provinces’ but I think the question should be why aren’t the tickets being snapped up? To me, the answer lies in the marketing, which cannot just be a numbers game. Companies need to be more bolder in their communications to warm people to the idea of trying something new, rather than simply playing a numbers game. 

[Irmgard]

I was sorry to miss the London debut of the wonderful partnership of Alison McWhinney and Francesco Gabriele Frola when it was moved up a day, especially as it meant missing the only London performance of Jung ah Choi’s delightful Mistress, but I was very happy to catch their second show only twenty-four hours later and was extremely impressed at how fresh and spontaneous their performance of the challenging and exhausting choreography was!  Saturday’s matinée also featured the fabulous partnership of Ken Saruhashi and Crystal Costa as Lescaut and his Mistress, both of whom added layers to their already excellent characterisations from Thursday.  Costa, in particular, was not always the vivacious Mistress of her previous performance but seemed slightly more disillusioned with her life with Lescaut as he continually tried to pimp her out to all and sundry in Acts I and II, sometimes just going through the motions in her solos as if she was weary of having to display her wares yet again.  Saruhashi, with the sweetly innocent McWhinney as his sister, showed more of his dark side in the Act I pas de trois, manipulating her every move to entice the gentlemanly but nevertheless ruthless Monsieur GM of Daniel Kraus.  However, their drunken pas de deux was still the comic highlight of the performance, looking every bit as spontaneous as previously.  Watching the same dancers explore different ways to portray their characters in subsequent performances is one of the great joys of being able to see so many performances of this masterpiece.

 

The sweetness of McWhinney’s Manon, which also imbued her lovely Giselle and Juliet, made her enchanting from her first entrance and, just as I remembered from her performance in Southampton, her exquisite footwork and her lovely, expressive face gave a breathtaking, dreamy quality to her sequence of steps forward which, for me, becomes Manon’s signature step as we watch it repeated with variations in both the steps and emotion in each Act.   She also has the easiest and loveliest of épaulements, especially in the first pas de deux with the ardent Frola as her Des Grieux.  The chemistry between them has intensified and “breathtaking” is the feeling I had over and over again watching the joy of their first pas de deux, leading naturally to the rapturous bedroom pas de deux which had a quality of risk-taking which can only be undertaken in MacMillan’s notoriously accident-prone choreography when both dancers have complete trust in each other, as these two do.  Afterwards, McWhinney’s carefree dive onto the bed brought laughter and applause from the audience which seemed almost at capacity.  I am continually excited and impressed by the passionate dancing of Frola and this extended to his volatile confrontation with Lescaut on Manon’s departure.

 

I have not written much about the Courtesans, especially the warring ones, in Act II because I confess I have seen so many I cannot remember who fought with whom, even though I have the cast sheets!  Suffice it to say, they all provided a great deal of entertainment, mostly keeping their antics as natural as the choreography allows!  The newly sophisticated McWhinney made a stunning entrance, carrying off the huge coat with aplomb, but her anguish when seeing Des Grieux there, although subtle, was nonetheless palpable.  Frola, even standing at the side of the stage, held my attention through the intensity of his body language as he is wracked with grief at seeing Manon seemingly enjoying GM’s attentions.  I loved the moments in Manon’s solo, danced with both seductiveness and delicacy, during the freeze when she turns ever so slightly and, almost secretively, lovingly holds out her left arm towards Des Grieux in comparison to her larger, more flamboyant carriage of the right arm towards GM.  As in Southampton, there was something so dreamlike and hypnotic about her dance with the men, especially those wonderful moments where she dives down into them and then is brought upright above their heads.  Every time I see this dance to the equally hypnotic music, I marvel not only at MacMillan’s genius but also at that of Hilda Gaunt and Leighton Lucas who put the original score together although they no longer receive credit, at least on the cast sheet, for its creation!  As in their performance last year, I loved the way Frola was a picture of desperation during this dance, always trying to attract her attention and getting so hot under the collar as if almost suffocated by his despair, that he tears his jacket off and loosens his necktie when the room has cleared, making perfect dramatic sense of this action, the practical reason being to give Des Grieux freedom of movement for the beautiful ports de bras in the solo which follows.  Frola did not disappoint in the dramatic depths with which he imbued it, making the moment when McWhinney finally embraces him so very moving. I can only repeat what I wrote previously, that their Act II bedroom pas de deux had great dramatic depth as Des Grieux tries to make Manon give up her bracelet and both McWhinney and Frola looked shocked as he threw her to the floor. Then they both appeared to ask each other’s forgiveness in an intense embrace, interrupted by the arrival of GM and her brother, with Saruhashi giving a masterful portrayal of the beaten and broken Lescaut.  McWhinney’s distress as she tries to reach her dying brother was gut-wrenching!

