Scheherezade

1 hour ago, Celine said:

That being said, last December I promised if I was seeing both Osipova and Lamb in the Ashton mixed bills, I would make a new evening gown for the occasion. Now I have to do it and also have some courage to ask nice strangers if they could take a picture of me in it...sometimes I do wish I had ballet friends. 

Celine, how lovely! I do hope that I am there to see your evening gown and that you post a photo on the forum. 

3 hours ago, Linnzi5 said:

I haven't. Is it that bad? 😂

Oh yes it is and then some! Think the fourth ring of the ninth circle of hell on endless and merciless repeat and you’re getting close. One of the hardest things I have ever done was to sit through Creature to the very end. The performances were superlative but no power on earth could induce me to endure two such hours of unrelenting queasiness, uneasiness and soul-destroying torture ever again. 

3 hours ago, LinMM said:

Well my vision of dance hell would be to watch Creature for eternity! ( sorry ENB and all the wonderful dancers who’ve danced in it!!)

Oh, @LinMM I am so with you on this!

2 hours ago, Linnzi5 said:

Anastasia Act III (Haven't found anything I dislike as much as that so far!) 

@Linnzi5 in that case you obviously haven’t seen Creature. 

I do get what you are saying @art_enthusiast but I don’t believe that the more expensive tickets should carry a greater expectation of courtesy from your neighbours. Or, for that matter, that it’s likely to come with the territory. As @BeauxArts said, the contrary is often the case since the cheap tickets are frequently taken by those who love the art form rather more than their own sense of entitlement. 
 

And @Sophoife, I would endorse every one of your examples of behaviour to despise. I’ll take your curmudgeonly and raise you cantankerous, adding people who:

indulge in manspreading and glare at you with undisguised hostility if you try to reclaim even the smallest piece of your own designated space;

take an eternity to move from their end of row seats at the interval while a restless queue is shifting uncomfortably, trying to get out;

wear a too-cool-for-school hat and keep it on throughout the performance;

drape their coats over the seat in front to the discomfort of the person sitting there;

cough and sneeze repeatedly without covering their mouth;

play with their hair, flicking it, pushing it up, pulling it down and endlessly twirling it round their fingers;

remove their shoes, delighting their neighbours with a lovely cheesy smell for the duration of the performance;

whisper during the quiet bits in the mistaken belief that the hissing sound they make can’t be heard by people sitting nearby. 
 

The worst offenders, though, must surely be the loved up couples who lean in to each other from the moment the lights go down, heads touching throughout, exchanging meaningful hugs and kisses with depressing regularity. Get a room! And I don’t mean the auditorium. 
 

Can I join the queue please for SCS or central balcony standing for Sat 6 April Swan Lake. 

8 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

Am I the only one who really liked the Georgiadis costumes?  I thought they were brilliant.  Although I still don't get the head adornments.....

You are not the only one, Fonty. The men’s headpieces apart, I loved the costumes and the set, both the designs and the colours. 

3 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Was it the same choreographer, @Scheherezade? 

That’s a no, Emeralds, and I admit I hadn’t checked the choreographer’s details so thanks to @San Perregrinofor providing Ossian Meilir’s bio. Mark Baldwin choreographed the Rambert work. 

14 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Should we be a tad perturbed that there's no mention of who will be dancing or even  what style/genre of dance it will be.....

Possibly the Garsington Opera / Rambert / Sadler’s Wells pre-lockdown version?

4 hours ago, Geoff said:

The General rehearsal was last night. We don't review rehearsals but I think it is worth noting for those who are still undecided as to whether to get a ticket, there is no gorilla in the new production by Damiano Michieletto.

 

In fact this show feels almost like a companion piece to the same director's Cav and Pag. As Amazon might say, if you liked that, you may like this one. 

My thoughts exactly. No guesswork needed to identify the director.

40 minutes ago, Roberta said:

I did worry for a moment that that the dancing chickens were to be stoned to death, which would have been upsetting, until I saw the date. 

And Animal Rights protesters would have been charging to the rescue, not to mention the content warning notices that would have accompanied the performances. 

