Jump to content

Fonty

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2,667

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Fonty

  1. Fonty
    I am really looking forward to seeing this again. I have such happy memories of the last time I saw it, with BRB in London. Not so many comments on Monotones. Is this because people didn't enjoy it, or for some other reason. I shall be interested in how this is performed. I've noticed before that it is often the ballets by Ashton that do not require any acting, simply pure dance, that tend to suffer a little when I have seen them. In particular, timing often eludes some of the dancers when performing a piece where everyone should be moving as a single entity.
  2. Fonty
    Goodness, those pictures make it look as though the dancers have giant codpieces on their heads. Of course, it could just be the angle of the photo. I like the neat, clean lines of the current caps shown in Dave's lovely photos. I can't see anything wrong with them, personally. I can see the reasons for them, and the only alternative would be to have the men and women wear matching wigs. which would probably look very odd indeed.
  3. Fonty
    Well, we are talking about Madame Non here! I wish I could find the piece on line, but I clearly remember that it was suggested that she appear in Monotones, and she said she would not do so unless they got rid of the caps.
  4. Fonty
    Does that mean that Zakharova doesn't get to dance in Don Quixote after all?
  5. Fonty
    I remember that Sylvie Guillem once said she was asked to dance in Monotones, and refused for exactly the same reason.
  6. Fonty
    I hope the pigeons are all UK trained, and not guest pigeons from abroad.
  7. Fonty
    The height range for the corps was 5'2" to 5'5" in my day. And I think the average height for a woman in this country is 5'3". (?)
  8. Fonty
    I find that ticket sales are often sluggish before many of the ballets open. I remember being astounded at the number of tickets for sale for the last run of Fille. Of course, once the reviews came out, they were snapped up. It seems that many people wait until the critics give their opinion? I have found the same thing with tickets for plays, unless it has a starry name like Benedict Cumberbatch, or David Tennant. Sometimes people ask me how on earth I managed to get a ticket for something that has had rave reviews, and I tell them that I booked before the preview night.
  9. Fonty
    It is quite difficult to tell anything from a photo, I find, as frequently the female is bending backwards or forwards. I was just asking out of interest, as I find that these days many female dancers are referred to as petite, when in fact they are about 5' 5" or 5'6", which I would consider to be tall. Especially for a ballet dancer.
  10. Fonty
    I have been looking at the bookings for Two Pigeons for ages, and wondering why there were so many tickets left unsold. It makes me cross, because I bought a ticket ages ago for a seat up in the roof, and I could have got a much better seat for a lot less.
  11. Fonty
    Yes, I went for this as well. Taking a friend as a Christmas treat. I am shocked at how poorly this has sold.
  12. Fonty
    I wouldn't consider 5'5" to be quite petite! To qualify for that, she would have to be a good three inches shorter. Her height is within the normal range for a dancer, I would think?
  13. Fonty
    Does anyone know how tall Osipova actually is? After all, she has danced sucessfully with McRae in the past, and he is not the tallest male in the company.
  14. Fonty
    Yes, I thought the same thing. I suppose it is understandable that Kumakawa charges more for his performances, as he founded the company. But otherwise, it seems wrong to me to charge more for performances by, say, a guest artist, rather than a regular Principal. If I was the latter, I might get a bit annoyed about it. Particularly if I was a permanent member of the company with a distinguished reputation of my own.
  15. Fonty
    Did Benjamin have any sort of leaving do or public acknowledgement? I was away when she gave her last performances, and I was so sorry to have missed them, as she was one of my great favourites.
  16. Fonty
    Is Osipova saying that she wants the theatre to pay for Polunin to come as a guest artist as well? I am wondering how much power a guest artist would have in asking for these things.
  17. Fonty
    Does this sort of thing happen quite regularly in the opera world? I think I remember a few years ago, that a whole run of a new production of an opera was cancelled because the star was unwell, and unable to appear? Not their fault, of course, but I remember thinking at the time that surely it would be better to get a substitute, even if they lost some money, rather than cancel the whole lot.
  18. Fonty
    Thanks, John. As a matter of interest, have any ballet stars other than Fonteyn and Nureyev ever commanded higher prices?
  19. Fonty
    I know they used to put premium prices on Fonteyn and Nureyev performances abroad, but did they do this at ROH as well for their tickets? I think it is fair that if I have paid extra to see a particular star, and that star is indisposed, then I should get a refund on the difference between the price of a ticket for their performance and the price of the person I am actually going to see. People are bitterly disappointed not to see Osipova, but the price to see her is the same as any other Principal, isn't it? Edited to add that I have never actually checked whether prices for certain dancers are more expensive, but I've always assumed they are the same!
  20. Fonty
    I have found before that if there was a last minute substitution, I ended up seeing a dancer that possibly I hadn't watched before, and enjoying the performance very much. Sometimes I wondered why on earth I hadn't booked any of the substitute's performances before. Having a starry name replaced by a less well known one can be hugely enjoyable and a pleasant surprise. (Edited to correct my terrible spelling...)
  21. Fonty
    Is there going to be a repeat performance at the cinema? I can't go to the live broadcast?
  22. Fonty
    Yes, I have had the same thought in the past, and it is not a nice thought. I think R & J is one of those ballets where the pairings have to look appropriate; much more so than other ballets, otherwise the men start to look like perverts. I always think of Romeo as being not much older than Juliet, say about 16. So if the male dancer is very tall, and his Juliet is petite, then he has to be able to convey a youthful appearance. Mutagirov is tall, but he is not as muscular as some of the other males. Also, he looks young, so I am not sure it would matter as much if he was paired with a more petite Juliet.
  23. Fonty
    I agree with you. Rojo was a dancer whose strong dramatic skills made her shine, no matter who she was dancing with. But her partnership with Cope was very special, and I preferred that to the one with Acosta.
  24. Fonty
    Er - would asking you to explain this make me sound incredibly stupid?
  25. Fonty
    Well, we're back to casting decisions again. It is difficult to talk about any ballet, whether or not you have seen this particular run, without broadening the discussion a little to include these issues in general terms. Yes, I could start a new thread. This has been done before, with other topics that have been deemed to be slightly off topic. But without a specific ballet, and particular performances to refer to, the conversation tends to stutter to a halt after a couple of posts.
×
×
  • Create New...