The 12th Annual Chrissies: ...and the envelope please...

Here we go... eyes down for the 2018 Chrissies, now in their 12th year... I should get funding for this.

BEST DRAMA (Original/Revival)

THE INHERITANCE - Matthew Lopez (Noel Coward)

Nominees:

THE HUMANS (Hampstead) / THE LEHMAN TROLOGY (Lyttelton, NT) /
LONG DAYS JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (Wyndhams) / OTHELLO (The Globe)

* 
BEST MUSICAL (Original/Revival)

  THE KING AND I - Richard Rodgers / Oscar Hammerstein II (London Palladium)

 Nominees:

CAROLINE, OR CHANGE (Hampstead, Playhouse) / COMPANY (Gielgud) / 

 FUN HOME (Young Vic) / HAMILTON (Victoria Palace)

*

BEST CLASSICAL PRODUCTION

 SWAN LAKE - Matthew Bourne (Sadler's Wells)

Nominees:

MANON / MAYERLING / THE NUTCRACKER / SWAN LAKE (all Covent Garden)

*

BEST ACTOR (Drama)

SIMON RUSSELL BEALE - The Lehman Trilogy (Lyttelton, NT)

 Nominees:

REED BIRNEY (The Humans) / JONATHAN PRYCE (The Height of The Storm) /
MARK RYLANCE (Othello) / KYLE SOLLER (The Inheritance)

*

BEST ACTRESS (Drama)

LESLEY MANVILLE - Long Day's Journey Into Night (Wyndhams)

Nominees:

EILEEN ATKINS (The Height of The Storm) / PATSY FERRAN (Summer and Smoke) / 
  LAURA LINNEY (My Name is Lucy Barton) / SOPHIE OKONEDO (Antony and Cleopatra)

*

BEST ACTOR (Musical)

GILES TERERA - Hamilton (Victoria Palace)

Nominees:

MARCUS BRIGSTOCKE (Barnum) / PATRICK PAGE (Hadestown) / 

KEN WATANABE (The King and I) / JAMAEL WESTMAN (Hamilton)

*

BEST ACTRESS (Musical)

SHARON D. CLARKE - Caroline, or Change (Hampstead & Playhouse)

 Nominees:

KAISA HAMMARLUND (Fun Home) / EVA NOBLEZEDA (Hadestown) / 

KELLI O'HARA (The King and I) / MEERA SYAL (Annie)

*

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Drama)

  SAMUEL H. LEVINE - The Inheritance (Noel Coward)

Nominees:

ADAM GODLEY (The Lehman Trilogy) / JOHN BENJAMIN HICKEY (The Inheritance) /  

PAUL HILTON (The Inheritance) / JONATHAN SLINGER (Fanny and Alexander)

*

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Drama)

VANESSA REDGRAVE - The Inheritance (Noel Coward)

Nominees:

ADJOA ANDOH (Julius Caesar) / HAYDN GWYNNE (The Way of The World) / 

  JAYNE HOUDYSHELL (The Humans) / PENELOPE WILTON (Fanny and Alexander)

*

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Musical)

 

MICHAEL JIBSON - Hamilton (Victoria Palace)

 Nominees:

ANDRE DE SHIELDS (Hadestown) / RICHARD FLEESHMAN (Company) / 

DAMIAN HUMBLEY (Spamilton) / JASON PENNYCOOKE (Hamilton)

* 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Musical)

  PATTI LUPONE - Company (Gielgud)

Nominees:

RACHEL JOHN (Hamilton) / ABIONA OMANUA (Caroline, or Change) / 

JENNA RUSSELL (Fun Home) / CELINDE SCHONEMAKER (Barnum)

*

BEST CLASSICAL MALE

LIAM MOWER - Swan Lake (Sadler's Wells)

Nominees:

ALEXANDER CAMPBELL (Manon) / JAMES HAY (Manon) / 

STEVEN McRAE (Mayerling) / MAX WESTWELL (Swan Lake)

*

  BEST CLASSICAL FEMALE

 ZENAIDA YANOWSKY - Elizabeth (Barbican)

 Nominees:

SARAH LAMB (Winter Dreams) / LAURA MORERA (Mayerling) / 

AKANE TAKADA (Manon) / AKANE TAKADA (Swan Lake)

*

BEST DIRECTOR

STEPHEN DALDREY - The Inheritance (Noel Coward)

Nominees:

MARIANNE ELLIOTT (Company) / RICHARD EYRE (Long Day's Journey Into Night) / 

JOE MANTELLO (The Humans) / SAM MENDES (The Lehman Trilogy)

*

BEST DESIGNER

  BOB CROWLEY - The Inheritance (Noel Coward)

 Nominees:

