Carlos Acosta - Classical Selection, London Coliseum July 2013

[alison]

This short season starts at the Coliseum tonight, so please post any thoughts here.

[zxDaveM]

Carlos Acosta (with a little help from his friends) performs his favourite ballet pieces/pas de deux at the London Coliseum, July/August 2013. Here are a couple of photos from Scheherazade, with Marianela Nunez

 

 

Carlos Acosta as the Golden Slave from Scheherazade
© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr



Carlos Acosta as the Golden Slave, with Marianela Nunez
© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr




See more...

Set from DanceTabs - Carlos Acosta at the Coliseum
Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr
 

[johnross]

Some more pictures from the short photocall from the Coliseum with Carlos Acosta and Marianela Nunez.

 

 

Carlos Acosta as the Golden Slave and Marianela Nunez as Zobeide in Scheherazade

 

Marianala Nunez - Zobeide

 

More pictures on www.johnrossballetgallery.co.uk

[Margaret]

I am off to see this tonight - looking forward to it very much, especially after seeing these lovely photos (thanks to John and Dave) and reading the piece by Ismene Brown. 

 

Margaret

[Ian Macmillan]

I had the feeling that Ismene Brown was largely reviewing Acosta's chest on seeing her Arts Desk piece this morning!  I hope folks enjoy the show, but I'm passing on it after the last disappointing Acosta show at the Coliseum, albeit this looks a good bit more colourful than last time.

[MAB]

First time I've seen the Coli packed to the rafters for ballet all year.

[Bruce Wall]

I had the feeling that Ismene Brown was largely reviewing Acosta's chest 

 

I'm so pleased you said that Ian.  I began to wonder if she may have intended this are our (e.g., the male sex's) comeuppance given the recent twitter storm.  One wouldn't have minded it - indeed found it amusing - once or twice but she did, I fear, go on.  

[Bruce Wall]

First time I've seen the Coli packed to the rafters for ballet all year.

 

Does anyone know are they selling standing room??????

[John Mallinson]

They don't usually unless they're sold out. 

[Lynette H]

The Coli was steamingly hot last night - had something gone wrong with the air con ? In previous visits there had been sudden icy gales from it when in the centre of the auditorium. This time I was very much to one side and it was uncomfortably warm (on one of the cooler days of July) and everyone was fanning themselves vigourously.

 

Your last chance to see Leanne Benjamin in the Pie Jesu from Requiem.  There are only a tiny handful of tickets left. Go if you can.

[bangorballetboy]

I had the feeling that Ismene Brown was largely reviewing Acosta's chest on seeing her Arts Desk piece this morning!  I hope folks enjoy the show, but I'm passing on it after the last disappointing Acosta show at the Coliseum, albeit this looks a good bit more colourful than last time.

 

I normally give the Acosta shows a wide berth, but the programme and cast for this one look so much more interesting.

[alison]

The Coli was steamingly hot last night - had something gone wrong with the air con ? In previous visits there had been sudden icy gales from it when in the centre of the auditorium. This time I was very much to one side and it was uncomfortably warm (on one of the cooler days of July) and everyone was fanning themselves vigourously.

 

Your last chance to see Leanne Benjamin in the Pie Jesu from Requiem.

 

And in the bedroom pdd from Manon.  And the "final" scene from Mayerling ...

 

And yes, I agree, it was excruciatingly hot in the Coli last night.  I know I've been complaining about the Arctic blasts over the past few weeks, but this was quite the opposite.  It made me feel quite ill - and I suspect I wasn't the only one.

[MAB]

The heat was almost unbearable and left me wondering if because it had actually been rather chilly in the rain yesterday, the Coliseum management thought they could save some money by turning the air-cooling off.

 

What is the situation at the Opera House right now?

[barton22]

Not great, MAB.  I thought the ROH was pretty hot on Monday night.  Not unbearable (although when combined with that production of Swan Lake and Volchkov making an utter hash of things, the overall experience came close), but even with no tie on and in shirt sleeves I was uncomfortably warm.  They were definitely skimping on the air conditioning.

[Billyelliott]

Can anyone tell me how long the performance is from start to finish ? Trying to solve a logistical problem .....

[Jan McNulty]

On the thread in news Alison said it came in at just under 2 1/2 hours last night.

[Stirrups36]

I think the 'plenty of takers' were well served last night. A steamy Coliseum the only drawback. As relative ballet newcomers, we were enthralled and entertained.

 

Like visiting Rome and throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain, vowing to return, we saw extracts that made us think more than once "I'd like to see that again in full." Or "exactly what happened that caused that ending in Mayerling?" And even "I'd like to see all of that again. Vadim in ENBs version was superb as well".

 

We saw excellent dancing, we heard an excellent choir and listened to a superb Sinfonia. We saw the 'old guard' (is it disrespectful to call them that? their dancing belied their years) and the new.

