RB Sleeping Beauty - May/June 2023

[bridiem]

The question arose, as pointed out by Rob S, because normally when a performance is being filmed it says this on the ROH website. It does not say this for the performance tonight. Presumably just an error, or maybe they just don't bother saying this any more?

[Timmie]

1 hour ago, Paco said:

…It was all music and poetry, not technic...

 

Thank you for this wonderfully detailed explanation. I’ve seen Osipova a number of times before and this performance as Aurora was unlike those other performances, now I understand why 🙂.

[Ondine]

30 minutes ago, bridiem said:

The question arose, as pointed out by Rob S, because normally when a performance is being filmed it says this on the ROH website. It does not say this for the performance tonight. Presumably just an error, or maybe they just don't bother saying this any more?

 

It isn't being filmed,  really, it's being live broadcast which technically, is not the same! Though it can be downloaded as it is being broadcast. Cast sheet will be updated later today, hopefully.

 

https://static.roh.org.uk/digital/cast-sheets/Sleeping+Beauty/Cinema/Beauty_Castsheet_ACLogo.pdf

 

https://www.roh.org.uk/cinemas/production/51550

 

It was filmed last week, for posterity, possible DVD etc.

 

 

Edited May 24, 2023 by Ondine

[alison]

1 hour ago, Rob S said:

 

Oh ok....they've stopped saying that it's filmed on the booking dates page then.

 

I think I mentioned that a while back.

 

Welcome to the forum, Paco - it's good to see you here at last!

[San Perregrino]

36 minutes ago, alison said:

Oh ok....they've stopped saying that it's filmed on the booking dates page then

 

37 minutes ago, alison said:

I think I mentioned that a while back.

It is still mentioned on individual seats that may be directly affected. I got this message when selecting a seat for the triple bill in June:

 

Camera in view

View of the stage may be obstructed by a camera

[bridiem]

29 minutes ago, PeterS said:

It is still mentioned on individual seats that may be directly affected. I got this message when selecting a seat for the triple bill in June:

 

Camera in view

View of the stage may be obstructed by a camera

 

But there isn't a livestream of that bill, is there? Or maybe this is filming for another reason?

[Paco]

3 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

Hello @Paco and welcome to the Forum!

thank you Jan

[Paco]

2 hours ago, alison said:

Welcome to the forum, Paco - it's good to see you here at last!

Thank you Alison

[San Perregrino]

1 hour ago, bridiem said:

 

But there isn't a livestream of that bill, is there? Or maybe this is filming for another reason?

 

no live stream scheduled on the website, but the same message appears for the same orchestra stalls seats on 9/6 & 17/6.

it could be for internal record keeping,  for broadcast to another region, for future streaming or DVD release. no lo se. 

[bridiem]

6 minutes ago, PeterS said:

no live stream scheduled on the website, but the same message appears for the same orchestra stalls seats on 9/6 & 17/6.

it could be for internal record keeping,  for broadcast to another region, for future streaming or DVD release. no lo se. 

 

Perhaps connect with Morera's farewell? Hope so.

[FLOSS]

The Sleeping Beauty as originally conceived was a ballet set in a world which bore a strong resemblance to France with the Prologue set in Fontainebleau and ending a century later in the world of Louis XIV with the final act set in the gardens of Versailles. It was steeped in French culture from the setting of each scene to the guests invited to the wedding in act 3, all of whom appear in French fairy stories written  for the court of Louis XIV. The ballet originally ended with an apotheosis in which the god Apollo with whom Louis XIV was closely associated since his appearance as the sun god in the 1653 Ballet  de la Nuit         descended from the heavens in his chariot to the strains of Vive Henri Quatre. All these allusions to  France and the world of the sun king were lost in the early twentieth century redesigns which were more concerned with painterly effects than.specificity to time and place.

 

For an Artistic Director the ballet is as much a test of the depth and strength of a company as it is of the artistry and technical accomplishment of its leading dancers. The one thing it was never intended to be is a penance. It was created as a theatrical entertainment which showcased the latest Italian ballerina to visit St. Petersburg. I can't help thinking that there is something seriously wrong with a performance of the ballet which is boring and that the fault does not lie with the work itself but with the artistic decisions made by the company staging it. So much can go wrong with casting whether we are talking about selecting dancers to take the leading roles or those to take the soloist roles. In the early years of the century it often seemed  as  if the Prologue soloists had been allocated by drawing names at random from a hat for all the sense the casting made when individual dancers' skills and stage personalities were taken into account.

