penelopesimpson

7 hours ago, JNC said:

@penelopesimpson did you ever receive a follow-up reply from Alex Beard?

 

I have heard nothing from ROH customer services since contacting them last week. I presume I won't get anything back now. 

 

I suppose that may be the end of it then...If nothing else at least I hope this has raised internal awareness to ROH that there are people that pay attention and care about this type of thing! 

 

I suppose we can see if it's had any difference (or not) with Netrebko's Tosca in the Summer season (this time only 4 performances as opposed to Fidelio's 6!)...

Sorry, JNC, away in Italy at the moment but the answer is No.  However, I will be pressing for an answer and a couple of the journalists I spoke to are interested in a follow up.  I don’t mind putting Alex Beard’s responses on here butI am not going to pass his communications ( if there are any) to the media.  However, as this has happened twice now - Forza and Fidelio - I cannot see what he can say.

what beats me is WHY?  ROH has gained nothing and made itself look disingenuous, at best.  Mr. Beard continues to show all the sure footedness of the  Duke and Duchess of Sussex with his PR.  Is there nobody in that enormous marketing department with the nous to tell him that you can’t keep on pretending!  And I am being kind in my choice of words...

4 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

Perhaps they gave up on providing civil responses when someone took matters to the newspapers.

Perhaps I took things to the newspapers when I gave up on expecting a constructive and civil response.

And will do so again until Power starts speaking the Truth.

Same as you Birdie , she wasn’t my dancer of choice but on the handful of occasions I saw her, she was most engaging.  I was following Viviana at the time.

Beautiful.  She is sunny, like Nunez

Wow.  That is an amazing link.  She seems almost other world.

For those with more knowlege, could anyone take a stab at defining her particular qualities?

Okay.  Here what you say.  I rather liked the trailer so I shall probably go to see it and am keen to see Hayward and Macrae.  I am pretty allergic to the sheep on social media that take it upon themselves to decide to condemn something before they've seen it so, in a perverse way, I am already rooting for it!

What a lovely tale, Jenny.  I treated myself to Opera in Venice two years ago which took my breath away.  I shall have to venture to La Scala.

On 25/10/2019 at 12:14, Lindsay said:

Nothing against Francesca but I think all those involved with this movie are going to be leaving it off their CVs for years to come.  The design choices alone leave it wide open to critical savagery and a tsunami of social media derision.

Why, Lindsay?

Jenny.  Such a beautifully written review which I appreciate your sharing.  All the little nuances rather than teams of technical stuff much appreciated by this amateur.  It remains my dream to visit one day.

JNC there are four tickets £39- 54) showing for the last night if you are quick

8 minutes ago, prs59 said:

it's 9.45 and there are tickets available for all performances of Fidelio. Starting price GBP 55.

i bought one so i'll be able to hear what people are raving about.......

i also just got a ticket for the Insight on 24/2 so by the time i hear the performance i'll have a better idea what to listen for.

I'm sorry to contradict you but there are not any tickets available and I have been on constantly since booking opened. Several of the nights show 'last few tickets remaining' and Tickets available, but when you go to purchase, they are not there.

To those who think I have the speed of a tortoise on the internet, when I signed in, I was 128 in the queue.  So, presuming all those people bought two tickets and there were between 20-30 left when I got my chance, that would mean there was a total of 286 tickets available across all six nights.  

I can assure you that national newspapers do not print articles without checking their facts.  They certainly do not rush into print on the say-so of one person who is pursuing what she sees as an important issue.  A great deal of telephoning and checking will have gone on behind the scenes.  I

I have my tickets for Fidelio.  I am doing this because I feel that what is happening is wrong and that the principal needs to be established regarding the ticketing policy.

Well, I've found a few but certainly not 20 per performance.  And did you try clicking on them to see if they existed?  I did, and there was nothing.

Well, guess what - Alex Beard's statement that 'we have held seats for Fidelio across all dates and price ranges which will be released for public booking tomorrow',  turned out to be a mirage.  At 09.01 I found 5 tickets for the first night and nothing else at all!  Two other nights showed there were 2 tickets in Balcony and Stalls respectively, but clicking on revealed there were no tickets.  Well, well, well.  Here we go again.

