RB large gaps between Onegin

[Peanut68]

Is this usual to have a gap of several months between a run of one ballet? It seems some performances of Onegin in Jan/Feb & then not on again until May! What’s especially irritating is general public cannot as yet book the later dates - nor is casting available to see. I can only see Hayward as down for one show in January/Feb dates - will she have others later on? Really frustrating…do I need to try make the Jan date work to ensure I see her?? Anyone got any heads up on later casts? 
Thanks 

[Rob S]

15 minutes ago, Peanut68 said:

Is this usual to have a gap of several months between a run of one ballet? It seems some performances of Onegin in Jan/Feb & then not on again until May! What’s especially irritating is general public cannot as yet book the later dates - nor is casting available to see. I can only see Hayward as down for one show in January/Feb dates - will she have others later on? Really frustrating…do I need to try make the Jan date work to ensure I see her?? Anyone got any heads up on later casts? 
Thanks 

Alice in Wonderland does exactly the same thing.

[San Perregrino]

20 minutes ago, Peanut68 said:

What’s especially irritating is general public cannot as yet book the later dates

These dates aren’t onsale to anyone yet. They are part of the Summer Booking period.

 

Reasons for splitting performances with a break inbetween include not demanding too much of a dancer’s body (variety can help balance out the physical stress), allowing more dancers the opportunity to dance different roles in the same production (eg mad hatter in Alice first half may dance Jack in second half) and giving audiences two bites of the cherry. 

Edited December 4, 2024 by San Perregrino

[Emeralds]

Yes, it's been done quite a lot with both full length story ballets and mixed bills as well, @Peanut68. It avoids performers and audiences getting bored with endless repetition of the same ballet for months and months (they did the repetition for months with Coppelia years ago and it really didn't help the dancers or the audiences), and on a practical level (the main reason, they say) it's because they don't have the staff and space to rehearse so many different casts, eg if the Cranko Foundation coach/repetiteur is Reid Anderson, he can’t be in two studios simultaneously and there are only 24 hours in one day. So he (or whoever it is) will return later in the year to coach the new casts.

 

It usually means the second group has two or more new casts (for mixed bills one or two of the ballets might only have one new cast) and one or more casts from the first group might reprise it in the second run but this is no guarantee. 

 

Remember they also split Swan Lake before, and they are splitting Alice's Adventures in Wonderland this season too. It might also have been done like this to fit in the Balanchine triple bill, which also requires coaches from the Balanchine Trust (a contractual rule in order for Balanchine ballets to be staged) to oversee the rehearsals and performances. 

 

I suspect Hayward/Corrales may be in the second set of performances, but - just like the question on another thread about Muntagirov's casting - it's important not to assume too much this far in advance.

 

Even if they say yes, Hayward/ Corrales/ Muntagirov/whoever will be cast x number of months from now, injury, illness, other events, etc can make things change drastically. I'd say if you really want to see Hayward or whoever is in the earlier run, book the earlier run. Bird in the hand worth two in the bush, and all that. 

Edited December 4, 2024 by Emeralds

[Peanut68]

Even if they couldn’t provide exact cast for exact dates for the second run, surely a hint as to likely participants could be possible & certainly would be helpful!

[alison]

5 hours ago, San Perregrino said:

Reasons for splitting performances with a break inbetween include not demanding too much of a dancer’s body (variety can help balance out the physical stress), allowing more dancers the opportunity to dance different roles in the same production (eg mad hatter in Alice first half may dance Jack in second half) and giving audiences two bites of the cherry. 

 

Not to mention, perhaps, hoping that specific dancers will be fully fit/healed for the later dates, even if they aren't for the first run.

[Sim]

I have been told by dancers that a big reason for splitting performance runs is rehearsal time, which is always at a premium.  If they repeat a programme that the dancers already know and have performed recently, it gives them more time to rehearse other newer productions (for example, many of the younger dancers won't have danced in any of the Balanchine ballets before, so will have to learn them from scratch) for that season.  

[FionaM]

In the case of rehearsing Onegin it is not only the RB schedule to take into account, Onegin is also being staged in Paris and Rome in the first few months of 2025.  
 

I’ve just booked for Friedemann Vogel and Nicoletta Manni in Rome in April.  Excited for this top casting. 

[Sim]

18 minutes ago, FionaM said:

In the case of rehearsing Onegin it is not only the RB schedule to take into account, Onegin is also being staged in Paris and Rome in the first few months of 2025.  
 

I’ve just booked for Friedemann Vogel and Nicoletta Manni in Rome in April.  Excited for this top casting. 

