Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker Winter 2021/22

[bangorballetboy]

3 minutes ago, Sim said:

Is that your bouquet she's holding, BBB?  It's beautiful!

 

It is, yes (and thanks).

[art_enthusiast]

8 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

This is the first time I've seen the production since the various recent changes have been made (indeed its only the second time I've seen the production live full stop). I prefer the Soliders & Mice being adults rather than children but am not so keen on the Arabian dance as a pdd.

 

Same, this was my first time seeing the RB's Nutcracker live in a long time. I also wasn't too keen on the Arabian Dance as a pas de deux, but I thought the battle scene was great and the Mouse King - who I believe was David Donnelly - gave an excellent performance.  Also enjoyed Romany's participation in the battle scene.

I had originally booked for Mayara's performance on the evening of the 23rd which had Joseph Sissens as the Nutcracker, as I was hoping to see him in this role. Still was glad to see Leo Dixon, he did an amazing job - after what I understand was a great deal of extra performances this season - and I got to see Joseph Sissens as the Soldier in the beginning, and in the Waltz of the Flowers. All the Rose Fairy escorts stood out to me: Joseph Aumeer, David Donnelly, Joonhyuk Jun, and Joseph Sissens of course.

Also enjoyed Stanislaw Wegrzyn's performance as Clara's partner and in the Chinese Dance with the brilliant Luca Acri. Stanislaw really stood out to me as one of the Poets/Thieves in the Dante Project (along with Joseph Sissens and many others), it was interesting to see him in something more light-hearted after that. Same with everyone else in the Dante Project (which is to me, one of the best ballet/dance productions I have ever seen in my life and I am currently watching the stream every day). Just goes to show how versatile the RB dancers are.

Also loved the Snowflakes - Marianna Tsembenhoi stood out to me again as she did in Giselle - and the Mirlitons were excellent. Also Meagan Grace Hinkis as the Rose Fairy. The main thing missing in the Snowflakes was the children singing - I feel like it adds so much to the magic of the piece, and the orchestra almost seemed to drown the recording out a bit.

Edited January 6, 2022 by art_enthusiast

[Rob S]

Overall I prefer the classic battle scene but one detail of the new one I love is the way the soldiers are leaning untidily in the fort but straighten up after the first gunfire and then of move towards the door with a lot of head wobbling 😆

[FionaM]

34 minutes ago, Rob S said:

one detail of the new one I love is the way the soldiers are leaning untidily in the fort but straighten up after the first gunfire and then of move towards the door with a lot of head wobbling 😆

yes that’s genius!

Edited January 6, 2022 by FionaE

[Dawnstar]

3 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

Whilst perhaps not my “best” pic from last night (some others can be seen on my Instragram), this is certainly my favourite!

 

I'm glad to see I'm not the only person who sometimes takes curtain call photos a bit late, as the curtain is coming in!

 

1 hour ago, art_enthusiast said:

All the Rose Fairy escorts stood out to me: Joseph Aumeer, David Donnelly, Joonhyuk Jun, and Joseph Sissens of course.

The main thing missing in the Snowflakes was the children singing - I feel like it adds so much to the magic of the piece, and the orchestra almost seemed to drown the recording out a bit.

 

I thought the 4 Escorts were very well matched, which isn't always the case for all-male pas de deuxs/trois/quatres (in general, not Nutcracker-specific).

 

Being at the side of the stalls circle near a speaker I could hear the singing fairly well but of course its not the same as it being live.

[bangorballetboy]

1 minute ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I'm glad to see I'm not the only person who sometimes takes curtain call photos a bit late, as the curtain is coming in!

 

 

I didn't take it "late", it was a planned shot (given where I was sitting)!  The curtains can make a lovely frame (but it's very difficult to get the colour, given the brightness of the stage)

[Dawnstar]

2 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

I didn't take it "late", it was a planned shot (given where I was sitting)!  The curtains can make a lovely frame (but it's very difficult to get the colour, given the brightness of the stage)

 My apologies. When I take shots like that they are definitely not planned!

[bangorballetboy]

25 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 My apologies. When I take shots like that they are definitely not planned!

 

No offence caused or taken!

