Does the Royal Ballet's current leadership respect the past?

[Lizbie1]

5 minutes ago, Anna C said:

That’s a good point, Anne.  However, in other ballets containing elements that weren’t originally but are are now considered problematic, those elements (be they costume/makeup or choreography) can be - and have been - altered.  I’m thinking in particular of the Tea/Chinese dance in RB’s Nutcracker, where both costume/props and choreography have been changed.  
 

I can see no reason why Alain couldn’t be portrayed as more “eccentric bachelor”, totally uninterested in/unaware of marriage, than someone with developmental delay/learning difficulties, who is laughed AT, as opposed to laughed WITH.  Likewise, as much as I enjoyed Naughty Peregrine the pony, he’s not pivotal to the story.  
 

People may have their own views on modernising certain dances/portrayals, but surely it’s better to do that than not perform the production at all?  

 

I wonder if it's something to do with the rights holder?

[Ondine]

3 hours ago, Emeralds said:

...when the roles of the  parents are danced by dancers who are young and they move like teenagers rather than with the gravity and slowness that comes on with age.

 

Except in Ye Olden Days parents did tend to be young as people got married young.   Juliet? 14? Aurora?  In modern productions she's 16?  GIselle?  Nutcracker,  the parents have young children?

 

Les Noces? How old are the couple getting hitched?  Children would rapidly follow.

 

Then there's Fille, how old do we reckon Lise is? Young enough to be put over her mother's knee and spanked.  Young enough to be locked in the house by her mother. (That's the mother played by a burly bloke.)  Child abuse. 

 

Alain is portrayed as being young.

 

And so, playing parents as old and slow is rather odd.

 

 

[Emeralds]

5 minutes ago, Ondine said:

 

Except in Ye Olden Days parents did tend to be young as people got married young.   Juliet? 14? Aurora?  In modern productions she's 16?  GIselle?  Nutcracker,  the parents have young children?

 

Les Noces? How old are the couple getting hitched?  Children would rapidly follow.

 

Then there's Fille, how old do we reckon Lise is? Young enough to be put over her mother's knee and spanked.  Young enough to be locked in the house by her mother. (That's the mother played by a burly bloke.)  Child abuse. 

 

Alain is portrayed as being young.

 

And so, playing parents as old and slow is rather odd.

 

 

Playing parents as old and slow- you’ve misunderstood the sentence completely. But good that you mentioned it in case others have too.

 

When you look at a teen or 20 year old dancing or walking, they have a lightness in their step because their centre of gravity is higher. When you look at a 40 year old moving or dancing, whether a dancer or non dancer, their walk and movement is different, because their centre of gravity is lower. They’re not fatter. Even a slender 35 or 40 year old ballerina eg Makarova, Guillem, Maximova, when they were at that age. It’s to do with the anatomy and physiology of the human body. The age when this shift happens varies from person to person- some have it by 33, some only at 36, but all have it by 39 and certainly 40. It’s happens with men as well. They’re not slower or less fit. Even the men who can do 540s aged 39, or the ballerinas who can still do triple fouettes or multiple entrechats aged 40 have it. It’s to do with human DNA. 

 

An older dancer or actor can play a younger person convincingly but a younger person (eg a teen) has far more difficulty playing an older person - whether 40 or 60, because their centre of gravity is different- they look too light. So when you look at productions of Giselle, for example, a 40 year old dancing Giselle with a 40 year old dancer playing her mother works. A 25 year old dancer portraying Giselle’s mother with a 20 year old dancer playing  Giselle doesn’t, even though there is a 5 year age gap. (And you can’t say “marry young”- she would have to be a mum at 10 years old whose daughter is now a 15 year old? Creepy.) 

 

If you only ever watch or attend RB or BRB shows you won’t come across this - you wouldn’t even know what I’m talking about - because they have older character artists on their roster, eg ballet mistresses who can still double up in character roles (Marion Tait was extraordinary in these, for example). 

