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Royal Ballet: Asphodel Meadows / The Two Pigeons / RBS: The Cunning Little Vixen, 2019


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11 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

I would have thought a better target audience would be found at a higher age group - those that no longer find gigs fun, but have spare cash now the offspring left home, and still have the vigour and curiosity to find something to do with their time and cash.

Rather like many of the regulars.....😀

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3 minutes ago, Sim said:

Rather like many of the regulars.....😀

 

lol - exactly!

well, I started to come of my own volition (a telly experience tempted me in) but the marketing dept nudged me along with subsequent discounted tickets to admittedly not sold out shows; but it did the trick and got me hooked. No discounted tickets now for sure!! 

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No, I haven't seen any sign of discounts for Two Pigeons, despite the fact that - surprise surprise - it hasn't sold that well.  I get the feeling they'd prefer to cut off their nose to spite their face rather than try and get more bums on seats.

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There have been some discounts. 

 

This is the first time in my 4 years following the company that tickets for two performances of a bill have been made available on the student standby scheme (19th Jan mat and 2nd Feb mat). This means that all remaining tickets (irrespective of price band) are made available to registered students for £10. 

 

So perhaps they are getting a younger audience in… at vastly reduced prices. Not quite what the marketing department are after I suspect. 

 

I really fear that Two Pigeons will be one of the first casualties of the new marketing initiatives. 

 

(caveat: I might be bitter on account of not being able to take advantage of the scheme. I already had tickets for 19th and on 2nd all the trains stopped because a single snowflake was found on the line)

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37 minutes ago, alison said:

No, I haven't seen any sign of discounts for Two Pigeons, despite the fact that - surprise surprise - it hasn't sold that well.  I get the feeling they'd prefer to cut off their nose to spite their face rather than try and get more bums on seats.

 

There's 58 tickets available for tonight and 110 for the performance on 13th; those figures don't suggest to me the need for an offer (given the costs involved in advertising the offer).

 

Not quite the same for the RBS shows, but it seems to me that the AM/2Pigs bill sold better as the shows approached.

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Is it really true it hasn't sold well?  Have there been masses of spare seats?  When I checked, the irony was that all the expensive ones seemed to have been filled, and although it says there are 100 plus seats available, they are the cheaper ones right at the back of the amphi or round the sides up the top.  Any others are returns, as they weren't there yesterday or the day before when I booked.  

 

Same for R & J, I have to say.   It appears there are lots of seats still available for all the performances, and not all of them are ones with poor sight lines or restricted views.  Although a lot of the very expensive ones have been filled.  At 130 odd pounds a ticket, as well.  Nobody can say that R & J isn't popular, surely?    

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5 minutes ago, Fonty said:

Same for R & J, I have to say.   It appears there are lots of seats still available for all the performances, and not all of them are ones with poor sight lines or restricted views.  Although a lot of the very expensive ones have been filled.  At 130 odd pounds a ticket, as well.  Nobody can say that R & J isn't popular, surely?    

 

R&J is about 80-85% sold, which doesn't seem to me to be too much off an issue at this stage.  Some shows have about 150 seats left (mostly in the slips and mid-price amphi) so that's about 93% sold.  The less well sold shows are at weekends and towards the end of the run.

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1 hour ago, alison said:

No, I haven't seen any sign of discounts for Two Pigeons, despite the fact that - surprise surprise - it hasn't sold that well.  I get the feeling they'd prefer to cut off their nose to spite their face rather than try and get more bums on seats. 

I think we might need to qualify what 'not sold well' means.

 

There are currently 111 tickets out of 2256 available for the last performance, or just under 5% of tickets. That is a very very good number of tickets sold and nothing that requires papering.

 

Yes, the RB can sell out a Nut 4 month before the performance, but that doesn't mean that 2 Pigeons is selling badly if it's scraping in near capacity 9 days before a performance.

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57 minutes ago, Saodan said:

There have been some discounts. 

 

This is the first time in my 4 years following the company that tickets for two performances of a bill have been made available on the student standby scheme (19th Jan mat and 2nd Feb mat). This means that all remaining tickets (irrespective of price band) are made available to registered students for £10. 

 

I thought the auditorium seemed oddly full for Saturday's matinee!

 

I was thinking more of the sales having been so sluggish earlier on - as I said elsewhere, I was expecting both this bill and Don Quixote to have ended up being discounted on whatever has replaced Get Into London Theatre.

