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The Royal Ballet: Romeo and Juliet, Spring 2019


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18 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I keep on meaning to ask this & forgetting. Does anyone know who the male dancer who is in the second row of the Capulets' dance on the far stage right, behind Paris? Tall, striking bone structure, & dressed at the greener end of the costume spectrum. He's caught my eye each time. I did go through headshots & thought possibly Dubreuil but I'm not sure.

 

That’s Lukas Bjørneboe Brændsrød http://www.roh.org.uk/people/lukas-bjrneboe-brndsrd

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7 hours ago, Rob S said:

 

That's the second time I've sat in that seat and unknowingly been close to someone I know of!!🤣

 

Did you try using the spot metering? Did you crop them? I presume twitter resized them. 

 

 

 

It seems that at every RB performance someone from here is present & often many someones - I imagine loads will be at the first night of the next triple bill - but it's impossible to identify people. I guess if someone had the nerve they could walk up to the stalls circle area & call out "Anyone from the Ballet Forum here?" & there'd probably be some responses!

 

I don't feel I've got to grips enough with spot metering to try it in such a time-pressured situation as curtain calls - by the time I'd fiddled around with it the calls would probably be over - so I'm still doing the point, zoom & pray method! They're not cropped. I uploaded the full-sized versions to Twitter but I guess Twitter probably automatically re-sized them.

 

3 hours ago, MrsBBB said:

 

That’s Lukas Bjørneboe Brændsrød http://www.roh.org.uk/people/lukas-bjrneboe-brndsrd

 

Thank you for the identification. I should have recognised him as I saw him replace Zuchetti as the male half of the gypsy couple in Don Q but he looked very different in that wig.

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5 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

It seems that at every RB performance someone from here is present & often many someones - I imagine loads will be at the first night of the next triple bill - but it's impossible to identify people. I guess if someone had the nerve they could walk up to the stalls circle area & call out "Anyone from the Ballet Forum here?" & there'd probably be some responses!

 

A while ago there was some discussion on here about this very thing, and it was decided that we would wear a blue button badge to identify us. I wore mine a couple of times but never saw anyone else wearing one. I gave up after I almost accosted a woman I thought was wearing a blue badge, but realised in the nick of time that she just happened to have blue buttons on her top...!

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14 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

It seems that at every RB performance someone from here is present & often many someones - I imagine loads will be at the first night of the next triple bill - but it's impossible to identify people. I guess if someone had the nerve they could walk up to the stalls circle area & call out "Anyone from the Ballet Forum here?" & there'd probably be some responses!

 

 

probably about half the places!! 🙂

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Well, if anyone ever spots a female wearing gloves inside even though it's summer then that'll almost certainly be me. OCD. Although whether anyone would then want to speak to someone displaying an obvious peculiarity is another matter...

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Ha ha now I"ll be looking out for someone wearing gloves! 

I met another Balletco member recently at Sadlers Wells and the most striking thing she said she would be wearing was shiny blue shoes so I spent a good half hour staring at people's feet! 

 

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I'm sure Ballet forum contributors always met by the grand piano at the foot of the escalator to the amphi but that was way back, 15 or more years ago.  Nowadays I sometimes see the regulars at a table on the amphi terrace but with so many people using the ROH just like any other bar in Covent Garden, there aren't that many spaces left for ticket holders.

 

Alas eheu fugaces etc................

 

Linda

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31 minutes ago, loveclassics said:

I'm sure Ballet forum contributors always met by the grand piano at the foot of the escalator to the amphi but that was way back, 15 or more years ago.  Nowadays I sometimes see the regulars at a table on the amphi terrace but with so many people using the ROH just like any other bar in Covent Garden, there aren't that many spaces left for ticket holders.

 

Alas eheu fugaces etc................

 

Linda

 

I did try going up to the amohi terrace a few weeks ago after seeing it mentioned but I had no idea which of the many groups of people could be the right one.

 

34 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Ha ha now I"ll be looking out for someone wearing gloves! 

