Bolshoi Ballet: The Bright Stream, 2019

[alison]

So, a brief run of Ratmansky's The Bright Stream starts tonight.  If you're lucky enough to have a ticket, do let us know how it goes!

[DanJL]

Looking forward to seeing this tomorrow!

 

Still plenty of tickets available for both performances if anyone is tempted.

[jm365]

In fact as I am on the Hochhauser mailing list I have received two e-mails offering 50% off seats for Bright Stream - maddeningly I already had mine at full price!  But it does suggest that sales have not been brilliant.

[ChrisG]

I'm looking forward to this too.  As a taster for tonight's performance, here's an interview on the Today programme with Daria Khokhlova

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07jsmrp

[HelenLoveAppleJuice]

Just got home. What a lovely night!

Love it very much! 5 star! 

[ChrisG]

10 minutes ago, HelenLoveAppleJuice said:

Just got home. What a lovely night!

Love it very much! 5 star! 

Absolutely agree -  I had a smile on my face from beginning to end.  Each to his or her own, but I couldn't understand the people behind me in the amphitheatre loudly dissing it at the interval.  Well yes, it's not Swan Lake, but it's fun!!!

[fillebiengardee]

After grumbling about Swan Lake, I want to endorse Bright Stream which I saw tonight (Wednesday) and encourage anyone who can to see it tomorrow.  There's a lot of pantomime, but I smiled all the way through and found it quite charming.  It's a bit like a Shakespeare comedy - but with great music, dancing and nicer costumes.  The 'jokes' are just as cheesy: a man pretending to be a woman never gets old. The company seemed to be very happy too and it was quite snappy.  Always leave them wanting more!

 

It was such a relief!  I have seen it in the cinema but it didn't make such an impression on me as this.  The set was beautiful and well-lit and the costumes for the corps were distinctive and charming - lots of differentiation which would mean more to a soviet/Russian audience but was generally very pretty.  

 

The dancing was outstanding.  I love E Krysanova - to me, she's the Marianela Nunes of the Bolshoi - technically perfect and effortless but also incredibly versatile and I would say a bit more dramatically sophisticated.  I would see her in anything and she looked gorgeous on stage with her long limbs and virtuosity in the 'boy' scenes.  I was really pleased, too, to see Denis Savin who I think is the best male dancer at the Bolshoi, also an elegant and easy dancer who plays character roles with a huge range, here a lecherous accordion player.  I don't know if he ever wanted to be a prince, but ballet dancers don't get to pick and choose very much and he is always brilliant whenever I've seen him.

 

Thanks to Chris G who posted the interview with Daria Khoklova in which she explained the feeling of the Russian audience to this rose-coloured view of the collective farm.  She was perfect and played beautifully off Ekaterina K.  

 

Lastly, Ruslan Svortsov kept a tight grip on the audience in his scenes - you can look on Youtube if you can't see the show in London.

 

 

[Scheherezade]

I endorse everything that has been said about this performance of The Bright Stream, and what an enjoyable way to pass an evening! I loved it, my friends loved it, my daughter and her boyfriend thought that it was utterly delightful ...

We loved the dancing, the music, the costumes, the sets - and who knew that the Russians had such a keenly developed sense of humour?

Krysanova and Skvortsov made a great double act, dancing up a storm and milking the comedy for all it was worth, Khokhlova was winsome, Tsvirko engaging, Savin made it all look so easy whilst Skvortsova (any relation?) caught the eye whenever she was on stage.

An all round feast for the eyes and ears, this rollicking romp was exactly what the doctor ordered and sent everyone home with a smile on their face and a spring in their step (apart, it would seem, from Chris G’s disgruntled amphitheatre neighbours who were clearly watching a different performance altogether).

[Ian Macmillan]

Most unusually, there's an overnight review in today's Daily Express.  The reviewer loved it - see today's Links.

[Lizbie1]

So glad people enjoyed this - I think of it as the Bolshoi’s answer to Ashton’s Fille mal gardée (though I think the latter is better, partly because the pdd between Lise and Colas allow the connection between them to be shared with the audience, as it isn’t really with Zina and Pyotr in the Bright Stream).

[Jamesrhblack]

An absolute delight. I had an anxious moment when presenting my ticket (I had treated myself to Grand Tier) to find I had somehow booked a ticket for Thursday (when I will be en route to Vienna) but even with only ten minutes to go the Box Office staff sorted me out with a ticket even better than the one I had booked. That was at the end of the front row. This was dead centre: I’m guessing an unallocated house seat.

 

So, perhaps I was in the right mood to enjoy anyway, but I don’t think there was anything that didn’t please apart from possibly a rather rushed setting up of the disguise plan at the end of Act One and a similarly rushed finale. It’s a very compact piece, Act One around 40 minutes and Act Two barely fifty.

