Scheherezade

I said precisely the same thing. and pointed out that many less affluent pensioners, who are never included in any discounts, are being completely priced out. Too much to hope, no doubt, that if lots of us make the same observation, they might actually take some notice.

Buddy, many thanks for all your thoughts and posts on this topic.

I wouldn't be too guilty, Jane S. A child articulate enough to complain that you had ruined her evening should be more than capable of discerning what constitutes appropriate or inappropriate behaviour.

I think I could put up with the (temporary) disruption for the delight in witnessing ejector seating.

Matthew Ball makes for a particularly convincing villain.

For those who think the UK audiences are badly behaved, read this! (And moderators please remove this post if it breaks any rules). https://slippedisc.com/2023/03/chaos-last-night-at-the-concertgebouw/

Like everyone else, I'm very happy with the Skeaping Giselle and the triple bill. And I'm happy to give another Carmen a go. This could, after all, be the one that gets it right, and ENB have good form with new works of late, although how much that is down to the redoubtable Ms Rojo remains to be seen. My hopes are high.

Packed, yes, but should be well worth it, Josette. Ballets aside, this is a splendidly performed Barber of Seville, and I am also looking forward to Rusalka this weekend which, as Emeralds says, has been particularly well reviewed this time round, in marked and welcome contrast to its previous ‘brothel’ incarnation.

If you take this wrongheaded policy of “let’s not stage anything that might offend someone” to its natural conclusion, all narrative ballet would be cancelled because every ‘character’ must carry the risk of causing offence to someone, even if that someone is merely one of those people who make a point of taking offence on behalf of others who are not themselves offended.

I find it hard to think of anyone or anything that could induce me to see Creature again. 'Harrowing' falls some way short by way of the effect that it had on me. So no. Not even for the quite remarkable Mr Cirio.

Unfortunately, I think it would still be an uphill struggle in England with 15 million signatures.

On a more positive note, I am pleased to say that the audience in the Coliseum balcony at last night's Rhinegold was particularly well behaved. It was like going back in time to an earlier era.

Lovely photos Don Q Fan.

Flash photography from members of the audience was particularly noticeable in the first part of the Ballet Icons Gala, despite the ushers walking through the aisles (in the balcony at least) holding up signs stating no photographs. To be fair, however, most people wouldn't have seen them as I only caught them by looking around the auditorium by chance at precisely the right moment. The photography was so bad - one particularly disconcerting flash from one of the boxes looked as though it might have momentarily blinded the dancers - that a firm announcement not to take photographs, citing the effect on the dancers, was made just before curtain up for the second half, to loud applause all round. Merely seconds into the following piece, another bright flash came from the same box, followed by more from the balcony. The new 'eat-and-drink-all-you-can during the performance' policy was also firmly in evidence. To the all-pervading smell of popcorn, the couple behind me munched and slurped non-stop during both parts of the gala, in between exchanging comments whenever they could. There was so much discarded food on the floor when they left that it looked for all the world as though an urban fox had been let loose on the contents of an unlidded dustbin.

I definitely saw Maina Gielgud with a UK company in the early - mid 70s. Not sure whether with LFB or SWRB or even both.

I absolutely agree.

Don Q Fan, your reactions to last night were almost entirely mine - and my daughter’s. Hayward and Bracewell were truly gorgeous in The Dream; for me, their readings of narrative works have always perfectly complemented each other and that was particularly true of last night. Lovely performances too from the rest of the home team in the Manon (Naghdi and Clarke) and Coppelia (Bracewell again, this time with Nunez) pas de deux. I loved Khananiukova and Arrieta in Scarlett’s Chopin Romance - such an exquisitely nuanced performance of a piece I haven’t seen before - and really liked Laccara and Golding in Borealis. Golding’s uber-unforced with-a-touch-of-testosterone delivery was perfect for this piece and how nice to hear the enthusiastic audience response after the sometimes lukewarm reactions to some of his performances during his time at the RB. Creature is never going to be a favourite of mine but Cirio was, of course, riveting. And I totally agree about the ear-splitting music; way too loud! I was also underwhelmed by the Picone piece notwithstanding a positive audience response and despite Maia Makhateli’s lovely performance in the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, which I love, the piece didn’t entirely resonate with me last night. Whether this was a lack of chemistry between Makhateli and Simkin or the speed at which the piece was played, I couldn’t say, and I still enjoyed the performance, just not as much as as some of the other pieces. I don’t dislike Petit per se but didn’t feel that the promise of Andrijashenko’s opening solo was fulfilled by the rest of the piece (added to which, my daughter and I had recently viewed the incomparable Baryshnikov with Zizi Jeanmaire in the same piece, which didn’t help by way of comparison). Sergio Bernal is a known quantity but always enjoyable and tonight was no exception. I did enjoy Cinderella - it will be interesting to compare the new RB production, Flames of Paris ticked the ‘spectacle’ boxes and the standard gala fare of Don Q and Corsaire closed each part of the programme on a definite high. Glad to be there? Absolutely.

They would not, however, reduce prices for the substituted upper circle seats to the level of the cheapest rear balcony seats, which would mean that those who can only afford the cheap seats would no longer be able to afford to attend. Not to mention the dissatisfaction this would cause amongst those who choose the rear balcony seats because this is where the sound carries best.

I'm rather hoping it will be Grand Pas Classique. And they have, of course, danced this together I'm rather hoping it will be Grand Pas Classique. And they have, of course, previously danced this together.

Which might explain the decision to allow latecomers to come in when they did - at what was no doubt considered the least disruptive point(s) in the production.

hi Tykva, I have sent you a pm.

I wasn't actually, but having said that, the power of suggestion, with the concomitant insinuation that those who buck the trend may lack a certain enlightenment, can be very potent. Equally, of course, there are those who will deliberately resist the popular view purely because it is popular.

The emperor's new clothes and all that. And, no, popularity should not suggest absence of quality.

I haven't read 'No Turn Unstoned'. Am thinking I will have to get a copy.

I do get your point Angela, but dismissive criticism of our ideas and hard work is something that most of us have to put up with at work and we deal with it without throwing the toys out of the pram - or, as in this case, resorting to something much worse!