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Christopher Hampson,
A good winter.... | |||||||
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Here is a link to the previous column in the series.
Double Concerto (World Premiere) Monday saw the arrival of the rest of the company. I honestly can't remember the sequence of events from then until the premiere on Tuesday, but fitting the 38 dancers onto Manchester's small Opera
The dress rehearsal was done to orchestra and two un-tuned pianos. It might have looked passable but it sounded like Les Dawson had kidnapped one of the pianists and taken his place. A terrible situation for the pianist concerned as it made the rehearsal void for him. The premiere went smoothly and with some friends coming up from London to spur it on, I felt calmer than normal. My ballet was in very safe hands with Daria Klimentova and Jan-Eric Wikstrom in the principal roles. I remember going out for dinner, I remember having a glass or more of wine, I remember not paying for any of it, and then it was Wednesday. The following week was Bristol and another new cast to get on for Double Concerto. The Hippodrome stage looked like a football pitch compared to the previous weeks'. The dancers were able to stretch and move at full velocity and the ballet was starting to take the shape and speed I'd intended.
I joined them in the middle of the first rehearsal week and set about making improvements and changes to scenes and dance numbers. It was an easy schedule as most of the cast had taken part at the Royal Festival Hall last year. Our new additions where Gary Avis (Bob Cratchit), Roland Price (Mr. Fezziwig), Anjeli Mehra (Mrs. Cratchit), Clare Yates (Fred's Wife) and Ian Scullard (Charity worker) whom I nicknamed Tracy, more of that later. Like last year the company worked brilliantly together and the rehearsal period was a breeze. Roland hadn't been on stage since his days with Boston Ballet, and he took to the role of Mr. F like a drunk to vodka. With new crew under the watchful eye of Wendy, arguably one of the most professional stage managers I've ever been drunk with, the 3 week's in London was enough time to get us all set for the move to Wales.
A lot happened in Cardiff, some of which I'm still in therapy for, but highlights were: Christmas Dinner at the hotel with ten of the company playing Trivial Pursuits in the lobby and being constantly asked by the old ladies on the SAGA holiday tour when we were going to start playing "Twister". Not sure if they wanted to join in… The day Raymond Gubbay came down (our backer!) to see the show and two girls went off (there are only 5 in the show, and no 2nd casts). This is where hiring ex-principals works, as Roland improvised his way through an entire scene…double tours included. I had a deep, almost primal urge to corpse Kevin Richmond. He'd been the model of a professional. Never a dull show. Always lively and never a wrong move. My time came on the last day as I appeared as an old Grandma in the Fred's House Scene. I inadvertently managed to corpse most of the orchestra too. Old habits die hard!
Double Concerto was receiving its London Premiere and I was without a Daria Klimentova. At ENB there is always somebody waiting in the wings, and it was Monica Perego. She was in my first ever ballet at the Royal Ballet School, so rehearsals were done with ease and efficiency, we go back a long way. Thankfully the pianos were tuned for the dress rehearsal, but unfortunately the dancers weren't. The Nutcracker season had come to a close and they were exhausted. I remember from my time with the company just how draining the repetitiveness of doing that ballet is. The dress rehearsal was sketchy enough to leave me on the edge of my seat for the rest of the day until the evening performance.
As you may know by now, ENB have commissioned me to choreograph their next Nutcracker production. It is a collaboration between myself and designer Gerald Scarfe, with Matz Skoog on hand to bounce the ideas off. February may seem early to be doing all this sort of festive thinking, but with the sets needing to start being made by March and the rehearsals starting in August for a premiere in October it is a lot less than a year away!
Romeo and Juliet
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