Geoff
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Joined
Posts posted by Geoff
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7 hours ago, JNC said:
The programmes I agree are a missed opportunity. I would happily buy one each time even if I’ve seen the production before for new photos and articles, but recently they haven’t updated any articles and the photos are lacking or exact repeats of previous programmes. They appear to be getting thinner as well!
There is plenty to say but I better tread carefully.
First, the ROH took a decision a while ago to go no-more-printed-red-programmes (so expensive, so old-fashioned, so bad for the planet, etc etc).
But then there was pressure (from, so I heard, some very influential people) and, in a not untypical flip-flop, ROH reversed its position.
So it was ordained that red programmes were to be reintroduced. However by then the department responsible had been, um, restructured (ie people who knew what they were doing were let go) and cheaper staff and contract workers had to be brought in to fill the gaps. Hence the obvious drop in quality.
Side thought: if one looks at programmes from the era before the inept “modernisation” they are rammed with high-quality advertisements, which brought in a substantial amount of money. Not so now.
Whatever has been going on, it’s a sad story of unnecessary “improvements” and a lack of care and attention towards specialist knowledge of the art forms celebrated at the ROH.
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12 hours ago, LinMM said:
Stations usually close when the RMT Union is taking action.
As far as I know they are not on Saturday ….it’s the ASLEF Union which affects train drivers rather than railway workers.
So in theory stations should be open but there might not be any trains lol!
However I’m not sure whether the overland is similar to the tube or national rail lines. If it’s connected to the tube the trains should be running normally if it’s connected to national rail lines there will be few trains as this strike is still on for 29th.
Apologies, I was unintentionally confusing. My question is about some rather unclear warnings regarding this Saturday’s Overground lines (not overland). It appears that Overground trains will be running as usual but that certain Overground stations may not open as they are impacted by the strikes.
My question is how best to as ascertain in advance which stations are not going to open (I presume Overground trains will just run through those stations without stopping).
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4 minutes ago, alison said:
Not sure. I've just tried one line which is covered jointly by the Overground and by a national rail service, and that seems to be running normally on Saturday. But I'd check nearer the time just to be sure.
What did you use to check? -
Does anyone have a way of finding out whether a particular Overground station will be open this Saturday? The official websites only seem to say
a) the Overground will be running as the line is not impacted by the strikes
b) but “some” Overground stations will be impacted by the rail strikes and so will be closed.
Maybe they won’t know until Saturday when they see who turns up? Or is there some way of checking in advance? -
Here's a new one (for me, at any rate). I just tried accessing the ROH website on a couple of different browsers.
Guess what: using the Opera browser (otherwise an excellent browser) got me this error message:
>>Please check your email address and password
Needless to say I put in exactly the same email address and password as gets me in on other browsers (and which have worked with Opera in the past). So perhaps the increasingly complex "advice" on booking online from ROH should also include a warning not to try and use Opera. Too silly.
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These instructions just arrived from the Friends office, let's hope these tips help someone (anyone) to deal with what may be Britain's worst booking website:
In order to book, you need to first sign into your online account using your email address and password. We ask that you do not sign in more than 10 minutes before your booking time as this can mean the website doesn’t correctly update to allow you to book.
If you have signed in and are still unable to book your tickets, the following fixes should be your first port of call:-
Signing out of your online account and back in again.
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Refreshing the webpage (method will depend on device and browser).
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Clearing your browser cookies and data.
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1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:
Is Forza a ghastly one? I was considering it for the autumn, as Radvanovsky's singing Leonora.
Have a read here:
https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/19754-roh-forza-del-destino/
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38 minutes ago, Rob S said:
I'm getting a message on the ROH website 'Sorry you have exceeded your ticket limit' when I click on Buy Tickets...it first appeared when trying to check availability for the RBS performance when I already had 1 ticket (1 ticket is not the limit) but also appears for Australian Ballet performances I don't have tickets for. Does anyone else suffer this problem? The problem exists whether I'm signed in or not (although I can get round it by using an incognito tab in Chrome)
Sorry to hear this Rob S. I had the same problem and discussed it in another thread, read on from here:
https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/27763-roh-autumn-23-booking/?do=findComment&comment=409913
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16 hours ago, Blossom said:
I was told by ROH tech to use an incognito browser for all of these issues and it works well.
For those puzzled by the "incognito" jargon I found a useful article here:
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Same as others I had bouncing waiting time (in my case 4 minutes to 1 minutes to 2 minutes and then back to 4) But there was also a special ROH comedy moment: the very first screen to come up (before the waiting room) was a card saying I had exceeded my ticket limit. This before I had booked anything. Hilarious, well done ROH, always good to get the customers laughing.
