The Dante Project, Royal Ballet Autumn 2023

[Scheherezade]

11 hours ago, Linnzi5 said:

I have too. My MacBook and iPhone definitely swap notes! The most annoy one for me is when I type 'ill' - it changes it to I'll all the time! I have no idea why but even when I correct it, it then changes it back to what it wants. It's incredibly irritating and I have no idea how to stop it! 

My iPhone routinely adds and subtracts apostrophes, completely at will. Most perplexing though is its recent habit of changing Mr to MRI. 

[San Perregrino]

Roberto Bolle was watching last night. (He must have a portrait in an attic somewhere 😉 ).

Edited December 2, 2023 by PeterS

[JohnS]

I enjoyed last night’s performance and was certainly impressed by Ryoichi Hirano’s Dante. For me Inferno lacked the irrepressible vitality of opening night’s cast and it was Purgatorio and Paradiso which made the most impact. I thought Matthew Ball with his attack and stage presence really helped shape the Penitents. Francesca Hayward is exquisite as young Beatrice and I do very much like the triple Beatrice/Dante interplay. Sarah Lamb and Ryoichi Hirano are fabulously well matched and Paradiso’s ending was transcendental. I was in the Stalls near the back with the benefit of an aisle seat, an unrestricted view, and thought the sweep of the light hugely effective. And I wasn't distracted by extraneous hums from the screen projections.

 

I’m very much looking forward to the matinee and I’m pleased that for me I’ll be ending this Dante run with the Bracewell cast. I’ve been able to get a similar seat but on the opposite side of the Stalls so I have sky high expectations for the performance.

[JennyTaylor]

8 hours ago, alison said:

 

McGregor's, I believe?   But then of course you can't do a Red Run, either.

Dismal

[alison]

27 minutes ago, JohnS said:

For me Inferno lacked the irrepressible vitality of opening night’s cast

 

That's what I thought when I saw the second night, too - apart from an apparently unscheduled Joseph Sissens.

 

This production has, once again, grown on me - from Stalls Circle the other night I was struck so much more by the interactions between the characters - and I'm only sorry that the compact scheduling (and the cost of the tickets) has prevented me from seeing more performances.

 

In reflection, I'm also sorry not to have seen Federico Bonelli in the lead more than once: his Italian, and presumably Catholic, background I think made his interpretation very different from Watson's.

[art_enthusiast]

I really enjoyed this yesterday. I echo the reports above - Act 1 did feel like it was missing something, probably due to the absence of the first cast. But I was glad to see the younger dancers taking on those roles, as I believe many didn't actually get to participate in the Dante Project last time round (except Marco Masciari). (Viola Pantuso, Marianna Tsembenhoi, Sumina Sasaki, Sae Maeda et al were all very good.) I really enjoyed Acts 2 and 3 more than Act One. Ryoichi and Sarah were splendid as usual, and I was particularly stunned by Mariko Sasaki as one of the celestial bodies, she was brilliant.

 

I do wonder at the idea of bringing TDP back so soon, as to me it felt a bit too familiar, I guess. As I went to nearly every performance in 2021, plus watched it on repeat when they released a streamable version, and on BBC iPlayer, maybe I exposed myself to it so much then it didn't have the same impact this time round. Perhaps part of the reason I was so stunned by it was because it was one of the first ballets I saw properly live, as I only started attending regularly in 2021... Still, I do think it's a great work of art. It's definitely a Wayne McGregor favourite, alongside Woolf Works.

[Emeralds]

We were actually due to "do the double" of seeing both casts today- because the full casting was only revealed at the time of the first and second performances, we could only go on the last day or I would have booked the first two.

 

Unfortunately the ASLEF strike action has scuppered that too- we wouldn't be able to get home, and we can't stay overnight in a hotel even if we had oodles of spare cash to pay for one; we have an important commitment early tomorrow morning that precludes an overnight stay.

