capybara

I thought that the ROH did not deal with discounters or 'second hand sellers'.

But maybe TodayTix has partnered with the ROH in the distribution of the unsold tickets which mysteriously disappear a couple of days before a show?

There is surely no way that all the discounts available in the autumn could have been taken up by in-house staff and NHS workers.

1 hour ago, oncnp said:

Apologies for an odd question re: flowers - was the yellow bouquet (Muntagirov)  that looks like it ended up on the stage a nice one? I've not used this florist before and any opinions would be welcome. 

Vadim’s collection of photos on his latest IG post includes a yellow bunch with mimosa which looks lovely.

Ordering flowers  is such a lottery…….

22 minutes ago, Angela Essex said:

Hello All and Happy New Year. I’d like to book to see Nunez/Vadim in Swan Lake on 6/4 and (thanks to a birthday present from my husband) have a choice of the following seats front balcony A49, Front stalls circle A64 or Stalls D12 or M20. Which seat would afford a better view? I’m hoping some kind forum member can comment please. Thank you. 

I’d go for the front Stalls Circle - definitely not Stalls row D.

Enjoy!

1 minute ago, Jan McNulty said:

https://www.brb.org.uk/shows/the-sleeping-beauty

 

Scroll down for venue/date/cast - no easy way to reproduce.

If only BRB didn’t make it necessary to look at every performance individually in order to see the casting.

35 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Would you rather those of us who sometimes draw attention to ENB's casting posts don't do so on here in future? Given that you seem to be implying that those of us who use Twitter/X are lacking in sanity, which isn't a very nice thing to read when I was only trying to be helpful by linking to ENB's post.

 

ENB have also updated their website with the cast changes, though as they don't mark cast changes as such one would have to remember or look up the original casting to realise there was a cast change.

 Please continue to alert us on here, @Dawnstar. I don’t think that ENB emails out cast changes and not everyone sees their updates on X or IG. So your alerts are really helpful. Thank you.

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

 

 I have been checking ENB's website daily for the last couple of weeks to make sure Frola's still on the cast list!

Gabriele himself has been posting  positively on social media 🤞

1 minute ago, art_enthusiast said:

Hi, just a quick question about booking seats with cameras potentially in view, for cinema streamed performances (Manon)

 

Does anyone know which seats are usually blocked in the orchestra stalls? I’m hoping A 26 and 27 aren’t

OS A26 and 27 are OK, although the camera sitting part way into A23 can sometimes be in one’s peripheral vision.

Otherwise the OS seats affected (if any) are further back.

I have a feeling that the programme note will be very helpful.

2 hours ago, bridiem said:

I've received this too. To be perfectly honest, I'm delighted that I don't have to watch another work by Joseph Toonga (though I find it difficult to believe that any injured dancers couldn't be replaced by any other dancers in the company, given his style of dance). However I'm also somewhat dismayed to hear that it's only a postponement to next season, implying that his involvement with the company will continue for at least another season. 

 

So it sounds as if there will only be four works on the programme, and it will presumably be pretty short, hence the refund. It's rather disturbing that it seems to be so difficult to find new works worthy of being on the main stage in what is billed as  a 'festival' of new choreography. But there you go. At least I'll get home earlier than usual.

 

Apologies for this churlish post. I found the email rather irritating on a number of counts (as you can no doubt tell!).

I feel exactly the same @bridiem, including your sentiment about any further extension of Mr Tonga’s tenure with the RB.

I was half hoping to be able to discern from his latest work whether this privileged association had enabled him to develop as a choreographer, but I guess I know the answer.

Gavin Sutherland is now Principal Guest Conductor with ENB.

8 minutes ago, PeterS said:

The cat is out…. I wonder will a new production be ready for December 2024?
And, if BCF suggestions turn out to be true there’s to be no RB Nutcracker at the end of this year.

So, unless NB brings its Nutcracker to London, a bit of a Nutcracker shortage threatens the capital next festive season with currently only BRB confirmed at the Royal Albert Hall.

Too much speculation here @PeterS

It is surely very unlikely that ENB would take a year out from The Nutcracker as it’s such a primary source of income.

23 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

Just a quick question for all the very experienced ballet-watchers over the years - was it normal to eat and drink in theatres during the 1960s/70s/80s? Or has it made an unwelcome comeback now after being out of fashion for a while?