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3 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

As for the attracting a newer audience in the first place - I'm slightly puzzled why they focus on the young so much - they have lots of other attractions, and once starting a home, no spare cash. I would have thought a better target audience would be found at a higher age group - those that no longer find gigs fun, but have spare cash now the offspring left home, and still have the vigour and curiosity to find something to do with their time and cash. Just my 2p worth! 🙂

 

My guess is that it’s to do with ACE targets.

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3 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

I would have thought a better target audience would be found at a higher age group - those that no longer find gigs fun, but have spare cash now the offspring left home, and still have the vigour and curiosity to find something to do with their time and cash. 

 

I’m not sure that “well off people in their mid fifties” would count as a new audience even for the ROH.

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56 minutes ago, alison said:

I thought the auditorium seemed oddly full for Saturday's matinee!

 

Student standby tickets are made available very late, normally about 24 hours before a performance, and sell very quickly. It's like a panic button they  can hit at the last minute to fill up the theatre. I can see how it could be disconcerting if you are not aware it is happening!

 

Incidentally, at least one of the Two Pigeons performances in 2015 was also opened for student standby. I guess the problems are not new.

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10 minutes ago, Mary said:

Laura Morera was on fire tonight!

 

Exactly what I thought! She's amazing and just seems to get better and better.

 

I also loved Cuthbertson and Muntagirov. The end of the first act felt like a real tragedy; and the reconciliation pas de deux was correspondingly moving. The head touches are so poignant, and after the last one instead of touching his own head his hand changes direction to gently touch the girl's face, as if unconsciously recognising that they are now one. And as one they move towards the chair to rejoice in their unity which is both sealed and symbolised by the return of the second pigeon. Result: bliss.

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Maybe Morera felt it was a farewell to the Gypsy Girl?

I thought that Muntagirov was fabulous too.

The person sitting behind me said, after his Act 2 solo, "Wow! It just doesn't get any better than that."

 

 

 

Edited by capybara
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11 minutes ago, capybara said:

Maybe Morera felt it was a farewell to the Gypsy Girl?

I thought that Muntagirov was fabulous too.

i did wonder that. She came on with eyes blazing and took command of the stage throughout her appearances, dancing with extraordinary energy and focus. The audience loved her.

 

As for Muntagirov - I think Floss said he is not quite 'ordinary' enough for this ballet and I take the point: he is never and could never be, ordinary..... but his lissom elegance was such a lovely foil to the 'earthiness' of Morera's character-  - and I do wish I could see them dance together more often- which helped the audience see that they were not 'meant to be' as a couple.

His acting in the comic scenes with Cuthbertson was perfectly judged- not overdone, and with a real sense of genuine annoyance underlying the fun. Then in the soaring emotion of the final pas de deux his sublime lines could only heighten the exquisite poignancy. 

 

Much sniffing all around in the amphi!

 

For me it was one of those performances to store up and always remember.

 

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2 minutes ago, Mary said:

 

As for Muntagirov - I think Floss said he is not quite 'ordinary' enough for this ballet and I take the point: he is never and could never be, ordinary..... but his lissom elegance was such a lovely foil to the 'earthiness' of Morera's character-  - and I do wish I could see them dance together more often- which helped the audience see that they were not 'meant to be' as a couple.

His acting in the comic scenes with Cuthbertson was perfectly judged- not overdone, and with a real sense of genuine annoyance underlying the fun. Then in the soaring emotion of the final pas de deux his sublime lines could only heighten ..........

 

 

I found him a completely believable 'young man', in every respect. I don't need 'ordinary' when I can have Muntagirov. His dancing is on another level.

But, don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the qualities others bring to the Stage - a lot.

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Not sure where to post this..but:

 

Cast change for The Royal Ballet's The Royal Ballet School / The Two Pigeons

Tuesday 12 February 2019 at 7.30pm
Saturday 16 February at 12.00pm

 

Our records show that you are due to attend a performance of The Royal Ballet School / The Two Pigeons. We are contacting you to let you know that, due to injury, William Bracewell will be replaced by Alexander Campbell as The Young Man on 12 February. Meanwhile, on 16 February William Bracewell will be replaced by James Hay as The Young Man.

