Mayerling - and Spring public booking

[Anna C]

Student booking was yesterday, so the ROH should really have known by midnight last night how many amphi seats for 2nd May had been booked by students - and therefore how many (if any) amphi seats they could release for 9am today.

 

I was very lucky - accessible seats in the stalls row I wanted for the Soares/Cuthbertson matinee. Not aisle or end of row which is unfortunate but extra legroom and no heads in the way. Just as well because there were no front row central Stalls Circle seats left even at 9.02 am! I may be wrong but there definitely seemed to be fewer top priced tickets held back this time for access members/general public, so I assume all the other price brackets were also harder to nab.

[Lenore]

I found the seat issue odd this morning. I refreshed the Mayerling pages at 9 on the dot this morning, & all that showed as available for 28/04 & 11/05 were the cheap Amphi seats (upper slips etc).

 

I did have a similar issue when I booked a package when general booking for those opened (don't know if anyone booked a package & had an issue; I was on at 9AM & when it was opened no seats initially showed as being available).

 

After a few mins of refreshing for the Mayerling ones, a fair amount of tickets suddenly showed for most levels (except the DGT, which I wouldn't have booked anyway). Including a few SCS. They disappeared quite quickly though... definitely a bit more frantic than last general booking.

[LinMM]

I've just successfully booked for that matinee on the 13th as well no problems at all but the initial day I wanted was fully sold out except for a few slips.

I'm more than happy with this cast too though and any way haven't seen Mayerling for years so will be like a new experience!!

 

I seem to have been incredibly lucky this year... so far ...have had no probs getting something I've wanted on the first attempt!!

Edited January 24, 2017 by LinMM

[penelopesimpson]

Perhaps the explanation for the release of tickets at 10 am today is that they have been held back for those who book in person or by phone. Not everyone has access to the internet you know and among those who do have access not everyone feels that confident about using it to book tickets. I suspect that people who can't book on the internet get just as upset by the thought that ticket start to go on sale at 9am as some of us do at the number of tiers of Friends that there now are. 

 

As far as the choice of repertory and the number of performances of each programme is concerned  my guess is that this season's programming was directed at developing the younger dancers by giving them lots of opportunities to dance classically based choreography.Everyone, including the corps, get that opportunity in ballets like Fille and Sleeping Beauty but they don't get that sort of opportunity in MacMillan's Mayerling or his Romeo and Juliet or Manon, in which they are for the main part,stage decoration and moving wallpaper.If Kevin is going to build his company from the bottom up then we are likely to see ballets with classically based choreography taking up a large part of the schedule in each season for sometime..  

I do take your point about the internet which is well made.

 

However, I have never seen so few tickets available when I logged on at 0900.  I spend my leisure money on good seats and there was virtually nothing left at all.  How can this be?  The only explanation surely is that ROH sold more than is normal to those privileged to early access.  Yes, a few more were released at 10.00 and, thanks to this Forum and Alison in particular, I was lurking and was able to grab some of them.  But it was just a few more, nothing like what I would have expected.

 

I also take your point about the younger dancers but this surely has to be balanced with what audiences want to see?  Quite clearly there is huge demand for Mayerling and I do not think it would have upset the training schedule too much to have had half a dozen less SB's and a few more Mayerlings.  Okay, I've got some tickets now but they wouldn't have been my first choice and getting them was an unholy scrabble.  

[Jan McNulty]

I've just had a look at the website as a matter of interest.  Yes there is hardly anything left for Watson/Osipova and 2 other performances but there are tickets left at all levels for all the other performances.

 

I suspect, as with other productions, that people want to see certain casts and given the reviews that Ed Watson has had for his Mayerlings in the past I guess he is the one that everyone wants to see!

 

I am going to the Soares/Cuthbertson matinee on 13th Anna as part of my weekend in London seeing AiP and (of course) Casanova too!

[Jacqueline]

It was indeed a scramble this morning to book online. I looked on this site first, planning to look at the ROH next. It was Penny's post that alerted me to the booking saga so I went straight there to have a look. I remember the days when you would join an online queue and could be on it for hours, along with all the various things that could and did go wrong with that system. Trying to get through on the phone was next to impossible.

Of course there are some who either don't have internet access for whatever reason or don't feel confident using it. If trying to book on the telephone on the day tickets go on sale is anything like it was, I would imagine it is a waste of time. If you can get through,you are lucky if anything is left.

I have never booked in person for geographical reasons. I don't know if an instant queue forms or how that system works on the day. I had a good look online in advance at what/who was on and when so I was at least prepped for action, but choosing tickets and parting with my hard earned money should not be such an ultimately stressful experience.

