Royal Ballet Cinderella March/April 2023

[JohnS]

Is there any information about the Osipova, Takada and Morera casts other than Gary Avis showing he’s dancing the Osipova dates?

It would be good to know when dancers’ final performances are. For example are Annette Buvoli, Christina Orestes and Kristen McNally dancing their last Fairy Godmother/Step Sisters this run on Saturday evening?
It all seems very late and I think discourteous to dancers and audiences.

[Emeralds]

30 minutes ago, Blossom said:

@Emeralds you make a good point, but it still looks like a gamble which didn’t pay off if you look at some of the remaining dates which show a similar picture to many of the dates which have already passed - e.g. 27 April - which they are now trying to fill by offering a Friends event, which doesn’t seem to have shifted any seats so far.

I agree with you, Blossom, I personally don’t feel the gamble paid off for Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. At all. It will turn out to be an expensive lesson for their finance and leadership teams not to assume that “full length” plus “story ballet” equals cash cow that you can charge inflated prices for. I love both ballets (in whichever Cinderella choreography) as classics, but even I can see some challenges/limitations (although to me they are not faults) that they have that Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, and Swan Lake don’t have. There are some occasions where both could raise a lot of money but the months of February to May this season are not those occasions.

 

I would have raised the prices for Swan Lake, Nutcracker (sorry Nutcracker fans) last season, and not so much for Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella this season. I would actually have priced both Beauty and Cinderella lower than Swan Lake overall. And....much as I am an Ashton fan myself and in solidarity with all Ashton fans, they should have priced all the non-Amphitheatre seats of last year’s Ashton triple bill higher than what they were. (It doesn’t make sense that tried, tested and loved Ashton classics are “rated” at the same low price as an unknown new work and a contemporary piece that is inexpensive to stage). Shorter run for Mayerling, add another Ashton mixed bill this year of The Dream/Enigma Variations/Les Patineurs in autumn/winter, at Woolf Works level prices - it will sell. We do currently have the talent to cast both TD and LP on the same bill - look at the exciting dancers in the Artist and First Artist ranks: Ikarashi, Boswell, Nakao, Dean, Bailey, etc, as well as the higher ranks. 

Edited April 11, 2023 by Emeralds

[Jan McNulty]

22 minutes ago, JohnS said:

Is there any information about the Osipova, Takada and Morera casts other than Gary Avis showing he’s dancing the Osipova dates?

It would be good to know when dancers’ final performances are. For example are Annette Buvoli, Christina Orestes and Kristen McNally dancing their last Fairy Godmother/Step Sisters this run on Saturday evening?
It all seems very late and I think discourteous to dancers and audiences.

 

It's a luxury that RB followers get any advance casting at all compared to other companies!

[Sim]

25 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

It's a luxury that RB followers get any advance casting at all compared to other companies!

That's very true.  I would go up to see BRB much more often if I had more than a couple of weeks' notice as to who is dancing when.  

[JNC]

I do think that for most “non regulars” if I had to take a guess Swan Lake, and Nutcracker are the two that they would see, and it pains me to say but therefore I would expect these to be charged higher prices. I feel Romeo and Juliet always seems to be popular even though it’s not classical/tutu (well known story, perhaps appeals more to adults looking to branch out from the two above) so I can see why that is priced higher as well. 
 

I am confused why Sleeping Beauty is charged the same as the above (or more) - I love it, and I know it’s a classic with famous music and a full three acts, but it’s quite long for children, and doesn’t have the dramatic story that might appeal to adults who aren’t big on classical ballet (like swan lake has with the emotional drama, in beauty there is nothing really). I’d even maybe put Giselle above Beauty in terms of ballet history/appeal (not that I want them to charge higher prices for Giselle, but hopefully with Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty not having sold as well as they maybe wanted perhaps we can stay safe there).
 

