Geoff

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.

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.

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.

I went back last night and thoroughly enjoyed my evening in the middle of Upper Slips DD. Sitting on the right hand side of the auditorium I was forced to miss the vomiting, most of the miscarriage and the long soak in the bath of blood. On the other hand I could see all the principals clearly for at least an aria each. Sierra missed more than on Friday but the men seemed if anything even stronger. And the band shows no sign of slowing down, which is just great, at last idiomatic Italian conducting again at the ROH.

Wonderfully - and succinctly - put @DVDfan (to use a superlative). Thank you!

Yes one function of this site is as an outlet for fanboys/girls, relatives and friends as well as enthusiastic newbies, to show their appreciation, and this is all well and good. But that might get a little boring if this was all there was to read so thankfully you will also find objective criticism by experts and those with long experience, up to and including comments by dancers, choreographers, critics and others with professional experience, and even some academic scholarship. So please, keep watching keenly and sharing your opinions, negative as well as positive. For example I for one do not share the general view, sometimes expressed, that dancers these days are so much better than they used to be, or that all the RB does is wonderful.

With very sad timing, just this Friday a revival of the opera Lucia di Lammermoor opened at ROH. The programme has a full page thanking the Rausings for their help. Let’s hope he continues to support in her memory. RIP

Speaking personally, and after seeing this gorgeous-looking production a large number of times, I am of course very sorry for what happened in real life but could care less about what Liam Scarlett thought about Swan Lake. The sooner a better crafted version of the show overtakes his “ideas” the better. The signs are good: Morera’s work this run has resulted in a less fussy and stronger show. Let’s hope this work continues to develop.

Spot on. The right music, performed right and experienced live has often shaken me to my core. More than once left me sobbing, shaking and wet faced. But that has never happened listening to a recording. Acoustics help in more than one way so I am usually at the front of the amphi or up in the slips. The ROH orchestra can be good but no one would claim they are reliably great (I often travel between the Vienna Philharmonic and the ROH and my ears tend to take a while to settle back to our band). But sitting in the right seats and hearing the orchestra conducted as they were on Friday (so much better than at the dress incidentally) is a worthy alternative.

The design of the ROH means there are many useful "listening seats", which might be a good option for those who want to heed the company's printed warning of "blood and gore throughout".

Just out after the excellent first night. The crowd cheered: they definitely liked the show a lot, particularly Nadine Sierra, the tenor, the chorus and (dare one suggest) Donizetti energetically conducted. The production is no worse, actually better as simpler (though the interpolated miscarriage is still realistically bloody and extended). There were murmurs from cognoscenti that Sierra was a little slow and a little shrill in places, but she is admirably full voiced, particularly in comparison to the less experienced but spot on precise Liv Redpath, who I also enjoyed a lot at the dress rehearsal. To my great sadness I never had the chance to see Joan Sutherland in the role but was able to catch the supernatural voice of Gruberova as Lucia half a dozen times in her long career. For those who don’t know, put that name into YouTube and prepare to be amazed.

What about the other comments which said people here preferred the filmed version of DD to the live show?

Good question Jake. If I might be allowed to refer back to some comments I made a few weeks ago, perhaps this is relevant: https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/29265-royal-ballet-swan-lake-2024/?do=findComment&comment=437074

More news about the Arts Council and the Wigmore Hall, to quote from the current issue of Private Eye: >>"The regime at ACE is horrific: an Orwellian culture of ideological zealotry that everyone wants to speak out against but daren't because there's too much to lose. ACE isn't interested in music, excellence, quality... only social engineering. In return for its money it burdens us with unfeasible amounts of reporting about diversity targets, inclusion goals, the number of trans people in the audience... all wrapped up in meaningless language." The Wigmore spent a third of its ACE grant on reporting. And though the grant is for offstage community work, ACE had used it to dictate matters on stage, triggering a relationship breakdown.

Currently the company is not selling tickets in the Balcony (the highest/cheapest tier) for every performance, so cheaper seats are only available on some dates. That said this policy may not be driven by casting but other considerations. I agree with those who say it would be good to know more.