RB Winter Ballet Casting

[Blossom]

Hugely appreciative @capybara. 

Pleased that I do have a mix of casts for the dates I have booked, now just need a ticket for 9 April...

Now just hoping that we get the summer casting before booking opens in a few weeks!

[OnePigeon]

Yep, wish I’d held off booking before casting was announced!  Luckily I was able to swap my ticket and I can live with the £4 fee.  I’m surprised (and disappointed) there’s no Yasmin Or Fumi in any of the pieces though.

Edited February 6 by OnePigeon

[LinMM]

I was expecting them both in Requiem but there are just not enough performances for this… need quite a few more than six !!!! 

 

[Sim]

Ah well.  I bought tickets for two shows and it is the same cast for all three ballets.  Will see if I can do a swap closer to the time.  

[San Perregrino]

So, it’s not simply a case of Cast 1 and Cast 2.
What then is the fewest number of dates necessary in order to see all dancers in all roles. 

[Dawnstar]

9 minutes ago, PeterS said:

So, it’s not simply a case of Cast 1 and Cast 2.
What then is the fewest number of dates necessary in order to see all dancers in all roles. 

 

Two, if you pair either the 20th March with 13th April or 27th March with either 4th or 9th April.

 

I'm slightly surprised that it's the "less starry" casts for Dances Concertantes & Different Drummer that are getting the cinema relay.

[capybara]

24 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

I'm slightly surprised that it's the "less starry" casts for Dances Concertantes & Different Drummer that are getting the cinema relay.

Yes, and Hayward, Sambe and Campbell get  (yet another) opening night.

 

Interesting prominence for the recently promoted Giacomo Rovero.

[TSR101]

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

I was expecting them both in Requiem but there are just not enough performances for this… need quite a few more than six !!!! 

 

Given ticket sales, not sure there is the audience demand for more shows. However, it will be interesting to see if casting does anything to shift tickets. Marianela's performances usually sell very well for example and she's in a few. 

[bridiem]

1 hour ago, OnePigeon said:

Yep, wish I’d held off booking before casting was announced!  Luckily I was able to swap my ticket and I can live with the £4 fee.  I’m surprised (and disappointed) there’s no Yasmin Or Fumi in any of the pieces though.

 

I've done the same. I'm delighted that Sarah Lamb is doing Requiem but I wish that she was first cast or live screening cast or most cast... which she almost never seems to be. I feel as if she is taken for granted rather than ever being really promoted as the star that she is.

[Emeralds]

The casting for Danses Concertantes on the website is incomplete. I can't open the PDF at the moment- does it list only 3 principals (1 female and 2 male)? Danses Concertantes is supposed to have 3 female leads and 3 male leads.

 

With the first night Requiem leads picked now, it would daft if Yasmine Naghdi is not one of the ballerina leads in DC (she should be the central ballerina lead really, the role feels tailor made for her) on first night. 

 

Different Drummer is also lacking some casting names although admittedly most people assume the principal character artists will take the role of the Captain and maybe not many people are interested in which soloist dances Andres [except us 😉]

 

I didn't post that I thought Francesca Hayward should get opening night Marie, as I didn't want to jinx her chances. So basically my guesses are right assuming Yasmibe Naghdi is in the missing cast info.  It will be interesting to see if they manage to complete the casting before first night rolls around.

 

I assume they are relying on the Marianela-Vadim combination to sell tickets, but that might not work as they're not paired in the same ballet. Also, Marianela Nunez not being in any cast of Danses Concertantes is insane (unless she is in the missing bits of the casting).

 

Am afraid this looks like another sluggish sales scenario happening, but some shows will do better at the box office than others. 

[Beryl H]

The Different Drummer cast of Hayward/Sambe/Campbell looks very dramatic,

glad it's also the cinema cast!

 

 

 

 

[Suffolkgal]

With no matinees and evening commitments to

rehearse for a show I’m in, might have to miss this one! 

[Blossom]

In addition to lack of information on casting, there is just too little information on the programming to generate interest among non-balletomanes. I've had no interest from friends so looks like I will be going alone most evenings. The ads appearing within youtube when I have been searching for videos to try to generate some interest (only a couple of videos of Leanne Benjamin in Requiem) are completely blank of any still images or videos.  Definitely need some of the pre-cinema style clips and interviews to generate demand sooner rather than later.

 

[art_enthusiast]

Yep, the teaser trailer on YouTube is awful. Just a couple of seconds of still photographs already on the website and that’s it. Not exactly piquing interest.

