alison

Take a risk on the first night?

Well, if they have a couple of ballerinas off in various stages of maternity leave, I'm guessing it might be a while yet.

Great. Now *I'm* ill, and don't think I shall be sufficiently recovered in time for Thursday's performance, which I believe is Nunez/Muntagirov So it looks as though Amphi C34 will be available if anyone wants it - I think it was £17. Drop me a PM if interested. The ticket is already at the box office, so I can get them to release it. Please note the early start time.

Is it still running at 1 1/4 hours?

I thought I might as well make a general thread for these occasional emails from Dance Books, so here's the latest one: "We are happy to announce a reprint of Cyril Beaumont's 'The Diaghilev Ballet in London', a vivid recollection of performances seen and friendships forged with company members. And a recent warehouse tidy has revealed a stock of new copies of Maurice Leonard's hardback biography of Alicia Markova, listed at £20 whch we're happy to order for just £4.99. You'll find full details and ordering facilities on our web site, www.dancebooks.co.uk Finally, we're auctioning a collection of ephemera from days gone by on ebay, with new items constantly added. At the time of writing items on offer include material relating to Diaghilev, Massine, Karsavina, Pavlova, Nureyev and others. Details at: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/araf22/m.html?_ipg=50&_sop=3&_rdc=1"

Audience members may of course not have picked up a cast sheet in the first place, let alone looked at it - that's always the problem. Perhaps they just take it as a souvenir.

Poor Frankie. I do hope for her sake she hasn't got what I've got But very disappointing for those who missed her debut and were hoping to catch her tonight instead. Previous experience says that Ms Takada will be a very acceptable substitute, though.

Are there no guesthouses left these days, Janet? I realise that Travelodges and their like have their uses, but presumably there are other alternatives too.

Wouldn't these schools be covered by the Trades Descriptions Act? Surely it's up to the schools to do due diligence in hiring staff and making sure their credentials match up with their claims?

Well, I only hope that whoever had my returned ticket enjoyed it as much as you all seem to have done.

My surgery abandoned telephone consultations about 18 months ago, which I thought was a really bad idea. Thankfully, they appear to have reinstated them, because when I suddenly needed some medication re-prescribed which I hadn't used in a year or two they were able to talk the situation through with me and leave a prescription to be picked up. There are so many things which really don't require the hassle of a GP appointment, but where you do actually need to speak to the GP.

I'm not dead yet, PV!

Apparently nothing comes close to the much-missed Sainsburys variety

(Have just returned a stalls circle standing to the box office for this afternoon if anyone is tempted)

Don't suppose it's sugar-containing, is it? I've been looking everywhere for one. The artificial sweeteners ruin the taste, as far as I'm concerned.

I always loved that line. Wonder why? Come to think of it, I've always loved the whole darn song.

How did I manage to miss that one?!

I think I saw Susan Hogard as Odette and Trinidad Sevillano as Odile in a performance in the mid-80s. Not to mention ENB splitting the roles a few times with near-debutante dancers back around the turn of the century. All it requires is a Siegfried capable of making you believe that *he* sees the same woman in both cases - that's what's important. It's a bit like Emperor's New Clothes syndrome

And just think of all those lockers, shopping trolleys and so on which will have to be changed - you know, the ones which accept the current pound coins or anything else of the same shape in order to release them. And all the charities which will be able to sell lots of new keyrings with pound-coin-shaped tokens which fit the new slots ...

They most certainly shouldn't. I'm shocked that they're that expensive.

No, the ones we're talking about are the ones directly behind them.

When I was in the Stalls Circle standing before Christmas I remember there was a lot of shushing going on from the (?)regulars.

Now I look more closely, it turns out that both are repeats

More personal taste: I think I may love the Cinderella music more than the R&J!

I've always thought the ROH timings do include an allowance for curtain calls? OTOH, what is shown at the door and on the website can be two different things.