Birmingham Royal Ballet - Romeo and Juliet, Autumn 2021

[maryrosesatonapin]

Last night I went to see BRB’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and I am still in a daze from experiencing such an intense, beautiful and exceptional evening.  Momoko Hirata will always be ‘my’ Juliet from now on.  She was utterly convincing as a thirteen-year-old girl transitioning from playing mischievously with her nurse to falling in love for the first time, to experiencing mistaken tragedy and committing suicide. 
 

Hirata’s acting was superb, equalled by her exquisite and brilliant dancing.  She managed to combine her usual ethereal magic with endearing, heart-rending humanity.  I felt a tear roll down towards my face mask as soon as she entered the stage – this beautiful young creature must not die!  It was too much to bear.
 

Her partner, César Morales, was excellent too.  In another thread, I wrote ‘Although Morales is probably too old to be Romeo, my betting is he will equal anyone in technique and poetry!’ A couple of forumites quite rightly pulled me up on the first part of that sentence, and I eat my words.  We were sitting just five rows from the front of the stalls and I swear that he didn’t look a day older than twenty. He started as a flirtatious, cheeky young Italian boy and progressed with his usual understated elegance to become the most wonderful partner as he and Juliet fell in love.  As soon as they set eyes on each other they couldn’t stop looking at each other, and conveyed that the rest of the world going on around them meant nothing as the comet of their love flamed intensely towards its tragic end.  I honestly don’t think I have ever seen such compelling acting in any ballet.  It was so convincing and so beautiful to watch.
 

For the rest, we were treated to a sparkling Mercutio from Tzu-Chao Chou, and a menacing Tybalt from Rory MacKay. I wouldn’t want to bump into him in an alley on a dark night!  Some of the corps were a little ragged – one of the harlots in particular, we noticed – but frankly, I didn’t care, as my eyes were constantly on the doomed couple.  It isn’t often one sees quite such a memorable performance and if any of you haven’t seen Hirata/Morales dance together, I would urge you to get tickets to see them in any performance of anything at any time any where whilst there is still the opportunity.  They truly touch one’s heart.  It was worth the five-hour drive.  I’d have done double the distance and been happy.
 

There are a couple of photos here, but I forgot to take my proper camera – sorry.
 

https://maryrosedouglasuk.wixsite.com/ballet

[alison]

Thank you, maryrose...  It's good to have reports on the "other" MacMillan Romeo (hint hint to any others )

[CCL]

Thank you Mary Rose. I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to make any performances of BRB’s R and J this time around. I enjoyed your review and agree that Hirata and Morales are a very special partnership indeed!

[MaddieRose]

I was at today’s matinee for my first live ballet experience, and what a show it was.

 

Momoko Hirata was practically flying across the stage- she looked weightless and so elegant. Her acting was sublime, and she truly made me believe she was Juliet. César Morales was also incredible, and you could see he put so much effort into every turn and every jump. Together the two of them were remarkable, and their chemistry and coordination is wonderful.

 

I must praise Tzu-Chao Chou, who was a hilarious Mercutio and got the laughs he deserved, and then turned round and delivered some of the most compelling acting in his death scene. Rory Mackay was a menacing Tybalt who’s acting was also superb. In fact everyone’s acting was brilliant, and had me on the edge of my seat. 
 

The rest of the ensemble were all alive this afternoon. According to the lady sat next to us who’d attended multiple performances, this was the most vigorous sword fighting she’d seen in the run, and it was totally engrossing. The orchestra were spectacular- it felt so good to hear live music again. Special mention must be made for Charlotte the violinist and leader Robert Gibbs, who both had friends and family sat next to us in the stalls, and who we gave an extra cheer for. 

 

All in all it was an outstanding performance, and one I’m very glad to keep in my memory as my first live ballet. 

[LinMM]

Enjoyed your review and hoping you will be going to many more live ballet performances! 

[Odyssey]

Looking forward to seeing Miki Mizutani and Yasuo Atsuji in Plymouth later this month. 
Am I right in thinking it is Miki’s debut as Juliet? Interesting that the casts in Plymouth are totally different from Birmingham reflecting perhaps not just the apparent depth of the Company but also the confidence of the director in his dancers. Very much in the tradition of Sir David. 
 

[Jan McNulty]

2 hours ago, Odyssey said:

Looking forward to seeing Miki Mizutani and Yasuo Atsuji in Plymouth later this month. 
Am I right in thinking it is Miki’s debut as Juliet? Interesting that the casts in Plymouth are totally different from Birmingham reflecting perhaps not just the apparent depth of the Company but also the confidence of the director in his dancers. Very much in the tradition of Sir David. 
 