 

I noticed they belatedly began including the casting of Beatrice and Virgil this week, long after those who care or for whom it's relevant had already found out the (more comprehensive) information from perusing earlier cast sheets. So basically ROH marketing and admin staff shooting themselves in the foot again. Sad to miss Tomas Mock's farewell performance but wishing him all the best in his studies and future plans! 

[JohnS]

A fabulous matinee more than meeting my expectations and delighted to be posting this on the train nearing Penrith albeit I see there are now snow and ice warnings for Cumbria.

 

I thought the entire cast were on too form, reprising the attack and delivering the presence that made opening night so special. Thrilling to see: Marcelino Sambé and Yasmine Naghdi (Ferryman); Francesca Hayward and Matthew Ball (Francesca and Paolo); Calvin Richardson (Ulysses); Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Luca Acri (Dido); Francisco Serrano and Joseph Sissens (Soothsayers); and the Thieves’ extravaganza. And chilling to see Melissa Hamilton’s Satan.

 

I was sorry Liam Boswell wasn’t dancing as he had made such a telling contribution at the general rehearsal and opening night - I do hope he isn’t injured.
 

Purgatorio has grown on me and I find I’m more accepting of the taped chant. I do like Dante’s interaction with the Penitents. The triple Beatrice/Dante remembrances/scenes I find very affecting, the Dante/Beatrice (spirt) ending rapturous, setting up Paradiso.
 

Up thread I’d asked about the red costume for the young Dantes as I’d associated red with the enlightened Dante in Paradiso. But from the programme I got for the first run I see that red is taken as Dante’s colour and not linked to enlightenment. The programme suggests Dante’s red becomes blue in the negative world of Inferno (although there’s a question as to whether Dante’s costume looks more green than blue). Virgil traditionally wears blue so he’s in yellow in Inferno, the negative of blue. I assume the red stripe added to Dante’s costume in Purgatorio reflects the progress he is making towards Paradiso.
 

I enjoy the celestial bodies and their interaction as Thomas Adès’s fabulous score builds and builds leading to the final Dante/Beatrice transcendence. I was again very taken with how well Paradiso works in the Stalls, the light sweeping up the rows in front and engulfing the auditorium. Fumi Kaneko somehow managed to convey a sense of weightlessness, pure spirit, just astonishing. Will Bracewell is a stupendous Dante and I found his journey utterly compelling. Fumi Kaneko and Will Bracewell have a very special partnership, a joy to see whatever their roles. A memorable weekend and I’ll happily settle for an uneventful drive home.

 

[bridiem]

I hope you get home safely, @JohnS!

[LinMM]

Yes definitely opt for a Travelodge if any risk of getting trapped in your car! 

Our car heater went yesterday whilst out in Lewes celebrating my birthday but it was so cold yesterday that we had to keep wiping the internal windscreen about every three mins during the journey home!!! A good  job we weren’t further from home! 

One forgets how the heater keeps the windscreen clear. 

[JohnS]

Many thanks @bridiem and @LinMM - a pleasingly uneventful drive home!

[Sim]

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

Yes definitely opt for a Travelodge if any risk of getting trapped in your car! 

Our car heater went yesterday whilst out in Lewes celebrating my birthday but it was so cold yesterday that we had to keep wiping the internal windscreen about every three mins during the journey home!!! A good  job we weren’t further from home! 

One forgets how the heater keeps the windscreen clear. 

Happy belated birthday, Lin!  🥂🎈🎂🎉🎁

[LinMM]

Aah Thankyou Sim 🙂🥂

[Linnzi5]

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

Aah Thankyou Sim 🙂🥂

Happy belated birthday! 🥂 🎉

[Scheherezade]

As this run has come to a close, these are my thoughts following a first and only viewing at the Saturday matinee:

 

The performances, without a doubt, were uniformly brilliant, with Bracewell terrific but the role criminally under developed from a dance perspective.

 

Hayward was just gorgeous as the younger Beatrice, with that naif quality that sits so well on her. I would love to see her Nikiya.

I can only echo the plaudits for Richardson, who presented a tortured, compelling Ulysses, and Sissens, who sizzled throughout.

