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The "new" Royal Opera House, Covent Garden


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1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Edit: I can't work out how to quote more than 1 post but bridiem said " And I imagine that apart from some big musicals most people don't go to a West End play more than once". Um, is this the moment to mention that I've seen current West End play The Comedy About A Bank Robbery 61 times...

 

Blimey O'Reilly!!! I eat my words. :o

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I'm one of those people who saves programs and cast lists forever, goes back to them on occasion and so wants them to be accurate.  I'm also finding the current situation cumbersome--I've been going to the programme selling desk in the Bow St foyer, seeing no notice, asking the programme sellers if there are any changes, sometimes getting misinformed, sometimes getting the sole printout jammed in my face so that I can hurriedly try to annotate my cast sheet properly, being told sometimes rather officiously (and IMO incorrectly) that the changes are insignificant.  It seems to me that if the ROH really wants to save paper, it would save far more paper and accommodate old school viewers like myself if it were to install recycle bins (with narrow slots to accommodate only the cast sheets) near the exits.

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Delighted to say this troublesome time waster received a prompt and courteous reply from Customer Services today following my request for details of the cast changes last night. Also a promise that my comments about the difficulty in accessing cast change information would be passed on. 

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This evening I met a very nice visitor to the new cafe who was meeting her partner there for a drink before going out elsewhere for the evening. She'd been looking forward to going to the Opera House, thinking it'd be somewhere "really special", but , she said sadly,  "it looks like a school dining room, dull rows of tables with red paper decorations, and the hanging decorations look like a creation of the school art classes"; and she said "if I wanted to get tickets, where's there a box office or any information about performances?"  The only information she could find was about live cinema screenings. She'd not realised there was any more to the building she could go to, such as upstairs to the Paul Hamlyn Hall.

If the idea of open-up was to encourage Opera House casual visitors to spend money in the cafe and book tickets, then the execution of the idea seems to be failing massively. Such a wasted opportunity, alas.

For those who do attend a performance, the cloakroom arrangements seem to be just as slow and difficult to negotiate as previously. The disabled toilet by the Paul Hamlyn Hall has a door lock which is really hard for someone to open if they have problems with grip, and this evening someone got stuck in there for several minutes and had also been unable to press hard enough to make the flush work.  Signage on the staircases is poor, too.  All simple things to have fixed, surely? 

Edited by daisydance
correcting typing error!
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I hope the people who have had problems with the disabled loo do comment very clearly.

 

I agree about the xmas decorations which  I thought were very weak this year- my brother who had never been before was underwhelmed, and I very much wanted him to be overwhelmed.

In previous years the Floral Hall glittered, and they twined sparkly floral festoons round the pillars- it was beautiful.

This year some cardboard figures including giant beetles (???) as drawn by children, didn't really compete.

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I completely avoid the new part of the ROH and I certainly won't buy any sandwiches or a drink at those prices.

Whenever I go to the ROH to see a RB performance I want to feel I am in a special and unique place, not somewhere in an airport lounge or a school canteen. That new space has no personality or design originality at all, it feels cold and cheap. The people sitting there look as if they are all in transit, waiting for a flight or train to catch.

However, all the activities organised in order to attract a new and/or younger audience deserve much applause. 

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2 hours ago, Mary said:

I agree about the xmas decorations which  I thought were very weak this year- my brother who had never been before was underwhelmed, and I very much wanted him to be overwhelmed.

In previous years the Floral Hall glittered, and they twined sparkly floral festoons round the pillars- it was beautiful.

This year some cardboard figures including giant beetles (???) as drawn by children, didn't really compete.

 

Apart from the tree, I didn't even notice any decorations when I was in the Floral Hall.  

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3 hours ago, Mary said:

This year some cardboard figures including giant beetles (???) as drawn by children, didn't really compete.

The giant beetles etc are part of the Hansel and Gretel production, which is cute when you have seen the production, but likely to leave people baffled when they haven't.

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Back on the thorny subject of who paid for the beige transit lounge.  For my money, money is money, and claiming that the new areas were completed from private funding is surely an irrelevancy. If there is all this private money washing around for ROH to use, then why not use it on new productions and subsidised tickets, things that actually benefit opera and ballet goers?  As things stand, an enormous amount of dosh has been spent on what exactly and for what purpose?  We are constantly asked to cough up for shoes, remember ROH  in our Wills and myriad other requests for money.  Yet, apparently, management had millions at their disposal to build cafes and create restaurants people can’t affird to use.  If this were a public company, questions would be asked.

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14 minutes ago, penelopesimpson said:

Back on the thorny subject of who paid for the beige transit lounge.  For my money, money is money, and claiming that the new areas were completed from private funding is surely an irrelevancy. If there is all this private money washing around for ROH to use, then why not use it on new productions and subsidised tickets, things that actually benefit opera and ballet goers?  As things stand, an enormous amount of dosh has been spent on what exactly and for what purpose?  We are constantly asked to cough up for shoes, remember ROH  in our Wills and myriad other requests for money.  Yet, apparently, management had millions at their disposal to build cafes and create restaurants people can’t affird to use.  If this were a public company, questions would be asked.

 

Presumably the private funders only want to splash out on a legacy building feature rather than piss it all away on slightly reduced price tickets for a couple of years or a soon to be forgotten new production. It's probably as much about their egos

Edited by Rob S
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24 minutes ago, penelopesimpson said:

If there is all this private money washing around for ROH to use, then why not use it on new productions and subsidised tickets, things that actually benefit opera and ballet goers?  