 

This emotional rollercoaster of a performance came to an end with a pas de deux glorious in its risk-taking in the spectacular lifts and heartbreaking as McWhinney’s broken body is tenderly laid on the ground by Frola and he sobs uncontrollably over her.  I have long considered McWhinney a principal dancer in all but name and this unforgettable, awe-inspiring performance from her serves to reinforce what a truly special dancer she is.  I hope there will be many more opportunities for her to dance with Frola, who seems the perfect stage soulmate for her.

[IPalmer]

Hello all former Ballet.coers!  I was very grateful to have been given a ticket for this afternoon's matinee and I cannot not remark on the exquisite performance given by Alina Cojocaru , in which she brought her years of experience and artistry to the fore.  What a tremendously rich and nuanced portrayal it was and I was very glad to join those giving a standing ovation in the stalls.  On a general note about ENB, having also seen them earlier in the Coliseum residency, I think the company is looking in the best shape it has done for a while and really tremendous.  It was also very lovely to see forum member MAB and her partner in crime after the show for a quick catchup.  Best wishes to all.  Ian Palmer   

[Dawnstar]

Having paid a last-minute visit to Manon on Friday, today I went to the performance I'd originally booked for. I found it very interesting to see it twice in 3 days with, barring some of the ensemble, completely different casts. The following comments include a lot of cast comparisons so people who dislike that may want to stop reading now. I definitely was able to notice more details in the ensemble scenes today and, probably consequently, enjoyed them a bit more. The start of Act 1 was much easier to follow when I knew who the characters were & wasn't peering at every woman who entered wondering if she was Manon.

 

I thought today's cast were very good overall. It was my first time seeing Cojocaru (yes, I know I'm nearly 20 years late!) & I can understand why she is so popular. I don't really need to say that her dancing was excellent but what particularly struck me at times was the beauty of her neck movements when Manon expresses passion & desire by stretching her head back. I felt she played a slightly more mature & knowing Manon compared to McWhinney on Friday, which I suppose may suit the character better but I slightly preferred McWhinney's take.

 

I thought Caley was good as Des Grieux and had I not seen Frola on Friday I would probably have been perfectly satisfied with Caley, but by comparison to Frola I didn't find he moved me in the same way. On Friday I started crying before the last pdd had properly started at the sight of Frola's agony & despair whereas this afternoon I didn't start crying until the pdd was well underway & it was more due to the music. To give a specific example of when I found Frola so much more moving: in the last moment when Des Grieux is kneeling by Manon's body Caley only looked up whereas Frola looked up & raised his arms up then collapsed forward over Manon's body. I did feel some of the partnering work looked a bit better with Cojocaru/Caley as there was a greater height difference, whereas McWhinney en pointe in some positions was as tall as Frola. I also thought Caley managed to cheat at cards more convincingly! Caley lost his hair ribbon during the bedroom pdd & it was sitting onstage til Cirio came on & had the prescence of mind to throw it into the wings!