 

But if you see small touring groups from abroad whose only dancers are 20-25 year olds who have to double up in character roles, and the one or two older ex-dancers are all doing makeup, backstage work and are too busy to perform character roles, you’ll see what I mean. 

 

Some of this is also due to experience. The longer someone has danced, the more experience they have, the more acting skills and experience they have too, so their job is easier. The one dancer who bucked this trend was United Ukrainian Ballet’s Olena Mykhailova. From her cv, she can’t be older than 27, but she could portray Giselle’s mother convincingly. She knew not to scuttle around with quick dramatic gestures (rookie mistake) as it would make her look like an excited teen- more Giselle’s sister than mother. She portrayed Berthe in all the performances in London very successfully. 

 

My point about Noces casting has nothing to do with Aurora, Lise, Juliet. People have already explained that Alain is not planning to get married and is not ready to do so, so you’re kind of shooting yourself in the foot mentioning him. Nutcracker is also not relevant to Noces, but most companies do tend to portray Clara’s parents and many of the other parents as being older parents, even to the point of giving them white or grey hair sometimes, and the children are meant to be 8 to 11, so again, you’re killing your own argument by confusing Fritz, Clara and the 8 year olds with the bride and groom in Noces!

 

The ballet libretto doesn’t stipulate exact ages of the bride and groom, but RB dancers portraying the roles have been 20 to 36 (again, they can be older dancers portraying younger characters, as long as they don’t look older than the dancers portraying their mothers and  fathers!) 

[OnePigeon]

I got very confused watching a production of Mayerling once as I thought Rudolph’s mother was one of his lovers as she looked the same age as him and I hadn’t read the synopsis properly.  They should make some effort to portray the delineation between the generations or it can be confusing, or distracting trying to suspend disbelief.

[Ondine]

No I read what you wrote and understood what you meant.

 

I was being a tad lighthearted, but it does irritate me when say, Giselle's mother is portrayed as someone who could be her gran.

 

5 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

People have already explained that Alain is not planning to get married and is not ready to do so

 

 

Eh?  Alain may not be 'ready' but his father and Widow Simone have the wedding all arranged. That's the pivotal point of the story. Sadly, Lise is rather 'badly guarded' and so...

 

A Wiki's synposis has it

 

Not finding anywhere suitable in the living room, Lise takes Colas to her room, and she returns to the living room just before Widow Simone enters the house. The Widow Simone orders Lise to go to her room and put on her wedding dress for her forthcoming marriage to Alain. The horrified Lise tries to remain where she is, but the Widow Simone pushes Lise into her room and locks the door.

Thomas arrives with his son Alain (who is still clutching his umbrella). They are accompanied by a notary who is to act as witness to the marriage. The farm workers (friends of both Lise and Colas) also arrive. The Widow Simone gives Alain the key to Lise's room. When Alain unlocks the door to Lise's room, Lise appears in her wedding dress, accompanied by Colas. Thomas and Alain take offence, and the enraged Thomas tears up the marriage contract. Thomas, Alain and the notary leave the house in dudgeon.

 

 

 

[Emeralds]

2 minutes ago, Ondine said:

No I read what you wrote and understood what you meant.

 

I was being a tad lighthearted, but it does irritate me when say, Giselle's mother is portrayed as someone who could be her gran.

 

 

 

Eh?  Alain may not be 'ready' but his father and Widow Simone have the wedding all arranged. That's the pivotal point of the story. Sadly, Lise is rather 'badly guarded' and so...

 

A Wiki's synposis has it

 

Not finding anywhere suitable in the living room, Lise takes Colas to her room, and she returns to the living room just before Widow Simone enters the house. The Widow Simone orders Lise to go to her room and put on her wedding dress for her forthcoming marriage to Alain. The horrified Lise tries to remain where she is, but the Widow Simone pushes Lise into her room and locks the door.

