Silke H

What a pity.  Looking forward to this talk at a later date nonetheless.

Thanks for the early heads-up of the change

I'm looking for a good Stalls Circle standing or central Balcony standing ticket for The Royal Ballet's Nutcracker on Thursday 4th January.

I really would love to see Aiden O'Brien's Drosselmeyer.

Thank you for any offers or leads.

Silke

Facebook album

Instagram 01/01/24

2 hours ago, Sim said:

OK, so I said that last week was my final Nut of the season, but when a good ticket came up for today I just couldn't resist.  Best cure for a New Year's Day fuzzy head?  Seeing Annette Buvoli debut as SPF, accompanied by Marianna Tsembenhoi as Clara.  This made for a wonderful start to the New Year.  Annette was lovely, fluid and fluent and yes, it was all taken very slowly, as it was with Mariko last week.  I am guessing that the debutantes like it that way as it is such a difficult piece to dance, so until they are used to it and can whip around like the experienced dancers, it's safer not to rush.  So perhaps the fireworks aren't the same, but on the plus side we get to see the musicality and grace of the dancer, and this afternoon we saw that with Annette.  She looked like she was in a rapture; so happy to be there.  Nicol Edmonds was fine and on good form, but next time I would love to see Annette dance with Lukas or Reece, as the height would work better.  Brava to Annette; it is so nerve-wracking to debut as SPF.  I do feel so sorry that she put in so much work just to have one scheduled show. (I felt the same about Claire Calvert's one Swan Lake).  I very much look forward to seeing Annette do more big roles in the future, especially the classical ones.  She has such beautiful lines, and such grace.

 

I was so happy to see my favourite Columbine again today.  Ginevra Zambon is so convincing as a doll.  She even spots in doll mode!  And today's Chinese dance was the most synchronised as any I have ever seen.  Absolutely perfect timing from Liam Boswell and Daichi Ikarashi.  

 

Happy New Year to you all....I've started mine on a high, thanks to today's lovely cast.  

I agree with all of the above @Sim , even down to the Chinese synchronicity and Drosselmeyer's 4 dolls.

May we see much more of Annette Buvoli in the classics.

What a lovely way to start 2024.  Start as you mean to go on.

Big thank you to the moderators for all you do on this forum.  Your efforts are hugely appreciated.  💗

Happy New Year to the moderators and fellow members.  🎆 🎇

2 hours ago, Sim said:

The inside back cover of today's Times Saturday supplement is an ad for priority booking for the RB's Swan Lake.  The link is www.mytimesplus.co.uk

 

 

That seems to be for The Times subscribers only 😢

Kevin O'Hare announced before curtain up that Reece had sustained an injury today and that Lukas was kind enough to step in after his great debut earlier this week.

So, cast sheet for tonight states Lukas Brændsrød replacing Cesar Corrales.  I wonder what happened to Reece...  

cast sheet 29 Dec 2023

1 minute ago, JohnS said:

No sofa but it took several attempts to get past the ‘all tickets sold’ message. I could try for the Hansel & Gretel 30/31 performances pretty much immediately but I assume it took a few minutes for Nutcracker Friday Rush tickets to be released. Things must have gone reasonably smoothly as Nutcracker tickets were pretty much all snapped up before 1:20 and we’re back to all performances being sold out. Returns appear but for only a few minutes.

same here.  it took over 5 minutes for the tickets to actually be released.  luckily I did manage to snag my desired performance and one of my desired spots, the other ticket was in a less desired spot.

managed to sort myself out in today's Friday rush 😀

Hi Richard,

It seems guided tours are sporadic only

At Bayerische Staatsoper there's one on 20th Feb at 2pm (in case you arrive in Munich a couple of days prior to La Bayadere) Bayerische Staatsoper tour 20 Feb 24 Tickets are €10 per person

In Berlin you'd be much luckier, as there's a guided tour at Deutsche Oper Berlin on the 24th Feb at 2pm Deutsche Oper Berlin tour 24 Feb 24 tickets are €5 per person

At Semperoper you're in luck that there's even an English guided tour on 27th Feb Semperoper 27 Feb 24 tickets are €14 per person

Tours of Oper Leipzig are organised by 'Leipzig Erleben', seemingly upon request only Oper Leipzig

I hope this helps as a start  ☺️

I’m looking for a decent SCS (or central Balcony standing) for RB Nutcracker 27th Dec evening 7:30pm

Many thanks

Could whoever is at tonight's Nutcracker (21/12) please advise who danced the Soldier act 1 and Chinese with Joonhyuk in act 2?  Cast sheet says Alexander Lee but I presume that's Harrison Lee? (he's danced those roles before)

I'm looking for 2 tickets, decent Stalls Circle Standing (D-11 to D-44) or Central Balcony Standing (D-30 to D-33), for Friday 5th January 2024 7:30pm, they don't need to be together.

