We have only seen a production of Giselle once before and that was on 5 May 2001. We were in the Lower Ampitheatre of the Royal Opera House to see the Royal Ballet and where the ticket price was £35 and is now £82. On that evening, according to the ROH database, Giselle was danced by Sarah Wildor and Count Albrecht by none other than Carlos Acosta, probably the most famous male lead this century? I can't say I remember anything about the performance or even the plot. Fortunately the one page programme we received at the cinema told us what it was all about.
Trawling through my collection of tickets, I found we have been to see a ballet more times than I thought. The Nutcracker by the Royal Ballet, Swan Lake by English National Ballet (three times including once in the round at the RAH) and by The Kirov Ballet, Cinderella by the Royal Ballet La Bayadere by the Royal Ballet, Romeo and Juliet by the Royal Ballet and ENB, Coppelia by ENB, Sleeping Beauty by ENB (three times), Alice by ENB and The Snow Queen by ENB.
Gone are our days of trips to the expensive ROH, so a live screening of Giselle was a great opportunity in a packed Screen 1 at the local Odeon. There are certain advantages of watching ballet on the big screen. You are much closer to the dancers, particularly the real close ups you would never see in the theatre. Likewise you also get to see the detail of the costumes and set. It was amazing when the cameras went into the orchestra pit at the introduction to Act 2. The behind the scenes clips before the start and during the interval were excellent.The main downside for me was the lack of 3D. To my mind, the live performance of dance needs that extra dimension and ter hat is why this might be a one off for me. The lighting was good but the sound of the orchestra seemed flat. That might be just the Odeon as I have noticed before it's not the best. The camera direction was erratic. Sometimes the close ups meant we missed the ensemble dancing and the camera positioned level with the stage didn't do the performance any favours. So advantages outweighed by the disadvantages.
As to the performance itself, Marianela Nunez was brilliant as Giselle and she was complimented by an athletic Vadim Muntagirov.
The Guardian says: If the acting is superb, it’s given real authority by the dancing. Muntagirov and Nuñez are technically thrilling; she, at her finest moments, can combine an absolute mastery of the choreography, with the illusion that she’s dancing it for the first time. The Act I Pas de Six is a near textbook display of musicality and style. Of the six,Yuhui Choe and Alexander Campbell were superb.
I certainly didn't remember the startling difference between Acts 1 and 2. The second half has the captivating twenty four corps de ballet as the Wilis. They would be worth watching live.
No comments:
Post a Comment