Silke H

I'm looking for one good Stall Circle standing or central Balcony standing ticket for Manon on Friday 8th March 2024 7:30pm

I know it's still a while away but putting it out there already.

Thanks in advance for any offers or leads,
Silke

You might be better off returning to box office with only a £4 charge per ticket.  It's currently a sold out performance so very likely to re-sell before curtain up

My big wish is for performances to start promptly and stick to the stated interval times.  All these delays in performance timings can significantly impact us public transport users.

All I’m saying is that I bawled in the end (in a good way).

If anyone was in doubt whether to see Cuthbertson / Ball cast, go and get a ticket immediately. 

I just noticed a funny thing on the RB staff page.  It seems there's a position named Zenaida Yanowsky  😆

Bennet is not allowed any lifting yet after his shoulder injury

2 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

maybe he could do GM after all) or if someone has just hit the wrong button!

That's unlikely.  Bennet is not allowed to lift yet after his shoulder surgery end of 2023.  Papa Stahlbaum's only arm-raises are lifting the yellow handkerchief but partnering even the smallest of ballerinas is currently out of question.

5 minutes ago, JohnS said:

Have they disappeared again? Or perhaps it’s Avanti’s broadband?

@JohnS - they have indeed disappeared again.

for a change, not Avanti's lack of service.  hahaha

6 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I'm now dithering over whether or not to go tonight. Usually I'd always go to performance I'd booked regardless of cast changes but I'm still really struggling with the anxiety I've been suffering from since having a panic attack at Don Q at the end of October. I was going to basically force myself to go to Giselle because I so want to see Frola as Albrecht. But now he's not on then I'm not sure it's worth putting myself through all the stress.

I am debating the same and I don't even have the same train journey as you, @Dawnstar

I'm so sorry that you're having a tough time at the moment without those added disappointments.  Should you decide to come, let me know if you'd like to meet up.  I've got a seat in the Dress Circle

2 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

They've only gone & swapped almost the lead cast for tonight. Yes, I know cast changes can happen at any time but after weeks of crossing my fingers for the scheduled cast I'm very disappointed to read this. Also if the dancers were already looking tired last night after their Nutcrackers then what are they going to be like tonight having to dance 2 nights in a row?

 

Oof.  This is most disappointing.  I had really wanted to see the scheduled cast.  In fact, Angela Wood had already been a replacement of the originally scheduled Jung ah Choi.

I am going tonight.

I was wondering whether running time really is 2:15 hrs.  (I have a late call with our SF head-office and am wondering how late/quickly I'll be able to join it).

8 minutes ago, Tufty said:

Have previously been a Friend and Friend Plus but used to sometimes have better luck on General Booking days when more tickets were released.

Alas, this is still the case, I'm Friends+ level and am struggling to get decent SCS by the time it gets to our booking period and am often relying on general booking still.

Some teaser pics from what was my last (scheduled) Nutcracker this season. But one never knows what cast changes in the final 2 shows might "necessitate" another viewing...

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I have sent you a PM

sending a PM now.

1 minute ago, Rob S said:

Are those ballets really subject to strictly conditions re the rank of the dancer in particular roles? I can imagine the Cranko estate insisting on that kind of thing for Onegin though😄

which is why I phrased it etiquette and not condition 😉

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

That's great for Rovero. I wonder why they've done it mid-season? Could it mean he's got some biggish roles coming up? I seem to recall the last mid-season promotion was Reece Clarke a few years ago just before he debuted Onegin (not suggesting that Rovero is going to be dancing any role that big!).

That was exactly my thought process.  are there any meatier roles in Manon or Swan Lake where casting etiquette requires a certain rank?

I'm delighted with these surprising news nonetheless.

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Aiden OB's cape battle - IG 04 Jan 2024 (I have permission from Aiden to post these)

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5 hours ago, Emeralds said:

SilkeH, I was a bit puzzled to read that you disagreed with me when we mostly concur, then I realised that the word "version" had gone missing for some reason! It should say "I found this version quite interesting"!