 

I thought Cirio was brilliant as Lescaut, in both acting & dancing. On Friday I'd thought that McCormick had been good but today Cirio seemed to be on another level, which I suppose isn't surprising given Cirio's a Lead Principal while McCormick's an Artist. I also preferred today's Mistress, Khaniukova, who seemed to have a bit more character. I found the Act 2 pdd more amusing today & there seemed to be more audible laughs from the audience.

 

On Friday Reimer was GM & Streeter the Gaoler. Today was the other way around. I thought the former worked better, as Reimer was more convincing as an older man while Streeter was more unpleasant as the Gaoler. However I did think Streeter & Cojocaru had some very good interactions in Act 2.

 

Overall if I could pick an ideal cast I'd have McWhinney, Frola, Reimer & Streeter from Friday with Cirio & Khaniukova from today. I really hope to have the opportunity to see both Frola & McWhinney again in the future, ideally together, as I found them heartbreaking.

 

ETA Thank you @Irmgard & @alison who encouraged me in the Manon casting thread to go on Friday as well as today and thank you to the incompetant manager who cancelled my temp job at the last minute so I was free to go! I am deeply grateful for having experienced Friday's performance.

Edited January 20, 2019 by Dawnstar

[CCL]

I had to finish my comment this morning somewhat abruptly as I was going out for the day. I wanted to reiterate how much I enjoyed and appreciated ENB’s Manon, and that I think, like other posters above, that the partnership of Frola and McWhinney was something special. I’ve now seen Frola in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Manon, and his dancing moved me deeply every time.

[Irmgard]

My “Manon” marathon ended on Saturday evening on an absolute high with Jurgita Dronina’s Manon who, like her Odette/Odile only two weeks ago, reached stratospheric levels, taking the rest of the cast with her.  I salute Daniel McCormick who, due to illness, danced four out of the eight performances as Lescaut with three different Mistresses!  For all it may look chaotic, the drunken pas de deux in Act II requires very skilful partnering to make it look that way without injuring either party.  McCormick has risen magnificently to the challenge, especially given his youth.  He is a naturally elegant dancer and his Act I solo became more polished with each performance, as did his characterisation as a darkly powerful, charismatic chancer whose downfall at the hands of Monsieur GM was particularly chilling in tonight’s performance. His Mistress at this performance, for the first and last time, was the spirited Katja Khaniukova who proved to be no pushover when deciding who would be offered her charms.   Her tantalising solo in Act I had both class and seductiveness in the languorous but elegant way she used her upper body and arms and, as always, her beautiful footwork was a joy to watch. 

 

In just over forty-eight hours since her last performance, Dronina had added even more details to her Manon to enchant and beguile Des Grieux, Monsieur GM and, of course, the audience.  What I will remember most about that first scene is her radiant and disarming smile which lit up the stage as she stepped out of the carriage and then walked downstage in wonderment at all that was new and exciting for her.  The last time we see such radiance is during the Act II bedroom pas de deux when, to break the tension as Des Grieux tries to get her to remove the bracelet, she affectionately taps his face or upper chest ever more playfully.  I am quite simply overwhelmed by the change in Isaac Hernandez from his rather tentative Des Grieux which I saw in Milton Keynes.  If I had any remaining doubts about his ability to give an emotionally charged performance, they were completely blown away today by the power and veracity of his heartfelt emotions.  And his chemistry with Dronina is simply electrifying.  For the first time, I caught a moment right at the back of the stage when he was obviously already smitten: as she passed him, she looked back and, despite all the other distractions going on, I could see in those expressive eyes of hers and her body language a mixture of curiosity and attraction.  Dronina and Hernandez obviously have complete trust in each other which made their first pas de deux even more rapturous and there was a real sense of risk-taking as Hernandez responded to every seemingly spontaneous movement Dronina made with her upper back and head in the gloriously secure, spectacular lifts.  There was again that wonderful intimacy in which there were so many moments when they almost kissed and then there were her sublime aerial walks with head tilted backwards in ecstasy and those beautifully expressive feet.  Great actors deliver their lines as if inventing them and saying them for the very first time, and this is how I felt about everything Dronina and Hernandez did (although of course it was most definitely MacMillan’s choreography!), so spontaneous did their whole performance feel.  This wonderful sense of freedom and youthful exuberance continued in the bedroom pas de deux and I know I was smiling all the way through as everything they did seemed new and enchanting, even though I have lost count of the number of times I must have seen it!  Such wonderfully youthful passion could only end with her spectacular, exuberant dive onto the bed eliciting gasps, laughter and applause from the delighted audience.  Fabian Reimair’s already masterful portrayal of Monsieur GM reached a new level of lust simmering away under the surface as he practically devoured her feet and legs in the exceptionally erotic pas de trois and, as before, Dronina’s very young Manon was only too keen to put on her elaborate coat again but there was something very touching about the way she knelt beside the bed she had shared with Des Grieux only shortly beforehand so that we were aware who owned her heart if not her body.

