bridiem

4 hours ago, alison said:

That sort of thing happens a lot.  I not infrequently complain to owners of mailing lists about not receiving mailings - a couple of cinema chains are my next targets.  The last time I raised the issue, someone said I'd unsubscribed myself, which I certainly hadn't.

I can't actually think of any other organisations from whom I don't receive emails/surveys etc when I should.

2 minutes ago, capybara said:

The coaching session (Act 3 pdd) with Edward Watson was a real ‘insight’ but, maybe, the Florizel/Perdita pdd with Chris Saunders which came later was at too early a learning stage for the occasion even though Sae Maeda and Luca Acri are lovely to watch.

Yes - I did find with the second rehearsal that stopping the dancers literally every few seconds with purely technical rather than 'artistic' feedback didn't make for very illuminating viewing. But all the dancers were excellent.

29 minutes ago, Pas de Quatre said:

This Raymonda is definitely suitable for an older child or teenager.   I agree with Irmgard and FionaM's posts above, and inspite of the flaws I realy enjoyed this production.  It might also help to look at the historical background a little before going.  Florence Nightingale's contribution to the war and the establishment of Nursing as a profession is fairly well known and interesting.  Also the Crimean war has direct political influence on politics and wars ever since, including the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia.  I don't want to start a political debate here, but the topic is worth researching.

Well yes, it is worth researching - but I wouldn't say any of the research would be rewarded by watching this ballet. The nursing/war element is absolutely minimal and imho entirely unconvincing.

Apparently I should have received the survey since I'm not opted out, so they can't at the moment explain why I didn't receive it. They have now sent it to me. Not very encouraging, especially since the same sort of thing happened last year when I realised I was no longer receiving their e-newsletters and they couldn't explain why not.

4 minutes ago, Blossom said:

I emailed the friends team.

Yes, I've just done that. Very frustrating!

1 hour ago, Blossom said:

Me too - and it seems I was not opted in.

If you don't receive the post performance surveys, this is usually a clue.

All the available options on my membership are ticked; what more can I do?!

2 hours ago, Blossom said:

I reached out to the Friends team having not received the survey. Note that if you haven't received it, you're probably opted out again... All survey emails were sent on Fri and Sat.

I made sure quite recently that I  am opted in to everything, and haven't received it...

16 minutes ago, JohnS said:

I can’t understand why the Royal Ballet won’t make an effort to provide simple synopses which in the Triple Bill would help audiences unfamiliar with Woyzeck: for example explaining that Woyzeck is subjecting himself to the Doctor’s experiments for the extra money to support Marie and their child; and that Woyzeck drowns himself having killed Marie.

Yes, this is not clear at all; the experimenting does not look voluntary, and at the end he runs some water into the bath, appears to wash his hands and face, and then turns the tap off and gets into the bath, closing the lid. For all we can tell he's just having a nice relaxing sauna-type experience after the trauma of committing murder...

Thank you for quoting the Richard Dehmel poem above, @JohnS - it's so beautiful!

1 hour ago, Missfrankiecat said:

I'm not sure the ending is 'universally' disliked.  It works for me and for some others.  There are always problems in applying logic to myths/fairy stories but I don't have any problems with Sigfried's 'lack of agency' or failure to put up an effective fight in the final battle.  It is entirely consistent with his character throughout and he is, after all, the only human on stage in the final act - all the others are supernatural beings to some extent, representing forces of good and evil.  If we are looking at a cosmic fight between good and evil, it is hardly surprising that a mere human stands no chance in defeating evil through his puny attempts.  I have always regarded SL as mirroring aspects of the Christian theology/mythology (depending on your faith view). Evil doesn't win by Odette's self-sacrificing death, rather this is a familiar story of self-sacrificial death by a pure being resulting in redemption from the clutches of evil for her followers - this presumably includes Siegfried (the hopeless human) who will be able to return to rebuild the ruined court now that Rothbart is destroyed.  If the true endgame is less to do with a flawed man (who can't even tell the difference between his true love and an imposter that all the audience see a mile off!) getting the girl and more to do with the redemption of a whole kingdom from supernatural evil, then the euphoria in the final music also makes sense. 

