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Geoff

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  1. Geoff
    I would have done so if there was time but it all happened in the last moments before curtain up and I would have had to push past a whole row to get out. In the second interval all I could have said was to report something which had happened, rather than what was happening (I wasn’t to know they and others would return - again at the last minute - with yet more drinks). Plenty of people saw and were near the door so could have said something but maybe there wasn’t an usher around that entrance, I didn’t see anyone (as a result my ticket wasn’t scanned).
  2. Geoff
    A Royal Opera House premiere for me last night: at the end of the first interval two young ladies returned to their seats (Upper Slips) with a large glass of red wine each, along with a plastic cup of water each. They got refills in the second interval, by which time the fashion was spreading. Couldn’t see the whole row but any number of drinks were being taken, from all manner of glasses and containers. Given the drop from the lower row of the Upper Slips - which is where these thirsty patrons were sitting - this seems not only against the rules and discourteous to others but positively dangerous. A glass dropped from that height could do real damage.
  3. Geoff
    A cheap seat is just fine for this cast, who are worth hearing from any seat, ie including the cheaper ones from where one can't see much (the production is not quite as grating as first time round, a few tweaks maybe or else I was focusing so hard on the singers I didn't notice, in any case it's not important)
  4. Geoff
    Indeed Blossom. Something to do with "English" shoulders, perhaps?
  5. Geoff
    And in the opera La Donna Del Lago at the ROH in the early 1980s there was a radio controlled boat which worked perfectly throughout rehearsals but conked out on opening night. The soprano made a less than wholly dignified first entrance, standing astride a member of the production team in the bottom of her boat who was steering furiously to get it across the stage. (Sorry, back to Sleeping Beauty now)
  6. Geoff
    There is an article in today’s ES magazine (the free magazine given away with the Evening Standard in London) which might interest contributors to this thread. Written by journalist Simon Mills, it purports to detail 12 “rules” for being an “exemplary theatre-goer”. Based on research - Joe Stilgoe is quoted a couple of times, for example - some of the rules are self-evident (“put your phone away”) but it was surprising to see how many of his rules, despite my years of professional experience in theatre, film and television, I didn’t agree with. The article will have been skewed by the sample Mills spoke to (a few performers and managements maybe?) and though seemingly all very sensible, I wanted to argue back a fair bit (as would, for example, most critics, another group with an interest in “exemplary theatre going”) So maybe worth picking up a copy today if you see it at the station or wherever, and checking it against what you think.
  7. Geoff
    ...which has been explained more than once by the ROH over the years (at an Insight, in the Friends magazine and so on) One can probably find it online.
  8. Geoff
    I love spellcheck. Or, a modernisation too far? 😀 Lovely debut from Anna Rose and such a lively jump!
  9. Geoff
    Thanks for this Ruth. Where were these seats? Given how familiar you must be with the Coliseum it is a little unnerving to think of being caught out in this way.
  10. Geoff
    Some years ago this operation publicised the forthcoming appearance of a famous dancer, who then took advice from me as to whether she could / should sue them: she told me she had not even been contacted about the gala, never mind agreeing to perform. Nonetheless I book blind every year and never have less than a most enjoyable time. The audience alone is worth the price of admission (there was once a physical fight in the lobby between two women in couture frocks of a kind one does not usually see at the Coliseum).
  11. Geoff
    By coincidence the Insight rehearsal which Dame Beryl so immeasurably enhanced was also led by Samantha Raine. A different style of rehearsal was shown during the Bolshoi section of this year’s World Ballet Day. Ratmansky coaching Giselle starts at around 3 hours 32 minutes in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF5Nkg_MrhE
  12. Geoff
    Yes Ashton indeed did and very good he was too. There is a wonderful American tv recording of the company doing (much of) Sleeping Beauty, available on dvd here: www.amazon.com/Tchaikovsky-Sleeping-Beauty-Fonteyn-Sadlers/dp/B0002VGRAE/ Incidentally may I add a plug for Beryl Grey’s iconic Lilac Fairy? The clips of her doing the Prologue variation seem to have sadly vanished from YouTube but she is captured in her full glory on this dvd. An object lesson in how to dance the Lilac Fairy, and a corrective to some of the views expressed here about some more recent dancers who have attempted the part.
