Cinderella

Yasmine Naghdi

Did something unusual for me last night. We went to see the Stravinsky ballet, Cinderella (a Christmas staple) in the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. I've never been there before and so it was nice simply to be in the building. It is only the third time I've seen a ballet (Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet were our other outings) and was slightly dragged along by Eleri. Anyway, ut was in three acts and was easy to follow as Cinderella is such a well known story. The place was packed to capacity (2,256 of us) women being in the majority 80/20 I guess (the reverse of a Focus concert). Ballet is rather esoteric and I am not quite convinced but it was a spectacle worth seeing I'm sure.

Cassette 04 Mussorgsky Stravinsky

I think I bought this for Pictures at an Exhibition (Emerson Lake and Palmer were inevitably there first in my case, of course). Pictures was originally written for piano I later learned but Ravel scored it for orchestra, which seems much more natural somehow. The bonus was Stravinsky's Rite of Spring which is okay. Indeed, Russian ballet music tends generally to be attractive in my experience.

TTRMOMG 08 Swan Lake

I've never seen the ballet Swan Lake performed but I remember three pictures my Nana Brady had similar to the one above. Like the snow globes with London scenes they fascinated me as a kid. 

Romeo and Juliet

Eleri and I enjoyed being at the ballet this week. We saw the English National Ballet doing Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet at the Coliseum. Good stuff! We very rarely attend the ballet but I'd prefer it to seeing a musical. We only know that one bit (ruined by the Apprentice) but it's a fine score and was a very good production.

Nutcracker excerpt

This was filmed on December 3 and is similar to what we saw (except for the intro, of course)

Nutcracker Ballet

Did something new again last night. A few weeks ago I was in town and I saw a poster advertising the Nutcracker Ballet. I thought to myself 'that would be a good thing to take Eleri to' (like me she'd never been to a proper ballet though she loves dancing). Anyway I got on line and booked to see last night's perfomance of the Nutcracker by the English National Ballet. (I think I actually saw a poster for the Royal Ballet's production another of at least three that are on in London this Christmas). Anyway Eleri loved it and so did I. Knowing most of the music helps and I found it much easier to enjoy than the musical Guys and Dolls (last thing like this I took Eleri to). With ballet you are not looking for character or plot I suppose. Good old Tchaikovsky, eh? Of course, I am unable to judge the production itself but it looked pretty good to me. Lovely sets, a few nice jokes, good pace, very colourful, well danced.

More on this production here. More on the Nutcracker here (more than you could ever want to know!)