 

Casting decisions and coaching methods go a long way to make or mar any ballet but they   do far more damage to a ballet conceived on the grand scale than to one with a purely domestic setting or a one act work. "Parts of it are excellent" or "Good  in parts" is totally inadequate for a work like Sleeping Beauty which was devised to entertain, impress by emphasising the dominance of French culture and make a political point about the orderliness of the French state. The political context ceased to be important after its first season but a revival should always  entertain and impress. A conductor who moves the action on rather than accompanying the dancers at the tempi which will enable them to squeeze in an unscripted extra turn or hold a pose where the choreographer wanted a flow of movement makes the weakest case imaginable for any ballet.

 

Having some idea of the time and care spent on preparing Cinderella's Season Fairies left me wondering what had gone wrong with Beauty's Fairy Variations  in the first part of the run? They were so lacking in individuality and interpretative nuance that I began to wonder whether the dancers being prepared for soloist roles which are supposed to be showcases of classicism were  being prepared in batches rather than being given individual coaching? If nothing else the fact that the company has been dancing Ashton's Cinderella and Beauty back to back seems to have had a beneficial effect on the soloists dancing the Fairy Variations in the second half of the run . Whether this is the result of individual initiatives on the part of the dancers or simply the result of more time spent in the  studio with  the coaches is  unclear but the  performances of the Variations post Cinderella seemed to have  more personality, individuality  and presence. They were far more lively and engaged in what they were doing than had been the case in the first part of the run.

 

 

The 6th May saw the company give an exceptionally lively account of what used to be regarded as  the company's calling card. Of course we must thank Mr Lo in the pit for selecting tempi that save the work from being reduced  to a monument to classicism which is to be admired rather than enjoyed but there were other factors at work. There was a clarity to the dancing and it seemed that not only had a number of dancers been thinking about their roles but nearly everyone seemed more aware of the potential of epaulement to add to the quality of their movement. All the Fairy Variations seemed more organically integrated   than they had during the first run of the ballet. During the  first run some soloists presented their solos as sequences of steps with little sense of how they related to the solo as a whole, if dancing is what happens between the steps, then there was something wanting in those earlier performances. The same was true of the way in which the female roles in the Florestan pas de trois were performed. In the first part of the run the second soloist at nearly every performance seemed to think that her solo was about  striking poses rather than moving, These solos were much improved in the performances I have seen in the  latter part of the run. Perhaps it is the effect of dancing so much Ashton since March which has brought about this transformation since his choreography is always concerned with movement and transitions and never with the static pose.

 

 Act 3 is the culmination of the ballet and Aurora's solo in this act should be experienced as the high point of the entire work which was created as a homage to the ballerina as queen of the dance. It is the one point where an Aurora can reveal her attainment of artistic maturity to the audience through a musically imaginative reproduction of the  choreographic text.  Naghdi brought artistic imagination to her entire performance  but it was at this point in the performance that she revealed her sense of creative fantasy and  expressiveness in her use of the role's music and epaulement in the Act 3 solo Takada by contrast seemed to me something of a puritan reproducing  the choreography accurately  but unadorned. She reproduces it with great precision  but to my eye without much in the way of interpretative imagination.I never got the feeling that she felt that there was potential to delve deeper, give more and  impose her personality and interpretation on the role. Naghdi while equally precise possesses the sort of musical imagination which enables her to move around in the music and play with it. The music is an expression of who Aurora is and in the final act she seems to dominate it and bend the text and music to her will without distorting it or slowing down to achieve these effects.

 

As  far as the Prince's solo is concerned I am not sure that there was one in the pre-war staging for the company. After the war when Somes danced the rthe prince I believe that Ashton created a solo for him. The current solo which most people seem to accept as  the "traditional"  version seems to be based on the choreography which appears in Konstantin Sergeyev's staging of the ballet in the 1950's.In other words what we take to be the "traditional" version of the Prince's solo is not Petipa or Petipa derived but a bit of post revolutionary Soviet style choreography. When Ratmansky staged his reconstruction of the ballet he allowed his Princes to choose between a taxing solo full of petite batterie which I believe he found among the Harvard material and what is now treated as the "tradirional" version . Only one dancer I saw in Paris dared dance the earlier demanding version of the solo. The text of this solo looked convincingly authentic. It looked like the sort of choreography which Christian Johansson  might have produced for the Legat brothers. it was full of petite batterie which looked very like Bournonville requiring the Prince to  move through three hundred and sixty degrees with consummate elegance and ease while beating furiously without a single heroic step of elevation to bolster his reputation.