Thomas arrives with his son Alain (who is still clutching his umbrella). They are accompanied by a notary who is to act as witness to the marriage. The farm workers (friends of both Lise and Colas) also arrive. The Widow Simone gives Alain the key to Lise's room. When Alain unlocks the door to Lise's room, Lise appears in her wedding dress, accompanied by Colas. Thomas and Alain take offence, and the enraged Thomas tears up the marriage contract. Thomas, Alain and the notary leave the house in dudgeon.

 

 

 

You can’t say you understand what I meant if you clearly misunderstood what I meant. You could say my words weren’t clear enough for you, or that you found them misleading or confusing, which is fair enough. 

 

Again, Alain not really relevant to Les Noces, and people would generally agree it would be inaccurate to equate his character to the groom in Les Noces. You could equate Colas and the groom though- both get married in their ballets, although Colas seems to have a more fun wedding/noces.

 

The general point of the discussion is that Bronislava Nijinska’s Les Noces hasn’t been staged since 2012- some say they miss it and would book it, others like me say they won’t  (I’ve done my duty seeing it over 10 times....could be even 15....so I think I’ve earned my right to sit it out). That is probably what happens every time they stage it when half are keen, half are not keen, so it doesn’t sell out. My suggestion is to have alternative combinations of the mixed bills: eg a) Checkmate/Les Biches/Rakes Progress, b) Prodigal Son/Checkmate/Les Noces, c) Les Biches/Rakes Progress/Les Noces, and people can pick the combination they prefer.  The following season they could add Job, The Gods go a begging, Apparitions, for example, in different combinations. If they’re not confident it would sell, even a run in the Linbury Theatre would be good. These ballets were originally made on small stages. 

[Ondine]

20 minutes ago, OnePigeon said:

she looked the same age as him

 

 

She married at 16. She was apparently very beautiful.

 

She was not quite 21 when she had Rudolf, her third child.  He was thirty at the time of his death.

 

 

 

 

[Emeralds]

30 minutes ago, OnePigeon said:

I got very confused watching a production of Mayerling once as I thought Rudolph’s mother was one of his lovers as she looked the same age as him and I hadn’t read the synopsis properly.  They should make some effort to portray the delineation between the generations or it can be confusing, or distracting trying to suspend disbelief.

I must admit I used to wonder why Empress Elisabeth in the ballet looked so young too, OnePigeon. Then I read that in real life she was terrified of looking old or growing old, so she would go for lots of anti ageing or beauty treatments, spend ages washing and conditioning her long hair and all white hairs had to be plucked out. Pity they didn’t have Clairol or Tresemme hair dye in her day! In the pictures, especially with Rudolf having a beard, they do look rather oddly (just before his death) like they are quite close in age!  She was an interesting woman. 

[Ondine]

8 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

You can’t say you understand what I meant if you clearly misunderstood what I meant. You could say my words weren’t clear enough for you, or that you found them misleading or confusing, which is fair enough. 

 

Again, Alain not really relevant to Les Noces, and people would generally agree it would be inaccurate to equate his character to the groom in Les Noces.

 

 

No I understood what you said.  I was making the point that too often parents in ballet are portrayed as older than they possibly should be.  I mentioned Fille and I mentioned Alain as there is discussion of Alain further up the thread.  Presumably Alain and Lise are of similar age, and both young.  i've not equated him to the groom in Les Noces, other than both possibly being young.  Not that any of it matters as it's all pure fiction anyhow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MAB]

11 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Then I read that in real life she was terrified of looking old or growing old, so she would go for lots of anti ageing or beauty treatments,

 

Indeed, she was also the world's first gym bunny and in an age before mass media she was considered the most beautiful woman in the world.  In Bavaria, Austria and Hungary she enjoys almost a cult following to this day.

 

As for Juliet, it used to be theatrical lore that you had to be forty to portray Juliet.

 

RDB has a staggering number of older character dancers to call upon, their performances of Onegin are peopled with the genuinely old.  No wonder Onegin was so contemptuous of the Larin family's provincial ball with all those elderly neighbours.  For once you understood why that city sophisticate couldn' stand them.

