Royal Ballet MacMillan triple bill: Danses Concertantes, Different Drummer, Requiem 20 March to 13 April 2024

[Peanut68]

Gutted I missed getting to either cinema screening…

[Mary]

I think there are some encore screenings on Monday?

[Fonty]

I was going to ask why Hayward got champagne.. I thought it might have been because she had been in the company for a certain number of years or something.  I didn't notice he was holding two.   It was definitely because they substituted at short notice?  I don't want to sound like Scrooge, but I hope Mr O'Hare paid for them out of his own pocket.    Would hate to think ticket prices now have to include champagne presents for all those that perform as substitutions....

[Stevie]

I saw the up to date cast sheet and performance in Cinema, without knowing that the cast had been changed. It could not have been any better for me than with the cast I saw. Could easily watch it all through again.

[Pulcinella]

On 10/04/2024 at 22:17, Jake said:

Am I right that the lighting of the recent ROH broadcasts is considerably improved?

I was at the encore screening this afternoon and all three ballets were a lot darker than when I saw a live performance. The backdrop of Danses Concertantes couldn't be seen at all. Requiem, for which the lighting is a lot brighter was quite dark at times. Even one of the staff mentioned it to me on the way out.

[alison]

2 hours ago, Fonty said:

I don't want to sound like Scrooge, but I hope Mr O'Hare paid for them out of his own pocket.  

 

I was assuming he had.

 

I meant to say, too, that I think we may have been one soldier short in Different Drummer, too: I thought there were two groups of five plus the four named ones, but I thought last night there was only one five. It did leave me wondering whether there was some bug or something doing the rounds.

[Rob S]

21 hours ago, JNC said:

The other aspect was Ashley Dean was a last minute cast change indicating some injury or illness (Kevin announced on stage at the start in addition to Clarke’s illness announcement) so that was another sub with Hinkis covering for her in DC and Gaspirani in Requiem.

 

 

According to her Story on Instagram it's illness

[Cayetana]

3 hours ago, Fonty said:

  I don't want to sound like Scrooge, but

Naughty Fonty 😂

[Peanut68]

7 hours ago, Mary said:

I think there are some encore screenings on Monday?

No link on ROH website - cinema listings now just Swan Lake & later ones….

[alison]

https://cinemas.roh.org.uk/

[Mary]

It is on at some Picturehouses this afternoon.

[alison]

The link I was trying to put up last night was oddly shortened.  Try this one for greater accuracy:

 

https://cinemas.roh.org.uk/?title=macmillan-celebrated

[Fonty]

I am going to one at  Picturehouse Greenwich tomorrow at midday, if I can get there in time.  

[alison]

A lot of Picturehouses seem to go for a midweek daytime repeat showing, which may not be ideal for people who work, although I suppose it is a completely different time of day if people can't manage evenings.

[Fonty]

34 minutes ago, alison said:

A lot of Picturehouses seem to go for a midweek daytime repeat showing, which may not be ideal for people who work, although I suppose it is a completely different time of day if people can't manage evenings.

 

I wonder if they are catering for people who work from home, and can occasionally take a longer lunch hour.

[FionaM]

I was at an encore screening in Bristol.   About 10 people.  All older than me.  Aka retired.  

[Roberta]

12 minutes ago, FionaM said:

I was at an encore screening in Bristol.   About 10 people.  All older than me.  Aka retired.

 

Daytime screenings are great for oldies, evening ones are way past bedtime. 💤 Bus passes are useful too. 🚏

 

Not so weird really daytime cinema. 

[Dawnstar]

8 hours ago, Fonty said:

I wonder if they are catering for people who work from home, and can occasionally take a longer lunch hour.

 

My local Picturehouse typically starts encore screenings at 1.45pm and they finish around 5pm, depending of course on the length of the piece, so that would be a very long lunch hour! The audience is usually almost all of retired age. While I didn't actually check particularly, I didn't notice anyone other than myself at this afternoon's triple bill encore screening who looked to be under retirement age. (At least I hope I look under retirement age given I'm 38!)

 

Comparing seeing the 3 pieces on screen to live, I thought Different Drummer was improved by the close ups while the other two I found fairly similar. I didn't find the picture too dark, though it's always a bit darker on screen than live. The sound glitches in Danses Concertantes were still present, making Stravinsky sound rather more avant garde than he intended! After reading the reports on here about Saturday's performance, I watched the Libra Me & In Paradisum trying to work out how they could be performed minus one of the leading male dancers & couldn't work it out.

[MildConcern]

Hirano has posted pictures from his surgery bed… amazing that he was able to exit the stage so gracefully in the circumstances!