I met another Balletco member recently at Sadlers Wells and the most striking thing she said she would be wearing was shiny blue shoes so I spent a good half hour staring at people's feet! 

 

 

White cotton at this time of year & I suppose staring at hands might be marginally easier than staring at feet!

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10 hours ago, Balletfanp said:

 

A while ago there was some discussion on here about this very thing, and it was decided that we would wear a blue button badge to identify us. I wore mine a couple of times but never saw anyone else wearing one. I gave up after I almost accosted a woman I thought was wearing a blue badge, but realised in the nick of time that she just happened to have blue buttons on her top...!

 

I bumped into @trog in Shrewsbury watching BRB's "Seasons in our World" programme and he was wearing his blue badge (I wasn't wearing mine)!

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45 minutes ago, J_New said:

Maybe this is in the wrong thread, but thinking about Stix-Brunel's nuanced and thoughtful Juliet,  I'd love to see her as Tatiana!

 

And - after her wonderful Young Girl in Two Pigeons - Lise, whenever Fille shows up again.

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I was extremely pleased to have the chance to attend Saturday evening’s performance (25 May).  With two artists as intelligent and intuitive as Corrales and Hayward, it was a given that they would bring even greater depth to this, their third performance together.  As on 11 May, there were still disappointments for me in other areas.  Under the baton of Pavel Sorkin, the music had more passion to it, in particular the gorgeous rising and falling phrases as Juliet sits absolutely still on the bed, but the overture still sounded pedantic and there were several moments of rather suspect intonation throughout the evening so that the music still did not give me any spine-tingling moments.  I found the crowd scenes even more tedious on second viewing, particularly those in Act II which seem to be townswomen against the three harlots instead of Capulets against Montagues, so masterfully delineated by Nureyev in his production.  On further reflection, it seems to me that the current staging is too democratic:  apart from a few noblewomen trying to be human parentheses, there is no distinction in carriage of the body between the townsfolk and nobility, making the Dance of the Knights rather dull, without the sense of weightiness and power inherent in the music.  For me, this was again the case with all the noble character roles.   My feeling about character roles in which there is little or no dancing is that, as well as the face, the body language must always clearly convey emotions and thoughts, particularly in the way they walk or stand, without the use of meaningless gestures (my pet hate), and, as on 11 May, I felt it was all too casual.  However, I did think the Paris of Tomas Mock was more expressive than previously in the scene where Juliet refused to marry him.  After he manhandled her, his sense of shame at having taken out his frustration on her was palpable, as was the joy when she finally acquiesced and he knelt to kiss the hem of her dress, only to be replaced by bewilderment when she bourréed (exquisitely) away from him. 

 

I was delighted to see the same dream team of Marcelino Sambé (Mercutio) and James Hay (Benvolio) joining Corrales again and bringing the performance to life with their wonderful, totally natural antics in Act I and the beginning of Act II, as well as their exuberant but polished dancing, perfectly in tune with each other both technically and emotionally, particularly in the pas de trois.  This highlighted for me the beautiful arch and stretch of Corrales’s feet, something I have admired since I first saw him with ENB in 2014. 

 