[OnePigeon]

11 hours ago, Emeralds said:

I must admit I used to wonder why Empress Elisabeth in the ballet looked so young too, OnePigeon. Then I read that in real life she was terrified of looking old or growing old, so she would go for lots of anti ageing or beauty treatments, spend ages washing and conditioning her long hair and all white hairs had to be plucked out. Pity they didn’t have Clairol or Tresemme hair dye in her day! In the pictures, especially with Rudolf having a beard, they do look rather oddly (just before his death) like they are quite close in age!  She was an interesting woman. 

She was, but at around 50 years old she was still 20 years older than Rudolph and more than 30 years older than Mary Vetsera, so she should at least look noticeably older for the audience’s sake, even if she is well preserved. Casting dancers in their 20s is just bizarre to me when there are older dancers who would be more suitable.

[Tango Dancer]

11 hours ago, Emeralds said:

I must admit I used to wonder why Empress Elisabeth in the ballet looked so young too, OnePigeon. Then I read that in real life she was terrified of looking old or growing old, so she would go for lots of anti ageing or beauty treatments, spend ages washing and conditioning her long hair and all white hairs had to be plucked out. Pity they didn’t have Clairol or Tresemme hair dye in her day! In the pictures, especially with Rudolf having a beard, they do look rather oddly (just before his death) like they are quite close in age!  She was an interesting woman. 

 

Yes.  She was petrified of ageing and also I think had some form of eating disorder and possibly some other mental health issues.  She really struggled with the duties of being a monarch and had a fascinating but quite unhappy life.  There's a good German language musical about her called Elisabeth which I quite enjoyed when I was a student.    

[Ondine]

21 minutes ago, Tango Dancer said:

quite unhappy life. 

 

Also her death,  she was assassinated! Stabbed through the heart by an anarchist!

 

Wiki (I know I know, but it's not all bad)  details much of this, including her addiction to corsetry.

 

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

 

 

[Emeralds]

2 hours ago, OnePigeon said:

She was, but at around 50 years old she was still 20 years older than Rudolph and more than 30 years older than Mary Vetsera, so she should at least look noticeably older for the audience’s sake, even if she is well preserved. Casting dancers in their 20s is just bizarre to me when there are older dancers who would be more suitable.

I agree. I mentioned those exact sentiments in the Mayerling thread last year which I don’t think went down well with a few diehard RB/Mayerling fans 😂. I generally don’t feel one should cast only according to a dancer’s birth certificate (eg age, ethnicity, even gender!) as former BRB dancer Laura Day’s incredible cv shows- she portrayed Clara in Nutcracker, Vera in A Month in the Country, the lead role of Peter in Peter and the Wolf, Lady Capulet and Sancho Panza (initially due to colleagues being off ill but she was so successful that we actually asked if she could be cast again as we wanted to see it!) - all while still in her 20s. (You really couldn’t tell that was her as SP- she mastered the different walk, posture and way of moving). But I agree it’s easier to cast an older dancer to look like an older woman trying to look young, rather than a young woman trying to look like an older woman trying to look young....unless they’re short of dancers due to injuries or something. 

[bangorballetboy]

I do find this chat around the ages of the ladies in Mayerling fascinating.

 

As I think I have posted before, here are the ages of some of the dancers as of the first performance (14 February 1978):

• David Wall (Crown Prince Rudolf) - 31
• Lynn Seymour (Mary Vetsera) - 38
• Merle Park (Countess Mary Larisch) - 41
• Georgina Parkinson (Empress Elizabeth) - 39
• Michael Somes (Emperor Franz Josef) - 60
• Wendy Ellis (Princess Stéphanie) - 26
• David Drew (Bay Middleton) - 39

 

[Emeralds]

3 hours ago, MAB said:

 

Indeed, she was also the world's first gym bunny and in an age before mass media she was considered the most beautiful woman in the world.  In Bavaria, Austria and Hungary she enjoys almost a cult following to this day.

