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Royal Ballet: Scènes de ballet / A Month in the Country / Rhapsody (Spring 2022)


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As the mixed bill starts on this coming Saturday (it is usual to start with a matinee?) I thought I would start this new topic. There is also a filmed Insight this evening:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMZuoPEYNBs

 

Very much looking forward to these performances - and am booked for this coming Saturday matinee and the evening on the 30th. Might book for Monday 2nd May as well if I can cope with trains on a Bank Holiday!

 

 

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1 minute ago, MaddieRose said:

I'm very excited! I'm going to the 23rd matinee, and it will be my first time seeing the Royal Ballet, and going to the Royal Opera House. 

 

Hope you enjoy it!

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Just noticed a change of cast for the 30th. I had particularly chosen this date for the perfect alignment of Laura Morera ,who dances so rarely these days and William Bracewell (replacing Bonelli) both  such a perfect Ashtonian dancers. No doubt I will bear up with having Vadim! Still a disappointment. I wonder why? Too far ahead to be Covid related 
will be a lovely evening I am sure

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Hope you have a wonderful time MaddieRose. It’s a glorious triple and being at the opening performance will also add a bit of extra excitement. 
Look out for Lynn Seymour Anthony Dowell Wayne Sleep and Marguerite Porter all in the very first performance would be great if they were in the audience too. 
 

Doctor Derry Vadim was terrific in the role last time I saw it you won’t be disappointed I was really surprised at just how well he caught the character of the role and the dancing in this Ballet. 

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3 hours ago, DoctorDerry said:

Just noticed a change of cast for the 30th. I had particularly chosen this date for the perfect alignment of Laura Morera ,who dances so rarely these days and William Bracewell (replacing Bonelli) both  such a perfect Ashtonian dancers. No doubt I will bear up with having Vadim! Still a disappointment. I wonder why? Too far ahead to be Covid related 
will be a lovely evening I am sure

 

Morera has replaced Cuthbertson on 23rd & 2nd so will be dancing with Muntagirov on those dates. It's only a guess but it might be that it's easier to just have Morera rehearse with Muntagirov & Bracewell with Osipova, rather than both Morera & Bracewell have to rehearse with each other & with another partner, so that might be why Muntagirov has replaced Bracewell on 30th.

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1 hour ago, LinMM said:

Doctor Derry Vadim was terrific in the role last time I saw it you won’t be disappointed I was really surprised at just how well he caught the character of the role and the dancing in this Ballet. 


And Vadim and Laura made a wonderful pairing in Fille.

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A cast change email from the ROH has just arrived. In addition to the already-discussed Month cast changes & Hayward replacing Takada in Rhapsody which I'd noticed on the website a few days ago, there's also Clarke replacing Campbell in Scenes de ballet. The latter finally messes up my carefully-arranged see-2-different-casts-in-each-of-the-3-pieces plan which had remained intact through the other cast changes!

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Just a quick summary of the changes announced in the email from ROH and as mentioned in posts above:

 

Saturday 23 April, 7.30pm

Scènes de ballet: Alexander Campbell is replaced by Reece Clarke

A Month in the Country: Lauren Cuthbertson is replaced by Laura Morera as Natalia Petrovna

 

Tuesday 26 April, 7.30pm

Rhapsody: Akane Takada is replaced by Francesca Hayward

 

Saturday 30 April, 7.30pm 

Scènes de ballet: Alexander Campbell is replaced by Reece Clarke

A Month in the Country: Vadim Muntagirov will perform the role of Beliaev

 

Monday 2 May, 12.30pm

A Month in the Country: Lauren Cuthbertson is replaced by Laura Morera as Natalia Petrovna

Rhapsody: Akane Takada is replaced by Francesca Hayward

 

Monday 2 May, 7.30pm

Scènes de ballet: Alexander Campbell is replaced by Reece Clarke

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 I imagine there are quite a few people who are not that familiar with Scenes de Ballet because it has been out of the repertory at Covent Garden for several years. I think it was last performed in  2014.There is an excerpt from the performance televised in 2004 at the time if the Ashton centenary available on BBC Arts. In addition Scenes was the subject of an Insight event yesterday. In it Christopher Carr led a rehearsal which centred on the choreography for the male corps of four men as well as the choreography for the ballerina and her partner. The dancers involved in the rehearsal were Dixon, Dubreuil,Rovero and Ella as the male quartet and Naghdi and Muntagirov who are not due to appear together in performance.

 

It sounds as if the Ashton triple bill may turn about to be one of those  programmes where we get to see any number of unscheduled combinations of dancers. I am sorry that Cuthbertson is no longer involved in Month but I am very happy that Morera is getting more than one performance as Natalia Petrovna. In addition I am happy that we are going to get to see three ballets by the man whom de Valois described as "A real choreographer". It is a pity that management did not have enough sense to trim a couple of performances from each of the four works which have been given fifteen or more performances next season. A real mixed bill of ballets which included a couple of neglected twentieth century ballets which people actually wanted to see would have helped lighten my mood quite considerably and would have suggested that the season's programme had been put together by someone with a bit of artistic imagination. 