 

As others have commented, the design is terrific and the score scintillatingly  good. It was good to see the dancers earring their human face and evidently having a ball. 

[Sim]

I had never seen this before, nor did I have time to read or find a synopsis (there isn't one on the cast list), so I had no idea what was going on most of the time.  However, it mattered not because I loved the music, the sets, the fun, the joy and most of all the gorgeous dancing.  This is the only Bolshoi performance I am seeing during the run, and I am very pleased it was this one. 

[zxDaveM]

11 minutes ago, Sim said:

 This is the only Bolshoi performance I am seeing during the run, and I am very pleased it was this one. 

 

Same here.

Enjoyed the jokes and gender switching deceptions, and the dancing, colourful costumes and sets were a joy. Even the Soviet era propaganda of the idyllic communal farm with tractors, trains(?) and aeroplanes(???) brought a wry smile. The two lead female dancers - the KKs (Khokhlova and Krysanova) - were dazzling, as of course was the ‘Sylph’ of Russian  Skvortsov playing a completely dead straight bat in a frock 🙂

As there were only two performances, completely puzzled why this wasn’t the first sold out. I guess most folk prefer the old war horses. Hey-ho.

[Mary]

I couldn't go, alas, but remember enjoying the live screening greatly, and particularly the corps prancing on in a parade of giant vegetables that had me in stitches- or did I imagine that?

 

[zxDaveM]

2 minutes ago, Mary said:

I couldn't go, alas, but remember enjoying the live screening greatly, and particularly the corps prancing on in a parade of giant vegetables that had me in stitches- or did I imagine that?

 

 

No you didn’t imagine it!! 🙂

[capybara]

I wasn't going to comment on The Bright Stream for fear of coming across like the Amphitheatre scrooges mentioned above! However, now that the piece's qualities have been extolled by various posters, I feel that I can risk offering a more 'mixed bag'.

 

Of course, the brightness of the set, the moving train ☺️, the giant vegetables (haha!) and the fabulously joyful Shostakovich score create a great, uplifting atmosphere. And the individual performances from Ekaterina Krysanova (WOW!), Daria Khokhlova and Yulia Skvortsova were terrific. However, a lot of the corps work felt repetitive and long drawn out to me, especially as it involved so much skipping around.  Likewise the 'comic' episode where the man imitates Giselle or La Sylphide, Trocks-style. I recall seeing this production in the mid noughties, when it was newly minted and, then, in the role of The Classical Dancer, Sergei Filin (in the 1st cast) gave a performance which had a light and truly amusing touch which carried the show. This eluded Ruslan Skvortsov then, as it still does now, and, in my eyes,  Act 2 dragged in consequence. As the other main man (Pyotr), Igor Tsvirko was as good in the air as he had been as Spartacus last week but had surprisingly little to do. Denis Savin (almost unrecognisable as The Accordion Player) had more stage time and good comic timing.

 

I'm glad that the Bolshoi brought this ballet to London once more but it's not something I feel the need to see again and again.

 

[HelenLoveAppleJuice]

2 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

So glad people enjoyed this - I think of it as the Bolshoi’s answer to Ashton’s Fille mal gardée (though I think the latter is better, partly because the pdd between Lise and Colas allow the connection between them to be shared with the audience, as it isn’t really with Zina and Pyotr in the Bright Stream).

Have to point out that Ashton's La fille mal gardée was staged in 1960.  (Originally staged for the Bolshoi in 1903).

 

The Bright Stream was premiered in 1935. The current version is in 2003 with same story line but different choreography. Talking about choreography I cannot find anything similar in this and  La Fille mal gardée. 

 

For the story line, I think that The Bright Stream is very typical USSR style story telling. The romantic relationship is somehow important but not weighted that much. The society is what they really focus on. It reflects even more in their movies if comparing to the western style.

Edited August 8, 2019 by HelenLoveAppleJuice

[Lizbie1]

1 minute ago, HelenLoveAppleJuice said:

Have to point out that Ashton's La fille mal gardée was staged in 1960.  (Originally staged for the Bolshoi in 1903).

 

The Bright Stream was premiered in 1935. The current version is in 2003 with same story line but different choreography. Talking about choreography I cannot find anything similar in this and  La Fille mal gardée. 

 

I don’t mean to make a comparison between the choreography - which I agree is very different - but between the niche they occupy in the Bolshoi and RB’s repertoires.

 

Nor did I mean that the Bright Stream is derivative of Fille, though if memory serves, this 2003 version (as I understand it almost nothing survived of the 1935 version) was staged soon after the Bolshoi took the Ashton Fille into its repertoire.

