English National Ballet: Romeo and Juliet, 2017

[Geoff]

1 hour ago, Bruce Wall said:

What of the Lyric Hammersmith?  Surely a week or three or six or at least several could be booked into its season with justification ... there is at least historic prescedent with ballet on variety bills there and heaven knows there are facilities there both for the artists and audience present.  Without hesitation there is also a local urban audience to serve.  

 

 

What a good idea Bruce. The Lyric Hammersmith (not particularly convenient for this Londoner so mine is an unbiased remark) does indeed suit.

 

I happen to have a little private information about this venue's ongoing problems so suspect if a ballet company was to offer pretty much guaranteed 90% houses - and it is a theatre within comfortable reach of affluent west London so why not - then one would be welcomed with open arms. 

[Pas de Quatre]

Wasn't it the Lyric Hammersmith that the RB decamped to while ROH was being redeveloped.  If I remember correctly they were dismayed by poor ticket sales as their audience wouldn't go that far!!!  However, ENB's audience might be more loyal to the company rather than the venue.

[Beryl H]

The theatre that the RB used was huge and lacking in atmosphere, I thought at the time it needed a pop concert or musical to warm it up, that might have been the Odeon though, there weren't many people there, I vowed never to go again.

[Geoff]

36 minutes ago, Beryl H said:

The theatre that the RB used was huge and lacking in atmosphere

 

Sorry Beryl (and PasDQ), the venue which was used at the time of the Royal Opera House closure was known then as Labatt's Apollo, formerly the Hammersmith Odeon, and is currently called the Eventim Apollo. It is an entirely different building and has nothing in common with the Lyric (except perhaps a similar postcode).

 

Bruce suggested the Lyric Theatre on King Street, which as he said was designed by Matcham. Well worth checking out. And is a good idea unless you know something we don't.

Edited August 6, 2017 by Geoff

[Jan McNulty]

When ENB did a season at the Dominion (around 89/90?) it sold extremely badly.  The Dominion is hardly any distance from the Coliseum.  Perhaps ENB fans prefer the tried and tested?

[bridiem]

1 hour ago, Pas de Quatre said:

Wasn't it the Lyric Hammersmith that the RB decamped to while ROH was being redeveloped.  If I remember correctly they were dismayed by poor ticket sales as their audience wouldn't go that far!!!  However, ENB's audience might be more loyal to the company rather than the venue.

 

No, the RB used the Apollo Hammersmith - under the flyover. The Lyric is on King St.

Sorry - just realised this has already been clarified!

Edited August 6, 2017 by bridiem

[Pas de Quatre]

Thank you everyone - I stand corrected.

[Shade]

Lovely matinee performance and great playing from the orchestra. I enjoyed it - good debuts from the leads.

[alison]

Surely the Lyric's stage would be too small for ENB productions?

[Bruce Wall]

I note that sadly the Lyric Hammersmith would not be available for ENB in any regard (see below) ... but certainly would be - or so they suggest - for those fine galas which have recently been at the Cadogan Hall, another concert venue which is unfortunately largely unsuitable for dance. 

 

https://lyric.co.uk/our-home/hires-and-parties/our-spaces/main-house/

 

QUOTE FROM FACILITY WEBSITE - 

 

Please note that our Main House is not available to hire for external theatre productions and performances. For concerts, award ceremonies, showcases and other one-off events please enquire for further details. All Main House hires are subject to availability.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2017 by Bruce Wall

[Geoff]

Sorry to see the Lyric only seats 550, my memory was at fault. By comparison, the Cadogan Hall seats 950, which for all its faults makes a difference financially. Maybe not such a good idea after all!

[Bruce Wall]

4 hours ago, Geoff said:

Sorry to see the Lyric only seats 550, my memory was at fault. By comparison, the Cadogan Hall seats 950, which for all its faults makes a difference financially. Maybe not such a good idea after all!

 

If I might, Geoff, I would suggest that the above really only now enforces the plight of presentation of substantive international ballet (as opposed to contemporary dance - which oft tends to be smaller in scale) in London.  It does not change the fact I think that the venues here referenced - concert platforms both - are simply not fit for ballet's purpose ...  Out of necessity they do naught but diminish ballet's aspiration.  They dismantle, maraud and waste the potency of this gloriously inspirational resource. 
 