 

[taxi4ballet]

Is there a link to the full cast sheet for this evening yet, I can only find the one that has the principals on it.

 

[Ondine]

1 minute ago, taxi4ballet said:

Is there a link to the full cast sheet for this evening yet, I can only find the one that has the principals on it.

 

 

I keep looking but so far, no.  Pushing it a bit, really.

[San Perregrino]

28 minutes ago, taxi4ballet said:

Is there a link to the full cast sheet for this evening yet, I can only find the one that has the principals on it.

 

here’s casting from the 17th. doubtful it will change unless unforeseen circumstances:

CAST

King Florestan XXIV

Christopher Saunders

His Queen

Elizabeth McGorian

Princess Aurora

Yasmine Naghdi

Prince Florimund

Matthew Ball

Cattalabutte

Bennet Gartside

Master of Ceremonies

Carabosse

Kristen McNally

Lilac Fairy

Mayara Magri

Fairy of the Crystal Fountain

Annette Buvoli

Fairy of the Enchanted Garden

Meaghan Grace Hinkis

Fairy of the Woodland Glade

Ashley Dean

Fairy of the Song Bird

Sophie Allnatt

Fairy of the Golden Vine

Yuhui Choe

Cavaliers

Nicol Edmonds, Joseph Sissens, Benjamin Ella, Calvin Richardson, Leo Dixon, Luca Acri

Act I

The English Prince

Gary Avis

The French Prince

Nicol Edmonds

The Indian Prince

David Donnelly

The Russian Prince

Tomas Mock

Aurora’s Friends

Sophie Allnatt, Mica Bradbury, Ashley Dean, Hannah Grennell, Isabel Lubach, Katharina Nikelski, Gina Storm-Jensen, Charlotte Tonkinson

Act II

The Countess

Mica Bradbury

Gallison

Kevin Emerton

Act III

Florestan and his sisters

Calvin Richardson, Sae Maeda, Annette Buvoli

Puss-in-Boots and the White Cat

Sophie Allnatt, David Yudes

Princess Florine and the Bluebird

Isabella Gasparini, Joseph Sissens

Red Riding Hood and the Wolf

Bomin Kim, David Donnelly

Grand pas de deux

Yasmine Naghdi, Matthew Ball

 

 

[alison]

Full cast list here:

The Sleeping Beauty | Cast List | 24.05.2023 7:30 PM (roh.org.uk)

[taxi4ballet]

Brilliant, thank you!

[Bluebird]

17 minutes ago, PeterS said:

here’s casting from the 17th. doubtful it will change unless unforeseen circumstances:

Fairy of the Enchanted Garden

Meaghan Grace Hinkis

Fairy of the Woodland Glade

Ashley Dean

 

Presumably there were some unforeseen circumstances as there are some changes:

 

Fairy of the Enchanted Garden is Isabella Gasparini and Fairy of the Woodland Glade is Sae Maeda

 

18 minutes ago, PeterS said:

Aurora’s Friends

Sophie Allnatt, Mica Bradbury, Ashley Dean, Hannah Grennell, Isabel Lubach, Katharina Nikelski, Gina Storm-Jensen, Charlotte Tonkinson

Also, Yu Hang replaces Ashley Dean as one of Aurora's Friends.

 

Those are the only changes I've noticed.

[RHowarth]

Yasmine Naghdi has brought me to tears twice in the last 5 weeks. Once in the Cinderella act 2 pdd (when she encircles her Prince in slow controlled chaines) and tonight at the end of the Rose Adage. And does anyone else think she has the look of Fonteyn as Aurora?

[jmhopton]

Can't find the 22/23 cinema thread but had my cinema ticket price refunded from Preston Odeon tonight as they couldn't get the satellite to work, despite it working earlier today. Fortunately, I'd already booked for Sunday's performance.

[Ondine]

8 hours ago, PeterS said:

 

It is still mentioned on individual seats that may be directly affected. I got this message when selecting a seat for the triple bill in June:

 

Camera in view

View of the stage may be obstructed by a camera

 

 

Oh dear!  Camera,  camera person and ipad. Poor man. No, not acceptable, not if no warnings given! 

 

 

[Ondine]

10 minutes ago, jmhopton said:

Can't find the 22/23 cinema thread but had my cinema ticket price refunded from Preston Odeon tonight as they couldn't get the satellite to work, despite it working earlier today. Fortunately, I'd already booked for Sunday's performance.

 

I didn't want to LIKE this, that's sad after all the effort of getting there! How annoying.