 

I believe it is Miki's debut and I am so jealous you will be able to see her.

 

Someone I was talking to in Birmingham on Thursday thought that there was perhaps an element of bubbling going on.  In years gone by all 6 casts would probably have had one performance each in both Brum, Plym and any other venues the company may have been touring to.  Gone are the heady days of 2 seasons (and sometimes even 3) at The Lowry and Sunderland! 

[ChrisG]

I saw Beatrice Parma’s debut as Juliet on Thursday afternoon and she was wonderful, ably supported by Mathias Dingman as Romeo. Very different from the last time I saw her in a lead role in Hobson’s Choice! There’s a nice piece by her in the programme too, which is downloadable for anyone interested on the BRB website. It seemed to me the stage was less crowded than the last time time I saw this production. For example I noticed Juliet had only 4 friends instead of 6, and there were only 2 ‘sweepers’ in the opening scene. Maybe evidence of bubbling?

[Jan McNulty]

I was fortunate to see both performances of Romeo and Juliet in Birmingham last Thursday afternoon.

 

The matinee performance saw Beatrice Parma making her debut as Juliet with Mathias Dingman as her Romeo.  Beatrice was a delight - you could really see her growing from young girl to young lady falling head over heels with her dashing Romeo and the tragedy unfolding before our eyes.  The only thing is that Gabriel Anderson was her very gracious, tender Paris and it was initially difficult to realise that she didn’t say, on first meeting, “how soon is the wedding”!

 

Acts 1 and 2 were great but act 3 was heartbreakingly outstanding.  It was one of the most moving I have ever seen.

 

Also making debuts were Gus Payne as a mischievous Mercutio and Callum Findlay-White as his joyful sidekick Benvolio.  Rosanna Ely was a young and tender nurse.

 

I thought Beatrice and Mathias looked terrific together and it would be good to see them partnered in more roles.  Beatrice is proving to be a wonderful dance actress given her glorious performance as Maggie in Hobson’s Choice a couple of years ago.

 

In the evening we had the dream team of Celine Gittens and Brandon Lawrence and they were utterly convincing as the star-crossed lovers.  I was a pile of mush by the end!

 

Alex Yap, on his debut (having been cast as Paris the night before - also a debut) was a fun loving Benvolio, full of joy alongside a sparkling Max Maslen as Mercutio.  Callum Findlay-White made his debut as Paris to end a busy day and very effective he was too.

 

Rory Mackay has a wonderful sense of menace without ever being over the top as Tybalt and, as ever, was a joy to watch in the role.

 

This really was a very special performance all around and I felt privileged to be in the audience.

 

It looks as though there is still an element of bubbling within the company the way the casting has been done.  As well as there only being 4 Juliet friends (rather than the more usual 6) it also looked as though there were quite a few students in the corps roles too. It’s been good to see some of the younger dancers getting an opportunity to shine too.  

[maryrosesatonapin]

3 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

The only thing is that Gabriel Anderson was her very gracious, tender Paris and it was initially difficult to realise that she didn’t say, on first meeting, “how soon is the wedding”!

Ha ha, I felt a bit the same at the ROH on Saturday when Lukas BB as Paris was so much more handsome than Romeo!

[bangorballetboy]

9 minutes ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

Ha ha, I felt a bit the same at the ROH on Saturday when Lukas BB as Paris was so much more handsome than Romeo!

 

Harsh...

[maryrosesatonapin]

2 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

Harsh...

William Bracewell has a very pleasant face.  A really likeable chap I should think.  It's just that his rival is exceptional....

[alison]

Oh, I don't know - I think I rather like a Juliet who isn't shallow enough simply to be swept off her feet by a pretty face.  After all, that is how most of the human race judges a prospective life partner - fortunately for the less-pretty ones among us! 

[Jan McNulty]

I was writing about the Birmingham Royal Ballet production not the relative merits of RB Romeos and Parises!

[Scheherezade]

35 minutes ago, alison said:

Oh, I don't know - I think I rather like a Juliet who isn't shallow enough simply to be swept off her feet by a pretty face.  After all, that is how most of the human race judges a prospective life partner - fortunately for the less-pretty ones among us! 

 

Maybe not a pretty face but I'd say that chemistry scores considerably higher than personality. After all, its not as if they had enough time for compatibility or personality to work their magic, is it? 24 hours and they're married, another four days and they're dead. And before someone points out that 4 days somewhat eclipses poor Britney Spears' 55 hours of marriage to Jason Alexander, she and Jason were supposed to be childhood friends, not to mention friends with benefits.

 

Coming back, then, to Romeo and Juliet, although still at something of a tangent: is "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" the literary equivalent of the first bar of Beethoven's 5th? Discuss.

