Ballet at Opera de Paris

[Amelia]

The streaming of "Le Rouge et le Noir” by Pierre Lacotte from Opera de Paris is still available. Hurry up, it may end soon.

https://my.mail.ru/mail/viktorlaskin/video/_myvideo/63543.html

 

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by Amelia
typo

[maryrosesatonapin]

6 hours ago, Amelia said:

The streaming of "Le Rouge et le Noir” by Pierre Lacotte from Opera de Paris is still available. Hurry up, it may end soon.

https://my.mail.ru/mail/viktorlaskin/video/_myvideo/63543.html

 

 

Thank you so much for this alert, Amelia.  I love it!  I am sure that fans of Akram Khan and Wayne Mcgregor will consider this new ballet 'old fashioned' but I found it utterly charming.  The nearly-90-year-old choreographer has gifted us with not only a beautiful realisation of this great work of literature, the story clearly told, but also designed the sumptuous costumes and the exquisite monochrome scenery.  I was hooked right from the scene in the garden where the new tutor teaches his three little charges how to dance.  Unforgettable.  Massenet's score was lush and as for the dancing.... such elegance and technical accomplishment.  Just wow.

[Rina]

Thank you for this Amelia. It made for an interesting Saturday night in. I'm glad I saw it but confess to being bored for long stretches. Gorgeous spectacle and costumes can only take one so far. He is a fluent choreographer who can marshal large forces, and make very pretty dances, but but overall his is a rather bloodless, anodyne style which is not enough to convey the strong emotions of the story. I found the way he lurched from a rather correct classical idiom to something like MacMillan but without the emotional pull and then to a vaguely embarrassing expressionist style somewhat disconcerting. If I say that he includes a dance for 20 seminarians in black cassocks involving prayer-like gestures and rolling on the floor, you might get a flavour. Oh and the dance of the saluting hussars with suggestions of hobby horses. And the scene where the lady of the house flies in across the stage like a Wili from Giselle (!) Rather an indulgence for M. Lacotte I concluded. Great dancing though - some wonderfully arched feet.

[Rina]

Just noticed that the video is still up. If you have half an hour to spare I'd recommend the scene near the beginning entitled "Renal family garden" (begins at 19.39) - for me the most successful part of the two and half hours. Lacotte deftly introduces us to M. and Mme. Renal and their three children, and their new tutor. Needless to say, Mme Renal and a maid both fall in love with the tutor at first sight (shades of Month in the Country). The tutor gives dancing lessons to the children who invite their parents to dance solos. We then see solos from the tutor, and maid, a pdd between husband and wife and a final pdd between the tutor and the Mme Renal. Musicality very evident, a delightful Romantic-ballet style, and some wit in an interlude with an errant husband flirting with two ladies. It's after that that it loses its coherence and interest for me.

[maryrosesatonapin]

Conversely, my interest was held throughout, and of course the ballet would be even more riveting if seen live. I thoroughly enjoyed the cavorting priests! So irreverent - a typical French mix of the serious and the profane.  I disagree that there was anything anodyne or bloodless  - the final pas de deux between Hugo Marchand and Dorotheé Gilbert, accompanied by a yearning cello and harp, was extremely moving.  In fact there were many beautiful pas de deux throughout, as well as a huge variety of group dances varying from the traditional to the modern with stylish harmony.  This was a real treat with moments of passion, wit, drama and poetry; I would love to see it in Paris when possible.

[alison]

Thank you, all: it's good to have some feedback from POB for a change.

[jmhopton]

This ballet now seems to have been taken down.😒

[Amelia]

"... taken down"?

 

No, it is still available.

[jmhopton]

Apologies! I sent the link to a friend a few days ago and when he tried it a day or 2 ago he said he couldn't get the link to work. I searched under POB on YouTube and couldn't find it but have just thought to try the Forum link and found it. Incidentally there is still a POB WBD link to excerpts if you want a taster before trying the real thing.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAdL5IC5Jxc&t=274s

 

However, while searching for a plot synopsis I found an article that said it is going to be released at cinemas later in the year. Might be good on a big screen.

 

I watched it and quite enjoyed it (a bit more to my taste than The Creature and possibly Dante though I haven't seen the latter yet. Am waiting for the streaming) it does go on a bit in parts with ( think) too many divertissements. I'm sure it would be a tighter ballet with 30 minutes shaved off it. However, it is very opulent, the music is pleasant and Lacotte designed the sets and costumes as well. Will need to see it again to really appreciate it and work out what's going on though it is reasonably self-explanatory. I thought the New York review was quite perceptive and picked up several of my thoughts re the ballet itself and POB dancers. I'll include it here though it was probably previously included in the daily review section.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/18/arts/dance/the-red-and-the-black-review-paris-opera-ballet.html