My point perhaps is Sleeping Beauty may be (dare I say) a bit boring if you don’t love classical ballet (I love it but can see it’s not for everyone). The Nutcracker is very seasonal, targeted at children, and only two acts. Swan Lake brings a bit of drama, the classical “ballet blanc” scenes. Sleeping Beauty probably doesn’t bring a strong image to those who haven’t seen it before? I would put Cinderella in a similar category - yes people know the story but they won’t necessarily translate that to ballet or the music, whereas I think swan lake is better known with a strong image and the music (I know sleeping beauty’s music is well known but people wouldn’t necessarily definitely link to the ballet in the same way I think). 
 

 

A bit of a ramble so hopefully not too off topic but it will be interesting to see how the spring beauty ticket sales look closer to the time. 

[alison]

Cinderella, of course, follows the recent - and not-so-recent, she says, thinking back to 1994 - of charging a premium for a new production of an established classic in order to recoup the staging costs as soon as possible.  Or that's the idea, anyway.

[Jan McNulty]

46 minutes ago, Sim said:

That's very true.  I would go up to see BRB much more often if I had more than a couple of weeks' notice as to who is dancing when.  

 

I find it makes me book more performances!!  I book my usual dates and then I end up adding in more if I need to see specific casts.

 

[Guest oncnp]

6 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I find it makes me book more performances!!  I book my usual dates and then I end up adding in more if I need to see specific casts.

 

But not at ROH prices 

[Sim]

1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I find it makes me book more performances!!  I book my usual dates and then I end up adding in more if I need to see specific casts.

 

Sadly I just can't afford to do the same...much as I wish I could!

[JennyTaylor]

8 hours ago, Sim said:

I'm not sure why, but the lady stepsisters didn't really work for me.  I didn't find myself laughing as I do with the guys 'en travesti.'  Maybe they just seemed like real girls so there was nothing particularly funny about it.  The same jokes were there...maybe because with the guys they are more exaggerated it makes me smile or laugh.  I don't know, I can't really explain it.  It wasn't them, it was me.   

It wasn't just you, it was me too.  I was so sure that I would prefer the female version of the step sisters and I didn't!  I spent half the performance wondering why because, as you say, it was the same choreography and jokes.  I liked Kristen McNally's performance but I'm afraid I got nothing from the taller step sister character, and overall, I was even a little bored.  Of course, Gary Avis and Luca Acri are so strong in those roles, but even so.........    

[Emeralds]

2 hours ago, alison said:

Cinderella, of course, follows the recent - and not-so-recent, she says, thinking back to 1994 - of charging a premium for a new production of an established classic in order to recoup the staging costs as soon as possible.  Or that's the idea, anyway.

Hopefully they’ll recoup some with the cinema screenings g - a bit concerned that a lot of venues do not seem to know how to find the casting or confirm it! There are still people asking who is dancing.... sigh. But at least a good number have said they’ve booked.

Edited April 11, 2023 by Emeralds

[capybara]

13 minutes ago, JennyTaylor said:

It wasn't just you, it was me too.  I was so sure that I would prefer the female version of the step sisters and I didn't!  I spent half the performance wondering why because, as you say, it was the same choreography and jokes.  I liked Kristen McNally's performance but I'm afraid I got nothing from the taller step sister character, and overall, I was even a little bored.  Of course, Gary Avis and Luca Acri are so strong in those roles, but even so.........    

 

This is one of the reasons this forum is such a prize commodity……..

I much preferred the female sisters. Nothing OTT and almost believable as distinct from being ridiculous story wise.

Agree that Kristen  McNally is especially talented across many genres.

[Candleque]

Yasmine radiant so far tonight. Step-sisters bothered me less because I’m so happy to see her in this role 💖

 

However my opera glasses caught one of the Summer Fairy’s little pages yawning his head off. So I kept looking at him lol. Don’t know how he is going to make it to midnight ⏰🤣

[Dawnstar]

I was rather surprised last night that for me there wasn't that much difference between the female stepsisters & the male pairs I'd previously seen. I thought I'd find them very different but with the costumes, head pieces & make-up all the Stepsisters looked almost the same to me - and no, I wasn't sitting right at the back of the Amphi! On the male Stepsister front, I do tend to get Acri & Hay mixed up anyway but playing the same Stepssiter they looked absolutely identical to me. If the cast sheet hadn't said Hay yesterday matinee I would have put him down as Acri.