Matthew Ball did indeed, and as we have come to expect, add that extra layer of characterisation as a penitent, and Leo Dixon gave a scene-stealing cameo of entitled arrogance in the Pope’s Adage.

 

Thomas Ades has provided an extraordinary score which shapes and defines the mood from first to last, and without which, much of the impact of the last two acts would have been lost. What a gift this has proved!

 

As to the first act, I am in total agreement with earlier posters who point out how difficult it is for anyone coming to this work for the first time to know who is who and what is going on.

This is most significant, perhaps, in the final section of this act, for whilst Melissa Hamilton gave a gloriously slinky performance as Satan, there was really nothing, apart from a noticeable shift in the level of lighting, to suggest that this character was anything other than yet another sinner. 

Overall, however, I found most that was of interest in this act, with the second act given much of its meaning and intent by way of the wonderfully mystic Sephardic chant, and whilst I can see that the third act was meant to - and did - suggest a sense of blissful accord, I did find it overly repetitive.
 

In the manner of that old chestnut that tells us the devil has the best tunes, I have to say that to me the thieves down in the inferno seemed to me to be having far more fun.

 

[FionaM]

@Sim

 

nail on the head 👏👏👏 About thieves having far more fun.  Which is what is wrong with this ballet.  
 

This is not Dante’s Inferno of eternal suffering.  Nor is the third act, Dante’s Paradiso of enlightenment.  
 

The choreography and dramaturgy (is that a word?) are not on the same level as the music, set and lighting designs.

 

Completely agree in the role of Dante himself being underused and that Satan is insufficiently different and not overpowering.  
 

The best way to appreciate this ballet is to ignore Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy and just enjoy the dancing itself and whatever mood comes to you from that.    

[FionaM]

The dancers have clearly enjoyed the challenge of this ballet … from their Instagram posts.  So it’s clearly satisfying for them.   
 

and also being performed in Paris and Danish national companies.  
 

I guess that makes it a success, however it is defined.  

[San Perregrino]

4 minutes ago, FionaM said:

The dancers have clearly enjoyed the challenge of this ballet … from their Instagram posts.  So it’s clearly satisfying for them.   
 

and also being performed in Paris and Danish national companies.  
 

I guess that makes it a success, however it is defined.  

And the seats have sold out each night and the audience reaction has been loud and positive  so presumably a commercial success too.

Edited December 3, 2023 by PeterS

[Guest oncnp]

1 hour ago, PeterS said:

And the seats have sold out each night and the audience reaction has been loud and positive  so presumably a commercial success too.

As to commercial (and by that I mean financial) success that's one way to look at it. Mine is slightly different.

 

Seats have been filled each night. But do bums-on-seats = commercial success?  Were those tickets purchased or given away? If purchased, at what price? The repeated pattern of masses of tickets simultaneously disappearing several days before a performance is, for me, just a bit suspicious. We know from other posts that stalls tickets have been offered for £ 12.50 and not to the people who have paid for the privilege of being call "Friends".  

 

Bottom line is that without knowing the total box office takings + sponsorship v. the cost of production we don't know, and will never know, if any production was a commercial success.  

 

There are varied measures of success and from many of the reviews here, Dante it was successful. That's wonderful but doesn't keep the lights on. 

 

[JohnS]

There seemed to be a fair number of empty seats on Friday evening, certainly in the Stalls, so I doubt all seats were sold.

[DoctorDerry]

2 hours ago, oncnp said:

As to commercial (and by that I mean financial) success that's one way to look at it. Mine is slightly different.

 

Seats have been filled each night. But do bums-on-seats = commercial success?  Were those tickets purchased or given away? If purchased, at what price? The repeated pattern of masses of tickets simultaneously disappearing several days before a performance is, for me, just a bit suspicious. We know from other posts that stalls tickets have been offered for £ 12.50 and not to the people who have paid for the privilege of being call "Friends".  

 

Bottom line is that without knowing the total box office takings + sponsorship v. the cost of production we don't know, and will never know, if any production was a commercial success.  