British audiences in London - dedicated by pundits as a world capital in so many regards - will continue to have to watch and British dancers in our capital to forge balletic performances in these far from ideal circumstances; all at considerable and seemingly ever increasing cost.  It does not I think change the sad fact that - in both instances - that it could be argued this is far from fair.  It would/will take a dedicated leader to forge change in ballet's regard in London.  I fear that this will not take place in my own lifetime, if ever.  Rattle is doing it in the name of a truly world class concert platform in this wonderful city through his own personal dedication.  Could Rojo be London's answer to Lincoln Kirstein?  Perhaps.  My admiration for her dedicated stealth is such that I wouldn't be surprised.  Not surprised at all.  Were that to come to pass the amazement over her pay grade might I think be academic.  Her legacy would unquestionably be even more visceral then than it already is.  

 

Edited August 7, 2017 by Bruce Wall

[RuthE]

On ‎06‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 09:26, Bruce Wall said:

One aside.  I'm sorry but yesterday I truly came to detest this venue as a place for ballet.  The house staff were bringing people to their seats right through and into the middle of the third scene.  I was truly shocked.  

 

Yes, absolutely.  From my aisle seat in the Balcony (at the same performance you mention) I had my view of the stage completely obscured for several minutes by a massive crowd of latecomers being let in, standing there in the aisle in front of me dithering, chatting and looking for their seats.  I realize travel problems happen (and that people misread their tickets - this was a 2pm matinee, when most assume matinees start at 2:30) but the house allowing latecomers to cause such disruption is not fair to people who took the trouble to get there on time.  I've been late to things on a handful of occasions and accept that that means watching outside on a monitor until an appropriate admission point.  So should everybody else.

 

And after the intervals the front of house staff did nothing to prevent people who couldn't be bothered to get back in on time drifting back in and blocking others' view, either.

[LinMM]

First, sadly I had to miss ENB 's R and J this time round just too many conflicting events that particular week but  I must admit I was surprised that ENB "chose" to dance at the Festival Hall again.

Many years ago a close ballet friend and myself did some dressing for the then LFB and thought the venue for dancers was awful and the stage was cramped and then not so easy to get to and from to....though there has been backstage refurbishment at the Hall since then. 

It seemed so much better when they were at the Coliseum.

 

I love the Lyric theatre Hammersmith and when I used to live over that side of London I became a Friend of the theatre ....by virtue of which and the luck of the Gods once got me on stage with the likes of Glenda Jackson and Joan Plowright in a production of the House of Bernarda Alba back in the 80's ( around 1985 I think) ....just a walk on peasant part and was only in the funeral scene ...but what an experience! Anyway it's a lovely theatre but probably too small for a largish ballet company but I am amazed to hear it has quite such a small capacity for audience.

It might suit a much smaller company though. 

I think there is going to be a new theatre as part of ENB's  move to Canning Town but had the impression wouldn't be that big. I wonder if there would be space for a bigger one there? I know some may think it's far to far away from central London but the ENB bits will be near the station and you can be at Victoria in 20-25 mins and London Bridge and Waterloo in less .....10-15 from what I can remember.

Sorry slightly off subject did anybody see Corrales last week or is he injured? I had to toss up between Anna Karenina and R and J last Thursday when he would have been performing but went for the Mariinsky team in the end as you never know quite when they will be in the UK again. 

 

[capybara]

11 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Sorry slightly off subject did anybody see Corrales last week or is he injured?

 

Cesar Corrales was unwell and did not dance last week.

[LinMM]

Thanks capybara oh well probably just as well went to AK instead as would have been disappointed if had got there and wasn't dancing after all....just the expectation and all that....hope he's better soon anyway.

[cavycapers]

Lucky lucky me!  ENB bring R and J to my home town for 5 nights!  There were a couple of first night hiccups, but Jurgita Dronina and Aaron Robison were glorious, and Pedro Lapetra (I know, who? - plucked from the corps apparently) was a wonderfully cheeky Mercutio.  

 

By the way, does anyone know why Laurretta Summerscales and Cesar Corrales seem to be absent from these performances?  I was looking forward to seeing them both.

 

My only gripe was the business on the bed when Romeo is lifting Juliet about in the Morning Pas de Deux.  Because Aaron Robison has such long legs, it seemed particularly inelegant when all we can see is bent-over bum in white tights (if you know what I mean).  I have seen other casts handle this section better, although it is hard for any of them to make it look elegant.

