Royal Ballet - The Cellist, Dances at a Gathering

[LinMM]

Have just read that review Bridiem on the BBC news page and found it strangely moving in itself. The piccie of Sambe holding a lifeless de Pre is so heart breaking even out of context. Can’t wait to see this on Tuesday now. 

[Balletfanp]

What a thought provoking and moving review. Hear, hear, Mr Gompertz.

 

To add, I haven’t seen the Cellist but I’m agreeing with the spirit of the review.

[Rob S]

3 hours ago, bridiem said:

Excellent and surprising (to me) review of The Cellist by Will Gompertz, the BBC Arts Editor, on the BBC website.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51591280

 

During the 15th Feb episode of Radio 5 Live's Fighting Talk he was asked where he was when the news of the Man City European ban was announced the previous day, his answer was 'at the ROH watching a new ballet, The Cellist' and went on to give it '5 stars'....so either his review is of the rehearsal or he'd reviewed it after seeing it twice

[Jeannette]

I can’t wait to see The Cellist in cinemas, even if we in the USA have to wait a bit longer. 

 

Thanks for the link to the touching and insightful BBC review, Bridiem! I couldn’t agree more with the concept that Beauty is not treasured as it was in years past. When did “Beauty” become an ugly word?

[JohnS]

17 minutes ago, Rob S said:

 

During the 15th Feb episode of Radio 5 Live's Fighting Talk he was asked where he was when the news of the Man City European ban was announced the previous day, his answer was 'at the ROH watching a new ballet, The Cellist' and went on to give it '5 stars'....so either his review is of the rehearsal or he'd reviewed it after seeing it twice

On first reading I was rather hoping you were referring to Pep Guardiola ...

[Jane S]

There's currently a link to the piece on the 'front page' of the BBC's online news, captioned 'The Cellist: it's even better than Strictly'.

[Odyssey]

I am pleasantly surprised by the coverage that the BBC has given The Cellist ( perhaps there are plans to screen it sometime this year following the live broadcast - they did this for Woolf Works and Frankenstein). I know Will Gompertz is a general arts critic , but I was a tad disappointed how little he wrote about the dancing, including no mention of Matthew Ball. Also a slightly skewed review around the notion of beauty. However he reviewed a ballet!!

[MargaretN7]

And, hurrah, Will Gompertz gives Lauren Cuthbertson the acknowledgement she deserves, "one of the finest dancers of her generation, gives a wonderfully nuanced and intelligent performance.

 

[maryrosesatonapin]

I've just come back from the cinema screening of this double bill.  I am grateful to those who explained and/or critiqued 'The Cellist' beforehand because it made me go with lowered expectations, which were then exceeded.  I thought Cuthbertson and Sambe were super - really moving (and moved) in their portrayal.  Sambe was a bit like an adorable pet!  The set was fine - not too busy for me - as it added punctuation to the ongoing story and helped to explain where we were.  Maybe it was more intrusive in a live viewing.  I thought Feeney did a good job with the score.  Marston just about stayed on the right side of bathos although I do find her choreography a little gauche at times.  It did feel as though, having been commissioned to produce a work that lasted about an hour, she had stretched it out just a bit more than was necessary.  I rather liked the way the corps were used to fill in background detail - at times it was even amusing (intentionally I hope).  Barenboim, we were told, had asked for someone handsome to dance his part, and he certainly got that wish fulfilled in the elegant Ball.  I didn't envy the ROH cellist, Snell, having to play in du Pre's shadow so to speak - she did a decent job but one's musical memory was haunted by du Pre's unparalleled original renditions.

[As an aside, I once bumped into Jackie, when she was in a wheelchair.  I think it was at the Royal Festival Hall where she was in the next box to us during Barenboim's concert series of Beethoven's piano sonatas.  How he managed to memorise all 32 and play them one after the other is beyond my comprehension.  What a gifted pair they were.]

Dances at a Gathering was delightful - except for the piano accompaniment which at times didn't do justice to Chopin's exquisite score.  I have played most of those pieces myself and at times I cringed.  And what's the name of the presenter who isn't Darcey Bussell?  Not only could she not pronounce Chopin's name correctly, but she didn't even know how to pronounce 'etudes'!!  If I go to another ROH screening I will make sure to avoid the pre-show talk.  But on to the good stuff - the choreography was charming and I particularly loved Bonelli and Nunez' duet during the slow, Polish traditional melody section of the Scherzo (which was actually played decently).  I think Bonelli is having a kind of Indian summer because he's quite amazing lately.  Hayward was very lovely too, and although she had a technically easier solo, Laura Morera's wonderful personality simply shone out during her too-brief section.  All of the dancers were good and really seemed to be enjoying themselves!