[Beryl H]

Loved it, I saw it in 2006 but had forgotten just how funny it is, plus some fabulous dancing, Krysanova's fast high jete's, the amazing energy of Denis Savin's solo (great to see him again) and of course, Ruslan Skvortsov as the Sylphide, brilliant. The orchestra played so fast too, although the ballet is fairly short it was an exhausting evening!

[LinMM]

Gutted am going to have to miss this....languishing in hospital with a broken ankle which happened yesterday...so disappointed I was really looking forward to this one and unfortunately It doesn't appear to be selling that well so they may not bring it next time 😢

Luckily a friend is taking my place so ticket not wasted.

Edited August 8, 2019 by LinMM

[Jan McNulty]

Oh dear Linda, so very sorry to hear you've been in the wars.  Best wishes for a speedy and good recovery.  Jxx

[alison]

Oh no, Lin, so sorry.  I suppose that it's relatively convenient, ballet class-wise, that it's happened over the summer - or did you have summer courses scheduled?  Either way, not a good time of year to be laid up, of course.  Hoping you make a quick recovery.

[bridiem]

53 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Gutted am going to have to miss this....languishing in hospital with a broken ankle which happened yesterday...so disappointed I was really looking forward to this one and unfortunately It doesn't appear to be selling that well so they may not bring it next time 😢

Luckily a friend is taking my place so ticket not wasted.

 

So sorry to hear that, LinMM! I hope it mends as quickly as possible.

[Sim]

Sending you lots of wishes for a very quick and full recovery, Lin. 💪💪

[DanJL]

Sorry to hear that LinMM, that's really a shame. If it's any consolation, tonight's performance really brought the house down and I think they must have sold most of the tickets in the end. So hopefully it will be back soon 🙂

 

As for the performance - I thought it was pure joy from start to finish. Wonderful dancing and comic acting from everyone on stage. Nikulina (including some impressively controlled spins!) particularly stood out for me, but really everyone was excellent. Just a wonderful evening's dance entertainment!

[Dawnstar]

Get well soon @LinMM

 

I really enjoyed it this evening, especially Act 2 which was basically a farce but with added dance. I particularly loved Skvortsov's sending up of La Sylphide. I know a number of pieces nowadays have men go en pointe but this was the first time I've seen it live & I was impressed by how good he was. I thought his & indeed everyone's comic acting was very good, especially as the Bolshoi doesn't really have a reputation for comedy (or arguably even for acting!). Unlike Spartacus, this one I could imagine the RB doing, though I doubt they will. Chudin reminded me a bit of Muntagirov, in that he came over as inherently nice & I can't imagine him playing any villainous characters. I thought both Nikulina & Shipulina were very good. The latter seemed to have more presence, but I don't know if that was partly because her role had more character acting & I tend to judge dancers more on their acting than their dancing (yes, I know I have my priorities wrong).

[Scheherezade]

Oh noooooooo LinMM, what terrible luck. On both counts. Best wishes for a full and prompt recovery and remember to spoil yourself while your ankle is mending.

[LinMM]

I was on a lovely summer course in London and after struggling in the morning with the complexities and moves of Mats Ek's Giselle .....well for non contemporary dancer can be difficult!....then was in a ballet class in the afternoon doing a comparatively simple and well known combi in the petit allegro section when I fell and dislocated the ankle and broke it in three places!! Still cannot believe it!! 

The Para Medics( who were absolutely terrific)said this sort of break is more common than you would think but  is more usually seen in rather drunken ladies wearing very high high heel shoes!! 

Just waiting for swelling to go down before the op....have to miss Spartacus tomorrow too😢

Anyway back to the Bright Stream .....I don't want to hi jack this thread with my woes ...so  am glad to hear that attendance was higher than it at first appeared and people seem to be liking it. 

It hasn't been performed that much in UK so perhaps as more people get to know it a chance could be a more definite part of Rep for them to bring to Uk. 

[alison]

 

 

I must admit, I was a bit surprised that The Bright Stream was programmed so early on.  Usually the Hochhausers seem to programme the things they think are least likely to sell further towards the end of the run, I assume in the hope that people will grab tickets because that's all that's left and the season's about to end.

[Bruce Wall]

Here's hoping that you are relatively pain free this morning, LinMM, and will make a complete and speedy recovery.  

 

Have enjoyed the two performances - the second more fervently certainly as I had the second over the first of Bolshoi's Spartacus - of The Bright Stream; a feast of ironic joy fed by the ever glorious wit and wisdom of Ratmansky.  The Bolshoi orchestra was - as it has been in other performances - brighter and certainly less plastic in terms of tempi - when not under Sorokin.  In last night's instance it was another Pavel (Klinichev) at the helm and the entire instrument of this zealous instrument found renewed zeal in inflating Shostakovich's satiric balloon allowing it to pop in any number of different directions.  I so loved the heightened use of the xylophone's usage in Zina's disguised solo variation which Nikulina excelled in much as she so aptly did in all else.  What a happy journey his particular artist has been on not just in this ballet but in her career.  Her ravishing development is clear for all to see. 

