BRB Sleeping Beauty Casting?

[Jan McNulty]

So "star dancers" may sell out but what about the rest of the company?

 

I have been known to remonstrate with people who have been bemoaning the fact that so-and-so is not dancing and that is who they had wanted to see.  On one occasion the couple I had spoken to at the end of the performance thanked me!

[bridiem]

I can't help feeling that it shows a lack of confidence in your dancers if you don't name the cast/s much in advance because you think that people will only book for a few 'star' dancers. A lot of non-regular ballet-goers won't book by cast anyway since they won't be familiar with the names, so it's really only the regulars who are 'penalised' by not knowing who's going to be dancing. (No matter how good the dancers are, if you book 2 or 3 performances and get the same cast each time, that's going to be pretty frustrating.) But I always thought that this was done for both logistical and artistic reasons, i.e. wanting as much freedom as possible to decide casts nearer the time depending on any injuries or on how dancers are developing etc. So I'm not sure where the truth lies.

[Jan McNulty]

I disagree with that Bridie.  As a company smaller than the RB I have often found that advertised casts are moved around anyway, not necessarily because they are injured but perhaps someone else is necessitating changes.

 

When, in the olden days, they used to publish casting way in advance you hardly ever got to see the advertised dancers on the advertised days.

 

And don't forget the "Black Swan" effect when people were ringing companies and asking when Natalie Portman was dancing.

 

It could be taken another way... that companies have confidence in their dancers.

 

Realistically we fanatics are in the minority and as you say, most people aren't interested in the casting.

[bridiem]

36 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

I disagree with that Bridie.  As a company smaller than the RB I have often found that advertised casts are moved around anyway, not necessarily because they are injured but perhaps someone else is necessitating changes.

 

When, in the olden days, they used to publish casting way in advance you hardly ever got to see the advertised dancers on the advertised days.

 

And don't forget the "Black Swan" effect when people were ringing companies and asking when Natalie Portman was dancing.

 

It could be taken another way... that companies have confidence in their dancers.

 

Realistically we fanatics are in the minority and as you say, most people aren't interested in the casting.

 

I hope you're right Janet, i.e. that it shows confidence in the dancers; I was responding to what Two Pigeons said about the thinking behind not casting early, i.e. that it runs the danger of highlighting some dancers over others. The ideal would be to highlight ALL the dancers; but I don't think that late casting necessarily achieves that.

[Don Q Fan]

I recall booking for Osipova in SB who went out injured and was replaced by Choe.  I was annoyed but boy what a gorgeous Aurora Choe was and I had to eat a healthy portion of humble pie. Now I'm more sanguine, it's nice to see who you like but they're not the only person on stage and the corps are just as important to me as the leads. 

[bridiem]

12 hours ago, Don Q Fan said:

I recall booking for Osipova in SB who went out injured and was replaced by Choe.  I was annoyed but boy what a gorgeous Aurora Choe was and I had to eat a healthy portion of humble pie. Now I'm more sanguine, it's nice to see who you like but they're not the only person on stage and the corps are just as important to me as the leads. 

 

The corps are incredibly important; but they're likely to be moreoreless the same people every time so it's the soloists and principals that make performances different.

But I too have booked for one cast and got another and often been delighted by it.

[Tony Newcombe]

There are times when even corps dancers do not know until the day of a performance. I am not thinking of a smaller company either

[RuthE]

Another problem with booking without knowing casting is that if you intend to see something several times, you can end up with tickets for three performances with identical casts.  This happened to me with the ENB/Akram Khan Giselle first time around.  As it happened, it was a cast that would have been my first choice once, but I ended up selling on my additional tickets.

[capybara]

Not Sleeping Beauty, but pleased to see that BRB has turned the focus on two of its leading dancers ahead of Aladdin at The Lowry: http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/15534976.Ballet_stars_share_their_secrets_as_Aladdin_comes_to_the_Lowry/

[Two Pigeons]

Even by BRB's standards the casting is very late for the triple bill which opens in Birmingham a week tomorrow.  I have to say that I think this becoming totally unacceptable.  I hope next year's programme is a corker or I can see my subscription lapsing.

[Two Pigeons]

The casting has arrived.  Does anyone know of Delia is injured?  I will be very happy to see Celine and Brandon though.

[Tony Newcombe]

Delia is listed in Concerto and Elite Syncopations. Also very happy to see that Yvette Knight is back after missing Arcadia at end of last season

[Two Pigeons]

That serves me right for only looking at the men in the cast list!

[fashionista]

Just following this thread and have to say, that especially at today's prices for tickets, I think it is essential that principal casting is given ahead.  As an example, I have just booked for the RB's Winter Season (public booking opened today).  When booking for say, Giselle, having seen the ballet many times before, I booked those casts new to me as I was restricted by budget.  I would have been rather miffed if the casts had not been announced and it transpired that I had booked identical casts for the same ballet.  Of course, one can never be assured of a certain cast due to illness or injury, but one hopes that the cast booked in advance will be dancing.  

[RuthE]

29 minutes ago, fashionista said:

I would have been rather miffed if the casts had not been announced and it transpired that I had booked identical casts for the same ballet.

 

Or not kept yourself free for an interesting - perhaps debutant - cast.  For example, when I recently booked for Giselle I booked for the Naghdi and Hayward casts; when I booked for The Winter's Tale I made sure I got one for the Kaneko/Bonelli cast.  With only 2 or 3 opportunities to see any given cast in a ballet over the course of a run, my diary is sparsely-enough populated at the point when RB booking opens, up to six months ahead, to mean I am likely to be able to find a night free to see Cast X.  But next week 5 nights out of my 7 are already spoken for, and by the time February comes around, I'm sure I'll already be busy 4 or 5 nights out of 7 in the week ahead.  It simply isn't practical to keep a whole run of dates for a particular ballet free in one's diary just so as to be definitely available for one's preferred cast, when a company chooses not to announce scheduled casting until a week before the event.

 

Edited to add: and that's from the perspective of somebody who lives in the same city as the theatre where I see most of my ballet, therefore doesn't generally have the additional headache of trying to source affordable travel fares at a week's notice.

Edited September 20, 2017 by RuthE

[Two Pigeons]

This thread started on the specific point about BRB and the Sleeping Beauty.  I have been going to the ballet long enough to know that prior notification of casting is no guarantee and you have to accept this as a fact of theatrical life.  I have a subscription ticket for the first performance and I do not doubt that the performance will have a great many delights.  However, I do rather resent not having the option  to book for an Aurora whose work I enjoy and find warm, involving and musical over the person who I suspect it will be and whom I feel has practically none of those qualities.

 

Oh well, i'lll just have to keep watching the men!

[Tony Newcombe]

I suspect that one of those men will be partnering the Aurora you want to see.

[Two Pigeons]

3 minutes ago, Tony Newcombe said:

I suspect that one of those men will be partnering the Aurora you want to see.

Bang on!  However, I do have a couple of reserves.