Birmingham Royal Ballet - Prince of the Pagodas - Spring 2014

[helpop]

I really enjoyed this.  I thought it worked really well as a fun, colourful, easy-to-follow ballet.  I can easily imagine it as one people could take their children to, e.g. at Christmas.

 

The principals were extremely impressive (I hope that doesn't sound patronising, but I haven't seen this company before and I wasn't quite sure what to expect). 

 

I liked David Bintley's choreography - there were some good solos for the principals, and the corps-de-ballet pieces were equally strong and worked really well from the upper circle.  The chorus certainly worked hard!  I particularly liked the water scene, with the jellyfish(?) and sea-horses.

 

The only minor niggle was I'm not sure the score entirely works throughout as a ballet score.

[alison]

I tend to agree with you on that last sentence.  It's certainly a very handsome-looking production, but I did become aware that what seemed to me like a very major proportion of the choreography for Belle Sakura seemed to consist largely of different variations on moving from one foot to the other on pointe.  I seem to remember quite a bit of that in the MacMillan choreography, too, so perhaps it's something the score tends to dictate?

 

Much has been made of the brother-sister relationship and the lack of charge this gives the final pas de deux.  I couldn't help but wonder, watching the latter part of Act II, whether it would have made any vast difference if he had actually been a childhood playmate (with a princely title or something, of course) and they'd fallen for each other when they were reunited.

[Beryl H]

Saw last night's and my general feeling is I don't like it as much as Kenneth MacMillan's, this feels watered down by comparison, although it's hard to take in a full length ballet at first, the best choreography was the 4 King solo's in act 1, the Salamander dances in act 2, and best of all, the final  pdd, variations and general finale. The designs were very good although the low lighting made some scenes hard to see. I found the story uninteresting, missed the stronger sometimes sinister qualities of the MacMillan.

 

It was a lovely chance to see the BRB dancers again though, especially Miki Mizutani, Mathias Dingman and Celine Gittens in the lead roles,after reading reviews I waited until the casting was announced to see these dancers and was very pleased I did!

[Shade]

I saw this on Thursday evening and enjoyed it. The staging was excellent and the music. Felt the ballet wasn't quite there. I agree with you Alison that the brother/ sister dynamic would be better as young lovers, separated by the wicked stepmother who are reunited. I appreciated all the dancers and thought Act 2 was the best.

[alison]

I forgot to mention the low-level lighting.  From towards the back of the Upper Circle I really couldn't see the expressions on the dancers faces.  They may have been acting their hearts out, but little of it reached me.

[Bruce]

We saw the show on Friday from the back row of the Upper Circle and as far away from the stage as you can get. At that distance the designs did not stand out as much as they had for me earlier. Robbed of that impact and seeing it for a second time, it didn't really take off as a work and we left at the second interval, the last act being a long haul with false endings, and the brother-sister resolution does not satisfy or inspire great choreography. Anne also hates the music and the steps did not put that right!

Many seem to like act 2 but it feels a bit long and humdrum to me - if with some occasional fun movement, and the salamander/brother revelation scene is clever. But choreographically I want something distinctive and I didn't see that. There was some good dancing in the acts we saw - could see why the young Miki Mizutani was cast and look forward to seeing her in stronger work, but the knock-out was Celine Gittens as Epine - full-on technical and emotional fizz. Now in her 8th year with the company, she has been promoted several times and that upward momentum I hope is maintained or even accelerated.

Jann Parry reviewed the opening night cast (Caley/Hirata) and didn't warm to what she saw. As ever clear explanations and rather a wallop at the end. Lynette Halewood reviewed the Bracewell/Roberts cast more happily. For myself, if I could save only one Pagodas, I'd take the flawed MacMillan over the easy-going Bintley. I think it's worth remembering that Bintley has done some wonderful story ballets that draw you in, two of which might have indicated a stronger Pagodas would come from him: Edward II, really hit home as a grown-up piece and Hobson's Choice made you care about families. It will be interesting to see him create on his own company again (rather than BRB getting work crafted for the different skills and market in Tokyo).

[Spax]

I thought it was wonderful and nice to watch 3 Prince of Pagodas by 3 different companies that all have their own mark on them.

My favourite was the Mlkhailovsky Ballet with Natalia Osipova and her husband!

Ou and my son!!

[capybara]

I wanted to like it, I really did, but I found Bintley's Pagodas very slight in both choreography and dramatic content. I feel that such a rich score, with sinister undertones, merits a more 'adult' piece.

 

That said, I enjoyed the central performances of Jenna Roberts and, particularly, William Bracewell last night. He made a very slithery and endearing Salamander; but, why oh why, in the concluding pdd, did he have to fight such an ungainly, orange costume in order to show us how elegantly he dances?

Edited March 30, 2014 by capybara

[Two Pigeons]

Having seen this production twice at the Hippodrome I was moved to look out my copy of the MacMillan version which I have probably not seen for well over 20 years. I found that the only thing I really remembered was the solo for Deborah Bull in the third act.

 

My overall view of the comparison was that in many ways the performances were on a par, the BRB version wins hands down for it's design but the RB one for its choreography. When MacMillan was interested in classical choreography he was very proficient.

 

However, my lasting view is that this is not a danceable score and the story is unusually silly. As I said earlier, I shan't be rushing back to see any version again.

[aileen]

Where does the story come from? Is it a legend or traditional folk tale? I don't think that the story is sillier than many other ballet stories but Bintley has, either deliberately or unwittingly, made it into a ballet for children. The score does, I feel, place considerable restrictions on the choreography and this in turn causes problems with story and character development. I don't know whether the ballet could be reworked or whether the problems are too great to overcome.