 |
   |
Royal BalletMay 2007 London, Covent Garden by Ian Macmillan |
|||||||
|
As posted on our Postings pages... After a day's reflection, I still have the flat and disappointed feeling with which I left the Opera House last night. All of the works were to be new for me and, despite the views in many earlier posts here and of many critics, I headed into town in some hope. After all, my personal favourite in the RB's rep, Les Noces, involves both voice and dance, and anything with Zenaida Yanowsky in it could hardly fail, so things would probably turn out OK. In the event, not so. Like others above, I was disappointed in Seven Deadly Sins which, I understand, has defeated all earlier stagings. Frankly, I missed any drama, and any sense of sin, whether with damnation or redemption. Whatever resonance this piece might have had in the 30s is lost on me now, I'm afraid. The Annas go on the road, unpleasant things happen, and seven years later they go home with a bit of cash to house their demanding and rather unlovely family. (I am not referring here simply to the bizarre portrayal of her Mom by a baritone in drag. What was Weill thinking of here?) Like others, I saw little difference between the sins portrayed, since all involved Zenaida/Anna 2 being mauled or manhandled in each town. Heaven knows she did her best in the circumstances, but I hope never again to leave one of her performances with a similarly flat feeling. And so to mon ami, Pierrot. Lots of committed work from dancers, singer, and sextet, but overall, at 40 minutes of atonality plus sprechstimme, not for me. If there's ever a next time, Bruce, I'd probably take you up on any fresh offer of a drink ...... and your reference to the elasticated washing line now means something to me!
By now, things were taking their toll and, on another occasion, I'd probably have been rather more receptive to La Fin du Jour. There were some lovely dance moments in the slow movement, but I fear that I shut my eyes for a lot of the time and just listened. Others round about me had gone home at the interval, I noticed - perhaps they were recipients of the tickets that I seem to recall that The Sun was offering when it ran its piece on Zenaida and Marianela in their undies after the opening night? Not the best bill for neophytes, perhaps?
|
||||||||
|
 |
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