There were so many wonderful details in the electrifying performance of Corrales and Hayward but I shall just highlight a few here.  I loved the way Corrales managed to find humour in the interlude in the ballroom scene when Romeo and Juliet are trying to be alone together.  When Juliet sends him to hide for the second time before her family enters, as he ran offstage, he made a wonderful gesture with his body and face as if to say “not again!” In the following Gavotte, where they are placed on opposite sides of the stage while dancing, they both tried to look across at each other as often as possible.  When this evolved into the two circles moving in opposite directions, the moment they found themselves dancing together was sheer delight with both of them overjoyed at their luck.  Watching “West Side Story” (for the umpteenth time) yesterday afternoon, I wondered if the two circles were a little homage from MacMillan to Jerome Robbins as it was very evocative of the ‘getting to know you’ dance at the gym, as is the moment when Juliet finds herself face to face with Romeo for the first time and they stare into each other’s eyes so that it seems they are the only two people in the world, much as it happens as Tony and Maria see each other and the action behind them becomes a complete blur.  Their balcony pas de deux was even more breath-taking than on 11 May, with Hayward now allowing her body the freedom to show complete ecstasy in all the lifts, safe in Corrales’s passionate yet absolutely secure partnering.  The standout moment for me was when she draped herself over the back of his neck and her whole body expressed her rapture. And they both made each entwining of arms a reflection of their deepening passion.  After Juliet has run up the stairs, I loved the way Hayward abruptly sank to her knees, almost as if she had suddenly gone weak at the knees through this awakening of her passion.  It was so natural, and Corrales responded with ardour as their outstretched hands touched.  Once again, I was enchanted by how much they made of the brief wedding scene, even sneaking looks at each other when they were meant to be praying, again emphasising their extreme youth.  Corrales was truly exceptional in the next scene, as he looked on helplessly as Tybalt and Mercutio fought .  The change of his grief into hatred as he realised Mercutio was dead was like a bomb exploding and the rage throughout his body as he fought Tybalt was amazing as he let his movements become almost clumsy at times to reflect this.  The ensuing bedroom pas de deux for Romeo and Juliet was full of such despair that this almost became the most heart-rending moment of the ballet for me.  However, it was the final moments in the crypt which did it for me, as the distraught Corrales tried to bring the ‘dead’ Hayward back to life.  I thought Hayward was simply breath-taking here in the way she let her body go completely limp and respond to every manipulation by the increasingly heartbroken Corrales. (I hope she had a good massage booked for after the performance!) Then there were the wonderfully understated deaths of both of them, leaving the audience in stunned silence as the curtain fell.

 

Unlike some other contributors to this forum, I have no problem with dancers of a certain age performing roles of extreme youth, providing they completely inhabit the role with no noticeable ‘acting’ (I am thinking of the eternally youthful Daria Klimentova’s final performance with ENB as an utterly believable Juliet just entering her teens, and I would not want to be without my DVD of Fonteyn).  I therefore hope that Corrales and Hayward will still be taking my breath away and breaking my heart in twenty years’ time!

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Irmgard Thankyou for that wonderful and moving review ...just lived it all over again!

 

In regards to twenty years from now I really hope that Caesar Corrales will stay at the Royal for at least a few years yet anyway .......until I've at least seen him and Hayward cast together in Fille!!....and he doesn't  get impatient for promotion back to Principal ( because of his injury this year) and join another Company!! 

He fits in so well with Sambe Hay Ball et al .....all offering something a little different ....could be exciting times ahead.

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This is where I first knew about a young dancer called Caesar Corrales! You don't seem to get these blogs anymore now there is the livestreaming but I used to enjoy them and particularly his ones!! 

Sorry a bit off topic but as its a holiday just thought some might enjoy a bit more of the Corrales charm and passion. He is a bit of a cutey in this though too!!

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1 hour ago, LinMM said:

Irmgard Thankyou for that wonderful and moving review ...just lived it all over again!

 

In regards to twenty years from now I really hope that Caesar Corrales will stay at the Royal for at least a few years yet anyway .......until I've at least seen him and Hayward cast together in Fille!!....and he doesn't  get impatient for promotion back to Principal ( because of his injury this year) and join another Company!! 

He fits in so well with Sambe Hay Ball et al .....all offering something a little different ....could be exciting times ahead.

Thank you for your very kind words.  And I totally agree about 'Fille'!!  Thanks for sharing the video blog - those beautiful feet!!!

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It was the same year as Leticia Domingues and I followed her blog as well that year who is also now with the Royal of course. Miko Fogerty was also in the 2013 year. 

They all look so young back then! and I was surprised YouTube still have these stored in my favourites as sometimes videos you've saved get deleted. I might be going down memory lane a bit more this afternoon after seeing what I've got there still!! 

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Well this is more relevant but here is Corrales talking about the role of Mercutio!

Does he get cast in this in the current RB run? There has been a lot of switching of roles this time around!

Would love to see him as Mercutio as well ...he looks great!!