 

This production is interesting because it has not one but three showstopper ballerina solos- Dewdrop, Marzipan (lead) and Sugar Plum Fairy. I don't know if you have seen the 1990 RB production (vastly different to today's version by RB) but the reason why the pace dragged was that all the interesting dancing was squeezed in last. Balanchine placed the Sugar Plum Fairy solo (with the celesta in the score) at the start of Act 2 so that the virtuosity is spread out evenly and not crammed at the end. There's also a showstopper solo for a man besides the Sugar Plum Cavalier- the Russian dance is called Candy Cane in this production and that's a spectacular solo with a hoop that requires a lot of speed and dexterity. In Britain the children's dances in the classics eg Tom Thumb in Sleeping Beauty and Mother Ginger in Nutcracker are invariably cut from British productions but in Imperial Russian ballet tradition - brought to the US here- children's dances were common. I think the children in NYCB's version were hiding under her skirt though- don't think anyone in the audience when I watched it thought they looked birthed. Apollo's birth, on the other hand, does look like a birth! 

 

I suppose I watched it twice because great stars like Kyra Nichols, Margaret Tracey, Wendy Whelan, Damien Woetzel, Peter Boal et al were in the casts. If you think of the first half as a curtain raiser with great music to settle in your seat and the second act as the main event like a spectacular gala with brilliant star performances, it works! Where the 1990 RB version differed was in the pacing and pacing makes all the difference.  However when I saw the NYCB version I'd just seen the BRB production at its premiere season a few years before and regarded BRB's as the most balanced version, even if they fielded fewer principal dancers than NYCB did at each show. I've seen two recordings of it but am still waiting for a chance to watch BRB's Nutcracker live in person again when schedules allow.

I have see NYC Ballet in the Balanchine Nutcracker multiple times when I lived in NYC and I really only go for Dewdrop, Sugarplum, Snowflakes and Candy Cane but was very selective with the casts for those too.

It's just not my thing to have a child Marie that in fact watched the 2nd act from a little candy throne in the back and that irate bed feels to me more like out of a ghost/horror movie and goes on for too long for my liking.

The "birthing" of Mother Ginger's children was in parentheses on purpose as I know it's not meant to be as such but I just find it weird to have the children coming out from Drag-Queen-like Mother Ginger's massive skirt.

The superior thing about Balanchine's Nutcracker is that it is only 2 hours (including interval).  Haha 

I also don't like Ratmansky's Nutcracker that he created for ABT.  I find that storyline of Clara/Sugarplum crossover (or not?) also quite weird, nor do I like Ratmansky's choreography.  Just my opinion.

Aiden's Dross was my initial motivation to see this performance, then I found out that Sae would be dancing Rose Fairy so I was even more eager to go.

And here we are.  Sometimes the Universe responds kindly.

Sorted.  A ticket just came up on ROH website which I managed to snag.  Yay!

I personally do not like any of the Ratmansky work (new or re-constructed) and would be as disappointed with his appointment as I am currently over McGregor.

10 hours ago, Emeralds said:

New York City Ballet also has a child Clara (called Marie), child Fritz and even a child Nutcracker in Balanchine's production! (Clara's bed does a lot of the "dancing" in the transformation scene, sliding about!) There's a lot of mime and walking around. Funnily enough I found this quite interesting to watch live and saw it twice in New York, ages ago, as well as the recent TV recordings. 

Ha!  How tastes differ.  The child Marie and dancing bed are exactly my pet peeves about the Balanchine version.  And in the second act it's Mother Ginger "birthing" children that I don't like.

Bumping this up as I'm still in the market for a ticket.

Thanks

I have just seen the news the Royal Ballet School's artistic director Christopher Powney will step down in July after 10 years in this role.

RBS News

1 hour ago, oncnp said:

 

When I've booked for Insights in the past the limit has been 2. Perhaps as this is a special, they are limiting to one?

4 hours ago, lollylamb1 said:

noticed something that it read 'only one ticket per person'. Is this a new policy? If there were two available, I would have got two. 

I think this might have something to do with the level of Friends or non-Friends, similar to rehearsal ticket allowance.  And whether another Insight event ticket has been bought within the same booking period.