penelopesimpson

One reason for people using agencies could be that if you type Royal Opera House into Google, the first site up is Viagogo Tickets for Royal Opera House. They have more than sixty tickets for Woolf Works across all performances and a seat in the Stalls is £162

I saw a Watchdog type programme on this problem. They have sophisticated algorithyms that allow them to purchase blocks of tickets as soon as booking opens. A lot of rock bands protest and Elton John is very vocal on the problem. However, this shouldn't happen with ROH who would surely have systems that detect this kind of purchasing pattern. I am baffled

Ticket master behave in the same way as Viagogo (latter is now UK's biggest). Both agencies are 100% legit.

Viagogo is a legitimate established ticket agency with routes in America. They first made their name with bands and big star gigs but then moved in to ballet et al. I have to assume ROH is using them but I don't understand why. The popular classics sell themselves, and people aren't going to be rushing to an expensive agency to get tickets for Raven Girl! I!ve also never heard that Viagogo get their tickets from ordinary patrons who want to resell. They are far too big to mess about with such tedious methods, yet they have tickets available for every performance. I might post something on the ROH website and see if they pick it up.

I am not sure I believe this. It would surely be illegal to refuse entry to patrons bearing tickets which they had legitimately purchased from an established agency

Just looked again at Viagogo. There are 41 tickets for Nutcracker at ROH. Example: Dec 8 Stalls tickets @ £296 How is this happening? What is to stop any of us bulk buying and then reselling?

Well somebody is letting Viagogo in. There are masses of tickets on sale. Interestingly, the event I based this thread on opened last night with many empty seats. But - Have just had an email from them telling me they have tickets left for tonight and tomorrow (what a surprise) but the prices remain the same. It is a freezing cold night here, the barn is in the middle of nowhere which means driving, and you get less than two hours of ballet.

Interesting that the dreaded Viagogo has tickets for virtually every performance of SB and Woolf Works. WW talks tickets £153. These agencies are real parasites.

It is on for three nights and is in two sections of 40 mins each which gives a total running time of 1hr 20 mins watched from wooden seats in the round. I would have liked to have gone as it is only six miles from me, but the prices are staggering...

For those of us shuddering under the weight of forking out for ROH, try this. Russell Malipant is putting on Conceal at Messums, a new venue near me in Wiltshire. The cheapest ticket is £100 for 2hrs, and if you want a drink before hand it is £150. The performance will take place in a barn. A very nice barn, admittedly, wonderfully restored, but it's still a barn. That's it. Unsurprisingly, there are masses of unsold tickets. You do wonder at people's common sense when they set these prices. This is a well-heeled area that supports the arts, but...

Yes, that was the impression I picked up from the cloakroom staff who went to great lengths to tell me there will be one disabled toilet on the ground floor. Putting all the others in the basement is madness. They are served by one small staircase and one lift.

Thanks for that. Was beginning to think I'd have to forgo my interval drinks in favour of a trek to the basement!

Anyone else worried about the new toilet/cloakroom facilities at ROH? Toilets are now downstairs and very posh they are too - if a trifle dark, BUT, its a bit of a schlep in the interval. After the performance people were queuing on the stairs which is pretty dangerous because the cloakrooms are past the toilets (this may be temporary, staff didn't seem to know). Given that average age of patrons is not at the teenage end of the spectrum, these arrangements seem somewhat bizarre.

Alina on the 17th. Hooray. Thanks for this link

So it wasn't just me who wondered about Bonelli. He seemed completely off pitch

I so agree with your point. The fact that the ballet is questionable as a full length work gives the audience a great deal of time to mull over details which may seem nit-picking. Last night I found myself wondering about the sand pyramid, the netting on the head-dresses and Osipova's haircut! I think this ballet needs to revert to being one superlative Act rather than the weak creation it is at present. I was also unsure of whether Anastacia ever came out. Was she not too young?

