Birmingham Royal Ballet: Carlos Acosta's new production of Don Quixote, 2022

[LinMM]

It’s just been announced by BRB that some dancers who have been dancing in Don Q have been promoted to First soloist. 
I was amazed that Beatrice Parma was one of them as can’t believe after last night that she wasn’t at a higher level already!! 
The others are Yu Kurihara Max Maslen and Lachlan Monaghan. 

[DoctorDerry]

We went to the Thursday matinee and had a terrific time. Carlos Acosta was sitting n our row… he looked as if he enjoyed it as much as we did.Loved the exuberance ,the colour, and the great technique displayed.We left feeling happy and so very glad we had gone on such a warm day. Made the train journey home quite tolerable.Everyone sitting near us said what a great time they had had.

[maryrosesatonapin]

I was at last night's performance when the weather in London felt more like Spain.  Momoko Hirata is one of my favourite dancers of all time but I did wonder what kind of a Kitri she would make, given that she is more Odette than Odile and her best role IMO is Giselle.  She seems so sweet and the nearest thing to a fairy that any human being could be!  However she was a very stylish and flirtatious Kitri who filled the stage in spite of being so tiny.  Other stand-outs were Brandon Lawrence and Sofia Liñares. I thought the windmill scenery the best I've seen.  There was a lot of reference to Don Q's rather lost, pitiable state and although one doesn't expect to get moved during this fun ballet I did feel his character was given more depth than it often is. The audience were very appreciative throughout.

 

Well done BRB, well done Carlos Acosta (who again was in the audience, not far from us).

[Emeralds]

21 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Are you going tomorrow? My finger crossings for no cast changes for tomrrow's matinee are for Lachlan Monaghan, Jonathan Payn & Laura Day. Everyone else I'm not so worried about.

Yes 😀

[Tango Dancer]

17 hours ago, LinMM said:

It’s just been announced by BRB that some dancers who have been dancing in Don Q have been promoted to First soloist. 
I was amazed that Beatrice Parma was one of them as can’t believe after last night that she wasn’t at a higher level already!! 
The others are Yu Kurihara Max Maslen and Lachlan Monaghan. 

 

Yu Kurihara definitely deserves it based on her performance on Wednesday.  I was surprised she wasn't one already. She was brilliant as Mercedes and the Queen Dryad. I'm so pleased for her.  

[Jan McNulty]

3 hours ago, Tango Dancer said:

 

Yu Kurihara definitely deserves it based on her performance on Wednesday.  I was surprised she wasn't one already. She was brilliant as Mercedes and the Queen Dryad. I'm so pleased for her.  

She is brilliant but, believe it or not, she has only been with the company 4 years!  She was double promoted from artist to soloist only last year.

 

I just hope against hope that she doesn’t burn out with all the pressure that seems to go with such fast-tracked promotion.

 

I’m very pleased for all 4 of the promotions - all well deserved.

[art_enthusiast]

I have a spare ticket for this tonight in case anyone is interested

[Dawnstar]

11 hours ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

I was at last night's performance when the weather in London felt more like Spain.  

 

Ditto today. I found myself thinking during Act 1 that the dancers must be pleased that fans feature so prominently in the production!

[alison]

Angel station is closed. Again. Would have been helpful if this could have been mentioned at some stage on the northern line between London bridge and kings cross 😞

[Dawnstar]

As no-one seems to have posted any curtain call photos from the Sadler's Wells run, here are some of mine from this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

(Not a good photo but the least bad of my 3 attempts at Sancho Panza & Don Quixote.)

 

 

 

 

[maryrosesatonapin]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

As no-one seems to have posted any curtain call photos from the Sadler's Wells run, here are some of mine from this afternoon.

I didn't think you were allowed to at Sadler's Wells, which is why I didn't take any.  I've seen people getting told off before!  But you got away with it Dawnstar   It's nice to be reminded of the beautiful costumes.

