Royal Ballet's Giselle - Autumn 2021

[Dawnstar]

I'm guessing the crush bar TV will only be a distant fixed camera? I'm not sure that's that much better than missing it altogether. The only other time I've ever been late for the ROH, years ago, I got put at the back of one of the boxes until the interval, which was actually a better view than my amphi seat, but I can't believe that sort of luck happens more than once!

 

ETA Of course the train I'm on is now running late!

Edited November 10, 2021 by Dawnstar

[bridiem]

Both the performances I've been at have started 5 minutes late (unusually for the ROH) so let's hope that happens again tonight and you get there in time! Good luck.

[Lizbie1]

2 minutes ago, bridiem said:

Both the performances I've been at have started 5 minutes late (unusually for the ROH) so let's hope that happens again tonight and you get there in time! Good luck.

 

I don't think that's at all unusual for the ROH nowadays - late restarts after the interval are now normal too 😤

[Anna C]

Given the scarcity/absence of ushers in the Stalls at my last two visits, you might be lucky and be able to slip in unnoticed, Dawnstar.  It’s horrible worrying that you’re going to be late - good luck!

[capybara]

Stalls Circle A98 is the third seat from the access point, unfortunately.

There are problems with parts of the tube tonight too.

Fingers crossed that you’ll make it in time.

[Rob S]

Fingers crossed for you Dawnstar 🤞 As said above the two performances I’ve been to both started five minutes late and then someone was let in to the Stalls Circle by me five minutes in to the actual performance 

[Lizbie1]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

I'm guessing the crush bar TV will only be a distant fixed camera? I'm not sure that's that much better than missing it altogether. The only other time I've ever been late for the ROH, years ago, I got put at the back of one of the boxes until the interval, which was actually a better view than my amphi seat, but I can't believe that sort of luck happens more than once!

 

ETA Of course the train I'm on is now running late!

 

Well...?

[Dawnstar]

I just made it! Got to my seat dead on 7.30pm. Though it evidently didn't start dead on time. Not having had time for a last minute cast reminder, I spent much of the first act trying to identify who was who in the smaller roles.

Edited November 10, 2021 by Dawnstar

[Lizbie1]

Hurrah!

[LinMM]

Hi Dawnstar once I had a similar problem for a triple opening with one of my favourite short ballets Concerto.  I was devastated that I got to ROH 15 mins after the start and after a hugely stressful journey 😱

I was supposed to be sitting in the front Amphi in row C I think it was but a central seat but I struck lucky with this attendant as she said quick come with me and took me to the Grand Tier and let me stand at the back. I’d never been there before and don’t think you were supposed to be standing there but she let me anyway and I had a great view for the remainder of that ballet before making way to Amphi. 

[maryrosesatonapin]

56 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

I just made it! Got to my seat dead on 7.30pm. Though it evidently didn't start dead on time. Not having had time for a last minute cast reminder, I spent much of the first act trying to identify who was who in the smaller roles.

Yay!  We were all sending you good zen, @Dawnstar!

 

[Sim]

Well that was something special.  So beautifully pure, and so very moving.  
 

Naghdi/Ball/Nuñez.   For me, the perfect trio.   Stunning.   

[capybara]

Yasmine Naghdi tonight in a (world) class of her own for me as Giselle. Simply outstanding from her.

[Dawnstar]

It is really not my day for trains! Got to Kings Cross only to find my train cancelled. Now to hang around for half an hour & hope the next one runs. If this is going to be a regular occurence this winter (already had it after an R&J last month) then I may have to re-think my ROH attendance.

[maryrosesatonapin]

2 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

It is really not my day for trains! Got to Kings Cross only to find my train cancelled. Now to hang around for half an hour & hope the next one runs. If this is going to be a regular occurence this winter (already had it after an R&J last month) then I may have to re-think my ROH attendance.

Simply awful!  There should be a 'match ballet buddies' thread on here for people to team up for journeys - to commiserate, or share driving, or something!

[Dawnstar]

21 minutes ago, Sim said:

Well that was something special.  So beautifully pure, and so very moving.  

 

How moving is Giselle meant to be? Is one supposed to cry watching it, like R&J? Because I didn't feel like crying tonight & I'm feeling guilty that I didn't.

 

7 minutes ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

Simply awful!  There should be a 'match ballet buddies' thread on here for people to team up for journeys - to commiserate, or share driving, or something!

 

I don't own a car so I'm entirely reliant on trains, my mother having flatly refused any suggestions of me borrowing hers. Admittedly I am an infrequent & untalented driver!

Edited November 10, 2021 by Dawnstar

[maryrosesatonapin]

9 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

How moving is Giselle meant to be? Is one supposed to cry watching it, like R&J? Because I didn't feel like crying tonight & I'm feeling guilty that I didn't.

 

Oh Dawnstar, don't feel guilty!  There are many and various reasons why one might feel moved during a performance.  It could be just your frame of mind at that moment, or maybe the performers just didn't touch your soul that day.  I am always taken by surprise when I shed tears during a ballet - it isn't planned or expected, it just happens (or not).  Then again, enjoyment doesn't necessarily involve tears.

[alison]

23 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

How moving is Giselle meant to be? Is one supposed to cry watching it, like R&J? Because I didn't feel like crying tonight & I'm feeling guilty that I didn't.

 

Nor did I, and I don't   Not that I usually cry at R&J either, now I come to think of it.