 

As for Juliet, it used to be theatrical lore that you had to be forty to portray Juliet.

 

RDB has a staggering number of older character dancers to call upon, their performances of Onegin are peopled with the genuinely old.  No wonder Onegin was so contemptuous of the Larin family's provincial ball with all those elderly neighbours.  For once you understood why that city sophisticate couldn' stand them.

Am getting a visual of Elisabeth “Sissi” in the Winterhalter painting of her hitting the gym with tracksuit and sweatband! 

 

Ah yes, “gotta be forty in order to be fourteen”. Among the best Juliets I have seen were Daria Kilmentiova, Marion Tait and Alessandra Ferri all dancing near the age of forty. They didn’t pretend to be a teen or young Juliet- they just WERE. Daria actually looked the same age as Vadim Muntagirov on the stage; it was uncanny. I took a friend who had never seen a ballet to see Tait dancing Juliet with BRB and Kevin O’Hare as her Romeo (it was a long time ago!). He knew nothing about ballet and he remarked, “if you hadn’t told me  she was 40 I would just have assumed she was very young, or in her 20s.”

[OnePigeon]

I think the difference is we know Juliet is supposed to be young and if it’s danced beautifully it doesn’t really matter.  When it comes to portraying parental roles it gets a bit more important to at least try to differentiate their ages. I was genuinely confused by the relationship between Rudolf and Elisabeth because, in my ignorance, I hadn’t realised she was his mother and because the dancer looked the same age, or younger, and he kept going to her and being rejected, I initially assumed she must be his mistress or the woman he really loved instead of poor Stephanie.  I suspect there may have been some Oedipal intent there from Macmillan anyhow, but it impacted my experience until I went and bought a programme in the intermission.  

[Ondine]

There are times when you have to have some sympathy with Balanchine's POV:

 

🙂

 

 

There are no mothers-in-law in ballet.

Balanchine’s Law, as he called it, reiterated that ballet doesn’t tell a story. Story is told solely through dance terms. “Don’t worry about your soul,” he once said, “I want to see your foot.”

 

[LinMM]

Almost the complete opposite of Baryshnikov’s view according to some comments he made recently!! 

[miliosr]

On 23/09/2023 at 13:23, Pas de Quatre said:

What about the Antony Tudor ballets? Shadowplay, Lilac Garden, Dark Elegies & Gala Performance, just to name a few. Magnificent ballets that seem to have been lost in UK.

The situation is equally deplorable at American Ballet Theatre (ABT) and arguably more so given how ABT is supposed to be the steward of Tudor's repertory.

 

ABT will occasionally program Jardin aux Lilas (1936) and Pillar of Fire (1942) but that's about the extent of it. (The only Tudor they are performing during their upcoming New York season is an extract from The Leaves Are Fading (1975) at the fall gala.)

 

This is pretty thin gruel when you consider that Tudor brought Jardin, Dark Elegies (1937), Gala Performance (1938) and Judgment of Paris (1938) to ABT when he emigrated to the United States. He then proceeded to create Pillar, Dim Lustre (1943), his one-act Romeo & Juliet (1943) and Undertow (1945) specifically for them. Finally, there's Offenbach in the Underworld (1954/55), Echoing of Trumpets (1963) and Shadowplay (1967) - all created elsewhere and all imported by ABT at one time or another.

 

I took a look back at Mikhail Baryshnikov's directorship (1980-89) and though Baryshnikov would never be considered a 'Tudor dancer,' he regularly rotated the Tudor works. Jardin never left repertory for the entire decade, and Pillar and The Leaves Are Fading were also repertory stalwarts. Dark Elegies, Dim Lustre and Gala Performance also made periodic appearances.

