Manon, Royal Ballet Winter 2024

[Lindsay]

I totally agree Sim - Hayward is really made for this role.  Her beautiful arms and epaulement in particular struck me tonight and this is a part which really calls for strong acting.  Campbell is such a good actor too and the commitment from all the leads was total - really glad to have seen it.

[Rob S]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Blossom]

What a night tonight! It was my first opening night in a while, took a friend who is new to MacMillan and had a lovely spot at the front of the Stalls Circle with a perfect view.

 

Hayward was my first choice Manon based on previous performances, the role just fits her like a glove. I adore her transformation from a naive, sweet girl into the Manon who arrives in act 2.

She pairs so beautifully with Marcelino Sambe and really enjoyed their connection.

 

I have always loved Alexander Campbell as Lescaut- the ‘nice guy’ of ballet surprised me first time round in his convincing depiction of quite a vile man. Speaking of vile men, Gary Avis was wonderfully repulsive as Monsieur GM. Also loved Mayara Magri as his mistress.

 

What particularly struck me tonight was the sheer brilliance of MacMillan. His ability to structure a ballet, tell a story and also to build the drama, using all of the characters on the stage to create a ‘play without words’. I had forgotten about the characters from Manon’s past coming back to haunt her in the final scene, which was so incredibly impactful. I also want to know so much more detail about how Massenet was selected, specifically how the music was chosen to fit the libretto so perfectly (in the way that MacMillan ballets really make the music ‘speak’).  I also really appreciated the theatrical verging on cinematic use of music between scenes as a connector. 
 

Another dreamy night at the ballet, if a rather gritty tale and so pleased I have more dates and new casts to look forward to. If anyone has any depth of insight on the music, I would love to get as much detail as possible!

[capybara]

Is that Charlotte MacMillan next to Frankie in the second photo down?

If so, presumably on stage in relation to the 50 year birthday celebrations for Manon?

 

 

 

Edited January 18 by capybara

[bangorballetboy]

3 minutes ago, capybara said:

Is that Charlotte MacMillan next to Frankie in the second photo down?

If so, presumably on stage in relation to the 50 year birthday celebrations for Manon?

 

 

 

It’s a member of ROH staff presenting bouquets.

[Sophoife]

10 hours ago, Mary said:

Yes.. indeed revolting. But so brilliantly 3 dimensional and  believeable done by Avis .

 

Haven't had the live Avis privilege but Steven Heathcote did Monsieur GM in AusBallet's last run of Manon and the slime absolutely oozing from his every pore...! He told me afterwards he had had discussion with Mr Avis on the role (way back, 2014).

 

So, so envious of those who saw this cast. 

 

 

Edited January 18 by Sophoife
Added last paragraph

[San Perregrino]

8 hours ago, capybara said:

Is that Charlotte MacMillan next to Frankie in the second photo down?

If so, presumably on stage in relation to the 50 year birthday celebrations for Manon?

 

 

 

February 3rd matinee will be the 300th performance by the Royal Ballet at the ROH. Perhaps a cake then? 

Edited January 18 by PeterS

[JohnS]

Fabulous opening night and more than meeting my sky high expectations. I find Francesca Hayward utterly convincing as Manon. She captures the extremes of Manon’s highs and lows: the vitality of youth, the delights of love, the attraction of riches when contrasted with the bleakness of poverty, mesmerising in the Act 2 brothel scene where she controls the roomful of admirers, then broken by Lescaut’s death and the awfulness and tragedy of Act 3. After a slightly tentative start, I found Marci Sambe hugely impressive in Acts 2 and 3. Alex Campbell makes an astonishingly believable Lescaut and I very much enjoyed Mayara Magri’s Mistress although I rather missed much of her solo as there’s so much going on between Manon and the most repugnant Monsieur GM, another chilling performance from Gary Avis. Wonderful dancing from the entire cast. An unmissable performance, the Royal Ballet at its best and I’m so pleased to have a ticket for the second and last performance of this cast, a month away and many more casts to enjoy.

