★★★

“all six dancers look mighty fine in mini tutus and costumes, and all have beautiful classical technique – and legs”

Tutu is dance-theatre from the French dance company Chicos Mambo, performed by a company of six male dancers who don’t take themselves too seriously.

The evening opens with what is certainly a female silhouette (Corinne Barbara), wearing a white tutu as she spins. The curtains open and the six male dancers of the company, wearing huge pink tulle trouser tutus, dance and lollop and fall to a classical ballet soundtrack.

There were some stand out dances, as the scenes moved from classical to contemporary, aerial to ballroom with a nod to Strictly and Dirty Dancing, to street dance and a Russian female gymnastics team with hoops and ribbons, all performed by the six lovely dancers, with individual physiques and characters.

The title Tutu is a nod to ballet’s most classical costume and all six dancers (Marc Behra, David Guasgua, Julien Mercier, Kamil Pawel Jasinski, Vincent Simon and Vincenzo Veneruso) look mighty fine in mini tutus and costumes, and all have beautiful classical technique – and legs!

What does not land so well is some of the very French comedy within the piece – with some difficult moments to watch involving a leak prop and tutu like vegetable headdresses on the dancers.

Tutu is choreographed by the French company’s Artistic Director Philippe Lafeuille. Tutu was created ten years ago, but this is its first residency in London, and it does feel somewhat dated. Chicos Mambo was created in 1994, when it would have been a genre defining dance company, with its clever subversion of gender norms in dance. But today, if male dancers are to take on the female dance steps en pointe in female costume, then they need to dance it better than the competition! It worked and was fun when the male company looked in pain dancing en pointe but to pastiche and try to take it to the next level, is just not possible, unless they can surpass the classical female ballet dancer, which they can’t, however hard they work. The aerial ballet solo, literally never got off the ground, firmly placing the dancer en pointe at the end of his not so beautifully arched feet. You wanted him to fly – but maybe that was the message a male dancer can’t fly en pointe….

Some of the more exciting scenes were those that didn’t necessarily include slapstick moments, like the Nappy ballet with the company all in nappy tutus being babies taking their first steps and moves in a beautifully funny choreographed piece – which sadly fell flat as the babies did, when it ran out of ideas. A lovely Dance of the Cygnets’, with the quartet dressed in duck costumes with beaks, again with very funny and clever choreography! A stunning Swan Lake solo, purely of the sinewed muscular back and arms of a dancer, as the back frame and quivering arms worked their magic, with strong lighting by Dominique Mabileau, assisted by Guillaume Tesson.

The highlight of the evening, for me, was the stunning solo from the bearded dancer, dressed in mini tutu and a rugby helmet. This was classical dance interspersed with the physically macho and vociferous grunts, as he flipped into the New Zealand All Blacks Māori haka war dance. It was unique and caught your breath as he switched between the two, becoming confused and fused into one. This would have been fabulous to have developed this concept with the full company….

The Artistic Director Philippe Lafeuille came out to take a bow at the curtain call and stayed on stage getting the audience up and dancing and singing. And with his beautiful French accent he told us that when life is not so good be happy and be TUTU-fied. It was a shame that this fun and lovely moment with him had not been the warm up act.

JOYCE DIDONATO SINGS BERLIOZ at the Royal Festival Hall

★★★★

“on to the stage walked Joyce DiDonato in a sheath of gold, her signature hair magnificent and a glittering of jewels – a true Egyptian Queen Cleopatra”

The opening concert of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Autumn/Winter Season was entitled Joyce DiDonato Sings Berlioz, which might have been slightly misleading, if you had not read the music to be performed, as the mezzo-soprano performed in just one of the three pieces played tonight.

The evening opened with Samuel Barber’s Medea’s Dance of Vengeance (1955). This saw the large orchestra on stage playing rather brilliantly this tense and violent single movement. The piece opens with a sparse xylophone solo, joined by the harp through to violin and echoed by flute and oboe. The orchestra relish playing with full strength capturing the ominous drama of Medea as she moves onwards to her ultimate goal. The music continues to change tempos with each section of the orchestra throwing the themes between instruments. There is a strong piano staccato passage that repeats relentlessly and transforms as other instruments pick it up in different rhythms. It was a thrilling opening to the evening, with every instrument pulsating this dramatic work. Medea’s Dance of Vengeance is extracted from what had been Barber’s score for a full-length ballet choreographed by Martha Graham, unleashed with orchestra and dancer, that would have been a sight to behold.

