Continually updated
Photo: Ross Brown
The Royal New Zealand Ballet's brand new production of Giselle opened last evening in Wellington with Gillian Murphy's debut in the title role. Haglund will link to the reviews as they come in.
Lucire News Giselle Another outstanding production for the Royal New Zealand Ballet
Update 11/7:
Dominion-Post [Gillian Murphy] may have the reputation of being a fast dancer but believe me, she does
slow too. Balances are held, arabesques developed, port de bras
sustained, pirouettes gifted, all speaking of love. Lucky RNZB, and they
know it.
Update 11/8:
New Zealand's Theatreview
Update 11/8:
New Zealand dance critic Raewyn Whyte has seen the first two casts of Giselle (Murphy/Huan and Antonia Hewitt/Andrew Bowman) and has been kind enough to share her exclusive comments with H.H. in the Comments section of this post.
Update 11/8:
From Valerie Lawson's website dancelines: [Giselle] is big in scope, in its sweep of narrative, its adherence to the spirit
of the story and most of all in the impact of the performance as Giselle
by Stiefel’s fiancée, Gillian Murphy.
Update 11/9:
This is a fabulous and very detailed 10 minute audio review of the opening night of Giselle by Deirdre Tarrant on Radio New Zealand. "Beautifully done….They got it 200 percent."
Update 11/12:
Raewyn
Whyte's first formal review of Giselle is out, a second one is due out after the Auckland performances:
The dancing is demanding throughout the work’s 110 minutes, and the
company has never looked better – technically poised and polished,
lyrically perfect, and expressively convincing. The majority of dancers
are younger than 32 and have come from all over the world to be in this
company. Most have been here at least five years, and are highly
committed to staying. That they are at their best right now is hardly
surprising, given the input they have had over the past six weeks from
Stiefel and Kobborg, Gillian Murphy (of ABT and who is the Royal NZ
Ballet’s Principal Guest Artist), and coach Amanda McKerrow.
Thanks, Raewyn!
Update 11/23
Raewyn Whyte previews RNZB's upcoming visit to Auckland in the New Zealand Herald.
16 responses to “RNZB’s new Giselle opens in Wellington”
*Squee* I hope there will be lots of pics/video clips of Gillian in this role!
*Squee* I hope there will be lots of pics/video clips of Gillian in this role!
sorry Haglund – I don’t seem to be able to send you email?? I did tweet last night as nzdancenews – did you see that?
SK Giselle fabulous, gorgeouos, narrativelu cohesive and coherent, Beautiful design, fabulous dancing. Huan/Murphy – luminous. And an absolutely radiant Qi Han – I’ve never seen him dance like this – he’s on fire! Can’t wait to see second cast – Bowman/Harper.
This morning I have an image in my mind of a world-weary Myrtha, tired of welcoming new Willis, implacably punishing the men responsible.
sorry Haglund – I don’t seem to be able to send you email?? I did tweet last night as nzdancenews – did you see that?
SK Giselle fabulous, gorgeouos, narrativelu cohesive and coherent, Beautiful design, fabulous dancing. Huan/Murphy – luminous. And an absolutely radiant Qi Han – I’ve never seen him dance like this – he’s on fire! Can’t wait to see second cast – Bowman/Harper.
This morning I have an image in my mind of a world-weary Myrtha, tired of welcoming new Willis, implacably punishing the men responsible.
Raewyn, thanks so much for your report. It really sounds like we are missing so much – we’ll just have to wait for the MOVIE! All the reviews and tweets make the first evening of the Stiefel/Kobborg production and the dancers’performances sound like it was all heavenly.
Sorry about the email problem. Don’t know what caused it, but hopefully it will resolve itself.
Thanks, Raewyn!
Raewyn, thanks so much for your report. It really sounds like we are missing so much – we’ll just have to wait for the MOVIE! All the reviews and tweets make the first evening of the Stiefel/Kobborg production and the dancers’performances sound like it was all heavenly.
Sorry about the email problem. Don’t know what caused it, but hopefully it will resolve itself.
Thanks, Raewyn!
Ok, maybe I shouldn’t have read the reviews. Now I’m really jealous of the fans in New Zealand! Ethan and Johann’s take on Albrecht’s fate is quite interesting and heartbreaking.
Ok, maybe I shouldn’t have read the reviews. Now I’m really jealous of the fans in New Zealand! Ethan and Johann’s take on Albrecht’s fate is quite interesting and heartbreaking.