[alison]

Thinking about last-minute replacements in Requiem, which I was after Saturday, I recall a dancer - I think it was Bennet Gartside - having to be replaced in a previous run.  By three different dancers!  It was very complicated.  All the more credit to the company for the way they coped on Saturday. 

[Fonty]

17 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

My local Picturehouse typically starts encore screenings at 1.45pm and they finish around 5pm, depending of course on the length of the piece, so that would be a very long lunch hour! The audience is usually almost all of retired age. While I didn't actually check particularly, I didn't notice anyone other than myself at this afternoon's triple bill encore screening who looked to be under retirement age. (At least I hope I look under retirement age given I'm 38!)

 

Comparing seeing the 3 pieces on screen to live, I thought Different Drummer was improved by the close ups while the other two I found fairly similar. I didn't find the picture too dark, though it's always a bit darker on screen than live. The sound glitches in Danses Concertantes were still present, making Stravinsky sound rather more avant garde than he intended! After reading the reports on here about Saturday's performance, I watched the Libra Me & In Paradisum trying to work out how they could be performed minus one of the leading male dancers & couldn't work it out.

 

Having worked from home for several years, I would sometimes take an afternoon off, and make up the hours missed by working in the evenings or over the weekend.  Generally speaking, as long as I put in the hours and delivered on time, nobody was bothered if my phone was switched off while I went to a matinee.  

 

Just got back from my Encore screening.  There were about 20 of us, and about 17 of them were definitely retired.  It was interesting to compare the cinema performance with the live one I saw.  I loved Danses Concertantes both times, and agree that Gasparini was terrific in this.  I was fortunate enough to see Muntagirov in the live show, and although the cinema cast were good, none of the men could match him for style and personality.  I have to say that I thought the whole cast were dancing splendidly, particularly the girls, with speed and precision.  Would be very happy to see this ballet again on another triple bill in the near future.

 

Unlike others, I definitely preferred Different Drummer when I saw it live.  I thought some of the camera angles missed the wider picture, so that for example there were only glimpses of the Captain barking his instructions at the soldiers and dominating them.   I have a slight preference for Hayward rather than Osipova as Marie, but I enjoyed both their performances.  

 

I have always liked Requiem.  When I wrote my review of the live performance, I said that for some reason it didn't move me as much as it usually did.  This time I was completely overcome by the fabulous music and dancing.  It looked and sounded absolutely wonderful.

Which brings me to the commentary.  As others have said, the last two ballets required a bit more explanation that was given here.  If you didn't know anything about Different Drummer you might have been completely lost.  A brief synopsis of the story wouldn't have gone amiss.  I heard one member of the audience asking why there was a bath on the stage all the way through.  They just didn't get it.  Not sure I would have done either if I hadn't read about it beforehand.  Likewise, Requiem.  Ok, I think everyone would have got the idea that it was a tribute to the death of a friend, but the choice of  music was very specific.  Would it have been too much trouble to explain the different segments, especially with someone as knowledgeable and eloquent as Petroc Trelawny?  Is it going to offend anyone if the Catholic religion is mentioned?  I wouldn't have thought so.  It is all very well Bussell saying "It is all there in the  movement", but if you don't actually know what the movement is supposed to represent so much is lost.  Also, Bussell threw me by saying (or at least I think she said) that one of the cast is supposed to be a child.  I didn't know that, and if so, which one?

 

I enjoyed the interviews, but felt the one on Benesh notation was a bit wasted. It was in the wrong place, taking up space that could have been spent giving the sort of information I mentioned above, and also I don't think it really explained it all that well.  As someone who actually studied this myself, it might have been more interesting to have a  dancer take up one or two positions, and then show how that would have been written down in Benesh.  Otherwise, I suspect it just looked like a lot of meaningless squiggles.    

 

And finally, what on earth was Bussell wearing?  She is a lovely looking woman, and is always immaculately well groomed, but sometimes her outfits are somewhat....unusual?  At first I thought she was wrapped up in a winter coat, but as she was inside I didn't think this was likely.  It appeared to be a sort of culottes jumpsuit in coral tweed.  I was so hoping there would be a longer shot of it so that I could see how long it was, but sadly my curiosity wasn't satisfied.  

[Missfrankiecat]

1 hour ago, MildConcern said:

Hirano has posted pictures from his surgery bed… amazing that he was able to exit the stage so gracefully in the circumstances!

I agree - good that the surgery was successful and he is looking cheerful.  He also posted two lovely photos of Liam Scarlet in his insta stories with a touching inscription about missing him.  The ROH also posted a more conventional photo saying he and his family were in our thoughts but I note turned off the ability for followers to comment which is unusual.  

[annamk]

I was among the "retired" audience at this afternoon's encore showing. 

