Royal Ballet - Swan Lake 2024

[Peanut68]

2 hours ago, art_enthusiast said:

 

Yes, and Marcelino's Mercutio (which I was fortunate to see live in the 2022 run when he stood in for someone, can't remember who). Perfect casting

Has that film cast been one on the ROH stage? I too felt the casting was just perfect 

[Rob S]

44 minutes ago, Ian Macmillan said:

As ever, other reactions may vary and I think there's some comment on the issue up above somewhere but, if the RB can't provide a decent lookalike girl for that Prologue, it would be no loss if it were ditched. 

 

The prologue is really clunky...the use of Marianna Tsembenhoi as a lookalike for Mayara and Francesca yesterday is the least of their worries. The transitions for the characters are really poor and I'm sure the lighting has changed recently, the gates and scenery are far more easy to spot now

[zxDaveM]

I don't have much issue with the prologue scene setter bit (not noticed the background showing through - will watch out for that this evening). It doesn't have to be much of a lookee-likee for me, as it just gives a hint to what has gone before.

Lighting though - in the cinema yesterday, much of the whole ballet seemed to be in impenatrable gloom. The close-ups and medium shots were OK, but anything wider and it became tricky to pick anyone out! Keep wishing, and having hopes dashed, that lighting designers would 'hint at' it being dusk/night when setting the scene, and then lighting it more fully so we can see the dancers. I'm sure the audience can still make-pretend it is still night

As for day/night - time seems to be a moveable feast between scenes 🙂

[JohnS]

When the Prologue works well it can be very effective with Hayward outstanding last run but as @Rob S says, the lighting this run seems to be set further back so the character changes are far too visible.

[Mary]

I agree the prologue can work, but ever since the first night I have always wondered if it was really necessary. Productions worldwide have managed all these years without it..

I also wondered if the idea might have come from the use of a prologue in Winter's Tale:  they are quite similar!

 

[Sim]

8 hours ago, Peanut68 said:

Has that film cast been one on the ROH stage? I too felt the casting was just perfect 

No.  Will danced it with Fumi (unforgettable) and Frankie with Cesar (didn’t move me half as much as their first go in the previous run).  

[Richard LH]

I really like the prologue....as @zxDaveM suggests, it poignantly sets the scene,  and  always gives me goosebumps when Odette as a swan appears, being the first glimpse of whichever amazing ballerina is dancing the role that night. The spot lighting does need to be just right, though, to get the full effect.

[Sim]

2 minutes ago, Mary said:

I agree the prologue can work, but ever since the first night I have always wondered if it was really necessary. Productions worldwide have managed all these years without it..

I also wondered if the idea might have come from the use of a prologue in Winter's Tale:  they are quite similar!

 

I saw a production many years ago by the Stanislavsky Ballet and they did a similar prologue, showing a young princess being captured and turned into a swan. That one worked very well.  

[Jan McNulty]

25 minutes ago, Sim said:

I saw a production many years ago by the Stanislavsky Ballet and they did a similar prologue, showing a young princess being captured and turned into a swan. That one worked very well.  

 

Galina Samsova's gorgeous production for Scottish Ballet also had a short but very effective prologue.  How I wish we could see that production again.

[MAB]

My first RB Swan Lake had a prologue, it was a very handsome production by Robert Helpmann.  Thinking  about it makes me very nostalgic.

[Silver Capricorn]

2 hours ago, Mary said:

I agree the prologue can work, but ever since the first night I have always wondered if it was really necessary. Productions worldwide have managed all these years without it..

I also wondered if the idea might have come from the use of a prologue in Winter's Tale:  they are quite similar!

 

In Nureyev's famous version of Swan Lake, the prologue about the transformation of the princess into a swan is also used and appears to Siegfried in a dream.

[alison]

The Bourmeister version of Swan Lake also uses a prologue, doesn't it - along with Derek Deane's version for ENB?

[Geoff]

11 hours ago, Ian Macmillan said:

As ever, other reactions may vary and I think there's some comment on the issue up above somewhere but, if the RB can't provide a decent lookalike girl for that Prologue, it would be no loss if it were ditched. 