13 hours ago, Estreiiita said:

Most of all I liked "Etudes"

I usually like Etudes most of all too, Estreiiita. What I don’t like so much is the fact that it is performed here in the UK so infrequently. 

Can we start a petition, please, to ditch the blonde wig. And who decreed that Titania had to be blonde anyway?

Edited to add that I have half a recollection of seeing a non-blonde Titania but can't be sure and I don't think it was Hayward. Takada perhaps?

32 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

No argument from me about your likes, with the possible exception of Song of the Earth.  I know it is a masterpiece, but I don't really like the music.  I believe that MacMillan created Concerto for the company to make sure they maintained their classical technique, so it seems odd that it should be performed so infrequently.  

 

I've seen all 3 of your  dislikes at least once, and although they wouldn't be my first choice, I wouldn't sit any of them out.  I thought the first two dealt with unpleasant themes, but did so in a very dramatic way.  I would far rather see those than some of the angst ridden contortions to ear splitting noise that I have endured at the hands of certain modern choreographers.  There was a time when the Judas Tree was THE one act Macmillan ballet in a triple bill. I wouldn't avoid watching it, but it wouldn't bother me if I never saw it again.    

Same here. The Judas Tree is the one work that I massively disliked and am more likely to sit out but although the subject matter of The Invitation is salacious, the choreography and narrative arc are pure Macmillan, as is DD. 

Hello @supergolden, I have sent you a DM.

58 minutes ago, Roberta said:

Concerto again? Elite Syncopations? Works for the whole company to enjoy performing. 

Las Hermanas, Gloria, Winter Dreams, Song of the Earth, not to mention the many works that we haven’t seen in decades …

Top flight influencers are given an eye watering amount of high end goods as their endorsement brings in far more revenue for the suppliers. And to channel Linda Evangelista’s oft-repeated statement that ‘80s supermodels wouldn’t get out of bed for less than £10,000, influencers who are at the top of their game are paid upwards of this sum for a single line of text or a few spoken words so, yes, lucrative indeed! 

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

I do wonder why they have to announce it the day after public booking opens. I also was not expecting so many casts so it's going to be awfully complicated. I'm trying to get my head around all the casting combinations & failing. I think I'm going to have to turn it into a spreadsheet....

I think I’m going to have to blow my entire birthday budget on seeing as many cast combinations as I can fit in. 
 

1 hour ago, capybara said:

 

The timing is, of course, not untypical of the ROH.

However, it is all the more galling given that the pdf was clearly signed off by KOH on the 26th March.

1 hour ago, FionaM said:

Well spotted.  It would seem like an admin error then … not getting the email out in timely fashion. 

Why am I not surprised?

2 hours ago, Mary said:

Puck is not named, for example.....

🤞🤞🤞

1 hour ago, San Perregrino said:

On the plus side, I did get an SCS for the Pappano Gala which was unexpected.

How did you manage that, San Perregrino? My daughter tried on the dot of 9.00 and it was showing Sold Out. 

I am very happy to read your views, Richard LH and Lindsay and having booked months ago purely to see Grigorian due somewhat to Butterfly fatigue over the last few seasons, would have looked forward to this coming weekend’s performance whatever the strengths or weaknesses of the rest of the cast. I can’t recall which review pointed to Grigorian as the sole reason to see this cast, although most of the critics point to her performance as something of a class apart. Bety

glad that you both rated the supporting cast too. 

Asmik Grigorian is said to be the sole reason for seeing this cast. She is also the reason why I booked but I won’t be going until the weekend so can’t report back and just hoping the casting doesn’t change between now and then. Would be interested in what anyone else thinks. 

1 hour ago, Roberta said:

 

What with this thread and the one where everyone is sucking their lemons because a young woman & her pal wore tutus at the ROH, I'm off to dig out MY black one and FLAUNT myself.  FLAUNT. 

 

 

 

(Reality check... I doubt it will fit...) 

I have a friend, not young and now US resident, who frequently, and happily, wears tutus (albeit the longer variety) when attending the ROH.

