Royal Ballet Sleeping Beauty, 2019-20

[MJW]

53 minutes ago, Rob S said:

 

Mr O’Hare came out and said he’d been taken ill and advised not to dance today 

What a shame for James - glad I managed to catch them both in rehearsal. They make a fine pairing

[Bruce Wall]

The variation and coda were even better. Our girl is doing well. VERY well indeed!

 

KOH said Hay had been taken ill. I pray we will see them together at the next performance.

 

 

Edited December 5, 2019 by Bruce Wall

[ctas]

She looked so confident! That last moment was spectacular too. Very excited to see acts two and three! 

[Candleque]

Audience with her every step of the way. You could feel the love in the applause

👏💗👏

[Lizbie1]

I thought O'Sullivan was terrific from start to finish: I'd never have guessed that to be her debut.

 

I feel very privileged to have seen both her and Kaneko's first Auroras this season - I don't think there's anything more moving in ballet than seeing a debutante conquer her first Rose Adagio.

[Candleque]

🌹🌹🌹

 

 

[Mary]

Fabulous debut from a radiant Anna-  Rose O'Sullivan...so perfectly partnered by a nerve-free Ball going on at short notice. So lovely to see the warm support she had from Gary Avis's prince...willing her on. 

She was  beautiful throughout ...so delicate, youthful, joyous..but on a rock solid technique. Brava!

[capybara]

A debut of astonishing maturity from Anna Rose - everything beautifully danced, nothing rushed, and real character development from girl, to vision, to woman in her movement as well as her acting. Absolutely fabulous and doubly so in the unfortunate circumstances.

[ChrisG]

In total agreement about this afternoon - Anna Rose was magnificent. She couldn’t have wished for a better stand-in but it must still have taken nerves of steel!

[alison]

Best wishes to James Hay for a speedy recovery.  He must have been disappointed to have to miss out today.

[Sim]

From the partner aspect, I feel so bad for James and wish him well very soon. I felt sorry for Anna-Rose until her first touch with Matthew Ball.  What a wonderful partnership they made, especially as they had had no rehearsal!  Ball was very relaxed and such a caring, protective partner.  He really wanted her to do well.  And do well she did.  Boy, did she.  Such exuberance, such confidence, such joy.  A wonderful “Anna-Rose Adage “ and beautiful solo variation straight afterwards.   So musical, and oh, those balances!  In the vision scene she was so expressive, both through her eyes and her body.   Her pleading to be awakened was almost visceral and brought a lump to my throat.   With the lake backdrop, her white tutu and lovely arms, my mind was half seeing her as Odette. The grand PDD was beautifully executed if, understandably, slightly tentative at first.   We held our collective breath for the fish dives....did we need to worry? Of course not!  A couple of people applauded each one individually. After that, the chemistry built and built, at the same rate my smile widened.   
 

I am so thrilled this was such a beautiful and well-loved debut from this beautiful and well-loved artist. Yet another example of the fabulous future the company has in such hands.   Huge congratulations to her, and to Matthew Ball for being the best last-minute stand in I can imagine.  Bring on the next show!  

[Saodan]

2 hours ago, Bruce Wall said:

The variation and coda were even better. Our girl is doing well. VERY well indeed!

 

Right! I thought the Rose Adage was incredible, but with that out of the way she seemed to loosen up and found another level. Just so good throughout 

[bridiem]

Terrific début from O'Sullivan - technically extremely secure (and very lovely), and showing real guts in the circumstances. I did feel that her natural expressiveness and exuberance were slightly more muted than usual, but entirely understandably so and I'm sure they'll break through more in future performances. Matthew Ball was very supportive, and Itziar Mendizabal a positively terrifying Carabosse (she was literally shaking with evil laughter as she went down the trapdoor). I was rather disappointed with Gina Storm-Jensen's Lilac Fairy - it's just as well she had Good on her side, otherwise Evil would have triumphed all too easily. She looked the part, but there was no real authority or individuality in her portrayal. I particularly enjoyed Isabella Gasparini and Leticia Dias amongst the fairies (and Romany Pajdak, again).

 

The Pause before Act III was once more marred by deafening audience noise once the orchestra had started playing again. Why on earth do they not take down the curtain lights at that point, so that the audience realises that the performance is starting again?? There have been more than enough instances of this happening for them to realise that there's a problem.