 

I'm a bit late to say much else about yesterday, as I think both performances have been covered, so just to say that I thought both Sarah Lamb & Francesca Hayward were excellent Cinderellas & I thought both were rather more naturally suited to the role in terms of projecting pathos & vulnerability than Nunez, fabulous dancer though she is.

 

Can anyone more expert than me confirm if all the Princes are dancing exactly the same solo? I thought McRae & Campbell's solos looked slightly different to Muntagirov's at one point near the end but I'm not sure if it's just a right turner vs left turner thing.

 

I was very pleased to catch Liam Boswell as the Jester at the matinee, as I wanted to see him in the role. Having commented after the first performance I saw that the Jester was a bit more sinister than I had expected, I thought Boswell played it a less sinisterly than Nakao.

 

9 hours ago, Sim said:

Special brava to Annette Buvoli, a beautiful FG, and I thought I was seeing things when she appeared as Autumn in Act 2 (I am sure she was being taught it during the Insight?), and then back to the FG in Act 3 when Isabella Gasparini took over from Leticia Dias, who had had a stumble in Act 1 (I hope she's ok).

 

In the livestreamed Insight Annette Buvoli was being rehearsed as the Fairy Godmother. It was Amelia Townsend who was being rehearsed as Autum. She doesn't seem to have danced the role yet though.

 

9 hours ago, alison said:

Oh drat, I meant to look for Dawnstar at the matinee.  Sorry, Dawnstar!

 

No need to apologise. I had a for me incredibly sociable day yesterday. I met up with @Blossom at the matinee & bumped into @Rob S and met up with @Sim @Scheherezade & @JohnS at the evening performance. Then when stage dooring I not only spoke to a number of dancers but also an opera singer, who'd been in rehearsals, & I ended up having quite a long chat with Sarah Lamb's husband while waiting for her to appear. For someone who does 99% of her theatregoing alone, that's far more people than I usually speak to!

[Dawnstar]

4 hours ago, JNC said:

I would put Cinderella in a similar category - yes people know the story but they won’t necessarily translate that to ballet or the music

 

One young woman I overheard commenting after the evening performance certainly didn't seem to be expecting what she got: I heard her say that she was baffled by it & had been expecting something like Wicked!!

[Scheherezade]

It was lovely to meet you and John S for the first time yesterday evening, Dawnstar, and, of course, to meet Sim and To the Pointe again - so glad you’ll be keeping up the podcast, To the Pointe!

There’s really nothing I can add to Sim’s review of the evening performance. Frankie and Alex do have a very special connection onstage and both engage so naturally with the audience, something that makes their performances so convincing.

I couldn’t make my mind up about the stepsisters. They were definitely more real - and possibly less objectionable - in act one but the act two panto pastiche felt a tad uncomfortable without the en travesti element. My daughter, for whom this was her first Cinderella, remarked that she would have preferred to have seen the men, so I guess the jury’s still out for me. 
I now have Kaneko and Bracewell to look forward to on Friday. And I have to say that I am loving the sets and projections and I’m pretty much on board with the costumes too - dumpy yellow daffodil apart. 

[Dawnstar]

19 minutes ago, Scheherezade said:

It was lovely to meet you and John S for the first time yesterday evening, Dawnstar, and, of course, to meet Sim and To the Pointe again - so glad you’ll be keeping up the podcast, To the Pointe!

 

Oops, I forgot to metion @ToThePointe or your daughter in my previous post.

[alison]

???!!

[alison]

On 11/04/2023 at 20:58, Dawnstar said:

Can anyone more expert than me confirm if all the Princes are dancing exactly the same solo? I thought McRae & Campbell's solos looked slightly different to Muntagirov's at one point near the end but I'm not sure if it's just a right turner vs left turner thing.

