MAB Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Song of a Wayfarer was made in 1971 and Bejart (at least from that period) was fairly neo-classical so I don't think it's really in the same category as a McGregor work. Although Bejart's work is "pretty", in my humble opinion, it is extremely conservative and lacks the kind of invention or innovation shown by other contemporary choreographers. Good God! never thought I'd live to hear Bejart's work described as 'pretty', how times have changed. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Good God! never thought I'd live to hear Bejart's work described as 'pretty', how times have changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I love this latest article in "To the Pointe" which states the case for Anthony Dowell's Swan Lake: http://tothepointemagazine.wix.com/tothepointemagazine#!My-Reluctant-Goodbye-To-RBs-Swan-Lake/cmbz/551d695b0cf21d84af722c01 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Could someone who actually made it there this evening please report back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I was there, what would you like to know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coated Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 (edited) Bit of a mixed bag. Takada looked so worried during her Fouettes, you'd think the RB takes anyone who fluffs a step out back and shoots them. They'd have a very small company if they did that. Muntagirov was in a league of his own tonight, which somehow didn't help the production. It just made me think how tired the rest looked - apart from one of Rothbart's little guys, who had the most mocking little dance routine going on. He was utterly adorable, and possibly a bit eeeevil. I liked Muntagirov and Takada well enough together in Don Q, but didn't feel any connection between them in this - possibly too little time to rehearse etc etc, or maybe I was too cranky too appreciate it so I left before the last act. Edited April 2, 2015 by Coated 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Muntagirov was in a league of his own tonight Exactly! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Who danced the pdt tonight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coated Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Claire Calvert, Mayara Magri and Fernando Montano. Not the worst I've seen, but not inspiring either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I thought the Muntagirov was very good in the solos but not quite as spectacular as McRae. However, unlike Coated I thought he and Takada were excellent together. On the whole the corps did well and the Act I pdt was pretty good to my layman's eyes. Apart from the fouettés where she appeared to run out of stream Takada gave a pretty good account I thoight. The orchestra was average tonight unfortunately. The strings sounded fine, the woodwind sounded a bit muted and they weren't together all of the time. The tuba was excellent as always. I asked my son whether he was the one doing the evil dance but he didn't know what I meant so it was probably his partner. Managed to get back in to see Act IV after collecting him and I was glad I did. Muntagirov's dramatic plunge into oblivion was worth the entrance fee in its own. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 I liked Muntagirov and Takada well enough together in Don Q, but didn't feel any connection between them in this - possibly too little time to rehearse etc etc, or maybe I was too cranky too appreciate it so I left before the last act. Act4 was marvelous - you missed out there. The lead couple seemed more relaxed and to my eyes really got caught up in the music (which is amongst the best ballet music ever). No sign of nerves there, it all looked sublime. The black act - meh, I always find it such a letdown after Act 2 - an act which is amongst my faves in all of ballet.. Hoping that the revamp due in the next few years, leaves 2&4 largely alone, but completely asset strips and revamps 1&3. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coated Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 (edited) Neil, it was the one left to Rothbart just at the end of Act 3 - but both of them were little scene stealers. Congrats to your son and his partner in crime (they both gave a good impression of being future delinquents) Edited April 3, 2015 by Coated 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickwellings Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 (edited) I noticed the little imps especially tonight too! Lots of goading and menacing snatches and clawings! The little guy on stage left got swatted with a fan for his troubles made me laugh out loud....don't think the lady next to me appreciated that! Edited April 3, 2015 by nickwellings 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLOSS Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 How standards have fallen.The Royal Opera House thought it necessary to place a notice on its website to warn those ballet goers who regard having a meal as essential to their enjoyment of a performance that they would be out of luck because of the fire in Kingsway. There was no danger of starvation as there would be sandwiches available in the bars.Fair enough in all the circumstances given the number of restaurants cafes and pubs that were unable to open for business last night. What I found odd was that the director himself appeared on stage to apologise for the lack of food.Somehow I can't imagine de Valois or either of her immediate successors thinking it necessary to come on stage to make such an announcement. Was it his idea or did the powers that be suggest that it would be an appropriate gesture?Is the theatre so dependent on food sales that it has been reduced to an adjunct to the catering? It sounds as if the Royal Opera House is no longer important in its own right as a building housing at least one world class company but merely a nice restaurant with a theatre attached. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booklover89 Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 How standards have fallen.The Royal Opera House thought it necessary to place a notice on its website to warn those ballet goers who regard having a meal as essential to their enjoyment of a performance that they would be out of luck because of the fire in Kingsway. There was no danger of starvation as there would be sandwiches available in the bars.Fair enough in all the circumstances given the number of restaurants cafes and pubs that were unable to open for business last night. What I found odd was that the director himself appeared on stage to apologise for the lack of food.Somehow I can't imagine de Valois or either of her immediate successors thinking it necessary to come on stage to make such an announcement. Was it his idea or did the powers that be suggest that it would be an appropriate gesture?Is the theatre so dependent on food sales that it has been reduced to an adjunct to the catering? It sounds as if the Royal Opera House is no longer important in its own right as a building housing at least one world class company but merely a nice restaurant with a theatre attached. Well, I imagine people would have complained if they hadn't been warned that there wouldn't be food available, and I don't know that you can blame ROH for that. For many of us going to ROH is a rare treat, and I do sometimes take advantage of the opportunity to have some food while I'm there, especially if I've come straight from work. I'm sorry if that's a sign that standards have fallen... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 I love this latest article in "To the Pointe" which states the case for Anthony Dowell's Swan Lake: http://tothepointemagazine.wix.com/tothepointemagazine#!My-Reluctant-Goodbye-To-RBs-Swan-Lake/cmbz/551d695b0cf21d84af722c01 Me too....a very balanced view of the production and a fond farewell! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl H Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 I appreciated Kevin O'Hare apologising to the audience last night, he is always willing to come out and take any flak, there must have been some people who didn't know the restaurants were shut, it gave me a chance to look at the Crush Room in peace. Thought it was an uneven performance, Vadim was just in a different class, he and Akane Takada make a beautiful couple as far as their dancing goes, but with all this swapping around I suppose there's no rehearsal time for the finer details, the story of Swan Lake got a bit lost. Liked the PDT, Fernando Montano danced with attack and partnered well, and Yasmine Naghdi and Tristan Dyer cheered me up in the stool part of the waltz and the Neapolitan dance. Quite a sad night as I like the last act in particular but good to know there will be another DVD of this version. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Claire Calvert, Mayara Magri and Fernando Montano. Not the worst I've seen, but not inspiring either. I'm really sorry to have to say this but I think that a basic requirement for any male dancer essaying the Ashton pas de trois is to be able to land his tours en l'air facing forwards and in fifth position. Alas, those shown us by Fernando Montano last night were, in common with many seen on this run of Swan Lake, a bit of a mess. I have to say, however, that Fernando presented in a very engaging way. I rather liked Mayara Magri's dancing and her gentle flirting with Siegfried and I look forward to seeing more of her. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Speaking as someone who knows virtually nothing about ballet, it seems to me that the fundamental requirements of dancing and pas de trains must be to make it seem like all three people are dancing together, and to perform the steps in time to the music. Last nights pdt was a lot better in both these regards than the previous performance I saw. I defer to those with the knowledge about the performance of the steps but since I don't have this knowledge I liked it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 I'm not referring to last night (I didn't see the performance) when I say that too often the RB pairs tall women with small men in these classical pdts and cameos of the type that you see in Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty and invariably it looks awkward and the men struggle a bit with the partnering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Well, I imagine people would have complained if they hadn't been warned that there wouldn't be food available, and I don't know that you can blame ROH for that. For many of us going to ROH is a rare treat, and I do sometimes take advantage of the opportunity to have some food while I'm there, especially if I've come straight from work. Well, yes, I've done it myself on occasion, but assuming that the ROH would have contacted anyone who'd booked food independently, and that they'd emailed everyone who had booked tickets online to let them know, I would have assumed that most people would have been aware of the situation. I can understand that if someone had been banking on getting something to eat there and hadn't had time to grab anything beforehand it would be awkward, but assuming that they had notices up at the entrances and so on, I wouldn't have thought that an on-stage apology was really necessary - nor that it should have been Kevin O'Hare giving it if it was. Floss's point, I think, was that, given that the ROH had done what it could to notify people, making an on-stage announcement seemed to attach far too much importance to the food side of things relative to the performance side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billboyd Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 I have, on occasion, gone to the ROH with friends or family to 'wine and dine' and enjoy a performance. A birthday - or some other 'special' occasion. Some members of the party travelled a great distance. I have many happy memories of such occasions. The ROH is ideal for such celebrations. My guess is that many people were disappointed the other evening - they had been looking forward to a 'special celebration'. Some others were just hoping to have a sandwich having come from work. The ROH was in no way to blame for the catering failure. I applaud Keven O'Hare for his courteous gesture. High standards. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLOSS Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Thank you Alison for getting the point that I was making. Walking down to the Strand on Thursday evening it was clear just how many businesses have been affected by the Kingsway fire. It will mean a drop in takings at the Royal Opera House for the catering section but not all the other businesses affected are going to be able to shrug off their losses so easily. Not every food outlet in the area is part of a big corporate food chain. I wonder how long the disruption and rerouting will continue? If they have dig up most of Kingsway it is likely to take some time. By the way does anyone know if Mr Holten apologised for the lack of food on Wednesday evening? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 (edited) I was at the matinee of BUTTERFLY this afternoon. The performance was scheduled to start at 12.30 pm. The house did not open until 12,18 pm. At 12.40 pm a man - who did not introduce himself - came out and said that the performance would be delayed by about 20 minutes by 'a stage matter'. He said it was 'inevitable'. I'm not sure I really understood what that meant. He did not mention the reduction in food/catering services. The performance began at 1.00 pm. It is now obvious that many of the roads around/surrounding Kingsway are also being dug up in response I assume to the Holborn fire/crisis. (The latter is, however, only an assumption.) Edited April 4, 2015 by Bruce Wall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booklover89 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Thank you Alison for getting the point that I was making. Walking down to the Strand on Thursday evening it was clear just how many businesses have been affected by the Kingsway fire. It will mean a drop in takings at the Royal Opera House for the catering section but not all the other businesses affected are going to be able to shrug off their losses so easily. Not every food outlet in the area is part of a big corporate food chain. I wonder how long the disruption and rerouting will continue? If they have dig up most of Kingsway it is likely to take some time. By the way does anyone know if Mr Holten apologised for the lack of food on Wednesday evening? I'm perfectly capable of 'getting' the point that you were making FLOSS. My own point was that your analysis of Kevin O'Hare's perfectly courteous explanation in the face of some unexpected disruption is itself a little bit out of proportion. What does it matter if Kasper Holten did or didn't make a similar annoucement? Either way, you could use it to criticise the Opera House and reinforce an argument that 'standards are slipping'! Anyway, I think I'm going to go back to being a reader and not a poster on this forum. I just want to enjoy and appreciate the wonderful dancers at ROH and not constantly be corrected for having a generally positive view of the place... 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Please continue to post Booklover89. We are all entitled to our opinions, you just as much as anyone else. Personally I think standards slipped sometime after around 1990 when I was tutted for wearing trousers in the stalls!!! I have worn jeans on 2 visits recently and noone has turned a hair!! And I was in the orchestra stalls!! I like the concept of an overall evening. A trip to the theatre is usually a treat and to be able to combine it with a meal/refreshments in the same location is great! Especially in such a great location. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLOSS Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Booklover 89 . None of my comments were directed at you and I should be really sorry if anything that I have posted deterred you from commenting on the performances that you have seen and enjoyed.We all see things differently which is why this sort of forum is so interesting. I find people fascinating and on occasion I find them immensely funny.On an evening when it was clear that we were lucky to have a performance at all I found it amusing that some people responded to the notice on the ROH website about the fire and the disruption caused by it by complaining that there was not going to be any hot food at the theatre that evening. I accept that some people who set out for the theatre that evening might not have known about the problems caused by the fire but I do not think that applied to the people who posted on the website. Even somebody who knew nothing about the fire and its consequences before they arrived in the Covent Garden area must have realised that there was something seriously wrong because the pubs and restaurants in the surrounding streets were closed. Going on stage to apologise because there was no hot food when businesses in the surrounding area were unable to function appealed to my sense of the absurd.At the time although I did not know the full extent of the disruption I thought the apology unnecessary. On my way home I got a much fuller idea of the extent of problem all of Kingsway was fenced off ; the area west of the theatre was dark; Bow Street was empty, all the pubs and restaurants were closed;theatres were closed and the Aldwych was dark. There was a generator outside the Waldorf providing the hotel with a level of lighting equivalent to that provided by a forty watt bulb. By the time I arrived home what I had seen in the surrounding streets made the apology seem even more unnecessary and absurd. I know that several posters think differently. I sincerely hope that this does not offend anyone or put them off posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunrise Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 While the apology may have been unnecessary, it just sounds like the management just wanted to give a personal acknowledgement of the difficulties that evening, rather than leaving it up to emails and notices. It was probably a quick decision made at the last minute without the analysis that's being given now. Sometimes the ADs come out to apologise for injured dancers and sometimes they don't, which I know is quite a different thing, but acknowledging disappointment can help alleviate it, and to me it seems like quite a nice thing to do. 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 Reading some of the (cross) comments below the website announcement about the lack of catering I'm not surprised that Kevin O'Hare felt the need to apologise / acknowledge disappointment. Given the fact that many theatres in the area have been closed it's impressive that the ROH has managed to go ahead with all its performances. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A frog Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 (edited) By the way does anyone know if Mr Holten apologised for the lack of food on Wednesday evening? I can confirm he did. It was particularly ironic as projections on the curtain before the performance actually starts advertises the possibility of eating and the price of drinks. Edited April 8, 2015 by A frog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 After all the earlier talk here about the pas de trois, please can anyone report who danced it on the 7th and 9th April and how it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 I haven't got the cast sheet with me, but IIRC Tuesday's was Tristan Dyer, Yasmine Naghdi and Anna Rose O'Sullivan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coated Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 (edited) Thursday night everything seemed to click into place and to me, this was the most enjoyable Swanlake of the run. Perhaps the sense of occasion added that extra magic ingredient. Salenko and McRae both delivered their usual fine dancing, and the second time around it had the depths of connection and storytelling that drew me straight into their world. The PDT was danced by Yuhui Choe, Tristan Dyer and Anna Rose O'Sullivan with lots of sparkle, and I also really loved the Neapolitan with Hay and Hayward, one of my favourite combinations on stage. There was a minor tambourine mishap, but that just seemed to add some humour to their performance and I guess it needs true professionals to smooth over a dropped prop with panache. It was a lovely way to retire a production. I'll miss the little evil minions, but look forward to a Rothbart who resembles something other than an owl (fingers crossed) ETA: I'm either going blind, mad, or missed a cast change sheet, the cast list has Dyer, Naghdi and O'Sullivan for the PDT. Edited April 9, 2015 by Coated 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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