Royal Ballet Onegin, Winter 2013

[alison]

I have always been under the impression that the rights for Onegin include the requirement that dancers from Stuttgart be used when injuries etc occur.

 

Really? I wasn't aware of that.

 

Welcome, Lisat.

[Naomi M]

It is not true that Cranko Estate are refusing the release of Onegin's DVD, but when it will be released it must be from Stuttgart Ballet, but Stuttgart Ballet has not released any DVDs for a very long time.

 

National Ballet of Canada's Onegin video, starring Frank Augustyn is a very good performance/ recording. I think at least this footage should be released on DVD.

[Angela]

There's also an old German TV recording from ca. 1970, starring Marcia Haydée, Heinz Clauss and Egon Madsen, which could be released on DVD, too. When a German TV channel tried to broadcast Cranko's "Romeo" recording from the same time, the Cranko estate stopped them.

If anybody has the "Ballerina" TV series from BBC with Makarova from 1984, there you can find the mirror pdd and the last pdd with Makarova and Reid Anderson.

[Fiz]

This, and "Mayerling" are my favourite ballets and I would love to see the divine Alina dance Tatiana again.

[Anna C]

Have I missed rehearsal/production photos of Onegin? Can't find any.

[zxDaveM]

Have I missed rehearsal/production photos of Onegin? Can't find any.

 

Not had the time to sort them out! They are on the way - Thiago/Marianela cast...

 

Production photos (by the pros employed by ROH) are on the ROH site somewhere, for Saturday night's show

Edited January 22, 2013 by zxDaveM

[toursenlair]

It is not true that Cranko Estate are refusing the release of Onegin's DVD, but when it will be released it must be from Stuttgart Ballet, but Stuttgart Ballet has not released any DVDs for a very long time.

 

National Ballet of Canada's Onegin video, starring Frank Augustyn is a very good performance/ recording. I think at least this footage should be released on DVD.

 

My understanding about DVDs (and not just this one) is that it's very complicated because of rights issues. Just because a recording exists, it doesn't mean it can just be transferred to a new medium. Rights with everyone (dancers, owners of the ballet, costume designer, composer/arranger or his/her estate etc etc) have to be cleared, and the original contract probably only covered the original recording. And because we're balletomanes (and we think, "Hey, Onegin is the best ballet EVER!!!") we assume the market will be huge enough to make the project financially viable, whereas in fact ballet is just a niche market. For the same reasons, producing a new DVD (ie a new recording of a ballet) can also be very expensive and not cost-effective, so the production companies go for yet another Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty or Nutcracker rather than the less known (to the mass audience) titles/companies/dancers.

[Angela]

Katherine, of course you're right, but as Onegin is now danced by so many companies worldwide, I don't think this would be a niche product. Look what they publish on DVD, unknown works by much smaller companies. Stuttgart has fine records of all the Cranko ballets (technically fine at least), as they do "Ballet in the Park", their public viewing, every year with many cameras in the house, so this would not be the problem.

[toursenlair]

Katherine, of course you're right, but as Onegin is now danced by so many companies worldwide, I don't think this would be a niche product. Look what they publish on DVD, unknown works by much smaller companies. Stuttgart has fine records of all the Cranko ballets (technically fine at least), as they do "Ballet in the Park", their public viewing, every year with many cameras in the house, so this would not be the problem.

 

I'm talking "niche" in comparison to, say, Hollywood movies! I used to be in charge of selling DVDs for the National Ballet of Canada, and even with a popular (to balletomanes) ballet like, say, "Merry Widow", I might sell 100 copies (and that was partly because it had Karen Kain in it), and that predominantly when the ballet was being performed. Even with all the companies around the world performing Onegin (perhaps once every three years except in Stuttgart), we're still looking at a couple of thousand DVDs. These are not the numbers that DVD producers like to see. As I mentioned in another thread about how tribal audiences are, I suspect that people in Toronto faced with a Stuttgart Ballet DVD of Onegin would say "Oh, why don't you have the National Ballet of Canada?". Ridiculous, I grant you, but true.

Of course, I don't know all the financial realities around an Onegin DVD, but I just wanted to point out that producing and financing DVDs is not as easy as people seem to think. With the ones that come from La Scala and the Royal Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet I suspect there is some huge subsidy involved.