[Sophoife]

58 minutes ago, PeterS said:

February 3rd matinee will be the 300th performance by the Royal Ballet at the ROH. Perhaps a cake then? 

 

I shall have a cupcake on July 16, the fiftieth anniversary of my first Manon.

 

Townsperson: Derek Deane

Harlot: Wendy Ellis 

Gentleman: Wayne Eagling, David Ashmole

Beggar Chief: Wayne Sleep

Madame: Gerd Larsen

Gaoler's Mistress: Georgina Parkinson

Gaoler: David Drew

Lescaut's Mistress: Lesley Collier*

Monsieur GM: Derek Rencher

Lescaut: Desmond Kelly

Des Grieux: Rudolf Nureyev*

Manon: Merle Park*

 

* denotes rôle début 

 

At the ROH, Collier danced the Mistress just twice: on this evening and in 1977. She danced Manon once, in 1988.

[LinMM]

This looks very similar to one of the casts I saw back in the 70’s where as I’ve mentioned before I found it very difficult to forgive David Drew for his Gaoler role! 
 

I hope Gary Avis is not going to be so good that I will find it hard to forgive him too!!! 
Looking forward to first trip to ROH for a while on 17th Feb! 
 

Edited January 18 by LinMM

[Sim]

Did they drop the Gaoler’s Mistress role, or have I been missing something??

[alison]

Yes, early on, I believe.  I've never seen her.

 

Sophoife: wow, what a cast!

[MAB]

Yes Sim, they did.  I still miss that pas de deux.

[Sophoife]

31 minutes ago, Sim said:

Did they drop the Gaoler’s Mistress role, or have I been missing something??

 

They dropped the Mistress, and tweaked several other bits I am told.

 

His Nibs only did five Des Grieux at the ROH. It was our last London theatre before departing for Australia.

 

Twenty years later, on return to the ROH, Mr Rancher (with fur and tiny dog) signed my 1974 programme with some astonishment after playing the Don in the Baryshnikov Don Quixote, with Sylvie Guillem and Oliver Matz.

[capybara]

9 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

 

They dropped the Mistress, and tweaked several other bits I am told.

 

His Nibs only did five Des Grieux at the ROH. It was our last London theatre before departing for Australia.

 

Twenty years later, on return to the ROH, Mr Rancher (with fur and tiny dog) signed my 1974 programme with some astonishment after playing the Don in the Baryshnikov Don Quixote, with Sylvie Guillem and Oliver Matz.

“His Nibs” ?????

 

[LianneEva]

Just a couple of comments on yesterday's General Rehearsal which was gorgeous - I was spoiled with a great seat in the Stalls Circle (A29) so had a wonderful view. 

 

It was my first Friend's Rehearsal and I wasn't sure whether people were expected to give it their all at a stage call, but It felt to me like everyone was going at full tilt. Buttery smooth dancing from Lauren and Matt, and I think Lauren makes a wonderfully glamorous Manon - she looks right at home in all the furs and jewels!

I saw a few familiar faces about the place which was fun - Deborah MacMillan, Daria Klimentova and Joonhyuk Jun. Later saw Koen Kessels and Luca Acri outside stage door. I hope he didn't mind my spontaneous applause from across the street.. 

[Sophoife]

50 minutes ago, capybara said:

“His Nibs” ?????

 

He who debuted Des Grieux on that occasion. Mr Nureyev. 😘

 

50 minutes ago, capybara said:

Twenty years later, on return to the ROH, Mr Rancher (with fur and tiny dog)

 

My apologies to the late Mr Rencher. I think I'm right in saying a rancher was about the last career he might have considered...

[Sim]

I have always loved Francesca Hayward's Manon.  It's a role to which she is naturally suited:  beautiful, gamine, feathery light and deeply engaged with the character.  Last night I especially loved her Act 2.  Her interpretation was different this time.  Instead of a Manon luxuriating in furs, jewels, and her sexual control over men, she was sad, ashamed and desolate.  'Is this what I've become?  I'm better than this'.  And the guilt...oh could I feel her guilt at the hurt she had inflicted on DG.  This makes her deception of MGM so much more deep and dark.  She is getting her revenge on him, and on all the men who have passed her around and used her.  I always think here of Bess's plaintive cry in "I Loves You Porgy" : don't let them handle me.  That is what Manon was thinking last night...I am sick of this.  I want love and devotion.  Ultimately, sadly, it is not enough.  A tour de force performance from Hayward.

