Royal Ballet Mayerling 2013

[Mayerling79]

Well... I am speechless, without enough words to say how beautiful last night was.

A night devoted to two beautiful and high shining Etoiles.The evening was filled with contrasts, smiles and tears. Alina and Johan were both vulnerable yet strong in their performance, dancing in total emotional sync and impressive artistry while enacting Rudolf and Mary for us. They filled the room with so much love and grace, that it was hard to contain our tears when the music stopped. The flowers thrown in thousands was our best way to express our gratitude for all the beauty and dance they gave us.

The entire cast (Kobayashi, Hay, Morera, Maguire, Avis, Rosato...) was so moved to share the special moment with them and throughout the ballet, it really seemed as if they were dancing their personal 'goodbyes' with Alina and Johan respectively.

The pair was really sweet to come out after the performance and greet some of their admirers outside the Stage Door (Alina came out carrying two boxes of chocolates for us).

The stars will shine on and as we say in French "ce n'est qu'un au revoir..."

[bangorballetboy]

I have been exercised by some of the comments regarding Jolina's departure, timing of announcements and the relationship between the dancers and RB management.  There are a number of reasons why things have happened the way they have and Johan has confirmed that they will confirm what they will be doing in the future in due course.  Until then, I think pure speculation (and particularly any which suggests animosity between the parties) is not helpful.
 

[MAB]

 

I have been exercised by some of the comments regarding Jolina's departure, timing of announcements and the relationship between the dancers and RB management.  There are a number of reasons why things have happened the way they have and Johan has confirmed that they will confirm what they will be doing in the future in due course.  Until then, I think pure speculation (and particularly any which suggests animosity between the parties) is not helpful.

This discussion is about the very abrupt departure of two greatly loved artists. To speculate as to what caused such a sudden farewell is only to be expected. Every ballet fan I know is asking what happened, no one is saying 'easy come easy go' about those two. People really CARE!

[aileen]

The very sudden departure of two of the RB's biggest stars is inevitably going to cause speculation. As a contrast, we've known about Mara's and Leanne's retirements for some months.

[alison]

Yes, but perhaps here is not the place for it, especially when there currently seems to be a lack of concrete information available.  We know how quickly speculation can turn into rumour, and from there into reported "fact", which could be harmful to the parties involved.  We should perhaps bear in mind that both dancers have had significant injuries recently, and that it hasn't been at all clear whether they would both be able to make this performance.

[aileen]

Good points, Alison.

[SPD444]

Allison does make valid points in that rumour can become "fact" if not replaced by the truth, whatever that may be and the ability to recover from the injuries sustained by both Johan and Alina in recent months must have questioned their ability to perform to the levels they have set themselves. Last night dispelled those fears, I have never seen such passion and committment on display in huge measures. Fantastic. I bet their bodies are feeling it today. For the future I think Johan had no choice but to move on, the program notes by Mr O'Hare discusses the arrangements already in place as to the RB direction in new choreographers which leaves no place for Johan at the level he would demand. Let Johan get more experience and I can well see him coming back to the RB at a very senior level. As for Alina, I have not read she will not be appearing as a guest and that last night was her last appearance as a member of the RB not her last appearance ever. I am sure I read somewhere that she said that where Johan goes she will follow and I am equally sure the management are in no doubt as to how we, the supporters, feel about Alina. If they were I hope they saw the curtain call, I have never felt such love being expressed from an audience to two stars, it blew me away I can't imagine what it must have felt like for it to be aimed at yourself.

Edited June 6, 2013 by SPD444

[Zoe]

Just wanted to say that I saw the performance last night, and it was absolutely incredible. Their final pas de deux filled with extra kisses to each other and when they go off behind the screen at the end, they were hugging each other as a proper goodbye to it all. Was a joy to watch how appreciated they were by all the flowers and numerous curtain calls.

 

Rest of the cast was also phenomenal of course, with note to Emma Maguire, Laura Morera and James Hay! 

[chrischris]

I have been fortunate enough to see all 5 advertised performances (I didn't get to see Gartside) and, while I expected to be blown away by Acosta, Watson and Kobborg, it was Soares and Pennefather I found the most effective, which I was surprised at, as they are not celebrated in this role. While I appreciate certain aspects of all casts and performances, they were, to me, the most vulnerable and sympathetic portrayals, and I think their youth (relative to the others) suits this particular role.

[JennyTaylor]

I'm going 4 times next week (please don't tell!) I'm really excited about seeing Rupert again and Thiago is my dream Rudolf. I've seen Ed Watson many times in the role so am really looking forward to seeing if he transcends previous performances. All the feedback says that he will. 

