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Everything posted by Geoff
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A long and thoughtful online comment from Alastair Macaulay: https://slippedisc.com/2024/03/review-alastair-macaulay-on-the-state-of-new-york-city-ballet/
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Royal Ballet - Swan Lake 2024
Geoff replied to Linnzi5's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
We don’t often discuss make up. So here is a perhaps silly question. Was it me or did Katherina Nikelski have a light sheen of gold body paint last night? Perhaps it was just a heavier foundation base than this very light-skinned dancer normally uses and that caught golden lustre reflected off the magnificent palace walls, but in any case it looked very fetching and appropriately exotic for the character. -
Royal Ballet - Swan Lake 2024
Geoff replied to Linnzi5's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
Almost inevitably. As has been discussed on the Forum many times the RB has got slower over the decades, at least from the 1950s (there are recordings that can be checked) to the late 1970s and then far worse from then on. There are occasional exceptions (I can think of one guest conductor who even made public comments about how much faster the company was in earlier recordings) but he has never been asked back. -
Speaking as a professional in this space, budget is only one constraint among many. More money might mean employing more people (who might trip over each other and/or duplicate poor practices) or it might mean employing more expensive people (also not a guarantee, for example I have some sense of the considerable budget allocated to the new website and we all know how that worked out). In general arts organisations and other non profits can tend to arrogance and ideology mixed with less than stellar technical competence. We hope ROH (having suffered from some shockingly dim decisions in the recent past of this department) is giving serious consideration on how to do better.
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Reading through recent years of negative Forum comments about ROH departments suggests that the two areas in greatest need of improvement are marketing and the website/online bookings. Given recent improvements in the functioning of the website (I hope I am not speaking too soon) is it too much to hope that senior management will now at last get round to bringing ROH marketing up to a professional standard?
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ROH booking discussion - summer 2024
Geoff replied to Blossom's topic in Ballet / Dance news & information
Given how much complaining I have done these last years, it is only fair to say that this morning's booking went very smoothly. No waiting time that I noticed and got everything booked (including Sarasota) within a quarter of an hour. Whatever ROH has fiddled with since the last time, please now don't "improve the experience" any more: if it works, don't fix it! -
ROH booking discussion - summer 2024
Geoff replied to Blossom's topic in Ballet / Dance news & information
Many thanks Bluebird. I couldn’t help but notice that it is currently not even listed any more. If one goes to May 31 on the calendar it is not there. -
ROH booking discussion - summer 2024
Geoff replied to Blossom's topic in Ballet / Dance news & information
Is it me or has the Ashton Insight for Friday 31 May dropped off the calendar? Has any Friend been able to book for it yet? -
Cuts to the arts in Birmingham
Geoff replied to Lynette H's topic in Ballet / Dance news & information
According to this Plymouth public booking opens on March 1: https://www.brb.org.uk/stories/2024-25-season-announcement -
Cuts to the arts in Birmingham
Geoff replied to Lynette H's topic in Ballet / Dance news & information
Has this timing impacted on our bookings? I may be wrong but I understood we were supposed to be able to book October BRB Fille tickets from today for Plymouth and Sadler’s Wells. Nothing doing, the website still says Coming Soon tonight. -
Dark with Excessive Bright - ROH Linbury Theatre
Geoff replied to Henry's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
And here is a link to the Times review which may deal with the paywall: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/466341e3-28e1-4981-9b4f-7bb96a3ce954?shareToken=cb54e40767717e3c3ea67303b08bd2a2 -
Dark with Excessive Bright - ROH Linbury Theatre
Geoff replied to Henry's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
One review online already, anybody from the Forum seen this show? https://slippedisc.com/2024/02/alastair-macaulay-roh-choreographer-isnt-without-talent/ -
A 'ballet/dance miscellany' thread
Geoff replied to Ondine's topic in Ballet / Dance news & information
While we’re still remembering Giselle here is a short clip of Carla Fracci: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2VCgQKtmvU/?igsh=MWhyN2kwajh3OHo0Yg==- 183 replies
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Audience Behaviour - Thread 2
Geoff replied to BalletcoForum Moderators's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
Manchester Swan Lake recently (a better report appears in the comments): https://slippedisc.com/2024/01/manchesters-swan-lake-is-ruffled-by-violence/ -
Nina Stemme returned last night but I wasn’t there.
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ENB Mary Skeaping Giselle January 2024
Geoff replied to San Perregrino's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
An echo from the wings: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2hlBCZifms/- 519 replies
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Are you talking about the ballet or the opera? I referred colloquially to “Onegin” recently but meaning the opera, not the ballet, as this is the opera section. Apologies if this has caused confusion.
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The ROH booking website - what can we do?
Geoff replied to Geoff's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
Even even better would be for the website to be fixed. However this seems to be a bigger problem than first appeared. The website now shows this (interestingly, despite the message being time stamped seven o‘clock this morning, it has only just appeared online):- MAJOR OUTAGE (25/01/24 07:00 GMT) One of our infrastructure providers is currently experiencing major issues, affecting all our websites along with many others around the world. We are working with them to resolve the issue. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. If the problem persists, please contact the box office on +44 (0)20 7304 4000. -
The ROH booking website - what can we do?
Geoff replied to Geoff's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
Beware the website at the moment: I am getting an announcement of “technical issues”. -
I did say I thought I was in a minority on Onegin. I also said why I liked it, which had nothing to do with the doubling (mentioned only as a way of identifying the production). But perhaps I should have made it clearer that I took no view of the doubles, which to me were no more than decoration. Finally saw the Electra last night. Nothing special. A routine production (for which one can be thankful) with few distractions. Unlike the majority, I have no sentimental feelings towards that conductor whose reading of the score I found contrary to Strauss’s intentions. He tried a similar approach recently with Rheingold, which was remarkably successful and congruent with Wagner’s ambitions. The band coped fine with what he asked of them but the result was underwhelming. I have seen many wonderful casts sing this piece (perhaps none better than 1974, Nilsson, Rysanek, Ludwig under Böhm) but last night was not one of them. The crowd went wild at the end so what do I know.
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I may be the only person who liked Holten’s Onegin (with the doubling). What I found wonderful was the way his reading explained why the music is so sad from the outset. This was not - as so often - a directorial idea imposed in ignorance or opposition to the score, but a deeply musical illumination of it.
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Don’t remember that but do remember Katie Mitchell, at an Insight for the Lucia (as above) swinging her legs and saying much the same, only even more directly.