 

Here’s another that I like:

 

[Rob S]

On 05/01/2022 at 08:42, Bluebird said:

Full cast for tonight, Jan 5, now on ROH website:

 

https://www.roh.org.uk/events/80k3a

 

Edited to add that casts for the other performances this week are also on the website. They're, presumably, all subject to change:

Jan 6: https://www.roh.org.uk/events/0tk5b

Jan 7 https://www.roh.org.uk/events/c8rhm

Jan 8 matinée https://www.roh.org.uk/events/wqpea

Jan 8 evening https://www.roh.org.uk/events/bj2li

Can I ask how you find these particular cast lists on the ROH website? They don’t seem to have long life as none of the links work now though they did yesterday. Is it because we keep mocking the glaring errors? 😆 I wanted to check whether it was originally going to be Gina Storm Jensen as Rose Fairy tonight or another night as we have Leticia Dias tonight now according to the published on the day version 

[Fiz]

13 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

I can still hardly believe how lucky I was to see tonight's (is it now last night's as it's now 4am?!) Nutcracker cast. My original Nutcracker plan involved booking both performances on 22nd December to see Mayara Magri debut as the Sugar Plum Fairy at the matinee & Romany Pajdak debut as Clara in the evening. When omicrom got going I cut myself down to just the matinee, then lost even that. Tonight as both of them debuted at the same performance so I got 2 for 1! I'm so pleased that both of them did finally get to make their debuts & I thought they both gave excellent performances.

 

This is the first time I've seen the production since the various recent changes have been made (indeed its only the second time I've seen the production live full stop). I prefer the Soliders & Mice being adults rather than children but am not so keen on the Arabian dance as a pdd.

 

I hesitate to post curtain call photos after @Rob S's as-usual-perfect ones but for once most of my photos actually came out in focus (apart from Drosselmeyer & his glitter) & they are, literally, a different angle to Rob's so:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@Dawnstar, are you on Instagram under another name? I think we might be following each other. The Instagrammer loves ballet and flowers. 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Fiz
Punctuation mistake

[Bluebird]

15 minutes ago, Rob S said:

Can I ask how you find these particular cast lists on the ROH website? They don’t seem to have long life as none of the links work now though they did yesterday. Is it because we keep mocking the glaring errors? 😆 I wanted to check whether it was originally going to be Gina Storm Jensen as Rose Fairy tonight or another night as we have Leticia Dias tonight now according to the published on the day version 

Your memory is correct. Gina was listed as Rose Fairy for this evening.  I’m able to check as I copied and pasted the casts into word documents before they disappeared. I had originally found them by clicking on ‘view casting’ on my e-tickets for each performance.

[alison]

We have a rather "on-off" thread about bouquets for dancers, so I've moved the discussion of flowers into it so it's easier to find in the future:

 

 

[Dawnstar]

1 hour ago, Fiz said:

@Dawnstar, are you on Instagram under another name? I think we might be following each other. The Instagrammer loves ballet and flowers. 

 

My Instragram username is aurora_estella_. It's sort of the same name, as its the Latin version of Dawnstar.

 

I hope everyone at tonight's Nutcracker enjoys the debuts as much as I enjoyed last night's debuts.

Edited January 6, 2022 by Dawnstar

[Fiz]

I thought so! Hi! 👋

[Rob S]

Is it Sae Maeda’s Clara debut? She’s been great 😊 

[capybara]

Nice little front of curtain speech from Kevin tonight acknowledging the SPF and Prince debuts and thanking the audience for its support.

[Dawnstar]

16 minutes ago, capybara said:

Nice little front of curtain speech from Kevin tonight acknowledging the SPF and Prince debuts and thanking the audience for its support.

 

He did something similar yesterday, though I thought it was a pity he only said it was Magri's debut & didn't say that it was also Pajdak's.

[capybara]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

 

He did something similar yesterday, though I thought it was a pity he only said it was Magri's debut & didn't say that it was also Pajdak's.

Kevin’s front of curtain appearances are usually related to casting involving Principals. 
The cast change announcements included names already on the latest sheet.