 

I actually liked Darcey Bussell's outfit ! Her presentation was pretty much fine I thought - I expected some howlers given the comments earlier in this thread. 

 

I enjoyed all the interviews. 

 

Prior to this I only saw the general rehearsal. 

 

Danses Concertantes I thought I might like more on a second viewing but I didn't, so chalk that one down to a "not for me".

 

I wish I'd read the synopsis for Different Drummer but even though I had an incomplete idea of what was going on I thought Sambe in particular gave an outstanding performance, likewise Francesca Hayward. 

 

Requiem is a masterpiece. Sarah Lamb was ethereal, William Bracewell magnificent, Lukas Brændsrød marvellous, everyone was. I hope the RB programme it more often in future.

 

[alison]

I think the "child" comment was because MacMillan was inspired by his young daughter to create the Pie Jesu part.  Otherwise, she's definitely not a child.

[cjp]

5 hours ago, Fonty said:

Unlike others, I definitely preferred Different Drummer when I saw it live.  I thought some of the camera angles missed the wider picture, so that for example there were only glimpses of the Captain barking his instructions at the soldiers and dominating them.   I have a slight preference for Hayward rather than Osipova as Marie, but I enjoyed both their performances.

I completely agree with you on this - the live performance of DD had a far more powerful impact on me than the cinema showing too, for whatever reason (though both were excellent). 

 

The casts were different but I don't think it was because of that - I think that as you say, sometimes the close ups meant that the viewer missed the bigger picture, all of which added layers and built atmosphere.

 

It was such a wonderful triple bill though, I just wish I could have made it to an Encore screening but am hoping it might eventually make its way onto the streaming service? 

 

Now looking forward to the Ashton and TWT and wishing we'd be getting a cinema showing of one of the Ashton triples, but it seems you can't have everything!

 

Edited April 16 by cjp

[Cayetana]

4 minutes ago, cjp said:

It was such a wonderful triple bill

Totally agree!

[Fonty]

13 hours ago, alison said:

I think the "child" comment was because MacMillan was inspired by his young daughter to create the Pie Jesu part.  Otherwise, she's definitely not a child.

 

Ah, ok, that makes a bit more sense!  There was a lot of gossiping going on during the interval bits, so I obviously misheard what Bussell said.  It wasn't really explained, though.  

[FionaM]

In Requiem there was a close up on the soloists in one of the scenes which cut the corps elsewhere on the stage.  That’s ok and actually welcomed.  It’s one of the much appreciated benefits of recordings.  Although I did find Sarah Lamb’s highlight makeup to be odd.   However after this close-up when the camera panned out the corps had vanished.  He missed their movement and exits.  I found that a really strange choice.  And not complementary to the choreographer’s vision. 
 

Given the comments in n this thread about the filming of Different Drummer being sub-optimal vs the live experience, would others agree it’s time to replace Ross MacGibbon? 
 

I’m reminded that he missed the shooting of Lescaut in Manon. 
 

I am increasingly disappointed considering how he is an insider on all these ballets.  Not only is he a former RB dancer (who I always looked out for … he was lovely), but as he explained he was part of the creation of many of these MacMillan ballets.   

 

I appreciate that he pioneered these relays, for which I am very grateful not being London based!
 

I feel he’s behind the times in filming skills now, and, is making mistakes that matter.  

 

 

[alison]

I wouldn't agree that the filming of DD was sub-optimal.  It was just a different viewpoint, with different choices.  That's one of the benefits of going to the cinema relays, in my view - particularly seeing dancers' acting up close rather than the bigger picture from way back in the auditorium.  Especially back in the days when it was actually more expensive than going to the ROH in the cheap seats.  And if you look at every other company that's done live relays, I think you'd see other "mistakes".  Certainly I've seen choices at the Bolshoi, POB and Australian Ballet which I though were less than optimal.  I presume that all the other cameras are still running and their footage recorded when a particular viewpoint is being shown - it will be interesting to see whether different views are edited in prior to streaming/DVD release.  I believe that was done in the Swan Lake DVD, where there's no sign of Francesca Hayward overbalancing in a landing in the Act III pas de trois, for example.

[Missfrankiecat]

4 hours ago, alison said:

I wouldn't agree that the filming of DD was sub-optimal.  It was just a different viewpoint, with different choices.  That's one of the benefits of going to the cinema relays, in my view - particularly seeing dancers' acting up close rather than the bigger picture from way back in the auditorium.  Especially back in the days when it was actually more expensive than going to the ROH in the cheap seats.  And if you look at every other company that's done live relays, I think you'd see other "mistakes".  Certainly I've seen choices at the Bolshoi, POB and Australian Ballet which I though were less than optimal.  I presume that all the other cameras are still running and their footage recorded when a particular viewpoint is being shown - it will be interesting to see whether different views are edited in prior to streaming/DVD release.  I believe that was done in the Swan Lake DVD, where there's no sign of Francesca Hayward overbalancing in a landing in the Act III pas de trois, for example.

