Ann Williams Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 The company I see most regularly is the RB and it seems to me that excellent acting is fairly standard there, and not only from the principal; in most of MacMillan's work, Manon and R & J in particular, the corps never just 'stand there', they're fully involved in the story and filling out their tiny individual roles with telling detail. But I do agree with what Josephine said about Alessandra Ferri in R & J - no Juliet I've seen since has displayed the depths of Juliet's tragedy in the way Ferri did. If you have the video recording of her performance with Wayne Eagling as Romeo, watch the bedroom pdd when she 'knows' she'll never see Romeo alive again and you'll see what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A frog Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 I'll chip in some praise for the general standard of the whole RB company in MacMillan in particular. I saw Manon by the POB last year, it was technically the best performance I have seen, but also the least involving. It really made me realise how much the whole company gives to the performances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm365 Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Aileen - thanks for mentioning Song of a Wayfarer - I already have a ticket!! However, it is not so much the choreography as the style of Bejart's own dancers that I miss. The old Ballet of the Twentieth Century was my favourite company, although I was (and am) a great fan of the Royal Ballet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Thanks too for info on Songs of a Wayfarer......last time I saw that was at the Coliseum with Nureyev but can't remember other dancer..it might have been in one of the yearly progs Nureyev did there for a while..but towards end of his career. But I loved that and the music ....so will try for a ticket too! Yes Lynn Seymour was another great actress/dancer someone mentioned. Im sure it was her I saw in Anastasia and she was brilliant in second act. Does anyone know who did the debut performance in Manon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A frog Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 The cast for the first night of Manon was apparently Antoinette Sibley, Anthony Dowell, David Wall, Monica Mason, Derek Rencher, David Drew 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Well then Sibley was fantastic in this then....a long time ago now but one of the few first nights have been to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 And the first night for R&J was supposed to be Sibley and Christopher Gable as I recall. Fonteyn once said that one needed to be 40 to dance Juliet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrischris Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Was Sylvie Guillem a good actor dancer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irmgard Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Well, if you want to see a Bejart work without travelling to Switzerland you can see Song of a Wayfarer performed by ENB at the Coliseum this July. I don't know whether Maina Gielgud is staging it, as she did for NBoC last year when Zdenek Konvalina (a principal with ENB) took one of the two roles and was, apparently, terrific in it. I have no information about ENB's casting. Fingers crossed that Zdenek, who has been out for months with an injury, will be dancing in it. The ENB dancers have actually been sent to Lausanne to learn it. Presumably someone from the company will come to London to polish it later on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irmgard Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 And the first night for R&J was supposed to be Sibley and Christopher Gable as I recall. Fonteyn once said that one needed to be 40 to dance Juliet. Just a slight correction if I may, the first night of MacMillan's R&J was meant to be Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable, the disappointment vividly described in Seymour's autobiography. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Just a slight correction if I may, the first night of MacMillan's R&J was meant to be Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable, the disappointment vividly described in Seymour's autobiography. Yes, - you are right! My apologies - I was thinking Seymour and typed Sibley. It is a very sad story and I did read Seymour's autobiography. It changed the course of both Seymour's and Gable's lives. I have tapes of Seymour in a number of ballets including a complete tape of Giselle with Nureyev as well as Month in the Country. She was simply superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm365 Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 I was.at both the actual first night with Fonteyn and Nureyev and also what a lot of us called the 'real' first night.with Seymour and Gable. It was quite clear that the true creators of the roles were the latter and IMHO have rarely begen equalled and never bettered. David Blair was also terrific as Mercutio. I think he might also be added to the list for his role in Pineapple Poll. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 With regard to the post above, there have been some welcome additions to vintage ballet performances on DVD and these include one with David Blair in Pineapple Poll together with The Lady and the Fool starring the divine Beriosova. Also, I totally agree with A frog above - I saw POB in Manon and it left me cold too. No comparison with the RB in my opinion. Oh and yes Seymour's Anastasia was incredible - particularly the second act - as was mentioned above. Has anyone seen the Boris Eifman ballet company? Now there is a company that acts as well as they dance - brilliantly......