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I went to a rehearsal today and saw the cast scheduled for the 26th April. I have a ticket booked for that date and was very happy to see how it was all going today. I think enjoyment is assured!  What a joy it is to see an Ashton triple bill, with proper ballet. My April has been rather thin on performances so far as I have been sitting out the other triple bill, waiting for Ashton to come along.  Month in the Country is sublime and how wonderful to see Anthony Dowell there, passionately coaching Will Bracewell in particular at the end of the session (this was from afar, but his portrayal of the steps was still clear).     

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A few years ago when Reece Clarke was still a student I watched Dowell coaching him plus 7 other boys on a summer school course in Romeo and Juliet. At one point  Dowell was pretending to be Juliet and it was just hilarious creating a bit of fun but his coaching was very animated and passionate then and he himself was still pretty agile. 
My email ticket came through today for next Tuesday and can’t wait to see this triple. 

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I have been reading various Instagram posts about the Ashton triple bill and it seems the dancers are really looking forward to their performances and debuts. I am so looking forward to tomorrow afternoon!

 

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I am looking forward to seeing this very much. I have been enjoying the 2004 DVD of Scenes, which I have never seen live. I love the men’s costumes, which seem quite contemporary, in a way. I will be there tomorrow and Tuesday! 

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I presume that the offer to Friends/Patrons for one free programme in the Spring season is still valid? I didn't go to the recent mixed bill and before that it was still Winter for Swan Lake.

 

I will try Saturday morning for the matinee as I thankfully haven't deleted the email!

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Having seen the general rehearsal just now and how much the dancers and the audience enjoyed it, I am at a complete loss to understand why more Ashton isn’t shown by the RB.  One of the most enjoyable triple bills I have seen for a long time.  

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I see tomorrow matinee's cast sheet is now up on the ROH's website https://static.roh.org.uk/digital/cast-sheets/Ashton-mixed/23.4.22+Ashton+Mat.pdf?_ga=2.198681263.1448860140.1650306051-2059311257.1630436588

 

I didn't book for this cast because their performances are marked as camera filming, so I assumed there would be either a cinecast or an online stream. However I can't find mention of it in either the cinema or stream pages on the ROH's website. Does anyone know anything about when/where it will be shown?

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4 minutes ago, PatC said:

It’s a perfect meal - tasty tempting starter / delicious main course / gorgeous sweet dessert. I just cannot understand why there are tickets still available! 

Maybe because the public haven’t had enough exposure to these ballets so aren’t aware of how good they are.  

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9 minutes ago, PatC said:

It’s a perfect meal - tasty tempting starter / delicious main course / gorgeous sweet dessert. I just cannot understand why there are tickets still available! 

 

There are only a small number in each area (for the matinée tomorrow); and I hope at least some of those will be sold tomorrow morning.

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29 minutes ago, PatC said:

It’s a perfect meal - tasty tempting starter / delicious main course / gorgeous sweet dessert. I just cannot understand why there are tickets still available! 

Yes - it was fascinating, absorbing,  fun, exciting, heart-rending, beautiful and joyous! 

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48 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

There are only a small number in each area (for the matinée tomorrow); and I hope at least some of those will be sold tomorrow morning.

But lots still available next week 🥲

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1 hour ago, PatC said:

It’s a perfect meal - tasty tempting starter / delicious main course / gorgeous sweet dessert. I just cannot understand why there are tickets still available! 

 

It hasn't been 'plugged' to the same extent as the recent Triple and 'new' audiences are not necessarily familiar with Ashton.

Fingers crossed that the bookings pick up: we need the RB to be incentivised to programme more Ashton.

 

 

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4 hours ago, EVWS said:

I know one shouldn’t comment on rehearsals but just to say, I’ve left feeling like I’m in ballet heaven. More & more Ashton please! 

 

4 hours ago, Sim said:

Having seen the general rehearsal just now and how much the dancers and the audience enjoyed it, I am at a complete loss to understand why more Ashton isn’t shown by the RB.  One of the most enjoyable triple bills I have seen for a long time.  

 

2 hours ago, Mary said:

Yes - it was fascinating, absorbing,  fun, exciting, heart-rending, beautiful and joyous! 

 

Yes, yes, yes! It was everything I'd been waiting for; I want to go to every performance!

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1 hour ago, capybara said:

 

It hasn't been 'plugged' to the same extent as the recent Triple and 'new' audiences are not necessarily familiar with Ashton.

Fingers crossed that the bookings pick up: we need the RB to be incentivised to programme more Ashton.

 

 

 

Has there been any plugging whatsoever?  I don't remember seeing any.

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The Scenes de ballet Insight was excellent and the performance is being filmed although I’m not sure whether this is for streaming (it’s not listed for cinema) but I’m hoping a much wider audience will have opportunity to enjoy this fabulous Triple Bill. So there’s some ‘plugging’ and with good reviews hopefully many of the spare tickets will be sold.

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I'm worried that newer audiences are being conditioned to think that ballet is either Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet etc or Wayne McGregor, Crystal Pite etc with nothing of much interest inbetween. Which is exactly what next season is offering them.

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Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Steven McRae both did Instagram takeovers on the ROH Instagram account. But I've not seen anything outside of that, even when a lot of the ads I get on social media are tailored towards theatre. 

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