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I am not sure if anyone else has mentioned so apologies if so, but there is a delightful backstage photograph of some of Saturday evening's wonderful cast on Francesca Hayward's Instagram account. I do not post reviews, or post much at all really. I don't have the skill or technical knowledge and just greatly enjoy reading other people's comments. I can only say that Saturday's performance touched my heart and soul in a way I cannot explain. What a wonderful privilege to see such talented, dedicated young dancers giving their absolute all. I was blown away.

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17 minutes ago, Patricia said:

 I can only say that Saturday's performance touched my heart and soul in a way I cannot explain. 

 

I know what you mean, it did that to me too. It's so rare but when it happens it stays with me for days afterwards, then I spend years going to performances, hoping for the feeling again. 

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2 hours ago, LinMM said:

It was the same year as Leticia Domingues and I followed her blog as well that year who is also now with the Royal of course.

 

Now known as Leticia Dias and gaining prominence.

 

In case others don't know, Cesar Corrales played Mercutio in the Nureyev version of R&J with ENB. He was beyond stunning in the role - almost to the point of turning the ballet into the Mercutio show!!!!

 

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I think the clip above does make it clear that it's an ENB clip!

But I did miss him in this role with them ...very very very regretfully!!

I reckon he'd also make a pretty interesting interpretation of Tybalt  if given the chance perhaps he and Ball could just swap roles on the 11th!!

But .....being more realistic does anyone happen to know the full cast yet for the June 11th R and J?

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I too really enjoyed the Hayward/Corrales performance last Saturday evening. I thought they were a great match and would like to see more of them. I knew Francesca would be fabulous and heartbreaking as the role seemed to be designed for her. Corrales I wasn't so sure about at the start (I haven't seen him before) but warmed to him a lot more as the evening wore on.

I thought they formed a terrific partnership; he very young and hot-headed, she more mature (once in love) but very passionate. The moment when they first set eyes on each other in the ballroom was truly electric and then afterwards they just couldn't keep their eyes off each other even when dancing with other people. She got a good laugh when she did a beautiful 'I've got a headache gesture' when Paris asked her to go with him and then it was all systems blazing when Romeo reappeared. Sambe was an incredible Mercutio; possibly the best I've ever seen and with James Hay's Benvolio they made a very 'laddish' trio. it was good to see James in something different; he doesn't seem to have had many chances since being promoted to first soloist whereas Reece Clark who wasn't promoted, has had several major 3 act roles. However, I think my favourite Benvolio is Teo Dubreuil . I think he is a terrific and very personable young dancer and I hope he is promoted. To return to Saturday night, Coralles really let rip in the swordfight against Tybalt. I've never seen such fury and passion unleashed.I'm not surprised that on the first night he knocked the sword out of Matthew's hand! I don't know how Matthew managed to hold onto it on Saturday without damaging his wrist. Matthew was an absolutely incredible Tybalt; definately the best I've ever seen. his acting has come on so much. he played Tybalt not so much as an angry young man as a very entitled, arrogant 'public school' young man used to being obeyed and getting his own way. I thought a lot about the Bullingdon Club that David Cameron and Boris Johnson were members of at Oxford and thought that would have been just up this particular Tybalt's street. I hope he will be filmed in the role sometime in the future as to me his is the definitive performance. Someone described the entire performance as the Agony and the Ecstasy' and that's what it was. there were no half measures. At the wedding scene it was so emotional as neither could keep their eyes off the other and the moment of parting was heartbeaking with Coralles physically pulling and then snatching Francesca back to him for just one more kiss. The last act scene with Paris was heartbreaking too with Gary Avis (who's also obviously not used to being defied and by a slip of a girl at that) thinking he could get his own way by 'shouting' and getting angry (in fairness it's probably worked in the past!)  Francesca was brilliant; totally distraught yet determined not to yield. When she does finally go to Paris she is so obviously hating it and Paris you wonder how anyone could be fooled by her 'agreement'. I was in tears by the time it got to her decision to take the poison though I always wonder why she took it so far from the bed and then had to practically to crawl there. The final scene was as heartrending as it usually is so all in all a very emotional night!

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