[capybara]

7 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I just hope against hope that she doesn’t burn out with all the pressure that seems to go with such fast-tracked promotion.

 

 On the basis of tonight’s performance (as well as Wednesday’s), it looks as if the lovely Yu Kurihara will cope very well with the pressure.

[Sim]

Wasn’t she wonderful?!  She and Brandon looked great together.  So elegant and so much chemistry. I really enjoyed Alex Yap’s Espada too; a great way to sign off!  And a special mention for Laura Day as Sancho Panza.  Funny, nuanced, full of character and warmth…brilliant!  
 

The whole company projected a beautiful sense of fun and sheer joy in what they were doing. Big bravo to all of them!  👏👏

[Dawnstar]

8 hours ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

I didn't think you were allowed to at Sadler's Wells, which is why I didn't take any.  I've seen people getting told off before!  But you got away with it Dawnstar   It's nice to be reminded of the beautiful costumes.

 

I asked the FOH staff the last 2 times I was at Sadler's Wells - for Singin' In The Rain last year & Alina Cojocaru the year before that - and on each occasion I was told that it was okay, so I assumed it was this time too.

[Richard LH]

At the Thursday matinee I had the rather embarrassing experience of  being the only person applauding when Yaoqian Shang first entered the stage as Kitri. ☺️ 

I thought I might set off at least a little ripple, but no, nothing.

I was wondering if this has been the same at the other performances?

Is applauding the entrance of main characters  not the done thing at Sadlers Wells, or with the BRB?

[Sim]

14 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

At the Thursday matinee I had the rather embarrassing experience of  being the only person applauding when Yaoqian Shang first entered the stage as Kitri. ☺️ 

I thought I might set off at least a little ripple, but no, nothing.

I was wondering if this has been the same at the other performances?

Is applauding the entrance of main characters  not the done thing at Sadlers Wells, or with the BRB?

Everyone applauded the leads’ entrances last night!

[Richard LH]

1 hour ago, Sim said:

Everyone applauded the leads’ entrances last night!

Good to hear! Perhaps the lack of an entrance reaction at the Thursday matinee was just a one-off then. At least there was plenty of enthusiastic applause at the end.

Edited July 10, 2022 by Richard LH

[capybara]

1 hour ago, Sim said:

Everyone applauded the leads’ entrances last night!

 

I think that there was a quite a large number of people in the audience last night who knew the ballet and the leading dancers and were poised ready to clap their entrances. I was determined to do so as the applause on opening night had been rather weak for Hirata and, IIRC, non-existent for Dingman. 

 

Interestingly, both Kurihara and Lawrence came on in such a lovely, warm 'here I am' way that it would have been difficult not to welcome them!

 

I think that the audiences in Birmingham - again with regulars aplenty - clapped Kitri and Basilio on too.

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by capybara

[Sim]

7 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

Good to hear! Perhaps the lack of an entrance reaction at the Thursday matinee was just a one-off then. At least there was plenty of enthusiastic applause at the end.

Sometimes matinee audiences are quieter than night audiences.  I notice this a lot at the ROH.  

[Emeralds]

1 hour ago, Richard LH said:

At the Thursday matinee I had the rather embarrassing experience of  being the only person applauding when Yaoqian Shang first entered the stage as Kitri. ☺️ 

I thought I might set off at least a little ripple, but no, nothing.

I was wondering if this has been the same at the other performances?

Is applauding the entrance of main characters  not the done thing at Sadlers Wells, or with the BRB?

Oddly enough, it was eerily silent for both the Kitri and Basilio entrances in a full house on Friday night (Hirata, Dingman) but enthusiastic applause for both Kitri and Basilio entrances (Kurihara, Lawrence) on a more sparsely filled Saturday night. I too started to applaud but stopped when I noticed the silence! I think it’s a reflection on the ratio of newbies and occasional attendees (who might include sponsors) to the number of fans & veteran dance watchers in the audience.

