restor Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 I find BRB not such an interesting company as a few years ago ...with low audience in london perhaps they woukld be better returning to Sadler's Wells... thought there are lot's of discounts now on Mikhailovsky tickets so perhaps it is just that there is not such a huge audience for ballet at Coliseum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 I felt I battled the weather to get to London yesterday for the Saturday matinee of Aladdin and thanks to Virgin Trains made it all on time with a minor delay! And I was rewarded with another wonderful performance of Aladdin. Some characters were the same dancers as the other performance I saw in Manchester but most were different - Jo Caley and Elisha Willis as Aladdin and the Princess were both great and I loved Jo's cheeky chappy portrayal of Aladdin I think this role suits him very well indeed. Another lovely performance of Diamonds by Celine Gittins and Tyrone Singleton as the baddy. Fab lion dance and dragon dance. Genie was great too - can't remember his name right now but he was just as good a Tzu and Rubies with Tom Rogers and Nao Sakuma = poetry in motion! Loved it and it looked pretty well attended. I hoe it will not be long before we see Aladdin again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyG Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 We also made it to London for the matinee performance despite car not starting and having to change travel arrangements to underground. James Barton was the Genie he is not my favourite BRB dancer just something about him I don't get. Jo Caley was lovely as Aladdin he really looked the part though I did wonder at first if it was a girl dancing the part, Elisha Willis who I wasn't keen on in Swan Lake suited the princess much better in my opinion. I would have liked to have seen Marion Tait as the mother but the young lady did a good job just looked to young. Enjoyed all of the jewel dances though slightly distracted by concentrating on some of the costumes (that's my thing) I would love to visit the wardrobe deptartment to take a closer look at some of these. I thought the lion dance was really cool and I loved the dragon dance slightly biased for personal reasons! There were lots of little comedy bits which made you laugh, one being the birds flying across the stage and the judges as they waddled onto stage! The staging was very clever, though when the flash went of in the cave in Act 1 some of the audience around us thought that was the end of the act and started to leave for the interval which was disracting. We were in the Dress Circle which wasn't full though everyone spreadout which made it appear fuller. There were lots of little girls who during the first act were slightly restless but once the princess appeared they were transfixed. Come to the conclusion that I prefer BRB ballets to RB they seem more relaxed and everyone is enjoying themselves. Would never have got to have seen any of them though if it wasn't for DS being given the wonderful opportunities to take part in them. Would throughly recommend. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marg S Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 Come to the conclusion that I prefer BRB ballets to RB they seem more relaxed and everyone is enjoying themselves. Would never have got to have seen any of them though if it wasn't for DS being given the wonderful opportunities to take part in them. Would throughly recommend. How I like that ! Could not agree more and the enthusiasm runs right through the Company, those of stage as well as on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 I find BRB not such an interesting company as a few years ago ...with low audience in london perhaps they woukld be better returning to Sadler's Wells... They will be, in the autumn, with Sleeping Beauty and a triple bill consisting of Tombeaux, 'Still Life' At The Penguin Cafe and E=mc2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 Alison, do you have the dates for Sadler's Wells? There's nothing on the company website yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebird Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 (edited) do you have the dates for Sadler's Wells? There's nothing on the company website yet. Mixed bill October 15 and 16. Beauty October 17-19 (the Sadler's Wells season was advertised on the back of the Coliseum castlists) Edited to add that the castsheets also provide booking information (booking opens in May) but no exact date is given. Edited March 25, 2013 by Bluebird 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebird Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 with low audience in london perhaps they woukld be better returning to Sadler's Wells. ...but they 'return' to Sadler's Wells regularly every October and, in recent years, have also had a Coliseum season in March or April. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 A mini review from the Web Cowgirl: http://webcowgirl.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/mini-review-aladdin-birmingham-royal-ballet-at-london-coliseum/ "My favorite was gold and silver, the men (William Bracewell and Tom Rogers) looking like incarnations of Louis XIV, the women (Yvette Knight and Yijing Zhang) with silver half-moons on their heads reminding me of Renaissance paintings of Artemis." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Looking at the review regarding the headdresses for the jewels, I overhead in the interval after the first act: "Mummy, why do the dancers in the black and white tutus have light bulbs on top of their heads?" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm365 Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Sorry - as far as the ballet itself goes, I'm with Clement Crisp! Plus I had the misfortune to sit a couple of rows behind a little girl who was most definitely not engaged... she was constantly moving up and and down, sometimes standing up to stare at the rows behind, sometimes sitting on her mother's lap - and all the time her mother did absolutely nothing to control her. I suppose I was lucky she did not cry or talk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Clement Crisp's essay on Aladdin is a critical masterpiece and well worth a read even if you do not agree with him. See Links. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 (edited) KathyG said: Enjoyed all of the jewel dances though slightly distracted by concentrating on some of the costumes (that's my thing) I would love to visit the wardrobe department to take a closer look at some of these. Me too - BRB and RB both have/use the same costume dept and the quality of the costumes is fabulous. I'd love a rummage in the store room LOL! Edited March 25, 2013 by Don Q Fan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Having attended the closing matinee yesterday, I have a sense of what Mr Crisp is getting at. However, I knew to a good degree what I was going to, and why, and that was to take some of our grandchildren to a show that we thought they would enjoy - and, in that, it worked. There were lots of good things in the production, particularly in the Second Act. For my taste, the first might have usefully been pruned of the odd jewel or so and, across the piece, there seemed too many 'endings.' I particularly liked Mathias Dingman's Djinn/Genie, and Marion Tait kept stealing the stage as Aladdin's Mum with an eye on rapid upward mobility once her son wed the Sultan's daughter. Was there a wedding in the original Aladdin story? I can't remember but its arrival in Act 2 seemed to call for all sorts of invention to get through Act 3. Scenery and costumes - fabulous; and, unlike many, I've no issues with the score. The main thing was that, on a bitterly cold March day, the girls had a good afternoon. Les Noces, Mayerling, and the Cathy Marston oeuvre can come later. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimi'smom Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 KathyG said: Enjoyed all of the jewel dances though slightly distracted by concentrating on some of the costumes (that's my thing) I would love to visit the wardrobe department to take a closer look at some of these. Me too - BRB and RB both have/use the same costume dept and the quality of the costumes is fabulous. I'd love a rummage in the store room LOL! Kathy and Don Q Fan - you should try and befriend someone with a Birmingham JA or MA as they change in a room that's often crammed with BRB costumes (as well as walking past rails of them on the way through to studio) - they are truly exquisite and wouldn't disappoint!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 Kathy and Don Q Fan - you should try and befriend someone with a Birmingham JA or MA as they change in a room that's often crammed with BRB costumes (as well as walking past rails of them on the way through to studio) - they are truly exquisite and wouldn't disappoint!! You could also join the Friends of BRB where we sometimes have the opportunity to see the costumes up close and personal and also sets and set changes on tour. The Friday evening Friends event for the Aladdin tour was costumes and shoes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toursenlair Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Having attended the closing matinee yesterday, I have a sense of what Mr Crisp is getting at. However, I knew to a good degree what I was going to, and why, and that was to take some of our grandchildren to a show that we thought they would enjoy - and, in that, it worked. There were lots of good things in the production, particularly in the Second Act. For my taste, the first might have usefully been pruned of the odd jewel or so and, across the piece, there seemed too many 'endings.' I particularly liked Mathias Dingman's Djinn/Genie, and Marion Tait kept stealing the stage as Aladdin's Mum with an eye on rapid upward mobility once her son wed the Sultan's daughter. Was there a wedding in the original Aladdin story? I can't remember but its arrival in Act 2 seemed to call for all sorts of invention to get through Act 3. Scenery and costumes - fabulous; and, unlike many, I've no issues with the score. The main thing was that, on a bitterly cold March day, the girls had a good afternoon. Les Noces, Mayerling, and the Cathy Marston oeuvre can come later. I'm sure they'd love Judas Tree though 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Katherine: Tough love that one - and I'm around the fascinated stage with it! But probably not my next choice for them ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 (edited) Kathy and Don Q Fan - you should try and befriend someone with a Birmingham JA or MA as they change in a room that's often crammed with BRB costumes (as well as walking past rails of them on the way through to studio) - they are truly exquisite and wouldn't disappoint!! Thank you and Janet for the suggestions - JA or MA what is this please?! I am a BRB Friend but sadly often can't make the pre show talks due to work and distance....have seen some ENB which was good. Edited March 26, 2013 by Don Q Fan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimi'smom Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Thank you and Janet for the suggestions - JA or MA what is this please?! I am a BRB Friend but sadly often can't make the pre show talks due to work and distance....have seen some ENB which was good. Junior and Mid associates of the Royal Ballet School - they have classes in the studios at the Hippodrome. Do hope you get to see some of these amazing creations - the attention to detail is phenomenal for costumes generally seen from a distance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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