ROH MacMillan Insight Friday 13 October - tickets!

[Geoff]

To my surprise I just checked this event and a whole bunch of tickets have come available for what had been (as usual) sold out. In case anyone wants to go. 

Edited September 30, 2017 by Geoff

[FLOSS]

Events which sell out long before the booking date for the lowest tier of Friends has arrived are something of a recurring feature with the ROH. Presumably the high tier Friends who had the opportunity to scoop the pool for this Insight event have now discovered  that they have something better to do that evening. Perhaps we should just be grateful that they have been public spirited enough to return their tickets for resale. There is not a lot of choice of venues for this type of event at the ROH is there? I imagine that the RB will continue to hold events like this in the Clore even when the Linbury is available again as no one wants to hold an event in a half full venue. I am not sure that the Linbury was completely sold out when the film about Ashton's response to Stravinsky was shown there all those years ago. 

[JohnS]

I wonder if there may be another more charitable explanation.  Individual Friends may find there are circumstances beyond their control which result in their returning tickets (for some events such as rehearsals simply for others to have the benefit of booking with no refunds for returned tickets).  But it would be unusual for a number of Friends to find at the same time that they were not able to attend and so return 'a whole bunch of tickets'.

 

I have no knowledge of ticketing arrangements but given the collaborative nature of the Macmillan Celebrations, might it be the case that some tickets were held for partner companies as well as the Royal Ballet which are not being used and have now been made available?  Such arrangements may also be a factor in large numbers of tickets being made available for some of the Macmillan Celebration performances at relatively short notice.

 

I apologise that my contribution is speculative: perhaps I'm just being a little sensitive to Floss's suggestion that high tier Friends may have discovered something better to do although I do agree with her sentiment about the public spiritedness of returning tickets.

[bangorballetboy]

1 hour ago, FLOSS said:

Presumably the high tier Friends who had the opportunity to scoop the pool for this Insight event have now discovered  that they have something better to do that evening. Perhaps we should just be grateful that they have been public spirited enough to return their tickets for resale. 

 

What an extremely rude thing to say. And I'd hazard an educated guess that the reason for a largish number of tickets suddenly coming available is not as Floss suggests.

[capybara]

Also, please let us not forget that the Insight events are now relayed live and can be easily accessed on PCs and hand-held devices. In fact, watching them this way has almost become my preference.

 

 

[Josephine]

Yesterday evening some tickets were showing as available for both Macmillan Insights (10 & 13 Oct) and for all performances of Jeux and Sea of Troubles, all in the Clore. For Jeux and Sea of Troubles the tickets were mostly in exactly the same block of row A on each date. I'm not sure if this was true for available tickets for the Insights as well. I would guess that the simultaneous release of clusters of tickets for several Clore events resulted from some inhouse arrangement, not from a flurry of returns by high level Friends.

[FLOSS]

Oh dear. How sensitive some MacMillan fans are ! When I said that perhaps the higher tier Friends who had returned their tickets had found something better to do on the evening of the 13th  October I was not in any way suggesting that the MacMillan Legacy event was not going to be worth attending. I was merely saying that those who had returned their tickets had decided that there might be something that they had decided that they preferred to do that evening. Plenty of people I know find themselves double booked and find themselves forced to decide between competing arts events where one has been booked half a year or more in advance and the other only comes to light far closer to the date of the performance or event. Perhaps my acquaintances are more disorganised than is the norm. At the end of the day I don't think that it it really matters how or why these tickets have become available as I am sure that there are plenty of people who will want to buy them.

 

When I first posted on this topic it had not crossed my mind that there was anything in the MacMillan Legacy event that anyone might have wished to avoid. It was only after I read John S's post which suggested to me, at least, that he thought that I was being critical of the event and its likely contents and bangorballetboy who accused me of rudeness that I began to think about whether it might contain elements that some people might find a little difficult to take because they lack balance. The sort of thing that I am thinking about is Lady M banging on about her late husband as if he was the greatest choreographer of the entire twentieth century. Unfortunately her enthusiasm for so many of her late husbands "challenging" works and her failure to promote his classically based ballets gives a very lopsided view of his output and does no one any favours and does not add to his reputation as a choreographer.

 

I am more than a little tired of her suggesting that until Kenneth arrived on the scene ballets had been about fairies and that he was the man who invented the psychological ballet. Those assertions suggest that she knows little about twentieth century ballet, British ballet and in particular the work of Antony Tudor. I have always wondered how much of a link, if any, there is between the sort of psychologically based works which MacMillan chose to make and those of Antony Tudor and Walter Gore whose  works stayed in Ballet Rambert's repertory for years and which MacMillan must have seen. The problem for me is that while Tudor's works such as Lilac Garden, Dark Elegies and Pillar of Fire still seem to live in performance pieces like MacMillan's The Invitation seem to be very much of their time. The RB's recent staging of The Invitation felt more like an attempted resurrection than a fully successful revival.   