 

It is, Penelope.  Have you never read the credits on the cast sheets/in the programmes to the people who back revivals, roles, refurbishment of sets and costumes, new works, and so on, at often not-inconsiderable cost, I would imagine?

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On 03/01/2019 at 11:47, bangorballetboy said:

It's what's done at every single West End theatre.  I noted that in the Geilgud Theatre this morning there were two A4 pieces of paper blu-tacked to the box office confirming a cast change for tonight.

 

Do you mean to say that they have a box office INSIDE the theatre building? What a novel idea! 🙃

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18 minutes ago, ninamargaret said:

I suppose the canteen like appearance of the caff is to make it appear less elitist?  It's not so bad if you get there well before a performance and can grab one of the sofas, but it's totally without any chsracter.

 

Yes, that's probably been their quandary - they want to give a non-elitist impression, but in so doing they're stripping the area/s of what actually would make them desirable to visit. i.e. I'm not sure they really have the courage of their conviction about the kind of institution they are running.

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2 hours ago, Coated said:

The giant beetles etc are part of the Hansel and Gretel production, which is cute when you have seen the production, but likely to leave people baffled when they haven't.

 

as a ballet-fan-non-opera-goer, baffled I most certainly was!

Is the whopping great cherry decoration also part of that production? 

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1 hour ago, Rob S said:

 

Presumably the private funders only want to splash out on a legacy building feature rather than piss it all away on slightly reduced price tickets for a couple of years or a soon to be forgotten new production. It's probably as much about their egos

I do take that point, BUT, one could hardly classify what one poster describes as 'the low-key coffee shop' a legacy building.  I would be pretty teed off if I had donated a large wodge of dosh that it was used to create a transit area for people who may/may not be attending a performance.  And as for the Ampitheatre Restaurant which has also had the beige treatment, it has now been upgraded so far up itself that its occupancy is woeful.

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But is that not a paradoxical and patronising thought?  Paradoxical because surely people paying out a lot of money for a ticket at one of the world's top Opera Houses expect something pretty special.  And patronising because, allegedly, this mythical audience that ROH hungers after but can never quite define, can only connect with a place that is flat and dull?  There is a reason why rock bands put on huge shows these days with all the bells and whistles - its because people expect spectacle.  Should it be any less so at ROH?

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1 minute ago, penelopesimpson said:

 And as for the Ampitheatre Restaurant which has also had the beige treatment, it has now been upgraded so far up itself that its occupancy is woeful.

 

but at least now they haven't roped off the bar extension bit (outside the glass doors), so there is more room to sit. They initially seemed to be keeping this aside for the expected hordes of revellers (ticket holders or otherwsie) overflowing from the revamped restaurant area. They waited in vain...

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1 hour ago, alison said:

 

It is, Penelope.  Have you never read the credits on the cast sheets/in the programmes to the people who back revivals, roles, refurbishment of sets and costumes, new works, and so on, at often not-inconsiderable cost, I would imagine?

Yes, I am aware of that.  But clearly they must have felt there was no more need if they felt the creation of a totally uninspiring piece of construction which appears to have nothing to do with opera or ballet was the only way they could get rid of their dosh.  In which case, why do they need me to disinherit Dog's Trust in their favour...?!

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2 minutes ago, penelopesimpson said:

But is that not a paradoxical and patronising thought?  Paradoxical because surely people paying out a lot of money for a ticket at one of the world's top Opera Houses expect something pretty special.  And patronising because, allegedly, this mythical audience that ROH hungers after but can never quite define, can only connect with a place that is flat and dull?  There is a reason why rock bands put on huge shows these days with all the bells and whistles - its because people expect spectacle.  Should it be any less so at ROH?

 

Its almost as if there were under time pressure to finish (the problems under the Linbury were time consuming from what I heard, to get sorted out - but looks worth the effort from what I've seen). Then, when the building work finished they hadn't thought what to furnish/decorate it with so did a rush job - bit like the Millennium Dome back in 2000. Or perhaps the decor selected by committee, again like the dome, and ended up pleasing no one...

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2 hours ago, penelopesimpson said:

The last time I ate in the Ampitheatre I remarked to one of the staff that I gave the carpet six months.  On my way out, he motioned me over and pulled out a couple of chairs covering huge stains and said 'try six months.'

Should that be “try six weeks “, Penelope?!

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I cannot understand the reasoning behind removing the wall between the amphitheatre restaurant and bar area, and making it open plan. It doesn't add anything to the overall look, and I would imagine the constant flow of people wandering back and forth on to the terrace might be a bit irritating when trying to relax and eat.   

 

Personally, I am glad they are allowing people to sit on the outside terrace.  Nice warm heaters, and I saw a couple undo a screw top bottle of wine they had brought with them and pour it into their own glasses, while admiring the view.  I might do that next time I visit. On this occasion I settled for a cup of tea, which I actually bought.  The cakes I provided myself. 🙂

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Probably because nobody knows what the message is.  We have a situation where the Chairman criticises his customers for being elitist, yet admits the revenue from bars and restaurants is critical.  Similarly, ROH is reliant on  high ancillary spending, yet money is used to provide areas where people don’t need to buy anything.  Confused?  Moi?

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