Geoff

Penelope, you do seem to have been unlucky. If it is any comfort (probably not but I'll have a go) the attractions of this CavPag were imho mainly the orchestral playing and the production (and a couple of the smaller roles, which were really exceptionally well sung). The main singers were no more than just fine (albeit that I am no special fan of these particular works so probably not best placed to judge, although I did see Mario del Monaco in this repertoire) My point is that your CavPag evening might perhaps have not been all that much better if the original cast were on stage. Certainly not to be compared with losing Osipova or Kaufmann, who are currently in the absolute top league internationally. There is a more general point, which is that sometimes the short notice replacement is better, most recently the ROH Traviata debut of Bakanova in July. Sadly I was not there for that performance but everyone who was backs this report:- http://gu.com/p/4adm6

So far two friends have seen this film. A maker of British arts documentaries, who saw the pirate version on Vimeo (warning, it's filmed off a monitor so the sound is poor) says there are no great revelations and an awful lot is left unsaid; dancers complain about their lot, but are cautious enough not to express any opinion about their bosses; ultimately all very frustrating. Whereas a ballerina friend who saw the film on tv in the US says she enjoyed watching it and of course all can't be revealed yet. To go behind the scenes at the Bolshoi and not try to cover up the truth even if not fully sharing is, she says, very brave. So no doubt, as so often, it depends which end of the telescope one looks through. Meanwhile here is the background to the film, for those who didn't read this New Yorker article at the time:- http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/03/18/danse-macabre

In case anyone has not seen it here is the link to comment on the Royal Ballet's best of 2015:- http://www.roh.org.uk/news/royal-ballet-2015-review-what-were-your-highlights-of-the-year

Sample review just in MAB, not sure what you didn't like:- https://operabritanniauk.wordpress.com/2015/12/21/tchaikovsky-eugene-onegin-the-royal-opera-19th-december-2015/

Tired so here is just one (representative) tweet following tonight's first night (Michael Fabiano's stunning debut probably got the most response):- https://twitter.com/curzonproduct/status/678321383336755200

From this morning's Daily Mail:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3365225/More-100-private-schools-including-country-s-known-ordered-improve-Department-Education.html

Just seen that The Observer yesterday previews this as "Simply wonderful". So someone likes this and maybe I'll give it another go.

Observer this morning, with its best and worst of 2015:- http://gu.com/p/4ez6n/stw In a week that has seen the Director of the Royal Opera unexpectedly announce his departure, I can't help thinking about the reign of the other big boss at ROH, Kevin O'Hare. "Turkey of the year" is quite something, even if one doesn't always agree with Luke Jennings. Did the ugly RB policy of pushing all manner of casts into all roles, whether or not the dancer suits the part or not, take root under KO'H? Is he single-handedly responsible for reviving Raven Girl, funding Acosta's Carmen and pushing the idea that by 2020 only new works will be performed by the Royal Ballet? Is it KO'H's responsibility that Ashton continues to wither at Covent Garden? Shame that perhaps the wrong person said he would leave ROH this week.

Sounds plausible! My guess (and it's just a guess) is this commission may have been triggered in some way by Danny Boyle's theatre production at the National.

Not sure about the UK cinema release. It will certainly be shown on HBO in the US before Christmas. In the UK we shall ahave the chance in due course to see it on the BBC (as part of the Storyville documentary strand) but for those who can't wait, it should be available via ITunes from early January, under £10:- https://itun.es/gb/xkDt_

No cashing in possible (never mind the different lead times) as the critics have made it clear that the film is laughable garbage. There is a modern day film version on the way from horror doyen Bernard Rose but that probably won't sell ballet tickets either.

Completly agree MAB: you and I are of the same opinion, I just put things differently!

Artur Ruciński Is singing the last two shows, otherwise as per. There was a wonderful moment of solidarity for Hvorostovsky earlier in the year when he first walked on stage during the Trovatore from the Met (we were watching the HD live transmission) and stopped the show:- (From one of the reviews) At the singer’s first entrance in the opera, proud and handsome in a Napoleonic uniform, the crowd burst into a volley of applause and bravos so loud and long that the baritone’s in-character scowl gradually melted into a beaming smile. Hand over heart, he stepped forward to take a bow before continuing the opera.

Alison, it's a rather boring opera imho. The show is traditional and quite pretty (a quick search on Google images will remind you). Of course Kaufmann is fab but I prefer him singing things I want to hear.