I agree, except that all the emphasis at the end is on Siegfried bringing out Odette's dead body - the image of her hovering above cannot even be seen by some of the audience and seems very much like an afterthought (whether or not it was intended like that). So for me, the euphoria of the final music isn't really reflected in what happens on stage. And if the ballet was called 'Odette', it would be OK for the redemption to come solely through her; but I prefer my SL where it's a joint effort and their love for each other comes together to defeat evil, rather than it just being Odette's love for Siegfried. Siegfried has been the victim of VR's evil just as much as Odette was originally, so they should join forces to defeat him.

1 hour ago, Lynette H said:

Sorry to report a complete failure of the cinema relay in south London last night. They just couldn't get it to work. Many apologies from the Odeon staff and a refund processed straight away. A pity. My only chance to see Hayward missed. 

I'm so sorry, @Lynette H! So disappointing for you.

2 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

@bridiem, you are right that Ross MacGibbon hardly/never ever appears onscreen for these cinema relays. I think I've seen him talk once for a TV broadcast but that's it. (Happy to be corrected if there were appearances missed or not reported on!)

 

He danced with RB from 1973-86 and was in the casts for Requiem and Different Drummer (probably not Danses Concertantes as I think the revivals didn't occur during his time at RB). Did they chat about that in the interview?  😊

Yes, but very briefly.

Our cinema was pretty full, so that was a nice surprise. I thought that this excellent bill was brilliantly danced and a real showcase for the company.

In terms of the presentation/interviews: when KOH was saying how great these works are and how important it is for the company to know and experience MacMillan's one-act works, I was inwardly yelling 'Yes! You're right! So why are they programmed so infrequently?!'. It was really good to hear Ross MacGibbon talk and I would have liked to hear more from him - I don't recall him being interviewed before at these screenings, though maybe I've just forgotten. But in general, given that cinema audiences will at best have only received a cast list for the programme, I thought that there was too much in the way of admiration (even though deserved) and too little in the way of actual information. There should have been more about the music used for each work (there was nothing even about when composed, or any background at all); in particular, I don't think that nowadays there can be an assumption that everyone will even understand what a Requiem Mass is and what the Latin words mean, so some outline of this should have been offered. (I noticed that the fact that it is in fact a Requiem Mass was scrupulously avoided; MacMillan may not have been religious, but the music certainly is.) The info about notation was very interesting, but I'm not sure why that should take precedence over more obvious information about music, designs, Cranko, etc, that could have been forthcoming. And once more, although Darcey Bussell looked wonderful and was so likeable, there were agonising moments where she stumbled over her words. The difference between Bussell the presenter and Bussell the (wonderful) coach was so glaring. And, as before, I do wish that they would not bring the presenters back to talk over and take the camera away from the curtain calls. (It's lovely to see the calls from behind the curtains, but we don't need to see the presenters at that point! A voice-over would do fine.)

12 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Are you referring to the number of lead roles or the programming of the four ballets, @bridiem- that's what they're dancing on 24 April in Lincoln Center. 

I was referring to the implausible but not 100% impossible alleged title of one of the ballets involved. I wondered if Balanchine had some penchant for Bournemouth previously unknown to me!  

1 hour ago, JNC said:

All the ballet seasons having been announced highlights how late ROH’s announcement is in comparison. I am guessing it will be announced by the end of the month with ticket sales for the autumn season starting around July (for general booking) I’m imagining.  

I think it's already been notified that the new season is being announced on 30th April.

15 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

However if you had a mixed bill like NYCB's on the 24th: Bournemouth Fantasque, 

Really?!

1 minute ago, capybara said:

Somewhat hesitant to mention this but, at a recent RB performance, my enjoyment was somewhat diminished by strong smells of BO.

Case 1 - a waft as someone passed to take their seat;

Case 2 - a lingering whiff as the man behind me removed his coat;

Case 3 - a ‘best jacket’ two seats along which needed to go to the cleaners;

Case 4 - a bright white T-shirt across the gangway which hadn’t been washed.

 

In fairness I haven’t experienced this for a long time and I do have a sample of scent to sniff if things get desperate……..But it’s only April……..

I'm afraid I experienced this to an intolerable degree last autumn, in respect of the person sitting next to me, to the extent that I couldn't stay in my seat. I spoke to one of the ushers (at the ROH) at the first interval and they were very helpful and the eventual upshot was that another seat was found for me. I was very grateful because I would otherwise have had to leave.

