Mariinsky Bayadere cinema screening. Cast? : Help please!

[simonbfisher]

After tonight's live screening of the Bayadere from St Petersburg I have spent a frustrating hour online trying to find a complete cast list, either in English or in Russian. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

There were several dancers whom I should like to look out for in the London season to come  -  the pot-lady in Act 2 for example, and who was dancing the Fakir? Was the Golden Idol Kim-In Kim?

 

Apart from the truncated cast list that we were given (in the Vue in Newbury - hallelujah!), it was a splendid evening : Tereshkina was magnificent (I don't think I had ever seen her before) and Shklyarov's partnering of her quite something (less so when he was with Matvienko.) The High Preist was almost a Gary Avis ... and that is High Praise!

Edited July 14, 2014 by simonbfisher

[alison]

Clearly not important enough to bother crediting - unlike all the technical staff, the list of which went on for ages.  I mean, heaven forbid we should not give the chief wigmaker credit, eh?

 

A disgraceful way to treat the dancers.  At the very least, the Golden Idol, Fakir and solo Shades should have been credited.

 

I too am assuming the Idol was Kim.

 

Have you tried Dansomanie, Simon?  They've always been good with Bolshoi casting.

[Arky]

We lost at least the first ten minutes of the performance. The cinema manager blamed the Russians! Did anyone else have this problem?

 

The dancing was brilliant, but lacking warmth, emotion & flair in the first act - perhaps this was with missing the beginning. The second act was very colourful, crammed full of vitality, a real feast; The Shades in act three were amazing. Tereshkina was technically outstanding, looking as though she was born on points, but for us unengaging and devoid of emotion.

 

I too have looked for a full cast list without success.

[alison]

Thank you, Arky.  It's good to have confirmation that it wasn't just me.  (We only lost about 10 seconds to a signal blackout somewhere, so I don't think missing the beginning will have made much difference).

 

Shall we all inundate More2Screen with emails asking about the casting?

[Mummykool]

Before I booked cinema tickets last week I checked on the Mariinsky site for the cast and Kimin Kim was definitely listed to dance Bronze Idol. I wish I had paid more attention to the rest of the names as this page has now vanished, presumably because the performance is over. (Interestingly you can check back on Bolshoi performance casts for years!)

 

Bristol Vue had about 30 people in it. We lost transmission for about a minute in act 1 and everybody groaned. I passed a couple complaining to an usher in the interval about the lighting levels being too bright. Perhaps this was why the lights weren't dimmed at all for the first few minutes of act 2 or maybe it was an oversight, but either way it was very annoying.

 

I also found Tereshkina's performance unengaging. She may be a great technician but some of her dancing looked forced, and to us, her demeanour appeared quite cold. She seemed to be concentrating so hard on performing the steps perfectly that it didn't leave any room for acting. In fact I felt there was an absence of many of the little acting touches that help the story along throughout the whole performance and the absence of a final act does really leave the story dangling.

 

It was good to see they have 'lost' those terrible (and  politically incorrect) pickaninnies in act 2 but  replacing them with adult dancers does obscure the audience view of the bronze idol. I think my highlight was the camera work at the beginning of act 3. The close up view of the shades really did give the impression of figures in the smoke...it was absolutely beautiful. So I'm glad I went but wouldn't want a dvd of it.

[alison]

It was good to see they have 'lost' those terrible (and  politically incorrect) pickaninnies in act 2

I have a bet on with myself that the loss will be only temporary.

[simonbfisher]

Thank you for the suggestion, Alison, but I cannot find the details on Dansomanie either!

[Bluebird]

Thank you for the suggestion, Alison, but I cannot find the details on Dansomanie either!