A friend of mine is unexpectedly visiting from France, otherwise I would have booked earlier.

Many thanks in advance for any leads or offers.

41 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

I think it's a colour cast from the spotlights, which are a blueish white (for the red runs). The general lighting for the stage curtain calls is more 'rosy' (and Rose's spot is definitely very pink). Our eyes/brains just naturally adjust; the camera tells it like it is though!

58 minutes ago, Rob S said:

I wouldn't try to look too hard in to the colours of things, out of the camera all the curtain call pictures come out orange 😄

I agree, I always have to adjust the general colour of my curtain call photos, from an orangey-pink to a more palatable hue

4 hours ago, ellyb said:

Aw, I know I'll be in the minority but I'm a bit sad about that if it's true! Might it mean they're intending a revamp, this production is getting on a bit so might this be the last time we see it? It seems a bit of an odd financial decision as I believe it's the one production across both ballet and opera that is guaranteed to completely sell out, and at top dollar prices? If they're needing to keep prices so high as they are struggling, is it really sensible to get rid of their most profitable show?

@ellyb - I don't think you need to fear this Nutcracker going away any time soon.

The Royal Ballet gives The Nutcracker a little rest from time to time over the Christmas period.  In 2019/20 we saw Coppélia around Christmas/New Year, 2014/15 was Alice and Don Q, 2010/11 was Tales of Beatrix Potter/Les Patineurs

My fantasy mixed bill suggestions:

Tribute to Balanchine:  Ballo della Regina / Tarantella / Tschaikovsky PDD / Symphony in C - Tschai Pas is just too short on its on so I'd throw Tarantella in the mix

4 seasons of Ashton: Voices of Spring / A Month in the Country / La Valse / Les Patineurs (to me La Valse has an autumn feel)

Yellow colour-scheme:  Concerto / Scènes de Ballet / Rhapsody

Animal combination of Company and School:  Peter and the Wolf (school) - Matthew Hart / Carnival of the Animals - Chris Wheeldon for NYCB / Still Life at the Penguin Café - David Bintley

I'm sure I'll think of some more

4 hours ago, Rob S said:

Ooo no Sissens this evening, Acri instead

He has injured his shoulder, but I'm not sure how severely

7 hours ago, alison said:

The kiss on the cheek was got rid of a few years ago - sad.  I never interpreted it wrongly.

I think it was dropped for you-know-what measures and not brought back, same as the flying Fritz 

IG 09-12-2023

FB - Nutcracker 2023

Facebook album - more pics to be added throughout the run

IG 06 Dec 2023

IG 07 Dec 2023

56 minutes ago, annamk said:

 

I really hope that all the Manon and Swan Lake combinations will be wonderful and I will be going along to a number of the performances to find out.

 

But I can't unfeel what I have felt and unsee what I have seen with the Kaneko/Bracewell partnership: it is my raw emotional reaction to a chemistry that is as rare as hen's teeth. Together Kaneko/Bracewell have moved me more than any partnership with the exception of Cojocaru/Kobborg in 25 years of ballet going. Surely it is ok to express this feeling on the forum without it being taken as a judgement on other casts ?

I am in the same camp as @annamk - for me the Kaneko/Bracewell partnership is currently the most special and my preferred pairing amongst RB principals.

Yet, I still get goosebumps thinking back to Fumi's Odette/Odile debut with Federico Bonelli.  Who knows whether that could have been an equally thrilling partnership.

And what about Fumi, Vadim and Yasmine in Mayerling... wasn't that quite something as well?

I am absolutely looking forward to seeing Swan Lake with all the pairings as they are cast next season but am hoping for further Kaneko/Bracewell Romeo and Juliet performances when that returns.

@JohnS - Thanks for the reminder that general rehearsal tickets were part of the booking yesterday, I completely forgot about them.  Have rectified my oversight now 😀

19 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

The ROH used to provide free cough sweets. I can't recall when exactly they stopped but I was looking at a programme from 2009 recently & there was an advert for them in it.

yes, ROH provided them upon request from cast sheet/programme sales ushers.  I loved the note in the old cast sheets: "Silence sponsored by Sela Cough"  They tasted nice and their wrapper wasn't a noisy one either.

50 minutes ago, MoVR said:

According to today' s  cast sheet, James Large will be doing both Russian and Chinese dance lol. I imagine that's a typo again?

Well, yesterday evening's cast sheet still lists Ashley Dean for Mirlitons...