[ToThePointe]

In the first episode of Season 4 of Open Barre (launched today), Brandon talks a lot about his recent shows of Romeo. I've shared the link below but you can also find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other various podcast platforms. Thanks!

 

https://www.spreaker.com/user/openbarre/open-barre-s4-01

Edited October 15, 2021 by ToThePointe

[Odyssey]

Just had a look at the cast sheets for performances of Romeo and Juliet in Plymouth this week and I haven’t a clue which couple I’ll be seeing tonight. There appears to be considerable shift in the dates the various partnership are performing from those originally announced. The discrepancy is still there if you look at the BRB site for booking and then follow the link for the  various casting sheets. I  thought I would be seeing  Miki Mitzutani debut as Juliet but the casting now says it’s Yaoqian Shang. Not a problem as I will enjoy whoever I see and  I also get to see Tyrone Singleton. Wonder why this is, and if this happened in Birmingham. 

 

https://www.brb.org.uk/whats-on/event/romeo-and-juliet

https://www.brb.org.uk/downloadable-castsheets

 

[Jan McNulty]

33 minutes ago, Odyssey said:

Just had a look at the cast sheets for performances of Romeo and Juliet in Plymouth this week and I haven’t a clue which couple I’ll be seeing tonight. There appears to be considerable shift in the dates the various partnership are performing from those originally announced. The discrepancy is still there if you look at the BRB site for booking and then follow the link for the  various casting sheets. I  thought I would be seeing  Miki Mitzutani debut as Juliet but the casting now says it’s Yaoqian Shang. Not a problem as I will enjoy whoever I see and  I also get to see Tyrone Singleton. Wonder why this is, and if this happened in Birmingham. 

 

https://www.brb.org.uk/whats-on/event/romeo-and-juliet

https://www.brb.org.uk/downloadable-castsheets

 

 

 

On Instagram yesterday BRB was wishing Miki luck for her debut last night so I would guess the cast sheets are correct.

 

I've no idea why the casts have been switched around but, in my experience, it's not unusual for BRB to switch casts around but not update the casting listed on the website! (I know that to my cost)

[LinMM]

Very annoying! 
However Yaoqian Shang will not disappoint I’m absolutely sure!! 
I saw her at the RBS summer performance before she joined BRB and she was a star then!! Am not at all surprised she is now getting the chance to do Juliet! 
If it is her dancing would love to know what you thought of her performance in this role. 
 

[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

Very annoying! 
However Yaoqian Shang will not disappoint I’m absolutely sure!! 
I saw her at the RBS summer performance before she joined BRB and she was a star then!! Am not at all surprised she is now getting the chance to do Juliet! 
If it is her dancing would love to know what you thought of her performance in this role. 
 

She did the role last time around too - IIRC with William Bracewell and Mathias Dingman.  Having seen her dance with Ty Singleton in Radio and Juliet I suspect it will be a very special performance.

 

I would have said disappointing rather than annoying but as ballet-watchers we have to expect these things at any time let alone at the moment.

[LinMM]

Yes agree disappointing a better word most of the time as changes of cast are largely due to illness or injury and can happen at the last minute....we often dread that person coming out in front of the curtain before a performance. 
I wasn’t sure from the original post if the changes in casting were more sort of logistical than due to any dancers particular circumstances and also whether it would be Yaoqian’s debut as well as the dancer she had hoped to see Miki Mitzutani! 
The latter dancer I do not know at all and assume she has more recently joined BRB but haven’t seen the Company since 2018!! 
 

[Jan McNulty]

Miki joined the company in 2012 and Shang in 2013 - they are both wonderful and both senior soloists.  Their BRB careers have gone along side by side with them both making major debuts at different times.  SDB chose both of them, when very new in the company, for the leading role in Prince of the Pagodas and we knew then that they were both something special.

[Tony Newcombe]

1 minute ago, Jan McNulty said:

Miki joined the company in 2012 and Shang in 2013 - they are both wonderful and both senior soloists.  Their BRB careers have gone along side by side with them both making major debuts at different times.  SDB chose both of them, when very new in the company, for the leading role in Prince of the Pagodas and we knew then that they were both something special.

Miki first came to the attention of BRB regulars when dancing Humboldt’s Hog-nosed Flea in Penguin Cafe. Her Lise with Lachlan Monaghan in Fille was as good as it gets. Her Juliet last evening was a wonderful debut. Just off now to see Yu Kurihara and Lachlan Monaghan make their debuts in R&J.

[Jan McNulty]

16 minutes ago, Tony Newcombe said:

Just off now to see Yu Kurihara and Lachlan Monaghan make their debuts in R&J.