ES DEVLIN (The Lehman Trilogy) / ROB HOWELL (Long Day's Journey Into Night) / 

MICHAEL YEARGAN (The King and I) / DAVID ZINN (The Humans)

*

BEST LIGHTING

  JUSTIN TOWNSEND - The Humans (Hampstead)

Nominees:

JON CLARK (The Inheritance) / JON CLARK, LUKE HALLS (video) (The Lehman Trilogy) / PETER MUMFORD (Long Day's Journey Into Night) / BEN STANTON (Fun Home)

*

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY (Musical)

  ANDY BLANKENBUEHLER - Hamilton (Victoria Palace)

Nominees:

CHRISTOPEHR GATTELLI (The King and I) / REBECCA HOWELL (Barnum) / 

DANNY MEFFORD (Fun Home) / DAVID NEUMANN (Hadestown)

*

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY (Classical)

  SIR FREDERICK ASHTON- Les Patineurs (Covent Garden)

Nominees:

MATTHEW BOURNE (Swan Lake) / KENNETH McMILLAN (Manon) / 

 KENNETH McMILLAN (Mayerling) / LIAM SCARLETT (Swan Lake)

 *

and a Special Performance Award to the fantasic Bianca Del Rio for BLAME IT ON BIANCA DEL RIO at Hammersmith O2 - yes, that's me in the circle!

LES PATINEURS / WINTER DREAMS / THE CONCERT at Covent Garden - light and shade...

My last visit to the Royal Ballet this year was to see another of their mixed programmes, curated to celebrate three great choreographers: Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan and Jerome Robbins.  As usual it was also a perfect opportunity to show the breadth of talent across the Royal Ballet company.

First was Ashton's LES PATINEURS which debuted in 1937 and is set to music by the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, a composer whose operas have fallen out the repertoire but his themes were wonderfully arranged by Constant Lambert into a fizzing, whirling delight.  At only 35 minutes it's an almost perfect cameo of ballet pleasure.  The Royal Ballet are still using the original designs by William Chappell and it almost took your breath away when first seen - a glorious Victorian Christmas illustration come to life, each colour popping off the stage.

A group of 15 dancers dance/skate across the stage in various combinations: a group of eight dancers in red and blue give way to three couples in reddish-brown, blue and white and a solo male dancer in blue, whose effortless spins and leaps supposedly were inspired by Ashton's admiration of another Fred, Mr. Astaire.  It was utterly captivating and is going to be revisited hopefully again sometime.  The ballet was a tribute to Ashton's dazzling vision and style - effortlessly elegant but with a grounding in pattern and technique.  The company were excellent but special mention to Luca Acri as the effervescent boy in blue.

The mood changed dramatically with MacMillan's WINTER DREAMS which uses Chekhov's THREE SISTERS for inspiration.  The ballet had it's first performance in 1991 and MacMillan said he did not want to do a literal ballet adaptation of the play but to use it as a template to explore the emotions of loneliness and longing.  MacMillan originally staged it as a pas-de-deux for Masha and Vershenin as part of a gala for the Queen Mother's 90th birthday and expanded it to make a full 55 minute one-act ballet.

It's been quite a while since I saw THREE SISTERS so I was a bit shaky as to who was who but the central theme of the isolation of the three sisters was palpable and they were danced beautifully by Itziar Mendizabal as Olga, Sarah Lamb as Masha and Yasmin Naghdi as Irina with fine support from Gary Avis as Kulygin and Vadim Muntagirov as Vershenin; he and Lamb danced the central pas-de-deux wonderfully.  As with all MacMillan's finest work, WINTER DREAMS had an ominous air of sadness about it and it's duel scene towards the end reminded me of MAYERLING with it's guns and figures under umbrellas.  I think however I would have liked to have seen it grouped with other ballets as the wrench from the gaiety of the Ashton piece to the MacMillan was a bit too jarring.  The ballet is set to music by Tchaikovsky and it sounded wonderful shared between Russian stringed instruments and Robert Clark's piano.

The last ballet was Jerome Robbins' THE CONCERT first performed by NY City Ballet in 1956.  Set to music by Chopin, a fussy concert pianist - Robert Clark proving to be a right trooper - plays to a small audience who spend more time fidgeting and daydreaming than they do just listening.  Their various personal thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of six ballerinas who attempt a pas de six but end up facing the wrong way or with the wrong arm raised etc.

It's a slight piece but made up a pleasing sandwich with LES PATINEURS for the more weighty WINTER DREAMS, and it was well performed by the company who communicated a sense of delight in being able to do comedy. 

The art of curating a mixed programme is a tricky one but I was delighted to have seen these three ballets in one sitting and see some favourite dancers in new roles.

Onto the 2019 season...!