I have noticed recently - and I mean very recently - a number of young people, largely in the Floral/Paul Hamlyn Hall, glammed up to the nines. I don't know whether they are influencers and their friends, or people influenced by influencers, or whether suddenly, and entirely independently, noticeably larger numbers of young people have decided that they would like to attend performances at the ROH and dress up in a way that I can't say I have particularly noticed previously. I have nothing whatsoever against young people dressing up in this way, in fact I think that most of them look fabulous, but is this entirely coincidental and, if not, is it perhaps reinforcing the exclusivity tag? As regards influencers and their ilk, I have also seen Made in Chelsea people (no, my daughter recognised them, not me) posing up a storm in boxes during the intervals and whilst I may be barking up totally the wrong tree, it did lead me to wonder whether their tickets may have come courtesy of the Opera House. 

8 hours ago, bridiem said:

When the curtain went up on Danses concertantes, I was both surprised and delighted at the designs, which I hadn't remembered at all (strange, because they're pretty memorable!). I also thought that the backdrop was more like John Piper than Georgiadis, and that added to the period air of the piece. The choreography was so inventive and consistently interesting and unexpected; a bit like Scènes de Ballet on steroids. Can't wait to see it again.

 

Different Drummer: for the first 15 minutes or so, I was feeling quite dismayed (as before) with this - it seemed to me to be not so much nightmareish as cartoonish (and there was quite a lot of unfortunate giggling going on around me, which I don't think was the intended reaction). I think the problem mainly applies in respect of the Captain and the Doctor. But as the work progressed I found it more and more absorbing and some of the images and moves were very powerful, though it still seemed to be more a series of vignettes rather than a coherent work. But by the end, I'd been drawn in and I did find it both moving and shocking. The murder is horrific; I don't think the suicide is very clear (just as well I'd read the programme) since he seems to just wash his hands and then lie down in the bath and pull the cover back on. So ultimately I found this an unsatisfying work, but with much more to recommend it than I felt when I first (and last) saw it. Francesca Hayward was superb as Marie; I thought that Marcelino Sambé danced beautifully and gave it everything, but he doesn't strike me as ideal casting for the role - I would have liked to see Bracewell and/or Richardson do it.

 

I find it difficult to write about Requiem. It seems to be to have come to fruition fully formed, as if no other steps could have been used and MacMillan was simply expressing what was already there. I think I barely breathed from start to finish. Unbearably beautiful, and unbearably moving. Especially because today (now) is the first anniversary of my brother's death, and we used the In Paradisum movement at his funeral (and indeed at our mother's funeral in 2014). To watch the souls being led gently into Paradise, all fear gone, with their heads held high, was quite overwhelming. All the dancers were magnificent, and rightly got a great reception. Why this masterpiece is performed so infrequently I will never understand. 

 

 

 

 

Brilliant review, Bridie, and I agree with everything you have said. 
 

I would add that this is the type of triple bill we really should have: something charming and witty as an aperitif, a challenging work in the middle and, to round off the evening, a piece that is utterly sublime. And what a showcase of MacMillan’s range. 
 

I think the muted reactions to Dances Concertantes show how much we need to familiarise ourselves with this type of what would now be grouped under the less than helpful umbrella of ‘heritage works’. There was much to admire but we are just not used to seeing works like this any more and they should not be allowed to fade from the repertoire. And I also liked the costumes and backdrop. 
 

Different Drummer was never going to be an easy watch but Hayward and Sambe were totally riveting. For me - and, I suspect, others - the grotesques (ie the doctor and the captain) shaped the uncomfortable side of this work and I put this down entirely, and clearly deliberately, to their appearance rather than their contribution to the onstage drama. And dramatic it certainly was, with many a nod to the familiar MacMillan canon found in Manon and Mayerling. Hayward was sublime, utterly moving in her portrayal of a Marie who was always prisoner to her unhappy fate and Sambe’s Wozzeck combined anger and desperation with more than a hint of Petrushka, although I too would love to see Bracewell’s interpretation.

And Requiem? Just perfection. No more needs to be said. 

22 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

I prefer (if they are done) to see singles rather than doubles.

I totally agree.