Geoff

I'm appalled to hear this Sim. I have nothing but the utmost respect for those who volunteer to look after this site, without which we would all be worse off. We are all in your debt and, please, don't let a tiny minority distress you to the point you can't go on (as has happened elsewhere). We are all sincerely grateful. And happy anniversary, by the way! To those who sent such upsetting messages, cut it out.

Not sure but we seem to be going round in circles somewhat. One doesn't need to read things on libellous websites, one only has to read what the investigation panel of the US Figure Skating Association said: this panel said she knew beforehand. I gave a reference in my earlier posting, above http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/01/sports/figure-skating-us-title-is-taken-back-from-harding.html But I also said this should be balanced by the fact that she was not convicted of this charge, indeed it seems Tonya Harding has always denied it. You decide!

I thought her guilty plea (and conviction) was only for hindering the subsequent investigation, not to foreknowledge of the attack?

Having been brought up with opera, working for a while at the opera and certainly being a lifelong opera fan (yes to both Callas and Sutherland, btw!) I must admit to noticing a difference when I came, late (over the age of 50 anyway), to a deeper appreciation of ballet. The nature of ballet discussion, writing and general responses, whether by amateur fans or professionals, does seem notably different. I suspect there could be a simple explanation, at least for some of the difference. Not many children dream of becoming opera singers, whereas every year sees another generation of aspiring dancers take their first ballet classes, supported by their families. Of course most eventually fall by the wayside, sooner or later, sometimes not until adulthood, but for so many of those in the audience to be either aspiring, active or former dancers (or their family) must inevitably change the demographic nature of the ballet-going community.

The film - at least as I read it - gives Tonya Harding the benefit of the doubt on this point, while making clear that the story is a confused and confusing one. The evidence is muddled, including by the incentives provided by the US system for her (ex) husband to testify against her. I am no expert on the case but there are two important facts to bear in mind when writing about it: i) She was not convicted on this charge ii) On the other hand, see for example this news report: http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/01/sports/figure-skating-us-title-is-taken-back-from-harding.html

This has already appeared in Links but given the discussions elsewhere on the Forum perhaps this news story is worth highlighting: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/arts/dance/peter-martins-ballet-investigation.html

This feature film, opening in the UK on March 1, tells the story of a ballerina recruited to a Russian intelligence service where "she is forced to use her body as a weapon". Polunin is in the cast. More here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2873282/

Btw when I last looked, these shows are sold out

Looks like this may start to sell soon. This review just out by a critic I have a lot of time for: http://www.theartsdesk.com/opera/iolanthe-english-national-opera-review-bright-and-beautiful-gs-all

Thinking about your question, I have a couple of avoids when it comes to first time visits: Wagner, as many people can't get on with his work, and in any case the altered state one tends to have to put oneself in to get the most from the experience is not necessarily for beginners. A less obvious avoid might be Mozart, despite the Magc Flute traditionally having been fed to children. The major Mozart operas can feel as if one has had a full evening already by the halftime interval (even, yes, the Magic Flute). That said, Don Giovanni was my favourite opera as a teenager and the current ROH production is back soon, an exciting piece of staging whatever some people thought of the details. Moving to my main recommendation, Verdi (to stay at the same dramatic pitch as Tosca) because, as it happens, ROH Macbeth is coming towards us with a great cast (do anything you can to get a ticket, although I can't vouch for the production). You might want to save Falstaff, also on its way, for later in your opera career. Turning to the ENO, Turn of the Screw is coming (and this always seems to hit the spot, is it producer proof I wonder?) However, one never can tell. I recently got a standing ticket for Semiramide for a complete (adult) beginner, a friend from work. And that is a long show to stand for, as well as being pretty static, pretty daft and with music that not everyone finds exciting. She not only stayed to the end of the (very long) show, she loved it so much she is now converted from opera scepticism to wanting as much as she can get.

Boheme - imho - is cast specific. These two, if they are the right two, can break your heart. But they have to be right, and that's rare. And the current, new, ROH production has, um, not yet found its feet.

Apologies, it was in fact the distinguished Stephen Jay-Taylor commenting, not on Twitter but on the ROH's own comment page: >>Mariame Clement's projected production was scrapped, and this modish garbage brought in cheap and ready-made from Frankfurt, where it should have stayed.

Possibly more familiar to the German public this show was intended for. Someone on Twitter points out that the only reason ROH has this production is because they cancelled a new one and then bought this one secondhand. So it is seemingly not a true co-production, but more of a cut-price stand-in.

It's a reference to Marlene Dietrich in the film "Blonde Venus".

