Geoff

You asked that before @Timmie And I'll stick with what I said before. Redpath's voice is so very different (and she neither misses certain top notes nor screeches, both of which I heard the excellent Sierra do more than once on more than one evening) that it will do your ears good to hear her. I too heard the up and coming Redpath - clearly tipped for the very top - at the dress rehearsal and second what @Bluebird wrote at the time, as here.

Yes, of course, all is heard and identified. The long-standing issue - as I tried to say earlier - is with the "subsequently deal with" (or not). And that's my final word on this subject in this thread.

Maybe but the playing does not get better when they play opera (plenty of comments on the Forum about that)

As we head for a new era in the House’s musical leadership, maybe there will be changes with the orchestra? My humble proposal is annual re-auditioning. After all, if you’re as good as it is said you are, what is there to be afraid of? As a visiting conductor said to me (no names, no names) all it would take is bravery and cash and the willingness to tackle the union and the freemasons. Ah, ok, right, thanks, all clear.

@ElliB we have had a lot of discussions here about ticket prices after COVID and I have probably read most of the posts. But yours has somehow touched me more deeply than most. It is a disgrace that Covent Garden is driving people like you and your nephew away, in favour of Arts Council pleasing “new” audiences who come once and tick that box, or panicky last minute free giveaways. Perhaps someone could send what @ElliB writes to Alex Beard (I would do it but one letter in a week is enough)? He should be held to account: does the avoidance of classicism (represented by the season just announced) combined with pricing aimed at novelty buyers rather than lovers of the art form mean that although the Arts Council may be pleased by that gender fluid loo (if it’s still there) we can no longer expect this company to protect and promote its traditions, or work to build an audience of ballet lovers for the future?

It sort of feels like it’s going to be the second revival (we had it first in October 2022 and then a year ago in May) Often enough, in any case.

Are they having a laugh? (To coin a phrase) Many thanks for your work on this @JohnS Let’s hope they get back to you soon with some clarification and (hopefully) corrections.

So, what’s going on? Left hand/right hand? Confusion? Misunderstanding? Change of plan? Or, something I keep noticing to my disappointment, some people at least at the ROH just don’t know how to use the English language? In any case the latest Friends news is a great relief. Let’s hope it’s not wrong.

I just looked back at our exchange after you posted in March: so glad!

I’ve arrived too late to check out the offending video - but it seems it was more energetic than this double bill, one of the least engaging shows I have seen at the ROH. A side note: for the performance I went to, online showed sold out (or as good as) whereas a good third of the seats were in fact unoccupied.

This announcement brings together a number of factors: - Their stumbling marketing department - Their uneasy relationship with the Maoists at the Arts Council - The (relatively) new policy of „everyone shall dance every role“, sensible enough given the growth of the company but clearly more complex when it comes to casting than the days long ago when there were only two Auroras across a year of performances - The illiteracy of their staff, who mangle the simplest English sentences and create confusion even when all should be clear What could be called a perfect storm.

This seems the clearest way of putting things. Given the widespread strength of feeling - so many posts from so many people - may I suggest that everyone who feels this way writes to Alex Beard (not to the Friends as this won’t be escalated so may not lead to senior management understanding that they have a problem). His email address has been put on the Forum in the past: alex.beard@roh.org.uk A large number of complaints will at least mean that they will discuss the problem.

+1

Dancers I have spoken to are grateful for applause as it increases the time they have to recover.

+1 Combined with issues with the direction of the RBS (and the looming influence of a philistine but demanding Arts Council) “very worrying” is fair comment and no exaggeration. Oh dear.

Alternatively, "keep a-hold of Nurse, for fear of finding something worse”...Do you remember 4:48: Psychosis? If not, perhaps worth looking it up: "The play definitely made the audience respond; some of them even walked out during the performance, others covered their eyes or tried to defuse the tension and shock with laughter".

Thank you! Who are the big voices who are booked?

I could say but then would have to kill you and resign from the Magic Circle. Suffice it say there are ways of holding a large cloth and timing one’s movements which can make for a strikingly magical exchange. I should add for clarity that, along with a number of Scarlett’s other innovations, his original conception of an opening transformation was dropped long ago, possibly even before the end of the first run. The way it is staged now would not benefit from what illusionists could have added to the original idea.

There is also established stage practice for making such an exchange really magical. I know someone volunteered to help out (at no cost to the company) with some basic training, back in the early days of this production when Liam Scarlett wanted to present his opening as a stage illusion - but there was no interest. So it stayed inept from the outset and has only got worse with time.

What have I learned from a week of The Sleeping Beauty (I missed only the Friday evening for an unavoidable professional engagement)? Here are a few random observations: - As the newcomer who came with me yesterday evening observed, how fresh this 40-year old production by Sir Peter Wright looks. My friend particularly praised the gorgeous costumes and clever lighting. To those who are puzzled by the colour of Lilac’s dress, perhaps the gels were originally set differently, which might have adjusted the look of that costume. - Like others I was very pleased to hear the wonderful score approaching the right tempi, even if a touring production can’t quite manage a band on the lush scale of Covent Garden or the Mariinsky. - In terms of casting, this run suffered from the withdrawal of the luminous Alina Cojocaru whose Aurora I last saw on what I remember as a wet midweek matinee in a less than full Coliseum in 2018. Alina transformed a potentially unpromising atmosphere to one of the greatest experiences of my ballet-going life. Some dancers just do the steps, others impose a performance from outside (by copying others or watching themselves in the mirror in not necessarily the best way) but a very few of the very best illuminate the role from inside. Cojocaru is one of those rare ones and her absence was keenly felt. - Nonetheless it was a pleasure and a privilege to be able to compare and contrast three different Japanese Auroras (I had to miss the only exception): Momoko Hirata, Miki Mizutani and Yu Kurihara (twice). Some highlights: Hirata’s seasoned strength and experience, Mizutani’s charming last act variation and Kurihara’s second performance, so different to her first (which seemed slightly tentative, even perhaps anxious). Last night Yu and the company left the crowd on a high, cheering in a way which is not always the case with this ballet. - It was a pleasure to see older men with strong characterful faces inhabiting the king and other members of the court in a way which lifted the scene. - As to younger dancers, it’s worth noting that a BRB touring production keeps the youngsters working hard. For example radiant smiles from Germany’s delightful Frieda Kaden easily reached the back of the theatre so it was easy to spot her many quick changes last night, from Lilac Attendant to Garland Girl to Lady at the Hunt to Lady of the Court. I especially welcomed newcomer Ukranian Alisa Garkavenko and Spain’s Sofia Linares, now a First Artist showing real promise. What a marvellous ballet and thank you very much BRB.

Yes. I mentioned it earlier in this thread.

Yes.

Yes and yes. But for the first night she was not placed centre stage (which had accidentally created the impression at the dress that she was being honoured on an equal footing with the star of the show).

For professional reasons I once had the opportunity to view a series of recordings of Sadler’s Wells and then the Royal Ballet performing the Sleeping Beauty over the decades, more versions than are generally available. This fascinating comparison showed, yes Makarova could be slow but in fact the company had started slowing down years before her production. Things were beginning to slip by the 1970s. Some recordings are commercially available and worth looking out for. The Sadlers Wells film of the ballet, with Fonteyn, Somes, Ashton and Grey (currently on dvd though it can be hard to find) is eye-opening for a number of reasons. Other archive recordings, of varying quality, have been issued on dvd over the years and are well worth getting hold of when they turn up.

To be fair, the book is pretty different from the opera. Apart the rest, the baddie in the book is - and no doubt Katie wouldn’t like this - Lucia’s mother.