 

It will be interesting to see whether or not any part of this MacMillanfest attempts to put him into some sort of artistic context. I have to say that the responses to my original post make me feel that I am somehow thought to have transgressed  by failing to show Kenneth sufficient respect. I feel that I have somehow inadvertently done something akin to desecrating a sacred relic or swearing in church. I imagine the penance will be to attend ten performances of a triple bill of Playground, Rituals and Valley of Shadows.

 

Edited October 1, 2017 by FLOSS

[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, JohnS said:

 

I have no knowledge of ticketing arrangements but given the collaborative nature of the Macmillan Celebrations, might it be the case that some tickets were held for partner companies as well as the Royal Ballet which are not being used and have now been made available?  Such arrangements may also be a factor in large numbers of tickets being made available for some of the Macmillan Celebration performances at relatively short notice.

 

 

If tickets were held back for supporters of either BRB or NB then someone forgot to tell us!  (I can't comment on Scottish Ballet)

 

[JohnS]

It never crossed my mind that Floss might be being critical of the event.  I was simply rather taken aback by Floss's suggestion that higher tier Friends may have discovered something better to do and so returned tickets, with its implicit charge of dilettantism.  Others shared my disquiet and were blunter in their posts.

 

Whilst I find MacMillan's ballets have often provided truly gripping performances, so have many other choreographers, and had Floss made her comments about any Insight event, my intake of breath would have been just as sharp.

 

 

[JohnS]

As regards tickets being possibly held for partner companies, I was thinking more in terms of house tickets for company management use, not supporters.  I recall Janet's earlier post about the absence of Friends equivalency when there were disappointments in not being able to get seats when booking opened.  As I say I have no knowledge about ticketing arrangements but the various comments on the numbers of seats and their location seem to suggest management arrangements rather than ad hoc returns.  No doubt there will be some lessons learned when reviewing the arrangements for what promises to be a fascinating and very welcome collaboration.

[bangorballetboy]

6 hours ago, JohnS said:

It never crossed my mind that Floss might be being critical of the event.  I was simply rather taken aback by Floss's suggestion that higher tier Friends may have discovered something better to do and so returned tickets, with its implicit charge of dilettantism.  Others shared my disquiet and were blunter in their posts.

 

Whilst I find MacMillan's ballets have often provided truly gripping performances, so have many other choreographers, and had Floss made her comments about any Insight event, my intake of breath would have been just as sharp.

 

 

 

Exactly.

[alison]

7 hours ago, FLOSS said:

I am more than a little tired of her suggesting that until Kenneth arrived on the scene ballets had been about fairies and that he was the man who invented the psychological ballet. Those assertions suggest that she knows little about twentieth century ballet, British ballet and in particular the work of Antony Tudor.

 

A point I think you've made a number of times in the past, FLOSS.

[alison]

10 hours ago, FLOSS said:

The sort of thing that I am thinking about is Lady M banging on about her late husband as if he was the greatest choreographer of the entire twentieth century. Unfortunately her enthusiasm for so many of her late husbands "challenging" works and her failure to promote his classically based ballets gives a very lopsided view of his output and does no one any favours and does not add to his reputation as a choreographer.
 

 

I was just, rather belatedly, trawling through last week's Links, when what should I come across but:

"[Lady MacMillan] is “particularly thrilled with Scottish Ballet. They’ve taken upon themselves to revive these purely classical pieces. That’s thrilling because it shows where he started and where he came from”."

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/15568686.Casting_a_spell__behind_the_scenes_at_Scottish_Ballet_as_they_bring_a_dark__magical_fairy_tale_to_the_stage/

 

It does rather seem to indicate that the "failure" might be laid - at least in part - elsewhere than at her door.

[FLOSS]

I stand by my comments about the limited range of classically based works being performed during the MacMillanfest and at other times. The problem is that it tends to be the same few works that get revived.Of the ballets being shown only Baiser de la Fee and Sea of Troubles are real rarities. I know little about Sea except that it was created for a small company in which Susan Crowe and Jennifer Jackson were involved.I don't know whether it is classically based or an expressionist piece but I suspect that it veers towards expressionism. As far as Baiser is concerned we shall be seeing MacMillan's second version of the ballet. The fact that it has not been revived since 1986 suggests that MacMillan may not have been entirely satisfied with his creation.The fact that a number of major twentieth century choreographers have made ballets to the score none of which have survived in the repertory seems to suggest that the score presents difficulties for the choreographer which have yet to be surmounted.It will be interesting to see if Baiser still seems like a noble failure.The rest of the ballets being staged are far from rarities.

