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'Sleeping Beauty' live in cinemas, Dec 15, 2011


Natalia

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With all of the talk about the NYCB and ABT Nutcrackers, I almost forgot that today is the world-wide Live-in-Cinemas transmission of the Royal Ballet's Sleeping Beauty, starring Cuthbertson, Polunin AND the 'new-old' 1946 costumes (hoorah!) to go along with the Oliver Messell scenery. (Yup, the ca-2003 Generic-Pale costumes are now gone!)

According to the Emerging Pictures web, only two cities in the USA are carrying it today, Omaha & Las Vegas (!!!):

http://www.balletinc...y-royal-ballet/

Most of the USA will have to wait until June or July to see this.

If any Ballet-Allertniks are seeing this, please report!

p.s. What a shame that the earlier telecast and DVD of this production -- the one starring Cojocaru -- did not have the 1946 Messell costumes. Phooey!

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Its' not just Aurora, but also many soloists.

But of course the main role is the center of the ballet and and I'm sorry for Cuthbertson: she doesn't deserve to be exposed this way. Good luck to her! On Saturday she had good balances, but she doesn't seem up to the role and the performance was quite modest. Especially I'm not used to see a ballerina ending a pirouette with her back to the audience and being unable to save or mask it at all.

Probably now it's crlear why people talk so much about costumes and not about the ballet.lightbulb.GIF

If Cojocaru "doesn't have the style to dance this production", they could have given it to Nunez, at least from a technical point of view she is perfection.

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It is showing in Brooklyn at BAM.

Thanks. BAM's not even shown on the Emerging Picture listing (above link). Maybe we'll have a report or two here, after all. smile.png

July 24, 2012, seems to be the day when most U.S. theaters listed on the EP link will be showing it. Hopefully, by then we will have a full casting list, as the link indicates only Polunin & Cuthbertson.

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Hopefully, by then we will have a full casting list, as the link indicates only Polunin & Cuthbertson.

On Saturday they filmed the backup video, so I suppose the cast was confirmed tonight:

Princess Aurora: Lauren Cuthbertson

Prince Florimund: Sergei Polunin

King Florestan: Gary Avis

His Queen: Genesia Rosato

Lilac Fairy: Claire Calvert

Fairy of the Crystal Fountain: Yuhui Chohe

Fairy of the Enchanted Garden: Beatrix Stix-Brunell

Fairy of the Woodland Glade: Fumi Kaneko

Fairy of the Song Bird: Elizabeth Harrod

Fairy of the Golden Wine: Emma Maguire

Cavaliers: Jonathan Watkins, Andrej Uspenski (? I think there was a last minute substitution, but I'm not sure), Dawid Trzensimiech, Bennet Gartside, Alexander Campbell, Ryoichi Hirano

Florestan and his Sisters: Dawid Trzensimiech, Melissa Hamilton, Emma Maguire

Puss-in-Boots and the White Cat: Paul Kay, Elizabeth Harrod

Princess Florine and the Bluebird: Yuhui Choe, Alexander Campbell

Red Riding Hood and the Wolf: Sabina Westecombe, Ryoichi Hirano

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Let me guess. The Lilac Fairy, Claire Calvert, is also British? Regardless -- Was she good?

Among the other fairies, I will be very surprised if Yuhui Choe (Japanese?) was not wonderful.

Another 'Cuthbertson Alert': I see that LC be starring again in the next ROH Ballet-in-Cinema - Romeo & Juliet, on March 22, 2012. This must be the 'All-Cuthbertson, All-the-Time' season.

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Choe is actually Korean, but was brought up in Japan - and yes, I was told be a friend with excellent taste in dancers who saw the broadcast - that she was lovely, especially as Florine.

She was lovely also on Saturday. Not her partner, unfortunately, and reliable friends reported that he was even worse, with also a bad mistake, yesterday night.

The same friends said that Aurora was slightly better than on Saturday.

I think Calvert is British, on Saturday she danced with competence from a technical point of view but lacking of personality and charisma.

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Oy, that adagio was positively glacial.

I'm also a little surprised about Polunin, given how much I've heard about him: his arabesque, in the Ashton solo which is only really about the arabesque, seemed very tight. It doesn't help I just saw Dowell doing it on youtube a few days ago, and that is a comparison that would make any one seem poor.

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If Cojocaru "doesn't have the style to dance this production", they could have given it to Nunez, at least from a technical point of view she is perfection.

Interesting to hear that RB management feels that "Cojocaru doesn't have the style to dance this production". That's a point of view that I hadn't heard before. But then, I don't follow RB reports very closely.

I saw this production of SB at the Kennedy Center in DC just a couple of years after it debuted. Cojocaru led it off and danced Aurora twice to great acclaim. I also recall seeing Nunez, Lamb and Marquez as Aurora and Cojocaru was my favorite by a mile.

I wonder what the RB considers to be stylistically correct at this point in time...

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If Cojocaru "doesn't have the style to dance this production", they could have given it to Nunez, at least from a technical point of view she is perfection.

Interesting to hear that RB management feels that "Cojocaru doesn't have the style to dance this production". That's a point of view that I hadn't heard before. But then, I don't follow RB reports very closely.

I saw this production of SB at the Kennedy Center in DC just a couple of years after it debuted. Cojocaru led it off and danced Aurora twice to great acclaim. I also recall seeing Nunez, Lamb and Marquez as Aurora and Cojocaru was my favorite by a mile.