Second cast tonight were differently nuanced. Andrew Bowman more lustful and persuasive as Albrecht in the early scenes, more deeply devastated after Giselle’s death, and closer to the edge of exhaustion at the end of Act2 compared to the utterly ardent and in love Qi Huan. Antonia Hewitt a radiant Giselle, danced beautifully. Lucy Balfour was authoritative as Myrtha, much more convincing than Abigail Boyle last night. Dimitri Kleioris was outstanding as Hilarion – fabulous loft in the series of jumps and very convincing characterisation (so upset not to win Giselle’s heart, so suspicious of Albrecht and determined to figure out what was really going on, so bound by his own moral code to still behave well — and so undeserving of beiin g danced to death!) A great development, this role by Kobborg; another lovely development is the young bridal couple — such joy and delight and communal pride in their happiness — I think perhaps this was more a Stiefel choreography?
Great to have the chance to see the second cast and check out my observations from last night and confirm some things I was unsure about. I will have a longish review in due course for dancetabs.co.uk – will let you know when it’s up.
Second cast tonight were differently nuanced. Andrew Bowman more lustful and persuasive as Albrecht in the early scenes, more deeply devastated after Giselle’s death, and closer to the edge of exhaustion at the end of Act2 compared to the utterly ardent and in love Qi Huan. Antonia Hewitt a radiant Giselle, danced beautifully. Lucy Balfour was authoritative as Myrtha, much more convincing than Abigail Boyle last night. Dimitri Kleioris was outstanding as Hilarion – fabulous loft in the series of jumps and very convincing characterisation (so upset not to win Giselle’s heart, so suspicious of Albrecht and determined to figure out what was really going on, so bound by his own moral code to still behave well — and so undeserving of beiin g danced to death!) A great development, this role by Kobborg; another lovely development is the young bridal couple — such joy and delight and communal pride in their happiness — I think perhaps this was more a Stiefel choreography?
Great to have the chance to see the second cast and check out my observations from last night and confirm some things I was unsure about. I will have a longish review in due course for dancetabs.co.uk – will let you know when it’s up.
Great to have a collection of reviews and photos! Thank you for putting this up, Haglund.
I don’t really understand the review given by theatre review – Albrecht’s flashbacks. Can someone who attended maybe elaborate on that part? Quite a few other things seemed off for me (in the traditional Giselle, I’ve never had the impression that Giselle recognizes her own wrongdoing, but that it simply is about forgiving. And after all, Giselle hadn’t actively participated in any Wili-activity of dancing someone to death before), so I wonder what this is about, as well as Albrecht’s ‘end’. While it claims that Giselle is ‘anti-feminist’, I think that this review is probably a little too ‘feminist’ in its approach.
Great to have a collection of reviews and photos! Thank you for putting this up, Haglund.
I don’t really understand the review given by theatre review – Albrecht’s flashbacks. Can someone who attended maybe elaborate on that part? Quite a few other things seemed off for me (in the traditional Giselle, I’ve never had the impression that Giselle recognizes her own wrongdoing, but that it simply is about forgiving. And after all, Giselle hadn’t actively participated in any Wili-activity of dancing someone to death before), so I wonder what this is about, as well as Albrecht’s ‘end’. While it claims that Giselle is ‘anti-feminist’, I think that this review is probably a little too ‘feminist’ in its approach.
loved the performance, but the first act cast was a little more like the united nations than the NZ Ballet….peasants, 4 asian and 2 american….there are so few jobs for new zealand dancers and the americans have dozens of companies. life’s not fair and neither is that. Give the kiwi dancers a break for Gods sake….Interesting to see where all this goes in the next few years…Love going to see the Russian ballet in Russia…at least they are all Russians with their own distinctive style.
loved the performance, but the first act cast was a little more like the united nations than the NZ Ballet….peasants, 4 asian and 2 american….there are so few jobs for new zealand dancers and the americans have dozens of companies. life’s not fair and neither is that. Give the kiwi dancers a break for Gods sake….Interesting to see where all this goes in the next few years…Love going to see the Russian ballet in Russia…at least they are all Russians with their own distinctive style.
Hi Dianne.
Thanks for your comment and for reading H.H.
I understand your point. I haven’t yet had the privilege of seeing RNZB so cannot speak to whether or not they have their own distinctive style. Given the commitment of the previous and current artistic managements, however, I would bet that there is a very clear style without a lot of room for idiosyncrasy. But as I said — I do understand your point.
Hi Dianne.
Thanks for your comment and for reading H.H.
I understand your point. I haven’t yet had the privilege of seeing RNZB so cannot speak to whether or not they have their own distinctive style. Given the commitment of the previous and current artistic managements, however, I would bet that there is a very clear style without a lot of room for idiosyncrasy. But as I said — I do understand your point.