Magri's tumble in DQ last Autumn was edited out of the Encore screening let alone subsequent streaming/DVD.  I was impressed that they must have got a new version out within 48 hours!  

[FionaM]

17 minutes ago, Missfrankiecat said:

Magri's tumble in DQ last Autumn was edited out of the Encore screening let alone subsequent streaming/DVD.  I was impressed that they must have got a new version out within 48 hours!  

that is good to hear, though her tumble was still in my encore screening. 

Edited April 17 by FionaM

[Geoff]

23 hours ago, FionaM said:

Given the comments in n this thread about the filming of Different Drummer being sub-optimal vs the live experience, would others agree it’s time to replace Ross MacGibbon? 

 

What about the other comments which said people here preferred the filmed version of DD to the live show? 

[JohnS]

A truly memorable weekend with Swan Lake and International Draft Works before the final MacMillan Triple Bill albeit not all for the best reasons with Ryoichi Hirano’s injury, other cast illnesses, and the audience problems.

 

For the final Triple Bill performance I was delighted to be sitting in a favourite seat (Stalls H4) above the gangway so unrestricted views of the stage. I’m very sorry Reece Clarke was poorly necessitating the cast change for the lead dancers but it was a privilege to have seen Marcelino Sambe and Francesca Hayward from such a fabulous seat. Saturday’s Different Drummer was unbearably raw, utterly draining, and Sambe, Hayward and Serrano gave an astonishing performance which will live long in the memory. The audience problems with shouting up in the slips were clearly audible in the stalls but for me they didn't detract from the spellbinding performance on stage.

 

Requiem was proving the perfect complement but Ryoichi Hirano pulled up suddenly (though as others have said he hadn’t looked entirely comfortable before) and left the stage part way through Libera Me. It left rather a gap as Luca Acri didn’t have anyone doing the ‘heavy lifting’ so the improvisation was rather earthbound. For In Paradisum enormous congratulations to Matthew Ball who held Sarah Lamb in a high one legged lift albeit not standing on his shoulder - not even Ball could lift Lamb and place her to stand on his shoulder. He then walked backwards to the back of the stage with Sarah Lamb, transcendent, facing the audience looking to the beyond. I guess many of the audience wouldn’t have known things had gone awry.

 

I saw Kevin O’Hare at the Stage Door so could offer congratulations and many thanks to him for devising such a tremendous Triple Bill. I said I hoped there’d be another challenging Triple Bill next year. As regards the dancers, I spoke to Teo Dubreuil who was the Different Drummer Christ figure and in Requiem. He hadn’t heard the audience shouting so perhaps other dancers hadn’t as the disturbance was news to him. Isabella Gasperini was also in Requiem after her sixth Danses Concertantes lead so it was very good to congratulate her. Luca Acri was pleased they’d managed to improvise after Ryo’s injury. Matthew Ball was with Mayara Magri. They’d danced in International Draft Works in the Linbury that afternoon which I’d seen and I thought Matt’s ‘To & Fro’  one of the best - very polished and certainly made me smile. I hadn’t gone to the Stage Door the previous evening so it was good to chat to Mayara and I’m certainly looking forward to her and Marcelino Sambe’s next Swan Lake when I’m sure I’ll be more Swan Lake centred. Matthew Ball impresses me more and more and with ‘To & Fro’ and the remarkable Requiem improvisation, quite a day for him. Ryoichi Hirano came out on crutches and wearing a protective boot. He was very happy to chat to all and have photos/sign programmes etc. Sarah Lamb was last out - I was about to go as the other well wishers had just gone and I’m very pleased I had chance to have a few words. She brings a very special quality to ballet and I’ve been very taken with the serene aura she projects in Requiem.

 

On the way home on Sunday, I called in Rheged for the cinema encore and was hugely impressed. I’m delighted we have such a good recording of Different Drummer and Requiem although I think I have a marginal preference for Matthew Ball rather than Will Bracewell in the role. I found the cinema encore of Requiem particularly moving despite my third viewing, I guess in part because the previous evening’s performance had been affected by Ryoichi Hirano’s injury and it was so good to see such a wonderfully strong, collective performance. I do very much hope we won’t have to wait as long as we did this time before having chance to see these ballets in the theatre again. Hopefully we’ll have a stream or DVD recording but there’s nothing to beat live performance in the theatre for such intense ballets.