Edited July 10, 2022 by Emeralds

[Emeralds]

12 hours ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

I didn't think you were allowed to at Sadler's Wells, which is why I didn't take any.  I've seen people getting told off before!  But you got away with it Dawnstar   It's nice to be reminded of the beautiful costumes.

Never been told off at Sadler’s Wells but at Barbican Theatre an usher (who was admittedly right next to my Stalls row) jumped in like a hawk when I took curtain call photos after Akram Khan’s Dust - and I was being remarkably restrained not taking curtain call photos of No Man’s Land too (first ballet on the programme, and Cojocaru and Takahashi were both in it)! I guess they weren’t used to ballet fans. 😀

 

At Don Q, a couple of fans in the gods were trying to take a photo of Hirata and Dingman after every single solo ! 😮 I suppose at least they weren’t trying to photograph or video the actual dancing......

[Jan McNulty]

Clapping entrances is extremely unusual for BRB (and indeed NB) both in their home theatres and on tour.

[capybara]

1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said:

Clapping entrances is extremely unusual for BRB (and indeed NB) both in their home theatres and on tour.

Also unusual with ENB.

But there was definitely clapping when I watched Don Q in Birmingham.

[Jan McNulty]

44 minutes ago, capybara said:

Also unusual with ENB.

But there was definitely clapping when I watched Don Q in Birmingham.

 

Were you watching the guests?

[capybara]

1 minute ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

Were you watching the guests?

 

Yes!

But I personally would have been clapping the home team too, as I did as SW.

[Jan McNulty]

20 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

Yes!

But I personally would have been clapping the home team too, as I did as SW.

 

I suppose I was too influenced by the late Christopher Gable when he was AD of Northern Ballet - he preferred no clapping until the end.  For a warhorse like Don Q there are a few places when I would spontaneously applaud but not on entrances.

[Odyssey]

On 09/07/2022 at 12:11, Tango Dancer said:

 

Yu Kurihara definitely deserves it based on her performance on Wednesday.  I was surprised she wasn't one already. She was brilliant as Mercedes and the Queen Dryad. I'm so pleased for her.  

I saw her dance Kitri in Plymouth earlier this year ( I think it was her debut). I was mightily impressed and am so pleased to hear of her promotion. So much talent in the junior ranks of this company.

[CCL]

Back to the dancing…Friday evening’s performance was an absolute tonic after a long, hot and tiring day at work. It was utterly joyful and I felt spoiled by how much bravura dancing was on display! Momoka Hirata was a delight and had wonderful chemistry with Matthias Dingman, who I don’t feel I’ve seen dancing enough before now. It was just wonderful to see them and the entire company so clearly enjoying every minute of being on stage. I loved it all and the rapturous audience response was hugely well deserved. Bravo BRB!

[RobR]

16 hours ago, CCL said:

Back to the dancing…Friday evening’s performance was an absolute tonic after a long, hot and tiring day at work. It was utterly joyful and I felt spoiled by how much bravura dancing was on display! Momoka Hirata was a delight and had wonderful chemistry with Matthias Dingman, who I don’t feel I’ve seen dancing enough before now. It was just wonderful to see them and the entire company so clearly enjoying every minute of being on stage. I loved it all and the rapturous audience response was hugely well deserved. Bravo BRB!

It was great fun - really enjoyable 😀

[alison]

I felt that Saturday night's performance (Kurihara, Lawrence, Zhang and Yap - with Payn and Day as Don Q and Panza) topped the lot - at least, of the ones I'd seen.  This Kitri and Basilio felt like the most credible couple, and the whole cast were having a ball.  End-of-season high-jinks, perhaps?  Incidentally, although I wasn't as close to the stage as with some casts, I felt I picked up a lot more expression and interpretation.

 

I must admit, when Acosta originally announced that he'd be mounting his Don Q on the company I was a bit dubious as to how good a fit it would be, but they all seem to have risen to the challenge well.

