NEWS - Laura Morera to retire as Principal dancer of The Royal Ballet after 27 years

[Guest oncnp]

4 minutes ago, Odyssey said:

II think her Queen of Hearts may have also  been  streamed, but others here will be better informed. 

 

and on DVD

[Bluebird]

33 minutes ago, Odyssey said:

I can only recall two filmed performance - Elizabeth in Frankenstein and Chroma.  I think her Queen of Hearts may have also  been  streamed, but others here will be better informed. What a travesty that so many of her unique interpretations of major roles will apparently be lost to future generations. A remarkable performer. 

Also Elgar’s wife in Ashton’s Enigma Variations. She was due to be filmed as the gypsy in Two Pigeons but, due to injury, was replaced by Fumi Kaneko. Since she’s such a wonderful Ashton dancer, I’m hoping she’ll be the Fairy Godmother in the Cinderella cinema relay.

[Sim]

So many wonderful memories of Laura dancing.  I always tried to see her in everything, so have managed to see her many, many times.  Not once did she disappoint, not once did she seem wrong for a role.  She always brought such depth and intelligence to everything she did, and was wonderful at comedy as well (Swanilda, Lise, Wife in The Concert, Elite Syncopations, etc.).  She excelled at interpreting both MacMillan and Ashton....a rare gift.  Her Tatiana to Bonelli's Onegin was unforgettable.  I was at one performance where, during their pdd just before the interval, a woman in the Stalls started screaming her head off (her husband had collapsed).  Both dancers carried on as if nothing was happening, but apparently Laura was very upset when the curtain came down. How professional to be able to keep going under such circumstances.  I loved her Manon....I will never forget how, when she dies at the end of the ballet, Laura stayed stock still, her eyes frozen open in death's clutches. I haven't seen that before or since, and it always chilled me to the bone.  And then of course just when you think she was done and ready for retirement, back she came with some incredible performances with Bonelli.  I will miss her dreadfully, but am so grateful to have such a plethora of lovely memories.

 

Thank you Laura, for having brought so much joy to so many of us.  

[J_New]

11 minutes ago, Sim said:

 Her Tatiana to Bonelli's Onegin was unforgettable.  I was at one performance where, during their pdd just before the interval, a woman in the Stalls started screaming her head off (her husband had collapsed).  Both dancers carried on as if nothing was happening, but apparently Laura was very upset when the curtain came down. How professional to be able to keep going under such circumstances.  .............  I will miss her dreadfully, but am so grateful to have such a plethora of lovely memories.

 

Thank you Laura, for having brought so much joy to so many of us.  

Yes, I was at that performance too, and the incident happened at an emotional part of the ballet for the dancers anyway, which must have made it even harder for them (the mirror pdd).  The rest of their performance was outstanding, which was a real achievement.  We will miss her.

[Magda]

3 hours ago, Bluebird said:

Also Elgar’s wife in Ashton’s Enigma Variations. She was due to be filmed as the gypsy in Two Pigeons but, due to injury, was replaced by Fumi Kaneko. Since she’s such a wonderful Ashton dancer, I’m hoping she’ll be the Fairy Godmother in the Cinderella cinema relay.

Also

Nutcracker: Sugar Plum

Manon: Lescaut’s Mistress (twice)

Mayerling: Marie Larisch (twice) & Mitzi Caspar

Like Water for Chocolate: Elena Mama

Symphonic Variations

Dances at a Gathering: Green

Emeralds

Giselle: peasant pas

Sleeping Beauty: Pas de trois & Fairy of the Golden Vine

Don Q: Mercedes

Swan Lake: Pas de trois & Neapolitan (twice)

Cinderella: Autumn

[Odyssey]

Thank you Magda.How could I have forgotten her in Dances at a Gathering? I didn’t see Seymour in this role but find it hard to believe Laura could be bettered. 

[Naomi M]

6 hours ago, Odyssey said:

I can only recall two filmed performance - Elizabeth in Frankenstein and Chroma.  I think her Queen of Hearts may have also  been  streamed, but others here will be better informed. What a travesty that so many of her unique interpretations of major roles will apparently be lost to future generations. A remarkable performer. 

 

She is in Romeo and Juliet; Beyond words movie/DVD as the lead harlot. and you can see she gives everything she has on this relatively small role. 