 

My biggest regret is that Tudor's Romeo & Juliet may never see the light of day again. Everyone who saw it thought it was extraordinary - George Balanchine is reputed to have said it was the best version of Romeo & Juliet he ever saw. But it hasn't been seen since 1976-77, which was 45 years ago. In the 1990s, Kevin McKenzie talked about reviving it on an all-Shakespeare bill with Frederick Ashton's The Dream and Jose Limon's The Moor's Pavane. But nothing ever came of it; reputedly due to what it would cost to revive. (This aggravates me to no end given what ABT did spend money on during the past three decades.)

[Sim]

Your final sentence, for me, pertains also to the Royal Ballet.  

[Fonty]

On 25/09/2023 at 13:26, Jan McNulty said:

In respect of Northern Ballet, Christopher Gable had jettisoned all the previous rep within 2 years of taking over the company and it was the same when David Nixon took over.  Mind you, a couple of chums and I had a conversation with David Nixon, asking if some of our favourite of his works could be brought back (specifically I Got Rhythm but others too) and he answered that tastes change and some ballets would now not work however much we wanted to see them again.

 

It is not a dissimilar position with ENB over recent years where ballets I remember seeing when I was first a ballet watcher and that I would love to see them perform again eg Onegin (my fondest memories are of LFB/ENB performances rather than RB), Peter Schaufuss production of La Sylphide, Napoli, L'Arlisienne, Three Preludes and more.  I've not enjoyed any of the company's Nutcrackers since the Schaufuss version.  I am thrilled that we've got the 2 Giselles coming up though and am interested to see the direction ASW takes the company.

 

 

I find it odd that any director of a ballet company would say that tastes change, and some wouldn't work now.  How do they know, given that the Tchaikovsky ballets are still going strong.  And I would love to see ENB perform the ballets you mention.  

 

I wish that the RB would put on more triple bills.  Are they really not popular?   If the Arts Council insist on new works, make them one act ones sandwiched in the middle of a programme of tried and trusted favourites.  This would surely be cheaper, dancers would have the pleasure of creating something new, and we would be able to see some of the historic treasures at the same time.  The formula was always a) a classical ballet b) something more modern, possibly new c) something comic to send us all home on a high.  The new piece doesn't necessarily have to be the modern one in the middle.  Up and coming choreographers could attempt a one act classical piece.  Christopher Wheeldon showed his ability to create a humorous piece with Alice in Wonderland, perhaps he could have a go at something new and funny. 

Instead of churning out the 3 MacMillan dramatic ballets in rotation, let's have some of his one act ballets.  What about Concerto ? I know they did it relatively recently but I would be very happy to see it again.  Winter Dreams, Gloria and The Rite of Spring are all possibly alternatives.  I am sure people will have other suggestions.  

With regard to Ashton,  can we please pension off A Month in the Country for a while.  I like it, but it does seem to be the go to one act Ashton ballet.  I want to see Monotones 1 & 2, Symphonic Variations (which I never, ever tire of seeing) Les Patinuers.    I know it is not a one act ballet, but why have we not seen Ondine recently? 

 

Edited to add, I was so disappointed to miss the last Ashton triple bill that everyone raved about, but I was out of the country at the time.  

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by Fonty

[bangorballetboy]

13 hours ago, Fonty said:

Instead of churning out the 3 MacMillan dramatic ballets in rotation, let's have some of his one act ballets. 

 

 

You mean like the triple bill of MacMillan one act pieces later this season?

[zxDaveM]

6 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

You mean like the triple bill of MacMillan one act pieces later this season?

 

Bazinga!

[Fonty]

On 02/10/2023 at 09:18, bangorballetboy said:

 

You mean like the triple bill of MacMillan one act pieces later this season?

 

I'd forgotten they were doing that when I posted, it has been so long since I looked at the What's On list. I remember thinking when it was first published that it would be a very long time before I would be booking for something I was interested to see, rather than feeling a sense of apathy.   I don't think I've never seen any of those 3 ballets, or at least it was so long ago I have forgotten them.  I suppose we should be grateful that we are actually getting 6 (?) performances. However, the point I was making was if we must have new stuff all the time then the one act ballet set amongst tried and trusted favourites might be a better, more cost effective of allowing these new choreographers to explore and experiment.  And I would be much more likely to go and see them if I know that there is bound to be something on the programme that I know and like.  