Precisely JohnS.  Those of us who love opera and ballet fully respect the need for ROH to sell privileged access through Friends and Patrons schemes.  We accept that these people are providing invaluable financial support and deserve some real goodies in return.  BUT you simply cannot spend millions building coffee shops to demonstrate that opera is not elitist, whilst at the same time allowing certain productions to be restricted access.  This is sounding a bit like what I’d be saying to Harry and Meghan if they asked me why their PRis so bad, but you get the drift!
 

What is so sad about this spectacular own goal is that it really didn’t need to happen and ROH will not have gained anything from it other than a black eye.

9 hours ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

I can understand your wanting to know more (so do I) but I don't feel dancers should be obliged to share any information about their private lives at all.  McCrae and Watson have such different personalities (partly perhaps because of their different nationalities) and McCrae seems to be naturally a relaxed, positive and open person.  Maybe Watson is very private - who knows what personal problems he may be facing?  I love both of them as dancers and wish them both the greatest possible health and happiness.  

In the case of self-promoting 'Celebrities' (usually people who actually have little or no actual talent) I feel it's fair enough to demand information and photographs.  That type live for their latest display of fashion and artificial appearance etc.  But our dancers - even the most starry ones such as Zakharova - are entitled to privacy.  They have more or less sacrificed their whole lives for their art, and they work harder than most of us could imagine on a daily basis.  But they are not obliged to give even more than they already do on-stage, night after night, for our intense enjoyment.

@penelopesimpson I know what you said is only because you care, and am not criticising you here!

I understand your point MaryRose and,yes, these two dancers are such different characters.  And I am certainly not criticisingWatson ( as if!) but I do think just a little information is due his fans.  He was, after all for some time male number one at RB and built up a profile.  Next month it is two years since he has done anything of substance on the main stage at ROH and it would be nice to hear something.

PS:  Perhaps I’ll drop a line to my mate Alex Beard...!

I will freely admit I spoke to and emailed all the Arts correspondents on Tuesday.  In fairness, I told ROH Customer Relations and also Mr. Beard’s assistant that I was intending to do so.  If anyone is to be banned it must be me and I will make it clear that no-one else had anything to do with the press angle.  I think this one is going to run.  
 

So hundreds of tickets available tomorrow are there?  Right now I no longer care.  I cannot believe the mess they have made.  I have suspected for a long time that Mr. Beard does not have a grip on Operations.  The always exemplary Box Office has been wrong-footed and, once again, ROH scores a massive own goal.

Dear Mr. Beard,

Dear Penelope Simpson

We always have some holds that are released after friends’ booking closes with more released in the run up to the opening night, and we always leave seats for each performance for the Friday rush scheme.

Best wishes

Alex Beard

Dear Mr. Beard,

25 minutes ago, Shade said:

I see this made today’s Evening Standard

Can you post a link, Shade as I cant get the Standard here.  I spoke to them at length yesterday.

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

I emailed the ROH yesterday asking about the 20% figure. Today I got back the following, from someone on their Friends team:

 

Thank you for your email and for recently joining our community of Friends. 

 

 

When booking opens for members, which initially becomes available for Patrons, all seats go on sale and nothing is held for lower member levels or the public. 

 

 

Regarding Fidelio, this is one of the undoubted highlights of our Season. Starring Jonas Kaufmann and performed under Tony Pappano's expert baton for a short run over six performances, there is inevitably huge demand for a very limited number of seats. Within this context we have done all we can to ensure that we are as fair as possible to those who support the Royal Opera House while welcoming new audiences. However, unfortunately it is inevitable that some people will be disappointed.

 

There are, however, still tickets available through our weekly Friday Rush ticketing scheme which ensures members of the public have access to our most popular productions every season at affordable prices. We would also encourage customers to keep an eye on our website for any returned tickets which will be put straight back on sale should any existing ticket holders be unable to attend. 

 

Thank you so very much for supporting the Royal Opera House by being a Friend. 

 

 

Given the email @penelopesimpson has had, from Alex Beard, says tickets are being held back & the one I have had says that they aren't, I am now thoroughly confused. Whatever the ROH's policy, they at least need to ensure they are giving consistent replies to questions about it! I am debating whether to reply & tell them this or not...

 

Incidentally, at the moment Fidelio is showing 35 stalls tickets at £275 & £264 for the opening perofrmance & the others when you click on them come up as sold out.

Can somebody explain the differences between Patrons and lower level members?

Curiouser and curiouser:

Dear Penelope Simpson,

Many thanks for contacting me in relation to our upcoming production of Fidelio.