5 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

From that one viewing I feel I already have.....  

🤣 Now that could be a new thread: the ballet you would least want to be stuck with for eternity! But no, that would be far too negative. (And there would be too many options in my case!!). A better idea would be: the ballet you would most want to experience for eternity. (But, happily, there would be even more too many options for me in this category!). So I will now stop rambling.

The tube strikes in April and May have been called off. (Train strikes still on at the moment.)

14 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

The train crawled into Broxbourne, 2 policemen got on & removed a man! I don't know what's going on as I hadn't heard any disruption & I was only about half a carriage away. I've swapped onto another train that we were told was leaving first & is heaving. It doesn't help that all the trains today are going via Stratford for some reason thus extending the journey time.

 

@Suffolkgal Hope you make it. The trains have been a flipping nightmare this season. The only reason I'm venturing on them on a Bank Holiday is because I can't get to this cast's other performance next Saturday as I have no trains then due to engineering.

Good luck @Dawnstar! I hope you get there in time.

6 hours ago, TSR101 said:

Non-friends are lucky, if moderators were to be consistent with their fatuous rationale on not allowing the posting of the Macmillan offer code on to the forum, they would remove all of these posts until casting was officially announced by the ROH to the public. 

This is very rude and also a false equivalence. A special offer intended for Friends obviously cannot legitimately be shared; all that has now been shared is casting information that brings no benefit except knowledge. Who knows why the ROH hasn't got round to publicising the casting more widely, but it's clearly not privileged information.

8 minutes ago, San Perregrino said:

Just an observation that June is a month in which to be outside in the evenings to make the most of any summer weather especially for the young audience that the ROH targets. Also there are a lot of other productions competing for peoples’ attendance and money. 
e.g. I’ve got tickets to 4 tennis tournaments in June and, if the weather is clement, these will take precedence over being inside to watch ballet. Going to more than one of each Ashton & Sarasota is my rainy day plan B. 

I agree that the dates/crowded (and repetitive) programming in those few weeks won't help. 

22 minutes ago, annamk said:

Wow, I just had a look and am quite shocked and saddened by how low sales are, particularly given the top price is two thirds of Swan Lake. I hope sales pick up nearer the time or the RB might find it difficult to justify this kind of programming in the future.

Yes, I hope sales will pick up too. But I think that (as discussed elsewhere) marketing does matter in selling programmes. And if the whole thrust of the RB's 'sell' is geared towards the big MacMillans, Swan Lake/Nutcracker, and McGregor, it must make it more difficult selling other types of works/programmes. Labelling older works as 'heritage' is a big no-no as far as I'm concerned. And only programming such works in separate bills is unlikely to help. Audiences need to be educated (and I'm not saying that from a lofty standpoint - I'm still learning; but in my early years of ballet-going I was able to see all sorts of works of different styles/eras/choreographers, often at the RB). Ballet isn't just entertainment and/or tragedy and/or cool gymnastics. It's an incredibly expressive, interesting and flexible art form, and there are many wonderful works from earlier eras that should be shown regularly, and that's what audiences should expect. (Not everything can be sold in the breathless way that so many of the livestreams are sold.)

I like the blonde wig! (Ducks for cover...).

41 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Ditto my disappointment about Hay not being in Rhapsody once again!! I agree re: Ball too (why not Hamlet??) 

Ball is guesting elsewhere - mentioned on another thread.

9 hours ago, Roberta said:

I suspect the problem is that the three big full length works form such a core part of the Royal Ballet's repertoire, with R & J, Mayerling and Manon performed on a regular rotating basis that to 'do more MacMillan' (and I agree, there is good and interesting work not performed which should be) that it would be seen to be MacMillan overload by some. 

 

MacMillan became a genius the day after he died, a wry comment from Lady MacMillan. 

Well I'd all in favour of MacMillan 'overload' if that's what it takes. (And no-one seems to worry about the current threat of McGregor overload.)

I understand Lady MacMillan's sentiment, but in fact MacMillan was known to be a genius by very many people during his lifetime. And his death was announced as a leading news item on national radio, even though he was no longer director of the RB. So although sometimes deemed to be controversial, he was certainly not unappreciated.