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Geoff

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Everything posted by Geoff

  1. Geoff
    There is a lot wrong. However as the tenor of this thread is universal delight it seems churlish to mention anything negative. But one place to start might be the comments just made on Instagram by Alastair Macaulay (scroll down the comments here, his appear near the top, also in discussion with others):- https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmGp8Kysc7A/
  2. Geoff
    Yes and we are also so lucky that several recordings of her incredible Lilac Fairy are available, at least sometimes (for example in the dvd of the 1950s Sleeping Beauty) As an addendum re her Lilac Fairy, I never saw her dance this live but I was privileged to see her discuss it in the Clore during an anniversary event, referred to here: https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/21011-has-ballet-got-slower/?do=findComment&comment=295639 An unforgettable evening. RIP Dame Beryl.
  3. Geoff
    I find that band - brass included - is still, um, variable. Depends on what night you go...
  4. Geoff
    That sounds most interesting. Lizbie1, any tips for what to search for to find this online?
  5. Geoff
    Many thanks. As I have a Mastercard I thought I would see what was available this morning. As someone who has done his fair bit of complaining about the ROH website/ticketing in recent years, it is only fair to say that this wasn’t great either. Logging on dead on 10am for the start of booking I - with a bit of fiddling about (one is taken through a succession of sites and pages to reach a booking page) - managed to use this to get a cut price ticket. But then at 10.15 I thought I would splash out and get another for another performance: chaos now ruled. It seemed the whole of the UK was trying to access the pages. Sites crashed, pages froze, eventually a screen came up which said they had too much traffic but would let me in due course. It was 10.45 before I got back in, but found plenty of sale seats still available. So, in summary, slow but good cheap(er) seats still to be had for certain performances (not weekends or end of weeks). Lizbie1, I appreciate the tip, never having known about this before.
  6. Geoff
    The Times just reviewed this, and, with some reservations, liked it:- a glossy, fast-paced, moreish family drama set in the rarefied world of New York ballet. Think family quarrels, sex and betrayal, against the backdrop of the Aids crisis.
  7. Geoff
    Depending on who is dancing the role, this can feel a fair bit longer than a "moment" Sim. Although overall I was not convinced by much of his performance Hirano got a lot from this earlier in the month.
  8. Geoff
    One RB principal (a great star but no names, no names) told me she had to stop doing Cinderella as the stepsisters "mucking about" - unmusically and against Ashton's intentions - made it impossible to bring out the beauties of the ballet.
  9. Geoff
    And what's happening to the "linked-yet-separate" tube strikes?
  10. Geoff
    Alison, I sympathize. At the risk of repeating myself, here is what I posted elsewhere more than a month ago. This might be a similar issue:-
  11. Geoff
  12. Geoff
    Not very accurate at all.
  13. Geoff
    Great! Let us know here what you think.
  14. Geoff
    I love your questions Timmie! As I know from being born into an opera performer family and spending much of the last fifty years with opera fans of all kinds, you ask out loud what heavy duty opera lovers whisper to themselves privately. So, is Handel boring? Long certainly, with plenty of da capo arias (you hear the aria once, then they sing it again). But the level of excitement provided by the virtuoso decoration added by the singers (including but not limited to the soprano) has kept audiences coming back for hundreds of years. That’s the key feature of the da capo aria: the first time is as the composer wrote, on the repeat the performers show (and show off) what they can do with it. My tip? Get a cheaper seat so you won’t mind leaving early if you find it’s not for you. When it works - and you’re right, I’ll be there for Oropesa - the live experience is a whole big thing more than any recording.
  15. Geoff
    For those who missed this announcement (lucky for some): https://www.metopera.org/about/press-releases/the-met-announces-launch-of-new-streaming-platform-making-live-simulcasts-available-for-home-audiences/
  16. Geoff
    Just wondering if anyone else has had the *new* issue I had with the website this morning. ROH Friends can top up their rehearsal ticket allowance from today, so I logged on, found the performance and the ticket I wanted, and clicked on the little seat circle. All that came up was the seat view; there was no way of buying the ticket. I tried on two different browsers (eventually discovering that what has actually been happening is that the "buy ticket" window flashes for a fraction of a second, rapidly replaced by the "seat view" window, with no possibility to go back a step - the only option is to go back in from the start and try and select the seat again). Having read on this thread that people have success with booking via IPhone I tried that, same problem. Only when I moved to my IPad was I able to book. In the course of the fifteen minutes this took, I repeated the procedure numerous times and noticed that the "journey" through the website changed. So perhaps they are trying to fix this as I type (although having just tried again through my computer's browser, it doesn't seem to be sorted yet). Never had this problem before.
  17. Geoff
    And I‘m lucky enough to be in Vienna watching her in Onegin tonight.
  18. Geoff
    Words fail me. The best yet. A tremendous last performance. I am still recovering.
  19. Geoff
    By the way, there is a (to me slightly forbidding) small demonstration as one approaches the theatre from Trafalgar Square. Unusual demo: two firm-faced men in dark suits and a slightly less fierce-looking blonde woman. From the look of their literature it seems this might be connected to the show. Anyone gifted in foreign languages who can explain?
  20. Geoff
  21. Geoff
    A slight exaggeration Sim: disappearing is clearly the intention but that hasn't always worked. On the first night the prop got stuck so very little happened. Later in the week Alina was about halfway down when it all jammed again. I vaguely remember seeing this piece of staging before and it didn't work great then either. Lovely idea though. Might I anyway add my small voice to the loud chorus of approval for this wonderful and moving - and "softer" - production. Bought an extra ticket for tonight and so much looking forward.
  22. Geoff
    So the scheduled cast for Saturday evening
  23. Geoff
    Evening all. I missed the announcement but it’s clear the two principal dancers are not those scheduled for the first night tonight. So who’s dancing instead?
  24. Geoff
    At a guess it feels like we have a better idea about this evening than we do about the free Friends event at the ROH. I have no special information but based my ticket purchase on: - It's a "gala", which is appealing - They say "The programme will celebrate the range and beauty of the Cecchetti work" (sounds good to me) - and "feature performances" (reassuring) - "from vocational students through to professional dancers" - good news! I see no mention of academics, but perhaps someone connected to the Society could say a bit more?
  25. Geoff
    The ROH is once again wonderful in all it does. A careful examination of the marketing email sent to me this afternoon shows they have now abandoned the use of the word “purchase”. They have even put in bold that this event is free. Nothing to do with our objections of course. Still no more information but coming “soon”.
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