Coated

The day the ROH changes that policy will be the day when I start dropping anchovies all over the place. That will take care of the upholstery and any odour issues in the auditorium, particularly if I manage to wedge a few of my fishy friends between floorboards. Hopefully that will also get me barred, so I won't end up asphyxiating crisp eating audience members with a cornish pasty wrapper.

Probably, but has that ever stopped people from having a guess? I guess that any of the female dancers who I'd like to see as principals in the future will not be quite deemed ready yet (though there's still some dancing to be done this season…). I'd prefer to not see promotions or hiring just to fill the slot, since the slot tends to remain filled for a decade or so. I'd really like to see some exceptional dancers taking up future principal positions, not just very good ones. Seeing that Iana Salenko has 'declined a full-time contract with The Royal to allow her son to continue his schooling in Germany' according to Dance Magazine, it seems that the possibility of hiring in from outside of the company remains on the cards, but I'm hopeful that the upcoming wealth of talent is enough persuasion for management to hold their horses. Dunno about the men, either, but wouldn't cry if Campbell moves up.

This thread is giving me nightmares of a standing audience indulging in rhythmic clapping whilst repeatedly humming the last few bars of the music. Stop it before I cry myself to sleep.

that does seem a bit silly. I've spotted an encore screening at the JW3 on Sunday, guess that will have to do for now

I liked Winter's Tale well enough, but didn't feel an urge to see it again and again. Act II does feel like enough of a chore to me to keep the viewings down despite some nice casting

The hardships you have to bear I'm quite happy with the 'initial' casting - nice spread across all performances, not a lot of duplication and a lot of dancers I like.

Here is to the kindness of box office staff and bus drivers. I lost my purse on the way to see Pericles at the Sam Wanamaker theatre, leaving me somewhat stranded on the south bank with no money to get back home. The box office staff couldn't exchange my ticket for cash if it resold (they'd already had a few enquiries for the sold out performance) but kindly offered to refund it without me needing to wait and see whether it sells so I could start the track back home to report the card. I walked back to Waterloo bridge to see whether a bus driver would let me on without a ticket, and lucked out - it was the same driver who drove the bus I took to get down to the south bank an hour and a half earlier and he very kindly let me get on the bus without a penny to my name. Imagine my relief at not having to walk 2+ hrs to get back home. Chocolates for the bus station down my road will be forthcoming. Whilst this wasn't my preferred way of spending a Sunday evening, it was made so much better by people being kind

I always thinks it's a bit of a shame that this prize is somewhat on the partisan side

They'd be complaining that she's just not what she used to be....

Having Conta in place to prevent the worst excesses of Soare might be good news for the Opera side of Bucharest as well.

I think the thing I love most about the opera season announcement is the grumbling and moaning of the army of melodramatic armchair directors of opera in the comments thread. I was going to avoid revivals of the current Manon Lescaut production since I wasn't in any way fond of its sexism and the motorway flyover, but they've cast Sondra Radvanovsky who I've been dying to see again after a fantastic Tosca. Even for the Traviata there are a couple of castings I feel I have to book since they were so very good as stand-ins in previous seasons. Artur Rucinski was one of my favourite Germonts, and Ekaterina Bakanova was a breath of fresh air as Violetta. I might sit out Elisir and Trovatore but will probably give most things a go this season, most excited about Oreste, Hoffman & Rosenkavalier (not seen any of them live before), Terfel / Pappano Meistersinger, Jaho as Butterfly (though generally I could do without a Butterfly this season...) and curious / hopeful for Netrebko's Norma and Kaufman's Otello. Don't get why The Nose will be sung in English translation, or why they keep bringing Oren back to conduct.

Well, I only bought one ticket initially and have now acquired another two for that cast. Oren is not a conductor who makes my heart sing, and they did manage to muffle the sound for slip dwellers by having a screen hanging half down. After an act or two of internally grumbling about these short comings and the view blocking stage furniture, I all of a sudden noticed that I really got into the story and more importantly, the singing. The cast sounded pretty good to me, but depending on who writes about them they were either outstandingly superlative or barely pedestrian... Damrau and the glass harmonica are definitely one of my favourite duets. I haven't decided yet whether the miscarriage madscene works for me, but the music certainly did. The one thing that really bugged me was the sound of a running tab drowning out some of the singing. Come on, ROH, think about that before you stage it.

Poor, misunderstood Tiberiu, being accused of wrong doings by hysterical ballet types. According to his own website, it appears that he is the most important Romanian musician of his generation, who has conducted many international orchestras....when Angela Gheorgiu took him along. [\miaow] http://tiberiusoare.ro/eng/press/conductor-tiberiu-soare-decorated-by-the-house-of-romania/

Quite happy with this. Loooong Beauty run does make it a bit easier on time and pockets, and it looks like there is a nice gap in Jan that leaves me free for as many ENB Giselles as my heart desires (many). I suspect I'll blow most of my pennies on Ashton, MacMillan, Jewels, Woolf Works (never thought I'd get excited about a McGregor) and the Pite. If anyone could persuade the powers that be to move Strapless to the end of the bill it's in, that would be swell....

This sounds amazingly shortsighted and somewhat jingoistic. If I ever want a masterclass on how to wipe out years of sterling work, I'd ring a certain culture minister

There is a nice interview with Nunez in the Dancing Times where she talks about Myrtha being a ballerina role. I couldn't agree more and feel that the casting for this role seemed somewhat underpowered in this run, having Nunez dance a Myrtha really drove that home for me.

The National Theatre is stopping its Sunday shows because they didn't sell too well, so Sun matinees might not be in the best financial interest of the ROH either

Compared to previous booking periods, friends booking was pretty smooth with the new waiting room and waits were not outrageous. Hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised ... *fingers crossed*

Yup, use the link 3rd Man suggested. Works fine in the UK and you can pop in and out if you don't have time to watch it in one sitting

I only watched a few bits of this so far, does anyone know why Ali has been removed from this version?

Hmm. Sounds like a potentially cheap season if they spread Strapless over two triple bills (horrible habit in my opinion). Can't say this early glimpse of the season is making me feel excited about the upcoming announcement, but I'd love to be proven wrong. If they want to have a McGregor celebration, I really hope they opt for Woolf Works rather than Tetractys.

Man, that image is going to change my Nutcrackers forever.

And may I just congratulate the Russians for picking a time and sticking with it? I'm not a fan of clock switcheros.

St Petersburg is on UTC +3 (universal coordinated time, which happens to be Greenwich mean time) London is on UTC + 1 (aka BST or GMT +1) So 2hrs time difference for UK viewers it is, starting at 5.30 pm St Petersburg will stay on UTC +3 throughout the year, so in Autumn/Winter the time difference will be 3hrs when the UK switches back to GMT Denmark/Germany are UTC +2 for summer, so their summer time difference is 1hr

Agree, the material for solo shows often seems to veer a fair bit towards the less than magnificent side...