 

There are varied measures of success and from many of the reviews here, Dante it was successful. That's wonderful but doesn't keep the lights on. 

 

I met a lovely lady on Saturday lunchtime who was very excited to be coming to the ROH to see the ballet, she has a friend in the orchestra who on Friday got her a stalls circle seat for £12.50 So that is how they fill the seats. I was a bit jealous,we were in the Amphi,but she was so excited. I really hope she enjoyed it.

[DoctorDerry]

5 hours ago, FionaM said:

@Sim

 

nail on the head 👏👏👏 About thieves having far more fun.  Which is what is wrong with this ballet.  
 

This is not Dante’s Inferno of eternal suffering.  Nor is the third act, Dante’s Paradiso of enlightenment.  
 

The choreography and dramaturgy (is that a word?) are not on the same level as the music, set and lighting designs.

 

Completely agree in the role of Dante himself being underused and that Satan is insufficiently different and not overpowering.  
 

The best way to appreciate this ballet is to ignore Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy and just enjoy the dancing itself and whatever mood comes to you from that.    

I was so glad that I (We) made the effort to overcome my lack of enthusiasm for Wayne McGregor and did go to see Dante.This was largely as I am not sure when I will see Will Bracewell and Fumi Kaneko dancing together any time soon as I am not going to a RB  nutcracker.

Nonetheless it is a bit of a curates egg, and I too preferred hell to heaven

So what did I like most? The musical score was really special, despite some repetitive areas, but I generally loved it.

The acting was outstanding ,the thing about WB is that his absorbed stillness when not dancing, so most of the time in Purgatorio still draws your eye to him, more than the lost souls he is watching. I am not sure how that happens. When he did get to dance he was sublime. However I remember someone saying up thread , in praise of Will “ is there anything he cannot do” 

Well I have the answer.. even he cannot make that dreadful costume look like anything other than a cast off of Nora Batty’s from Last of the Summer Wine

The dancing throughout was of the highest order,and so nice to have so many principals and first soloists to enjoy in one show. I was really struck by the whole company of outstanding male dancers, not that the women were not good, they were, but goodness me what a richness of male talent in the current company.

 Moving on to what I did not like, the truly dreadful  costumes!,those black dusty leotards are beyond awful in inferno, please take pity on us audience, the challenge of recognising anyone ,male or female was beyond me.

Then the video in Paradiso was IMO so poor, I have seen much better from GCSE art projects .When you think of the glorious views available on deep space telescopes why make paradise so bland and uninviting ,ditto the majority of the choreography in this Paradise.I am not sure what McGregor is trying to say about heaven but it is not good.

Despite costumes, video ,train disruption, small child without a ticket sleeping in an empty seat next to me (a first I must say) I and my husband really enjoyed the matinee.However I do not think I will ever need to go again when it is next wheeled out

[Sim]

Just now, FionaM said:

@Sim

 

nail on the head 👏👏👏 About thieves having far more fun.  Which is what is wrong with this ballet.  
 

This is not Dante’s Inferno of eternal suffering.  Nor is the third act, Dante’s Paradiso of enlightenment.  
 

The choreography and dramaturgy (is that a word?) are not on the same level as the music, set and lighting designs.

 

Completely agree in the role of Dante himself being underused and that Satan is insufficiently different and not overpowering.  
 

The best way to appreciate this ballet is to ignore Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy and just enjoy the dancing itself and whatever mood comes to you from that.    

Much as I would love to take the credit for this statement, it was @Scheherezade who said it! 

 

[Scheherezade]

18 minutes ago, Sim said:

Much as I would love to take the credit for this statement, it was @Scheherezade who said it! 

 

Apropos of which, lead me down there to the thieves every time. 

Edited December 3, 2023 by Scheherezade

[Josette]

I get such a sense of peace from Paradiso.  Purgatorio goes so deep for me.  It all makes sense and does mirror Dante's Divine Comedy for me.  I had no idea so many of you have read it.  

[alison]

Since Josette has bumped this thread, congratulations to Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic for their Grammy for the score of Dante.