[JulieW]

So - who'll be there tonight (10th)?  I'll be on my own so might be nice to say hello to some fellow forum members.  It's my first time seeing Mayerling - can't wait

[zxDaveM]

So - who'll be there tonight (10th)?  I'll be on my own so might be nice to say hello to some fellow forum members.  It's my first time seeing Mayerling - can't wait

 

 

Me!  :-)    (and a few others)

 

We usually sit out on the veranda outside the amphi bar (towards the far end past the costume dept)

[JulieW]

Might be a bit chilly out there tonight

 

Any distinguishing features?

 

I'm having to go as I am, so beigey coloured trousers, flat shoes (comfort for walking over the bridge!), patterned navy top with a dark blue cardy.  With brownish hair which is in a short bob kind of style.  Try calling out my name if you see someone of that description and we'll see what happens   (obviously the Julie without the "W" - that would be odd!)

[chrischris]

Thought it was absolutely extraordinary tonight. Awesome performances from everyone.

[Sim]

Oh Julie....I've only just seen your email and would have loved to have met you last night!! Please let me know when you will next be in London...Bolshoi perhaps? ENB Swan Lake?

 

Chrischris I agree....wonderful performances from Rupert and Melissa last night, and Itzy was much better than she was when I saw her a couple of weeks ago.

[standingticket]

I saw Hamilton and Pennefather when they first danced this together in 2009 and deliberately booked to see them again this time around, because I thought they danced it so well together. They did not disappoint! Saw Watson and Galeazzi this time round as well, but last night takes the prize for me! They were wonderful - Pennefather in particular I thought.

 

On a side note - for how long has Hamilton been brunette?

[Tony Newcombe]

It's a wig

[standingticket]

Funny - in 2009 when she danced it she was blonde (presume also a wig). I wonder why she/they opted for the change...not important I know, but I was wrong-footed by it!

[Tony Newcombe]

2009 could have been her own hair. At the time, a few of us said "Oh, a blonde Mary Vetsera". Traditionally, Stephanie wore a very blonde wig which certainly did not suit Roberta Marquez, who in later performances wore a slightly darker wig.

[alison]

Funny, I thought she was blonde the other week when I saw her?

[bangorballetboy]

Melissa tweeted earlier today that previously it was her own hair but for this run she wanted to be a brunette (hence the wig).

[blackqueen]

This is for Jenny Taylor. I am so jeaulous you have been again and again to Mayerling.

Count yourself very luck, but is that part of your job?

Sorry don't mean to be nosy. Enjoy it.

[Coated]

My glorious little run of Mayerlings is now over (sniff), finishing with Soares / Hamilton / Nunez who were just wonderful tonight.

 

Soares felt like the most sensitive, elegant Rudolf of the one's I've seen and I could have watched his solos for hours on end. Nunez played Larisch with the best little smirk which cracked me up completely and Melissa Hamilton just IS Mary Veretsa for me now. She had incredible stage chemistry with Pennefather when I saw them (If they could bottle it, they'd make a fortune. I had to watch their Mayerling twice, just to make sure that it was as awesome as I thought it was. It was even more awesome the second time around.) and was great to see her dance just as passionately and beautifully with another partner.

[chrischris]

Completely agree Coated. Soares is the most vulnerable and likeable Rudolf, in my opinion. And Hamilton and Pennefather have insane chemistry. Shame we never saw their Romeo and Juliet, and they are paired with different partners next season.

[Sim]

I loved last night's performance. I love the way Soares adds so many little touches to make the role his own: I like the way when, in the bedroom pdd, Mary first points the gun at him, he opens his arms out as if to say 'come on baby, bring it on', and then how the bravado changes to abject fear when he thinks she really is going to pull the trigger; I love how he danced his brothel solo with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth; I've never seen that before. I love how, after he's shot Mary, instead of pointing the gun to his temple like the other dancers do, he puts it in his mouth. There are other examples too, but these are the first ones that come to mind. I love his vulnerability, and the deep, deep sadness conveyed from within.

 

Elsewhere on the forum there has been a discussion about the future of the MacMillan rep with the departure of the three ballerinas who have embodied it the past 10-20 years (Rojo, Benjamin and Galeazzi); I'd say that its future is secure with the likes of Melissa Hamilton and Emma Maguire. Melissa as Mary was sensual, sexy, manipulating, comforting, and technically brilliant. I hope that a good partner will be found for her, someone who can grow with her and carry the MacMillan rep into the next generation (rather like Ed and Mara have). Hats off to Melissa, who gave two wonderful performances of this difficult role in 48 hours, and with two very different partners.