Also my Opera browser was refused, repeatedly saying that I was using wrong email/password (although both were of course identical to those which got me in via whatever Microsoft is calling its browser this month). Anybody got a view on that?-
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7 minutes ago, JohnS said:
I understand the criticisms being made and there have been some spectacular ROH own goals but I wonder if some recent successes have been rather forgotten? It’s only a few months since the Friends 60th Anniversary celebrations which I thought were pretty well received. I appreciate that the ‘feel good’ factor is evaporating and for some may have completely evaporated.
I just hope the ROH deals with the immediate Don Q pricing issues, undertakes an urgent review of pricing to ensure all inconsistencies are addressed for Winter and the rest of the season, and sorts IT/website problems. A public statement with an apology for the recent hiatus, the Don Q action being taken for 5th July (as a minimum bringing the standing price in line with the other Autumn standing prices), and setting out the work needed to ensure all runs smoothly for the rest of the season would be enormously welcome.
JohnS, I sympathise with what you say - but ROH has been promising FOR YEARS to sort out its IT/website so it is unsurprising if people begin to lose faith. I have lost count of the number of times we have been told "it's all fixed".
See for example this thread (started last year but which refers back even further):
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On 30/06/2023 at 14:50, Sim said:
£26 to stand is a total disgrace. How can they justify more than doubling the price just for DonQ?? It's good but not THAT good.
To spell it out, Don Quixote does not suit the Royal Ballet nor those who rehearse the company. Furthermore this production is by a once great star who has repeatedly shown himself to be an incompetent choreographer/stager (anybody remember his Carmen?)
And the self-regarding set was so badly constructed that, on a night I am very sad to remember, it nearly wrecked Osipova's career. The sound of her injury exploded around the auditorium like a gun shot.
Boo, frankly, boo. But no doubt other opinions are available.
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1 hour ago, Bluebird said:
Email just arrived to inform ticket holders that, due to illness, Jonas Kaufmann will not be singing tomorrow and will be replaced by..................Juan Diego Flórez. What a replacement!
Blimey! Shame I can’t go… -
The ongoing mess for online bookings is unfolding elsewhere on the Forum, the most recent 24 hours of coverage starts here:
https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/27763-roh-autumn-23-booking/?do=findComment&comment=409009
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On 26/06/2023 at 06:31, Sophoife said:
Still think the final scene needs a glitter shower.
+1
As per the night of the coronation:
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Having just seen the dress rehearsal, I would encourage everyone to go to at least one night of this. The cast (unlike Trovatore) does not have a weak link, although there are of course finer casts in one's memories, on recordings etc.
The orchestra plays excitingly under that conductor. And even the production (one or two sillinesses aside) looks good and to my eyes is particularly atmospherically lit this time round. So on the grounds that it is not often that that all comes together as a team effort, you should have a very good time.
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Two points worth adding on to this discussion:
- There is a muddle about the seat maps for autumn booking, see here for recent discussion:
https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/27763-roh-autumn-23-booking/?do=findComment&comment=408534
- Is it just me or is Friday Rush another ROH snafu? Just tried to have a go at 1pm, and got to the waiting room, and relatively quickly got through "within a minute" but then, nothing. Sitting on that sofa, nothing happening.
I am on relatively stable and fast broadband so no idea why this should be. Maybe I did the wrong thing by using the Friday Rush page rather than going straight to the actual performance via the calendar?
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In related news, I just checked the website and the ROH promises information about "prices" for autumn productions in several prominent places - but I can find nothing. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong way.
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The Insight masterclass with Greg Kunde last week excited me still further to hear him in the part, not long now!
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In case people haven’t seen this review, here is Fiona Maddocks in today’s Observer:
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Alastair Macaulay published these thoughts today:
https://slippedisc.com/2023/06/alastair-macaulay-covent-garden-has-gone-off-classical-track/
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7 hours ago, Ondine said:
weight is a consideration if you're holding them for any length of time in the theatre.
For those for whom this is a really Important issue, there are various hands-free products on the market, which fit to your head. They are high-spec but, warning, do not come cheap. However they sometimes turn up secondhand.-
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Yes! The ticket page is slightly clearer but there seem to be two start times for different things, 6.30pm and 8pm:-
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Maybe people in the area would like to know about this:
http://www.missiontheatre.co.uk/whats-on/2023/6/5/bluffing-your-way-in-ballet
If you do go and see this, it would be great to see a review posted on here!
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ENO funding
in Opera & Music
Posted
Yesterday’s press release (which is broadly as reported by the papers above) specifically includes the line:
>>In February 2022, the UK Government instructed the Arts Council to redistribute some of its funding from London to other parts of the country.