penelopesimpson

1 minute ago, Sim said:

And just listen to Ian Gillan sing Gethsemane on the original soundtrack album of JC Superstar...heartbreaking, and nothing simple about it technically or emotionally!

Quite.

I am absolutely staggered that musical theatre schools should make such a pronouncement.  Who on earth do they think has been keeping musical theatre alive?

Oh my goodness, we are in for a treat.  Jonas would be enough for me but the two of them, wow!

22 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

That's an observation about their complexity, not their quality. Most popular music is easy to sing. Hymns are (usually!) easy to sing. And there is excellent popular music and there are excellent hymns. Sometimes simplicity is a virtue especially if you are actually seeking to reach a wide audience rather than a sophisticated few. (I'm also thinking of, for example, the poetry of Carol Ann Duffy.) And although I understand that you might want to offer something more 'difficult' at an audition, frankly I would have thought that most students of musical theatre would be exceptionally fortunate if they ended up in a good professional production of an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

Well, quite.  Clearly they all see themselves as Anna Netrebko.  I wonder how many people could sing Christine's role in Phantom?  It is extraordinarily difficult and Sarah Brightman whom the role was created for is hardly a novice

13 minutes ago, Fiz said:

Too easy to sing, Lin. 

Really?  Christine's role in Phantom?   My goodness these pupils must be talented!

Oh, Fonty, I am so SORRY to have got my quotes muddled.  Many, many apologies.  It obviously was not directed at you.  

Look, its the time of year for smiley faces but your comment is annoying.  A lot of people read the Daily Mail which is why it is the highest circulation newspaper in the UK.  As an ex PR person, I'm a media junkie who can't rid myself of the habit of reading several newspapers every day and I'm happy to say that there is much to enjoy in the Daily Mail.   It's great mass of middle-class readers accept that it is commonly used as a term of abuse or a way to define ill-educated peasants unable to think for themselves.  Well they certainly had the last laugh on December 12.  

As for Andrew Lloyd-Webbers musicals, you seem to make the assumption that anybody posting on a ballet forum must necessarily be above enjoying such middle-class fare.  Well, I don't think I'm the only one who loves them.  Cats wasn't one of my favourites but Phantom is a masterpiece.  They have brought pleasure to millions, provided funds to restore several of our crumbling theatres and employment for those working in music and dance and, perhaps most importantly, introduced theatre-going to a public that might otherwise not have ventured in.  

I love ballet, adore opera and my visits to ROH are the highlight of my retirement.  But that doesn't somehow make me immune to the charms of more populous entertainment.  One does not start people off with Wagner, but bring them gently through Madam Butterfly and Sleeping Beauty and Aspects of Love until they find where their taste lies.  I count myself fortunate that my first opera was Magic Flute which caught my imagination, unlike a friend who was taken to Simon Boccanegra and never set foot in the opera house again!

Horses for course, surely, not pigeon-holing?

She just glows.  What a lovely lady.

Yes, it is amusing.  Still, I’ve told them for that sort for money, I expect two weeks in the Caribbean with Mr. Kaufmann!

If I win the lottery I’ll take a table (only £9000) and invite you and anyone else who supported my call for clarity!
 

PS:  Don’t buy your outfit just yet because I don’t do the lottery!

10 hours ago, JohnS said:

 

I was wondering what to post after yesterday’s debut and was delighted to see this Instagram post.  I think the photo really captures Anna-Rose’s joy in celebration of such a special occasion - simply a privilege to be in the audience and many thanks to Susan for her post.

gorgeous pics

An update.

As a ticket holder for the first night of Fidelio, I’ve received A special invitation from ROH today to join an intimate dinner in the Floral Hall post Fidelio.  Tickets, which will include a pre-performance reception in the Crush Room, are only £2000!  For a further sum, I can purchase extra tickets to the performance which are available in all areas except Ampi and Balcony.  The cost is eye watering.

Well, now we know where the tickets are.  I have no problem with initiatives of this sort which I’m sure are vital to funding and I hope that wealthy patrons will snap them up. Just can’t see why they couldn’t have been clear early on.  

I never saw SW dance.  Why did she leave?

13 hours ago, Rob S said:

What a fab opening act, some very humorous bits in it, particularly in the closing moments with the appearance of the ladder and the girls going in to the house. I just wish I wasn’t sat next to someone rummaging through a packet of Dairy Milk Caramel Nibbles through much of it. Then he had a drink. Then he had a look at his programme about two minutes before the end of the Act. 

Hope you pinched the caramels whilst he was asleep!  I really think they should ban eating anything during performances.  

