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MARGOT FONTEYN CENTENARY


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Also advertised is an "invitation to purchase tickets for the performance and to join us for pre-performance and interval receptions in the Crush Room followed by a party in the Paul Hamlyn Hall, where you can meet the cast, members of the creative team and senior staff of the Royal Opera House",

 

The prices?

Stalls Circle £900; Stalls and Grand Tier £1,100

 

I heard from one disillusioned patron that, the last time benefactors were invited to join the cast etc. afterwards, only one dancer turned up, with the result that he was being escorted around the room by 'minders' so that he could be introduced to as many people there as possible.

 

 

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12 minutes ago, capybara said:

Also advertised is an "invitation to purchase tickets for the performance and to join us for pre-performance and interval receptions in the Crush Room followed by a party in the Paul Hamlyn Hall, where you can meet the cast, members of the creative team and senior staff of the Royal Opera House",

 

The prices?

Stalls Circle £900; Stalls and Grand Tier £1,100

 

I heard from one disillusioned patron that, the last time benefactors were invited to join the cast etc. afterwards, only one dancer turned up, with the result that he was being escorted around the room by 'minders' so that he could be introduced to as many people there as possible.

 

I had assumed that for things like this it was a three-line whip and that the dancers (at least the leading ones) would really have no choice but to be there. Clearly not!

 

 

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28 minutes ago, capybara said:

Also advertised is an "invitation to purchase tickets for the performance and to join us for pre-performance and interval receptions in the Crush Room followed by a party in the Paul Hamlyn Hall, where you can meet the cast, members of the creative team and senior staff of the Royal Opera House",

 

The prices?

Stalls Circle £900; Stalls and Grand Tier £1,100

 

Good heavens! That rather puts my dithering over whether to pay £73 or £93 in the Don Q thread into persepctive. You'd think it would be a lot easier & cheaper just to go to the stage door if you wanted to meet the cast!

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15 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

 You'd think it would be a lot easier & cheaper just to go to the stage door if you wanted to meet the cast!

 

It is! And the dancer who, I'm told, went to the aforesaid reception is especially courteous in stopping to talk at the Stage Door.

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12 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Good heavens! That rather puts my dithering over whether to pay £73 or £93 in the Don Q thread into persepctive. You'd think it would be a lot easier & cheaper just to go to the stage door if you wanted to meet the cast!

 

45 minutes ago, capybara said:

I heard from one disillusioned patron that, the last time benefactors were invited to join the cast etc. afterwards, only one dancer turned up, with the result that he was being escorted around the room by 'minders' so that he could be introduced to as many people there as possible.

 

32 minutes ago, bridiem said:

I had assumed that for things like this it was a three-line whip

 

I was going to say it might be a long wait if dancers are three line whipped into attending a party but having read capybara’s and bridem’s posts perhaps not?

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1 hour ago, Lizbie1 said:

No further details yet, but a page has appeared on the website, with pricing: https://www.roh.org.uk/productions/margot-fonteyn-a-celebration-by-various

 

Thank you for this link.

 

The Twitter hashtag cited on this page is not ROH specific: #Fonteyn100. I'm hoping (probably in vain!) that this could imply the possibility of additional celebratory events being planned by other organisations during the year. Fingers crossed!

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2 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

No further details yet, but a page has appeared on the website, with pricing: https://www.roh.org.uk/productions/margot-fonteyn-a-celebration-by-various

 

Is it just me or is anyone else unable to work out what prices apply to which seats? Whenever I click on this and similar links, all I can see is a black and white plan with a list of prices printed beneath but no way of ascertaining which prices apply to which seats.

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6 minutes ago, JohnS said:

I was going to say it might be a long wait if dancers are three line whipped into attending a party but having read capybara’s and bridem’s posts perhaps not?

 

If someone is desparate enough to meet the cast that they'd pay hundreds of pounds then I imagine they'd also be prepared to wait a considerable length of time at the stage door. At least, I personally would rather spend, say, an hour of time waiting than all that money (not that I've tried going to the stage door for the RB but I've hung around at plenty of stage doors of other theatres, sometimes for quite a while). Or try again on another night when the cast don't have post-show commitments.

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36 minutes ago, Scheherezade said:

 

Is it just me or is anyone else unable to work out what prices apply to which seats? Whenever I click on this and similar links, all I can see is a black and white plan with a list of prices printed beneath but no way of ascertaining which prices apply to which seats.

