bridiem

Yes, it was.

How odd! Surely his credentials matter, and not everyone will know his background. I find that inexplicable.

I've just gone properly through the Jewels programme (which also lists basic info re the gala). It's very good and comprehensive with lots of photos and biographies; but I can't find a biography for David Hallberg - there's a welcome/intro from him and the Executive Director Lissa Twomey but no biog - why would there be no bio for him or have I just missed it?

I think that unless they have a brief to completely change the direction of a company, every new AD should build on (and not completely discard) the legacy they have inherited. They're not there (generally) to build a new company in their own image. (Not saying this is what Hallberg is doing - just a general point.) Without what has gone before, there wouldn't be a company for them to inherit. And their history is what makes - or should make - every significant company unique.

Let's leave the relevant parties to make these arguments since they will not be resolved on this forum. I just hope for everyone's sake that some sort of resolution is found soon.

I agree with almost all the comments above. I really enjoyed the gala, though I really didn't enjoy the Tanowitz piece or Little Atlas (Topp). The standard of classical dancing was excellent, and the dancers are very versatile because they were also brilliant in the modern works (whether or not the works deserved their brilliance). I'd love to see the full Harlequinade, judging by this excerpt, and Marcus Morelli was a terrific Harlequin with Sharni Spencer a stylish Columbine. The Concerto pas de deux was a lovely reminder of a beautiful work that I'd love to see again soon in its entirety. I New Then was quirky and attractive; I'm not an aficionado of Van Morrison's music and I couldn't catch all the words, but it was very well done. The Tchaikovsky pdd was wonderfully danced by Ako Kondo and Chengwu Guo; they really threw themselves into it, and the first fish dive was so thrilling that it really didn't matter that the second one didn't quite work. I also loved the Justin Peck (Everywhere We Go) - it was so fun, full of energy, musical, and lovely to look at. So refreshing. And the Anna Karenina pas de deux worked very well considering it was taken out of context and was beautifully danced by Amy Harris and Nathan Brook. As soon as the Pam Tanowitz piece started, I knew what we were in for, and that's exactly what we got... tedious in the extreme. Meaningless movements on the stage bearing no apparent relation to the meaningless sounds coming out of the orchestra pit. Honestly, it must be such hard work creating this sort of thing and I just don't know why people bother. I also greatly disliked the Topp work; crude design, music and choreography with lots of the woman being manipulated by one or both of the men and lifted overhead, legs splayed etc. Reminded me of Cathy Marston (of whom I am not a fan), or Wheeldon on a bad day. But, as I've said - beautifully danced. And ending with style with a wonderful Don Q excerpt. Joe Caley was sensational (I feared for his safety several times), and although Benedicte Bemet came off pointe briefly in the fouettés, she got straight back up and whirled her way through to the end with great aplomb and great audience support. Again, much better to do that than to play safe. A thrilling end to a largely excellent gala. What wonderful dancers these are! And a great programme, apart from the two mis-steps (to use an ROH word...). So many thanks to the dancers, David Hallberg, Jonathan Lo and all who have made this visit so memorable. And congratulations to TAB on their 60th anniversary!

So 'my' seats, which were put in the higher price band (£63) for Don Q but the 'lower' band (£50) for Nutcracker, are back in the higher band (£63) for Manon. I had hoped that DQ was some kind of anomaly since Nutcracker is surely the most popular of the three ballets. Bad news.

BRB have tweeted - I assume this means that this had been due to be screened tomorrow: Unfortunately, Miguel Altunaga's City of a Thousand Trades won't now be screening in Centenary Square on Sunday, as part of Birmingham Festival 23. But, you can watch the full ballet on @MarqueeArtsTV - start your 7-day free trial to watch the show: https://fal.cn/3AuEy

I used to have one of these, but as it got more expensive and as I got older and so eligible for some concessions I thought it was no longer justified/worth it. But I should bear it in mind so thank you for the reminder.

I abandoned my attempt to come down to the Floral Hall when I realised the escalator was still in up only mode in the intervals. But I didn't notice the bells/announcements at all.

Wonderful and illuminating review from Helen Hawkins/Arts Desk in today's Links.

It's a bit like the ROH ticket prices - I used to go to most of the paid exhibitions at the big galleries/museums, but they're now so expensive that it's an occasional one-off for something that I feel I really can't miss. Very sad.

Thank you, capybara. Frustrating to find that I'd booked for the only Clara I don't want to see... so I've just returned that ticket and booked a different date (inc Gary Avis, who was also not on the date I'd booked). Waste of £4 which given prices now is, I suppose, nothing; but still a waste when this info would normally have been available earlier.

It is pretty ridiculous. I noticed this morning that the list of dancers at the bottom of the 'About' page is way out of date: https://www.roh.org.uk/about/the-royal-ballet How difficult can it be to do these basic things?

Yikes! Who knows what was going on there...

I didn't know there were that many performances!!

Don't think it was me (though I might have wondered if that was the strategy involved). Like @art_enthusiast, I'd like to know how the pricing actually works out for these productions.

Yes, very pleased to see the good reviews. And in spite of the above, I'm impressed that the Jewish Chronicle has such good and regular ballet coverage. Jonathan Gray admitted near the beginning of his review that he thinks Jewels is boring, so it was always unlikely he was going to rave about the performance...

Yes - for me the only way of knowing for sure that the rail won't be a problem is to book very near the back, which I don't really want to do. So I've booked I think in the 4th row this time and just have to see how it goes. Combined with very uncomfortable seats and poor leg room, it's not a good experience going there.

But there have regularly been royal galas/attendees and they don't fill out the rest of the auditorium (and I'm sure wouldn't ask to do so, unless it was something to do with one of his charities I suppose). Whether or not the King is there, I'd be inclined to think that the invited audience will be of the sort that will display the ROH being very inclusive etc etc and being seen to be so by the larger than usual audience because it's a live screening.

I'm pretty sure that the casting info for these roles has been given in time for booking opening in the past, because it's always been a big influence for me on which performances to book. (cf wanting to see Gary Avis as Drosselmeyer, Romany Pajdak as Clara, etc.).

A beautiful evening indeed. Sheer beauty throughout: music, costumes, sets, lighting, choreography and dancing. In the interval, I passed a young woman and caught her saying (American accent) 'Ballet is awesome!'. Couldn't have put it better myself. And The Australian Ballet were awesome too; beautiful, graceful and unforced classicism, admirable technique, and lovely presentation of this masterpiece. Diamonds brought tears to my eyes, and an incredulity and gratitude that such a thing should be possible. I felt I'd died and gone to Heaven; if I ever get there, I hope Jewels will be one of the ballets waiting for me. David Hallberg spoke in front of the curtain before the performance. I loved the fact that he mentioned Dame Ninette de Valois and Dame Peggy van Praagh and their role in founding Australian Ballet 60 years ago. He said he was sure they were looking down on us this evening; I'm sure that Balanchine was too, and that all of them would have been well pleased with what they saw.

Thank you for posting Alex Beard's comments, @JohnS. They all sound so reasonable and well thought-out, but the proof of the pudding... How could such alleged effort and scrutiny result in so many anomalies, 'mis-steps' and unreasonable price rises? All the right words, but not in the right order...

It's inevitably true that the fewer tickets you can book, the narrower the range of what you see can be. Which is not good for us, and not good for the art form.

I think that if you got the 'thank you for your purchase' message it must be OK. I think I've sometimes had a long gap until the email confirmations came through, so I hope yours will arrive before long.