Up next was another truly dramatic piece, Hector Berlioz’s The Death of Cleopatra (1829). And here on to the stage walked Joyce DiDonato in a sheath of gold, her signature hair magnificent and a glittering of jewels – a true Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. In just one act, The Death of Cleopatra has the depth and drama of a full opera with one solo performer and orchestra. As the orchestra played the poetical extended opening DiDonato’s strength and character is clear from her stance as to where she is going to take her Cleopatra. Her mezzo-soprano operatic tone is rich and powerful as she sings above the orchestra with a great feel for the French dramatic vocal style in the recitatives and arias, particularly when singing to her ancestors in the tomb as she prepares for death. In the final movement a strong plucking starts on the double bass (six of them), and on through the strings building the tension as the orchestra breaths with DiDonato, through to the piccolos slithering here as “the vile reptile” arriving to wrap around Cleopatra’s wrist and bite. Her final despairing utterances are joined by the double basses, in what can only be described as the heart beating and slowing. Picking up with the strings momentarily in a final quivering beat before stopping – silence. Death. Conductor, Edward Gardner, clearly relishes Berlioz’s twists and turns and creates an increasing sense of entombment through to the deathly silence. A strong debut for Joyce DiDonato with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Berlioz was just 26 when he wrote The Death of Cleopatra and Beethoven had been dead for only 2 years.

Which takes us neatly to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E flat major (Eroica) 1803-5, the final piece in tonight’s programme. This was Beethoven’s great breakthrough symphony, and music was never the same again. The stuff of symphonic legend, the symphony was originally written to celebrate the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. But when Napoleon showed imperial ambitions, Beethoven defaced the original dedication (to Bonaparte) in protest – and his musical revolution began with this glorious work. Once again Edward Gardner brings excitement and passion from the orchestra. The assured performance right from the first two bracing E-flat major chords to the dynamics in the first movement are intelligently paced. There is no mistaking one is hearing piano rather than pianissimo, or a forte instead of fortissimo. The second movement, Marcia Funebre, is a funeral march and always deeply moving. The Scherzo is well played, and the famous trio hunting-horn is beautiful. And then you trust Beethoven to take you forward to the fourth movement with yet more new themes. The final movement, Allegro Molto (very fast), does not quite pick up the tempo needed until towards the very end, when the symphony’s coda with horns at full throttle is thrilling.

Tag Archives: Debbie Rich

TUTU

★★★

Peacock Theatre

TUTU at the Peacock Theatre

★★★

“all six dancers look mighty fine in mini tutus and costumes, and all have beautiful classical technique – and legs”

TUTU at the Peacock Theatre

Reviewed on 1st October 2024

by Debbie Rich

Photography by Michel Cavalca

Previously reviewed at Sadler’s Wells venues:

CARMEN | ★★★★ | July 2024

THE OPERA LOCOS | ★★★★ | May 2024

ASSEMBLY HALL | ★★★★★ | March 2024

AUTOBIOGRAPHY (v95 and v96) | ★★★ | March 2024

NELKEN | ★★★★★ | February 2024

LOVETRAIN2020 | ★★★★ | November 2023

MALEVO | ★★★★ | October 2023

KYIV CITY BALLET – A TRIBUTE TO PEACE | ★★★½ | September 2023

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER AT 65 | ★★★★★ | September 2023

DANCE ME | ★★★★★ | February 2023

TUTU

TUTU

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page

JOYCE DIDONATO SINGS BERLIOZ

★★★★

Royal Festival Hall

JOYCE DIDONATO SINGS BERLIOZ at the Royal Festival Hall

★★★★

“on to the stage walked Joyce DiDonato in a sheath of gold, her signature hair magnificent and a glittering of jewels – a true Egyptian Queen Cleopatra”