[zxDaveM]

can't deny it - I just love watching Yasmine Naghdi dancing. Every step, every tiny movement, every expression, imbued with beautiful grace. As just one example, that bit where Albrecht in kneeling and Giselle comes up behind him, gently rests her hand on his shoulder, and his arm goes back, and her leg matches it perfectly - I had definitely stopped breathing at that point, and was just waiting for my heart to either stop or explode.... Oh, and that penche - I couldn't detect the fainest hint of a wobble

To my eyes, every performance of her Giselle is more nuanced than the last, the steps have more elegance, the flow more graceful, the exchanges and expressions between her and Albrecht ache with meaning.

Basically, I want to see her again!! My fave dancer in my fave story ballet - what's not to love

[Dawnstar]

@maryrosesatonapin I don't think it was the performers. Unless I have a very different reaction to the other 2 casts I'm booked for, I'm tentatively attributing it to the music. It just didn't seem enough at times. For instance, when Bathilde held Giselle's dead body in her arms at the end of Act 1 it reminded me of Lady Capulet with the dead Tybalt at the end of Act 2. But compared to Prokofiev's searing, heart-rending music Adam's wasn't in the same league. There were also several occasions in Act 2 where I was conscious I wanted the music to be more emotive to match the situation. Admittedly the dancing-to-death music was very good & that's what's currently in my head.

[Sim]

55 minutes ago, capybara said:

Yasmine Naghdi tonight in a (world) class of her own for me as Giselle. Simply outstanding from her.

Totally agree.  She was of this world and out of this world.  Simply sublime.  

[zxDaveM]

1 hour ago, capybara said:

Yasmine Naghdi tonight in a (world) class of her own for me as Giselle. Simply outstanding from her.

 

spot on!

[zxDaveM]

3 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

I just made it! Got to my seat dead on 7.30pm. Though it evidently didn't start dead on time.

 

most performances will start at 7.33pm (unless they are having trouble getting the posh folk out of the crush bar if there is a 'do' on, when it might be a little later)

[ninamargaret]

Well, she managed to produce tears in this hardened old biddy and that was just the brief rehearsal! Probably just as well I wasn't at the performance. Look forward to the streaming.

[Rob S]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1️⃣2️⃣

[FionaM]

So pleased to read all your reports of a super performance by Yasmine … as I was disappointed to read Alistair Macauley who writes on IG that she “dances and acts everything very respectable, not very grippingly.”  
 

He then goes on to marvel at Matthew Ball’s performance.  

 

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CWHb0MaoTl3/?utm_medium=copy_link

[zxDaveM]

9 minutes ago, FionaE said:

Alistair Macauley who writes on IG that she “dances and acts everything very respectable, not very grippingly.”  
 

 

perhaps he should go to Carpetright instead...

[Dawnstar]

@Rob S Perfect photos as usual. On the train home I went fromt deleting all my hopelessly blurry photos - which was most of them - to seeing all your perfect pictures on Instagram. I would have probably hurled my camera out of the train window in despair were it not that I was on a train without openable windows!

[Rob S]

4 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

@Rob S Perfect photos as usual. On the train home I went fromt deleting all my hopelessly blurry photos - which was most of them - to seeing all your perfect pictures on Instagram. I would have probably hurled my camera out of the train window in despair were it not that I was on a train without openable windows!

Your version of my third photo above looks fine!! 

[bridiem]

8 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

@maryrosesatonapin I don't think it was the performers. Unless I have a very different reaction to the other 2 casts I'm booked for, I'm tentatively attributing it to the music. It just didn't seem enough at times. For instance, when Bathilde held Giselle's dead body in her arms at the end of Act 1 it reminded me of Lady Capulet with the dead Tybalt at the end of Act 2. But compared to Prokofiev's searing, heart-rending music Adam's wasn't in the same league. There were also several occasions in Act 2 where I was conscious I wanted the music to be more emotive to match the situation. Admittedly the dancing-to-death music was very good & that's what's currently in my head.

 

I'm aware that the music for Giselle doesn't have the best reputation, but I absolutely love it. It seems to me to be the perfect accompaniment for and expression of what you're seeing on stage, and the rhythms and melodies have become part of my consciousness. I suppose the best ballet music stands on its own in a way that Giselle probably doesn't; but since I'm hearing it in a theatre, watching the ballet, that doesn't matter at all to me.

[serenade]

8 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

I'm aware that the music for Giselle doesn't have the best reputation, but I absolutely love it.

I love it too, it’s one of my absolute favourite ballet scores. Usually I am alone at the ballet but a time I went with my friend who said about the Giselle score:..meh…it was ok! I couldn’t believe it as the music blows me away every time 😂 

 

Anyway, I am very excited to see it on Friday and thank you everyone on this thread for the reviews and photos.

[JohnS]

First Giselle this run I’ve seen and a fabulous performance. I thought Act 2 astonishing and Marianela Nunez’s Myrtha spine-chilling (although I wish there hadn’t been any applause at her first entry). She, Moyna (Olivia Cowley), Zulme (Melissa Hamilton) and the Wilis provided a perfect foil for Yasmine Naghdi’s Giselle, offering such a contrast to that of the Wilis and delivering the most touching of endings. 

 

I was not as taken with Act 1 on this occasion but that’s largely because I’ve seen stronger PD6s. Looking forward very much to the relay.

[maryrosesatonapin]

3 hours ago, serenade said:

I love it too, it’s one of my absolute favourite ballet scores. Usually I am alone at the ballet but a time I went with my friend who said about the Giselle score:..meh…it was ok! I couldn’t believe it as the music blows me away every time 😂 

 

Anyway, I am very excited to see it on Friday and thank you everyone on this thread for the reviews and photos.

The music to 'Giselle' is pretty but shallow, with banal harmonies and musical sequences.  That's the only reason that 'Giselle' isn't my absolute favourite ballet, as the story and choreography are exquisite.