What "unknown works by smaller companies" are you referring to? I look at my large DVD collection and see the usual suspects. And, as I said, the fact of having a recording of something is only half (or less than that) of the problem.

[Anna C]

 

 

Not had the time to sort them out! They are on the way - Thiago/Marianela cast...

 

Production photos (by the pros employed by ROH) are on the ROH site somewhere, for Saturday night's show

 

Fantastic - I was hoping you'd have some of Marianela and Thiago :-))

[John Mallinson]

5 photos of the Cojocaru, Reilly, Gartside, McRae cast by Bill Cooper on the ROH Facebook page.

[Angela]

I think that an Onegin DVD would sell much better than for example "Miniatures" by Jean-Christophe Maillot, Lar Lubovitch’s "Othello", "The Great Mass" by Scholz/Leipzig, "A Simple Man"/Gillian Lynne, "Hobson’s Choice" by Bintley, "Excelsior"/La Scala – all very interesting works, but not in the repertory of so many big companies as Onegin is now. With Onegin in London, Paris, New York, Toronto, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Vienna, in Moscow from June 2013, I think this could be a bestseller among ballet DVDs, even if it is not "my home company". I’m sure arte or another German TV station would love to co-produce the recording.

[Jan McNulty]

I think it depends on how the dvd will be financed. One of the dvds you mention above, A Simple Man, was commissioned as a television programme by the BBC to celebrate a Lowry anniversary. It was subsequently released initially on video and later on dvd. When we've asked about DVDs being produced in the past, the prohibitive cost of production has always been mentioned.

 

I had the NBoC Onegin on video. What a shame it was never re-released as a dvd.

[toursenlair]

I think it depends on how the dvd will be financed. One of the dvds you mention above, A Simple Man, was commissioned as a television programme by the BBC to celebrate a Lowry anniversary. It was subsequently released initially on video and later on dvd. When we've asked about DVDs being produced in the past, the prohibitive cost of production has always been mentioned.

 

I had the NBoC Onegin on video. What a shame it was never re-released as a dvd.

 

I agree. Hobson's Choice, for instance, is not available on NTSC and I don't think there are any plans to make it available.

There was probably some subsidy available when it was first produced that is no longer available. Likewise I think the La Scala videos like Excelsior (sometimes I think Roberto Bolle could sneeze and they would make a video of it) are heavily subsidized by RAI the Italian TV network.

I agree Onegin would sell better than any of these, but that still doesn't mean the finances would work. And the titles Angela mentions are really an exception in the vast sea of Swans, Beauties, Nuts, and Cinders.

[jmhopton]

If the Royal Ballet, for example, were allowed to film it for their live cinema broadcast that would have the dual effect of bringing the ballet to a much wider audience and would also help with the financing. If then the BBC or SkyArts were to buy the tv rights, coupled with the fact that the ROH own their own dvd company, Opus Arte, surely this would bring down the cost of producing it. Stuttgart could insist on one of their own dancers (Jason Reilly?) in the lead role, satisfying everyone. The cinema broadcasting has highlighted the comparative lack of ROH full-length ballets, as opposed to opera. Quite a few have been shown twice (Nutcracker 3 times) and there are only 3 ballets filmed a year as opposed to 5 or 6 operas. it would be great to have a full length ballet like Onegin broadcast on the big screen. Incidentally, what has happened to the tv broadcasting of the big screen recordings? 2 or 3 years ago SkyArts showed all of them but since then, nothing. Perhaps it's because so many are repeats.

Joan

[toursenlair]

The people who own the rights to Cranko are adamant that there will only be a DVD if it is the Stuttgart Ballet.

[zxDaveM]

Finally, here are a couple of sample pics from the dress rehearsal Saturday.

 

 

Royal Ballet - Onegin (Meaghan Grace Hinkis as Olga, Valentino Zucchetti as Lensky)

© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

 

 

Royal Ballet - Onegin (Marianela Nunez as Tatiana, Ryoichi Hirano and Prince Gremin)

© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

 

 

Royal Ballet - Onegin (Thiago Soares as Onegin, Marianela Nunez as Tatiana)

© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

 

 

See more...