 

Once again, however, my favourite is Romeo's dance with Benvolio when the latter comes to tell him of Juliet's death.  Gets me every time. 

[capybara]

Pedro Lapetra has been a dancer with ENB for many years and has danced Mercutio many times before.

 

ENB announced in July that Laurretta Summerscales has taken a sabbatical year to dance with Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich, where her husband, Yonah Acosta, is now a Principal. So far this season, Laurretta has danced Nikiya in La Bayadere, Alice in Christopher Wheeldon's production, and Kitty in Anna Karenina. She also danced 6 shows of Swan lake with Shanghai Ballet in The Netherlands (Derek Deane version), partnered by Vadim Muntagirov.

 

I think that it is generally known that Cesar Corrales is recovering from injury. Best wishes to him. We need him on stage!

 

 

[alison]

Unfortunately, I must have missed all Pedro's Mercutios: I've only seen him at best as one of Romeo's friends, I think.  Glad to hear he's getting something meaty to dance.

[Lizbie1]

I saw it last night as well: agree that Pedro Lapetra was very fine, but for me the highlight was seeing Dronina for the first time - she's gorgeous, and a very fine actress to boot.

[cavycapers]

When I saw Cesar Corrales dance Mercutio, I couldn't tear my eyes away!

 

It seems odd that if Pedro Lepetra is of the calibre to dance Mercutio,  and has done so many times, that he has not even had a promotion to first artist.

 

Edited November 23, 2017 by cavycapers

[Lizbie1]

I'm conscience-stricken now: I forgot to say that musically Tuesday was of a very high order indeed. It would be unfair say that the company doesn't deserve Gavin Sutherland and what he's done with the ENBP, but on every occasion I've seen them recently what's going on in the pit has matched or bettered what's happening on stage. I really hope that ENB value their MD appropriately.

[cavycapers]

The star of the show tonight was all of English National Ballet and their orchestra!  As a whole, it was utterly glorious.  However, although Erin's Takahashi and Jeffrey Cirio danced beautifully tonight, it did rather show how beautifully Jurgita Dronina and Aaron Robison acted their roles in their two performances this week.  I'm afraid I was much more engaged with R and J than I was tonight.  However, it gave me a chance to see James Streeter's glorious many layered Tybalt.  When he was onstage I could look nowhere else!  Pedro Lepetra was in all three performances I saw and was a very funny and engaging Mercutio.  Overall glorious though, and I am already suffering from withdrawal symptoms...

 

Edited November 26, 2017 by cavycapers

[Irmgard]

I missed my opportunity to post about “Romeo & Juliet” at Festival Hall this summer, where I saw four performances, so I missed paying tribute to some of the wonderful artists who left the company at the end of the season.  Luckily, I was able to see three memorable performances in Bristol last week.  At the Thursday matinée, I was to have seen Begoña Cao make her return to the stage, following her maternity leave, in a classical role and a role in which she excels.  However, it was not to be as she had to withdraw from her performance and let me know personally this was due to a pulled calf muscle.  Sadly, this meant that James Forbat lost his one scheduled Romeo as it would have been too complicated to switch partners.  I was surprised that not only had the cast sheet not been amended but there was no announcement at the start of the performance which seemed disrespectful not only to Cao and Forbat but also to Jurgita Dronina and Aaron Robison who replaced them at very short notice.  As they also did the Friday performance, I will concentrate on the other roles at the matinée. The scenes between the Capulet and Montague servants have always been a highlight for me in this production but the new influx of dancers did not appear entirely comfortable with the bawdiness of Nureyev’s choreography for them and I really missed Grant Rae, one of the sixteen dancers who left last season, as the uninhibited, cheeky leader of the Montague servants.  It was therefore a delight to see Junor Souza easing himself back, after a protracted absence due to injuries, as leader of the Capulet servants, aided and abetted by a sparkling Adriana Lizardi.  Souza has, of course, been a magnificent Tybalt and Romeo in the past and it was a joy to have his powerful presence enlivening the crowd scenes as they descend into Shakespeare’s “civil brawls”.  I was also enchanted by the lovely Angela Wood as a radiant, gently flirtatious Rosaline obviously enjoying Romeo’s attentions but letting him know with the help of her delightful friends (Precious Adams and Jia Zhang at the matinée and Sarah Kundi and Zhang on Friday evening) that she would not yield easily.  During her lovely solo in the ballroom scene before the wheel of fortune, her dancing was especially classy in a delicious series of enveloppés in which the working foot is brought into retiré before it is slipped into 5^th en pointe.  Erik Woolhouse made a very good debut as Mercutio, skilfully managing the fast and furious choreography, if not yet being the scene-stealer this character can be.  Considering it was also Henry Dowden’s debut as Benvolio, the little pas de trois in Act II for them and the Nurse (the always watchable Jennie Harrington), when they try to relieve her of Juliet’s letter, worked very well and provided an amusing diversion.  Daniel Kraus brought his Latin good looks and temperament to the role of Tybalt, contrasting his hot-headedness with a warm tenderness in his scenes with Juliet and, in the ballroom scene, subtly suggesting that he is more to the regal Lady Capulet of Sarah Kundi than just her nephew-in-law.  His two sword-fights, first with Mercutio and then with Romeo, had all the (extremely well behaved) primary school children around me on the edge of their seats.  In fact, from their rapt attention peppered with spontaneous bursts of applause, it was clear that this production had worked its magic on them and the rest of the audience.