  13. Geoff
    +1 At the ‘Sleeping Beauty and Me’ short Insight event earlier this week conductor Simon Hewett took a question about whether one can rely on Tchaikovsky’s metronome markings. Although he did not answer directly (speaking only of vaguer terms like allegro rather than the exact tempi shown on the score) his lengthy and discursive reply was nonetheless most interesting. His description of the conductor following the dancers might have surprised those who assume dancers always ‘dance to the music’. And his account of the dynamic relationship in rehearsals between, first, a pianist able to respond quickly and then, later, with a less easily manoeuvrable orchestra was illuminating. At one point Hewett - as he referred to himself, an Australian ‘new boy’ to the Royal Ballet and its traditions - spoke of watching recordings of the company dancing Sleeping Beauty in the 1960s and being “astonished” at how fast the music was and how fast those dancers danced. This was as close as he came to speaking about the metronome markings, sitting as he was next to Monica Mason (which may have inhibited some of what he said).
  14. Geoff
    Just so there is no confusion, I am referring here only to the members of the cast I saw who were listed on the biographical sheet issued on the day by the company (the sheet said that Fiona McGee came from the Royal Ballet School and joined the company in 2017, although I now understand she may have had other steps on that journey). It would be great to learn more about other casts and the Vienna company in general but my post is mainly an enquiry aimed at those who understand how the Balanchine Trust works and how that might impact on performance.
  15. Geoff
    Just to send out word that this is likely to be a very special performance indeed: https://bsolive.com/events/elektra-birmingham/ Six of us have already booked tickets. We had the chance to hear some of this cast sing Wagner in Budapest earlier this year and are very excited.
  16. Geoff
    Perhaps tosh means something very rude in the street slang the writer of the review is so wokely in touch with?
  17. Geoff
    I was lucky enough to see this new production at the Vienna Staatsoper and just want to report a quick early impression. The cast was from Russia and former Soviet territories, apart from our own Fiona McGee (who joined the company from the Royal Ballet School in 2017), a couple of Japanese dancers (Hashimoto, Kimoto) and one Australian, Navrin Turnbull. The company did well but the performance was only the third time ever for them, so perhaps uncertainties were inevitable. I wondered about the coaching / casting / rehearsal time, as there seemed to be a certain deficit compared to the supremely idiomatic performances achieved by the Royal Ballet in 2017. The coaching for RB in 2017 was by Patricia Neary and Elyse Borne (there may have been others involved but this were the two we met at the Insight evening) whereas the Vienna programme listed Ben Huys (Emeralds) and Judith Fugate (Diamonds) - who both danced the work for NYCB in the 1990s - and Nanette Glashak (Rubies), who represents the Trust. In any case, a gorgeous occasion which can only grow with the confidence of more performances.
  18. Geoff
    Rob S, I am going to disagree with you! Tonight Yasmine did not simply do a fabulous job again, she reached entirely new heights. Somehow freed up - maybe because this was an unscheduled performance coming after some recent triumphs - she was simply wonderful and the audience roared their approval. Her first act variation had some of the loveliest dancing I have seen in over half a century of going to the ballet. Reminded me at times of Viviana Durante (high praise indeed for those who remember those performances). Others will no doubt want to write their impressions of her so perhaps I could add instead that tonight’s fairies were, to my taste, the best collection of the run so far; the most confident; and the most musical: Pajdak, Magri, Hamilton, Hinks and O’Sullivan.
  19. Geoff
    The Guardian or The Observer? Online they look the same (they are now essentially the same operation) but they still have separate reviewers. The clumsily woke but uninformed review I read on Sunday was by someone called Bidisha, who I see is known for “specialising in international affairs, social justice issues” as well as “culture”.
  20. Geoff
    Not having yet made it to the new ENB on City Island I just checked on Google Maps. The website got confused (giving two different spots on City Island) but this seems to be the shortest route: https://goo.gl/maps/ncvcs7o8SaA7bkxdA Does anyone have any tips to stop one heading off in the wrong direction?
  21. Geoff
    I have no idea what was said in the offending post (gone by the time I caught up with the thread) but at the risk of seeming self-promoting might I offer two previous remarks by way of comment? https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/20918-filling-in-the-gaps/?do=findComment&comment=294680 https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/17345-apologies/?do=findComment&comment=237921
  22. Geoff
    As can - to labour a previously discussed point - the conducting (slower is usually worse imho).
  23. Geoff
    Thanks Sim! Is she on a wire? Or up on a rostrum behind a gauze? Or something else?
  24. Geoff
    The same thing happened to me a couple of years ago with Jewels. Never liked it, then one night, having decided to give it just one more go, my eyes opened during Emeralds...and I went out afterwards and got tickets for the rest of the run. So one never knows.
  25. Geoff
    Can someone explain what happens on stage at the end? From my - slightly restricted seat at the top - I didn’t see this.
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