Jealous doesn't begin to describe it.  Roma, and this cast.  Sigh.  Please report back, Fiona. 

 

[Emeralds]

2 hours ago, FionaM said:

In the case of rehearsing Onegin it is not only the RB schedule to take into account, Onegin is also being staged in Paris and Rome in the first few months of 2025.  
 

I’ve just booked for Friedemann Vogel and Nicoletta Manni in Rome in April.  Excited for this top casting. 

Ooh- Friedemann Vogel and Nicoletta Manni in Onegin! Lucky Rome - and FionaM! 

[Scheherezade]

Anyone else feel a trip to Rome coming on?

[alison]

8 hours ago, FionaM said:

In the case of rehearsing Onegin it is not only the RB schedule to take into account, Onegin is also being staged in Paris and Rome in the first few months of 2025.  

 

So there's probably also the question of sharing sets - and maybe costumes?

[Emeralds]

2 hours ago, alison said:

 

So there's probably also the question of sharing sets - and maybe costumes?

RB says theirs are borrowed from Hamburg, La Scala has designs (by Per Luigi Samiritani and Roberta Guidi di Bagnio- she also designed ENB's production of Theme and  Variations) that are different to the Stuttgart Ballet and Hamburg Ballet's iconic Jurgen Rose designs. So I suppose there are three possible companies that each could borrow from. 

[FionaM]

Alina Cojocaru wore costumes from Polish National Ballet when she guested with La Scala in October 2024

Edited December 6, 2024 by FionaM

[Christine]

On 06/12/2024 at 01:17, Emeralds said:

RB says theirs are borrowed from Hamburg, La Scala has designs (by Per Luigi Samiritani and Roberta Guidi di Bagnio- she also designed ENB's production of Theme and  Variations) that are different to the Stuttgart Ballet and Hamburg Ballet's iconic Jurgen Rose designs. So I suppose there are three possible companies that each could borrow from. 

The website of Rome Opera shows Elisabeth Dalton for sets and costumes. I haven't seen them before and only know the desings by Jürgen Rose. 

 

Booked my tickets for the 5th and 8th of April some weeks ago already ...

[Paco]

On 05/12/2024 at 13:49, FionaM said:

I’ve just booked for Friedemann Vogel and Nicoletta Manni in Rome in April.  Excited for this top casting. 

I plan to be there too!

[Emeralds]

2 hours ago, Christine said:

The website of Rome Opera shows Elisabeth Dalton for sets and costumes. I haven't seen them before and only know the desings by Jürgen Rose. 

 

Booked my tickets for the 5th and 8th of April some weeks ago already ...

Ah, a great choice. Elisabeth Dalton was the original designer of Cranko's The Taming of the Shrew and a contemporary of Marcia Haydee. She was British, studied at Wimbledon School of Art, and she did the designs for subsequent revivals and productions of Cranko's earlier ballets like Pineapple Poll, The Lady and the Fool, Romeo and Juliet.

 

Her designs for Onegin were acclaimed too- they do provide a beautiful alternative to the Jurgen Rose designs without clashing nor looking like copies. It was mostly Eastern European companies like Polish National Ballet and Czech National Ballet who had been using her designs, although lately Boston Ballet has staged their production of Onegin using them as well. (I have no idea which company  actually owns the ones Rome Opera Ballet are using).

 

She also worked with John Cox on his 1972 production of The Merry Widow for ENO, and designed Arabella and Der Rosenkavalier for Houston Opera and other companies. Her designs are lovely and make the dancers look elegant - examples of the kinds of designs that @MAB,  @Dawnstarand I wish modern opera productions still use instead of resorting to ripoffs of outfits from Eastenders! So I guess @Peanut68 and @alison can rule out Rome Opera Ballet needing to use the Hamburg Ballet sets and costumes that RB are using. 🙂

[Emeralds]

Just in case anyone is asking, the Paris Opera production of Onegin uses the Jurgen Rose designs (so could be sharing with RB). 

 

I did need some smelling salts after swooning at the casting for Onegin...Mathieu Ganio, Hugo Marchand, etc.....although I did wonder if perhaps Germain Louvet should be Lensky for another season (those jumps, turns, and other pyrotechnics of his!) before doing Onegin. Any thoughts, fellow Paris watchers? 

Edited December 9, 2024 by Emeralds

[Don Q Fan]

I would have loved to see the Rome Onegin but the flight prices for the time the ballet is on are horrendous, certainly from up north. So I had to settle for London instead but it will still be good there.  Can't do it all hey?!