 

I hope her performance as Marie Larisch in Mayerling will be made into a DVD.

[LACAD]

2 hours ago, Odyssey said:

Thank you Magda.How could I have forgotten her in Dances at a Gathering? I didn’t see Seymour in this role but find it hard to believe Laura could be bettered. 

Unfortunately the only ballet I’ve ever seen Morera live in, fortunately one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in the sense of characterisation, musicality, wit. She stole the show with that small part.

[JohnS]

18 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

Is Anastasia Act III the one where she's in a lunatic asylum? I've never seen the ballet & am not at all familiar with it. I was planning to skip the triple bill but I guess now I'll be joining in what will now probably be a major scrum for tickets. The ROH has ensured they're going to sell out one performance of a modern mixed bill!

You’re correct Dawnstar about the asylum. It’s a visceral, gut wrenching Act and Laura was astonishing when the full 3 Act version was last performed. I’m pretty sure Act 3 is readily available on YouTube (not the Royal Ballet) but you might want to take a look. I thought the 3 Act version made for a fabulous evening as the earlier pre Revolution Acts gave a welcome perspective, introducing the characters and Imperial Russia, and the juxtaposition of Tchaikovsky and Martinu was very effective. But I know there are opposing views. 

[Dawnstar]

Thanks @JohnS. If I'm able to get a ticket when public booking opens then I'll certainly have to do some research between booking & the performance in order to be able to make sense of seeing only the last of 3 acts.

[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

Thanks @JohnS. If I'm able to get a ticket when public booking opens then I'll certainly have to do some research between booking & the performance in order to be able to make sense of seeing only the last of 3 acts.

 

IIRC Act 3 was created as a standalone ballet when MacMillan was AD in Berlin.

 

Act 3 was revived by LFB/ENB in the Peter Schaufuss era and I saw both Lynn Seymour and Trinidad Sevillano as Anastasia.  IIRC the wide open, minimalistic set was down to lack of money for more at the time in Berlin (but I may be misremembering).

 

Acts 1 and 2 were added later.

 

https://www.kennethmacmillan.com/anastasia

 

I remember the News of the World having articles about Anna Anderson in the 1980s and this Wikipedia entry mentions a NOTW article from the 1930s.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Anderson

[Geoff]

19 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

I remember the News of the World having articles about Anna Anderson in the 1980s and this Wikipedia entry mentions a NOTW article from the 1930s.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Anderson

Almost off the point (but hopefully not totally) it’s interesting to note that important facts behind not one but two MacMillan ballets have emerged since he made the works. Anna Anderson was eventually shown (spoiler alert) not to be who she said she was - and letters from Marie Vetsera turned up in a bank vault which showed what was going to happen at Mayerling and which put to rest over a century of speculation.
 

If MacMillan had relied only on mystery, this would be a problem. Luckily he didn’t.

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by Geoff

[Dawnstar]

13 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

IIRC Act 3 was created as a standalone ballet when MacMillan was AD in Berlin.

 

Act 3 was revived by LFB/ENB in the Peter Schaufuss era and I saw both Lynn Seymour and Trinidad Sevillano as Anastasia.  IIRC the wide open, minimalistic set was down to lack of money for more at the time in Berlin (but I may be misremembering).

 

Acts 1 and 2 were added later.

 

https://www.kennethmacmillan.com/anastasia

 

Thanks. At least Act III only should make sense then. The mentions on the web page about the use of film are a bit worrying though as I imagine that will be only partially if at all visible from the sides of the stalls circle so that won't aid comprehension. Oh well, I guess if I can get a ticket I'll just have to treat the evening as 3 hours of waiting for the curtain calls!

[Geoff]

1 minute ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Thanks. At least Act III only should make sense then. The mentions on the web page about the use of film are a bit worrying though as I imagine that will be only partially if at all visible from the sides of the stalls circle so that won't aid comprehension. 

No need to worry about the film. I barely notice it. 

[alison]

So what are you doing while she and the nurses are sitting stage front, watching all the footage, Geoff?

 

(Basically, Dawnstar, it's just showing snippets of historical footage relating to the Romanov family and Russia at the time - supposed to be trying to jog Anna's memory, I think).

 

I'm now hoping even more so that this will be the "proper" Anastasia, rather than Act III of the current three-act production.