 

Concerto gets the occasional revival.The RB revived it in 2000, 2008 and 2010 and if I recall correctly it was danced extremely poorly in 2010 when it followed weeks of the corps appearing in Romeo and Juliet as Verona's townspeople and nobles which gave them lots of opportunities to build individual characters but few to dance classically based choreography.Gloria gets pretty regular airings. It was performed in 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2011. Elite Syncopations has always struck me as evidence that MacMillan was not that good at comedy. In the absence  of the original cast it has always felt somewhat heavy handed and not entirely successful. It has been revived twice this century in 2006 and 2010 and on both occasions the humour felt laboured. As for The Judas Tree well it was revived in 2003 and  2010 and on both occasions I thought that it was a waste of good dancers as there are plenty of other better MacMillan's works that the company could and should revive.

 

Here are the classically based works that Lady M should be pressing the Covent Garden Company  to revive MacMillan's Agon, Danses Concertantes, Fin de Jour,The Four Seasons, Solitaire and Triad. I know that Fin did not look terribly healthy when it was revived in 2007 but I think that its comparative failure then told us more about the technical challenges it presents and the state of the company than it did about the work's quality. All the ballets which I have mentioned had successful premieres and were subsequently successfully revived on at least one occasion during the last century.I don't understand their current neglect by the the Royal Ballet and Lady M. The neglect of The Four Seasons is particularly perplexing as at the time of its premiere, in 1975, the public and the critics really liked it and at least one major critic hailed it as the company display piece which it had always lacked. I know that technical standards began to slide soon after its premiere but I  can't help thinking that its presence in the repertory after 1980 might have helped to halt the company's  decline during that decade. Today when technical standards are not an issue it would give the company the opportunity to display its technical and artistic strength. The company could certainly double cast it with ease. I should have thought that someone who is said to have unseated Ross Stretton by threatening to remove the company's rights to perform Romeo and Juliet, Manon and Mayerling has enough clout to push for the revival of the works I have mentioned.

 

 

Edited October 2, 2017 by FLOSS

[capybara]

12 minutes ago, FLOSS said:

I should have thought that someone who is said to have unseated Ross Stretton by threatening to remove the company's rights to perform Romeo and Juliet, Manon and Mayerling has enough clout to push for the revival of the works I have mentioned.

 

Maybe times have changed, FLOSS?

[Jan McNulty]

Floss there are more companies than the Royal Ballet in this country!  To name but 2, BRB have revived off your list Elite and Solitaire regularly over the last 12 or 15 years both on midscale and MainStage.  They have also performed Concerto, including wonderfully in Birmingham as recently as last week!

 

Northern Ballet are thrilled to have the chance to dance their MacMillan Celebration programme and I am sure Scottish Ballet are equally thrilled with their opportunity.

[capybara]

9 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

Floss there are more companies than the Royal Ballet in this country!  To name but 2, BRB have revived off your list Elite and Solitaire regularly over the last 12 or 15 years both on midscale and MainStage.  They have also performed Concerto, including wonderfully in Birmingham as recently as last week!

 

Northern Ballet are thrilled to have the chance to dance their MacMillan Celebration programme and I am sure Scottish Ballet are equally thrilled with their opportunity.

 

WELL SAID  !!!!!

[Geoff]

By the way, just to revert to why I posted in the first place, this Insight is currently showing as Sold Out again.

[Josephine]

Some information about participants in the first MacMillan Insight event on 10 Oct is given in the drop down text here:

 

 

Sorry - the text does not appear to show in the embedded version above. The event will include Birmingham Royal Ballet rehearsing Concerto pdd, Royal Ballet rehearsing The Judas Tree and interviews with Monica Mason, Darcey Bussell, Alessandra Ferri and Leanne Benjamin.

 

Hope OK to post this here. Perhaps the thread could be renamed to cover ROH MacMillan Insights in general??

 

Edited October 6, 2017 by Josephine
Supplying more information

[capybara]

 

For those who, like me could not access the drop-down, I have found it elsewhere>

 

The RB will rehearse Judas Tree, BRB will rehearse Concerto and those taking part will include Monica Mason, Darcey Bussell, Alessandra Ferri and Leanne Benjamin.