Again, great we are getting another Ashton triple bill.  I am overjoyed about that, but unfortunately I suspect I shall be away again and miss the whole thing.  

 

Having said that, do people feel that these relatively small number of performances, sandwiched in around what looks like endless performances of Tchaikovsky ballets and one of the MacMillan Big 3  are respecting the past, which was the theme of this forum.  Better than nothing, I suppose, but each time I see these heritage works scheduled, I wonder how long it will be before we see them again.  

[bridiem]

Actually, come to think of it I don't like them being known as 'heritage' works anyway. They're just ballets, and if they're good they should go on being programmed. They're not museum pieces. They're as much living works as something created last year, as long as they're actually performed. And if they're not performed, they die.

[San Perregrino]

On 01/10/2023 at 19:26, Fonty said:

 

Edited to add, I was so disappointed to miss the last Ashton triple bill that everyone raved about, but I was out of the country at the time.

now available to stream from your own armchair 

[Fonty]

45 minutes ago, bridiem said:

Actually, come to think of it I don't like them being known as 'heritage' works anyway. They're just ballets, and if they're good they should go on being programmed. They're not museum pieces. They're as much living works as something created last year, as long as they're actually performed. And if they're not performed, they die.

 

Yes, I agree.  But I sometimes get the impression that Directors of ballet companies actually view stuff that is over a certain age as a collection of museum pieces, to be dusted off occasionally to satisfy those members of the audience who complain.  I wonder if they see such audiences as old fashioned, living in the past, out of touch with the modern world.  Not the sort of people a modern Director thinks ballet should be attracting.  

 

37 minutes ago, PeterS said:

now available to stream from your own armchair 

 

I shall definitely watch it.  Not quite the same as seeing it live, though, is it?  

[taxi4ballet]

On 23/09/2023 at 19:55, zxDaveM said:

For new works, I get the impression that they get two runs within 18-24 months 'in the contract' (that is, the opening run, and then one in the next season or so). This is just me reading between the lines, and experiencing new works and their second runs. They have to be REALLY unpopular not to get that second run or the first run was to commemorate something (the Titian works back in 2012 for example). If they prove to be a hit (e.g. Alice in Wonderland, Woolf Works, Winter's Tale) then we get more than 2 runs.

That makes economic sense really. They have made a colossal financial investment in all the costs of a new production and they need to recoup some of those expenses, otherwise spending that much money would be unfeasible.

 

[Sim]

Did Strapless get a second run?  I swore never to see it again so I can’t remember!  Same goes for Multiverse…did that ever see the light of day again? 

[Dawnstar]

Medusa has yet to make a reappearance since its first run in 2019. I suppose that could be due to covid disrupting the next 2 seasons or because it went down so badly that it's been quietly buried!

[capybara]

7 minutes ago, Sim said:

Did Strapless get a second run?  I swore never to see it again so I can’t remember!  Same goes for Multiverse…did that ever see the light of day again? 

 

Strapless did (Feb 2016 premiere; revival May 2017) - Wheeldon - [I didn't book for the revival either]

Multiverse didn't (Nov 2016 only despite a large cast of 'stars') - McGregor

Medusa didn't (2019 only) - I can't remember who the choreographer was

[capybara]

2 hours ago, bridiem said:

Actually, come to think of it I don't like them being known as 'heritage' works anyway. They're just ballets, and if they're good they should go on being programmed. They're not museum pieces. They're as much living works as something created last year, as long as they're actually performed. And if they're not performed, they die.

 

I agree. Where once they were performed only rarely by other companies and were seen as 'belonging' to the RB, now that they are 'everywhere', the RB is showing them far less.