Jump to content

RB Nutcracker Dec/Jan 23/24

Ondine
 Share

Recommended Posts

emmarose

emmarose

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

I hope it's okay to post this link. The friend who I saw Monday's Nutcracker with has reviewed it on his website. While he's a West End theatre expert, it was his first Nutcracker so it's not a technical review but I thought maybe the opinion of someone seeing the production for the first time might be of interest to some on here. https://www.theatremonkey.com/blog/2023/december/nutcracker-royal-opera-house-covent-garden

I've followed the TM site for years, it's hard to believe that it's his first Nutcracker, lovely to see someone coming to it with fresh eyes and enjoying it so much. Thanks for sharing.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 697
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

DoctorDerry

DoctorDerry

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

I hope it's okay to post this link. The friend who I saw Monday's Nutcracker with has reviewed it on his website. While he's a West End theatre expert, it was his first Nutcracker so it's not a technical review but I thought maybe the opinion of someone seeing the production for the first time might be of interest to some on here. https://www.theatremonkey.com/blog/2023/december/nutcracker-royal-opera-house-covent-garden

Thank you for posting. What a lovely enthusiastic review of a great show.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
JohnS

JohnS

Posted
Posted

I see Sophie Allnatt replaces Leticia Stock as Clara for tonight’s Nutcracker. While I’m delighted to see Sophie in the theatre after the cinema relay, I’d been very much looking forward to seeing Leti in a principal role as she’s so often leading the corps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Richard LH

Richard LH

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, Swan said:

Very pleased that the Annette Buvoli/Nicol Edmonds rehearsal is on You Tube and available to all. I also highly recommend watching and hope that there might be more events like this in the future. The rehearsal footage allowed us to see how hard the dancers work, the stamina required, a look at how they develop their partnership and ‘tricks of the trade’ offered by Darcey Bussell. 
 

Enjoyed the Q&A too, lovely answers from a delightful couple and I wish I could see their performance on 1 January. Good luck to both!

Yes, well worth watching...good luck to Annette on her debut after all her hard work learning and polishing the role. I was surprised and impressed that it only takes about 2 hours for dancers to learn the basic steps and movements for something as hard as the SPF solo.

Perhaps only the Telegraph could have a "Head of Luxury" (presenter Sasha Slater).....nice work if you can get it!

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Amanda Liu

Amanda Liu

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Silke H said:

Could whoever is at tonight's Nutcracker (21/12) please advise who danced the Soldier act 1 and Chinese with Joonhyuk in act 2?  Cast sheet says Alexander Lee but I presume that's Harrison Lee? (he's danced those roles before)

Yes it was Harrison Lee. Also Yuhui danced rose fairy instead of Meaghan and I did not spot Mica as leading flower but Sumina.

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
capybara

capybara

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, JohnS said:

I see Sophie Allnatt replaces Leticia Stock as Clara for tonight’s Nutcracker. While I’m delighted to see Sophie in the theatre after the cinema relay, I’d been very much looking forward to seeing Leti in a principal role as she’s so often leading the corps.


Leticia has been dancing Clara for over 10 years with a maternity break included. She is lovely in the role. Such a pity that she has needed to be replaced this year.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
JohnS

JohnS

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, capybara said:

Leticia has been dancing Clara for over 10 years with a maternity break included. She is lovely in the role. Such a pity that she has needed to be replaced this year.

 

I saw Sophie Allnatt at the Stage Door and she thought Leticia Stock was hoping to dance Clara in the new year so it may just be this one show Leticia misses: unfortunately I’m not planning a new year Nutcracker trip although I’m very tempted. I’m sure I’ve seen Leticia dance Clara but not recently given Covid and maternity.

I was very pleased Sophie was presented with the bouquet I’d ordered. She impressed in the cinema and in the theatre. Had I known she was dancing, I’d have ordered the flowers for her.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Fonty

Fonty

Posted
Posted

Can I ask a favour?  If it is possible, could people put the names of the dancers under their photos?  I don't go often enough to be able to recognise everyone immediately, and I have to scroll back through the posts to see if the dancers performing  different roles have already been named in conversation.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
JohnS

JohnS

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, Amanda Liu said:

Yes it was Harrison Lee. Also Yuhui danced rose fairy instead of Meaghan and I did not spot Mica as leading flower but Sumina.


The cast sheet hasn’t as yet been updated and bizarrely Clara’s partner was omitted - Liam Boswell in another stunning performance from someone who always makes the most of his role.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites
alison

alison

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Fonty said:

Can I ask a favour?  If it is possible, could people put the names of the dancers under their photos?  I don't go often enough to be able to recognise everyone immediately, and I have to scroll back through the posts to see if the dancers performing  different roles have already been named in conversation.

 

I sympathise, Fonty, but if you wait for Rob's (or whoever's) photos to appear in the curtain calls thread, @zxDaveM usually annotates them all there.

 

EDIT: The Curtain Calls forum is here:

 

https://www.balletcoforum.com/forum/32-curtain-call-photos/

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
LinMM

LinMM

Posted
Posted

OMG all these years and didn’t realise this curtain call thread was there🙄 Thanks so much zxDaveM for naming all the dancers….have just seen that Ella Newton Severgnini was a Mirliton the other day!! Am so happy to see that! 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest oncnp

Guest oncnp

Posted
Posted (edited)
20 minutes ago, Rob S said:

55 minutes to go and still no cast list!!