I wonder what the RB considers to be stylistically correct at this point in time...

It was put in writing when Cojocaru was not cast as Aurora, so somebody in the company thinks so and probably her idea of Sleeping Beauty is what she showed all over the world two days ago.

Anyway the important thing is that the future Royal ballet director, Kevin O'Hare, was in Hamburg for the premiere Neumeier's Liliom, the first full length ballet created on Alina Cojocaru, and this gives hope for the future.

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Okay, I didn't see this HD transmission but I will put forth a few observations: 1) The original, not recreated, Messel costumes and sets can be seen for Act III in the "Royal Ballet" movie danced by Fonteyn and David Blair. 2) I love Alina Cojocaru as much as anyone but she already was filmed in this production several years ago (in the pale, generic non-Messel costumes). That filming is even available in Blu-Ray format. Do we need two filmings of Cojocaru in the same role and same basic production? 3) I wish Lauren Cuthbertson the best and generally approve of giving young, emerging dancers major opportunities. That way a company builds towards its future. That is, if the young dancer can do justice to the part. Marianela Nunez would have been a safer choice. 4) "Buy British" - There have been complaints since Antony Dowell took over that the Royal Ballet is less and less "English". The dancers are all Italians, Spaniards, Roumanians, Russians, Americans, Brazilians, Argentines, you name it. You see the English names down in the smaller soloist and corps listings. Darcey Bussell seems to be the last major British ballerina and she has been retired for several years now. Maybe the Royal is trying to change its image. I frankly wonder about their training and school - maybe Dame Ninette needs to be channeled through a medium and start teaching class and coaching again. 5) It is something that I have noticed in opera these days - the technology is better than ever for transmitting live performances and they are being done all the time. But are these the performers and productions we want preserved for posterity? Some of the opera performances in particular are really horrible productions with miscast singers. The ballet casting and productions are better. However, if this technology was available sixty or seventy years ago we could be comparing Margot Fonteyn and Moira Shearer as Ashton's "Cinderella" in HD color and multi-channel surround sound.

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..... Some of the opera performances in particular are really horrible productions with miscast singers. The ballet casting and productions are better. .....

Last week's podcast discussion among experts on 'live in cinemas' arts included an interesting revelation that explains why opera broadcasts, in particular, have lesser-known singers in leading roles. Short answer: cost. The head of Emerging Pictures (the company that does most of the opera & ballet 'live in cinemas' events in the USA) spoke about the trend towards casting lesser known 'house performers' as the major stars' fees for telecasts are prohibitive.

re. Cuthbertson vs Cojocaru for the latest transmission - Nobody is saying that Cojo should have been cast instead of Cuth. It's just that the RB has several more -- how to state it diplomatically? - more 'telegenic' faces and dancers. I'll leave it at that.

Speaking of being 'telegenic,' a podcast speaker also mentioned that opera legend Marilyn Horne recently voiced concern that looks (body types and FACES) of opera singers were now being considered when casting 'cinema nights" and not just the ability to sing.

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Here's a British (born in Northern Ireland) soloist who is absolutely gorgeous and who, IMO, is a better prospect than Cuthbertson for the 'Next Great Fonteyn-Bussell' title.

http://www.dailymail...htest-hope.html

Does anyone know if Melissa Hamilton has essayed Aurora yet? According to this, she recentlydebuted Sugarplum in the ROH's Nutcracker.

Below is a link to a beautiful set of photos of Melissa, by S. Fowler:

http://photosbysimonfowler.com/melissa-hamilton-photographed-at-the-royal-opera-house/

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Annamicro, didn't Akane Takada study for a year or two at the Moscow Academy of Ballet (the Bolshoi's school)? I think that she's the wondrous young lady who wowed us in Washington, DC, in the Paquita Grand Pas during one of the 'Proteges' galas at the Kennedy Center...she danced a spectacular 'jete variation,' outshining the Russian soloists, even the Paquita. YES, she is fantastic...but not British.

I also admire Melissa Hamilton.

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Yes, I think she is the girl you saw. Esthetically and technically Akane Takada is similar to Yuhui Choe, but more brilliant and, especially, with personality, the instinct to act and the desire to communicate: all things that, in my opinion and taste, make the difference between a good dancer and a relevant artist.

She is not British, yes, but she is a Ballerina.clapping.gif

Her Florestan pdt with Polunin (much more "present" than in this Sleeping beauty) and Choe was one of the highlights of my Royal Ballet views two years ago. The past year she was an excellent Olga in Onegin, her first major role, I think. This year she missed her Aurora debut due to an injury, but had, according to many friends reports, an outstanding debut as Sugar Plum Fairy few days ago: the fact she was wearing the tutu usually worn by Yoshida and Cojocaru is just a matter of waist size, but I'm confident that is also a sign of destiny. biggrin.png

Hamilton has a strong personality and stage presence and I enjoyed some of her performances in modern or not classical works. I have a bad feeling about her in classical things, but honestly I'm not sure whether I've really seen her or it's just an extrapolation of her characteristics made by my imagination. I should check the cast sheets.

Anyway, since I'm not British, at the moment she is not a dancer I'd travel for, even though I'd book for anything with her if already in London (infact I have a ticket for her Nutcracker matinee on the 28th)

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