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I agree about Morera's performance last night.  Soooo pleased I got to see her in this role again.   She was having a whale of a time, and she alone was worth the ticket price.  Vadream was wonderful as always....but I thought that Campbell's emotions in the final pdd ran much deeper:  the way he almost sits on the stairs from the weight of his despair and contrition on the way down, the way he holds the moment when he touches his hand to his head, so that we can all see how distraught he is at his foolishness and the horrible realisation of what he has almost lost. 

 

The final pdd with Cuthbertson was very nicely done, as you would expect, but for some reason it didn't touch me like Stix-Brunell/Clarke and Choe/Campbell.  I didn't feel the same kind of sweetness from them, or perhaps chemistry.  I thought Vadim had much more chemistry with Laura.  When the second pigeon flew on, my main feeling wasn't of getting weepy and choked up like in the other two performances, but just 'oh good, it's worked.'  

 

 

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3 minutes ago, MJW said:

Not sure where to post this..but:

 

Cast change for The Royal Ballet's The Royal Ballet School / The Two Pigeons

Tuesday 12 February 2019 at 7.30pm
Saturday 16 February at 12.00pm

 

Our records show that you are due to attend a performance of The Royal Ballet School / The Two Pigeons. We are contacting you to let you know that, due to injury, William Bracewell will be replaced by Alexander Campbell as The Young Man on 12 February. Meanwhile, on 16 February William Bracewell will be replaced by James Hay as The Young Man.

So James Hay with Yasmine???  Hmmm.....I was hoping that maybe we would finally get the chance to see her dance with Vadim. 

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1 minute ago, Sim said:

So James Hay with Yasmine???  Hmmm.....

 

I originally booked to see William Bracewell and Francesca Hayward  - now both of the leads have been replaced ! Never mind

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6 minutes ago, Sim said:

So James Hay with Yasmine???  Hmmm.....I was hoping that maybe we would finally get the chance to see her dance with Vadim. 

 

It's put me in mind of the height issues being discussed on other threads! Though perhaps it's not an issue in Two Pigeons... after all I think of Campbell as a "short" dancer and Choe as a "slightly taller than average" one, and they were fine together.

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26 minutes ago, RuthE said:

 

It's put me in mind of the height issues being discussed on other threads! Though perhaps it's not an issue in Two Pigeons... after all I think of Campbell as a "short" dancer and Choe as a "slightly taller than average" one, and they were fine together.

 

How tall are Alexander and James?

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So very disappointed not to be seeing William in this (as much as I love both Alexander and James, I have already seen them, and was especially looking forward to the Francesca/William and then Yasmine/William casting).  The nature of ballet, I know …  I'm now worrying about his Don Q and Frankenstein performances,  as I've booked several. 

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 I will begin by asking everyone who posts on this site a very simple question and it is this. If you had never heard of  Asphodel Meadows or the Two Pigeons and you knew nothing about either of them would anything on the ROH website have induced you to buy a ticket for the programme ?

 

I recall when Pigeons was revived after a thirty years absence from the Covent Garden stage sitting next to a lady who said that she had never heard of the work and yet she claimed to be a great fan of Ashton's works. She said that she came to see his ballets whenever they were staged and  yet at the same time she said that she had hesitated about buying tickets for the Two Pigeons because she thought that its lengthy neglect suggested that it probably was not going to be that good. The sad thing is that there are plenty of other Ashton works which are capable of revival which are also being neglected which will need a bit of help to get people to buy tickets for them when they are next revived. Daphnis and Chloe and Illuminations will both need a bit more than an announcement that the Royal Ballet will be dancing these long neglected works if people are to be persuaded to buy tickets  to see them. 

 

Why is it that the minute that the average balletgoer reads that a neglected work is to be revived their response is so different from that of the average operagoer faced with similar news ? Operagoers seem to be far more adventurous as a group and their initial response is most likely to be where is it being performed? Can I get to it? Who is singing? Perhaps this is because they understand that whether or not a  major work becomes part of the core international repertory is often a matter of luck and that an unsuccessful premiere can condemn a work to decades if not centuries of unjustified neglect. Of course it could be that there are more obsessives and completists among operagoers than among balletgoers. Setting aside the fuss about the limited number of tickets made available to the public for the Forza performances which are to be sung by Kaufmann and Nebtrebko perhaps it is that the average opera goer is at least as interested in hearing unfamiliar works as he or she is in hearing specific singers.