 

Marcelino Sambe gave a good account of DG for his debut.  I think in Act 1 he was more focused on the steps and the partnering, but his characterisation developed as the evening went on.  His dancing was as always excellent, and I think when he has performed the role a couple more times he will relax and get deeper into the character.  Having said this, I did like how he made his disgust of all the men in Act 2 very clear.

 

What can I say about Alexander Campbell?  I haven't seen him onstage for a long time, and boy was this a welcome comeback.  I have always loved his Lescaut, and last night he reprised the role with gusto.  Pinpoint accurate dancing, so many nuances of character, such clear mime and facial expressions; I knew what was going on in his mind every step of the way.  Had Hayward's performance not been superlative he would have stolen the show for me.  Bravo Alex.  Mayara Magri as his Mistress was the perfect foil for him, funny and sassy and again beautiful dancing.  I could watch her twirl all night.  

 

Another menacing turn from the wonderful Gary Avis as MGM.  How he still manages to scare me after about 15 years of watching him in the role is testament to his brilliant acting. 

 

A word also for all the other dancers onstage, especially a certain James Hay.  I find it very hard to take my eyes off him.  He was having a hoot as the old gentleman, and during the Act 2 freeze frame stood stock still having lifted a girl's skirt and peeked underneath; how he can hold that position for so long seemingly without a breath is amazing! Just watching him walk across the stage made me chuckle out loud.  Everybody gave everything last night:  so many individual stories happening in the background that it is hard to choose what to look at.    

 

An inspired start to this run of Manon, and I am looking forward to the other casts I am seeing.  

 

 

[Sophoife]

Incidentally... https://www.instagram.com/sophoife/p/syLG4uG6OB/

 

 

Edited January 18 by Sophoife

[Emeralds]

3 hours ago, Sophoife said:

 

I shall have a cupcake on July 16, the fiftieth anniversary of my first Manon.

 

Townsperson: Derek Deane

Harlot: Wendy Ellis 

Gentleman: Wayne Eagling, David Ashmole

Beggar Chief: Wayne Sleep

Madame: Gerd Larsen

Gaoler's Mistress: Georgina Parkinson

Gaoler: David Drew

Lescaut's Mistress: Lesley Collier*

Monsieur GM: Derek Rencher

Lescaut: Desmond Kelly

Des Grieux: Rudolf Nureyev*

Manon: Merle Park*

 

* denotes rôle début 

 

At the ROH, Collier danced the Mistress just twice: on this evening and in 1977. She danced Manon once, in 1988.

This is a strange thing to say perhaps, but I never knew Nureyev danced Des Grieux! He never seems to have mentioned the ballet even though he's talked about and danced loads of ballets. (Did he have a sort of double act with Merle Park- Nutcracker, Manon etc etc? Lol. I also had no idea she'd danced Manon.) Desmond Kelly's Lescaut would have been interesting to see too. I wonder what the jettisoned Gaoler Mistress pdd looked like.  Anyway, this is all very useful info- thank you Sophoife. 

[Anna C]

I’m delighted to read the reviews of last night’s cast; I’ll only be able to see one cast (plus cinema) this run, and until now have never managed to see Francesca Hayward in what sounds like her signature role, so roll on 17th February! 
 

Thanks for all the reviews thus far. 

[alison]

36 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

Incidentally... https://www.instagram.com/sophoife/p/syLG4uG6OB/

 

 

 

Beggar boys and girls, too, as well as the Gaoler's Mistress!  And all named.

[Sophoife]

I know, right?!

[LinMM]

Oooh maybe we can say hello then Anna C! 

[Sophoife]

1 hour ago, Emeralds said:

This is a strange thing to say perhaps, but I never knew Nureyev danced Des Grieux!