[ninamargaret]

i was, of course,disappointed not to see James Hay, particularly basic remember good comments about him in the last run of SB. And I admit to not being wholly enthusiastic about Matthew Ball. But I had certainly changed my views by the end of the performance. I loved O'Sullivan's Aurora - a very slightly tentative Rose adagio but from then on she just blossomed! A gorgeous  Act2, with both dancers actually seeming to enjoy dancing with each other.I must admit that my heart sank when I saw the huge party of very young children near the front of the stalls, but they behaved very well - rather better than some adult audiences!

[Sim]

There were some young children dotted around the balcony and not a peep out of any of them.  They were totally enraptured!  And why wouldn’t they be?!  

[ChrisG]

16 minutes ago, Sim said:

There were some young children dotted around the balcony and not a peep out of any of them.  They were totally enraptured!  And why wouldn’t they be?!  

Yes! They probably understood that once the orchestra starts playing the performance has begun, unlike most of the adults near me in the Stalls Circle who seemed quite happy to continue their conversations until dancers actually started dancing.

[Sim]

Just now, ChrisG said:

Yes! They probably understood that once the orchestra starts playing the performance has begun, unlike most of the adults near me in the Stalls Circle who seemed quite happy to continue their conversations until dancers actually started dancing.

Same in the Balcony.  😢😤

[maryrosesatonapin]

Thank you all for the lovely reviews.  I'm so glad it went well after Hay's unfortunate incapacitation.  I wonder how many of those enraptured children will become dancers themselves, one future day?  It is this kind of wonderful experience that will hopefully inspire some of them.

[ninamargaret]

1 hour ago, ChrisG said:

Yes! They probably understood that once the orchestra starts playing the performance has begun, unlike most of the adults near me in the Stalls Circle who seemed quite happy to continue their conversations until dancers actually started dancing.

where I was in the stalls circle all the adults were very well behaved, although after The performance had ended i was amused to hear a lady sitting behind me saying that she must go home and read the story - she'd forgotten it!

 

can I also say hi enjoyed Romany Pajdak's Countess- can quite understand why the Prince didn't find her appealing! And Matthew Ball, in the awakening scene was priceless, managing to look very noble and Prince like, but just a little bit goofy!

[Rob S]

Some pics from this afternoon

 

 

 

 

 

[Sim]

Fabulous as always, Rob. Thank you!  

[LinMM]

I definitely thought that hug was genuinely heart felt! 
Great performances all round this afternoon I did not realise it was O’Sullivans  debut as it wasn’t indicated in the cast list but you would never have known as she seemed pretty self assured I don’t think there was a single wobble in the Rose adagio and some amazing balances throughout the performance. The fish dives in the final act were pretty superb too and a lovely solo from her in this pas de deux. Ball excellent as ever though he did make me laugh at the end of the vision scene when it seemed to dawn on him ( as the Prince) that oh yes he had to wake her with a kiss .... so quite laid back after all that yearning to find the Beauty of his dreams! 
Loved Bluebird pas de deux with Hamilton and Corrales some beautiful shapes in the air from him and little bird like touches with the head particularly throughout. 
I did enjoy Gina Storm Jensen as Lilac Fairy as she seemed to radiate goodness and joy a rather gentle Lilac Fairy but had a good seat today so was close to the stage  and don’t know how she may have come across from more of a distance . 
One thing I find a bit missing in this production is there used to be more of a dramatic on stage tussle between the Prince and Carabosse before he gets through to awaken Beauty but the choreography has changed for this so it’s a little less dramatic now but Mendizabal was terrific as Carabosse and loved her curtain call touch too! 
I was sitting in Stalls Circle adjacent to the party of pretty young children around 7-8 and all boys 
and thought they were pretty well behaved too. Towards the end the blow up plastic seat toppers were being used for purposes other than sitting on by a few but this group of about 15 boys were mostly very good and were obviously getting something out of it. 
Quite often I can feel a bit tired by the end of Sleeping Beauty but time seemed to pass quickly today and I felt quite energised at the end so the dancers had definitely worked some sort of magic. 

 

[LinMM]

Forgot to mention ...how could I ..that initially I was very disappointed when announced James Hay was indisposed 😢 especially as had such a good seat and he always projects so well  in that way stronger than Ball really but hope he makes a very quick recovery....I don’t know whether / when scheduled to dance this again but hope gets another chance this season.