8 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

The thing is, though, people in general are not squeaking.  One month on from the Fidelio issues and everyone (apart from one or two) has completely forgotten.  A handful of people and a couple of newspaper articles will not cause anything to change.

Ah, so you would like to believe it’s just me, would you?  Perhaps I should suggest you read the entire thread or the extensive media coverage that resulted.
I have never been a defeatist and if something reeks of fish (even if it is turbot rather than coley),I will call it out.  The issue is most certainly not forgotten and I will revive it with the media and other interested parties every time it happens until we get clarity.  I gave up forelock tugging many years ago and continue to expect that those in  positions of power behave with honesty and integrity.

8 hours ago, capybara said:

I understand where you're coming from and a return to a limit of x tickets per production might ease the situation. On the other hand, the ROH certainly needed some of us (Friends included) to attend multiple performances of Manon recently.

And I did, even though I’m not a Friend.

17 hours ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

I've just been reading an article in the London Review of Books by Patrick Carnegy, published back in the year 2000.  He writes:
'Moreover, it seems that there may be times when as few as 20 per cent of the seats will be available for public booking, the rest being reserved for the 19,000-strong ‘Friends’ (subscription £55) and the wealthy patrons. What kind of House those patrons want – and will have to be given – is anyone’s guess, but it’s more likely to be Carmen, Bohème and Swan Lake than Gawain, the cancelled Le Grand Macabre or new choreography by William Forsythe or Twyla Tharp.'

Plus ça change and all that....

Twenty percent would be a luxury!  I’d even settle for ten percent.

i don’t think anyone is dissing Friends.  They are clearly invaluable and I quite agree that the incentives to become a Friend must be attractive.  However, when Friends are, apparently, allocated ALL the seats to particular performances, then people are going to squeak.  More than a month on, still can’t understand the rationale behind this own goal.

Dear Floss, I just wanted to say a big thank-you for that enormously enlightening background history.  I have printed it off so I can refer to it.  Your knowlege is as enviable as your willingness to share it.

Me, too.  Why can't we read it?

Oh, wow!

Gush away.  Fabulous review and I agree with every word.  A really wonderful experience.

Thanks for posting that Janet.  Not showing on the Coliseum calendar yet.  

 I still wonder why he is absent from RB.

Definitely!  It’s an interesting reflection on modern language

Many apologies and thanks to those who pointed it out.  It is of course meant to read vital.

On 01/11/2019 at 21:57, JNC said:

@JohnS I very much agree - I did a similar ‘number crunching’ in my post and ‘hundreds’ isn’t a very helpful/clear answer as well as not enough tickets generally when looking at the overall availability of seats.

 

There’s not much more I can do as an individual but I’m satisfied they’ve responded (if not being satisfied about the clarity of the response itself!) and I’m pleased I’ve raised awareness about it in some small way. I really do hope they reconsider and ensure an adequate number of tickets are held back for future performances (at least 20% for me would be a minimum, in an ideal world I would say 40% to tie in with the stats ROH provide about how many tickets are ‘able’ to be sold to the public) but I have to be honest I’m not too hopeful considering the history with La Forza too. 

I think I would settle for 10% for each performance rather than this vague 20% across all productions which is of course entirely different. 
Most of us recognise That ROH has a difficult balancing act when it comes to funding productions whilst keeping its patrons happy.  I fully accept how viral Friends and Patrons are in keeping the place functioning.  That said, being allowed to buy nine tickets for each performance can only be called greedy.  It means that a Friend could have bought 54 tickets for Fidelio.  Either that person has a big family or they are working in the black market.  Surely allowing so many tickets to go to one buyer is just asking for trouble.  At the same time to tell your Marketing Department, Box Office and Customer Relations that there are no tickets for the general public and then pretend otherwise, well...

Hmm. Let’s not all rush to praise for the fact that ROH have deigned to reply.  It is surely the very least that customers of a major International Opera House should expect when asking legitimate questions.

Mr. Beard has used his usual mix of obfuscation and smoke and mirrors.  He ignores specific questions, answers queries that haven’t been raised and blows smoke about pricing and Friday Rush.  I doubt that I am the only person who is fed up with having Friday Rush given as the answer to everything.  It’s a great idea but totally useless for those of us outside of the M25/people who have to make fairly complicated personal arrangements to cover their absence.

Mr. Beard seems to think that those of us concerned about ticket availability are stupid.  Self-evidently there was only a scattering of tickets available to the general public for Forza andFidelio.  For goodness sake, over a period of four daysI had this confirmed to me by three separate ROH departments!  Have they all lost their marbles?  Why won’t he tell the truth?  I hope that having taken this to the media and the Arts Council, he will be persuaded to act with more integrity.  For me, it is the lack of clarity that is so concerning.