 

One key reason why the second performance (IMHO) was superior was because the roles of Zina and The Ballerina (and their relevant status) were so much more clearly delineated than they had been in the first performance.  No grumblers in my earshot certainly last night.  This clear distinction made the whole thing appear less cliched as it sadly had sometimes been made to seem the evening previous.  I loved how Nikulina in her opening set of fouettes illustrated the fact that her character was out of practice aside the key largess of stunningly authoritative Shipulina as 'The Ballerina' - by making her porte de bras rather gauche.  Her fingers there were seen as whirlwind spokes.  Happily at the end of the act Nikulina did the actual choreography and in doing so clearly illustrated her character's development.  This may be because at this juncture such is just not in the gift of Khokhlova (the Zina of the night before) who was most certainly winsome.  I wonder if this had Ratmansky's approval.  Nikulina was so much more full and distinct in her modulation and it helped stitch the synopsis of the whole with a greater clarity.  You could actively see/hear this in the response of the whole company.   It was heartening to see the corps as a whole applaud her when she modestly stepped forward to take her featured bow at the final call.  Most crucially it also led to a much more enhanced and understanding response from the entire audience.  Here they were totally unified in the build of their joy.  At the close of that second variation at the end of the first act Nikulina went from singles to doubles and back before ending - as had been seen in 2007 at the ROH - with the closed fouettes so often favoured by Balanchine in, say, his Wilde or Hayden variations.  She helped build a solid platform for the gloriously varied delight of all of the variations from all that were to come.  Each and all were rightly celebrated.  

 

The one performance I preferred from Monday was that of Tsvirko as Pyotr as opposed to that of Chudin last night.  It wasn't just the fact that Chudin didn't finish his first act solo and changed the end of this second act variation (again I wonder if this had Ratmansky's approval) but the depiction of the character was just so much more on one level.  Tsvirko brought so much more varied life in the chart of this colourful characterisation - much as Vasiliev who I had the good fortune to see in it some years ago had.  Such a shame that we hadn't had a chance to see that as originally planned for this tour.  Loparevich as The Old Dacha-dweller also was much more detailed - with less obvious buffoonery - than the night previous and that gave Skvortsov so much more opportunities for meaningful play as The Classical Dancer en travesty.  (By the bye that role is one of the highlights in the repertory the Royal's new 'permanent guest artist' - being one to which he is uniquely suited and appears to delight in.  Perhaps for this reason I, myself, would not be surprised if the Cranko Estate had chosen to restrict his appearance in the title role opposite Osipova in RB's upcoming run of Oneign - especially after having him perform such opposite her recently in Munich.)  

 

The one shared depiction that glued the two Bright Stream performances together in honour - again in my lights and my lights ONLY - was that of Denis Savin as The Accordion Player, a role he originated.  What a stunning theatrical presence Savin is; one replete with the dramatic acuity of, say, a Peter Sellers.  His is a performance I hope the National Dance Awards might consider nominating.  This artist - who is consistently fine - deserves every recognition going and then some as far as I'm concerned.  As it is I don't think he has got the rewards he so clearly deserves.  I kept thinking of the wide breadth of repertory that I'd love to see him in including Pyotr in this very work which I know is in his rep.  I so wish we could have seen Nureyev as had originally been put forward for this tour.  His segment from that - as well as that by Shipulina - were very much the highlight for me in that programme Vishneva ran at Sadler's Wells last season.  Each and all of Savin's outings are a full and happy repast for which one offers keen thanks.  

 

 

Edited August 9, 2019 by Bruce Wall

[zxDaveM]

12 hours ago, LinMM said:

 when I fell and dislocated the ankle and broke it in three places!! Still cannot believe it!! 

 

Ouch! That sounds a multitude number of swear words level of painful. Hope you're better soon!

[LinMM]

Thanks zxDave! I was extraordinarily lucky in that there was already a paramedic at the scene ( Pineapple studios) treating someone for a dislocated knee!! 

So he was able to give me a shot of morphine pretty quickly ...I was fine as long as I didn't actually look at it!! 

It was also a bonus that I was surrounded by friends of course .....a couple of whom and especially the paras were able to make me laugh!! A couple of them were even quite keen to join in the class that was trying to start!! One had done ballet as a child. That waltz from Cinderella( afternoon Rep) does tend to make you want to go floating off round the room!

 

Anyway enough of this .....I think this thread is called The BRIGHT Stream. Still waiting for my friend to report back!

[Dawnstar]

In case anyone is interested.