 

There is also established stage practice for making such an exchange really magical. I know someone volunteered to help out (at no cost to the company) with some basic training, back in the early days of this production when Liam Scarlett wanted to present his opening as a stage illusion - but there was no interest. So it stayed inept from the outset and has only got worse with time. 

 

Edited April 29 by Geoff

[San Perregrino]

Hayward & Bracewell. What a delicious pairing and one to treasure. I was entranced by their engaging, nuanced and confident performances on Saturday evening. There were no “look at me for the sake of it” moments. Every movement had a meaning, every look or gesture came from within conveying the feelings and emotions running through Odile/Odette/Siegfried’s bodies be it fear, yearning, infatuation, love, loss or grief, among others. The fragility and vulnerability of Hayward’s Odette contrasted with the strength, cunning and steely determination of her Odile. She stayed in character throughout, not exiting the stage to return and take a bow during Act 2 as other dancers have done at that point but simply acknowledging the applause without breaking the spell and moving on. Bracewell’s Siegfried suffered torment at the hands of Von Rothbart and his struggle between doing his duty to Queen & country or his heart could be seen to be tearing him apart inside. Moved by the plight of Odette in Act 2, in Act 3 his jaw literally dropped at the sight of Odile and his mouth stayed open for so long he might have been “catching flies” as my grandmother was wont to say.

Meaghan Grace Hinkis was note perfect dancing one of Siegfried’s sisters. Taisike Nakao having danced a fantastic Benno in the matinee performance followed this in the evening with a scintillating Neopolitan in partnership with Ella Newton Severgnini. 
A very satisfying evening that received a standing ovation from the House. 

[art_enthusiast]

31 minutes ago, Geoff said:

 

There is also established stage practice for making such an exchange really magical. 

 

So how should it be done then? I’m intrigued. I personally do like it as it is, but I am aware that the lack of similarity in looks between human/swan dancers cracks the believability a bit. I still find it quite dramatic and exciting though as it’s the first glimpse of Odette before the rather long opening waltz and so on.

[Geoff]

3 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

So how should it be done then? I’m intrigued. I personally do like it as it is, but I am aware that the lack of similarity in looks between human/swan dancers cracks the believability a bit. I still find it quite dramatic and exciting though as it’s the first glimpse of Odette before the rather long opening waltz and so on.

I could say but then would have to kill you and resign from the Magic Circle. Suffice it say there are ways of holding a large cloth and timing one’s movements which can make for a strikingly magical exchange. 
 

I should add for clarity that, along with a number of Scarlett’s other innovations, his original conception of an opening transformation was dropped long ago, possibly even before the end of the first run. The way it is staged now would not benefit from what illusionists could have added to the original idea. 

[Rob S]

40 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

So how should it be done then? I’m intrigued. I personally do like it as it is, but I am aware that the lack of similarity in looks between human/swan dancers cracks the believability a bit.

 

It's a world where Kristen McNally is the mother of Marcelino Sambe, Sae Maeda and Ashley Dean 😄

 

 

 

 

[zxDaveM]

9 minutes ago, Rob S said:

 

It's a world where Kristen McNally is the mother of Marcelino Sambe, Sae Maeda and Ashley Dean 😄

 

 

 

 

 

The Queen was obviously an adventurous woman... 😉

[Fonty]

2 hours ago, alison said:

The Bourmeister version of Swan Lake also uses a prologue, doesn't it - along with Derek Deane's version for ENB?

 

I was going to mention the ENB production.  

[Richard LH]

5 hours ago, San Perregrino said:

Taisike Nakao having danced a fantastic Benno in the matinee performance followed this in the evening with a scintillating Neopolitan in partnership with Ella Newton Severgnini. 

Yes they are excellent in the Neapolitan....one of the stand-out performances for me.

I also particularly liked Benjamin Ella as Benno....I'm not sure if he has been mentioned yet.

[Roberta]

5 hours ago, Geoff said:

I could say but then would have to kill you and resign from the Magic Circle. Suffice it say there are ways of holding a large cloth and timing one’s movements which can make for a strikingly magical exchange. 
 

I should add for clarity that, along with a number of Scarlett’s other innovations, his original conception of an opening transformation was dropped long ago, possibly even before the end of the first run. The way it is staged now would not benefit from what illusionists could have added to the original idea. 

