bridiem

Bit unfortunate that this is on at the same time as the R&J stream, really. Presumably the ROH had no say in the scheduling of this programme.

I don't know how much the tickets for these will be, but I hope they sell well and that they reach people who don't normally see opera or ballet.

As no doubt others will be aware, the Public Campaign for the Arts have sent round an email headed 'The start of something good'. Given what the widespread response would no doubt have been to anything falling even slightly short of hope/expectation, this package is clearly regarded as very and surprisingly generous. So although there are clearly still difficulties ahead (and behind), I'm both relieved and impressed. I hope that the funds will be made available asap.

Yes - lots of competing priorities. I just hope that the financial package for the arts is as generous as possible.

Sorry, Lizbie1 - I didn't register the 'limit numbers' bit! But I fear that some sort of distancing will be part of the equation for quite a well yet.

I've really enjoyed the ones I've seen so far - they're edited to varying degrees but not a lot and you can really re-live them.

But the Linbury is already so small that once you factor in social distancing the audience would be vanishingly small.

You were implying the validity of the arguments against staging it in its current form. But it may well be the case that companies will not want to risk being attacked and so will not programme it at the moment.

I see absolutely no point in re-rehearsing the previous discussion about La Bayadère, which was only closed down after all the arguments had been fully aired.

What a fantastic evening! Of course I'd like more ballet, but I understand why that may not be possible at this stage. Both pas de deux were lovely, but I especially loved the beautiful Concerto pdd with Kaneko and Clarke. All four dancers were terrific. But the music and singing were such a treat too - varied and really enjoyable pieces, and great to hear from the young singers. Rounded off with the rousing Traviata drinking song - superb!

Well at least it shows a commitment to getting to step 5. And steps 1 and 2 have already started. So it gives me a bit of hope. No doubt the financial package will be announced as soon as it's been agreed. Let's hope that is very soon, and that it's as generous as possible in the circumstances.

A lot of an insult, in fact!

As far as I can see it's the whole thing, bar a few steps at the beginning when he enters.

I wondered if she'd been asked to tone down the OTT enthusiasm of last week... Actually I feel a bit sorry for her - she's obviously not a specialist in either ballet or opera, and she's doing her best with what she's been asked to do.

I'm so sorry for everyone who had technical problems. I hope they'll be resolved as quickly as possible. I thought that Muntagirov/Ashton/Gluck was sublimely beautiful in every respect. It would have been wonderful at any time, but in the context of recent months it took on a symbolic significance in its anguish, fear, tranquility and hope. And all danced by a single man, barely clothed; so not just a man, but also mankind. Brilliant, and so beautifully performed. I found the voices in the Mahler were a bit muffled/distant; I don't know if that was just my laptop (it was fine with the singing last week, but then I suppose there was no orchestra then) or if there was a slight imbalance in the microphones. Anyway, that combined with the interruption of a phone call from my brother (not something that could happen with a real live performance!) and then the realisation that I wasn't in the mood for more melancholy meant that I abandoned it. But I'm glad others enjoyed it. I would have appreciated a bit more information about both pieces in the intros, especially the Ashton/Gluck. When it was composed, when the dance was created, the context of the solo etc. Not too much, but a bit more than was offered (which was almost nothing). The Mahler was given a bit more but still very brief. If they're really wanting to reach out to newcomers, I think they need to give more context.

Yes, they are 2 very different things. But both require an initial choice as to what kind of material to put before the public, and I think the ROH made a big misjudgment on Saturday evening as to the tone of their offering/s. Also, there may well be good reasons for the fact that there was so little ballet, but if so that should have been explained so that the impression is not given that ballet is the junior partner at the ROH. Completely agree about Muntagirov/Ashton!

Wonderful!

Well you're certainly not disconnected from me, Bruce! I was simply trying to be as positive as I could manage to be about the pdd, given the circumstances and given my wish to support both the dancers and the ROH. So my comments were not as they would have been if this had been a normal 'première'.

Or the R&J balcony pdd. It's as if the ROH thought it should be reflecting the times rather than helping us to escape temporarily from them! Reflecting the times is fine, and necessary, but only up to a point. Even though the singing was beautiful I spent most of the evening feeling thoroughly melancholy. And though I'm very much looking forward to next Saturday's programme, it could again be characterised as largely a load of melancholy songs... Very odd thinking. Having written that, I realise that the aim is presumably to show how 'relevant' music and ballet are. As if 'relevance' only means a close reflection of the times. But that's only one of the purposes of the arts, and not the most important as far as I'm concerned.

It was lovely to see/hear live performance again and to see the ROH again, and the singing was wonderful. But I thought the programme choices were more Wigmore Hall than ROH and I would have liked some more stirring opera rather than what felt like largely sombre songs (even though I love songs and am not really an opera person). The duet at the end of the programme was terrific. I almost enjoyed the McGregor piece - I didn't particularly like the constant distortions of movement for Corrales, but they weren't exactly a surprise, and Hayward was beautiful (and spoke beautifully). It was a pleasure to see 'live' ballet again, except that it then turned out to have been recorded earlier which was a bit disappointing. But I'm looking forward to next Saturday's programme.

I must be very compliant and unnoticing... I realised my ROH login wasn't working, so I just clicked to create an account (I didn't even know it was for vimeo!) and paid. Then the confirmation email has provided the link for watching it. So I personally found it very easy. Let's hope it works on the night!

A very vivid (and so heartbreaking) expression of the sheer physical frustration of these wonderful dancers at not being able to - dance.

I'm a Friend too.

Though I think companies do sometimes find ways round this sort of thing by re-jigging job descriptions/functions so that they're not exactly reinstating the same post/s.

I didn't receive the survey. Surely the views of all their current supporters matter, since initally they are the ones most likely to take up any offerings?