[Emeralds]

Another one here adding to the chorus of approval and admiration for BRB and their wonderful performances in their new production of Don Quixote, and huge thanks to Carlos Acosta for recognising that the BRB dancers would be incredible in it. 

 

We went for the only 2 dates we could make it for - Friday and Saturday nights, breaking my rule of “don’t go to the same show in two consecutive days” in the process too. (My original plan had been to catch both Thursday shows and Saturday night, but couldn’t because of a clash of commitments.)

 

Friday’s cast (almost identical to opening night apart from the roles of Amour and Mercedes) was a luxury cast of 3 principals, 2 newly designated  principals (Shang & Mizutani) and a host of talented soloists and character artists giving their all in a five-star scintillating performance.  Momoko Hirata and Mathias Dingman were charm and wit personified as Kitri and Basilio, with virtuosity to match any big names at Covent Garden, New York, Milan, Melbourne, Paris, San Francisco and elsewhere. Those stunning one and a quarter fouettés that Momoko produced - the last time I saw those was at ENB’s Swan Lake in the round (to enable Odile to face each section of the audience at least once) - were spectacular, as was her Act 1 solo. Mathias simply appears to hang in the air in his jumps, and they have great chemistry as well as charm in their acting. I also love that both don’t display “stunts” to show off, but perform them to articulate the story and the music.

 

The two changes I noticed  in this BRB production (cf his Royal Ballet production) were the pas de deux for Kitri and Basilio in front of the windmills at the start of Act 2, and of course the change in the role of Amour to one for a man. Acosta has restored the music used for a flamenco-inspired dance in Act 2 for Kitri and Basilio’s pas de deux at the start and thankfully ditched the La Bayadere score used in his version for the Royal Ballet. It’s a more flamboyant and romantic pas de deux, with sweeping lifts, and suits the ballet better. Our Amour was Max Maslen; possibly the only dancer in photos or real life that I’ve seen so far who suits the gold tunic and wreath headdress designed for the character. He danced it with the requisite speed in the footwork, leaps and turns, and lightness in the jumps, and looks truly like a Cupid in his acting - I imagined Don Quixote reading about and seeing illustrations of Renaissance era Cupids in his books.

 

Brandon Lawrence was Espada at this performance, and his charisma, height and soaring jumps really suit this role, down to every swagger and confident leap and turn. Yijing Zhang was a feisty Mercedes who had great chemistry with him. Our Queen of the Dryads was Yaoqian Shang- the most fearless Dryad Queen I’ve ever seen, who was completely at ease and unfazed in her tricky solo with Italian fouettes. (I would have liked to see Yu Kurihara’s rendition too). Miki Mizutani and Sofia Liñares, who took the roles of Kitri and Mercedes respectively at other performances, were lively and expressive as Kitri’s friends, with neat turns and light jumps in their dances. Making up the ensemble, Tom Rogers and Kit Holder were a suitably contrasting pair as Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, while Jonathan Payn and Rory Mackay were hilarious as Kitri’s father and Gamache. Although not usually credited in the cast lists, I think the tavern waitress (whom DQ suggests to Gamache as a more suitable bride to woo than the unavailable Kitri) was played sweetly by Laura Day, and it was funny to think she would be playing Sancho Panza the next day. 

 

The whole cast was glorious and on top form, truly announcing themselves as a company who are every bit as formidable as the visiting companies that often bring  this warhorse to London in summer, and even as a cheeky but good natured rival to their sister company in Covent Garden. 😉

 

We returned for their last show (and closing ballet of the classical ballet season in London, since no more ballet companies are scheduled for ROH/Coliseum/Festival Hall) on Saturday night- our one chance to see Laura Day as Sancho P, Tsu-Chao Chou as Amour  and to catch Alexander Yap as Espada before he left BRB to take up his new job as a soloist at Hong Kong Ballet. It could well be the first time I’ve booked a Don Q just to see their Espada, Amour/Cupid, and Sancho Panza! 