 

I heard a rumour that Scarlett had considered for Siegfried to saw Von Rothbart in half in the final act. I certainly feel that would have made an interesting ending. 😇

 

 

[Richard LH]

4 hours ago, Rob S said:

 

It's a world where Kristen McNally is the mother of Marcelino Sambe, Sae Maeda and Ashley Dean 😄

 

 

 

 

Indeed! .... so I don't think we need be too picky about the exact similarities of the two Odettes in the prologue,  seen by most observers at some distance,  in dim lighting. 

[Scheherezade]

4 minutes ago, Roberta said:

 

I heard a rumour that Scarlett had considered for Siegfried to saw Von Rothbart in half in the final act. I certainly feel that would have made an interesting ending. 😇

 

 

It would certainly have required the particular skills of the Magic Circle. 

[Roberta]

7 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

Indeed! .... so I don't think we need be too picky about the exact similarities of the two Odettes in the prologue,  seen by most observers at some distance,  in dim lighting

 

A blast from the past as they say, when Odette and Odile were danced by two different people! It was simply magic that meant Siegfried didn't notice,  presumably. 

 

 

 

[Anna C]

16 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

Indeed! .... so I don't think we need be too picky about the exact similarities of the two Odettes in the prologue,  seen by most observers at some distance,  in dim lighting. 

Agreed, Richard, except for cinema broadcasts where we do see the prologue in close-up, so I do think a blonde Princess turning into a black-haired Swan is unnecessarily confusing.

[Sim]

6 hours ago, San Perregrino said:

not exiting the stage to return and take a bow during Act 2 as other dancers have done at that point but simply acknowledging the applause without breaking the spell and moving on.

How I wish they would all do that.

[Richard LH]

5 hours ago, Geoff said:

I could say but then would have to kill you and resign from the Magic Circle. Suffice it say there are ways of holding a large cloth and timing one’s movements which can make for a strikingly magical exchange. 
 

I should add for clarity that, along with a number of Scarlett’s other innovations, his original conception of an opening transformation was dropped long ago, possibly even before the end of the first run. The way it is staged now would not benefit from what illusionists could have added to the original idea. 

Geoff isn't the transformation concept now just the same as at the start of the first run?

If done properly (and yes the lighting has to be right) I think the way VR turns around Odette and engulfs her in his "wings", to engineer her transformation, works very well. I'm not sure how it would be improved by him using a cloth instead, perhaps with the sort of "tada" flourish one might see in a magic show, without introducing an unintended element of amusement!

[emmarose]

On 27/04/2024 at 11:30, JohnS said:

I saw the cinema relay live in Keswick and there was much applause when Kevin O’Hare referred to Keswick and a letter he’d received from a lady who goes to all the Sunday encores. Hopefully she’ll be there this Sunday. I was going to book for Sunday’s encore in Rheged on the way home from London but surprisingly Rheged aren’t doing an encore. Fortunately for me they were screening a delayed ‘live’ relay on Thursday so I managed to catch that instead. Still the same sound issues but very good to see Yasmine Naghdi and Matthew Ball on Rheged’s massive screen. I’d seen their first performance in the ROH this run and I probably preferred that - and not just for the exquisite long held balance in Act 3. On Wednesday I thought Ball rather overdid the Von Rothbart contemptuous mutterings and couldn’t help wondering if Siegfried had seen too much of Woyzeck’s Captain but on second viewing I wasn’t as concerned. I thought the rest of the cast stronger in the cinema than their first performance and was particularly impressed by Annette Buvoli and Joonhyuk Jun.

I do agree with the applause comments being over intrusive. In the theatre the fabulous Naghdi balance had been met with a smattering of applause which I’m pleased to say didn’t ignite. Quite a contrast to opening night when the Nunez aficionados ensured a cacophony of applause and whooping, fortunately no rattles, all highlighting the Nunez performance. I’m afraid throughout the opening night for me the applause undermined the sense of character for Odette, Odile and Siegfried and despite Marinella Nunez and Vadim Muntagirov’s undoubted talents where there’s so much to admire, I’m finding other Swan Lakes more satisfying.