 

Once again, there was a magical aura surrounding Dronina as she made her entrance in Act II with Reimair leading her with great pride.  Hernandez looked totally forlorn as she walked tantalisingly close to him showing with the subtlest of reaction that she knew he was there, and, as before, he never took his eyes off her as he desperately tried to get near to her.  In her beautifully seductive solo, as well as her alluring dégagés, I noticed the lovely, sensuous little ronds she made with her left lower leg and foot. In the dance with the men, the sultry way she dived, curving her back as she did so and then stretching it languorously as they lifted her up again was mesmerising.  There was a magic moment of stillness in this scene, although I cannot remember when it happened, apart from the fact there was a lot going on in the centre of the stage, when Manon and Des Grieux are on opposite sides of the stage at the front, she in front of the card table.  She turned her head to look at him and there was such longing in her eyes and in her body language that her façade of sophistication seemed to disappear just for that moment.  I had found the scene when they are alone and Des Grieux expresses his love for her intensely moving on Thursday but tonight it reached new levels of poignancy as he threw himself at her feet and they searched each other’s eyes.  When they fled back to his lodgings, the pas de deux initially had an even more carefree sense than on Thursday as Dronina playfully teased him before the moment when, as she draped herself round the bedpost, he saw the bracelet which she would not give up until he tore it from her wrist and threw her to the ground and, like McWhinney and Frola in the afternoon, they were both so shocked by his action that they clung together in mutual forgiveness.  The intrusion of GM with Lescaut as his prisoner led to a particularly violent confrontation, with Manon lashing out at the gloating GM to try to reach her brother and then her heartbreaking outpouring of grief as she resisted attempts to pull her away from his dead body.

 

The opening scene in Act III was also more heartbreaking than before with James Streeter’s Gaoler even more brutal as he manhandled Dronina’s fragile Manon who vainly tried to resist his advances and return to Hernandez who looked on helpless and horrified until Manon was dragged off and he literally flew after her.  Not only was the following sexual assault by the Gaoler particularly vicious but, when he had put the bracelet round her wrist, he started to attack her again with great brutality, ignoring the arrival of Des Grieux and then falling heavily once Des Grieux had stabbed him, almost pulling Manon down with him.  I am not sure I have ever watched this scene being played with such realism before!  The final pas de deux was one of those great moments in the theatre when the audience holds it collective breath as Hernandez and the increasingly fragile Dronina affirmed their love for each other in distorted and even more risky movements from the previous pas de deux accompanied by Massenet’s soaring and intensely moving music so ravishingly played by the orchestra under Sutherland’s passionate reading of the score.  As before, for me the tears welled up at Dronina’s final off-balance arabesque, imbued with such utter despair, and then again as her body went limp just before Hernandez lays her on the ground, and  I doubt there were any dry eyes in the house as he wept uncontrollably over her dead body.