 

They absolutely didn’t disappoint- Chou was the speedy virtuoso everyone had raved about (and a slightly cheeky Cupid teasing Don Q), and received the loudest and most prolonged cheers I’ve ever heard for the role of Amour. Yap embodied the confident and popular-and-don’t-I-know-it matador that Espada is down to every swagger, leap and smouldering glance. We had to check the programme to confirm he was really a company artist and not a veteran first soloist who’d been leaping and smouldering like that for years. He’ll be greatly missed.

 

Laura was incredible as Sancho Panza- the most petite SP I’ve ever seen- displaying great comic timing and energy in the physical gags; we wouldn’t have known it was a woman portraying SP had it not been confirmed in the cast list. From Clara in November to Sancho Panza in July - versatility indeed. Karla Doorbar and Beatrice Parma (who was Kitri two days before) were charming and feisty as Kitri’s friends and Javier Rojas a fiery and expressive gypsy chief.

 

Leading the cast, Yu Kurihara (my first time seeing her) was a revelation as a confident and expressive Kitri, with a rock solid technique, confident jumps and spins, and oodles of charisma- she already dances with the authority and technique of a ballerina, and Brandon Lawrence was a dashing Basilio who matched her confidence and charisma, and impressed with his soaring leaps.

 

Incidentally, Acosta’s production is also noted for being one of the very classical ballet productions where the dancers talk - when the matadors and gypsies are on stage,and during the Act 2 tavern scene, there are a lot of cheers and exclamations in Spanish from the dancers. I always found it a little incongruous at the Royal Opera House, but somehow in this version in a smaller theatre and a production with a more fun and cosy atmosphere, it works well, giving it an operatic feel. Well, we aren’t due any visiting ballet companies in London this summer for 2 months, but Birmingham Royal Ballet have more than made up for it! Looking forward to their autumn triple bill.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 11, 2022 by Emeralds

[Emeralds]

14 minutes ago, alison said:

I felt that Saturday night's performance (Kurihara, Lawrence, Zhang and Yap - with Payn and Day as Don Q and Panza) topped the lot - at least, of the ones I'd seen.  This Kitri and Basilio felt like the most credible couple, and the whole cast were having a ball.  End-of-season high-jinks, perhaps?  Incidentally, although I wasn't as close to the stage as with some casts, I felt I picked up a lot more expression and interpretation.

 

I must admit, when Acosta originally announced that he'd be mounting his Don Q on the company I was a bit dubious as to how good a fit it would be, but they all seem to have risen to the challenge well.

Alison, did you catch that bit in Act 2 where one of the ladies faints when Espada turns to face her mid solo (which is in both the RB and BRB  productions).....then on Saturday night, when Espada/Yap jumps to the other side, one of the matadors pretends to faint as well- I think his mock faint was a one off just for Yap’s last show.....😂

[Sim]

Just a thought:  for those people ringing the death knell for classical ballet, this performance sold out on most shows and if it didn't it was pretty full each time.  The company more than exceeded the levels they set for ticket sales.  The audience had loads of young and very young people who were having a wonderful time; it wasn't just full of stuffy old fuds (which some right-on people think make up the entire ballet audience).  Other more contemporary shows at SW in the past few months haven't even been half full.  We can move forward with any artform and make it 'relevant' to whatever is happening, but in the final analysis people will always love the combination of beauty, athleticism, acting, gorgeous costumes, glorious music, romance and sheer escapism that classical ballet offers.  THAT is why the so-called 'irrelevant' or 'old fashioned' ballets sell out worldwide.  Furthermore, since when are the themes of love, good v. evil, battle of the sexes, and romance 'irrelevant'?  Those themes have always resonated and always will.  It's a reflection of the human condition and that will never change.