London town, part III: Music school students, Brooke in 'Chicago,' and two Royal Ballet 'Swans'

Friday began with a free performance by students from the GUILDHALL SCHOOL OF MUSIC, as part of the London Symphony Orchestra's educational Discovery concerts. They performed a fascinating program of modern music that was definetly out of the ordinary. Some pieces explored purely rhythm, with students clapping out the piece. Another used common living room objects to create noise. Another explored single tones in rhythm. The most fascinating part of the concert, though, was watching these young students throw themselves into making the music. They all seemed fascinated and passionate about it, even if most of us would raise our eyebrows and go "huh?" at most of it.

Chicago in the London Underground

In West End musicals land, I got a 15-pound ticket to see Brooke Shields in CHICAGO: THE MUSICAL. I wouldn't say she was awful but she definetly was not interesting. Now, the Velma she performed with, she was awful. The bleached blond wig made her look unfortunate, and all her line readings seemed forced and false. There was zero stage presence in a role that requires, well, star power. I suppose my viewing of the role will be forever influenced by seeing Ruthie Henshall perform Velma - now there was a star. The rest of the London production is not holding up very well either. I was thoroughly bored for most of Act I, and so I left. What can I say? The very cheap ticket gave me a certain amount of price flexibility.

The rest of Friday and Saturday saw a return to the good stuff. Three very strong ROYAL BALLET performances in a row, first a repeat of "The Dream" mixed bill with Alina Cojocaru as Titania, and then two "Swan Lakes" with debuts from Marianela Nuñez and Sarah Lamb in the main roles, made for a very happy me.

Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg, after The Dream.

Alina Cojocaru was fabulous as Titania in Frederick Ashton's THE DREAM on Friday night. She has a very strong sense of characterization, and hers was a haughty, unpredicable fairy queen. Her dancing flowed completely effortlessly, as though it were a natural language (a comment I use quite frequently with Cojcaru), something which works marvelously in these dramatic ballets. My only complaint about her performance was her tendency to overextend her leg in arabesque. That is, the leg will just go up too high - it destroys some of the Victorian-era imagery that Frederick Ashton created for the role; the shape of the person in their Romantic-length skirt gets distorted when the back leg goes up too high. A minor complaint, though, in an otherwise wonderful performance. Its tough to say who was better in the role - Leanne Benjamin on Tuesday or Alina tonight. I'm slighltly inclined to go with Benjamin because hers was an all around queenly performance - and no strange arabesques to go with it (see my review of Leanne's performance here). Johan Kobborg was Alina's Oberon tonight. Surprisingly, he was less of a presence than Edward Watson in the role.

Marianela Nunez & Thiago Soares after Swan Lake

Saturday was the day of SWAN LAKE. At the matinee, Marianela Nuñez danced Odette/Odile. Though she does not posess the same skinny-figure pliablity that other great Odettes tend to have, her "largeness" seemed to give her a much more human quality in the role. For me, it worked, and also because Nuñez is a wonderful actress. Her face was just so expressive - you could read all of the emotion on her face and flowing out through her body. Particularly in the pyrotechnical Black Swan pas de deux, it was all about the seductiveness in her facial expressions - quite remarkable. That and she is just a wonderful technician, so she thrilled with her dancing as well.

At the evening performance, American dancer Sarah Lamb turned in a startingly Russian performance. The shape of her body, the way she held her arms and stretched her legs in arabasque were all marks of the Russian school of dancing, which was unexpected for me since I was expecting an American-looking dancer. Lamb was apparently trained by Russian teachers at the Boston Ballet School, hence the "Russianness" of her dancing. I was still surprised, though, at just how Russian she was, all the way from her technique to the temperament of her Odette/Odile. Her Swan Queen was a marked difference from Nuñez and Bussell, both trained in the English school (see my review of Bussell's performance here - scroll down to the Swan Lake review). With Lamb, less emphasis was placed on drama and acting, more on the movement and shapes that were created. She had remarkable presence and brilliant technique in this performance, but still I prefer the Royal Ballet style of acting and drama combined with techinical proficiency. Lamb had the technique, but less of the drama.

From the Upper Amphitheatre, Sarah Lamb's Swan Lake curtain call.