 

I don't find a similar adventurous approach among the average balletgoer indeed it is difficult to persuade some people to step outside the perceived safety of a full length work to try a mixed bill. Even the argument that the vast majority of the greatest ballets  of the twentieth century are one act works cuts little ice.  So the sad fact is that the announcement that Daphnis and Chloe is to be revived is unlikely to prompt a firm resolution to see the rarity unless the casting is peppered with the names of popular dancers who may or may not be suitable for the roles they are to dance or it is included in a bill of more familiar works. What the announcement is likely to do is to prompt a lot of people to ask themselves what is wrong  with it and whether it might be wiser to buy a ticket for something safer ? It is after all reasonable for someone who does not realise how much bankability and the AD's personal tastes play in repertory selection to suppose that works which are neglected are weak or defective in some way and that works that are any good will be performed with some degree of regularity by the companies for whom they were made.

 

As far as the Saturday matinee performance is concerned I have always found that matinees tend to sell very well  particularly if the ballets to be performed are ones which people have heard of as there are any number of older people who do not like going to evening performances because they don't like walking home in the dark.  The one problem that the specific performance presented for me and others I know is that Two Pigeons has to be saved from being perceived as a cutesy ballet which means that the Young Girl should not be played as an adorable character because to do so is bring the work perilously close to the twee and cutesy. It is as bad, as far as the balance of the ballet is concerned as making Widow Simone a sympathetic "Mumsy" character. As far as the cast changes are concerned, I am disappointed that Bracewell is off injured but I do not intend to complain about Naghdi's two new  partners. It will be good to see both men who are exceptionally good as the Young Man dancing with a different partner. We don't see enough of James Hay  and anything that gives him another shot at the role can not be entirely bad.

Edited by FLOSS
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1 minute ago, FLOSS said:

As far as the Saturday matinee performance is concerned I have always found that matinees usually sell very well if the ballets to be performed are ones which people have heard of as there are any number of older people who do not like going to evening performances because they don't like walking home in the dark.

 

Or just because they don't live in London and can't afford an overnight hotel bill.

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6 minutes ago, ninamargaret said:

Agree with Sim and her preference for Campbell.  I loved Muntagirov's dancing - beautiful. But there was something about Campbell that actually touched me more. Total indefinable.

 

I haven't seen Muntagirov this time around, but saw him last time, and saw Campbell on Saturday.  I agree with comments further up this page that Campbell is able to bring an "ordinary" quality to the role which Muntagirov cannot. (That's a compliment to Campbell in case anyone is wondering - and is in no way a slight to Muntagirov who brings plentiful other things to it.)

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12 minutes ago, FLOSS said:

What the announcement is likely to do is to prompt a lot of people to ask themselves what is wrong  with it and whether it might be wiser to buy a ticket for something safer ? It is after all reasonable for someone who does not realise how much bankability and the AD's personal tastes play in repertory selection to suppose that works which are neglected are weak or defective in some way and that works that are any good will be performed with some degree of regularity by the companies for whom they were made.

 

With reference to your comment about the adventurousness of opera audiences vs. ballet audiences, I don't think it's that simple, and there is a key point hidden in the text I've made bold above.  In opera, with the obvious exception of the Bayreuth Festival, there is practically no connection between where an opera was premiered and who is likely to be performing it now.

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6 minutes ago, RuthE said:

 

With reference to your comment about the adventurousness of opera audiences vs. ballet audiences, I don't think it's that simple, and there is a key point hidden in the text I've made bold above.  In opera, with the obvious exception of the Bayreuth Festival, there is practically no connection between where an opera was premiered and who is likely to be performing it now.

 

Also, a new production of an opera can be enormously different from previous productions, whereas a new production of a ballet might be pretty well identical to the previous one with the only possible significant change being in the design (and often not even that). And I know next to nothing about opera, but it does seem to me that there are comparatively few one-act operas whereas new/revived ballets are very often one act (and therefore smaller scale and potentially less enticing for less experienced ballet goers if nothing much is known about them). So I think it is all quite complicated. All I can say is that in my experience, regular ballet goers (including me) are always keen to see new or revived works (unless they saw the latter first time round and have no wish to see it again!).

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Really disappointed for William Bracewell - and for us.

I guess that Muntagirov will be tied up with Don Qs next week as he’s the opening night cast. Pity - but only because I too would have liked to have seen him and Naghdi dance together.

Hay and Campbell will have a busy week.

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