In between getting cross about Acosta's Carmen (and I don't mean to open up that discussion again) I fell to brooding on the very strange story that Carmen is. Just because the opera is so very familiar does not mean it really makes good psychological sense, which may be one reason one so rarely finds Carmen, the character, truly convincing. I haven't read the original book but this is not the point (apart from anything, Carmen in the original is a married woman, which is a rather different story). A trip to the opera to see Carmen tends to give us a woman who delivers some generalised vamping, which leads a soldier to abandon his duty, and various forms of chaos follow. Ok in outline but pretty puzzling once one gets down to the detail of exactly how the story unfolds. Of course people can lose their heart to those who may be unworthy (eg Proust) but what is this woman really all about? Why do the men react as they do? And, by the end, what is she thinking? My question is, has anyone done a same sex Carmen (not like the Matthew Bourne show)? Pulling the whole thing out of the pantomime past and setting it inside the contemporary gay scene (beautiful boys, older queens, drug-fuelled club events, maybe even bulls) might just provide some new insights into a work which after nearly 50 years of opera going often leaves me at a loss. I am not normally a fan of updating for the sake of updating - but an all male and very gay Carmen might have held my interest more successfully than Acosta's endless cliches. Just a thought...it's probably already been done, apologies if so.

I think this is the link: http://youtu.be/5fh8PTn10Ag

Here is the news:- http://www.roh.org.uk/news/director-of-opera-kasper-holten-to-leave-the-royal-opera-in-march-2017

Me too. Wonderful!

Interesting review by someone who booed William Tell:- https://operabritanniauk.wordpress.com/2015/12/04/mascagni-leoncavallo-cavalleria-rusticana-pagliacci-royal-opera-3rd-december-2015/

I have had a go trying to find the performance on the ROH online database (which is incomplete) but have failed. Assuming the credits given above are correct, the nearest I can find is this one (all the names fit except Wayne Sleep, which means something is not right as Hop certainly looks like Sleep to me):- http://rohcollections.org.uk/performance.aspx?performance=25286&row=8&company=The%20Royal%20Ballet&searchtype=performance&person=David%20wall&keyword=Wayne&yearfrom=1960&title=Sleeping%20beauty&yearto=2000&genre=Ballet&page=0

(with apologies to Jane S who listed the fairies while I was preparing to copy from YouTube) According to comments on YouTube (some of the other comments are grotesquely rude, I am rather shocked):- Cast: Merle Park (Princess Aurora), David Wall (Prince Florimund), Monica Mason (Carabosse), Marguerite Porter (Lilac fairy), Jennifer Penney and Wayne Eagling (Bluebirds), Robert Jude (King Florestan), Rosalind Eyre (His Queen), Anita Young (White cat), Christopher Carr (Puss-in-boots), Wayne Sleep (Hop o' my thumb), Leslie Edwards (Cattalabutte). Conductor: Ashley Lawrence Fairies: No 1 Vergie Derman, No 2 Wendy Ellis, No 3 Alfreda Thorougood, No 4 Lesley Collier, No 5 Laura Connors, No 6 Marguerite Porter.

Thank you for the suggestion! Here is a link (I too had rather a lot of my Friday taken up with watching this, most illuminating and enjoyable):- http://youtu.be/H8L3l9KM9_0

Reading through some of the comments, it seems I may not have been clear enough about ticket sales. At the risk of labouring the point, there were plenty of tickets available for PW's Insight evening from when they went on sale until the day of the event. By way of comparison the next season of Insights is currently going on sale to various categories of Friend, and all sold out before normal Friends got a chance, although a few more seats may be released in due course. By the way, I got the feeling that some students were given tickets at the last minute, which may explain the difference between sales and how the room looked during the evening. If true, this was a gracious gesture towards PW and MM (as well as good for the students) but I am still puzzling on how / why the "regulars" missed this unique occasion.

Last night, just before the event started, there were still tickets available for the Insight conversation between Monica Mason and (89 years old, still working) Peter Wright. Why? ROH Insight events are usually sold out months before, so shame on us. Anyway it was a lovely evening. Some fascinating stories and, yes, insights. Sadly the recording won't get much of an airing: the Covent Garden tv people were filming but just with a single and unmanned camera, taping only for (presumably) archival purposes (when the powers that be like an Insight event, there are always at least three manned cameras and then a video gets put online). Hope someone was taking notes and can post more here. By the way we are celebrating 25 years of Peter Wright's BRB Nutcracker:- http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/11205-birmingham-royal-ballet-the-nutcracker-birmingham-november-2015

Just back from the dress rehearsal for the new ROH production of Cav and Pag. No review or comments on the singing, but wanted quickly to post a note of reassurance. The reason is that the director is the same person (Michieletto) who did the controversial / booed / etc William Tell at ROH earlier in the year. This show is in a completely different league in terms of competence, stagecraft, invention, taste and so on. In other words, if you have been holding back from getting a ticket because of William Tell, don't worry: just go!