RobR

Hi Andreas,

You may have an email from the ROH in your inbox showing the purchase details but, if you can’t find, telephone the box office and they can confirm details of your ticket and resend an e-ticket. 

I’ve pm'd you - if it’s still available 

2 minutes ago, AllAboutTheJourney said:

The main page of the ROH website has slightly different wording and refers to the ongoing industrial action on the railways. 

Your pseudonym is very apt 😀

The Company and the Opera House staff; dancers, musicians, technicians, caterers, front of house, support staff, physios, security……, I could go on but won’t, have all got to get home. 
 

Many had planned to see, and are still hoping to join, family and friends for Christmas. Quite a few travelling some distance by plane, train or on busy roads.

I appreciate that it’s disappointing for those who have tickets for the cancelled performance.  
 

(I should just say that I support the strikers, rail workers, nurses, postal workers and the others.)

I think that the ROH has made the right decision.

In the 2007 Nutcracker, first year White Lodgers, Isabel Lubach and Julia Roscoe were (very) small Gingerbreads.

Very nice to read today, fifteen years later, that one is Mrs Stahlbaum and the other Dancing Mistress, in the same cast.

4 hours ago, Sim said:

Tamara Rojo's Raymonda was ripped to pieces by certain critics because of its departure from the narrative and the original choreography. I actually enjoyed it and took it for what it is.   On the one hand, companies get castigated if they don't keep ballet fresh; on the other hand when they do try to re-jig some of the 'old dinosaurs' they get criticised.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but at least they try.

 

I think with a ballet like Nutcracker that has now become a family Christmas tradition that has appeal worldwide, I don't take offence if even an august company such as the RB take a few small liberties with it.  Having said that, I am in agreement with other posters that the full complement of 24 snowflakes should be reinstated.  

I also enjoyed 'Raymonda' although some of the choreography was a little, well I can’t think of the right word but, for example, when Jean de Brienne and his troops galloped off to war, simulating cavalrymen by holding their hands to the front and dancing/prancing a galloping step - just like we did as primary school children playing cowboys and Indians.

I also enjoyed the review (I can’t remember whose) when the Crimean War nurses, carrying lanterns (a la the 'The lady with the lamp') and entering the stage in line doing arabesques similar to the entrance of the Shades in 'La Bayadere' were described as the ‘Dance of the Lampshades'. 
 

😀😀 you can’t have too many 

And now sorted. Thanks BalletCo.

Just asking on the off chance someone has a spare SCS for this evening. 
 

5 minutes ago, AllAboutTheJourney said:

They …..

 

….There are two teams and the team of children who live closer to London do the performances closest to Christmas Day so that the other team can travel home for a decent period of time. 

Yes, I’d forgotten that but, living in London, we were in the ‘last to leave, first to return’ group 😀

59 minutes ago, Legseleven said:

What happens with the Royal Ballet School students who are appearing in The Nutcracker (is that all of them?) now that they have finished the school term? Do they stay on at school if needed to get to performances - especially in this wintry weather? Do students who live abroad or a long way from London miss out on being cast for further performances! 

Yes, the children who dance; soldiers, mice and party children, remain in White Lodge until the final performance just before Christmas and return in time for the post Christmas performances. 
 

Until about 10-15 years ago (can’t remember exactly) they were supposed to return in time for performances on 26/27 December but the parents rebelled and the RB sensibly changed the schedule.

The Upper School children, who dance as snowflakes and angels, remain in their school accommodation. 
 

With thanks. 
28 December now sorted 😀

I’ve pm’d you 

29 December is now sorted 😀

The giant wheelchair was there and used to ‘deliver' the Mouse King (although I always liked it when he rose through the floor) 

I’m looking for single tickets for 28 December and 30 December evening and 

21 December and 29 December matinee 

3 hours ago, Blossom said:

 

Lovely to have all of the children back.

Was lovely to get SPW’s battle scene back - although I don’t recall seeing the gingerbread men back on stage! 

 

I’d been watching it for years and had no idea either that there were gingerbread dancers until my daughter (RBS year 7) announced that she was cast as the ‘Spanish gingerbread’! *
I always look out for them now and they were there today 😀

(*That was many years ago)

1 minute ago, FionaE said:

Looks like the cast for the cinema relay on Thursday 🤞

If it is, it’ll be well worth watching 

23 minutes ago, LinMM said:

the reviewer said this choreographer creates very much in the moment so although may go in with a few ideas is likely to change from minute to minute depending on what her gut feeling is

Had he watched the World Ballet Day link to her rehearsing O’Sullivan & Bracewell, he’d have realised he’d summarised it very accurately 

20 minutes ago, Mary said:

. I enjoyed Concerto too, cheesy music, flimsy costumes and all ....not very original or profound and making no particular comment on anything..  short ...and  fun (but I acknowledge that if it was danced by less brilliant dancers it might well be tedious.)

In the absence of any synopsis or summary (and please don’t think that my comments are any form of personal transference) I got the impression from both the choreography and the dancers of an older, established couple, possibly married, going through a period of reflection or even separation at a later stage in their relationship, with MacRae or Osipova moving away only to be drawn back; a strong relationship showing a mutual and deep affection and support. 
 

I’m afraid that the choreography in ‘Dispatch’ gave me no real idea of any relationship between the dancers, romantic or otherwise 

Apropos the costumes, I didn’t have any problem with the costumes worn in ‘Concerto' by Macrae & Osipova, which looked fine to me (I’ve already said I enjoyed their performance) particularly when compared to the costumes worn in 'Dispatch' and 'Prima'. 
 

And I positively refuse to make any comment on the drab dungarees, fatigues and T-shirts currently the costume of choice in 'See us!!' and pretty much anything choreographed by Crystal Pite.

Obviously I was really there for ‘Diamonds', and it was wonderful and I found lots to enjoy in the programme. 

Contrary to previous posts, I positively enjoyed 'Concerto pour deux', particularly as it followed hard on the heels of 'Dispatch'. I found Osipova and Macrae brought a sensitivity to the relationship of the dancers to the music and the choreography.

I'm afraid I felt that in 'Dispatch' the dancers were let down by the music and the choreography.

One of the reviewers described the Quagebeur and Forsythe pieces as 'pop ballet'.

I think it’s an apt description, which I shall remember and re-use, and that the reviewer was being complimentary. 

Apropos acting skills of the RB dancers, I’ve always enjoyed (and look out for) the acting skills of both the principal and non-principal dancers and also think how well Fumi characterised Larisch, particularly in the scene at the Vetsera home.

But, and it’s particularly true in all MacMillan ballets, the general cast all appear to have both the ability and encouragement to characterise their roles, be they big or  small, foreground or background - one of the great pleasures of watching these performances. 
 

I juxtapose this view with my recollections of watching the Russian companies (when they used to come here) and noticing how (generally) ‘wooden' their acting skills appeared to be to me.

16 minutes ago, alison said:

This afternoon's cast sheet had amended the running time to 2 hours 20 - and was virtually exactly right.

 

ENB - the only company in the world which could put on a triple bill consisting exclusively of Rites of Spring?   (Horrendous for the poor dancers, though)

The dancers all looked as though they were really enjoying themselves both during the pieces and at the curtain call