 

Thursday evening’s cast also changed as the scheduled Alison McWhinney and Joseph Caley had danced the previous evening due to the indisposition of Erina Takahashi.  Happily, Takahashi was recovered enough to dance the Thursday evening performance and, watching the youthful freshness of her Juliet, it is hard to believe she has been dancing the role since the ballet re-entered the company’s repertoire in 2005.  Her Romeo was Jeffrey Cirio, making his debut in the role.  When I saw him in “Song of the Earth” in Milton Keynes and at Covent Garden, I thought he was rather bland, especially compared to the magnetism of Ken Saruhashi, as the Messenger.  However, his Romeo was eminently appealing, being sweet and gentle and most definitely Shakespeare’s dreamer of dreams (reminiscent to those of us of a certain age of Leonard Whiting in Zefirelli’s classic film).  His exquisite, neat footwork brought a much-needed elegance to Nureyev’s fussy choreography and he proved a perfect match for Takahashi’s delicacy and charm.  Blazing through this performance like the brightest comet was the Mercutio of Pedro Lapetra.  He is a natural comedian and yet has the power to move me to tears in Act II when his friends do not realise Tybalt has fatally wounded him.  A lot of Nureyev’s choreography for him in the ballroom scene, when he is trying to distract the guests, is silly rather than comic and yet Lapetra’s fleet footwork and his virtuosic leaps and turns, coupled with his marvellous comic timing, make this a truly funny scene.  Along with the charming Benvolio of Guilherme Menezes and Laura Hussey as the Nurse, the letter-stealing scene in Act II was also a comic highlight.  Countering all this was the brooding arrogance of James Streeter’s Tybalt, whose anger visibly intensified as Mercutio continually made a fool of him during their sword-fight, inevitably ending in the vicious throw of the dagger which kills Mercutio.  It was here that I particularly liked Cirio’s faithfulness to Shakespeare’s grief-stricken Romeo in being extremely reluctant to fight Tybalt until he is goaded beyond endurance.  In all, this was a very impressive debut in a deeply satisfying performance.

 