[Sunrise]

I suspect, as with other productions, that people want to see certain casts and given the reviews that Ed Watson has had for his Mayerlings in the past I guess he is the one that everyone wants to see!

 

 

I agree that Watson is the must-see Rudolf of all the casts, but I suspect the unusual speed at which the tickets have gone also has a lot to do with his pairing with Osipova :-)

[RuthE]

ROH Supporting Friend here, and very much not made of money... I booked weeks ago and couldn't get anything cheap for any of the Watson/Osipova Mayerlings either.  I think maybe I could have had the very ends of Stalls Circle Standing if I'd really wanted them.  But seeing as that was one of the things I'd reserved a bit more money for, I ended up booking more expensive seats.

 

I found booking for Jewels almost as problematic, to the point that I ended up without booking everything I wanted on priority booking.  I went back in at 9am this morning as general public and still didn't get any standing for the one I wanted... having been at work ever since, I missed the tip about trying again at 10am.

 

I suspect the allocation held for students has at least as much to do with this as highest-level Friends snaffling all the tickets.

[Tatiana]

Okay, I'll weigh in with the student voice... With the exception of the block of seating set aside for a Mayerling performance, tickets weren't easy to get for us either. Jewels had been almost completely cleaned out of any affordable seats, I had to really stretch my budget to afford anything this season and paid much more than I usually do.

[alison]

I'd forgotten Osipova was supposed to be dancing Vetsera.  No wonder, then, given the usual appetite for her performances.

 

Oh well, I'll just have to see if there's anything available nearer the time, I guess

[Saodan]

Okay, I'll weigh in with the student voice... With the exception of the block of seating set aside for a Mayerling performance, tickets weren't easy to get for us either. Jewels had been almost completely cleaned out of any affordable seats, I had to really stretch my budget to afford anything this season and paid much more than I usually do.

 

Seconded. I've found that general booking is invariably better than student booking the day before. At least they open up a new allocation of seats for general. Student booking is just the scrag ends that the friends don't want! Mayerling being the exception of course.

 

Also, it does feel like tickets have just been all round more expensive this year. 

[annamk]

ROH Supporting Friend here, and very much not made of money... I booked weeks ago and couldn't get anything cheap for any of the Watson/Osipova Mayerlings either.  I think maybe I could have had the very ends of Stalls Circle Standing if I'd really wanted them.  But seeing as that was one of the things I'd reserved a bit more money for, I ended up booking more expensive seats.

 

I found booking for Jewels almost as problematic, to the point that I ended up without booking everything I wanted on priority booking.  I went back in at 9am this morning as general public and still didn't get any standing for the one I wanted... having been at work ever since, I missed the tip about trying again at 10am.

 

I suspect the allocation held for students has at least as much to do with this as highest-level Friends snaffling all the tickets.

 

Also supporting friend and my experience of standing for any of the Watson/Ospiova perfs was the same - I think only the very end standing remaining which are hopeless unless you're tall. My daughter is a student and there were no standing left for anything when she looked and all that was left in the student amphi perf were far side slips. 

[Gargouillade]

Seconded. I've found that general booking is invariably better than student booking the day before. At least they open up a new allocation of seats for general. Student booking is just the scrag ends that the friends don't want! Mayerling being the exception of course.

 

Also, it does feel like tickets have just been all round more expensive this year. 

 

 

Thirded! As Tatiana says, there were very few options for affordable seats left when student booking opened on Monday. I could only afford one ticket to Jewels. I can also see why management chose to reserve the Watson/Osipova cast for students: if you really want the younger generation to keep coming back to the ROH, wouldn't you want to entice them with the most exciting cast? 

 

The student amphi seats for Mayerling are held for a week, so there may be more tickets available next Monday.

[Bruce Wall]

 

 

The student amphi seats for Mayerling are held for a week, so there may be more tickets available next Monday.

 

But didn't another person with access say that these were virtually sold out now?  (For those without access it is hard to gain perspective.)  Surely if there is such an understandable student rush they will be well and truly sold out well in advance of a week - which is a very generous holding period indeed.  

 

It is really wonderful that the ROH student programme has been obviously so successful.  That will keep it buzzing for decades surely.  

Edited January 24, 2017 by Bruce Wall

[Sunrise]

I'd forgotten Osipova was supposed to be dancing Vetsera.  No wonder, then, given the usual appetite for her performances.