 

[Apologies for now appearing to duplicate the post from Josephine to whom many thanks for uncovering the details.]

 

 

Edited October 6, 2017 by capybara
Found the necessary information so original question was rendered unnecessary.

[Josephine]

1 minute ago, capybara said:

 I can't seem to access any drop-down text. Please couldn't someone tell us what it says?

 

Thank you.

Sorry capybara - I have just edited the post above to give this information.

[capybara]

The Insight on the 13th October is currently showing 4 tickets for sale.

 

[John Mallinson]

Do we know if today’s and Friday's insights are to be live-streamed?

 

[Duck]

Today's Insight event is livestreamed http://www.roh.org.uk/news/watch-insights-into-the-genius-of-choreographer-kenneth-macmillan

 

 

[John Mallinson]

Thanks for the link. I couldn’t find one. 

[alison]

5 hours ago, Duck said:

Today's Insight event is livestreamed http://www.roh.org.uk/news/watch-insights-into-the-genius-of-choreographer-kenneth-macmillan

 

 

 

Not that it says it actually on the event page as such, just that it's being filmed.  That's also the wording for Friday's insight, so I'm hoping that will be livestreamed as well.

[Bluebird]

49 minutes ago, alison said:

 

Not that it says it actually on the event page as such, just that it's being filmed.  That's also the wording for Friday's insight, so I'm hoping that will be livestreamed as well.

 

If you click on the link Duck gave, you will see that it has the following (my highlighting):

 

"An ROH Insights event celebrating the genius of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan will be livestreamed for free via this page, and via the Royal Opera House YouTube channel at 8pm BST on Tuesday 10 October 2017."

 

Edited to say sorry to Alison. I've just realised I misread your post. I now see that you had, indeed, clicked on the link and knew it was definitely to be live streamed.

Edited October 10, 2017 by Bluebird

[Bruce]

On 02/10/2017 at 12:21, FLOSS said:

As far as Baiser is concerned we shall be seeing MacMillan's second version of the ballet.

 

You most certainly won't. 

 

Jann Parry's illuminating piece about Scottish Ballet bringing back Baiser:
http://dancetabs.com/2017/10/bringing-back-kenneth-macmillans-le-baiser-de-la-fee-the-fairys-kiss/

 

Jann Parry is also taking part in the Livestream tonight.

 

[FLOSS]

Bruce, 

 I made my comment about the version of Baiser we were going to see some days before I knew who was going to be involved with the restaging. It comes as a relief to discover that we shall not be seeing MacMillan's second take on Baiser as I recall it being something of a disappointment when it was staged all those years ago. Those who were familiar with the original version seemed to be particularly unimpressed by his second thoughts. There were long faces among them and the question "Why?" seemed to hover in the air.

 

Perhaps I should also say that the piece of unidentified MacMillan choreography which I stumbled across on the internet which I earlier suggested might have been a bit of the ballet Images of Love must have been from his ballet Gloriana which he made to the choral dances from Britten's opera of the same name.  I stand  by my comments about it looking rather awkward and the joins showing.

 

As a general comment not limited to the substitute casting in the MacMillanfest the

number of dancers who are being replaced so early in the season is a bit worrying. I wonder whether it is connected with the range of choreographic styles that the company is being asked to encompass? Am I imaging it but I don't recall so many early season substitutions last year. 

Edited October 10, 2017 by FLOSS

[bangorballetboy]

1 hour ago, FLOSS said:

As a general comment not limited to the substitute casting in the MacMillanfest the

number of dancers who are being replaced so early in the season is a bit worrying. I wonder whether it is connected with the range of choreographic styles that the company is being asked to encompass? Am I imaging it but I don't recall so many early season substitutions last year. 

 

Six significant cast changes that I'm aware of.  Lamb & Kish are long-standing injuries that the company had hoped would be sorted by now.  Sambé's injury (like Cowley's) is from pre-season rehearsals, as is Yanowsky's knee (and she was only rehearsing one ballet...).  I don't know about Watson but the other five have, so far as I'm aware, nothing to do with a "range of choreographic styles.

[Bruce]

8 hours ago, FLOSS said:

 I made my comment about the version of Baiser we were going to see some days before I knew who was going to be involved with the restaging. 

 

Sorry but that rather cavalier response just makes me wonder how many other things get casually asserted without really knowing for sure or checking.

 

 

On a more positive note I really enjoyed tonight's livestream and thought Clemency Burton-Hill did a fine job knitting it all together. I hope she does more and similar for RB. Nice to see Marion Tait, Viviana Durante and Irek Mukhamedov at work coaching two diverse works, each spine-tingling in very different ways.