Not normal, except, perhaps, for an occasional sweet or boxed chocolate passed between family members.

Just in case everyone hasn’t spotted this, the BCF Chair, Sim, has today added Links to all the other things she does for the Forum.

Thank you so much, Sim (and Janet, of course). That daily resource is invaluable.

(Unfortunately, I am not in a position to volunteer help of this kind; but I do hope that someone will come forward soon. We can’t risk overloading any of the volunteers who, as Mods., enable us to have this wonderful online source of information and outlet for sharing and debate.)

But there will be stage calls etc before that and the General Rehearsal is as early as Wednesday.

It’s ‘all go’ for ENB dancers at this time of year, particularly the corps, and they rise to the challenge wonderfully.

Good luck to them for their beautiful Giselle which seems to be selling really well, especially the first five shows.

Just to be clear - I was not referring to individual performers or Friday’s standing ovation but to the overall audience enthusiasm for classical ballet which was evident to see from my vantage point in the Stalls Circle.

But, whilst we’re on the subject of cheering and standing ovations, I often get the impression where new McG works are concerned that ‘rent a whoop’ has been recruited, at least for opening nights.

Yes - I do occasionally stand myself but never on autopilot!

Lastly, all companies need their crowd pullers. What concerns me is that out of the couple of younger ballerinas who (to me) are especially  wonderful and obvious successors to Marianela/Natalia in this ‘star’ regard, only one seems to be favoured by McG while the other is not on stage enough (in my view).

43 minutes ago, LinMM said:

I suspect younger people will love this (and by younger I mean those in Youth and Middle Age) as they are far enough from the reality of Death as Macgregor is himself to still be able to take on the Hope. 

Well, last Friday’s (massively newcomer) audience was preponderantly in this age bracket and clearly loving what they saw - especially the classical end of Act 2 which was cheered to the rafters.

AND they were thronging the Stage Door and Floral Street afterwards in unprecedented numbers. This volume of response simply doesn’t happen for McG.

I have no words 🤯

Well, perhaps I do…….

Obviously, there was an artistic and financial commitment to a joint production with the NBoC which needed to be honoured in terms of programming. But McG does not come cheap and the ROH is pleading poverty.

What better time than 2024/25 to mount an entirely retrospective year honouring those who made the RB distinctive? This would surely have made good economic sense and have provided an artistic showcase for ALL the company’s wonderful dancers. Yes - McG’s habitual mix of all ranks is a plus but the downside of his and others’ new stuff is that a number of Principals are being seriously underused at what should be the height of their careers.

1 minute ago, Tattin said:

I don't agree. This is depicting Victorian England as it most likely was, not 21st century London.  I love the RB's current production of Nutcracker - it's by far the best of  any I've ever seen. If every ballet and theatrical performance were banned as not being "politically correct" in the modern world we would never be able to see a single Shakespeare play, for example, ever again. And I don't support banning Fille or La Bayadère either.

I read @li tai po’s post as being tongue in cheek.

8 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

Nunez gave flowers to Muntagirov, Avis & the conductor. She mustn't have had much of that bouquet left!

 

Medal correctly in place for Hans-Peter.

 

And a few more curtain call photos as no-one else has yet posted any for this performance on here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Vadim gave a large rose to Marianela. I like this new 'tradition', except that I don't understand why the man's flowers come on some time after the ballerina's.

Obviously huge congratulations to Giacomo.

But a mid season promotion does rather create an air of mystery.

In recent times, my IG feed from the RBS has been so predominantly commercial that one could easily lose sight of the school’s primary purpose.

8 minutes ago, Sim said:

I wish it were the Naghdi/Corrales cast....

Unfortunately not.

Just as the recording of Month shouldv’e been Morera/Muntagirov, but isn’t.

Various social media posts seem to be confirming that Reece Clarke will be dancing his scheduled two performances.

If it has to be R&J, how about a short run focussed on debutantes combined with an alternative programme featuring the longer serving Principals.

3 minutes ago, JNC said:

I expect R&J will be a mammoth run where they might programme for October 2024 for a few months and then also in early 2025 for a second run as well. 

Pleeeeease not!!!