BBC's Platinum Party at the Palace concert

[SheilaC]

The Guardian 's article today on the extensive lineup for the jubilee concert includes the Royal Ballet. I've been wondering what short piece would be most appropriate for this TV celebration.

[Lizbie1]

I'd have guessed at Nursery Suite, but that's an RBS rather than RB thing.

[alison]

It was performed by the company for the Queen's Golden(?) jubilee, along with (parts of?) Homage to the Queen, wasn't it?

[bridiem]

It could be any sort of upbeat or memorable pas de deux; if it involves more of the company, I hope it isn't part of Elite Syncopations - I don't think that's as much fun as they seem to think it is... If from the current rep, I'd be pleased if it was the Benno/sisters number in Act III of SL or the lovely Rhapsody pas de deux. But whatever - I'm very glad the RB is involved in any capacity.

[Lizbie1]

Agree about Elite!

[Lizbie1]

In the Ashton biography, there's a passage describing the very positive reception that Nursery Suite received from the Queen, Queen Mother and Princess Margaret; the latter said:

 

"I thought it would make both The Queen and my mother sick, but we all ended up in floods of tears."

 

Whatever is programmed, it would be nice to think that HM has some say in it.

[zxDaveM]

I should imagine the Queen will be taking her time leaving Epsom that evening, to go home.... to Windsor

[Ian Macmillan]

Whatever they do, they have something less than Top Billing - as Matthew Bourne has pointed out: 

 

 

 

 

[alison]

31 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

Whatever is programmed, it would be nice to think that HM has some say in it.

 

At the Windsor Horse Show event the other day there was some mention that the Queen doesn't like surprises, so I guess the programme would at least have been cleared with her beforehand.

[Sophoife]

Oh please let the RB be dancing to Queen + Adam Lambert! Shades of Freddie 😂

[Rob S]

57 minutes ago, Ian Macmillan said:

Whatever they do, they have something less than Top Billing - as Matthew Bourne has pointed out: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fans of Kermode and Mayo's film review programme will know about billing and Tom Wilkinson's concept of  'asking for the and'....clearly the RB asked for and got the 'and'.😀 

Hello to Jason Isaacs. 

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Rob S

[LinMM]

Well nobody’s perfect! Perhaps the Queen is not that keen on ballet lol. 

[Mary]

1 minute ago, LinMM said:

Well nobody’s perfect! Perhaps the Queen is not that keen on ballet lol. 

At a guess I suspect HM is looking forward to the programme about as much as I am.......

 

Except RB.

! 

 

 

[zxDaveM]

1 hour ago, Mary said:

At a guess I suspect HM is looking forward to the programme about as much as I am.......

 

Except RB.

!

 

...and I don't think she is a ballet fan, truth be told

[Guest oncnp]

2 hours ago, Rob S said:

 

 

Fans of Kermode and Mayo's film review programme will know about billing and Tom Wilkinson's concept of  'asking for the and'....clearly the RB asked for and got the 'and'.😀 

Hello to Jason Isaacs. 

 

 

But they are delighted....

 

[MadeleineR]

Both Reece Clarke and Lauren Cuthbertson have posted on Instagram to say they will be performing. Reece's post contains the information that they will perform a new ballet by Kristen McNally, alongside students of the Royal Ballet School, with Hans Zimmer conducting. 
 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CeWwjxLIGvk/ (Reece)

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CeWxDufIZaz/ (Lauren) 

[Rob S]

I'd have liked ten minutes of Cesar Corrales' Juan Alejandrez charging around the Victoria Memorial...probably best to omit Gertrudis and the horse though

[TSR101]

1 hour ago, Rob S said:

I'd have liked ten minutes of Cesar Corrales' Juan Alejandrez charging around the Victoria Memorial...probably best to omit Gertrudis and the horse though

 

Well if they went with Gertrudis and her horse, they might get a new audience into the House. 