 

I also checked (on their cinema thread) and found that there had been a posting on July 4 to say that there didn't seem to be any  screenings scheduled  for French cinemas.  This would explain why there would have been no interest in the casting

[annamk]

Kimin Kim was the (very splendid) Bronze Idol; the three shades were Batoeva, Ivannikova and Stepanova; Manu was Oksana Marchuk. Tereshkina and Shklyarov were terrific. I enjoyed the relay and I hope the Mariinsky follow the Bolshoi lead with more "live" transmissions. Being picky, I thought the choice of camera focus was odd in places.  The Odeon Covent Garden did it's best to deafen us until Bluebird sorted them out  

[Amelia]

There were several dancers whom I should like to look out for in the London season to come  -  the pot-lady in Act 2 for example, and who was dancing the Fakir? Was the Golden Idol Kim-In Kim? ...  The High Preist was almost a Gary Avis ... 

 

To those listed by Annamk I can add that Brahmin was Vladimir Ponomarev and Aya was Yelena Bazhenova. Sorry, don’t know about Fakir.

[Don Q Fan]

I thought Kimin Kim for Golden Idol too - he was really good..was very impressed by him at the Icons gala back in March at the Coli.  I found Tereshkina another Ice Maiden like Zakharova..technically great but emotionally nothing there.  Matvienko was ok but not fiesty enough for Gamzatti.  Who played Solor's man servant?  The shades were rather untidy once down on the stage particularly their long side lines but seemed to improve later on.  Have to say I saw ABT recently with Vishneva/Gomes/Murphy (and proper tutus for the shades) and I enjoyed that even more especially as ABT has a final scene with crashing temple to finish the ballet properly!  Overall I thought the relay was very good and it would be nice to see some more from the Mariinsky especially something we have not seen like the Little Humpbacked Horse.

I counted 53 people at The Light in New Brighton which was good considering the early start time and it was loud there too I mentioned it on leaving and it was literally noted!  We had one very brief blip in transmission. Thankfully we were spared that awful supermodel as a presenter this time and where was Gergiev...certainly was not him conducting.

[patsomerset]

Attendance was not great here in Taunton either considering that the ROH transmissions are now totally booked up.  I echo what everyone said about the sound.  We mentioned it in the interval and they turned it down although they said it was well below what the distributors recommend already.  We had a very brief (less than a minute) break in transmission

 

I agree with Don Q about the shades costumes.  They looked rather cheap to me and the lighting turned the ones at the front of the stage yellow which was rather a shame for what is supposed to be a white scene.  I thought the corps very good by and large, and so well matched in height and physique.  When they were lined up with their backs turned to the stage every waistline seemed to be at the same height and every leg the same length

 

As Don Q says, it was not Valery Gergiev conducting

 

Loved the Golden Idol especially and enjoyed the whole evening.  It was an unexpected treat in what is usually a pretty dull time for ballet lovers.  It did not however prompt me to rush for tickets to the season in London.  The dullness of the repertoire and the constant cast changes are very off putting

[alison]

The conductor was Boris Gruzin.  I'm amazed to think that Gergiev might actually have conducted this one in the first place: surely better to have a ballet conductor who knows what he's doing than ... but I won't finish that sentence.  It might start getting a little close to libellous

 

Thank you to Amelia and Anna.  Where did you manage to get the casting information from, or were you going solely on recognising the dancers?

[alison]

Oh, and Nikiya's slave, please?

[Amelia]

Oh, and Nikiya's slave, please?

 

The Slave was Alexei Kuzmin:  http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet_mt_men/alexei_kuzmin/

 

Where did you manage to get the casting information from, or were you going solely on recognising the dancers?

 

I could not go to see it at cinema last Monday but asked a friend at St. Pet. who knows them all.

