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Freedom of movement seems all one-sided at the moment.

Ah, thanks for this.

Is it The Attic Term when Lawrie, a droning singer, volunteers to conduct so she can "be Sir Thomas Beecham and hum"? I don't have access to mine in order to check. IIRC she then suggests André Previn as his hands go like Concorde's nose. @Lindsay @DelphiumBlue @CCL?

You are obviously a glass half full person @MAB I thought was too but obviously not since my reaction tends more towards I’m not holding my breath than my fingers are crossed.

I have no musical background @Geoffbut I generally find dramatic Interpolations that have no connection to the music irritating in the extreme. I also find them patronising since they tend to imply that the audience lacks the imagination to join up the dots in the plot.

Oh thank you that is good to hear

Is there anyone from the new Sixth Form intake to Moorlands going for a look round tomorrow? I just wondered if you had any idea of how long it was for? Thanks

On the other hand, we don't want the side kicks looking more regal than the Prince, do we?? Otherwise those princesses might start making eyes at the wrong chap! On a more serious note, visually it does help if all the main characters are of similar height.

Hello I’m interested

Bumping this as hello dolly's tickets have now sold - any interest for tonight? Thanks, MichelleS

To be fair, the book is pretty different from the opera. Apart the rest, the baddie in the book is - and no doubt Katie wouldn’t like this - Lucia’s mother.

As Lucia is based on The Bride of Lammermore by Walter Scott, clearly Scottish literature wasn't part of the syllabus.. I'm not against imagination in opera productions. I recently saw a Guilio Cesare inspired by Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile. At one point Cesare, in a white tuxedo, steps up to a 1929's style microphone to deliver a major aria. It was an evening of total joy, the producer did something entirely original without alienating his audience. I find fewer monstrosities on my European Opera jaunts. Perhaps the new opera boss will make wiser production choices than we see in London at present. My fingers are crossed.

Oh any way is good Timmie. I was riffing off @MAB discovering with experience that she now increasingly enjoys concert performances of opera, ie where there is next to no “production” or “staging” and it’s all about the music. Iris Murdoch wrote in one of her novels, “I don’t know anything about music, I just like the noise it makes” and that’s a great start! Just keep experiencing all kinds of shows, I am sure you’ll get a lot from Carmen, have a good time.

Both tickets now spoken for, thanks

Hello i am interested and have sent a PM.

Interesting comments Geoff, they probably sum up where I am in my operatic appreciation journey and why I enjoy Katie Mitchell’s productions 😄. I am happy though that this has got me into opera. (My first Carmen tonight and Lucia next week).

Not so well known is the Cecchetti Associates scheme, held three times a term on Sundays plus there is a summer school. For many students it could be the extra boost they need while still able to carry on with other training & classes. It's not only for those training in the Cecchetti Method. From 7 to 18. It's a chance also to network and make friends. There is also a choreographic competition. This is based at Rambert. Next auditions June. There are a small number of scholarships. The scheme has been running for 25 years. https://www.cecchettiassociates.dance/ https://www.cecchettiassociates.dance/summer-school https://www.cecchettiassociates.dance/history https://www.cecchettiassociates.dance/choreographic https://www.facebook.com/CecchettiAssociatesCentral/ Two other schemes in Wales and Warrington

FionaM in reply to your question about Miki Mizutani dancing a soloist role. This is normal with BRB particularly while touring. Yu Kurihara danced Aurora, Fairy of Joy(Lilac Fairy solo) and the Lilac Fairy in the space of a couple of days. I enjoyed your review which coincided with my thoughts. The partnering by the four princes did seem a bit strained during the Rose Adagio scene which probably led to the slight mishap you mentioned. I think I know which Prince it was partnering her at the time and I am quite sure it would have caused much discussion post performance

