alison

Unfortunately, due to the incompetence of his suppliers, our electrician had to work late tonight, meaning that I couldn't get away in comfortable time for the cinema showing - and given the dirty looks I've previously received for daring to turn up just before the start I didn't fancy risking it this time.  So I guess I'll have to catch an encore performance.  Hoping everyone enjoys it.

I hope everyone who goes tonight enjoys it.

It's typical: my GWR claim which I was appealing against because they claimed it was 29 minutes and I claimed it was 31 and therefore double what they were paying - IS apparently 29 minutes because the train I was on got into Paddington a few minutes earlier than scheduled.  Never mind the having to wait for an extra half-hour-plus at the departure station, it's the arrival time which counts, and that was only 29 minutes late   

Conductors who hum?

2 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

What do people think of conductors who hum along to the music?

Well, since the chances of my ever watching him conduct again are likely to be around zero, I'm not that bothered.

I turned Radio 3 on when I got into the office this afternoon: they were in the middle of a tribute to him.  Sometime around 2.15 if you want to look for it on iPlayer.  Doubtless there will be more on In Tune at 5 pm.

Great. Thanks, Rob. ☹️

On 19/04/2024 at 16:48, lollylamb1 said:

We are offering £30 tickets for the performance of Lucia di Lammermoor on Monday 22nd April. The performance lasts for 3 hours, including 1 interval. You can purchase tickets via the ROH website here. Once you select the relevant date, you will be directed to a page where you'll be able to enter a code. Please enter the code PRELUDIO30 in the box and click apply.

Not quite sure what this is doing here  but if they sent me that offer for a date I *could* do (tonight clashes with Melissa Hamilton at the Ballet Association) I might well be tempted to take them up on it

2 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

 

I think that the potential brides being so 'inconsequential' (especially to the Prince), is rather the point

9 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

 

Six princesses turning up to the ball all wearing the same dress...FIGHT!!!

I've always thought the "same dress" aspect (were they all identical, or just very similar?) was a reflection of your first post, Dave.  They might as well be identikit to Siegfried, because he's not interested in any of them.  Equally (and this applies e.g. to a former ENB/LFB production, where less-experienced dancers were sometimes cast initially as either Odette or Odile only), we need to see that Odette and Odile appear to the prince to be the same person, regardless of whether we the audience see them differently.

13 hours ago, Buru said:

I see that most posts on the forum are written in superlatives which is fine but makes it a bit one sided. 

I wouldn't say superlatives, although I would agree that there are probably a lot more (very?) positive than (very?) negative comments on the forum, and some posters probably have quite a recognisable way of using words.  But everything comes from an individual poster's reaction to a performance, so if they want to post about a performance which made them go Wow!, but not one about which they were lukewarm, or even disliked, I guess it's understandable.  Different criteria, as DVDFan says.

I meant TV news, sorry.

Very sad to hear this.  Also very sad to see that the BBC, despite its links to him, didn't see his death worthy of a mention on the news this evening.

On 20/04/2024 at 10:20, Geoff said:

"blood and gore throughout". 

While useful, that sort of vague warning is unlikely to be sufficiently helpful to anyone who has had the misfortune to suffer a miscarriage.

On 16/04/2024 at 21:51, alison said:

Seriously, what is WRONG with people today?!  If I'm lucky, it may only take me 6 hours or so to get home from Birmingham.  If we don't get any more idiots on the journey, that is

But credit where credit's due: although I didn't apply until after I got home on Tuesday, this morning an envelope plopped onto the doormat, containing the full refund of my tickets in the form of two rail travel vouchers.  I guess cynics will probably say that Avanti have got doing refunds off to a fine art by now, but since I'm still battling Great Western Railway over a Delay Repay for a journey back in February I'm very impressed!

5 hours ago, Candleque said:

Technically this should be under "how NOT to promote ballet" or "how to promote opera" but I thought it was interesting that the Royal Opera House has sent me three marketing emails with a whopping 40% off Lucia di Lammermoor offer.

I'm still waiting to see if I get one of those. If it was off the cheaper seats as well, I might be tempted.

Just read the scenario for possibly the first time ever for this production(!)

"She decrees that he must choose a royal bride at a palace ball to be held in his honour the following evening. Weighed down by the responsibilities of both kingdom and imminent marriage, Siegfried is comforted by Benno. Von Rothbart orders Siegfried to go inside. Siegfried refuses and wanders away alone.

...

As dawn breaks, the power of Von Rothbart draws Odette away from Siegfried and she changes back into a swan.

Having rushed back from the lake, Siegfried is met by Benno who instructs him to prepare for the ball.

... The Queen realizes that Siegfried is missing and commands Benno to distract the court." 

I shall now probably spend the next few performances wondering what on earth Siegfried has been doing all day ...  

Yes, apart from having a bright light shone in my eyes, which I really didn't like.

Quite. I wouldn't want any additional lighting effects on the sunrise from Daphnis and Chloe, for instance, just because someone else deemed it an "appropriate" moment 😀

"appropriate moments". That leaves a lot of leeway for interpretation, doesn't it? What happens when there's a difference in interpretation?

Yes, I saw it last week at sadler's wells, but life got in the way before I could post about it.

Wow.  Even later than the Royal Ballet's!

Goodness, bit old, then, isn't she?!

36 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

I didn't "get" the people in black rolling all over the stage, in fact I found them irritating, possibly because we had no indication on the stupid online cast sheet of who or what they were. Nor did we know the young men were called "Dogs".

Or why ...

Absolutely agree with you, Sophoife.  I got verrrrrrry bored with all the rolling across the stage in the second act.  I might have given the first act another go, but actually realised I had very little free time when it was at Sadler's Wells.

Much easier to read that way 😀. Thanks, Jan.  I don't envy them having to decide on best male dancer!

I had wondered why Sim was discussing non-disclosure agreements on a ballet forum. Now I know 😆

I wouldn't agree that the filming of DD was sub-optimal.  It was just a different viewpoint, with different choices.  That's one of the benefits of going to the cinema relays, in my view - particularly seeing dancers' acting up close rather than the bigger picture from way back in the auditorium.  Especially back in the days when it was actually more expensive than going to the ROH in the cheap seats.  And if you look at every other company that's done live relays, I think you'd see other "mistakes".  Certainly I've seen choices at the Bolshoi, POB and Australian Ballet which I though were less than optimal.  I presume that all the other cameras are still running and their footage recorded when a particular viewpoint is being shown - it will be interesting to see whether different views are edited in prior to streaming/DVD release.  I believe that was done in the Swan Lake DVD, where there's no sign of Francesca Hayward overbalancing in a landing in the Act III pas de trois, for example.