[JohnS]

Many thanks for the casting information @capybara.

 

I don’t really follow the Requiem casting as regards Ball and Bracewell. Ball is in the Lamb cast but also dances the opening night in the Cuthbertson cast. Bracewell is then in the other Cuthbertson performances including the cinema relay. I wonder if opening night is correct? 
 

Having booked for the General Rehearsal, opening and closing nights, I should see all dancers in the theatre, save for Bracewell?

[Dawnstar]

23 minutes ago, JohnS said:

I don’t really follow the Requiem casting as regards Ball and Bracewell. Ball is in the Lamb cast but also dances the opening night in the Cuthbertson cast. Bracewell is then in the other Cuthbertson performances including the cinema relay. I wonder if opening night is correct? 
 

Having booked for the General Rehearsal, opening and closing nights, I should see all dancers in the theatre, save for Bracewell?

 

Oops, I didn't notice that when I posted the below.

 

3 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

Two, if you pair either the 20th March with 13th April or 27th March with either 4th or 9th April.

 

So actually to see absolutely everyone you'd have to see 27th March with either 4th or 9th April.

[alison]

4 hours ago, capybara said:

Yes, and Hayward, Sambe and Campbell get  (yet another) opening night.

 

"Yet" another?  Hayward was the obvious choice for Manon and, I'd have said, for Different Drummer.  Are there others I'm forgetting?

 

3 hours ago, Emeralds said:

The casting for Danses Concertantes on the website is incomplete. I can't open the PDF at the moment- does it list only 3 principals (1 female and 2 male)? Danses Concertantes is supposed to have 3 female leads and 3 male leads.

 

With the first night Requiem leads picked now, it would daft if Yasmine Naghdi is not one of the ballerina leads in DC (she should be the central ballerina lead really, the role feels tailor made for her) on first night.

 

Thanks, Emeralds.  I'd thought my memory was tricking me, but I too thought there were 6 dancers in Danses Concertantes, and would have put Naghdi down as one of them.

 

1 hour ago, art_enthusiast said:

Yep, the teaser trailer on YouTube is awful. Just a couple of seconds of still photographs already on the website and that’s it. Not exactly piquing interest.

 

I guess there's a reason for that: Danses Concertantes hasn't been around since the RB started recording its performances on a regular basis, and Different Drummer wasn't recorded a decade or whenever it was ago.  Add to that that Requiem has never been recorded - and with Acosta and Benjamin in it I said I thought that was an error - and there's little or no footage they can post, I think.

[bridiem]

1 hour ago, alison said:

I guess there's a reason for that: Danses Concertantes hasn't been around since the RB started recording its performances on a regular basis, and Different Drummer wasn't recorded a decade or whenever it was ago.  Add to that that Requiem has never been recorded - and with Acosta and Benjamin in it I said I thought that was an error - and there's little or no footage they can post, I think.

 

If so, surely they could add some new rehearsal footage? And/or interviews, as @Blossom has suggested above.

[TSR101]

9 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

If so, surely they could add some new rehearsal footage? And/or interviews, as @Blossom has suggested above.

They could also commission some artwork for it. 

 

 

10 hours ago, alison said:

"Yet" another?  Hayward was the obvious choice for Manon and, I'd have said, for Different Drummer.  Are there others I'm forgetting?

Curious why you thought she was the obvious choice?

[LinMM]

I imagine Osipova will be great in Different Drummer but am happy with Hayward for the 9th April cast. 
I was thinking I might go again once casting was announced but to see Osipova and have slightly different Requiem cast ( had really been hoping for Naghdi or Kaneko in this) would have to go on 27th when I’m already booked to see Carmen at the Wells or Saturday 13th when we will be away so will probably just go the once now. 

[Sim]

20 hours ago, Emeralds said:

So basically my guesses are right assuming Yasmine Naghdi is in the missing cast info. 

She isn't.  

[Emeralds]

38 minutes ago, Sim said:

She isn't.  

Sim, would you be able to post the other 3 missing dancers for the 6 dates if you have the missing casting? (When you have a spare moment of course, it's not an emergency.) Am still trying to work out which dates to attend as am sure some others are.

 

Or do you mean that Yasmine Naghdi has said she isn't participating in the MacMillan triple bill at all? (If it's the latter that's a really unfathomable decision seeing as she is one of the few dancers in the company who is actually suitable for all 3 works- as Marie, the Pie Jesu ballerina in white, and any of the 3 DC leads.) I also hope it's not due to injury. 