 

I didn't book, I may look for a Sunday encore.

 

It will no doubt be on *cough* YT very soon.  But we don't condone that as it's very wrong. 😏

 

I hope your cinema manages to get a copy for Sunday's encore.

 

[Shade]

2 hours ago, RHowarth said:

Yasmine Naghdi has brought me to tears twice in the last 5 weeks. Once in the Cinderella act 2 pdd (when she encircles her Prince in slow controlled chaines) and tonight at the end of the Rose Adage. And does anyone else think she has the look of Fonteyn as Aurora?

I was just thinking the same re Fonteyn this evening.

[bridiem]

I saw the live screening and I thought it was a terrific performance. Everyone on top form, and Naghdi and Ball superb together - this is as strong a partnership as Nunez and Muntagirov. Naghdi was amazing - technically brilliant, lightning turns, and a joy and detail to her dancing that was wonderful to behold. And Ball's prince was convincing and beautifully danced. McNally and Magri complemented each other very effectively as Carabosse and Lilac. And so much else to enjoy: I thought all the fairies were excellent, including Sophie Allnatt who I'd never really noticed before; Richardson, Maeda and Buvoli delivered a thrilling Florestan/sisters; and Gasparini and Sissens were excellent as Florine/Bluebird. And when I checked afterwards to see who the brilliant Wolf was... yes, David Donnelly! A great company performance.

 

As usual, there were very good interviews etc before and in the intervals, with Jonathan Lo especially interesting about the music. I would still rather that we weren't constantly being told how brilliant and marvellous everything is; it is, but it's for the viewer to decide that. And I especially like seeing the dancers as they come away from the stage and sometimes pass near the presenters, looking very matter-of-fact in their costumes and wigs; and the dancers behind the curtains as the calls are happening. Exciting!

[Blossom]

27 minutes ago, Shade said:

I was just thinking the same re Fonteyn this evening.

She definitely has something ‘old world’ about her-thought she really captured this with Swan Lake and also Giselle Act 2. Stylistically she is such a stunning classical dancer but also a wonderful actress who really embodies the character she plays.

 

I now feel fulfilled having seen Gasparini/Sissens as Bluebird. Another gorgeous evening.

 

 

[Shade]

Top cast all round tonight I think

[balletyas]

Nagdhi was sublime . Feel very privileged to have witnessed that. Radiant, so assured, so musical and clearly loving every minute, the conductor and she so very in sync,,, the connection with Ball particularly lovely tonight.  
too shattered to write more now! 

[alison]

Can I just say that, among the supporting cast:

I thought Joe Sissens did the best Bluebird I've seen from him yet (and I've seen quite a few over the past 4 months!)

Sophie Allnatt had various members of my cinema audience chuckling, both at her Songbird fairy and her White Cat.

[Rob S]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Linnzi5]

7 hours ago, bridiem said:

I saw the live screening and I thought it was a terrific performance. Everyone on top form, and Naghdi and Ball superb together - this is as strong a partnership as Nunez and Muntagirov. Naghdi was amazing - technically brilliant, lightning turns, and a joy and detail to her dancing that was wonderful to behold. And Ball's prince was convincing and beautifully danced. McNally and Magri complemented each other very effectively as Carabosse and Lilac. And so much else to enjoy: I thought all the fairies were excellent, including Sophie Allnatt who I'd never really noticed before; Richardson, Maeda and Buvoli delivered a thrilling Florestan/sisters; and Gasparini and Sissens were excellent as Florine/Bluebird. And when I checked afterwards to see who the brilliant Wolf was... yes, David Donnelly! A great company performance.

 

As usual, there were very good interviews etc before and in the intervals, with Jonathan Lo especially interesting about the music. I would still rather that we weren't constantly being told how brilliant and marvellous everything is; it is, but it's for the viewer to decide that. And I especially like seeing the dancers as they come away from the stage and sometimes pass near the presenters, looking very matter-of-fact in their costumes and wigs; and the dancers behind the curtains as the calls are happening. Exciting!

Well. You said exactly what I was going to! I don't have time to post a review now, but literally you wrote what I thought word for word! I will write something later. We all had a brilliant time!

[Jake]

Not sure how to write about last night. After a ghastly year or so which led up to the loss of my husband with whom I’d shared regular trips to Covent Garden etc over more than 20 years, I wasn’t sure whether I should even attempt to go to the Beauty cinema relay.

But a last-minute decision was made and it was truly wonderful to be transported away from reality for three hours. Struck me as a magnificent performance all round with the whole cast contributing to the magic.