Well, quite and he just didn't seem to have any role last night, more of a prop

Hmm. Just back from my first Anastacia. Was it worth the ten hour round trip - not really but I'm glad I went. Overall assessment: Tried hard but could do (a lot) better. I've read the history and the programme and am familiar with Anna Anderson's travails, non of which make the slightest difference to my view of Anastacia as a deeply flawed work. Yes, ACT 3 is hot stuff, but wonderful though it is, a lot of its impact is because of the lacklustre Acts which precede it. Seems to me there are two solutions; either present Act 3 as a one-off short piece of work or persuade Lady Macmillan to agree to drastic revisions of Act 1 and 2. I feel the ballet falls between two stools. It presents as historical narrative yet the 'plot' is poorly strung together and well-nigh invisible at times, and, for me, the choreography is not dramatic enough to be put on as a modern take on a theme. Yes, Osipova is outstanding. Her energy and commitment are breathtaking and yet somehow the brilliance of her performance serves only to put the rest of the ballet in the shade. The male parts are underwritten and largely forgettable and one wonders why Rasputin is included at all when, for the most part, he simply stands around as a prop which somebody thought should be included as an essential part of Romanov history. We get a lot of soldiers doing not much and the only corps work that is convincing is the very short revolutionary piece. Ed Watson conducts himself impeccably as always but its not much of a role and if I hadn't read the programme I wouldn't have realised he was Anastacia's husband. Ryoichi Hirano seemed to be suffering from tight costume syndrome and Thiago Soares I felt phoned it in - and who can blame him. Apart from the breathtaking Osipova, the standout performance for me was Christina Arestis who reminded me so much of Zenaida Yanowsky in Winter's Tale. The other princesses do a lot of skipping about that doesn't amount to much, despite the fact they include Naghdi and Stix-Brunell. Marianela Nunez seems to have escaped from Swan Lake as she appears as a faultless Odile but she and Bonelli did not convince as the young flirtatious ballerina and her paramour. As for the sitting around watching movies, I wanted to shout 'enough now' and wondered why nobody had. So what is wrong? I am not knowlegeable enough to give anything other than a layman's perspective but this work is just not good enough to stand alone. To quote an Irish friend, I wouldn't start from here: even the music seemed wrong. Yes, Tchaikovsky is wonderful but for the first Act when we are meant to see the carefree world of the Russian Royal family, the music is heavy and downbeat so that when the news comes of war breaking out there is no contrast. Act 3 begins so powerfully due in no small part to the wonderful music which suits the mood. People have been critical of the sets but not having seen the ballet before, I quite liked them, although I couldn't help wondering why Anastacia's coming-out ball appeared to be taking place in the street outside the winter palace beside a huge heap of sand which I presume was meant to be snow. Again, if you hadn't read the programme, you wouldn't especially know what was happening as, perversely, we don't see Anastacia being formally introduced until the end of the Act so the point of her debut is lost. The man beside me fell asleep and the woman on my right left after Act 2. The applause was okay but underwhelming although Osipova received a warm reception. I am left feeling hungry for some real ballet this season and wonder at the programming. We had endless performances of Fille (very nice but once every five years is more than enough), followed by what looks like a million performances of Sleeping Beauty/Nutcracker. The only real meat is Anastacia which is a big disappointment and five performances of the new triple bill which I haven't managed to get a ticket for. Disappointing.

SO agree with your description of Southampton. Each time I go I vow never again - it is absolutely hideous

I was also disappointed that Ben Gartside hasn't been given a Mayerling. I had a ticket for his performance when he stood in but in the end couldn't go and was mighty disappointed after hearing his reviews. I don't wish to have a go at Macrae whom I adore in certain things (Woolf Works, Winter's Tale) but I am surprised he has been cast as Rudolf. I just wouldn't have thought it was his thing and wonder why he has the role.

Yet another wonderful post, Floss. I learn so much from you. I understand your thinking (and others) re Muntagirov and with hindsight I think you are probably right. There is plenty of time. Re Golding, and I mean this with no disrespect to an immaculate dancer, I have wondered what he was doing in RB since he was first brought in. He does, as you say, seem only to be cast as the Princely other half where his physique gives him a commanding presence, but RB's repertory, thank goodness, is so much wider and he simply doesn't fit the bill. Was there a shortage of male Principals at the time KOH brought him in or has something else happened?

Thanks for that, Sim. I think I am going to be in a minority as it has won good reviews. And yes, it is good, but I couldn't help thinking that it could and should be so much better. I think the loss of a coherent narrative handicaps the production and I am surprised that they couldn't see this. It isn't that I want Giselle to remain unchanged, rather that there was so much emotion on display last night that seemed to have nothing to be emotional about so the audience was left floundering. The handouts at the theatre were simply a cast list so unless you bought the official programme, you would really not know what was happening.

Amazed that: McRae is doing Rudolf. I just don't see it Also amazed that Muntagirov is not cast. Why on earth not? Three Watsons so that's me booking for all three perfomances, this is his role. I never thought anyone could match Kobborg but he does Osipova should be interesting.

Yes, that is sad. They are equally dazzling in Woolf Works, though.

Well, just back from Bristol and I have to confess to disappointment. Let me say straightaway that there is much to admire, not least the music, the stage set and the lighting. I went without any preconceptions and I love modern productions so it should have hit the spot for me, but... Okay, I put aside the fact that it was Giselle within the first couple of minutes, later discarding any idea that there was much of a narrative thread. But I found it repetitive, dreary and strangely unmoving. I am a fan of Akram Khan but is he really up to the challenge of re-creating a full-length ballet from a much loved classic? It seemed to me that what he does exceptionally well is choreograph group dances based on a throbbing beat which gradually move to an impressive crescendo. There is a lot of that in this Giselle and I enjoyed all of it - but the bits in between, what were they? The silences simply didn't work, the pas de deux seemed amateurish to me, and I got tired of all the low level neanderthal stuff which Christopher Dean first introduced for the Duchesnays in the early 80's.. And where do challenging ideas become a mish-mash of styles? I felt I lived through Hofesh Shechter meets Bollywood with a dash of River Dance, and much of the choreography was recognisable from the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics. Maybe I was expecting too much. The audience was pretty low key and I felt they weren't exactly blown-away, either. And then there was Alina, which was my main reason for going as she is my favourite dancer bar none. Well, she was, as ever, sublime, even in a hideous sweat-soaked dress with frizzy hair, she dazzled. But she had to put so much physicality into making it work that I just found myself asking, why? Is this really what this incredible dancer should be doing? It didn't seem to challenge her other than imposing a gruelling workload which, for me, achieved little. Okay, this is nothing to do with Akram Khan, but I was struck afresh by the loss of this great dancer from RB. I appreciate that many will say that she wanted a to do new works, but is this the best they can do? Is it really the best use of her wonderful talent? Okay, probably getting a bit carried away here (and the other ENB dancers were excellent), but I felt as if I was watching a thoroughbred at the local gymkhana. So, glad that the overwhelming majority of people seem to like it, plaudits to Tamara Rojo for pushing the boundaries, but an amazing new work? I think not.