[FLOSS]

I hate to point this out but the heroic prince who wins Aurora by combating and vanquishing evil is alien not only to the ballet which Petipa, Tchaikovsky and the Director of the Imperial Theatres created but to the Perrault tale on which it is based as in his tale the trees and brambles surrounding Aurora's castle  part of their own accord as the prince approaches them. The heroic prince who had perhaps begun to insinuate his way into the Royal Ballet's  production is very much a Soviet invention. Florimund is a prince and thus worthy to receive Aurora's hand in marriage. He does not have to prove his worthiness to win his bride by engaging in combat with the malign forces which bewitched Aurora He may be a bit dim but he is the right prince in the right place at the right time and as such all he has to do in the ballet is to answer the Lilac Fairy's question correctly and work out how to restore Aurora to consciousness which requires him to engage his brain which in itself seems to be something of a challenge. This is a fairy tale rather than a tale of chivalry thus his actions are sufficient to entitle him to her hand.

 

 

 

 

[Geoff]

21 hours ago, Rob S said:

This afternoon’s cast:..

 

Jeremy Vine: Dias Serrano 

 

I love spellcheck. Or, a modernisation too far? 😀

 

Lovely debut from Anna Rose and such a lively jump! 

[Rob S]

6 minutes ago, Geoff said:

 

I love spellcheck. Or, a modernisation too far? 😀

 

Lovely debut from Anna Rose and such a lively jump! 

 

I like to see people are paying attention 🙂

[bridiem]

James Hay has tweeted this:

'Sometimes things just don’t turn out the way you had planned. Absolutely devastated to have had to pull out of The Sleeping Beauty yesterday. I had been fighting a throat infection all week which developed into a flu-like virus and it became apparent that it would have been unsafe to perform. The last thing I would want is to jeopardise someone’s performance (especially someone’s debut) so I made the painful decision to withdraw, knowing that Anna-Rose, who is wonderfully quick, smart and talented, would cope with a new partner at the last minute. I’m so glad to hear Anna-Rose and Matthew did so well at such short notice. It was a really tough decision to make but I’m determined to make our next performance together. #ROHbeauty'

 

So let's hope he is indeed back next week.

[alison]

I'd suspected as much - something respiratory at least - when Kevin O'Hare said he'd been advised not to perform.  That phrasing has been used a few times recently, and does seem to rule out other such ailments as upset stomachs and so on.

[Rob S]

Was it supposed to be James Hay’s debut too? 

[alison]

No, he danced it last time.  I missed him then, too - just like I missed Hayward last time and this time

[LinMM]

So glad to hear he will get another performance and is not suffering any serious injury. 

I am puzzled though as in the programme and cast list it doesn’t indicate that it was O’Sullivans debut....there is normally an asterisk by the name indicating that it’s a first performance in a role but there was certainly no such asterisk in mine. 
I wasn’t going to pick out too many individual performances from yesterday as so many were good but would like to mention Joseph Aumeer who was Lilac Fairy’s partner lovely light high jumps and am really pleased to see him with the Company ( I believe he was in Paris for a while) after seeing him as a student at RBS. 
Also a new dancer for me at least the first time she has really come to my notice and that was Mariko Sasaki who danced in the trio Florestan and his sisters a lovely bright variation from her and indeed from her ‘sister’ too Isabella Gasparini and who earlier was truly fairy like in her variation in the Prologue. 

[zxDaveM]

31 minutes ago, LinMM said:

 

I am puzzled though as in the programme and cast list it doesn’t indicate that it was O’Sullivans debut....there is normally an asterisk by the name indicating that it’s a first performance in a role but there was certainly no such asterisk in mine.

 

funny - we were chatting about this the other day, at interval time. The consensus was that the asterix against a debut performance has long gone. Though I couldn't tell you when they were last there. I think they still appear in casting lists in the Friends 'About the House' magazine - though as I'm not a Friend, I don't see that mag anymore, so they might have gone there as well (at the same time?)

[bridiem]

2 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

 

funny - we were chatting about this the other day, at interval time. The consensus was that the asterix against a debut performance has long gone. Though I couldn't tell you when they were last there. I think they still appear in casting lists in the Friends 'About the House' magazine - though as I'm not a Friend, I don't see that mag anymore, so they might have gone there as well (at the same time?)

 

Well nowadays there is no casting in the Friends mag - it comes out nearer the booking dates (and I think then includes début asterisks). In fact I'm just as likely to get first casting info from this Forum as from the ROH.