[Sim]

1 hour ago, Emeralds said:

Sim, would you be able to post the other 3 missing dancers for the 6 dates if you have the missing casting? (When you have a spare moment of course, it's not an emergency.) Am still trying to work out which dates to attend as am sure some others are.

 

Or do you mean that Yasmine Naghdi has said she isn't participating in the MacMillan triple bill at all? (If it's the latter that's a really unfathomable decision seeing as she is one of the few dancers in the company who is actually suitable for all 3 works- as Marie, the Pie Jesu ballerina in white, and any of the 3 DC leads.) I also hope it's not due to injury. 

Sadly Yasmine isn’t dancing in the triple at all.  I don’t know about the rest of the missing casts, I’m afraid.  

[OnePigeon]

22 hours ago, TSR101 said:

Given ticket sales, not sure there is the audience demand for more shows. However, it will be interesting to see if casting does anything to shift tickets. Marianela's performances usually sell very well for example and she's in a few. 

I’m probably in a minority here, but when the company is so heavy with principal dancers and then casting is announced and roles that could go to a principals seem to mainly go to soloists and first soloists, I find it quite puzzling.  It seems a shame for the audience that they don’t get the opportunity to see more principals when they have such an abundance of riches in that department.  I know it’s important for non principal dancers to get experience and opportunities - and they should certainly have a fair amount of good roles as there is a great roster of talent in those ranks too and I mean absolutely no disrespect to those wonderful dancers -  but when I look back at old programmes of triple bills it seemed you used to get more principals for your buck, so to speak.  I used to find mixed bills a great way of seeing different pairings and dancers from my preferred usual dancers, so I could see Bussell, Guillem, Acosta, Rojo, Kobberg and Cojocaru etc all in one evening.  I also think lots of people book to see principals more than soloists, so a more starry roster can only be good for box office takings.  

[Emeralds]

34 minutes ago, Sim said:

Sadly Yasmine isn’t dancing in the triple at all.  I don’t know about the rest of the missing casts, I’m afraid.  

I need a sad reaction thingy (not a demand that the moderators add on an extra one but simply an indication that there is a lot of sad reactions to express nowadays!) Thanks for filing us in, Sim. I am certainly no obsessed fan but from a purely neutral perspective I would say Yasmine Naghdi has the classical precision for DC, the dramatic gifts (she can portray a baddie like Lescaut's Mistress powerfully and unearth the dark side of characters) for a role like Marie, as well as the poetry and delicacy of the Pie Jesu ballerina. I get that they only have 2 casts and maybe feel that the general public/box office trends do not inspire confidence in fielding 3 casts and more performances, but never mind her fans- the ballets themselves will suffer for not having Naghdi. Especially Danses Concertantes. It's like putting on a run of Don Quixote and not casting Marianela Nunez or putting on Swan Lake and not casting Vadim Muntagirov. 

 

Also....maybe the box office come 20 March and end of the run will prove me wrong, but basically there were too many shows of Anemoi/Cellist and Dante Project (as box office sales proved) and not enough shows of the MacMillan triple bill. 

 

39 minutes ago, OnePigeon said:

I’m probably in a minority here, but when the company is so heavy with principal dancers and then casting is announced and roles that could go to a principals seem to mainly go to soloists and first soloists, I find it quite puzzling.  It seems a shame for the audience that they don’t get the opportunity to see more principals when they have such an abundance of riches in that department.  I know it’s important for non principal dancers to get experience and opportunities - and they should certainly have a fair amount of good roles as there is a great roster of talent in those ranks too and I mean absolutely no disrespect to those wonderful dancers -  but when I look back at old programmes of triple bills it seemed you used to get more principals for your buck, so to speak.  I used to find mixed bills a great way of seeing different pairings and dancers from my preferred usual dancers, so I could see Bussell, Guillem, Acosta, Rojo, Kobberg and Cojocaru etc all in one evening.  I also think lots of people book to see principals more than soloists, so a more starry roster can only be good for box office takings.  

Definitely not in a minority, OnePigeon! The whole point of mixed bills used to be that you would be 2 or 3 principals (occasionally four) per ballet so basically 6 or 7 principals in one night, and the dancers themselves get variety and meaty roles without it being as exhausting as a full length ballet. 

