37 replies to this topic

[Natalia]

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!

[annamicro]

Saturday I saw the same cast...
Let's hope it will improve.
Polunin is excellent.

[Natalia]

annamicro, on 15 December 2011 - 10:22 AM, said:

Saturday I saw the same cast...
Let's hope it will improve.
Polunin is excellent.

Oh dear...that's what I was afraid to hear. Alice in Wonderland,part II?

[annamicro]

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.

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.

[puppytreats]

It is showing in Brooklyn at BAM.

[Natalia]

puppytreats, on 15 December 2011 - 12:09 PM, said:

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.

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.

[annamicro]

Natalia, on 15 December 2011 - 12:18 PM, said:

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

[Natalia]

Thank you, annamicro!

[Alymer]

Quote

they could have given it to Nunez, at least from a technical point of view she is perfection.

But she's not British!

[Natalia]

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.

[Alymer]

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.

[annamicro]

Alymer, on 16 December 2011 - 11:27 AM, said:

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.

[annamicro]

[ksk04]

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.

[nysusan]

annamicro, on 15 December 2011 - 10:33 AM, said:

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...