art_enthusiast Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 12 hours ago, jmhopton said: Incidentally, I always love Manon's second act dress and that amazing cloak she wears over it. Indeed - almost made me gasp when I first saw her enter in it. Something I would definitely like to wear myself! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophoife Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 Argh I'm so envious. We haven't even had the cinema relay in Australia yet! It's not on until 2 March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberta Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 On 19/02/2024 at 14:28, art_enthusiast said: Indeed - almost made me gasp when I first saw her enter in it. Something I would definitely like to wear myself! The ROH put this out on social media about that. https://www.facebook.com/reel/350563357825930 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaM Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 On Joe Sissens’ Instagram story today he says it’s his debut as Lescaut tonight alongside Leticia Dias … in addition to first full run of Swan Lake with Mariko Sasaki earlier!!! What a special day for him. https://www.instagram.com/stories/joseph.sissens/3308985071505020509?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=NGtxejNqbjd6YWd3 8 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Anyone getting excited about Fumi's debut tonight? 😃 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balletfanp Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Me! 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletfanatic Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 7 minutes ago, Richard LH said: Anyone getting excited about Fumi's debut tonight? 😃 I'm really jealous of anyone going. I'm sure it will be fantastic. Please report back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 It's debuts everywhere as Tara-Brigitte Bhavnani is debuting as Madame tonight too!! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 I’ve got to wait until Tuesday! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 29 minutes ago, Richard LH said: Anyone getting excited about Fumi's debut tonight? 😃 Ohhhhhh yes!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missfrankiecat Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 29 minutes ago, Richard LH said: Anyone getting excited about Fumi's debut tonight? 😃 Yes - very excited to see what Fumi makes of this role. Very excited to see Joe Sisson's debut as Lescault. Most of all looking forward to seeing Vadim's peerless lines again. So much to look forward to. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 37 minutes ago, Rob S said: It's debuts everywhere as Tara-Brigitte Bhavnani is debuting as Madame tonight too!! I noticed on the ROH website yesterday that she's on the Dancers page as a Guest Artist but I thought maybe she'd be doing the Queen in SL, I didn't think of her being in Manon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 5 minutes ago, Dawnstar said: I noticed on the ROH website yesterday that she's on the Dancers page as a Guest Artist but I thought maybe she'd be doing the Queen in SL, I didn't think of her being in Manon. According to Dancersdiary's Instagram she is in SL (the Queen I presume) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linnzi5 Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 1 hour ago, Richard LH said: Anyone getting excited about Fumi's debut tonight? 😃 Just a little bit! 🤣🤣🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scheherezade Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 17 minutes ago, Linnzi5 said: Just a little bit! 🤣🤣🤣 Ooh, ah, a little bit more! Can’t wait! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Perregrino Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 (edited) 1 hour ago, Missfrankiecat said: Sisson's Sissens Edited February 23 by PeterS 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art_enthusiast Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 1 hour ago, LinMM said: I’ve got to wait until Tuesday! Same here, can't wait! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 My first live ballet since Northern Ballet on Nov 1st! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVWS Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Cast list for tonight: https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/43/manon-by-kenneth-macmillan/cast-list/54640 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
postie Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 SCS for moi. Very excited. Don't know whether to rub my hands or my knees .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missfrankiecat Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 1 hour ago, PeterS said: Sissens Thanks - I was struggling to get the predictive spelling to accept an apostrophe and missed the spell correct. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 2 hours ago, LinMM said: My first live ballet since Northern Ballet on Nov 1st! Come and say hello in the intervals if you’d like. We are in the Floral Hall usually at a table just next to the three stairs going to the old part of the House. I’m wearing a lilac blouse with a light green wrap. Dark shoulder length hair. The above includes any forumites who want to say hello! Either way, I wish everyone a lovely evening. ❤️ 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Hi Sim would love to say hello at some point but not there tonight …my post was referring to being there next Tuesday (27th)!! Quite a few friends there tonight (not on Forum) all very excited of course! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MildConcern Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 (edited) Lots of wonderful feelings from this evening - in particular, Muntagirov. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him stronger. His interpretation has changed greatly since the very boyish des Grieux at his debut with Lamb. This came across strongly in his first solo where he portrayed an assured young man confidently displaying his ardour, rather than an enraptured youth and it worked very well. His solos in Act 3 were heartbreaking - he is now as strong dramatically as he is technically, which is a heady and deadly combination! The bedroom pdd and swamp pdd were “suspend time” sublime. The Muntagirov and Kaneko partnership is very different to the tender one she shares with Bracewell. This one is grand and buoyant, where everything from lifts to emotions are ‘large’ and it really soars in the pdd. The kisses and little touches of affection between them all felt extremely natural. I really look forward to seeing them together in Swan Lake. I was really sucked in by Kaneko’s Manon. Hers seems to feel familial bond more than perhaps the allure of gold. She never seemed as entranced by the jewellery as she did by Lescaut’s encouragement, and her first concern in the fight scenes was always for him. She displayed more coldness and ambivalence than most towards Monsieur GM - she was the puppet rather than the gravitational sun. Some of her acting really struck me - the way she bounced up full of beaming smiles immediately after bedroom pdd and also the sinuous slight disgust she had during the pas de trois with Lescaut and GM. Some of the acting in Madame’s parlour could perhaps be more varied, but it is a debut! Edited February 23 by MildConcern 16 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balletfanp Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Couldn’t agree more. I’m a bit of an emotional wreck and need to process the performance. More tomorrow…. