Royal Ballet: Rhapsody/Tetractys - The Art of Fugue/Gloria: February 2014

[aileen]

Personally, I don't like the costumes for Rhapsody. The rather muted/muddy colours for the corps are unflattering on most of the dancers and the shiny material is not attractive. The cloudy background is odd too. Originally, the backdrop seems to have featured some kind of neo-classical building or structure.

[MAB]

Personally, I don't like the costumes for Rhapsody. The rather muted/muddy colours for the corps are unflattering on most of the dancers and the shiny material is not attractive. The cloudy background is odd too. Originally, the backdrop seems to have featured some kind of neo-classical building or structure.

Yes, it did.  The costumes were quite different too with the leading male wearing a jewelled choker.  I've never understood the reasoning behind the changes as it used to hint at a kind of court masque, but now it looks just like any other plotless work.

 

Steven McRae was stunning I thought, better than Baryshnikov in many ways, he lacked only the original insouciance, possibly because of the stripping away of the work's mood so that it appears more abstract.

[Katie]

 

P.S. Do many forum members actually choose the right-hand side of the House?

Last Saturday I sat on the right, but other than that and one other occasion I always sit on the left.  

[MAB]

Rhapsody - original cast - http://www.peteava.ro/id-1004685-la-multi-ani-mikhail-baryshnikov

[alison]

Are food and drink for all essential mid-performance though, even if all could afford the ROH prices? The Floral Hall could stay open later to offer post-theatre meals and drinks.

 

P.S. Do many forum members actually choose the right-hand side of the House?

 

Well, to be fair, the cake prices aren't excessive compared with other venues.  And yes, the FH could technically stay open post-performance, but they don't, usually.  They're too keen to clear everybody out.

 

As for RH/LH, I tend to stay on the left.  I can't afford central seats, and the LH side favours my bad leg.  OTOH, when I go into autopilot mode I do stupid things like buying everything on the left, even if it's for Giselle, say, and then I find out that I can't see her house or her grave, so I should think a bit more carefully about where I buy.

 

Personally, I don't like the costumes for Rhapsody. The rather muted/muddy colours for the corps are unflattering on most of the dancers and the shiny material is not attractive. The cloudy background is odd too. Originally, the backdrop seems to have featured some kind of neo-classical building or structure.

 

Yet another case where I feel the costumes could have stayed in the dye vat a bit longer.  And I don't think I've ever seen a lead male dancer whose physique is flattered by the cut of the costume.  I don't think the designs are bad, exactly, just that they need to be a little stronger (but not as strong as the Caulfield ones, please!)

[Beryl H]

I always go for slightly left side if I can't get centre, any theatre, but especially the amphi at CG because it's nearer to the exit, not for the intervals but at the end.  Also in classical ballet, most diagonals go from R to L (from the audience) and it's better to see the dancer coming towards you.