They've posted a link (now 2)....neither of which work (at the moment)

 

How typical of the ROH not to check that things actually work

Edited by oncnp
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dawnstar

Dawnstar

Posted
Posted

I see several more cast changes have been added to the ROH website, including Lamb replacing Takada in January and various dancers who have already been replaced at least once being replaced again (Dean, Ella, Zuchetti). Most interestingly, Braendsrod is replacing Richardson on 27th. I'm pretty sure that will be Braendsrod's Prince debut. Wish I could see it.

  • Like 7
  • Thanks 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dawnstar

Dawnstar

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, JohnS said:

I was very pleased Sophie was presented with the bouquet I’d ordered. She impressed in the cinema and in the theatre. Had I known she was dancing, I’d have ordered the flowers for her.

 

If a dancer is replaced at the last minute are the bouquets intended for the originally cast dancer given to the replacement then?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LinMM

LinMM

Posted
Posted

I wouldn’t think so Dawnstar as Bouquets sent privately to a named dancer should go to that dancer unless just addressed to “ The Nutcracker Prince” or “Hans Peter” etc. 

It might be quite nice to receive the flowers anyway if you’ve just been injured or in bed with the flu/covid etc. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
San Perregrino

San Perregrino

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

I see several more cast changes have been added to the ROH website, including Lamb replacing Takada in January and various dancers who have already been replaced at least once being replaced again (Dean, Ella, Zuchetti). Most interestingly, Braendsrod is replacing Richardson on 27th. I'm pretty sure that will be Braendsrod's Prince debut. Wish I could see it.


Nicol Edmonds picks up Ben Ella’s Sugar Plum Prince shift so he now has two Fairies, Annette Buvoli & Yuhui Choe. 

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Fonty

Fonty

Posted
Posted

Really enjoyed the show this afternoon.  Sarah Lamb is an exquisite Sugar Plum Fairy, and Hirano made a very handsome Prince.  He isn't a showy dancer, but neither is Lamb, and I thought they were beautifully matched.  

 

Several things struck me. 

1)  The music for both the grand pas de deux and the Sugar Plum variation sounded a little on the slow side to me.  Is that the speed it has been played at this season?  I noticed it particularly for the latter because I watched the video of Darcey coaching it which someone put up (sorry, can't remember who), and I thought it was faster.  Obviously the dancers were happy with it, as they glided serenely through it.

 

2)  I've always been slightly puzzled by the repeated sequence of lifts towards the end of the pdd.  The music builds up to a soaring crescendo, the Fairy is raised by her Prince...and the people on the left side of the auditorium are treated to a prolonged view of her frilled bottom.  Every time I see it, I can't help thinking that something a little more elegant might be appropriate?

 

3)  I noticed that Lamb did her wonderful fouettes with the arms in second.  Is that part of the choreography or a personal choice, as I think it is more usual to bring the arms in as the dancer turns?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sim

Sim

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, Fonty said:

3)  I noticed that Lamb did her wonderful fouettes with the arms in second.  Is that part of the choreography or a personal choice, as I think it is more usual to bring the arms in as the dancer turns?

It's part of the choreography.  All the dancers I have seen in this production do them that way.  It's part of the reason the SPF is such a difficult role to dance.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
JohnS

JohnS

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

@LinMM That's what I would expect, but @JohnS's comment that I quoted seemed to indicate that Sophie Allnatt got the bouquet originally intended for Leticia Stock. Or have I misread/misunderstood?

 

You’re quite correct @Dawnstar.

I should emphasise I’m very happy with what happened. When I give flowers and if I have chance, I like having a word at the stage door. If there’s been a substitution and the flowers are given to the substitute, the ROH remove the original message so it may be the case that the bouquet doesn’t include the sender’s name. In those circumstances I like to offer congratulations, say I’m delighted the dancer has the flowers, and ask as to the dancer who was scheduled.

But I’m not at all sure if there’s a standard practice. I do recall there were late changes for Mayerling towards the end of the run (perhaps when Laura Morera was injured) and a number of dancers changed performance in a 48 hour period. At the first interval I asked if flowers I’d ordered for one dancer could be given to the substitute that night and it seemed the flowers had already been put in the dancer’s dressing room.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dawnstar

Dawnstar

Posted
Posted

Thank you @JohnS. It was actually something that I had already wondered about recently, with the numerous Nutcracker cast changes. I would be interested to know if the standard practice is to always give the flowers to the last minute substitute, as while a fan of the company as a whole such as yourself was happy for the flowers to go to the substitute I can imagine that perhaps friends or relatives of a specific dancer might prefer to have the flowers back so they can give them to their own dancer privately.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JohnS

JohnS

Posted
Posted

A fabulous Nutcracker this evening, Yasmine Naghdi and Matthew Ball ethereal, Viola Pantuso and Daichi Ikarashi hugely impressive, and Gary Avis working his magic, albeit it didn’t extend to keeping the meter topped up at Drosselmeyer’s house where the final scene was played largely in the dark, just a glimmer of Hans-Peter’s portrait, until an orange (safety?) light came on. 
 

I succumbed and managed to get a ticket for tomorrow’s matinee so will add some thoughts about five Nutcrackers on the journey home.
 

 

  • Like 6
  • Thanks 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...