 

It has been an absolute privilege to see so many great performances this week and during the autumn, ending with, for me, the greatest and most moving of them all from an exceptional cast led by the most exceptional of them all, the divine Jurgita Dronina.  I hope with all my heart it will not be another ten years until ENB performs this masterpiece again!

[Dawnstar]

17 hours ago, Irmgard said:

I hope with all my heart it will not be another ten years until ENB performs this masterpiece again!

 

I had no idea until I got round to reading some of the Manon programme this morning that ENB hadn't done it for 10 years. I had assumed that they revived it maybe every 2-3 years. The entire company seemed so at home in the piece - although I guess it helped that the 2 performances I saw were in the final week of the run. I am now thinking how lucky I am that they should happen to revive it just after I was deeply impressed & moved by my first Mayerling and was looking to see more MacMillan. Perfect timing for me to then be blown away by Manon too!

 

(I'm now viewing the Forum on my laptop & it seems that all the Likes I've given to posts in the last 2 pages when I was viewing them on my phone are now not showing up. I've gone through and Liked them again so apologies if people are getting notifications twice over or Likes are vanishing. Basically I have one big Like for this whole thread!)

[bridiem]

1 minute ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I had no idea until I got round to reading some of the Manon programme this morning that ENB hadn't done it for 10 years. I had assumed that they revived it maybe every 2-3 years. The entire company seemed so at home in the piece - although I guess it helped that the 2 performances I saw were in the final week of the run. I am now thinking how lucky I am that they should happen to revive it just after I was deeply impressed & moved by my first Mayerling and was looking to see more MacMillan. Perfect timing for me to then be blown away by Manon too!

 

(I'm now viewing the Forum on my laptop & it seems that all the Likes I've given to posts in the last 2 pages when I was viewing them on my phone are now not showing up. I've gone through and Liked them again so apologies if people are getting notifications twice over or Likes are vanishing. Basically I have one big Like for this whole thread!)

 

When I got my new phone last year, I eventually realised that you have to click twice for your Like to register.

[Dawnstar]

Just now, bridiem said:

 

When I got my new phone last year, I eventually realised that you have to click twice for your Like to register.

 

Thanks. I'll give that a go next time & hope they stay Liked!

[Nogoat]

 

We’ve been blessed with many of the ‘great’ narrative ballets over the last year; Giselle, Swan Lake, Mayerling, La Bayadere - and now Manon from the ENB.

 

Manon holds a special place in my heart as it reliably tugs at those heartstrings and reduces me to tears by the final curtain. Its emotional impact arises not only from the music (from the first notes of the overture, you just know it will all end in tears!) but also from the story being completely grounded in harsh, venal reality. Yes, it shares with those other great narrative ballets the universal themes of sex/love and death, but its protagonists are ordinary people (there’s not a prince, king, queen or even dowager empress in sight!) and there are no supernatural forces central to either plot development or resolution (no wizards with shape-shifting spells, nor ethereal spirits more interested in tormenting the living than enjoying the afterlife). 

 

We saw the opening and closing performances at the Coliseum (with Cojocaru and Caley in the leads, supported by Cirio as Lescaut and Streeter as GM) and while I thoroughly enjoyed both performances, in neither case was I moved to tears. I don’t think I’ve been particularly grumpy recently, so I’ve been trying to figure out why…

 

I don’t think it was the orchestra or the audience. Gavin Sutherland’s conducting was beautifully paced and nuanced, and the orchestra wove its usual magic with the music. And on both occasions the Coliseum was effectively sold-out, with the audiences noisily enthusiastic in their clapping, shouting and whistling!

 

So was it the dancing? I think this played a small part, though other than one poor throw (on Sunday in the sequence following Alina’s solo at the start of Act 2) the technical standard, by itself, was excellent. The bedroom scenes stood out in terms of their fluid, technical prowess; the sequence where Manon is turned over and over by Lescaut and GM (with one leg staying still, and the other following on behind the rest of her rotating body) was a ‘wow’ moment - a choreographic optical illusion!

