Royal Ballet: Double Bill
Royal Opera House
Theatre magic has a lot to do with the unpredictability of the performed event. Regardless of the alluring promise of an all-star cast or the doubts raised by daring artistic choices, there is no certain way to forecast what any live performance will be like. Indeed, it is this surprise/disappointment factor that has kept me going for all the years I have spent both on stage and in front of it.
Last week I expressed some serious doubts about a Royal Ballet triple bill. The artistic flatness of the performances I saw impinged seriously on my desire to see more from the same company. But last Saturday I left the Royal Opera feeling in that very good mood so rarely experienced by critics.
Not unlike the previous triple bill, the new programme contrasts a 20th-century masterwork of American ballet history with a milestone of the British 20th-century repertoire.
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