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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ballet BBC2 today
I'm enjoying what I've seen of this but videoing it for later when I can watch properly.
Do any other balletomanes have views on it?
As a balletophobe (with rare exceptions, Prokofiev's Romeo & J being one) I am enjoying it very much, as we watch it en famille at the moment - young ones are enjoying it and I like the setting and costumes, and the music which strikes me as quite Prokofiev-esque. I find myself wishing I'd seen it in the theatre...
Simon Russell Beale has just flounced on in drag
"...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
Pianorak, yes I missed the first ten minutes setting up the video. I don't know the composer at all but enjoyed the music, the beautiful dancing, the use of colour and the spectacular visual tricks. Like Caliban I wish I could have seen it at the ROH.
Simon Russell Beale was astonishing! He used to be a chorister at St Paul's, and his musicality was clear. He reminded me a lot of Frederick Ashton, who would have been a good Duchess.
Not sure about the music. It struck me at first as being film-score-ish and shallow (you wouldn't listen to it without the dancing), but it improved.
When Lauren Cuthbertson (Alice) was about 14 or 15, I saw her dance in a Royal Ballet School performance. She didn't stand out for me particularly, though some others thought her very talented. They were obviously right!
The best bit for me was the Rose Adagio parody for the Queen of Hearts, with jam tarts instead of roses :)
I agree with Mary, one wouldn't probably listen to the music without the dancing. Yet music and choreography were all of a piece, I thought. Actually the dancing, costumes and scenery were superb and I am almost tempted to call it a Gesamtkunstwerk (pace Wagner). I hope it will be available on iPlayer.
It has only just dawned on me that Radio Times no longer devotes a full page to daytime TV, instead filling pages and pages with stuff of no possible interest to me (being selfish again!)
My life, each morning when I dress, is four and twenty hours less. (J Richardson)
I agree, I miss a lot of daytime programmes because of the way the RT is now printed or setout.I only found it because I'm having trouble with a remote and was trying to get different stations.
I have just caught up with the first ten minutes or so that I missed on TV. If you like ballet,if you,or your children, ever read 'Alice', please watch it on iPlayer. It's really good
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