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Geoff

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  1. I love bel canto and so it is wonderful to hear it was this tremendous work that got you into opera @Timmie! The scenery is more or less the same, and actually pushes the action towards the front of the stage (which improves the acoustic) so I wouldn’t fuss about where you sit/stand in terms of sight lines. Best to choose somewhere where the sound is great, in case the voices are on top form (so perhaps best to avoid under the balcony overhang, for example). The changes relate more to anti-operatic silliness, of which the most notorious example was a loud sound effect of water going into a bath during an entire aria. It will be me booing if they dare bring that back for this revival (it hasn’t been there for a while so I hope we’re safe). Just as with ballet, one can learn a lot from seeing different performers within a short period. So I would definitely go for a Redpath ticket (she comes recommended but I haven’t heard her). The book is not essential, and actually potentially confusing. But a good familiarity with the characters and the plot, as well as studying the music to the extent you are interested, will increase your enjoyment. And if you want a deep dive, there was a hilarious investigation on this very Forum some years ago about the history of women going mad while dressed in white, from which I learned a lot about performance traditions.
  2. So sorry @JNC People with something to hide tend to behave badly. There was a scandal with the ROH red programmes a few years ago. This (which I can’t say more about) involved various kinds of incompetence and stupidity, impacted internally on ROH staff/departments and involved at least one “reverse ferret” (as Fleet Street calls dramatic reversals of policy). I suspect that even if the particular members of front of house staff know exactly nothing about any of this, there may well still be something of a neurotic attitude clinging to the programmes as a result. The rude (and counterproductive) way you were dealt with certainly suggests you should send in a complaint. As always I recommend the main customer services email address to make sure this gets to those who manage front of house.
  3. Better links to the report, apologies: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/lets-create-opera-and-music-theatre-analysis https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/22340/download?attachment
  4. No more guessing, no more assumptions about "Maoism", no more gossip or backstage rumour. The Arts Council has just issued a lengthy report telling us what it thinks about opera (spoiler alert, basically the Arts Council hates opera). Their report can be accessed here: Lets Create_Opera and Music Theatre Analysis_Full report.pdf I can't claim to have read the whole thing yet but I notice with a smirk that one of those involved is a well-known dodgy person operating inside the arts, who was once characterised in print as "the worst executive I have ever dealt with". So the Arts Council clearly chose carefully when putting together their team of writers and advisers. For those who would like a quick guide, the Observer newspaper has an article about the report out today: In the name of anti-elitism, Arts Council England has declared war on opera and excellence | Catherine Bennett | The Guardian
  5. There is an intriguing (maybe new) credit for this run of SL: >>Staging: Gary Avis, Laura Morera and Samantha Raine >>Artistic Supervisor Scarlett Estate: Laura Morera I am on the record on this Forum as seeing most of the performances of the initial run of this production, loving the magnificent work of designer John Macfarlane but by the end of the run growing steadily ever less impressed by the choreographic initiatives of Liam Scarlett. Years have since passed and things are changing for the better. Although there is presumably little that can be done about the unimaginative faux classicism - particularly acts 1 and 4 - Scarlett added to the production, there are undoubted improvements throughout. It‘s cleaner, less fussy, closer to a classic SL. So I think we owe congratulations to Morera, who has years of artistic experience and maturity (and artistic sensibility) Scarlett sadly never accumulated. Her supreme delicacy, intelligence and what in days gone by one might have called ‘taste‘ is now in evidence throughout, for example in trimming Benno’s anachronistic “method” acting into and across the pastiche ensemble work of Act 1. Long may she be supported in, let‘s call it, discovering the changes Scarlett would have made had he been able to.
  6. Have to? Well, perhaps it would be interesting to see what other people understand by what I wrote. For those with an interest in Petipa and Ivanov I don‘t think it is obscure.
  7. Nicely put. Frankly there is something of a muddle at present. We are offered performances of the 19th century classical repertoire danced at demonstrably the wrong tempi, with audiences (and company) trained in naturalistic narrative, psychological complexity, non-idiomatic emotionalism and 21st century extensions and technique. Ugly, boring and anachronistic misunderstandings between stage and auditorium should be the predictable result, so it’s a surprise that anything works. Imho.
  8. Lucia update. That thread is probably out of date now. The production has since been revived more than once, and with each one nonsense has been trimmed and more thought expended on what matters. I would now say it is a fine looking, basically traditional production with marvellous sets and costumes. I am much looking forward to going again.
  9. Don’t worry @JennyTaylor - it’s not you, it’s them. I will go further than @Dawnstar The issue is not really “traditional” or not, the issue is that the shows you have gone to so far are not really very good. The Bohème is poorly done (replacing a much loved and powerful production); the Aida is a flop (I will be surprised if it comes back again now that it has been revived, unless ROH books a world class cast); the Butterfly is no more than ok; only the Tosca will do (and there are better productions of that opera around). Then there is a different dynamic as to how many times one needs to see an opera to feel comfortable with it. Ballets often give you a lot quite quickly, and this deepens as one goes back and sees it again. An opera, in my experience, can be slower work. The first time one finds something in it one likes, and then that gives you an access point on which to build with later visits. Listening to an opera before seeing it for the first time is always worth doing, as is doing some reading. The whole opera thing is so risky, it is a rare experience when it all comes together - the voices, the orchestra, the staging and the work - but when it does, it is unbeatable, which is why we keep going back, with fingers crossed. This is a difficult era, as there far too many talentless people (who seem to hate music or at least not know much about it or trust it) putting on operas but there are still a few times a year when the experience is really exciting. What are planning to try next, would you like some tips?
  10. A long and thoughtful online comment from Alastair Macaulay: https://slippedisc.com/2024/03/review-alastair-macaulay-on-the-state-of-new-york-city-ballet/
  11. We don’t often discuss make up. So here is a perhaps silly question. Was it me or did Katherina Nikelski have a light sheen of gold body paint last night? Perhaps it was just a heavier foundation base than this very light-skinned dancer normally uses and that caught golden lustre reflected off the magnificent palace walls, but in any case it looked very fetching and appropriately exotic for the character.
  12. Almost inevitably. As has been discussed on the Forum many times the RB has got slower over the decades, at least from the 1950s (there are recordings that can be checked) to the late 1970s and then far worse from then on. There are occasional exceptions (I can think of one guest conductor who even made public comments about how much faster the company was in earlier recordings) but he has never been asked back.
  13. Speaking as a professional in this space, budget is only one constraint among many. More money might mean employing more people (who might trip over each other and/or duplicate poor practices) or it might mean employing more expensive people (also not a guarantee, for example I have some sense of the considerable budget allocated to the new website and we all know how that worked out). In general arts organisations and other non profits can tend to arrogance and ideology mixed with less than stellar technical competence. We hope ROH (having suffered from some shockingly dim decisions in the recent past of this department) is giving serious consideration on how to do better.
  14. Reading through recent years of negative Forum comments about ROH departments suggests that the two areas in greatest need of improvement are marketing and the website/online bookings. Given recent improvements in the functioning of the website (I hope I am not speaking too soon) is it too much to hope that senior management will now at last get round to bringing ROH marketing up to a professional standard?
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