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 With regard to the post above, there have been some welcome additions to vintage ballet performances on DVD and these include one with David Blair in Pineapple Poll together with The Lady and the Fool starring the divine Beriosova. Also, I totally agree with A frog above - I saw POB in Manon and it left me cold too. No comparison with the RB in my opinion. Oh and yes Seymour's Anastasia was incredible - particularly the second act - as was mentioned above. Has anyone seen the Boris Eifman ballet company? Now there is a company that acts as well as they dance - brilliantly......... I have seen Eifman many times and wrote up reviews which appeared in the magazine of the old Ballet.co as well as in hard copy print magazine out of London. They are fantastic dancers and actors - but have other problems, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 I saw Fonteyn do Juliet and she was definitely past 40 then and I thought she was wonderful still got the joy of Juliet the young girl across in a totally believable way and was excellent getting that indecision and nervousness across at the idea of having to take the poison! Fonteyn had a wonderful abandon in her dancing I thought and only wished I could have seen her in Giselle. I'm not sure about Guillem....wonderful technician and I thought she was okay in Cinderella but haven't seen her in anything that would truly test acting skills unfortunately but she was the one who got my partner going to see a bit of ballet initially!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 I saw Fonteyn do Juliet and she was definitely past 40 then and I thought she was wonderful still got the joy of Juliet the young girl across in a totally believable way and was excellent getting that indecision and nervousness across at the idea of having to take the poison! Fonteyn had a wonderful abandon in her dancing I thought and only wished I could have seen her in Giselle. I'm not sure about Guillem....wonderful technician and I thought she was okay in Cinderella but haven't seen her in anything that would truly test acting skills unfortunately but she was the one who got my partner going to see a bit of ballet initially!! I did see Fonteyn perform Giselle and she was (as usual) wonderful. There is an intersting documentary on Giselle with four prima ballerinas taking part. Fonteyn is not one of them. She refused - saying that she did not consider Giselle her best role. I believe she preferred Swan Lake. I saw her in Swan Lake, too - and she was truly magnificent. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 I never saw her swan Lake either!! But did see her with Nureyev in Sleeping Beauty a few times nearing the end of her career When she was younger(in the Soames era) I saw her in a gala which must have been 1959 ish maybe 1960 and there were many interesting dancers in it. She did an extract from The Firebird in that. Ive been trying to find some info on this gala as I'm sure Helpmann and both the Tallchief sisters were in it. Somewhere in the depths of the loft I do have the programme with some autographs on it but might take me a year to find it!! I'm pretty sure even Alicia Markova performed a small piece. It was the first time I had been to the ballet and I still remember the strangeness of seeing people for real I had only seen in books up till then!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Seymour was also a great comedienne in Dances at a gathering Ive rarely seen her role in this bettered Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted May 11, 2013 Share Posted May 11, 2013 Irmgard, are you allowed to say who has been cast in Songs of a Wayfarer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted May 13, 2013 Share Posted May 13, 2013 I believe it was chrischris who asked whether Guillem is a good actress/dancer. Well I believe she is appearing at the Wells very soon so perhaps you could find out. Extraordinary dancing at her level at 48!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irmgard Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Irmgard, are you allowed to say who has been cast in Songs of a Wayfarer? Better wait until the casting is officially announced because, like all these things, some of those learning it may not actually get a performance. To be honest, I can only remember three of the names but I am sure they will all be worth watching! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toursenlair Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Well, if you want to see a Bejart work without travelling to Switzerland you can see Song of a Wayfarer performed by ENB at the Coliseum this July. I don't know whether Maina Gielgud is staging it, as she did for NBoC last year when Zdenek Konvalina (a principal with ENB) took one of the two roles and was, apparently, terrific in it. I have no information about ENB's casting. Fingers crossed that Zdenek, who has been out for months with an injury, will be dancing in it. I concur that Zdenek was FAB in Song of a Wayfarer. I'm sorry to hear he's been off; if he's back for Wayfarer, buy a ticket to see him!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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