 

Set on Flickr - Royal Ballet's Onegin

Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

By kind Permission of the Royal Opera House

[GTL]

Just looking at the DanceTabs / Flickr photos has reduced me to tears, I don't think I could take a whole DVD.

[Aruna S]

Lovely, lovely photographs. My only consolation for having missed this run is the rotten weather, it would have been far worse had I had tickets and not been able to get there. I would also be very pleased (understatement of the year) if there were to be a DVD. I saw the Haydee-Cragun Romeo and Juliet as a child, when it was screened at the German cultural centre, and never forgot it. That and Onegin, with Haydee, should be released on DVD, where's the genie of the lamp when you need him!

[Anna C]

Amazing photos Dave. Oh, I wish I could go and see this at the ROH! :-(

[Sim]

Well, last night's cast certainly would have made you cry....!! We are so lucky to have such wonderful, world class interpreters of dramatic roles at the RB. Bring on Nela and Thiago on Saturday. I can tell from Dave's fantastic photos that they are going to be very special.

[Anna C]

Gah, that's my dream cast Sim! *does Lottery ticket*

[Sim]

Gah, that's my dream cast Sim! *does Lottery ticket*

Oooo I sooo hope your numbers come up !!

[Anna C]

Wouldn't THAT be nice! Stuck in bed today though so I can't even do a wretched lottery ticket! :-)

[Sim]

Sorry to hear that, Spanner. Why not buy one or two online?! You've gotta be in it to win it!!

[Don Q Fan]

Fabulous photographs Dave - as always - much appreciated - can't wait for Saturday now!

[Nina G.]

Dave, only photo's of the Nunez/Soares cast?

 

no Alina C. cast?  or Lamb/Hristov/Naghdi/Dawid cast? 

[John Mallinson]

Bill Cooper photographed both of those casts for the ROH and some from the Cojocaru rehearsal have been in the national press (and there's one here). Little chance of seeing more I suppose. 

[Nina G.]

Thank you John.  

[zxDaveM]

Dave, only photo's of the Nunez/Soares cast?

 

no Alina C. cast?  or Lamb/Hristov/Naghdi/Dawid cast? 

I would dearly have loved to have photographed the Sarah Lamb cast, but their dress rehearsal last Friday was a closed one. Young Andrej Uspenski did take some photos there, and posted a few on Tinternet. The production photographers photographed the Alina cast as John says (on opening night, though I didn't see either of them about, so no idea where they took them from (unless it was inside the lighting box at the back of the Stalls Circle))

[aileen]

I very much enjoyed Onegin yesterday and so did my husband who is not a particularly enthusiastic ballet-goer. I think that this would be a good first ballet to take an adult to. It is a grown-up story, very clearly told, and there are no fairies, toys, dolls, bird-humans and no national dances. All the performances yesterday were very convincing. Thiago was haughty, rather than nasty, and his changing emotions were clearly expressed on his face. Marienela seemed to be overcome with emotion at the end and received three or four large bouquets. Was it her debut in the role? I think that the applause was some of the loudest I have heard at the ROH.

[Anna C]

I was there too aileen - a Twitter friend offered me an amphi ticket for £16, which was too good an offer to turn down. Dd was not impressed that I was going to see her favourite ballerina without her (she was at her Associates class).

 

I agree that it's quite "bloke friendly"; no fairies, two intervals and a duel meant that even my husband would enjoy Onegin.

 

I couldn't see faces clearly from the Amphi, but even so the emotion between Marianela and Thiago was palpable; really incredible. She seemed completely wrung out during the curtain call and it almost looked as if Thiago was physically supporting her. Her deep and loving reverence to him was so touching.

 

I learned two things from yesterday:

 

I *have* to somehow see Marianela and Thiago dance together again,

And (as suspected) my back really can't manage the cramped seats and limited legroom of the amphi, as I barely made it home and am stuck in bed today.

 

But to have seen Onegin with my dream cast - it was worth it.

[aileen]

Spanner, I'm sorry to hear about your back. I hope that you will be feeling better tomorrow. Last year I invested in some opera glasses and they have transformed my experience of watching ballet as I rarely sit anywhere other than the amphitheatre at the ROH and the balcony at the Coliseum. I agree that Thiago seemed to be physically supporting Marienela at the end. I don't know whether she was exhausted, ill or injured or whether she was just emotionally wrung out.