 

There is still some time left to get familiar with Mariinsky dancers:

http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/troupe/

[jmhopton]

I too enjoyed the Mariinsky Bayadere. if they had been performing it in London I would certainly have come. At Blackpool we started off with several minutes without sound. Because of work I got there just before transmission started and didn't realise there had been no audience sound. Several people got up to complain; one person in particular being quite rude to the usherette until someone pointed out it wasn't her fault. When sound returned after about 5 minutes it was really too loud for quite a small cinema and I asked them in the interval to turn it down and it did seem bearable after that. I was very surprised there was only 1 fifteen minute interval. ROH take note! I think it helps to have a basic plot explanation on screen in case there are people who didn't get the plot sheets. There are more likely to be people who haven't seen the ballet before attending a cinema performance. I missed the little backstage touches and interviews that make a cinema evening special but I suppose you can't do much in 15 minutes! I'm sure the sets must be either new or refurbished. They were certainly amazingly colourful, especially in the betrothal scene. I thought Gamzatti, Solor and the bronze idol were terrific. I'm afraid Tereshkina doesn't do anything for me. I agree with the other posters who say she is too cold and difficult to engage with. Oh for the days of Altynai!! Perhaps it will encourage them to broadcast more regularly though I don't know if their rep. is big enough to broadcast as much as the Bolshoi or Royal. it's a good way of getting to know dancers we haven't seen much of recently. If they broadcast more regularly people would get to know them and look out for details. Blackpool and Preston have recently had good audiences for ballet but there were only about 30 there for Bayadere. However, for one-off performances like that if you don't use a website like this or the cinemas own website I don't know how you would find out about one- off broadcasts.

[simonbfisher]

Thank you so much to all the knowledgeable people who have filled out some of the cast names for us! 

 

Going back to my original posting : I still think that Tereshkina was superb;  I didn't see - or feel - the coldness that others evidently did. On the contrary, I thought there was considerable anguish in her final dance.

 

The Ayah (Bazhenova - thank you, Amelia) was a great improvement on the usual half-demented crone, too - she emerged as a credible character (inasmuch as any of the characters are "credible"!)

 

In Newbury we had about 50 people in, which I thought not bad, although the ROH screenings in Basingstoke have in the past been shown in two screens (shouldn't that be ON two screens??) simultaneously, so cultured are we hereabouts ! And only a very short blip in transmission early on.

 

I have to say I am now looking forward to seeing the company in London again this summer!

[Beryl H]

Thank you so much to all the knowledgeable people who have filled out some of the cast names for us! 

 

Going back to my original posting : I still think that Tereshkina was superb;  I didn't see - or feel - the coldness that others evidently did. On the contrary, I thought there was considerable anguish in her final dance.

 

The Ayah (Bazhenova - thank you, Amelia) was a great improvement on the usual half-demented crone, too - she emerged as a credible character (inasmuch as any of the characters are "credible"!)

 

In Newbury we had about 50 people in, which I thought not bad, although the ROH screenings in Basingstoke have in the past been shown in two screens (shouldn't that be ON two screens??) simultaneously, so cultured are we hereabouts ! And only a very short blip in transmission early on.

 

I have to say I am now looking forward to seeing the company in London again this summer!

 

 

Unfortunately my local cinemas didn't show this but I did see the 2 leading dancers in Bayadere at the ROH in 2011 and thought they were superb, until then I hadn't cared much for Tereshkina, I think she had been given too much to dance too soon in previous visits, but she was so expressive in Bayadere, I'm hoping this performance will be released as a DVD and I can see it!

 

 

 

 

[Amelia]

 

Unfortunately my local cinemas didn't show this but I did see the 2 leading dancers in Bayadere at the ROH in 2011 and thought they were superb, until then I hadn't cared much for Tereshkina, I think she had been given too much to dance too soon in previous visits, but she was so expressive in Bayadere, I'm hoping this performance will be released as a DVD and I can see it!

 

I am glad, Beryl, that you appreciated Victoria Tereshkina. She is expressive without going over the top.

I am afraid I have to disagree that she had been given too much to dance too soon. It might have been the case with some others but not with her if you consider that she has now been with the Mariinsky for 13 years:

http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/principals/baleriny/terioshkina/

I remember her matinee debut in Swan Lake at The Lowry in Salford about 8 (?) years ago. Technically she, still a member of the corps at that time, danced it better than the principals on that tour.

Now her virtuosity is so effortless and the lightness and classical style of her dancing is of a crystalline quality.

Edited for layout.

Edited July 17, 2014 by Amelia