 

McRae didn't start his solo off the same (usual?) way on Monday, for a start.

Edited April 12, 2023 by alison
To correct misinformation

[Rob S]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I reckon Yasmine might be my favourite Cinderella 🤔

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Scheherezade]

She looks utterly radiant in your photos. 

[Benjamin]

Livestream Tonight! Who’s tuning In? 

[Jan McNulty]

10 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

One young woman I overheard commenting after the evening performance certainly didn't seem to be expecting what she got: I heard her say that she was baffled by it & had been expecting something like Wicked!!

 

Many years ago I was at the Palace Theatre in Manchester to see Northern Ballet perform Christopher Gable/Michael Pink's Dracula.  At the interval the couple sitting next to me asked when the singing started!!!  They thought they had booked for a musical version of Dracula that was touring the UK at the same time!  They did enjoy the performance though.

[LinMM]

Seeing in the cinema in Brighton with a few dancing friends and looking forward to it! I’ve not actually seen a live-streaming before though seen  recordings of course. 

[capybara]

9 hours ago, alison said:

 

McRae didn't start his solo off the same (usual?) way on Monday, for a start.

I have noticed in other ballets recently (Nutcracker; Sleeping Beauty) that a number of male Principals tend to vary the choreography at certain points in their solos . I don’t think that (all) the changes result from the way that they prefer to turn.

[alison]

This one wouldn't have.

 

I'm planning on going to see it in a cinema - I just haven't decided which one yet, as my locals are heavily booked.

[Linnzi5]

3 hours ago, Benjamin said:

Livestream Tonight! Who’s tuning In? 

Me! I'm really looking forward to it. Hopefully, my local cinema will play nicely and there won't be any glitches.   Am going Friday evening to see Fumi and Will - very, very excited about that!  

[Linnzi5]

1 hour ago, capybara said:

I have noticed in other ballets recently (Nutcracker; Sleeping Beauty) that a number of male Principals tend to vary the choreography at certain points in their solos . I don’t think that (all) the changes result from the way that they prefer to turn.

Yes. I have noticed this too. I rather like it. It's refreshing to see little individual tweaks here and there. I do notice when dancers turn their preferred ways and it does look different but this is not the changes in choreography I am talking about. The changes are little ones - maybe an embellished turning jump in the air (no idea what the technical term for that is!). Or, for example, in Swan Lake, I noticed that Vadim Muntagirov, at the end of his solo before Odile performs her famous fouettés, does a series of jumps, whereas some other dancers don't. I like that personalisation.

[Guest oncnp]

Looking forward to hearing everyone's reviews, since my nearest theatre is 1935.8mi in August. 

 

If anyone sees the little features they do in the interval on line would you please post?

Edited April 12, 2023 by oncnp
grammer

[alison]

Don't those usually turn up on the YouTube channel afterwards?  (They may not - I've never looked - but it seems likely).

[Benjamin]

11 minutes ago, alison said:

Don't those usually turn up on the YouTube channel afterwards?  (They may not - I've never looked - but it seems likely).

The Cinema recordings? I wish they did. Sometimes there’s a few Low quality videos that pop up for a day and then are taken down, most Likely by Opus Arte, Royal Opera House not as likely.

[SLH]

2 minutes ago, Benjamin said:

The Cinema recordings? I wish they did. Sometimes there’s a few Low quality videos that pop up for a day and then are taken down, most Likely by Opus Arte, Royal Opera House not as likely.

Please can someone enlighten me - is the live stream tonight also available as a livestream on the ROH's stream service?

[Benjamin]

1 minute ago, SLH said:

Please can someone enlighten me - is the live stream tonight also available as a livestream on the ROH's stream service?

I wish for that too. For how many dollars a month Roh Stream that really should be a feature. It’s only in Cinemas sadly. You can search up where it’s being held in Cinemas near you on the Roh Website.