Mainly Opera and Ballet
English National Ballet’s Corsaire marks a tremendous achievement for Tamara Rojo since her appointment as artistic director less than four years ago. The staging by Anna-Marie Holmes, complemented by Gavin Sutherland’s musical rearrangement, provides thrilling male choreography fully realised in this performance by the four principal male dancers. Ms Rojo has brought in men well …
Peter Farmer’s wonderful designs for ENB’s Swan Lake, beautifully lit by Howard Harrison, suggest a world of mystery behind the real world of courtly conformity, all brought to life by Tchaikovsky’s music under the excellent baton of Gavin Sutherland. The dancers respond magnificently, and the Company’s ensemble work is showing glorious precision. The swans of …
The great charm of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s original story is the interplay between the real and imaginary worlds of Clara’s life, both inhabited by her beloved godfather Drosselmeyer. This production emphasises Drosselmeyer’s ambiguous role in his pursuit of a dancing butterfly in the Act II mirliton section, but the clever main idea is to …
ENB’s Coppélia is not only a huge bundle of fun, but Delibes’ music really found its heart under the baton of music director Gavin Sutherland. Sometimes dancers are let down by indifferent conducting, but Sutherland coaxes a sensitive, loving performance from his orchestra, with real bounce when needed. Sets and costumes are a delight, and …
One hundred years after the start of The Great War, this commemoration of its horrors opened at the Barbican last night with three new ballets specially commissioned by artistic director Tamara Rojo. The evening started with Liam Scarlett’s No Man’s Land connecting women at home with their men at war via the factory work of …
Congratulations to artistic director Tamara Rojo for overseeing the ENB’s hugely entertaining production of Le Corsaire. Its central section is the pirates’ lair of Act II where Medora foils the assassination of her beloved Conrad by his Lieutenant Birbanto, following gloriously exuberant dancing by the lovers and Conrad’s slave Ali. The thrilling choreography for Ali …
Britain now has its very own version of Le Corsaire, and what a wonderful romp it is. To the original score by Adolphe Adam, composer of Giselle, producers have almost always interpolated additional material by Pugni, Drigo et al, and what ENB have given us is a pot pourri of glorious music, excitingly played under …
This intriguing triple bill is the first programme artistic director Tamara Rojo has put together for the Company, and she even dances in it herself. The second item Le Jeune Homme et la Mort is worth the whole programme, and on the first night Rojo was the coolly callous young woman, with Nicolas le Riche, …
Kenneth MacMillan’s production of Sleeping Beauty, with its glorious costumes by Nicholas Geogiardis, is a joy to watch, the sets by Peter Farmer reflecting a mistiness in the world beyond the action like some famous Renaissance paintings. The expression of the action is crystal clear in its use of mime, and for anyone unfamiliar with the conventions a helpful …
The clever concept behind English National Ballet’s Nutcracker is not that the toy comes to life, but that in Clara’s mind he takes on the form of Drosselmeyer’s handsome nephew, seen in a blue uniform at the party in Act I. After the death of the Mouse King, which occurs in Act II of this production, the …
The English National Ballet’s production of Swan Lake is hard to beat, and it was beautifully danced, so don’t miss it. Wonderful designs by Peter Farmer with clever lighting by Howard Harrison, give a misty otherworldiness to the background in Acts I and III. That other world is where Act II and IV take place, and the stage and …
The original story by E.T.A. Hoffmann interweaves the real and magical worlds, with Drosselmeyer’s toy Nutcracker based on his own nephew. Wayne Eagling’s production, based on a joint idea with Toer van Schayk, combines the two worlds in various clever ways and the nephew, who appears in the party scene of Act I, later interchanges with …
With the recent success of the movie Black Swan, Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake is filling auditoriums, so tickets are getting scarce. In London at the moment both the Royal Ballet and English National Ballet have productions on stage, so there’s a choice. If you want to hear Tchaikovsky, then I’d go to the London Coliseum where Gavin Sutherland’s …
In the Hoffmann original the Nutcracker is a magical version of Drosselmeyer’s nephew, a feature represented in Eagling’s production by having the two characters interchange on stage several times.
This is a very welcome revival of Michael Corder’s production, with beautiful dancing by Daria Klimentova as Cinderella, very well supported by Vadim Muntagirov as the prince.
Carping aside, Andre Portasio stood out as a magnificent Carabosse, but even he couldn’t overcome the plodding work of the conductor, and that is what killed this performance. The dancers tried their best, but there was no sustained applause, and it was a sadly dull evening.