 

If you click on one of the price ranges (e.g. £5-£17), it should show all the seats in that range in red, and the individual prices appear below (in this case £5, £10, £17). Click on, for example, £10, and only the £10 seats are red.

 

At least that's what I see, whether signed in or not.

Edited by Lizbie1
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Just now, Scheherezade said:

Thank you so much, Lizbie, simple when you know how!

 

Perhaps drop a line to ROH about it - it should be obvious enough that nobody has to ask. I do think that they're genuinely interested in feedback (when I worked with web developers, end user comments were like gold dust).

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1 hour ago, capybara said:

Also advertised is an "invitation to purchase tickets for the performance and to join us for pre-performance and interval receptions in the Crush Room followed by a party in the Paul Hamlyn Hall, where you can meet the cast, members of the creative team and senior staff of the Royal Opera House",

 

The prices?

Stalls Circle £900; Stalls and Grand Tier £1,100

 

 

 

 

I expect that for those sort of prices you will be able to meet members of the creative team such as Sir Frederick Ashton, Mikhail Fokine and Marius Petipa. Possibly Bakst and Stravinsky too. Of course, Wayne McGregor may also be there if he creates a piece for the occasion. 

 

I really hope there is more to the Fonteyn centenary than just cashing in on her name. 

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I think that to celebrate the centenary we ought to have the chance to see Fonteyn herself on film. The Linbury has proved now to be a good venue to see film. 

 

There are a number of recordings available. Wasn't there some on at the BFI some years back.  Does anyone recall that ?  Or what is potentially available that you would like to suggest ?   I recall recently stumbling across Fonteyn as Ondine on an obscure freeview channel. 

 

I'm sure many people already possess favourite recordings, but I think the chance to see the works on the big screen would be welcome. 

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It would be an excellent opportunity for the RB to have a rummage round in their Old Movies cupboard and find Fonteyn's appearances in the 1970 Ashton Gala - Nocturne, The Wise Virgins, Apparitions, M&A, and the finale of Daphnis and Chloe, I believe. Also there's an extraordinary rehearsal of her doing the flute dance from Daphnis and Chloe - it was in one of the obtiruary programmes about her on television - quite different from anything else I've seen of her, and reportedly described by Mark Morris as  the most wonderful thing he'd ever seen. Actually I think they should incorporate some film into the actual gala.

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There are some amazing Fonteyn films in the Jerome Robbins Dance Collection in the Lincoln Center Library that I certainly had never seen anywhere else.  Perhaps segments of those could be shown - with permission of course. 

Edited by Bruce Wall
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  • 2 weeks later...

Not sure if someone has already posted this, but I  came across the press release concerning the Fonteyn celebrations as reported in The Broadway News which I had missed on the ROH pages.

“This celebration will also include a free exhibition of Margot Fonteynrelated items from the Royal Opera House archive.” 

I had hoped the V and A might do something, but this should be worth seeing.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Had a really charming reply to my email to Iain Webb, AD of Sarasota Ballet. In it I praised the Company for it's Ashton productions and revivals and asked if there was any chance they would visit the UK. He thanked me warmly for my interest and went on to say:-

 

'I openly admit that I see all of Sir Fred’s ballets through rose tinted glasses, but he meant so much to both Margaret and I, and I feel that whilst I am in a position where I can keep his name and his ballets alive that I have a duty to do all that I can to give him a ‘home’ in the United States.

 

We have just revived Sir Fred’s Varii Capricci, and although we were unfortunately unable to use the original sets and costumes, we were able to have the fifth movement’s reorchestrated score recorded, as the only available recording of Walton’s music doesn’t include the changes he made at Sir Fred’s request. This hopefully means that the ballet can be performed by other companies as well, as it is a remarkable example of his choreographic genius and wit. And of course we are weeks away from our most important production of the Season and the most important revival the Company has undertaken, Apparitions, which is in honor of Dame Margot’s 100th Birthday.'

 

What a wonderful way to celebrate Dame Margaret's centenary and really puts the RB paltry, half-hearted 'gala' to shame. it's great Sir Fred has a home in the States but how much better would it be if he was valued more in his adopted country and Company. Iain went on to say that a theatre would have to 'invite' them if they were to visit the UK and he hoped the interest in Apparitions where UK journalists were seeing it, might pave the way for an invite. I would certainly second that!

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I've been sent all the info in advance but no mention of the actual content of the evening, nor indeed the dancers performing.  So far, I've turned down the chance to buy a seat at the exhorbitant prices mentioned plus the associated social gatherings. I will have a look again when I can book on the website under "normal" conditions, but for me content is all.    

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