Kristen McNally deliciously evil, but with Mayara Magri spreading benevolence so beautifully the illusion that all is, or could be, well with the world was complete - if only that was the case in the real universe.

Matthew Ball everyone’s conception of the handsome Prince and so gloriously together with his Aurora.

As as for Yasmine Naghdi, a truly spectacular performance with such confidence, joy and aplomb - I was in floods of tears after act one.

It seemed to me that Jonathan Lo taking the wonderful music at such a cracking pace really encouraged the dancers to excel (as well as making less noticeable the occasional longueurs which one has to admit Beauty is subject to in places).

Thank you to all the above and to the rest of the team (what a Bluebird, what a Wolf, what a Queen and so many more) for an evening which did me at least more good than you will ever know.

Edited May 25, 2023 by Jan McNulty
Edited to increase font size

[Cescablue]

On 19/05/2023 at 17:14, Sim said:

You won't be disappointed Cesca! 

I certainly wasn't, Sim! What an evening!  Yasmine really is a wonder - beautiful dancing and she just radiates joy as Aurora, so glad I booked to see this.  Felt quite happily tearful at the end of the rose adage!

 

Was thrilled to see Joseph Sissens as bluebird - what a performer!  And also very pleased to finally see Yuhui Choe in person, such a lovely dancer.  The whole company was on fine form I thought - and they are so amazing - fab dancing (and, being a person interested in practical details - all those quick changes, must be very tiring!).

  

[LinMM]

Very sorry for your loss Jake. So pleased you made the decision to see this and it has given you some solace. When you’ve been going regularly with someone to the ballet for such a long time certain music can definitely set you off as it reaches so far down into your soul it becomes part of your story.
Last night a particularly stellar cast all round came together for this performance as well  (and am only sorry had to miss it myself) but such performances can stay with you for many years to come. 
 

[Fonty]

On 24/05/2023 at 09:22, Paco said:

Since then, Ms Osipova has continuously renewed her interpretation of the character, as she does for all characters (even her last Giselle had nothing similar to the first one she did at the RB). However, there is a continuity in her approach: her Aurora is absolutely NOT the little, innocent girl of the tradition. She might be at Act one (which, frankly, has never been Osipova’s best compared to the queens of “équilibres” Nunez, Lamb, Naghdi, or abroad Gilbert, Zakharova or Manni). But even in Act I Ms Osipova assumes that Aurora is not any more a child, she is already an adult. This is visible in her behaviour towards the 4 princes in the Adage: she completely assumes her position as a princess, a woman-princess, not a girly princess trying to play a Disney movie.

Then, beginning Act II Ms Osipova makes a clear comparison with Odette: Like the swan, she is in a bewitched prison. She cries, she is totally distressed and calls for help. This was so obvious in her expressionist face, arms and fingers last Monday (exactly the arms movements of the swan in Act I of Swan Lake, absolutely amazing parallel…). And this is so coherent with the dramatic, extremely romantic music in the orchestra at that moment of the piece. Her Act II is not gentle, nor dreamy: It is the passion of a distressed princess. For Ms Osipova, Carabosse is Rothbart!

And she is an adult in her mind. This detail is also really perceivable in Act III: The Pas de Deux is a Pas de Deux of a mature woman, an adult, not a young girl. As if, in the conception of Ms Osipova, 100 years of sleep would not mean that once awaken you were the same person like at the beginning. Obviously, she considers Aurora as a woman. And this is very different from all the Auroras I have been seeing.

 

 

 

 

This is a fascinating description of Osipova's approach to Aurora, but I am sure I cannot be the only one in thinking that perhaps she is trying to put way too much drama into the role?  Of course Aurora is not a child, and she is certainly aware of her position as a princess.  However, she is definitely young,  hence the fact that she is still single and is being introduced to possible suitors.   Does the synopsis still say she is celebrating her 16th birthday, I can't remember.  I can't help thinking that if her characterisation is as you describe, then she is trying to approach the SB as if it was a MacMillan ballet.  Sometimes a more simple approach is the best imo.  I like my Aurora to be young, radiant and not too complicated.  Of course she is a different girl in Act 111 to the one who dances the Rose Adagio.  She is, after all, marrying the man of her dreams, but she hasn't matured that much.   In fact, technically she is still 16 isn't she?  (Or whatever age she was when put into the enchanted sleep.)

 

Sadly I couldn't go to the cinema last night, and I cannot make the encore performances on Sunday either.