Please excuse lack of diacritics above but I am tired and lazy tonight.

 

[bridiem]

I saw the live screening of this bill at the Ritzy in Brixton tonight. No sound at all until just before curtain up! Which was a bit disappointing (no idea what Christopher Wheeldon was saying) and stressful (in case the sound never materialised, but fortunately it did in the nick of time).

 

I found Dances at a Gathering absolutely breathtaking, from beginning to end. I've only seen it a few times, and not for many years, and I felt as if it was the first time. Alexander Campbell's opening solo was so beautiful and so beautifully danced that I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven. And really that continued for the rest of the piece. Gorgeous music, constantly interesting and absorbing and beautiful choreography, and tremendous dancing from all the cast. Towards the end, when the whole cast stood looking out and up, slowly moving their gaze from one side of the auditorium to the other, each one lost in thoughts, feelings, reflections, I felt moved to tears. Will Gompertz's article last week about beauty came to my mind in respect of this work which distilled all I love about classical ballet and was performed to the highest possible standard.

 

Unfortunately I didn't feel the same about The Cellist. Possibly it will look better in the theatre (I'm seeing it on Friday); possibly filming did it no favours because of all the people milling around and the low level of lighting. But it seemed to me to be murky and turgid and messy, and although it had a few good moments (the orchestral surge in the Elgar Cello Concerto, the wedding, the solo for the child Jackie near the end) I never felt invested in the characters (even when I knew who they were) and I found the choreography for the leading characters largely clumsy and inexpressive and the use of the other dancers a strange combination of symbolic and literal and not working on either level. There were obviously a lot of ideas going on, but ideas have to be translated into effective choreography. The dancers all did as well as they could, especially Cuthbertson and Sambé, but I didn't feel the production was worthy of them. BUT, I hope I may get a different impression on Friday when I will be seeing the whole stage from above and so may be able to see what was going on more clearly.

[Mary]

Agree about Bonelli's 'Indian summer' and Morera was just utterly exquisite in DAAG- it was worth the rotten trudge through very cold slush just to see her- but also a fizzing and joyous Campbell, and delicious Hayward, Nunez, Naghdi- what a lovely treat to see them on the stage together. Dances AAG seemed to work better in the live screening funnily enough- I got more involved in it. I agree with all who have said it can drag sometimes; not tonight though.

 

Sambe was indeed quite outstanding in the Cellist and so was Cuthbertson; I so much wanted to like the piece,  but the style of choreography just leaves me  cold. The wonderful dancers- apart from Sambe who got the best choreography by far apart from the excessive air cello- seemed rather wasted (pretending to be lamps and record players) and I couldn't believe the number of rather ungainly, sometimes absurd,  postures that were achieved in one hour. It seems an odd way to treat such beautiful dancers. I felt du Pre was shown far too much being tugged, heaved, hauled about, and it didn't do justice to her personality or achievement,  in my view.

The score mixing up snippets of music with a sort of film score I also found a bit thin and unsatisfying.

Very unusual for me to leave a RB perfomance feeling disappointed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mary]

Our posts crossed bridiem- we had the same reaction evidently! It is rather reassuring to know it isn't just me.

[LinMM]

Too late to be coherent now but just to say Dances was truly beautiful and heavenly for me ( this piece has a special place in my heart though) and I loved the Cellist found it really moving a bit more tomorrow. 

[Ian Macmillan]

Oh dear - I hardly recognise The Cellist from some of the foregoing, but there we are.  I found the addition of closeups all helped both ballets tonight and I think that a second viewing has sealed the narrative arc in my memory now.  The audience reaction tonight sounded much louder in its appreciation than on Opening Night but I'd also add that, in our cinema, the sound level seemed a bit on the loud side.  No idea whether that was caused by a volume selection at our end or in what was transmitted from the ROH.

[cloudbuff]

I sat at amphi tonight and found myself really invested in the cellist in a strange way. I do agree with the points that there were sometimes too many things moving on the stage and many of them were pretty abstract. A lot of times when I was still trying to digest what was the meaning of this and that, my attention deviated from main characters... But I really enjoy the light design for the Cellist, the light and shade were dreamy, deep and graphical in so many moments! I enjoyed Sambe's expressive movements the most, but Lauren and Ball were also exquisite!! 

 

Edited February 26, 2020 by cloudbuff

[alison]

55 minutes ago, Ian Macmillan said:

The audience reaction tonight sounded much louder in its appreciation than on Opening Night but I'd also add that, in our cinema, the sound level seemed a bit on the loud side.  No idea whether that was caused by a volume selection at our end or in what was transmitted from the ROH.