Fidelio is one of the undoubted highlights of our season featuring Jonas Kaufmann and Lise Davidsen performing under Tony Pappano’s expert baton. With only a short run of six performances, there has inevitably been huge demand for a very limited number of seats. Within this context, we have been mindful of all our valued customers to ensure that we are as fair as possible to those who already support the Royal Opera House while attracting new audiences to experience this wonderful art form. However, it is inevitable that some people will be disappointed.

Nevertheless, we have held seats for Fidelio across all dates and price ranges which will be released for public booking tomorrow, and of course there will also be tickets available through our weekly Friday Rush ticketing scheme for each performance during the run. This will ensure members of the public have access to this opera and our other wonderful productions every season at affordable prices. As part of our commitment to ensuring we reach as wide an audience as possible, Fidelio is also one of the highlights of our ROH Live Cinema Season programme and will be broadcast live to 500 cinemas in the United Kingdom on the 17 March 2020 , with in many cases encore viewings as well. Full details can be found here. This ensures that audiences across the country are able to enjoy the production, with additional insights from ‘side stage’ interviews with the performers and behind the scenes viewing of the whole production journey.

We are committed to ensuring as many people as possible can experience our productions at the Royal Opera House and are very proud of the fact that last Season, almost 30% of out tickets were sold at £35 or under. This policy will continue. Similarly, more than 35,000 tickets were bought by students at an average of less than per £22 ticket. 

With the recent notoriety of third party ticket agencies, we have written to Viagogo alongside many other ticket sales websites explaining to them that any resale of our tickets is a breach of contract and that we may refuse entry to ticketholders who have purchased tickets above face value. In July this year, in a welcome move Google announced a global suspension of Viagogo’s advertising account in what was described as a “landmark moment” for the ticketing industry. This has had a hugely negative impact on the site. Furthermore, we take action to identify the original purchasers and cancel memberships. Thankfully, it is a very small and declining number of offenders.

For those members of the public who are unsuccessful in purchasing a ticket tomorrow, we would also encourage customers to keep an eye on our website for any returned tickets which will be put straight back on sale should any existing ticket holders be unable to attend.

I do hope you will be able to come and see the production, whether here or in the cinema.

With best wishes

Yours sincerely

Alex Beard

1 hour ago, Mary said:

Agree, the message that ballet is for everyone and a life-enhancing thing for all is a good one.

This was a lot more interesting and worthwhile than random snippets of themselves jumping etc sent in by members of the public  that we have had before.

Fortunately I managed to miss those!  I seem to remember BBC Two during Wimbledon inviting people to send in films of them playing tennis.  Seems everything is for everyone these days.  Its nice that people find it inspirational.  In a different setting at a different time, so would I.  But this, IMHO, should be this once in a year opportunity to see the top dancers of the world rehearsing.  What a privilege and THAT is what I tune in for.   

I think all we can do is keep plugging away. Ultimately I would hope that they will be forced to clearly state their policy which will then evoke the appropriate response.

I have to say I am puzzled over all this.  There are six performances of Fidelio which I presume is something over 12,000 seats .  Would it really have been that onerous to hold say 10% back for General Booking?  The very fact that they had to send an email to Friends reminding them that this production was exclusively for their benefit, seems to indicate that a paltry 200 tickets for the peasants each night would not have been especially missed.  I'm still speaking with other people and will report back.

Received from the Arts Council:

Dear Penelope,

Thank you for getting in touch with your concerns about the ticketing system at the Royal Opera House, and access to popular productions appearing to be limited to Friends of the organisation.

As a custodian of public money, we always take concerns about organisations we fund seriously. We have recorded your concerns and made the appropriate member of staff within Arts Council England aware of the situation.

I would like to reassure you that we are committed to ensuring that arts and culture is accessible to everybody and believe that everyone should have the opportunity to experience and to be inspired by the arts.

Any organisations which receive regular funding from us are monitored and are required to demonstrate how they are sharing their work with as large and wide an audience as possible, including those who are currently least engaged with arts and culture. However, have no oversight over the day-to-day running or decision-making of the organisations we fund.

This means we have no say over their ticketing policy or membership systems. We are, therefore, unable to intervene where there are concerns of this nature.

I recommend you contact the Royal Opera House directly as they may be able to explain how pricing is established, and how they allocate tickets for productions.

Thank you again for taking the time to write to us about this matter.

Kind regards,