Caley was solid as Des Grieux - a buttress onto which Manon threw herself over and over again in the final PDD before collapsing, as lifeless as a rag doll, in his arms.

 

As impressive as all this was, a few things felt a bit flat. Manon’s solo in Act 2, in which she revels in the intoxication of her newly-found sensuality and seductive powers, didn’t appear as potent - or as contrasting between her approach to Des Grieux and GM - as I’ve seen elsewhere. The small gestures that embellish that solo seemed less effective - was it lack of musicality in their delivery or sharpness of definition? 
It starts to overlap with the acting side of the performance, but Des Grieux’s yearning (much like that of Rudolf in Mayerling) is illustrated in his solos by stretches; Caley’s reaches seemed rather perfunctory.

 

In terms of acting, I think Caley is also at a slight disadvantage in having, like Matthew Golding, such a ‘friendly’ face; he seemed to be smiling more than I’d expect, which rather diluted the intensity of his love and concern for, and commitment to, Manon. For her part, I also felt that Cojocaru seemed a bit too happy when she disembarked the ship at the start of Act 3; was she travelling in a better ‘class’ berth to the other prostitutes? 

 

Finally, was it the staging/production? Yes. I think this was the main problem. In terms of its narrative flow, Manon’s power is the power of a morality tale; here we have the pure, innocent (yet fallible, as all humans are) Manon making the wrong choice between the spiritual purity of the love offered by des Grieux and the temptation of material luxury by GM. The environment in which this allegory plays itself out is crucial, for the society in which Manon finds herself tempted and then condemned reflects, amplifies and makes manifest what is both the best and worst about the human condition.

Yes, we have love, tenderness and concern on display (Des Grieux), but we also have greed, exploitation, inequality, violence, abuse, and suffering (just about everyone else!).

 

In the ROH production, the corruption, decadence and decay of this degenerate society is reinforced by the squalor, the grime, the rat catcher, and the overpowering, gaudy hedonism of the brothel. The staging and the action support each other to powerful effect.

The ENB production is, of course, a touring production and needs to be fairly compact and streamlined. But about the only part of the staging that conveyed this dissolute society was the ‘safety screen’ on show at the start - a white screen with a black, ornate Manon inscribed. The screen is discoloured with neglect and exposure to the elements, and the black writing is streaked and running down the screen from the effects of rain. Just about everything else about the production was too clean, too ordered, too sparse.

The rat catcher had what looked like oblong bits of material hanging off his rack, rather than dead rats.

The costumes were pastel shades, and generally spotless.

The assorted harlots and actresses looked less like ladies of ill repute/easy virtue and more like a bunch of girls off to a school prom, attired in layers of pastel-coloured chiffon/tulle.

The ship was a sleek, black silhouette - more Cutty Sark than prison ship.

The bare set for the final scene was more in keeping with the desert of the original book rather than the swamp of the ballet (where the swamp itself is an excellent metaphor for decay).

 

If this seems overly critical, it’s only because of the high esteem in which I hold Manon. And I don’t think my lack of emotional response was just me being a bit grumpy; I skimmed through the RB DVD the day after and found it more affecting.
 

[capybara]

Such an interesting review Nogoat. Back in 2008/9, I felt as you did about ENB's Manon despite some truly wonderful performances from Glurdijze, Klimentova, Cao, Oaks, Edur, Vogel, Oliviera, Gruzdyev etc.and I came to the conclusion that the staging was getting in the way of my ability to live with the characters and fully enjoy the dancing.

 

This season, being already accustomed to the set and costumes, I had no such problems - although I did have some issues with the phrasing and balance in the Des Grieux solos (all casts).

[Richard LH]

15 hours ago, Nogoat said:

while I thoroughly enjoyed both performances, in neither case was I moved to tears. I don’t think I’ve been particularly grumpy recently, so I’ve been trying to figure out why…

 

Nogoat was the Coliseum itself part of the issue?