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 9 minutes ago, Balletfanp said: I’m a bit of an emotional wreck So am I! I had high expectations but Kaneko & Muntagirov exceeded them. I know Kaneko can deliver on debut, having seen her Juliet & Countess Larisch debuts, but I was still extremely impressed. It did not feel like a debut performance it was so good, both technically & acting-wise. As for Muntagirov, I'm finding it difficult to put into words how much he moved me. I agree with @MildConcern that his performance has absolutely gone up to another level of acting (compared to 2019, I didn't see his debut). I wonder if Mayerling in the interim has had an effect? Add that to his already glorious dancing & I started to get slightly teary in his Act I solo & proceded to be more & more so until I was sobbing in the final pdd. I thought he looked pretty shattered at the start of the curtain calls. Both he & Kaneko got loads of flowers & it looked like he had a balloon too (I daresay Rob S will be providing photos shortly). I feel as though we are really being spoiled by the Des Grieux standard in this run. I have been extremely impressed by Bracewell, Clarke (cinema), Ball & now Muntagirov. I thought Sissens gave a good debut but, unsurprisingly, didn't always quite come up to the more experienced Lescauts I've seen recently. When he handed his coat to the Beggar Chief before his solo the purse fell out of it & coins rolled over the stage so I was worried in case he would slip on them but the beggars managed to pick up all the coins - which of course is perfectly in character for them! - before he had to dance on that area. It was a bit of an evening for small objects being dropped as there was some seemed to be either dropped or come off a costume in Act II Scene I, neatly retrieved by Madison Bailey, and then something rolled off the Gaoler's desk in Act III. I really liked Dias as Lescaut's Mistress but like Sissens there were a few moments I'm sure she'll make even more of with practice. I'm guessing Junker might have been debuting as the Beggar Chief? He did a good job too, as did Bhavani in her Madame debut. Does the character usually get picked up by one of the clients towards the end of Act II Scene I? I don't recall noticing it before but I was on the opposite side of the auditorium tonigh to the previous perfomances I've seen this run so I saw several things that I've either not noticed before or have forgotten since 2019. I know some people would prefer the MacMillan big 3 weren't each revived approximately every 3 seasons but given how much of Manon I managed to forget with a 4 and a bit year gap I think I need it every 3 seasons! I could also do with half a dozen pairs of eyes & a slow-motion replay option for the ensemble scenes! 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridiem Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Impossible, really, to believe that this was Kaneko's début as Manon. She clearly knew exactly what she wanted to do with the role, and did it with no holds barred. I agree with @MildConcern that she wasn't nearly as dazzled by the finery as some Manons; she was acting mainly out of loyalty, or even obedience, to her brother. In fact, for the first time tonight I saw (and felt) the parallels with Von Rothbart and Odile; Manon constantly confers with Lescaut (an excellent début from Joseph Sissens) and then returns to use her powers to dupe Monsieur G.M. But (unlike Odile) her heart really isn't in it - it's with Des Grieux. She's already given herself to him. Kaneko is so beautiful and elegant that her downfall in Act III is all the more shocking to see; from heady perfection to abject humiliation. Devastating. Unlike @MildConcern, I actually found myself a little frustrated with Muntagirov in Act I; I felt as if he was holding back a bit, or not fully engaged. But he more than made up for it in Act II with a beautiful, yearning, despairing first solo and plenty of passionate engagement with Manon, and in Act III where he flung himself into the drama with complete abandon. The final pas de deux was positively operatic in its grandeur and intensity. Stunning. 17 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridiem Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 And lovely to say hello to fellow forum-ites in the first interval! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Vadim’s balloon had 10 written on it 18 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Agree with all the above. An astonishing debut from Fumi, matched every step of the way by Vadim’s heart-wrenching depiction of Des Grieux. More tomorrow when I can think straight. But now to sleep, perchance to dream about what I saw tonight. 😢❤️ 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 5 hours ago, LinMM said: Hi Sim would love to say hello at some point but not there tonight …my post was referring to being there next Tuesday (27th)!! Quite a few friends there tonight (not on Forum) all very excited of course! Well we will be there on Tuesday as well…and after tonight, I can’t wait! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
li tai po Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 You've all said it for me. I am feeling a bit of an emotional wreck too, Balletfanp. I particularly relished the pas de trois, like Mild Concern, where Fumi seemed to be vacillating between revulsion, curiosity and succumbing to flattery and luxury. What an actress! I did not see the 10 on the balloon. How lovely of someone to mark Vadim's 10th anniversary with the Royal Ballet last Monday. With regard to Act One, Bridiem, I did not find that Vadim was not fully engaged. I felt he played it downbeat deliberately, a shy adolescent student hiding in the crowd until he was knocked off his feet by a beautiful vision - and then almost stalking her from a safe distance, until he had time alone with her to try to present a case for himself. But what an amazing performance of the opening solo - no-one can deliver that challenging solo with such legato fluidity and stunning line. It is so difficult, but he makes it appear simple and beautiful. 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silke H Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 IG 23/02/24 Kaneko, Muntagirov 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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