Birmingham Royal Ballet Nutcrackers, November-December 2018

[Anna C]

For those of you going to the Royal Albert Hall to see BRB’s Nutcracker, don’t expect to see the same production as you will see in Birmingham.  It’s a “special” version designed for the RAH.  Still very lovely but quite different - just as the ENB “In the round” Swan Lake is different from the Coliseum production.  

[Rob S]

16 minutes ago, Anna C said:

For those of you going to the Royal Albert Hall to see BRB’s Nutcracker, don’t expect to see the same production as you will see in Birmingham.  It’s a “special” version designed for the RAH.  Still very lovely but quite different - just as the ENB “In the round” Swan Lake is different from the Coliseum production.  

 

I presume some differences include the tree and the use of Simon Callow

[Sim]

29 minutes ago, Anna C said:

For those of you going to the Royal Albert Hall to see BRB’s Nutcracker, don’t expect to see the same production as you will see in Birmingham.  It’s a “special” version designed for the RAH.  Still very lovely but quite different - just as the ENB “In the round” Swan Lake is different from the Coliseum production.  

I really didn't enjoy this production at the RAH.  Nothing to do with the dancing, which was excellent, but I just found it too impersonal.  There were some nice touches, but I don't think I would go again.

[alison]

I might if there were some cheap tickets on offer, and if it was a cast I wanted to see.  As it is, I can just about (i.e. back row) manage a trip to the Birmingham one for what I would have to pay for the RAH.

[Anna C]

43 minutes ago, Rob S said:

 

I presume some differences include the tree and the use of Simon Callow

 

Yep. Also the lack of sets and backdrops.  Even with the use of mirrors and doors the stage does look bare.

 

 

[Anna C]

32 minutes ago, Sim said:

I really didn't enjoy this production at the RAH.  Nothing to do with the dancing, which was excellent, but I just found it too impersonal.  There were some nice touches, but I don't think I would go again.

 

Same here, Sim. Shame because the dancing was beautiful and I liked the use of projection, the huge baubles and so on. Lovely to see it once but not something I’d see year on year.

[LinMM]

Well I've been hmming and aahing about whether to go to RAH or not .....can't have a minimum stage with Nutcracker!! So probably give it a miss .....though may just look and see if can get to Birmingham for a matinee can do a day return to London ....never had that in mind but it is the production have never seen and never been to the Hippodrome!! 

[Sim]

2 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Well I've been hmming and aahing about whether to go to RAH or not .....can't have a minimum stage with Nutcracker!! So probably give it a miss .....though may just look and see if can get to Birmingham for a matinee can do a day return to London ....never had that in mind but it is the production have never seen and never been to the Hippodrome!! 

It's well worth the trip, Lin.  In the Hippodrome it feels much more intimate, and it's the full-on SPW production which is just lovely.  I did a matinee there a couple of winters ago and it was very easy from London to do as a day trip.  I am so pleased I did. 

[alison]

The problem for Lin may of course be getting to London in the first place!  There are trains to Birmingham from the South coast, but I'm not sure whether there's anything direct from where she is.

 

EDIT: Just checked, and it doesn't look like it, even allowing for current train disruption.  Plus the prices are horrendous.  (But bargain fares can be had from London, particularly on the Chiltern Line out of Marylebone.)

[LinMM]

Well I've just gone and done it!!

The only possible day I could have gone....next Thursday matinee still had some seats so am all booked in!

I will be in London from next Tuesday and was going to stay till Thursday next week anyway so can do this extra ballet class in the morning early which Ive been doing just once a month ...really lovely class at Elephant and Castle ....will be sorry to miss this but thought I can dash up to Birmingham on a day return from London  just for the day and then go back to Brighton in the usually way .....can still be back home by 9-10 pm!!

Really excited now as never been to Hippodrome so never seen BRB at their home theatre.

This can be my Birthday and Christmas treat all in one! 

A bit of a mad decision I know  but think it will be a lot easier to travel then than between Christmas and New Year anyway....and my last experience of the RAH was not that good ( vertigo and all that) 

[LinMM]

I think the fact that Brandon Lawrence was dancing swayed it for me!!

Edited December 7, 2018 by LinMM

[Odyssey]

I am pretty sure it will be a worthwhile effort for you. Look forward to hearing what you think.

[Jane S]

Does anyone remember what year it was that BRB brought their Nutcracker to the Lyceum in London?

Edited December 7, 2018 by Jane S

[alison]

Hmm, we've got very much off the *RB* Nutcracker, haven't we?!  I may do some moving later.

 

Jane, I can't remember - must have been when the Hippodrome was being done up, I presume, but after ENB had moved into the Coliseum.  My brain's saying late 90s, but I suspect it must have been after the RB were homeless - didn't they look at the Lyceum as a base but it wasn't available?

[alison]

Have we seriously not got a BRB Nutcracker thread this year yet?

[capybara]

39 minutes ago, alison said:

Have we seriously not got a BRB Nutcracker thread this year yet?

 

Hahaha! It’s clearly this one.