[San Perregrino]

And The Queen loves horses 🐎 

Edited June 4, 2022 by PeterS

[MJW]

On 19/05/2022 at 16:00, zxDaveM said:

 

...and I don't think she is a ballet fan, truth be told

There were some very amusing anecdotes from Darcey at the beginning of the BBC’s coverage of the service at St Paul’s  concerning the Queen’s lack of enthusiasm for ballet (and opera)

[Suffolkgal]

Remembering how princesses Margaret and Diana loved and supported our companies I hope another royal patron can be found. Glad the ballet is featured tonight though 

[alison]

I don't suppose anyone knows what time the RB segment is scheduled for?

[Balletfanp]

Well, when giving the run down of the programme, it wasn’t mentioned at all, so presumably falls under the “….plus a few surprises” category. It would seem the Royal Ballet isn’t deemed of sufficient interest to get a mention 😠.

[MadeleineR]

They've performed now. The piece is environmental in theme, and was performed following a speech by David Attenborough (and after the set of Alicia Keys). The camera work on the Royal Ballet students wasn't always clear as the performance involved projections onto the scenery and the palace, but there were some nice close-up shots of Clarke and Cuthbertson. 
 

There was a rather strong emotional build up of the music, the dance, the projections and the Queen's words on the environment all layered together. They certainly went for spectacle.

[Angela Essex]

Did anyone else feel a bit let down by the amount of the RB and RBS that we could actually see in the tv recording of their performance at the palace this evening? The BBC only showed a very small amount of ballet on the recording of the event - most of the footage was wide angle lens views focused on the pictures projected onto the front of the palace rather than being focused on televising the dancers. The tv footage of the RB and RBS involvement was such a let down. It amounted to literally a couple of clips each lasting a few seconds 😭 Beautiful clips, but would’ve loved to see more - Lauren Cuthbertson and Reece Clark doing a stunning pdd against a backdrop of dolphins swimming in the ocean I think - was certainly a shame we didn’t get to see more 😢😢😢 

[munchkin16]

I was so disappointed and frustrated with the coverage. They might as well have not been dancing at all from the amount they showed. Especially the Royal Ballet School students where it was either a shot from miles away or they kept cutting to the projections or just views of the Mall! 

[Angela Essex]

4 minutes ago, munchkin16 said:

I was so disappointed and frustrated with the coverage. They might as well have not been dancing at all from the amount they showed. Especially the Royal Ballet School students where it was either a shot from miles away or they kept cutting to the projections or just views of the Mall! 

I know it was so disrespectful of the amount of work and a lifetime of training and dedication that the dancers and their families put into their careers to develop the skills to do such a performance. It was an opportunity to showcase an amazing royal institution that was missed and instead minimised the importance of ballet 😢

[Balletfanp]

Very disappointing. The focus was almost entirely on the projections on and around the Palace and the dancers might almost not have been there. A worthy message, admittedly, but the dancers were just incidental to that. Why bother having them at all?

[capybara]

I guess that being part of the event will stay with the participants for ever, though.

[Suffolkgal]

True but I suspect the camera crews and OB team did not have enough information in time to plot the filming. I’m being charitable and hoping they were caught on the hop - because if not the filming of that element was a shambles. It was as if they were desperately chasing about the various stages trying to get a handle on what was going on.

[Angela Essex]

15 minutes ago, Balletfanp said:

Very disappointing. The focus was almost entirely on the projections on and around the Palace and the dancers might almost not have been there. A worthy message, admittedly, but the dancers were just incidental to that. Why bother having them at all?

Agree 💯 waste of the dancers time and effort and agree with @TSR101if they’d had Gertrudis riding that horse then ppl (including the bbc film crew) would’ve been transfixed. Told my husband about Like Water for Choc and he rightly said that if the general public realised that is the sort of thing that goes on at the RB ppl would be queuing round the block of the opera house to get a ticket (he’s also kicking himself for not coming with me 😂😂😂).

[bridiem]

I suppose we should welcome the fact that ballet was chosen to accompany what was clearly intended to be the heart of the party/concert, but I did think the amount of dancing you could actually see was very disappointing. And my main thought was: why didn't they do a section of Penguin Café? A ready-made environmental ballet that is also visually striking and has thrilling music.

[Mary]

Good point bridiem.

 

The RB dancers were, sadly, barely visible.