bridiem

8 hours ago, Silke H said:

I would've liked Isabella Gasparini been given the opportunity.  Especially since she just recently danced Kitri in Brazil.  She would have been a good height match for Luca, too.

Me too. I'm afraid Hinkis does absolutely nothing for me whereas I would have scurried to get a ticket for Gasparini. 

4 minutes ago, alison said:

God forbid. And how old was Lesley collier when she retired in the early nineties?

Unbelievably, it seems that she was 48 (retired July 1995). I find that impossible to believe; maybe my maths is even worse than I thought...

I've only just noticed that the Insight about The Limit tonight at 7.30pm is being livestreamed.

21 hours ago, jm365 said:

Amazon is now saying delivery will be delayed until late October.

Same here - 21-27 Oct.

24 minutes ago, PeterS said:

Tix currently available for all dates at Sadlers Wells 

So it seems that 'sold out' didn't really mean 'sold out'?! (These aren't returns - I saw the other day that 'more tickets have been released'.)

Just now, Mary said:

The big pictures that used to hang over the escalators have gone- were they from Yugen? Or something like that.

 

Good! Have they been replaced with any others?

I was just browsing some performances yesterday to check views from misc seats, and without even trying to put anything in my basket (which I wasn't going to do anyway) I got the 'you have exceeded your ticket allowance' message. I mean really.

The tube strikes tomorrow and on Friday have been called off.

Actually, come to think of it I don't like them being known as 'heritage' works anyway. They're just ballets, and if they're good they should go on being programmed. They're not museum pieces. They're as much living works as something created last year, as long as they're actually performed. And if they're not performed, they die.

I love the description in the Broadway World review (see today's Links) of Christopher Saunders as Don Q - 'never knowingly under-strutted'.

I am now so regretting that I didn't book for last night, as I normally would have done for opening night. The DQ prices have meant severe rationing. Grrr... But reading all your write-ups is the next best thing, so thank you all!

6 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Incidentally does anyone know how to access a full cast sheet from the actual website ( on an iPhone!) 

Earlier today I could access it from the performance page but now it’s Oct 4th showing so wondered how to access the cast sheet once a performance is over so to speak. 
I usually access from the email the ROH send you when you’ve booked a performance about “your up and coming performance” and scroll down and can get casts from there but as not going until 11th a bit of a time to wait. I’ve never worked out how to do it from their website!! 

On the ROH home page, go to Tickets and Events at the top and scroll down to Cast Sheets. Tonight's is there at the moment.

1 hour ago, Ondine said:

Oh. That's not what Amazon actually says on its page is it?

 

No, it doesn't say it now! It's changed since yesterday. I received a confirmation email with the 5th Oct estimated delivery date. Just have to see what happens!

I ordered the Somes book on Amazon yesterday and the email says that it's due to arrive on 5 October. ?!

1 minute ago, Sim said:

I do hope they come to an agreement so that strike action is averted. 

So do I! I wonder if taped music would even be allowed. It would be awful anyway...

Excellent news!

ENB has tweeted:

Cast change for Thursday's perfs of Balanchine’s Theme and Variations as part of Our Voices at

@Sadlers_Wells: Julia Conway replaces Shiori Kase as Principal Woman in the matinee. Sangeun Lee and Gareth Haw replace Emma Hawes and Aitor Arrieta as Principal Couple in the evening.

5 minutes ago, MAB said:

Perhaps someone should start a favourites thread.  Definive means to me getting so near to perfecyion in one particular role that you've never seen that role bettered.  After giving it a great deal of thought I was only able to name three damcers that gave such benchmark performances that I very much doubt they will be bettered in my lifetime.

 

The fact is with most of the great ballet roles you will see far more than one interpretation in your ballet going lifetime that will knock your socks off 

Interesting comment, MAB. But I think that there's a difference between being 'perfect', in which a more objective assessment can be involved, and 'definitive', which will be different for each person depending on what they see in and want from a role/performance. i.e. if an interpretation knocks your socks off, it could be definitive for you even if not objectively perfect.

1 hour ago, Geoff said:

This thread has been going for weeks now yet so far no one has chosen Viviana Durante for any role. Really? She was by far the most gifted and expressive ballerina of her era at the Royal Ballet and thankfully some, at least, of her greatest performances are captured in good quality recordings. If I had to go for just one, I’d pick her pairing with Irek in Mayerling but her Giselle and Aurora are also still burned into my memory.

She was undoubtedly gifted, but I was never convinced by her apparent expressiveness which to me was always only on the surface.

5 minutes ago, capybara said:

Therefore, I must confess to overcoming the paywall via a sneak peak (with permission) in the newsagents!

Interesting that they put a more sensationalist headline in the printed version! (I do remember many moons ago looking surreptitiously and with excitement at reviews in papers in newsagents! Though I did also occasionally buy a paper too...). 

12 minutes ago, capybara said:

I’ve just been reading all the many links (thank you Jan and Ian) and was somewhat taken by surprise at this headline in the Telegraph: Tamara Rojo is no longer in charge - yet saves the evening. Whaaaaat?

 

For anyone who hasn’t got behind the paywall, Mark Monahan then praises the new Les Noces to the skies while giving scant attention to the other works. Fair enough that he expresses his views, of course, but very harsh towards the new AD.

That isn't the headline on the review of his that I can see - it just says 'English National Ballet enters a new era – with mixed results'. So not sure where the Rojo headline comes in? I did however notice Jonathan Gray's review last week in which he implied that her departure has liberated the company! Ho hum.

The problem with directors who change the whole rep when or soon after they arrive is that it effectively becomes their company, not the company they inherited. All companies have a history and heritage without which there would be no company, and I don't think it's right for a new director to pay lip service to this whilst then re-making the company in their own image. There has to be a balance between the director's vision and the company's history/heritage.

I don't think that Kevin O'Hare gets this balance quite right; not in that he has a big vision (or a big ego) but in that he focusses too much on only the new and the classics (including the MacMillan 'classics' but not, for some reason, the Ashton 'classics'). He pays lip service to the history/heritage, but doesn't on the whole programme accordingly. I can't really understand why this is.

6 minutes ago, alison said:

 

Well. That's far from what it says in the programme, surely?

Yes. The programme note says:

'The chosen one is sacrificed. A ghost, she watches the debris of her death. She is carved into their lives. she stands at the fringes of their world: sometimes brushes against thoughts, sometimes against routines. A mother's love, a brother's rage, a father's duty.

The sacrifice, their collective hope machine - promises returns - abundance and satisfaction. The exchange of life for more? For what? They return empty handed. How many times should they repeat the sacrifice? A vote is cast. A family reunion awaits on both sides of mortal shores.' 

6 minutes ago, Ondine said:

 

That's because those are easy to revive, many company dancers who know the roles already and people who can rehearse them without too much work and trouble researching!

And because it makes it look as if the new works being commissioned are worth revival (even if they're not).

6 hours ago, Irmgard said:

Just back from this evening's performance and am happy to say that the amplification issue has been resolved - there was none, and the tempo was speeded up ever so slightly for "Four Last Songs", which helped the (non-amplified) soprano negotiate the long phrases much better.

Excellent news! I wish now that I hadn't gone to the first night.