[alison]

It is now  

[alison]

I guess it was because Janet hadn't been yet - but I thought some others might have.

[Jane S]

1 hour ago, Jane S said:

Does anyone remember what year it was that BRB brought their Nutcracker to the Lyceum in London?

 

Found it - 1998. 20 years ago. Crikey.

[alison]

So I was right - must listen to my brain more when it tries to tell me things!  Crikey, indeed, that makes me feel old.

[Jan McNulty]

I'm looking forward to both performances on 11th!  

 

Gosh ...  1998 ... I went specially to see a matinee with Nao Sakuma and Chi Cao!

[Lizbie1]

Going to tomorrow's matinee - my first BRB Nutcracker. Can't wait!

[Tony Newcombe]

1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said:

I'm looking forward to both performances on 11th!  

 

Gosh ...  1998 ... I went specially to see a matinee with Nao Sakuma and Chi Cao!

Matinee should be good. Koen Kessels is listed as The Rose Fairy!!!

[Sim]

43 minutes ago, Tony Newcombe said:

Matinee should be good. Koen Kessels is listed as The Rose Fairy!!!

Now, I know the guy is good....but who knew??!!

[George C]

I had also been wondering about the lack of feedback on BRB’s Nutcracker but assumed that everything that could be said about has been said many times in the past.I attended yesterday’s matinee for what I THINK was my 30th BRB Nutcracker. Still love it as much as ever and still have a lump in my throat when the tree and the fireplace transform into the winter wonderland. How can that still be so magical, but it is. Strangely for BRB there were one or two technical issues - hence my contribution to the thread - it makes a change from comments about the dancing ! The cannon remained weirdly silent when it fired. The fully grown tree swayed in the wind which was realistic but unusul and a little unnerving. Finally, the gauze that is in place at the start of Act Two suddenly descended just as Clara was about to be carried home at the end of the ballet. Then it suddenly collapsed to the floor as it does to reveal Clara at the beginning of the Act. Also unnerving as the performers were very near the gauze when is swished down. I guess a few knuckles were rapped later.

Otherwise it was the usual flawlessly danced performance by Beatrice Parma as Ckara and Arsncha and Max in the pas de deux. Max is confirming his growing reputation with every performance.

To those contemplating matinee performances most of them now have only limited availability so get in quick.

[Lizbie1]

I must be getting old: that's my second Nutcracker this year, after NB's at Woking, and the second time I've welled up at the pdd in Act I - today I was a bit of a shambles by the end of the Snowflakes Waltz and the SPF pdd as well. I never used to be a blubber, but the happy stuff is doing it consistently of late - Two Pigeons is going to be a trial!

 

Just a few things to add to what's already been said by others: Max Maslen was very dashing as Clara's dancing partner; Yasuo Atsuji gives terrific Prince; thanks to Koen Kessels for some gorgeous syrupy portamenti in Clara and the Nutcracker Prince's Act I pdd (some might call it cheesy, but those people are wrong); and how wonderful to see dancers of the stature of Delia Mathews and Celine Gittens as Clara's mother and the Arabian dancer respectively - not only for the quality they bring, but because it gives a feeling of specialness to what could have been treated as a run-of-the-mill Sat Mat. As for the leading ladies: Laura Purkiss was radiant as Clara and Samara Downs an excellent SPF.

 

Loved this afternoon's performance - I'll be back next year for certain.

[LinMM]

Getting more excited for Thursday now!! Just off to sort out the train fare might have to grit my teeth a bit at this cost as I know often just a week before you can't get the cheaper prices and I do like the hour and a half time train journeys as well!!

[LinMM]

By the way that pas de deux at the end of Act one is one of my faves as the music is so glorious .....one of the " in my dreams" ones would love to have performed!! And then it's the snowflakes and choir ....do they have a live choir in Birmingham? Very easy to well up especially if sitting next to a child in party frock going " mum it's snowing" ( last year!) 

[Jan McNulty]

Yes BRB usually does have a live choir in Birmingham.

[alison]

16 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Getting more excited for Thursday now!! Just off to sort out the train fare might have to grit my teeth a bit at this cost as I know often just a week before you can't get the cheaper prices and I do like the hour and a half time train journeys as well!!

 

You'll probably get a better deal via Chiltern at this late stage, I should think.  Worst case scenario, I think they still do a day return for under £30.

[Odyssey]

6 hours ago, LinMM said:

Getting more excited for Thursday now!! Just off to sort out the train fare might have to grit my teeth a bit at this cost as I know often just a week before you can't get the cheaper prices and I do like the hour and a half time train journeys as well!!

Not sure where you are travelling from but Euston to Birmingham on  West Midlands Railways  also has reasonable prices.

 

[alison]

Yes, but don't they take forever?  Wasn't that the journey from hell I took last time I went to their Nutcracker?

[Odyssey]

Yes, there are quite a few stops in comparison with Virgin., but I think it is on a par with the number of stops on the Chiltern line. One option is to take the slow train there and have your picnic on the train and take the quick Virgin train home.