 

This season we seem to be getting 2 shows for full length classics (counting Manon as a classic) and then zero for the mixed bills or contemporary stuff like Dante Project for some principals. I know the soloists and first artists are good as well but they do have future seasons to look forward to. This triple bill should have had three casts and more use of Naghdi, Lamb, Hayward (who like Naghdi would also have been wonderful in the Pie Jesu role in Requiem). No Nunez, Kaneko or Naghdi, or Campbell, Sambe, Hay or Corrales (ok, Corrales might be injured but the others aren't) in Danses Concertantes is also odd. I don't doubt the expertise of those making the decisions but the question is - are they saying that dancers the calibre of Nunez and Naghdi really were "not good enough" for this classical work? Also, if the  Lamb/Hamilton/Hirano/Ball/Acri cast are getting only 2 shows, then Requiem should have had 3 casts, with Naghdi/Kaneko/ Clarke/Muntagirov/Hay my recommendation for the additional cast. 

[Dawnstar]

13 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Definitely not in a minority, OnePigeon! The whole point of mixed bills used to be that you would be 2 or 3 principals (occasionally four) per ballet so basically 6 or 7 principals in one night, and the dancers themselves get variety and meaty roles without it being as exhausting as a full length ballet.

 

There will be between 6 and 8 Principals appearing in each performance of the MacMillan triple bill though: 8 on the first night, 6 on the last night, and 7 at each of the other performances, adding up to 14 of the 19 Principals in total (hope I've counted everyone correctly).

Edited February 7 by Dawnstar

[BeauxArts]

Possibly Fumi Kaneko is dancing elsewhere, but if not her omission from the triple bill is just as perplexing as Yasmine Naghdi’s. Very strange. 

[Emeralds]

34 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

There will be between 6 and 8 Principals appearing in each performance of the MacMillan triple bill though: 8 on the first night, 6 on the last night, and 7 at each of the other performances, adding up to 14 of the 19 Principals in total (hope I've counted everyone correctly).

Should just clarify, Dawnstar, that Requiem doesn't count as "2 or 3 leads" as it is meant to have 5 leads - although the Pie Jesu ballerina comes out last, the Agnus Dei ballerina (role for a taller ballerina like Darcey Bussell, Bryony Brind or Marianela Nunez in the past) role is of equal importance and although the men don't all have to be principals, they do have to be experienced artists because Requiem can't be danced with a blank expression or overacted.

 

But it's not a matter of fulfilling the magic number of 6. With ballets like Requiem and DC both on the bill, that means you should have at least 10 experienced principals and first soloists dancing each show (Drum Major is also a role for a principal). One or two of the leads in DC can be danced by more junior dancers who are fast and talented but it shouldn't be mostly juniors and 1-2  principals. 

 

Although our RB soloists and new principals are very good, DC is a fast ballet and hasn't been staged for a long time so it requires experience and skills. I would say that dancers like Muntagirov, Hay and Acri have the speed and experience, as do Naghdi, Nunez and O'Sullivan- it's not necessarily about what ranking one did or didn't get. That's not to say that I don't think some dancers will not succeed at the ballet- far from it. I'm just asking why it was felt that dancers like Nunez, Kaneko and Naghdi were thought to be "not good enough" for it. I can't believe that they would all decline it. 

Edited February 7 by Emeralds

[Dawnstar]

@Emeralds I've never seen any of the 3 pieces so I don't know what their exact casting requirements are. I just thought that on purely numerical terms it seems pretty good to be able to see 14 of the RB's 19 Principals over a couple of performances, considering it would take 6 or 7 Manon performances to be able to see that many!

[Tebasile]

45 minutes ago, BeauxArts said:

Possibly Fumi Kaneko is dancing elsewhere, but if not her omission from the triple bill is just as perplexing as Yasmine Naghdi’s. Very strange. 

They are both making their debuts in Manon this season - could that have something to do with it?

[BeauxArts]

Possibly - or possibly not! 

[Fairy]

31 minutes ago, Tebasile said:

They are both making their debuts in Manon this season - could that have something to do with it?

Perhaps Fumi and Yasmine are taking the lead role of Titania in Midsummer Nights Dream in the Ashton Triple later this year? Or could also be the lead in The Winters Tale, presuming casting hasn't come out yet?

[LinMM]

I’m sure that Naghdi and Kaneko are not not being included “ because they are not good enough” though! 
Im sure there are other valid reasons …nobody in management could possibly deem them not worthy of these ballets surely!