 

In my experience, it seems to be down to the individual cinema: we've asked for the sound to be turned up or down before.  Mind you, that may have been on an Encore showing rather than live.

[Margaret]

I saw this at the cinema last evening.  Dances at a Gathering was lovely, if a bit long - wonderful performances from all the dancers.  The Cellist was very moving but was spoiled for us when the live feed suddenly cut off just in the last few minutes!   We were told it was due to the ballet over running.   It did tell her story well, though I got a bit confused at times with chorus.  I thought Cuthbertson, Sambe and Ball were extremely good - just sorry not to see the final scenes.

[bridiem]

6 minutes ago, Margaret said:

The Cellist was very moving but was spoiled for us when the live feed suddenly cut off just in the last few minutes!   We were told it was due to the ballet over running.

 

That's crazy! They know it's a live performance and the timings are approximate, and it can't have 'overrun' by much. It clearly wasn't the ROH feed cutting off since other cinemas were OK, so why would a cinema have a time limit?!

[LinMM]

That’s really annoying Margaret as I found those final moments of the cello ...without its player .. ..running around completely lost desperately moving. 

We had a three minute break in transmission in the middle of Dances and was worried was going to miss Laura’s solo but came back just in time! 
I have to say though that never feel Dances is too long ..  it could happily send me on my way in fact!! Forever in Heaven 😊

 

[J_New]

Does anyone know of any plans to release a DVD of last night?

[ninamargaret]

20 minutes ago, LinMM said:

That’s really annoying Margaret as I found those final moments of the cello ...without its player .. ..running around completely lost desperately moving. 

We had a three minute break in transmission in the middle of Dances and was worried was going to miss Laura’s solo but came back just in time! 
I have to say though that never feel Dances is too long ..  it could happily send me on my way in fact!! Forever in Heaven 😊

 

At the risk of being banned from the forum, I would happily have,seen a repeat performance of DAAG rather than The Cellist!

[Ian Macmillan]

"For people who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like."   Miss Jean Brodie, as I recall.

[Bluebird]

12 minutes ago, Ian Macmillan said:

"For people who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like."   Miss Jean Brodie, as I recall.

 

There are a lot of people on Twitter who seemed to love The Cellist.  When I checked it late last night I found, almost entirely,  positive comments.  I'll try to provide a link to the comments:

https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=%23ROHcellistmixed&src=unkn

 

Edited:Click on 'latest' if you want to see the most recent first

Edited February 26, 2020 by Bluebird

[Anna C]

54 minutes ago, J_New said:

Does anyone know of any plans to release a DVD of last night?

 

I do hope so.

[J_New]

I can't claim to be any kind of expert, but to me 'The Cellist' was lacking in actual dancing. Sorry!! I have only seen it once, and that was last night in the cinema so I may have got the wrong impression, but there seemed to be a lot of lifting and 'flailing' and less what I would describe as dancing. That maybe unfair, and maybe it was just the contrast with DAAG, but I didn't find it very moving for that reason. To me the lifting was distracting, though it could have been the angle of the camera which at times was just too close. I probably need to see it again in the theatre, and I might find it more engaging if I can see the whole stage all the time. I found Sambe's performance outstanding, though - at times I really did believe he was a cello!!

DAAG was sublime - I could have watched it again and again all the evening.

Edited February 26, 2020 by J_New

[bridiem]

4 minutes ago, J_New said:

I can't claim to be any kind of expert, but to me 'The Cellist' was lacking in actual dancing. Sorry!! I have only seen it once, and that was last night in the cinema so I may have got the wrong impression, but there seemed to be a lot of lifting and 'flailing' and less what I would describe as dancing. That maybe unfair, and maybe it was just the contrast with DAAG, but I didn't find it very moving for that reason. To me the lifting was distracting, though it could have been the angle of the camera which at times was just too close. I probably need to see it again in the theatre, and I might find it more engaging if I can see the whole stage all the time. I found Sambe's performance outstanding, though - at times I really did believe he was a cello!!

 

I was just thinking that, J_New - there didn't seem to be much dancing that actually travelled, and a lot of quite static (and quite clumsy-looking) lifts. Maybe as you say it was partly the camerawork and seeing it live would (will) give more sense of movement.

[Julie 2 Milner]

I came on here after watching the live screening last night expecting nothing but universal praise and "wow" for "The Cellist". I had not read any reviews so I'm rather surprised at the large amount of negativity. I loved it. Unfortunately Tunbridge Wells also lost the last few minutes which was actually gut wrenching. I'm usually fairly sanguine when these things happen but not this time which I think shows how much it had swept me up. I do love this style of dance and for me, I simply thought it amazing and so incredibly moving. I even looked up to see if there were still tickets as I cannot go to the recorded screening. I did think though some might not enjoy the style.