You're not the only one.

 

Also on my Instagram is a photo a kind fellow fan took of self and Johan Kobborg after he and Alina Cojocaru danced what turned out to be his last Des Grieux, with AusBallet in 2014.

 

He was genuinely surprised to hear I'd seen Nureyev in the role: he hadn't known he'd danced it, either. And if anyone would know history, it's him.

 

That Nureyev danced Des Grieux is mentioned in passing in Zoe Anderson's The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and in Julie Kavanagh's Nureyev: The Life it is said that

 

'The Manon duet had never been so excitingly performed, Rudolf and Merle Park making the two lovers insatiably sexy by continuing kissing long after the music had stopped. In the biggest climax he spun her two full revolutions while lifting her diagonally upward, and then let go only to catch her a second before she hit the stage. "We hammed it up! - which it needs," Park says with a laugh. "We're both peasants and we both know how to ham."'

 

In the Kavanagh, Maude Lloyd Gosling (with her husband Nigel the critic identity Alexander Bland) is quoted as saying that "Rudolf had to beg to be given Manon." This was after a Roland Petit piece to Schoenberg's Pelléas et Mélisande was programmed for a celebration of Fonteyn's 35 years with the RB instead of Macmillan's Cain and Abel and MacMillan and Nureyev fell out, as M assumed, wrongly, according to Gosling, that N had sabotaged Cain and Abel in order to get a new Fonteyn-Nureyev vehicle (the Petit).

 

Unfortunately my copy of Different Drummer: The Life of Kenneth MacMillan by Jann Parry is inaccessible, so I can't see what it says on the matter.

 

 

Edited January 18 by Sophoife
Added last paragraph

[Sophoife]

15 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Oooh maybe we can say hello then Anna C! 

I always stop when I read a post by or reference to @Anna C. It's my name and the first initial of my surname.

[Sharon]

5 hours ago, Sophoife said:

 

I shall have a cupcake on July 16, the fiftieth anniversary of my first Manon.

 

Townsperson: Derek Deane

Harlot: Wendy Ellis 

Gentleman: Wayne Eagling, David Ashmole

Beggar Chief: Wayne Sleep

Madame: Gerd Larsen

Gaoler's Mistress: Georgina Parkinson

Gaoler: David Drew

Lescaut's Mistress: Lesley Collier*

Monsieur GM: Derek Rencher

Lescaut: Desmond Kelly

Des Grieux: Rudolf Nureyev*

Manon: Merle Park*

 

* denotes rôle début 

 

At the ROH, Collier danced the Mistress just twice: on this evening and in 1977. She danced Manon once, in 1988.

Fabulous cast - i adored David Ashmole...

[Sophoife]

I remember David Ashmole fondly from his ten years with AusBallet, @Sharon

 

He's another person astonished I'd seen that Manon. 

[LinMM]

How did you work out Sophoife then 🤔
I always have to keep double checking spelling if mentioning your Forum name lol! 

[Sophoife]

On the forum @LinMM if you type @ then Sop it should come up.

 

It's a mashup of my first two online identities: Internet Relay Chat (IRC) nick which was Sophie, and my first online role-playing game (RPG) persona which was Aoife.

 

I can't pronounce it, don't you even bother to try - it comes out sort of "Sofeefuh" 🤣🤣🤣 

 

It's a pretty safe guess on the socials that if you see Sophoife and Ballerina Gozira it's me (yes, I just remembered to update my avatar on the forum!).

 

Edited January 18 by Sophoife

[LinMM]

Well RPG sounds a bit too futuristic for me lol though we must be round about the same age!!!. 
I’ve only really been in anyway Internet /computer savvy since about 2008 and am  still at a fairly elementary level ….in ballet terms!!! 
 

 

[Rob S]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tony Newcombe]

That first photograph says it all. I got the impression that if Matt had not been there, she would have collapsed.  Truly monumental performance by both dancers, not forgetting Acri, Mendizabal and Avis. Two performances so far with two fabulous casts.