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ENB Mary Skeaping Giselle January 2024


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Run time: 2 hours 15 minutes, including a 20 minute interval.

The Coliseum is ready to welcome you 75 minutes prior to the performance, with bars open on every floor. 

Please note: The Coliseum is a cashless venue

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I am going on Friday, with my brother and my niece.  Neither have seen Giselle before, so I sent them a link from ENB explaining all about the second act and the Wilis.  Really looking forward to it.  

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Much looking forward to seeing this lovely production again. Perhaps it might be useful to gather some sources for further reading about this iconic ballet.

 

Cyril Beaumont's wonderful book A Ballet Called Giselle is still (just) in print and should be everyone's starting point. I once had the privilege of looking at some of Beaumont's research papers in the V&A archive (currently sadly closed pending a re-opening in east London) and was most impressed. He was a serious historian as well as a dance writer.

 

A most useful complement is an unpublished essay by Alastair Macaulay, available online at his website:

 

https://www.alastairmacaulay.com/all-essays/giselle-and-her-problems

 

Two peripheral issues were aired on this Forum a while ago. Members offered many useful leads after my initial posts:

 

https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/14339-english-national-ballet-mary-skeapings-giselle-london-coliseum-2017/?do=findComment&comment=197609

 

https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/16916-women-in-white/

 

Finally, an observation which reinforces the links between operatic women-in-white and Giselle:. The first Giselle, Carlotta Grisi, had just sung the (very difficult) lead coloratura soprano role in the opera Lucia di Lammermoor only six years earlier, before deciding to pursue a career as a ballerina. Such a range of skill is scarcely imaginable.

 

Edited by Sebastian
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47 minutes ago, Fonty said:

I am going on Friday, with my brother and my niece.  Neither have seen Giselle before, so I sent them a link from ENB explaining all about the second act and the Wilis.  Really looking forward to it.  

 

I'm due to go on Friday too, as long as the trains, weather & my anxiety levels all behave. I have been checking ENB's website daily for the last couple of weeks to make sure Frola's still on the cast list!

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10 minutes ago, capybara said:

I have a feeling that the programme note will be very helpful.


Hope so. The last programme note the ENB produced had a mistake (discussed in one of the links in my post above). 

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4 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 I have been checking ENB's website daily for the last couple of weeks to make sure Frola's still on the cast list!

So have I!

 

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Really looking forward to seeing this and reading reviews. 

for some reason I don’t really connect to RB’s Giselle and wondered if it was me; I loved Paris Opera Ballet’s Giselle (yes I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to see this in Paris) which I found interesting given on the face of it the productions are relatively similar. But I preferred the costumes, the mood of Act 2 felt more scary (Giselle and the Willis looking more pale and “dead” then with red lipstick on etc) and it just felt like it told the story more effectively. 
 

So I’m hoping I’m going to very much enjoy the Skeaping version due to its authenticity etc. 

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1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

 

 I have been checking ENB's website daily for the last couple of weeks to make sure Frola's still on the cast list!


Gabriele himself has been posting  positively on social media 🤞

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12 hours ago, Sebastian said:


Hope so. The last programme note the ENB produced had a mistake (discussed in one of the links in my post above). 

As Adviser to the Skeaping Estate and Artistic Adviser for "Giselle", I have contributed most of the programme notes and have proofread the others so hopefully there will not be any errors this time 🤞

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12 hours ago, Sebastian said:


Hope so. The last programme note the ENB produced had a mistake (discussed in one of the links in my post above). 

 

56 minutes ago, Irmgard said:

As Adviser to the Skeaping Estate and Artistic Adviser for "Giselle", I have contributed most of the programme notes and have proofread the others so hopefully there will not be any errors this time 🤞


be it a slip on stage or page, to err is human, to forgive divine.

 

am very much looking forward to this production and applaud everyone involved in making it happen. 

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I'm hoping to be there but after so many calamities with trains, illnesses and etcs cancelling trips last year,  I shall save the excitement until I am in a seat with the orchestra tuning up!

It's such a beautiful production- just the thing. I imagine there might be quite a few from the ballet world there tomorrow.