 

Highlights for me tonight were:

Sae Maeda as Clara - enchanting

Anna Rose O’Sullivan - sparkling as the SPF, especially her solo variation

Leticia Dias - owning the stage as the Rose Fairy

The stunning and well-matched line-up of Rose Fairy escorts (Richardson; Dixon; Bracewell; Edmonds)

Romany Pajdak in the Arabian Dance

 

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by capybara

[DanJL]

A wonderful evening, so glad the debuts all went ahead and I felt confident enough to travel! So much excitement to see how Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé danced - I agree with capybara that O'Sullivan was sparkling, perfect word to describe her performance! And a really lovely Clara from Sae Maeda. I was very glad to see Leticia Dias's Rose Fairy too, always a lovely dancer to watch. Basically I agree with pretty much everything capybara said! 😊

[Lizbie1]

9 minutes ago, capybara said:

The stunning and well-matched line-up of Rose Fairy escorts (Richardson; Dixon; Bracewell; Edmonds)

 

That is indeed quite a line-up!

[Rob S]

Sumina Sasaki has confirmed it was Sae Maeda’s Clara debut 👏

[alison]

2 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

He did something similar yesterday, though I thought it was a pity he only said it was Magri's debut & didn't say that it was also Pajdak's.

 

Although I think that was mainly because of the last-minute cast changes, whereas Pajdak's was a scheduled performance.

[Rob S]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[San Perregrino]

I’m curious to know if Marcie Sambé last night was the first non-blond Sugarplum Prince? In all the other performances I’ve seen this season the Prince has been wearing the frosted blond wig. 

Edited January 7, 2022 by prs59

[Anna C]

The Sugarplum Prince (and Princess, come to that) haven’t always been blonde, just “frosted” (which I prefer).  In my 2000 Royal Ballet DVD, Yoshida and Cope (both dark haired) have their own hair which is just glittered - as Marcelino’s seems to be in the photos.  It looks much better, in my humble opinion.

[Jan McNulty]

4 minutes ago, Anna C said:

  It looks much better, in my humble opinion.

 

I couldn't agree more Anna!

[alison]

I'd meant to comment, re the Wednesday performance, how particularly delighted Gary Avis had looked to be back on stage.  Had he missed a lot of his scheduled Drosselmeyer performances prior to the cancellations, or was it just reaction to being back after 2 weeks of cancellations?

[LinMM]

I prefer the hair glittered as well I hate the blonde wigs!! 

[Rob S]

21 minutes ago, alison said:

I'd meant to comment, re the Wednesday performance, how particularly delighted Gary Avis had looked to be back on stage.  Had he missed a lot of his scheduled Drosselmeyer performances prior to the cancellations, or was it just reaction to being back after 2 weeks of cancellations?

 

I'm not a veteran ballet goer but as Drosselmeyer he seems to be like that all the time, for his glittery red runs he does seem to jump up while doing them now...first time I saw evidence of him doing that was his second performance last year...he'd forgotten to do it at the performance I went to as they only did the first small red run not the full one.  I have a list of his cancelled performances that I was due to see: 22/12 and 31/12. He was replaced once before cancellations for family reasons.

[Tango Dancer]

38 minutes ago, LinMM said:

I prefer the hair glittered as well I hate the blonde wigs!! 

Me too Marci looks so much better with natural hair with a bit of sparkle. But then I don't think that blond Prince wig suits anyone in RB.  Someone (I can't remember who) said Vadim looked like a Lannister in it and he at least has the right colouring for it.   It does him no favours at all.  It looks even worse on most of the BAME dancers.  It's the only thing I don't like about this production.

[Fonty]

16 minutes ago, Tango Dancer said:

 But then I don't think that blond Prince wig suits anyone in RB.  Someone (I can't remember who) said Vadim looked like a Lannister in it and he at least has the right colouring for it.   It does him no favours at all.  

 

Who or what is a Lannister?  

I agree about those horrible wigs, I think we have this discussion every time the Nutcracker is shown.  A bit of glitter on their own hair is all that is required.

[Rob S]

Is there a time when even the Rose Fairy escorts wore the blond wigs? Maybe we'll see the Prince go to sparkly own hair regardless of skin colour in a few years 

[capybara]

Agree about the glitter being better than the wigs which have looked inappropriate for years, not only on dancers with naturally darker colouring/hair but on pretty much every Prince. [I think that every definition of a lannister (referred to by Tango Dancer) is uncomplimentary!!!]. The wigs for the Rose Fairy escorts were ditched long ago so the next outing would be a good moment to re-style the Princes.

 

Unfortunately, last night, Marcelino had something at the back of his head which looked like a white sticky plaster rather than the ribbon it was presumably supposed to be.

And I would actually have preferred Anna Rose with her own hair as well, not least because the wig added at least 30mm to her height and that was not helpful in relation to her partner.