 

So jealous Tony!

[Tony Newcombe]

Now we know why Acosta promoted Yu Kurihara to soloist after only 5 minutes in the Company.

She was absolutely sensational this afternoon in her debut as Juliet. From the moment she burst into

fits of giggles on her nurses shoulder as Paris departed after their introduction in the first act, one became

aware that we were seeing a wonderful actress on stage. When partnered by Paris in the ballroom scene you noticed

the tiny shocks to her body as Paris touched her. Then she saw Romeo and you saw her confusion. This was different

to the feelings that Paris had aroused in her.  

This was very much her own take on the role and if anyone is within a few miles of Plymouth on Saturday evening, get a ticket.

We have yet another wonderful Japanese BRB ballerina.

[alison]

Thank you, Tony.  It's always good to have reports on BRB.

[BristolBillyBob]

Hi all. Long time no speak, hope you're all doing well.

Just to add to the excellent-debuts-as-Juliet thread here, I am happy to report that Yaoqian Shang can be added to that list (assuming it was her debut, can anyone clarify?). I remarked after the show last night to my Ballet Buddy that it reminded me of the film version of Les Mis, where I spent every scene that didn't have Anne Hathaway in wishing that Anne Hathaway was in it, that's pretty much how I felt about Shang's performance yesterday. She lit up the stage whenever she was on, with musicality, technique and superb acting. Sounds like BRB have a wealth of female talent rocketing through the ranks, which is lovely to see. I usually like to focus on the positives, but I do confess to finding the show otherwise a touch flat yesterday. This might be me, though; R&J has never featured that highly on my ballet rankings, and I saw the superb Rambert2 the night before, who had such incredible energy and intensity that doing a spin class on ketamine to a soundtrack of industrial techno would feel like a Cup-a-Soup in a cardigan listening to The Archers in comparison, so perhaps I wasn't quite ready for the drop. 😄

Edited October 29, 2021 by BristolBillyBob

[CCL]

22 hours ago, Tony Newcombe said:

Now we know why Acosta promoted Yu Kurihara to soloist after only 5 minutes in the Company.She was absolutely sensational this afternoon .

I thought she was wonderful as Cinderella in the summer; I’d absolutely love to see her as Juliet!

[SheilaC]

All of us who have seen BRB casts have been blown away by the lead dancers.

So, if BRB is blessed with so many impressive soloists, why did they have to advertise so controversially for new soloists?

[maryrosesatonapin]

25 minutes ago, SheilaC said:

All of us who have seen BRB casts have been blown away by the lead dancers.

So, if BRB is blessed with so many impressive soloists, why did they have to advertise so controversially for new soloists?

A few of the men in the principal/soloist levels are getting near retirement age. And maybe Acosta knows something that we don't (about dancers' intentions).  It might seem 'controversial' to us who aren't in the know, but maybe to the actual members of BRB it's quite a normal and acceptable thing.  Time will tell!  I the meanwhile yes, it is wonderful to have so many good lead dancers to enjoy and I wish I could see more of them.  

[Odyssey]

Further to my comment higher up this thread regarding confusing casting information, due to localised flooding, I ended up swopping  my Thursday evening seats for last night. How lucky was I? I was fortunate to be able to see Yu Kurihara’s Juliet and I agree with Tony Newcombe’s assessment. Her interpretation was so convincing and beautifully nuanced. Her journey from shy, but curious, potential child bride to a passionate, desperate, but determined young woman was clearly mapped in her facial features and importantly in the varying responses to the other characters. Like Tony, I found the way she initially burst onto the stage giggling and slightly gauche was enchanting.. I loved her initial, besotted sight of Romeo in which she ‘drank him in’ , and credit to her strong technique in the final pas de deux where her limp body was chillingly almost too real. After a couple of shaky moments  in those early first lifts with Romeo, the partnership with Lachlan Monaghan was secure and became steadily more involving. His sensitive partnering and strong technique made for a very accomplished and believable Romeo. The remaining cast included some lovely  interpretations - Yvette Knight was a particularly fine Lady Capulet ((perhaps coached by Marion Tait who remains, for me, the touchstone ). I also enjoyed Shuailun Wu’s Mercutio, particularly in the third act , where he came across very much as the tragic clown. Valentin Olovyannikov‘s Tybalt perhaps could have done with some more light and shade, but I still found the heartless thug who idly stands by, enjoying the fatal result of his fight with Mercutio, a satisfactory interpretation. BRB is such a fine company, with a depth of talent that ensures there really isn’t a weak link. And with the Sinfonia’s superb playing, this was a pretty faultless performance.