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

[Meetmeatthebarre]

All I have to add to this thread is on Month. It's always been my favourite one act, perhaps tied with Marguerite & Armand. Yet normally when a piece and a performance scale such giddy heights as Saturday night I rush out to book again, I hovered over the confirm button with both of Monday's performances in basket, then finally did not buy. I wanted to savour the memory of Saturday, put it into a glass box, and not risk its perfection being compromised by further viewings that would invariably fail to match. 

 

Without going into detail, I've recently had personal circumstances which, though not the story, have brought up similar kinds of emotions. Laura was Natalia Petrovna, but as the piece built to its inevitable end, so was I. It's so hard to think of Vadim inhibiting a malicious character having taken class from him and seen how utterly lovely he is in person, but even aside from that, I felt his characterisation was of a young man clueless rather than thoughtless or reckless. The last scene, where he rushes in and cradles Natalia's sash, had tones of innocent longing and brought up thoughts of Giselle cradling Bathilde's silks. I lost it, and to anyone who heard the loud, uncontrollable and ugly sobs before the music even ended on Saturday night, I am sorry!

 

On a totally different note, I am rather amused that Ms Osipova's patronymic is... Petrovna. So she is literally Natalia Petrovna (Osipova)!

[Peanut68]

On 04/05/2022 at 14:47, Scheherezade said:

There really isn't a lot that can be added to what has already been said about this wonderful triple bill, but since there hasn't been much, if any, feedback regarding Monday evening's Month in the Country, I thought it worth mentioning that I really enjoyed the Osipova/Bracewell partnership, which I felt had really flowered since its more tentative debut at the general rehearsal.

 

Bracewell, as expected, gave us a far more understated Beliaev than that of Matthew Ball. His was a Beliaev blown by the winds of fate, less self aware and less conscious of his effect on the women in the household. If Ball was the cause, Bracewell was the effect. As always, his interpretation felt utterly natural. His mild irritation at Vera's attentions was as believable as his feelings for Natalia Petrovna, and his response to Katya was equally credible given his growing frustration at the position in which he found himself: nothing forced or contrived, nothing remotely overblown, just the natural, wholehearted reaction of an ordinary boy caught up in something completely beyond the realms of his experience. And despite, if not because of, the absence of any obvious lady-killer attributes, it was so easy to accept the response of all three women to this inadvertent Adonis who found himself in their midst.

 

As to the rest of the cast, and the casts for both Scenes de Ballet and Rhapsody, I can only repeat what has already been posted. Just wonderful. Everyone was at the top of their game. And it was so good to see Steven McRae back on stage after such a long absence.

I sadly only saw one cast…. Interested to see your review & you describe Bracewell’s portrayal exactly how I imagined it would have been & wish I’d seen that cast too. I was not particularly drawn to Matthew Ball in the role. It just felt very showy & a little pompous to me? Like he knows he can get any girl & frankly rather bored by it (to be fair - a different but equally valid interpretation I guess) I do think I’d prefer the slightly more ‘bookish’ accidental Adonis I imagine Bracewell suggested in the role! 

[jmhopton]

Emailed ROH Customer Services recently to enquire about the Ashton stream. This is the reply I got. Disappointing as I was looking forward to seeing it soon. Also, I think they may lose out on revenue by leaving it, as many non regular ballet goers may have bought it in a burst of enthusiasm after seeing it but may have forgotten about it by autumn.

 

ROH Stream is currently paused in readiness for a relaunch in Autumn 2022 with a season of exciting new productions. We look forward to announcing our new streaming season in the coming weeks.

[art_enthusiast]

4 minutes ago, jmhopton said:

Also, I think they may lose out on revenue by leaving it, as many non regular ballet goers may have bought it in a burst of enthusiasm after seeing it but may have forgotten about it by autumn.

 

Yes that's a good point. Take Like Water for Chocolate for example - I would buy a stream for that straight away now, but my enthusiasm may have cooled off slightly when the cinema stream happens in January 2023. 

 

However, I understand that if they are overhauling the streaming site (which could certainly use an update) then it makes sense to set a pause for now.