 

I don't think it has anything like the sort of almost magical  atmosphere that  somehow is instilled within the  ROH auditorium. 

 

Things at the Coli seem more perfunctory for some reason... as with the dearth of  curtain calls or flowers at the end, which I have mentioned before - you leave feeling a bit flatter than you should (or that the dancers deserve). 

 

Would where you were sitting  also have something to do with it?

[Dawnstar]

Frim some of the comments here I'm thinking that it may be a good thing that I haven't seen the RB's production, so I didn't have anything to compare ENB's to, as some people seem to have found the latter lacking in comparison with the former. Though even without anything to compare them with I still thought the Act 2 courtesans' costume were rather ghastly!

[RuthE]

17 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

Though even without anything to compare them with I still thought the Act 2 courtesans' costume were rather ghastly!

 

The boiled-sweet colours don't evoke the period (while the men's costumes do) and the fascinators make the ladies look as though they are going to a wedding.

[Dawnstar]

I disliked both the lurid shades of net and the shape of those that had puffball skirts. The ones with the full below-knee skirts looked much better. I couldn't see any particular reason for having two different shapes of skirt either.

[capybara]

14 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

I disliked both the lurid shades of net and the shape of those that had puffball skirts. The ones with the full below-knee skirts looked much better. I couldn't see any particular reason for having two different shapes of skirt either.

 

The 'puff balls' were the Harlots; the 'longer skirts' were the Courtesans.

There is a similar costume distinction in the RB's version.

[Richard LH]

19 minutes ago, capybara said:

The 'puff balls' were the Harlots; the 'longer skirts' were the Courtesans.

 

Yes, the two shouldn't be confused !

[Saodan]

I just want to, once again, register my thanks to ENB for six wonderful performances in four days at Southampton and one at the Coliseum. It has been a pleasure to get to know the company better over the past few months. 

 

It seems churlish to pick favourites, but McWhinney and Frola rose above the rest for me. I caught two of their shows, and both were brilliantly passionate and nuanced performances. I am particularly delighted that McWhinney has received such praise for a role she has coveted. I hope to see her and Frola dancing together again in the future as this is a partnership that deserves to be nurtured. Romeo and Juliet, perhaps. 

 

Other stands out were Cirio as Lescaut (his Des Grieux was good too), Hawes as Mistress, and Velicu and Belini as Trouser Girls. That said, this is a ballet that requires a company performance and everyone rose to the occasion. I really hope that everyone gets an opportunity to revisit their roles in due course. 

 

A quick note on some of the points being raised here:

 

On the sets: I want to echo others who have said that this production looks better on a smaller stage. At the Mayflower the sets looked minimal, but evocative, whilst at the Coliseum the stage appeared almost barren at times with a lot more space between stage furniture. This did provide more space for the dancing, but I felt was less impactful overall. 

 

On the background activity: I feel that ENB’s approach is perhaps more broad than the RB. For instance, the lead courtesans seemed much more physical, more concerned with fighting each other than dancing, although all did dance wonderfully. I also haven’t seen any RB Lescauts do the slit neck gesture, but all have with ENB. One of the clients out right collapses, rather than just being helped to a chair. This isn’t intended as a criticism, just an observation. Perhaps subtlety comes with greater exposure as in the case of the RB, maybe it was an artistic choice. Either way, it in no way affected my enjoyment. The courtesans were particularly funny in fact (Velicu and Costa come to mind). 

 

On ticket sales: During my trip to the Coliseum (18th matinee), it looked like the balcony had been closed. This, on top of the price reductions in Manchester and London, and the closing of the balcony for all performances in Southampton. It looks like ENB’s marketing department is as useless as the RB’s. It seems a travesty that performances of this quality have played to empty seats. This company, and these dancers, deserve better. 

Edited January 22, 2019 by Saodan