[Angela Essex]

On 09/02/2023 at 22:39, JohnS said:

A personal note if I may. When my wife Lynn died quite unexpectedly in 2017, one of the many things requiring my decision was what to do with her jewellery. It struck me that Lynn would have liked her favourite dancers to have some of her jewellery as we’d occasionally leave gifts at the Stage Door, particularly when up and coming dancers were multi tasking, taking on many roles during a major run. I put together some small gifts of Lynn’s jewellery for the start of the new season. For Laura it had to be Lynn’s pearls. A few months later Laura was dancing Masha and she let me know she’d be wearing the pearl earrings on stage. An astonishing gesture which I found extremely touching and I was delighted to be able to see her second performance albeit through rather teary eyes.

 

Laura: not only the consummate ballerina but one of the kindest, most generous people I’ve met, surely the most lustrous of pearls.

What a beautiful, heart warming story John. Than you for sharing. Such a lovely thing to do for your wife and very kind hearted of Laura. 

[DVDfan]

Having just watched Anastasia on the ROH streaming, I think it will be important to some people to know that the films which Anna is shown include scenes of execution by firing squad. The deaths of the Romanov family are also re-enacted on stage, with the Tsarevitch (played by a young boy) shot in his father's arms. It's pretty tough stuff. 

It's also tough in a different way if you have family suffering with low mental health. Given the hopeless nature of the ending I don't think it helps.

Even when these things are not problematic for you, it isn't a pleasant half hour and I'm also sorry that Laura is ending her career with this, though I'm sure it's a ballet that will give her dramatic qualities a magnificent final outing.

 

[Jan McNulty]

12 hours ago, alison said:

So what are you doing while she and the nurses are sitting stage front, watching all the footage, Geoff?

 

 

 

I only saw this when LFB/ENB performed it but I must say that both Lynn Seymour and Trinidad Sevillano had such expressive backs that I didn't watch the film at all!

[Fonty]

2 hours ago, DVDfan said:

Having just watched Anastasia on the ROH streaming, I think it will be important to some people to know that the films which Anna is shown include scenes of execution by firing squad. The deaths of the Romanov family are also re-enacted on stage, with the Tsarevitch (played by a young boy) shot in his father's arms. It's pretty tough stuff. 

It's also tough in a different way if you have family suffering with low mental health. Given the hopeless nature of the ending I don't think it helps.

Even when these things are not problematic for you, it isn't a pleasant half hour and I'm also sorry that Laura is ending her career with this, though I'm sure it's a ballet that will give her dramatic qualities a magnificent final outing.

 

 

I suppose she has to end her career with whatever ballet is on the schedule for the season.  Unless, of course she said she was leaving before the programme was chosen, in which case this might be her choice.  It is a great pity she couldn't have finished with a full length ballet, though. 

[alison]

I thought the point of the ballet was that at the end she's overcome her demons and is Victorious, or something like that?

[J_New]

29 minutes ago, alison said:

I thought the point of the ballet was that at the end she's overcome her demons and is Victorious, or something like that?

If that is so, then it's always passed me by - I find it sad and without hope .... Maybe I'm wrong, or it's just the performances I've seen, but it doesn't give me any sense of anything positive.

[Jamesrhblack]

47 minutes ago, alison said:

I thought the point of the ballet was that at the end she's overcome her demons and is Victorious, or something like that?

I read it as returning to the yacht of the First Act and that Anna Anderson was hopelessly trapped in her own delusions as to her identity which would play over and over in her mind ....

[DVDfan]

I think my perception of the ending may be influenced by the fact that Anastasia died at Yekaterinburg  and therefore I know that Anna Andersen remains seriously ill, deprived of her true identity.

[Diandri]

1 hour ago, alison said:

I thought the point of the ballet was that at the end she's overcome her demons and is Victorious, or something like that?

 

As per the Kenneth MacMillan website:

"At the ballet's end, Anna is possessed of iron certainty, she is indeed Anastasia & claims the tribute that is hers by right. Anastasia's problem of identity, MacMillan explained, is not one for herself. "Always, throughout all the mental & physical confusion, she knows she is the Grand Duchess. Her tragedy is convincing the rest of the world".

 

I've always thought her final posture as she circles the stage on the bed makes that abundantly clear.