 

On that note I’m very much looking forward to today’s double Swan Lake. I enjoyed Mayara Magri and Marcelino Sambe’s earlier performance, albeit rather overshadowed by his astonishing Woyzeck performances, so it will be good to see their final performance. And when I saw the casting, I was delighted to see Francesca Hayward and Will Bracewell were again paired. I think in her brief moments in the Prelude Hayward conveys more of Odette’s vulnerability and anguish than I get from some Odettes in their White Acts and I was also taken with much of her Odile. I’m hoping this run Hayward is fully fit as she was struggling in her debut run. Bracewell is such a supportive partner and it was very touching when Hayward presented him with a bouquet during his curtain call after their final performance last run. Here’s hoping for a fabulous Saturday.

 

I haven't been on for a while, so forgive my late reply, but I found it interesting that someone on twitter was at opening night and they were saying how the audience didn't give enough. They said after the fouettes there was barely anything at all and said the British audiences were somewhat too muted.

 

It's also interesting to note that the dancers have said how wonderful they found the ovations, Vadim and Marianela both were very clearly moved at the end of the performances, and they do work incredibly hard, so maybe they all appreciate more than a smattering of applause after they perform difficult solos. Perhaps our audiences in just politely clapping the extraordinary are doing the dancers somewhat of a disservice? I'm not suggesting a mid performance standing ovation, but at least something.

 

So you as an audience member say you were pleased that Yasmine's smattering of applause didn't ignite, but perhaps Yasmine after performing so well would have loved to have heard how much it meant to the people watching?

 

It's an interesting thing to think about.

[Scheherezade]

I’d say that the audience invariably responds to the cues given by the dancers and the orchestra. An initial smattering of applause will ignite if the orchestra and dancers come to a halt and will quickly fade away if they carry on. And once ignited, it will regain momentum if the dancers come back for another bow. 

[Rachelm]

1 hour ago, emmarose said:

 

I haven't been on for a while, so forgive my late reply, but I found it interesting that someone on twitter was at opening night and they were saying how the audience didn't give enough. They said after the fouettes there was barely anything at all and said the British audiences were somewhat too muted.

 

It's also interesting to note that the dancers have said how wonderful they found the ovations, Vadim and Marianela both were very clearly moved at the end of the performances, and they do work incredibly hard, so maybe they all appreciate more than a smattering of applause after they perform difficult solos. Perhaps our audiences in just politely clapping the extraordinary are doing the dancers somewhat of a disservice? I'm not suggesting a mid performance standing ovation, but at least something.

 

So you as an audience member say you were pleased that Yasmine's smattering of applause didn't ignite, but perhaps Yasmine after performing so well would have loved to have heard how much it meant to the people watching?

 

It's an interesting thing to think about.

I often wonder if the applause and energy from the audience spur the dancers on, helping them to give even more in their performance? I think I would feel that way if I were dancing! If an audience was not very enthusiastic I would definitely feel more half-hearted in the rest of the performance. But I’m not a dancer which might just be a good thing!

[emmarose]

2 minutes ago, Rachelm said:

I often wonder if the applause and energy from the audience spur the dancers on, helping them to give even more in their performance? I think I would feel that way if I were dancing! If an audience was not very enthusiastic I would definitely feel more half-hearted in the rest of the performance. But I’m not a dancer which might just be a good thing!

 

As an ex dancer myself, a receptive audience gives you a lot of energy and you feel on a high and you do give more to it. Also, in your head is a weird place, so if it's quiet you can doubt if it was good enough, but with a receptive crowd there's no room for doubt.

 

I'm also thinking of Don Q opening night where the crowd were so receptive from their entrances and Vadim said afterwards he was nervous about it all, but the crowd really helped him settle in and they were clearly feeding off of the crowds enthusiasm and appreciation for a stellar performance.

 

It's a live art, so both the performers and audience are giving each other energy.

[bridiem]

39 minutes ago, emmarose said:

It's a live art, so both the performers and audience are giving each other energy.

 

I think this is absolutely true - it's what makes live performance so special. But equally, I don't think that the audience reaction should take either themselves or the performers out of the drama of what's happening on stage (whether or not a story is being told). That should only happen at the end, when both the dancers and the audience can relax and react. There can be powerful applause and an intangible sense of excitement during a great performance, but the spell shouldn't be entirely broken until it's over.

[Rob S]