 

Oh well, I'll just have to see if there's anything available nearer the time, I guess

 

 

I didn't get anything either (too early for me to plan a visit) but I invariably find that seats do turn up if I check regularly, especially closer to the performance as people find they can't go and have to cancel, though they tend to be on the expensive end.

[aileen]

I normally get a reminder when public booking is opening but I don't seem to have got one this time. Did other people?

[Ian Macmillan]

Aileen:  I received an email from the ROH this morning, and I think there were also some pre-warning ones in recent weeks.

[aileen]

Oh, I must have missed it then among the advertisements for opera and the cinema broadcasts. I'll have to try for a return for the Watson cast nearer the time.

[Bruce Wall]

I normally get a reminder when public booking is opening but I don't seem to have got one this time. Did other people?

 

I did get one, Aileen, but it was closer to noon.  Think they may have wanted to try to spread the 'rush' out

Edited January 24, 2017 by Bruce Wall

[Gargouillade]

But didn't another person with access say that these were virtually sold out now?  (For those without access it is hard to gain perspective.)  Surely if there is such an understandable student rush they will be well and truly sold out well in advance of a week - which is a very generous holding period indeed.  

 

It is really wonderful that the ROH student programme has been obviously so successful.  That will keep it buzzing for decades surely.  

 

 

Just checked: standing places in slips and some seats on the far left and right at the end of rows in the student amphi (2nd May). I was trying to make the general point that student tickets are released after a week's holding period and it will be worth trying again in future instances

[CHazell2]

Hi, is row H in the amphli any good. I got the last ticket in that row.

[penelopesimpson]

I normally get a reminder when public booking is opening but I don't seem to have got one this time. Did other people?

No, and this is the first time I haven't had one.  Makes me even more inclined to my theory that something odd went on here with Mayerling

[aileen]

I have checked my e-mail account (inbox and junk) and there's no e-mail from the ROH today. I may have received one on a previous day but I can't be bothered to check.

[Jan McNulty]

I have checked my e-mail account (inbox and junk) and there's no e-mail from the ROH today. I may have received one on a previous day but I can't be bothered to check.

 

 

I had a quick look in my trash.  I haven't had one.

[bridiem]

Hi, is row H in the amphli any good. I got the last ticket in that row.

 

Yes! Should be fine.

[VickyPage]

I was only intending to book one Mayerling before rushing on to the opera bookings, but I found the student booking on Monday to be nearly as awful as general booking normally is. My favourite thing about early booking is that you can do it calmly, slowly, making sure you're happy with the seat, rather than being constantly forced to hurry and feeling afraid and getting stuck in queues etc. but I did not have that experience at all. I was instantly placed in a queue and when I got out of it, I was told that nearly all the tickets were gone. I hadn't realised Mayerling was so popular among my age group! I'm starting to feel like some of the priority booking opportunities are being exploited....

[Blossom]

I booked on the day Friends opened for booking. Waited 4 hours to find out if friend could join me but tickets were flying so fast that I just had to go ahead and book. Thankfully a ballet I particularly wanted to treat myself to a better seat for as there was nothing reasonablly priced left...

[Don Q Fan]

I can't understand why ROH isn't cinema screening one of the Watson/Osipova/Yanowsky Mayerlings especially as it's probably the last time anyone will see Watson and Yanowsky in Mayerling as retirements loom. I'd rather this was relayed than Jewels. Suppose it's too late to lobby ROH for this? Think it's a bit of a marketing mistake not do Mayerling.

[alison]

They big-screened one from the previous run, plus there's the DVD.  I guess they wanted to do something else for a change.

 

I had 2 emails from the ROH today: one timestamped 10:13 and the other 12:24, so they can't have been responsible for the rush.

[Don Q Fan]

I don't remember Mayerling being screened before but it's a while since it was on so I've probably forgotten.

[capybara]

I don't remember Mayerling being screened before but it's a while since it was on so I've probably forgotten.

 

Mayerling was actually shown in the cinema in ?2007 but not live. I remember many familiar faces (including Edward Watson himself) going to the Covent Garden Odeon to watch it. Endearingly, he equipped himself with a fizzy drink and popcorn before the screening began.

[alison]

It may have been 2009 - I know it was some time after the recording.  Back in those days, I don't think cinemas generally had the equipment to do live broadcasts.  I don't think it's been shown in cinemas since, unless the big-screen showing went to cinemas as well.

[alison]

By the way, am I the only person who's been finding today that the revolving circle (egg-timer thingy) has been going round and round on the ROH website today?  I had to abandon two later purchase attempts because I couldn't get pages to display.