 

[Emeralds]

The execution of the family, including the young brother (played by a Royal Ballet School White Lodge student) sitting on his father’s lap, can be quite triggering. Even though I know the history well and am expecting it, it’s still quite a shock, and it’s meant to look brutal and to shock you. I remember thinking I was glad the whole family didn’t come along when I watched one performance with a colleague and another performance on my own, even if the kids had learnt about it in school lessons. The film is just blurry historical film footage of the Tsar and the family....you’re not missing any ballet or dance as such if you can’t see it.

 

I think I saw Act 3 on its own once, ages ago, then the revival of the full length version many years after they last danced it, with Viviana Durante dancing Anastasia and Anna Andersen on the first night, and recalled preferring it as a full length ballet, as it gave Act 3  more meaning setting it in context. Seeing it again in the last revival confirmed that too. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Emeralds

[Emeralds]

Casting for the remaining Anastasias finally out- for those who can’t make it on 9 or 17 June, Laura is also dancing it on 14 June. (Natalia Osipova is dancing the other three Anastasia performances, all with the second cast of Corybantic Games. No third Anastasia or Corybantic Games cast.) 

[bangorballetboy]

7 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Casting for the remaining Anastasias finally out 

 

Finally?  It’s been on the casting thread for over 2 weeks.

[maryrosesatonapin]

On 10/02/2023 at 11:21, Fonty said:

 above all her last Giselle with Bonelli.  That in particular displayed technical brilliance from both dancers, and showcased her superb dramatic gifts.  She was that very rare dancer, one who has the ability to perform both tragic and comic roles and be fantastic in both.  And so musical as well. 

 

Thanks Laura.  It has been a pleasure to watch you. 

 

 

Yes, that is the performance I will treasure most in my memory.  I have relived it in my imagination time after time.  I had seen a number of moving Giselles and admirable Albrechts that season but Morera and Bonelli outdid them all.  I actually have tears in my eyes now just thinking about it.  I have been dreading news of Laura's retirement for some time but am glad for her sake she can move on to the enjoyable future she so richly deserves.

[Guest oncnp]

Looking at the seat maps for the triple, noticed (in addition to the 24 price bands) that the camera filming seats are blocked for all of Morera's performances so perhaps a cinema relay or even a DVD (for the new McGregor)?

 

To add: This does take out quite a few standing places 

Edited February 13, 2023 by oncnp

[LinMM]

Well I wonder if this Piece was in fact Laura Morera’s choice after all. 
Because otherwise I would have thought Cinderella a better choice for her to end her career on. 
I was going to give this triple a miss unless there were really rave reviews on here or otherwise for McGregors new piece. 
I don’t really like Anastasia even though saw Lynn Seymour perform it in the original cast. It does lose a little in knowing in more recent years that Anderson was not in fact part of the Romanov family after all …though it had always been a contentious claim anyway….but in its depiction of a somebody driven mad it can still stand as brilliant choreography. 
I do prefer it as part of the three Acts but it’s never really been a favourite Piece and wish Laura was ending her career with something different! 
Perhaps she will do some guest appearances as the Queen of Hearts in Alice at some point!!! 
Wishing her every success in her new venture I bet she’s fabulous to work with. 

[Lynette H]

The "in conversation" with Laura Morera on 9th Feb in the Linbury was filmed (there were at least 3 cameras).  She spoke about her feelings about retirement, favourite partners etc. In conversation events are not usually filmed. Maybe this one might appear at some point. 

[maryrosesatonapin]

11 hours ago, Lynette H said:

The "in conversation" with Laura Morera on 9th Feb in the Linbury was filmed (there were at least 3 cameras).  She spoke about her feelings about retirement, favourite partners etc. In conversation events are not usually filmed. Maybe this one might appear at some point. 

Oh, that's good news - I do hope so.  I had seats for that but wasn't able to go at the last moment.

[FionaM]

Going back to Liam Scarlett … I am beyond disappointed to read this extract from a Gramilano interview (Paul Arrowsmith) with Laura Morera …

 

“Will we see Scarlett's ballets at The Royal Ballet again?

I have asked the question, and the answer is a hard ‘no.' [Morera's eyes fill with tears]. But never say never. Other companies are making different choices.”

 

https://www.gramilano.com/2023/04/interview-authentic-passionate-laura-morera/?fbclid=IwAR1KCi_1FUvbAFHaeLo5RrRtc2bND2bRMumq0-sz8eh0tsC-1Bi399Lkti8