A Royal Rehearsal

Yesterday, I attended a Royal rehearsal.  No, not that royal rehearsal, which took place at Westminster Abbey a week ago in the absence of Prince William.  Wonder who stood in for him?  Presumably, the unlucky man had to wear a sign around his neck saying "The Groom" or, perhaps, more properly, "HRH The Bridegroom", to avoid confusion.  Guess we'll have to rely upon Prince Harry, who was there, to brief his older brother on what he's supposed to do when, where and how on the day; fingers crossed on that one.

My rehearsal was the Royal Ballet's final dress rehearsal at the Royal Opera House of Manon.  This took place at 11.30 am prior to the opening performance the same evening.  Didn't leave much time for improvements, not that any seemed to be required.  Certainly, the standard of dancing, acting, and playing didn't differ from those of a real performance.  What was different was that the orchestra wore mufti and it was just wrong to see the conductor take his bows on stage in jeans and a striped polo shirt.  This, however, was not the worst dress choice in the house: one member of the audience had made the mistaken decision to wear shorts.  Admittedly, most of the audience was dressed down from the very formal wear that one often sees at an evening performance, and given the time of day and that it was a very pleasantly warm day, this seemed appropriate.  Shorts, though, were a step too far along the path and definitely crossed the boundary from smart casual (or even the subtly different casual smart).

The other feature that distinguished the rehearsal from a performance was the almost constant clicking of the official photographers' camera shutters.  I didn't appreciate that in this digital age such mechanical devices were still involved.  The sound that I wanted to hear but didn't was the National Anthem.  I still mourn its absence from theatrical performances.  Not only was the Royal Ballet performing in the Royal Opera House, it was also Her Majesty's birthday; playing of the anthem wouldn't have been given a second thought if it had been up to me.

Manon is a complex story of dark desire and requires great acting, as well as dancing.  That was delivered beautifully, along with fabulous lighting and costumes, and a good dose of humour.  Let's hope that the old adage suggesting that a great first performance requires a poor dress rehearsal is wrong - both for this run of Manon and for next week's Royal Wedding.  I think I can confidently expect to get my fill of the anthem then.