 

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I was surprised to find this from one of my usual ticket sources:

 

"This production is recommended for ages 10+. Please note only children aged 5+ are allowed in the auditorium."

 

10+??  It's not as if there's an excessively realistic suicide scene or anything.

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5 hours ago, Irmgard said:

As Adviser to the Skeaping Estate and Artistic Adviser for "Giselle", I have contributed most of the programme notes and have proofread the others so hopefully there will not be any errors this time 🤞

Will the content be significantly different to the last run?

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2 hours ago, alison said:

I was surprised to find this from one of my usual ticket sources:

 

"This production is recommended for ages 10+. Please note only children aged 5+ are allowed in the auditorium."

 

10+??  It's not as if there's an excessively realistic suicide scene or anything.

The ROH stream has this warning on Giselle: 

Parental guidance recommended

Some of the characters in this performance experience the challenges of mental health.

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3 hours ago, alison said:

I was surprised to find this from one of my usual ticket sources:

 

"This production is recommended for ages 10+. Please note only children aged 5+ are allowed in the auditorium."

 

10+??  It's not as if there's an excessively realistic suicide scene or anything.

Just being a tad flippant here but maybe it's because kids aged 5-10 might fall asleep. I once brought one of the little ones in the family to Giselle (Polina Semionova no less!) who was v enthusiastic about the whole thing, loved the beginning but fell asleep by the time the Duke and hunting party were shuffling in and out, only woke up at the end when the house lights came on, then burst into tears at the realisation that the show was over! (Don't worry, our "sleeping beauty" did get to re-watch Giselle...with Osipova many months later- and stayed awake for that!) Admittedly Act 2 is quite soporific with the atmospheric dark lighting  😉

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Yes, I've taken a friend to two different Giselles over the years (they happen to coincide not infrequently with my birthday) and she's been bored stiff.  So I think I'll go on my own this year.

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Thanks, @Dawnstar- I just came to see if anyone already updated this too.

Basically...

Daniel McCormick replaces Fernando Carratala Coloma on 13th (evening) & 17th, 

Angela Wood replaces Jung-ah Choi in the Oliveira and Frola cast on 12th and 14th, 

Precious Adams replaces Anna Nevzorova in the Lee & Haw cast on 13th (mat), 

Emily Suzuki replaces Anna in the Lee & Haw cast on the 19th. 

Wishing the injured dancers a speedy recovery and looking forward to seeing everyone else - still great casts! 👍 

*The sharp-eyed among you may have noticed that this means Daniel McCormick will be having a busy Giselle run with 7 shows to dance: 5 Peasant pas de deux performances (with Ivana Bueno) and 2 Albrecht performances! Hope he gets a good rest (and good icing of the feet and great nutrition!) after each show- but he is a rising talent; it's well worth catching one or more of these 7 shows. Toi toi toi to the company! 🍀 

 

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1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

ENB have tweeted some cast changes. Fortunately not the wholesale cast replacements that they did for some Nutcrackers (& fortunately not involving Frola!).

 

 

I'm booked to go on 17th, but have yet to receive any casting update.  Grrrr

I do wish that ENB would realise that X is a niche communication channel and that it can't be regarded as a means of communication with the sane world at large. 

 

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10 minutes ago, PeterS said:

I'm booked to go on 17th, but have yet to receive any casting update.  Grrrr

I do wish that ENB would realise that X is a niche communication channel and that it can't be regarded as a means of communication with the sane world at large.

 

Would you rather those of us who sometimes draw attention to ENB's casting posts don't do so on here in future? Given that you seem to be implying that those of us who use Twitter/X are lacking in sanity, which isn't a very nice thing to read when I was only trying to be helpful by linking to ENB's post.

 

ENB have also updated their website with the cast changes, though as they don't mark cast changes as such one would have to remember or look up the original casting to realise there was a cast change.

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35 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Would you rather those of us who sometimes draw attention to ENB's casting posts don't do so on here in future? Given that you seem to be implying that those of us who use Twitter/X are lacking in sanity, which isn't a very nice thing to read when I was only trying to be helpful by linking to ENB's post.