 

As previous posts bemoan the audiences levels for visiting ballet companies, then maybe it is programmes like this that will replenish the audiences and help ensure the future of Ballet, moving people beyond Nutcracker and onto triple bills, or Macmillan, or, or, or...

 

Bravo Carlos, (and thanks for those understanding that they would not enjoy such a gala and leaving some seats for us newbies!).

[Stirrups36]

I also commented in the news article, so don't want to double post.

 

Anyway, the ENO say the air conditioning has been fixed and so if you are on the way to the Coliseum, you won't have the steamy theatre we had... Only the steamy dancing... (With a cliche like that maybe I should be a full time dance critic... Maybe not)

[Billyelliott]

Can't wait for Sunday even if we can only see about half of it!

[munchkin16]

Just booked to see this on Friday, very excited to see all of the dancers! Just wondering what the view is like from the back of the balcony?

[alison]

Like visiting Rome and throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain, vowing to return, we saw extracts that made us think more than once "I'd like to see that again in full." Or "exactly what happened that caused that ending in Mayerling?" And even "I'd like to see all of that again. Vadim in ENBs version was superb as well".

 

Wracking my brains to think what that last reference can have been to (oh, hang on, it must have been Apollo, mustn't it?), but apart from that, I was thinking last night that the programme might provoke that sort of reaction in quite a few people, so I'm glad if it did.  Meaty chunks, hopefully enough to make people want more, and the fact that a lot of them came from short ballets and might persuade a few people to try a triple bill won't have done any harm.

[alison]

Generally good, although you might want binocs.  And there is some restriction due to the curve of the auditorium and the safety rail at the front, but since you're largely seeing pas de deux and the like that shouldn't be too bad.

 

Edit to say that, since I've moved a few posts over from the press-release thread in News and they've changed the order of the posts, my response was to munchkin's query about the view from the balcony

Edited July 31, 2013 by alison

[munchkin16]

Thank you, will listen to my mum then about the binoculars, I love seeing there faces and that isn't going to happen that high up! Ahh will that be a problem being short? We are right up in row h....

[alison]

Think the only row you'd have a major problem with would be the back row.  It has better legroom because the seats are further back, but the downside is that the sightlines are less good if you're short.  I was struggling with x3 magnification plastic binocs last night, but I think some of that was down to the lighting.

[munchkin16]

Thank you so much, really looking forward to it what did you think of the show?

[HannahPerrin17]

Went to see Carlos Ascosta's show and loved it, but unfortunately the air con was most definitely not working during the first half! My cousin joked they were trying to make more money on drinks by turning it off possibly, which I thought was quite funny. I really liked the variety in the program and the different emotions put into each piece, fantastic

[Beryl H]

Interesting to read about the air-conditioning, as already said last night it was sweltering for the first half and quite a cool blast right through the second, take your pick! What an exciting show, dancing of the highest quality, Carlos was awesome throughout, Leanne Benjamin has told him her secret as they both are looking even younger and better each time I see them!  The idea of having a joyous lyrical first act and then a much more sombre second half worked, who would believe you could open with the last scene of Mayerling!

 

And the Coliseum must love Carlos Acosta, the only dancer able to sell out 5 shows!!!

[Bruce Wall]

 

 

And the Coliseum must love Carlos Acosta, the only dancer able to sell out 5 shows!!!

 

Given that the Coliseum takes all bookings as straight rentals they sadly have no vested interest in any regard as evidenced by their appalling lack of marketing incentive for anyone short of the ENO.  Bravo to Carlos and his team for their own incentive.  They've fought and won and are no doubt profiting from it.  Pity those with fine programmes who have lost.  

[mijosh]

I normally give the Acosta shows a wide berth, but the programme and cast for this one look so much more interesting.

Likewise,but overheating or not,how can I pass on a performance which,apart from other anticipated delights,displays Marianela x 4.!

[alison]

Given that the Coliseum takes all bookings as straight rentals they sadly have no vested interest in any regard as evidenced by their appalling lack of marketing incentive for anyone short of the ENO.  

 

Yes.  I'm still waiting to be officially told about the Swan Lake reboot and the Jane Eyre ballet.  I suspect the former may be being advertised through less-conventional channels, but not the latter.  And did they even have fliers for Carlos?

[Stirrups36]

as we walked up to the Coliseum, seeing absolutely nothing about the Acosta performances, I had a momentary panic and checked the tickets to make sure it wasn't on at Sadlers Wells.

[toursenlair]

I enjoyed the show very much on Wednesday and am trying to get a ticket to see it again tonight.

Once again, though, I was shocked by the general chatter that was going on during the orchestra's playing of a Slavonic Dance to cover some scene-changing.

[Amelia]

I was shocked by the general chatter that was going on during the orchestra's playing of a Slavonic Dance to cover some scene-changing.

Perhaps it shows that Carlos' performances appeal to a wider audiences and draw to the theatre those people who are not used - YET - to listening to classical music.