bridiem

I have to say that in these circumstances I don't care a jot what the casting is - I'll just be thrilled if it goes ahead. All the dancers are wonderful. (Besides which I imagine it will be a bit of a lottery trying to get a single ticket at an OK price in an OK seat for any performance. I draw the line at sitting in the Upper Slips again!).

It's not often a critic talks about shouting for joy over a performance!! (artsdesk)

I know exactly what you mean about Elite Syncopations. I really enjoyed it when I first saw it MANY years ago, and I've very much enjoyed the recent performances as a colourful company come-back work; but for me it never really does take off. It's too slow, and too long, and the choreography is not sufficiently interesting or varied. (And the costumes are way OTT!). I'm not sure who decides these things, but I wouldn't have thought that it's considered a major MacMillan - it's just unusual for him in that it's entirely lightweight/happy/frothy or however you want to describe it, and I suppose the music is popular and it's very easy on the eye (if you have a strong eye!). But just to repeat - I've really enjoyed these recent performances! And they've been very well danced.

Very sad. One of the heroes of my youth!

I loved Monotones too (and Concerto) - really spellbinding. As someone else has said, Monotones II now strikes me as a sort of companion piece to Symphonic Variations. The other 8 dancers in WTGH were listed on the News thread about this performance, so they must have been listed somewhere on the ROH website.

I doubt it! But then she is quite a young Nurse...

Absolutely loved every single item! How to pick highlights from highlights?! But just to mention O'Sullivan and (especially) Sambé soaring in Tchaikovsky pas de deux, Morera and Bonelli thrilling in Manon, Osipova's searingly dramatic Dying Swan, Nunez and Muntagirov magnificent in Corsaire, and all the cast of Within the Golden Hour - sophisticated, glossy and altogether brilliant. But the most unexpected treat was seeing Romany Pajdak in In Our Wishes - she was heartbreakingly expressive. How I would love to see her do Juliet. What a superb evening!

Patronising and badly expressed. I understand, though, the fundamental point he's making that for many people football is what they really care about, and that should be given equal respect as e.g. ballet which we snooty southerners (allegedly) respect and care about... There are clearly, though, a few hybrids around (including me) who care very much about both football and ballet (though I suppose it's also true that my football comes from my northern heritage and ballet from my southern upbringing/residence.) Having said that, this Forum is so important to me at least partly because even here in the south, most people I know couldn't give a .... about ballet. 🙂

No apology at all needed as far as I'm concerned, David! It would indeed be interesting to know more about her. I just felt that in his tweets Mr Macaulay sounded rather nit-picking, instead of simply appreciating the beauty of what we've seen.

Exactly. She clearly has some sort of ballet background that is coming to the fore again here, and it's beautiful and moving. That's all that matters.

Thanks Alison - I'd missed this. It seems these programmes are Melvyn Bragg looking back at the originals rather than a straight repeat of them.

Yes, it was a bit weird, but so wonderful just to be in the building again. I forgot to say that as I went in the (new) entrance on Bow Street I saw Kevin O'Hare not far off talking to someone, and I instinctively gave him a cheerful wave, and I was so touched when he gave me an enthusiastic wave back. I did talk to him briefly at an event earlier this year, but something tells me that that conversation might have been rather more memorable for me than for him... so basically he would have had no idea who I was, but it didn't stop him from reacting in a really friendly way! He looked as excited as I felt. So that was a lovely start to the evening.

😄 Tut tut. Clearly Campbell even from my lofty eyrie!

Thanks very much, Scheherezade! And thanks to you, and others, for their lovely and rather more rounded reviews. (I can probably claim my seat as the worst in the house last night! I hadn't realised how little of the 'action' is front centre stage... But Who Cares? as they say.) And yes, I really hope that at least some of last night's pieces will be streamed.

I can't really say much about the dancing tonight, because from my seat in the further reaches of the Upper Slips I only got glimpses of it here and there (though lovely view of the orchestra and of the wings!). On the other hand, what I did see was so beautiful, and so thrilling, that it hardly mattered that I could see so little. On the one hand I felt that I'd come back home; on the other, it was as if I was at my first ever performance. The music sounded so loud, and the stage lights were so dazzling, and the dancing was so brilliant, that it was like a distilled revelation of the power of theatre, music and ballet. This is what it's about, and this is what we've been missing. I could see a beautiful arm here, a delicate hand there, a leg extended in arabesque, a face contorted by pain, or love, or grief; imagine the excitement when I saw a whole person, or even a couple dancing together!! I was practically horizontal at times in my efforts to see as much as possible. 😄 Treat followed treat, and I wallowed in happiness. I can't really say what the highlights were for me, but I remember Muntagirov in Tchaikovsky pas de deux apparently flying into my field of vision (couldn't see him take off) and only landing when he reached the far side of the stage; Mayara Magri's fouettés wowing the audience in Le Corsaire whilst I could only see her foot flicking like fire as it came round each time; Edward Watson's incredible expressiveness whilst simply standing still on stage in Woolf Works; and the whole company having very stylish fun in Elite Syncopations. A truly great evening. After curtain down we could hear the company cheering and applauding on the stage, so I hope they knew how much they had delighted their audience. May it not be too long before they can do so again.

I'm on Chrome and though I can see it fine it's unprintable. I've copied and pasted into Word. Very excited! (Though I'm in the upper slips and right near the proscenium arch tonight, so I think I will see a lot more of the orchestra than of the dancers...).

I was wondering if the ROH will need to use the furlough scheme again. Though of course I hope not, for the sake of the dancers.

As Beryl H says above, for Friends it's actually 4pm on 10th Nov according to an email I received, so this list is presumably wrong in at least that respect...

Not sure I really understand this research. They know how booking works normally, and they must know that any lesser service or fewer options are undesirable but have presumably been deemed to be required in the current circumstances. Obviously, people would like something as near as possible to normal. What else is there to say? (Genuine question.)

Well on the ticket is says that it's non-transferable, and the T&C say that it can only be resold or exchanged through the ROH. It doesn't mention the ID being checked at the theatre, but maybe that was covered at an earlier stage of booking (can't remember).

I saw a photo - can't remember where - of the Amphi with a socially distanced audience, and every other row was empty and I think there were at least 2 empty seats between people. That encouraged me to book for the RB's return (though I've ended up in the Upper Slips since I dithered too long...). Maybe they've changed that, or maybe the stalls have wider seats?

Just to mention (in case relevant) that you don't have to show an e-ticket on a mobile phone - you can print it out and take the paper ticket (if you have access to a printer of course!). (I did get a single ticket in the end, in the upper slips!! I should have taken the first offer which was Amphi row R...).

I'm going to the National Gallery tomorrow, and I see that they say that by booking a ticket you are agreeing to participate in NHS Test and Trace, so you don't have to 'check in' when you get there (other than by showing your ticket of course). So I wonder why you have to do this at the ROH? Maybe they considered it a better mitigation of risk?

If it's the same form as at my local café, it would be just name and phone number.

Carlos Acosta was on the Today programme on Radio 4 this morning (I think at about 8.20am), talking about putting on The Nutcracker at the RAH and how the company dealt with lockdown etc.