Links – Tuesday 23 April, 2024 Reviews Aakash Odedra and Aditi Mangaldas, Mehek, Sadler’s Wells, London: Grace Times, City A.M. Ballet West / Repertory Dance Theatre / Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Alchemy (Coppélia / Passengers / The Parable), Kingsbury Hall, Salt Lake City UT: Haley Freeman, Daily Utah Chronicle Hung Dance, Birdy, Coronet Theatre, London: Louise Levene, Financial Times Martha Graham Dance Company, American Legacies, New York City Center, New York NY: Siobhan Burke, The New York Times (paywall has been dropped) Ivy Lin, Bachtrack Vanemuine Theatre Ballet Company, Ash White, Tartu, Estonia: Maggie Foyer, Bachtrack West Australian Ballet, La Bayadère (Horsman), His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth WA: Isabelle Leclezio, Dance Australia Xi’An Acrobatic Troupe, Swan Lake, Royal Opera House, Oman: Wang Xuejing, Zhang Zhuoya, CGTN Previews Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Mixed programme, Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Nashville TN: Melonee Hurt, Nashville Tennessean via AOL Ballet Folklórico de Los Ángeles and Mariachi Garibaldi de Jaime Cuéllar, Mixed programme, Midwest Trust Center, Overland Park KS: Stephi Wild, Broadway World Ballet Hispánico, The Quinceañera Gala, New York City Center, New York NY: Music MCM, Martin Cid Magazine International Ballet, Swan Lake, Peace Center Concert Hall, Greenville NC: Kathy Laughlin, Greenville News Northern Ballet, Romeo and Juliet (Gable/Moricone), Theatre Royal, Nottingham: Fionn Burriows, Newark Advertiser Tampa City Ballet, If I Cry, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa FL: Sofía Ravazzoni, Tampa Beacon Obituary Dieter Graefe: Graham Spicer, Gramilano News Youth America Grand Prix results Chch girl, 14, wins world’s biggest ballet competition: Lisa Davies, 1News NZ Overview: Amy Brandt, Pointe Magazine Nashville Ballet 2024-25 Season Announcement: Stephi Wild, Broadway World EIN Presswire, Fox8 News Features Artist Profile: Dr. Merritt A. Moore ’10-’11 on Art, Science, and Saying ‘Yes’ to Both: Marin E. Gray and Hannah M. Wilkoff, The Harvard Crimson Dance moves: Amy Seiwert on becoming the new artistic director of Smuin Contemporary Ballet: Philip Mayard, The Bay Area Reporter Herts dance teacher’s fundraiser in memory of talented uncle: Noticeboard, In Your Area Bishop’s Stortford, Herts “It is possible!” – The Royal Ballet’s Emerging Choreographer Joseph Toonga on piqués and popping: Graham Spicer, Gramilano Tutu, Bloody Tutu: Another Dangerous Ballerina Hits the Screen, Abigail: Margaret Fuhrer, The New York Times What Real Dancers Think of Balletcore: Gavin Larsen, Dance Magazine

Katie Mitchell was, one understands, seen as brilliant while an undergraduate (Who's Who shows Magdalen College, University of Oxford). The record however states she studied English literature and language, rather than music, so it is perfectly possible she belongs to that category of director who believes staging opera is all about "the text". But opera is a musical form, which leaves many of those working these days adrift. Being able to read a score is not an absolute requirement. One of the most successful opera directors of the 20th century (no names, no names) could not read music and resisted any attempt to learn. But strong theatrical imagination linked to inherent musicality produced production after production which found great favour with audiences and critics alike, and which lasted decades in the repertoire. Katie Mitchell - but perhaps I do her a disservice - appears to have a bias to "action", "drama", "words"...i.e. the "text" - so presumably thinks what the orchestra is doing is merely an accompaniment to the important activity on the stage. This, I submit, is a misunderstanding of the particular art form. By way of example, here are two moments from the current Lucia when Mitchell stages tone deaf interventions. The most famous section in the show is the "mad scene" and the second most famous is the glorious sextet, a masterpiece of condensed emotion, packed with meaning. But at the start of both of these most important sections of music, what happens on stage? Donizetti writes introductory music inviting us to settle and concentrate on what the orchestra and singers are doing, while Mitchell has ghosts climb clumsily in through windows at the side of the stage, as if we were in a comic production of "When Bel Canto Goes Wrong". So in answer to your question, not someone who knows how to listen to music and respond to it intelligently.

They don't really come back together, they're just grown-up enough to be able to work together. I love the whole series, home and school.

@Sophoife It's a close-run thing! And the Nicola-Tim growing apart and then 'coming back together' to arrange the carol service in the Attic Term is so subtly done. They are such quality novels, disguised as 'standard' school stories.

@Lindsay ah, The Play! Yes, one of my favourites, too, but cricket, Jan Scott and Nicola growing up somewhat do it for me.

Apologies for crashing the party but am also a huge Antonia Forest fan and hence very excited by this thread - although Autumn term is my favourite, mainly because of the Christmas play

Yes same on Brighton line as there are engineering works in May at the weekends too.