Having now read my way through most of the (mixed) reviews, as well as the ROH online comments, this is the review which best expresses what I thought: http://boulezian.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/carmen-royal-opera-6-february-2018.html

The day Cirque du Soleil discover irony is the day I will be willing to go back to one of their shows...

Ticket now spoken for

I can no longer use my ticket for tomorrow Friday 9th (Hayward debut). The seat is Row B Amphitheatre, towards the end of the row, £14. Please PM if interested.

That's funny Sim, thank you for a laugh on a chilly day! I could say more but I'll be good and wait for the first night.

I was at the Dress Rehearsal of the new Carmen on Saturday. Without wanting to trespass over the line, I think it fair to say that this production has aroused a variety of opinions. As Kosky's show comes to Covent Garden from Frankfurt, perhaps people might be interested to read this (translated) review from Germany, where the opera had an entirely different cast: https://bachtrack.com/kritik-carmen-murrihy-calleja-schmutzhard-reiter-vuong-kasper-oper-frankfurt-juni-2016 It will be interesting to read the British critics, some of whom may take a different view.

Yes, be warned: as I discovered to my cost, it is not only on at various times but also on different *days* depending on cinema. They are only calling this showing 'live': it is a recording so they can show it whenever. In fact the most convenient cinema to me is only showing it on, oh, Tuesday lunchtime!

It's all only IMHO Sanjay, no doubt there are people who like this production (you could check some old reviews online perhaps?) And in any case you may well find more in it, after all tastes differ. I wasn't at the Southbank for the Rheingold so can't comment on how their semi staged style plays for first timers (as against a full production, however successful or not). For a longer show such as Walkure, I suspect people coming to the work for the first time may prefer a full staging. But paradoxically one can sometimes focus more easily when there is not so much to watch, which seems to be what you found on the Southbank. Speaking purely personally, I would go as often as possible, irrespective!

These comments have prompted some memories of more than forty years of going to Wagner. I remember, early on, attending a Ring cycle at ROH with a friend from abroad, sitting up in the old Gods, very hot, and both of us repeatedly falling asleep. But I have kept at it over the years and had many wonderful experiences. A different early experience was seeing an amazing Parsifal at the Met in the late 1970s and being so bowled over that I went back twice in as many weeks. As I could only afford to stand, and it is a long show, this was quite a commitment. Unforgettable. Just one comment on the upcoming Ring at ROH, which I have tickets for but am approaching with slightly mixed feelings. The ROH did not find the resources to commission a new production so this is yet another revival of the old Keith Warner show, one of the worst I have seen. So, newcomers, please don't judge the Ring by this production: it can be so much better. The cast is tremendous, so it is bound to be a fantastic musical experience.

Following on from Graham Watts' eloquent case for the defence, above, may I add a little background, from an angle I am professionally qualified to comment on, which is how the press actually works? It is well-known that newspapers are not primarily in the truth business, they are in the publication business. Newspapers, magazines, news products, have to sell or they die. This is not to say that truth cannot be a brand value on Fleet Street (different papers have different approaches) nor is this the same as saying no journalist tells the truth, but one needs to be aware of commercial realities. This story was published in Rupert Murdoch's Times, a loss-making product all too conscious of its need to fight its corner in a collapsing and ever more competitive market. The current editor, John Witherow, is highly professional but not known for his sympathy for the "arts". His instinct will be to want arts stories to fight their way into the paper on the same basis as any other, ie not because most people are interested in the arts per se (sadly most people aren't) but because readers respond to controversy and good stories. This particular article is co-authored by that paper's new arts correspondent, David Sanderson, who has clearly been brought in by Witherow to "stir things up" (see Sanderson's recent character assassination of a BBC arts executive, perhaps deserved, perhaps well-sourced but not typical of what previously passed as "arts coverage", which is not always the liveliest of corners of any newspaper). There may be truth in this story but its primary purpose is to offer scandal or at least controversy about a usually hidden world (the absence of named sources is revealing). After Darcey Bussell, Tamara Rojo is probably the biggest living name in ballet so far as the British public are concerned - certainly so far as radio and TV coverage are concerned - so a story about her is more likely to make it into the British press. I assume Rojo and her board will see the story in this light. I would counsel us to hold back from rushing to judgement.

As a side comment on the Romeo & Juliet live transmission today, I appreciated the regular moderator Novikova (astonishing as always) giving a shout out in one of the intervals to Victor Hochhauser, who was in the audience. I for one would be short many dozen ballet performances were it not for the Hochhausers amazing efforts over the last decades.