 

ENB have also updated their website with the cast changes, though as they don't mark cast changes as such one would have to remember or look up the original casting to realise there was a cast change.

 

 Please continue to alert us on here, @Dawnstar. I don’t think that ENB emails out cast changes and not everyone sees their updates on X or IG. So your alerts are really helpful. Thank you.

 

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I think it’s just the frustration that there are still a lot of people ( like me for example) who’ve never been on Twitter or X or whatever and it can be annoying that major companies like ROH or ENB etc etc just assume that most people are. 
I suppose it may be the quickest way to get last minute messages out to people  so can’t blame them for that I suppose but wish they would give consideration to at least their Friends and get emails to them asap. as well. 
As it happened I did get an email today about the cast changes but it’s not always like this. 
 

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9 minutes ago, LinMM said:

I think it’s just the frustration that there are still a lot of people ( like me for example) who’ve never been on Twitter or X or whatever and it can be annoying that major companies like ROH or ENB etc etc just assume that most people are. 
I suppose it may be the quickest way to get last minute messages out to people  so can’t blame them for that I suppose but wish they would give consideration to at least their Friends and get emails to them asap. as well. 
As it happened I did get an email today about the cast changes but it’s not always like this. 
 

 

I have worked in IT for the last 25 years, and am on the internet every single day.  However, I never use Twitter/X.  Had a look at it once, decided it was not for me.  I don't mind companies or individuals using it, although it shouldn't be the main means of communication.  To be fair, I've always found ENB pretty quick to change their website casting with any last minute changes.  For ROH, I rely on the good people on this forum for the latest info.  :)

 

I am wondering how my brother with cope with Giselle.  Although he enjoys ballet, both he and my niece are relative newcomers to live performances.  At least it is traditional, he nearly had a nervous breakdown when they went to see Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake.  Men dancing together? Good grief.   They should enjoy it, but you never know.  They may object to the jolly dancing peasants in act 1, as it goes against their political views!      

 

 

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1 minute ago, Fonty said:

 

I have worked in IT for the last 25 years, and am on the internet every single day.  However, I never use Twitter/X.  Had a look at it once, decided it was not for me.  I don't mind companies or individuals using it, although it shouldn't be the main means of communication.  To be fair, I've always found ENB pretty quick to change their website casting with any last minute changes.  For ROH, I rely on the good people on this forum for the latest info.  :)

 

I am wondering how my brother with cope with Giselle.  Although he enjoys ballet, both he and my niece are relative newcomers to live performances.  At least it is traditional, he nearly had a nervous breakdown when they went to see Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake.  Men dancing together? Good grief.   They should enjoy it, but you never know.  They may object to the jolly dancing peasants in act 1, as it goes against their political views!      

 

 

I think the first thing that you need to tell them is to leave the political views at home....this is simply a fairy tale ballet that has a message about love and redemption, and is beautiful to watch.  That's it!

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41 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Would you rather those of us who sometimes draw attention to ENB's casting posts don't do so on here in future? Given that you seem to be implying that those of us who use Twitter/X are lacking in sanity, which isn't a very nice thing to read when I was only trying to be helpful by linking to ENB's post.

 

ENB have also updated their website with the cast changes, though as they don't mark cast changes as such one would have to remember or look up the original casting to realise there was a cast change.


@Dawnstar my beef is with ENB & X. your postings are very much appreciated and if what I wrote came across as insensitive it wasn’t meant to be. my apologies.

my own personal experience of X is that therein lies much madness. and, as such, my comment was tongue in cheek relating to my own experience not that of others. these days i usually put in brackets that a comment is tongue in cheek so as not to cause offence unwittingly but forgot to do so on this occasion.

 

I’ve fed back to ENB this evening my thoughts on X as a primary means of communication. Perhaps something will come of it, perhaps not.


i can feed back that Frola had a successful run through this afternoon so it augers well for Friday.

 

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I rely greatly on all the helpful people on this Forum for my information and their help is much appreciated.

 

Sometimes I wonder whether the various companies would mind posting directly on here for us all......!

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