 

Marianela Nunez played Larisch with relish and delight once again; she clearly enjoyed playing her as a jealous, resentful and vengeful woman, but one who, deep down, is capable of love and sympathy. I love the little touch she does in the ballroom after Rudolf is made to take Stephanie away; her husband gives her his arm, and instead of putting her arm through his gracefully, she rolls her eyes and sticks it through his quite viciously, with an 'okay, if I must' look on her face. Quite amusing! Nela received many wonderful bouquets of flowers, and I assume it was from all her friends and fans thanking her for the lovely season and the amount of pleasure she has given all of us who watch her dance regularly.

[Beryl H]

I'm really into the Mayerling mood now, having seen the last two, can't help feeling the real life characters would seem rather dull compared to all the exciting RB dancers!  I also noticed last night just how brilliant and elegant Thiago Soares' actual dancing was, and he is the most human Rudolf to my mind, I'd seen Rupert Pennefather and Melissa Hamilton last time round, they are making this ballet their own now. Also extra special were Itziar Mendizabal and Marienela Nunez as Larisch, I noticed the role more this week, especially liked the way Itziar felt real concern not just for Rudolf but for Mary too, not so vindictive as usual.

[MargaretN7]

What a company the Royal Ballet is, that it can field so many good casts, and all with their different interpretations, in a ballet like Mayerling. Long may it continue. And thanks and best wishes to all of them.

[Sim]

An incredibly emotional night at the ROH last night. Ed and Mara danced as if it were the end of the world. I don't think I have ever seen such a passionate, heartfelt and emotional Act 3 of Mayerling as they did last night. They both were sobbing during their final pdd, and I could hear it up in the amphi. Their dancing was just superb, and thus their bodies and their souls told everybody the pain each of them was privately going through. They were saying goodbye to each other, an intensely private moment necessarily shared by the ROH audience and those watching on the big screens around the country. This performance was a painful reminder of the huge gap that is going to be left at the top of the Royal Ballet tree with the departure of yet another wonderful dance actress. The Watson/Galeazzi partnership has been one of the RB highlights of the last decade for me, and it will be a good while before we see another such....two artists who totally trust, love and understand each other, and who are equally matched technically, emotionally and dramatically.

 

Spare a thought for poor Ed Watson...he is losing both of his regular partners in the space of 48 hours....I wonder who he will partner in the MacMillan rep going forward? I think Melissa Hamilton is a good possibility, but although the potential is there, she has very large pointe shoes to fill with the departures of the four great RB dance actresses of this generation. Time will tell if she can, but I have high hopes.

 

Meanwhile, a huge thank you to Mara Galeazzi for all the amazing performances (her Juliet was one of the best I've ever seen, and I always remember being able to almost hear and feel the scratching of her fingernails on the marble as she clawed her way across her tomb at the end), and for her dedication to the Royal Ballet for all these years. I hope that she is happy in her future life. Her little girl will be so very proud of her one day, as we already are.

[Tony Newcombe]

Eloquently put Sim. At the beginning of the final scene during Bratfisch's solo I could not take my eyes of Ed and Mara as they sat at the table(sorry Ricardo) It was all there, life imitating art. Two historical characters about to die and the end of one of the great Royal Ballet partnerships

[Shmendrick]

I went to the live screening and it was fabulous. So much excellence from everyone. Gary Avis and Christina Arestis were fabulous and when she threw Sarah Lamb out of Rudolf's apartment it was possibly the most heartbreaking moment of the ballet. I have no words for Ed and Mara they were on a level entirely their own.

[JulieW]

Oh Sim - I wish I could've been there - you've brought a tear to my eye reading that.  My son and his girlfriend went and I've just been talking to him about it. He was so impressed with their performances and he loved how, despite it being Mara's "big night", Ed had such an impressive ovation.

[penelopesimpson]

Was lucky enough to be there again last night - second time round to see Watson.  I definitely think he is now the definitive Rudolf, having taken over from Johan Kobborg whom, up till now, I didn't think anyone could touch.  It was wonderful night although quite why Alan Titchmarsh was needed to introduce it to the big screen audiences is beyond me.  Is he meant to the acceptable face of ballet for the masses?

 

What an audience, what an ovation. One tiny thing - think Emma Maguire is the top Princess Stephanie. 

 

I feel glutted after three Mayerling's all of them deeply emotional.  And to the idiot bloke in the white T-shirt in the Stalls who sat there playing with his mobile phone until an attendant crawled down the aisle to stop him - get a life or go somewhere else.  We don't want you at ROH.

Edited June 14, 2013 by penelopesimpson

[Sim]

You wonder why people like that bother coming along, especially sitting in the Stalls. He was probably dragged there by his wife/girlfriend. However, if that were the case, I'd have been furious if he behaved like that!

 

I agree with you Penelope, Emma Maguire is definitely my favourite Stephanie, although young Frankie Hayward has made a very promising first two performances.