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Cojocaru sparkled in Ballet Imperial but I thought she was a bit too kittenish for a ballet with this title. I also found myself thinking several times that Theme and Variations covers a lot of this ground rather more concisely. I like the women's tutus but the rest of their costumes - oh dear. The wigs are so unflattering to almost all of them, and the brown utilitarian knickers, of which we see a lot, seem out of keeping with the glamour of the rest.
 

I found the best way to make sense of the Putrov/Marquez Faun was to imagine them as teenagers, 14 or 15 at most - she was the more sophisticated of the two, he was just a boy trying out what he'd look like when he grew up. Quite touching, but without the mysteriousness and ambiguity of other casts I've seen.

Yoshida has lost some of her sharpness is Firebird but in compensation she's acting it remarkably well. Hristov made a good first go at the Tsarevich - it's a difficult role for someone with so little experience but he had the basic idea right and deserves time to build it up. Christopher Saunders was rather subdued as Kostchei, I thought. I'm pleased they bring the lights up for the last scene more slowly this time than they have sometimes in recent revivals - it's a lot more magical.