David

Can I echo this please. Do we actually know what they are bringing? Is there information re the the NBC visit somewhere on the ROH website? If so can someone help with the link please.

Exactly. It was always my first port of call, so much more so when the old site was replaced by the current bloated, self-indulgent monstrosity that has no regard for its users and its primary function, only for the self-esteem of its designers, and presumably of the Managers who commissioned it and seem intent on bringing the House into disrepute.

I am so pleased that the tone of the comments has begun to change. Most of the twitter venom was posted before the film was released! Everyone has their own favourite version of 'Memory' but for me there is only one version - Streisand sitting alone with the mike - a masterclass in how to handle a lyric: I tried to post the link but seem to have have logged the actual recording. Sorry!

Hear! Hear!

It is hard to understand the extent of the venom this film has attracted, particularly in a generation accustomed to the aberrations of the Marvel and DC Comics films but we have long had ambiguous feelings towards our feline friends and I suspect the reactions go to something deeper in the human psyche. The ancients regarded cats as sacred, cats have long been seen as witchs' familiars and their pretty cuddly faces belie their nature as cold killers as anyone who has seen a cat toy with its victim before the kill must attest, a characteristic which we alone in the animal kingdom share. It occurs to me that the Catwoman films have always been the least successful of their genre. My own feeling is that what we are seeing is just a blip in the development of CGI which still has a long way to go but there is no doubt that Tom Hooper has raised the bar. It will be interesting to see how Matt Reeves 'dresses' Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman when she returns in the new Batman film next year. And how the critics and the fans react! More interesting to me is the effect on Francesca Hayward's career. The camera loves her face, her picture is everywhere we look and her acting abilities are out there for all to see. Moira Shearer didn't return to Sadler's Wells after 'The Red Shoes' and continued her career in films, Cyd Charisse came from the Chicago Ballet, Gene Kelly discovered Leslie Caron in the Paris Ballet. Neither returned to the ballet world. Nor despite his good intentions, has Robert Fairchild; and I see Leanne Cope's genre is now described as Musical Theatre in Wikipedia. The casting agents with their siren voices will come calling. The pressure will be hard to resist and why should she. Her world has changed.

Had missed this so thank you Janite. Have tracked it down on FreeSat and set it to record. TWICE!! A rare chance to see Scottish Ballet so very pleased.

I had an email from the shop mid Oct saying Bayadere was due in Dec so I guess it depends on who you talk to! I guess we just have to be patient. I'm not sure what would be left if they did edit out all the culturally insensitive bits though. Meanwhile great news re “Within the Golden Hour” / “Medusa” / “Flight Pattern”. That date does look solid so thanks for that.

I followed your advice last Nov and acquired this company's Nutcracker and Carmina Burana and am really pleased with them so I think you're safe! Thanks's for the head's up on their latest release. I look forward to it.

I so agree. My recorder failed that the start of the BBC relay and I have been trying ever since to get a copy. There is no recording on DVD/Blu-ray of this key work - it is a major gap in MacMillan/RB discography and I can't understand why Darcey Bussell's farewell performance has not been released. Is there some kind of copyright dispute or something?

I wonder. Could the sale of Opus Arte to the Naxos Music Group last November be seen as clearing the decks for some such development? Presumably they also can read the writing on the wall.

In my time I have worked through 7 or 8 different audio and video formats, ofter transferring/re-buying the same material on the new format. Each time, unless one retains the equipment, precious recordings are lost because not all the previous material is re-produced on the new format. Thus I still have several hundred LPs and am amused to see that vinyl has been making something of a comeback - albeit as a niche market. DVDs are still available to purchase at present and I am hanging on to my collection but the reality is that, like videos, the charity shops don't want them and you just can't give them away. A friend took a load to a car boot sale and offered them at 20p each and had no takers. The real question is not about DVDs but how long blu-rays will remain relevant. A whole new generation has emerged who don't own players of any kind and rely entirely on streaming/downloading. I resolutely refuse to join them but I buy only blu-rays these days and that very selectively, or occasionally stuff on older formats, usually via the likes of eBay, which is unavailable on current formats. But I am under no illusions. Hopefully blu-ray will see me out but the signs are that it too will become redundant and sooner than one might expect. Streaming is still in its infancy but my tech-wise family tell me it is only a matter of time before we have live performances streamed in holographic form directly into our living rooms. That would put the cat among the ROH's seat pricing pigeons!!! Meantime, I shall be ordering the blu-ray of the RB's promised new Bayadere release and leave the future to take care of itself.

I’m told that the Royal Ballet’s La Bayadère should be issued next month - presumably last year’s cinema release with Marianela Nuñez (Nikita), Natalia Osipova (Gamzatti), Vadim Muntagirov (Solor) and Gary Avis (The High Brahmin). Expected but good to have confirmation and in good time for Christmas! Does anyone have any further details please?

Floss - I do hope you will be re-posting this item as and when you've had an opportunity to sort it out. It looked to be an authorative and very wide ranging background to the RS affair and I for one was very much looking forward to reading it.

Thank you. Very helpful.

Surely one obvious link is that Crassus is alleged to have crucified six thousand of the survivors one by one along the Appian way - though I can't find the source for this - certainly not in the section on Crassus in Plutarch's Lives. Maybe in Appian of Alexandria's Roman History? Or in Raffaello Giovagnoli' novel 'Spartoco', supposedly drawing on Plutarch and Appian, which I understand was Grigorovich's main source?

Will the Cranko Estate allow a live cinema relay? Have I missed something?

And of course when Pinero in 1898 entiled his comic play Trelawney of the Wells, eveyone recognised the thinly disguised reference to the Sadlers Wells Theatre - though since that play deals with changing fashions in the theatre I'm not sure where that leaves us!

More to the point does it stand out, is its purpose clear, is it easily accessible from outside/from within, is space set aside for people waiting to be attended to, in other words (and I know this is novel thinking for the new ROH) does its new location and layout facilitate its function?

Yes I agree it's probably the most useful link on the site. I hardly ever bother with anything else.

I'm wallowing in three recently issued and IMHO very fine disks: 1. Ibsen's Ghosts: The Norwegian National Ballet & The Norwegian National Ballet School - Creation and direction: Marit Moum Aune Choreography: Cina Espejord Issued by Bel Air Classiques 2. Ibsen's Hedda Gabler: The Norwegian National Ballet & The Norwegian National Ballet School Choreography: Marit Moum Aune Issued by Bel Air Classiques 3. La Fresque (The Painting on the Wall): Ballet Preljocaj. Choreography: Angelin Preljocaj. Issued by Naxos. Comes with an excellent bonus - an explanation by Angelin Prelocaj himself. All three are available on both DVD and Blu-Ray. I guess these works will be familiar to many on the forum but they have come as an eye-opener to me.

and hopefully of a bubbly, fun-loving young woman who brought joy and huge affection into the lives of everyone who knew and worked with her.

The same goes for the opera season where performances are generally much more expensive. Can't really complain though - all the major companies are doing it to fund their up-coming productions. If you want to get tickets these days you have to be prepared to forward-book big time!

Nice one!

I've been checking out the four seasons and booking dates to get some idea of my budget breakdown. It looks as if the main demand will be in the Autumn season, with the Winter a close runner - in other words, I'll have to find most of the cost for the 2019/20 season in the next five months. As others have said, castings will be decisive!

Continuing in the same generous spirit, I'm also beginning to think that the extended delay in releasing the programme might be due to an effort to loosen Kasper Holten's death grip on future planning. There are a couple of unexpected things/changes on the opera side that the rumour mill wasn't expecting. Butyou're right Lizbie1 - I'm probably just kidding myself.