alison

I've always hated smoked salmon - apart from the oak-smoked salmon, or whatever it's called, which is a completely different ... er ... kettle of fish Wow, we're really getting a bit off-topic, aren't we?

Ah. I did wonder, after the interview with the Hochhausers in it. In recent years priority booking has been for readers of the Daily Telegraph, but of course this is always subject to change.

"Tying in with other key cast". Yes, I've been intrigued to see how the same Berthe reacts differently to two different Hilarions, for example.

I get the impression that sometimes they even slot in a one-act rehearsal or something between the two. I may be wrong, though.

Sounds good, actually: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075pm41 Thanks for flagging it!

With the Linbury out of action, I can't see that happening for a while

There was a thread which started (by toursenlair, IIRC) with the ROH offering afternoon tea, and then diverted into other venues, if you can find it, Janet.

This would seem to be a good point to remind readers of what the AUP says about posting YouTube links and the like: "Videos, photos and copyright issues The very widespread availability of videos and photographs on media websites such as YouTube, photo sharing and so-called ‘torrent’ sites which allow media downloads raises problems of acknowledgement and copyright. When links to videos and photos are made on this site it is the member's responsibility to satisfy themselves that rights are respected. We reserve the right to remove links where we believe this not to be the case." The fact that the video has been removed suggests that the rights probably haven't been respected in this case. The link to the AUP can be found under "Community guidelines" at the bottom right of each page.

Are other people in the UK managing to get this to work? I'm wondering if it's just because I haven't got enough bandwidth.

I totally agree with you about the mixed bills, FLOSS!

I've edited the title, but left it elsewhere, otherwise all these other posts won't make sense!

Yes, absolutely. In fact, we/the Company need some Classical ballets full stop - although I assume we'll be getting Beauty as well as Nutcracker. Watson, Rojo and Putrov, I think, unless I'm confusing 2 different ballets?

And while I think of it, am I the only one who desperately wants to know what it is Albrecht whispers to Wilfried at each performance?! If we can work that out, it says so much about the interpretation.

Indeed. I think I've seen him with 3 different partners over the run, and I've noticed this each time. Takada actually made her debut (barring any "invisible" performances) on Bank Holiday Monday, with Soares, I believe, so even more credit to her for coping so well with two different partners in a matter of days. She projected well to the back of the stalls circle, certainly, but I found myself using the opera glasses on her a lot more than I did with Cuthbertson/Bonelli the next night, when I was in the amphitheatre. I know what you mean, although I think the staging has stayed more or less the same in recent revivals (maybe the last 2 or 3?), but I've certainly noticed the stage becoming less and less populated before that: I think a few years ago there were a few of Giselle's friends left (perhaps they were jettisoned at the same time as the Ashton girl's variation?), and then before that maybe the whole company. I do find the current situation a bit awkward, as much as anything because it forces the dancer portraying Hilarion to find a convincing reason to leave the stage, with varying degrees of success. I've also noticed that the Giselles in this run have tended to have been more the bucolic, healthy-looking sort than the fragile, suffering-from-a-weak-heart sort. As for the Albrechts, it's seemed that most have actually been genuinely in love with Giselle in some way or another, which I find rather less effective - give me a cad any day. I don't mind whether he's only a cad up until the point where he swears his love for her, as if the scales have suddenly dropped from his eyes, whether he suddenly realises his feelings for her when he's betrayed her, or whether it takes him into the second act to realise the full import of his actions, and her sacrifice, but I prefer some sort of implication that he didn't initially have Giselle's best interests at heart, rather than the "I was riding through the forest one day and I saw this beautiful peasant girl and I immediately fell madly in love with her" type.

Thank you for the report, Duck. It's a shame your interest was (presumably) too new-found for you to go and see ENB in the same production (it was created on London Festival Ballet) when they were touring it back in the autumn, then you'd have had an even better opportunity to compare and contrast!

I wouldn't be surprised if WW were back, before Ferri gets too much older.

I was expecting Campbell to be doing the pd6 on Wednesday?

Absolutely rubbish bit of design - doesn't work at all with Internet Explorer 11, which is a shame, because I could have been tempted, but I can't even access the later dates

"Very pleasantly surprised" was how I felt, too, particularly since I have no idea how much practice they'd had together - she still has another performance to come with Soares, too - but early on in particular I was surprised at how "together" they were. Kish's Albrecht differed from the RB "standard" in several respects, but I thought it worked on him - I've not liked him as much in anything else that I've seen recently. Her Giselle was clearly thought out and well danced. I'd be happy to see them together again, if it came to it. And my appreciation of the whole was helped by the support of Kobayashi and Stepanek, neither of whom I'd seen this run .

It's supposed to be closing for 2 years for refurbishment, but a lot of people locally seem to doubt that it will reopen. Try Googling "Fairfield Halls closure" for more coverage.

Just too late for the South West Trains £15 return offer

Ditto, on both counts.

Well, I was *very* pleasantly surprised by this afternoon's Romeo & Juliet, despite the annoyingly hectic filming. Given that Maria Kochetkova still has a lot of fans in the London area, I was surprised not to see more faces in the audience that I recognised, though.

Thank you for that, theThirdMan. I'm already over my broadband fair use limit for the month, for some reason, so might as well take advantage of it for once

Manufacturers of pre-prepared meals and other such things who are heavy--handed with the pepper (and maybe other spices and so on): I can always add more if I want, but I can't take it out of your products, and I hate the clutching-at-your-throat-and-gasping-for-water look! I mean, the other day I picked up a reduced-price soup mix in Waitrose, thinking I could knock up a batch of mixed-veg soup for supper. It never occurred to me that they would have added pepper to raw, cubed vegetables, but yes, they had! Too much of it, of course