Re "Gatherings" yes it was great. Lovely to see some of the most senior members of the Company together. It is a pure celebration of dance. However, and there is one, I think it is around 10 mins too long. I thought this must just be me but in the interval heard a lot of others saying the same.

Back to "The Cellist" and a complete segue, the group seating next to me obviously knew Hetty Snell. Very lovely listening to their excited comments.

The mixed reactions, I guess,  really do show "one man's meat" etc and that can only be good for any artistic endeavour.

[zxDaveM]

1 hour ago, ninamargaret said:

At the risk of being banned from the forum, I would happily have,seen a repeat performance of DAAG rather than The Cellist!

 

you're barred!!!

 

(only joking)

[zxDaveM]

3 hours ago, Margaret said:

I saw this at the cinema last evening.  Dances at a Gathering was lovely, if a bit long - wonderful performances from all the dancers.  The Cellist was very moving but was spoiled for us when the live feed suddenly cut off just in the last few minutes!   We were told it was due to the ballet over running.   It did tell her story well, though I got a bit confused at times with chorus.  I thought Cuthbertson, Sambe and Ball were extremely good - just sorry not to see the final scenes.

 

it did overrun by some 10mins, but even so, if they cut off the feed before the end, write and complain. They may give you a refund, or at least a voucher to go again sometime. The last few minutes are so moving, it would be worth trying to get a voucher to go see the encore showing

[zxDaveM]

3 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

That's crazy! They know it's a live performance and the timings are approximate, and it can't have 'overrun' by much. It clearly wasn't the ROH feed cutting off since other cinemas were OK, so why would a cinema have a time limit?!

 

That happened to me at my local when I saw Osipova/Acosta Giselle. I wrote and complained and even though it was merely the last 1-2mins they refunded me with a voucher. Its something to do with the time they are told it will last, that they set it automatically and the projectionist just zips off to anothe screen and doesn't watch what is happening. The 'joy' of multiplexes!

[Anna C]

1 hour ago, bridiem said:

I was just thinking that, J_New - there didn't seem to be much dancing that actually travelled, and a lot of quite static (and quite clumsy-looking) lifts. Maybe as you say it was partly the camerawork and seeing it live would (will) give more sense of movement.

 

I wonder if having fewer corps dancers and/or smaller set “furniture” would help with this?  In the cinema, it looked as if at times, the three Principals just didn’t have enough room to really travel.  I liked the novelty of having dancers as objects but there seemed far more bodies onstage than was necessary, which much of the time distracted me from watching Cuthbertson, Sambé and Ball.

 

I didn’t mind the “ungainly” feet in parallel/seated position even in the lifts; the only move I disliked was Lauren “lifting” Marcelino repeatedly as he lifted her.  It reminded me of the updated choreography in the Nutcracker’s Chinese Dance but whereas that is two men (and done much more gymnastically), in The Cellist it just looked clumsy and hard work instead of - I assume - mutual harmony between music and musician.  Fortunately, our cinema played the whole performance without mishap (audience behaviour aside 🙄) and even being mid pain flare I was so moved by the end of The Cellist.  When Cuthbertson was placed in the chair at the end, with her beloved cello given to her, I had tears in my eyes.

 

What very fine acting by all but especially Cuthbertson. She and Bonelli are probably my favourite actor/dancers among the current Principals and after DAAG I genuinely feel that Bonelli simply mustn’t be allowed to retire.   Where *does* he muster up the stamina?   Fantastic dancing by all; lovely to see the sometimes underused Campbell and Morera (absolutely delightful), I adored the Nuñez/Bonelli pdd and thought Naghdi and Bracewell looked lovely together.  Beautiful costumes too and a super performance by Rob Clarke.  

 

I really hope we get a blu ray of this double bill.

[ninamargaret]

34 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

 

you're barred!!!

 

(only joking)

Yes, i thought I would be! In mitigation, may I add that I'm seeing it again next week with the second cast, and my lack of enthusiasm was certainly not due to the performances by the three principals.

[Jane S]

I don't think anyone has  mentioned Luca Acri in Dances - I thought he was really good in the duet that has the cartwheel and that very low flying catch at the end. (Though if you were seeing it for the first time and sitting on the left hand side, you won't know about the catch.)

 

My problem with the programming was that I was so knocked out by the last section of Dances  that I didn't have much emotion left for The Cellist - and in fact went home at the interval on the second night. Hope to see it again sometime with a different opener.

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2020 by Jane S