On Friday evening, I was privileged to experience one of the greatest performances by a Juliet that I have ever seen in any production.  I had the great pleasure of working with Jurgita Dronina, albeit extremely briefly, when she danced Mary Skeaping’s Giselle with the company at short notice in January.  I was impressed by her artistic integrity in her desire to be faithful to and embrace the production and, of course, by her beautiful dancing and dramatic intensity, all the qualities which also made her Juliet breathtaking.  I saw her debut at Festival Hall in August and her unscheduled performance on Thursday afternoon but Friday evening transcended even those outstanding performances.  She was greatly helped by very strong casting in all the other roles and her extraordinary musicality, which flows throughout her entire body, was in such accord with that of Maestro Gavin Sutherland that he drew from the orchestra even more moments of spine-tingling beauty than the previous day.  Her Romeo, Aaron Robison, partnered her extremely sensitively, making Nureyev’s awkward choreography for the balcony and bedroom pas de deux and their first meeting alone in the ballroom scene look ravishing, seamless and charged with emotion.  In other scenes, he had great fun with his friends, although I would have preferred him to take a more aristocratic approach, but his dramatic abilities came to the fore in a heart-stopping duel with the magnificent Tybalt of Fabian Reimair.  Pedro Lapetra repeated his fabulous Mercutio and was joined by James Forbat as a very noble Benvolio with a wicked sense of fun in the comic scenes.  Aitor Arrieta was the handsome and elegant Paris at this performance and was so obviously in love with Juliet that he could hardly take his eyes off her from the moment she is introduced to him.  He was so warm and loving, treating her with such tenderness and patience that his death at the hands of Romeo seemed particularly unfair.  Reimair, as Tybalt, blazed onto the stage at the beginning of Act I with such power and virility that it was no wonder there is a sexual chemistry between him and Lady Capulet, subtly indicated in their dance together in the ballroom scene and when she is calming him down after his thwarted attempt to kill Romeo at the ball.  His Lady Capulet was Stina Quagebeur, whom I have long admired as one of the company’s finest character artists and who complemented perfectly Dronina’s intensely instinctive Juliet with her own finely detailed interpretation.  In fact I was struck by how perfect they were as mother and daughter, expressing various emotions in the same way, not just the primal scream of Lady Capulet over Tybalt’s dead body which is later repeated by Juliet on realising that Romeo is dead but also after the bedroom pas de deux: with every fibre of her being expressing Dronina’s grief that Romeo must leave her, she leans her head against the pillar in utter hopelessness and despair.  Quagebeur does exactly the same thing when she believes Juliet is dead.  What Nureyev’s choreography lacks in finesse, he makes up for with an intense theatricality, especially the scene following the bedroom pas de deux which is a gift for the supreme acting talents of Dronina, Quagebeur and Laura Hussey as the Nurse.  Dronina is so laden with grief at Romeo’s departure that at first she does not comprehend what the Nurse is telling her.  As it dawns on her that she is being told to marry Paris (symbolised by the wedding dress), Dronina’s reaction turns from disbelief to horror then to anger and it is at this point that Quagebeur enters and grapples with her daughter, ending in a cruel slap.  The look on the faces of the three women is pure theatrical magic, with Dronina in complete shock and Quagebeur trying to suppress her horror at taking out on her daughter her pent up grief at the death of Tybalt.  From this moment on, she freezes and, when Lord Capulet arrives and the dress has been forcibly put on Dronina, he has to literally pull the benumbed Quagebeur away from her daughter.  From then on the ballet is dominated by Dronina’s increasingly heartbroken Juliet.  There were so many wonderful details in her mesmerising performance but I shall just mention a few from the scenes immediately following this one.  She makes the dance with her parents and Paris, to solemnise her engagement to him, heartrending as she is continuously looking beseechingly back to or up at her father who steadfastly ignores her silent pleas.  At the end of the dance, when Paris lifts her so that her parents can kiss her feet, Dronina’s whole body, including her feet which remain unstretched, is limp and heavy with despair in contrast to the moment in Act I when Romeo lifts her, and her beautifully stretched feet beat together in happy excitement while he sways her from side to side.  When deciding whether to kill herself with the dagger or trust Friar Laurence’s potion, Dronina is the only dancer I can recall having seen in this production who realises that a potion bottle from this era would break if thrown to the floor (and this is the point where I usually cringe at the sound of plastic hitting the floor) and so she skims it across the floor.  When Juliet wakes up in the tomb, Nureyev does not allow much time for her to discover that Romeo is dead before killing herself, as he is keen to show the reconciliation of the two houses.  However, as with the many wonderful Juliets who have appeared in this production, Dronina packs so much emotion into her final moments that I was left completely stunned.  It takes a great artist to make Nureyev’s flawed choreography look like great choreography and Dronina, like a number of other Juliets, especially in recent years, is such a one. 

Edited November 29, 2017 by alison
To reduce font size

[alison]

Thank you, Irmgard, for that marvellously detailed assessment of the performances.  I've just reduced the font size a bit, which I think makes for more comfortable reading.

[Sim]

What a fabulous review, Irmgard.  Thank you for making those of us who can't see R&J feel as if we had.

[Irmgard]

20 hours ago, Sim said:

What a fabulous review, Irmgard.  Thank you for making those of us who can't see R&J feel as if we had.

Thank you , Sim.  I'm only sorry that I did not manage to post it in time to encourage others to make the trip to Bristol and that I could not stay for the Saturday matinee to see Alison McWhinney's enchanting Juliet again.