Jump to content

bridiem

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    4,021

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by bridiem

  1. bridiem
    I have no idea what anyone is talking about. I have a TV that I inherited from my late mother. I know that when it 'needs' replacing (i.e. when I can no longer resist the concept of being able to access the internet through my TV) I will have to do huge amounts of research to find out what everyone else already seems to know. I comfort myself with the thought that my late father, a highly intelligent lawyer, would have had no idea what anyone is talking about either. He retired before he had to use a computer, which is just as well since he would rapidly have become unemployable.
  2. bridiem
    I hope so. You never know nowadays (yes I'm getting old) if someone actually means what they appear to mean.
  3. bridiem
    Oops! Incomplete edit there, I think...
  4. bridiem
    I noticed the bag in the Osipova/Hallberg performance, because I thought Hallberg was in danger of tripping over it and coming down the gangplank head first... another moment of anxiety in that performance!
  5. bridiem
    I hope so, Stevie; and yes, my latest broadband upgrade has made no discernible difference at all.
  6. bridiem
    Steven McRae has posted this on his (public) Instagram account: 'WELL THAT WAS DRAMATIC Last night I stepped onto the @royaloperahouse stage alongside the wonderful @akanetakane performing MANON with the same mentality that I always adopt which is ‘To Dance like it is the last time you will ever Dance’ - I was enjoying the performance so much and felt a sense of freedom in Act 2 that I search for on a daily basis HOWEVER my body said ‘No’ and I felt something go terribly wrong in my Achilles towards the end of Act 2 in front of the audience..... I was no longer able to continue with the performance.... My heart goes out to Akane and to @reececlarke_ for stepping in to complete the performance 🙏 At this stage I am unclear of the damage however I do know that I LIKE A CHALLENGE and I have a feeling this is going to be MY BIGGEST CHALLENGE YET 💪🏻 Thank you for all of the messages of support!'
  7. bridiem
    I get a weekly email update from TfL listing all issues affecting travel in London in the coming weekend - it's very useful. I must have signed up to it via their website. The relevant section said: 'From 10:00 until 18:00 on Saturday, Tube services in central London will be extremely busy, due to a march. To help manage the crowds safely, the following stations near the start of the march will become exit and interchange only from about 11:00: Marble Arch, Hyde Park Corner, Knightsbridge and Green Park. We expect Westminster station will become exit and interchange only by 14:00. Other nearby stations will also be exceptionally busy, and may be made exit or interchange only during the day: Bond Street, Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road, Leicester Square, Charing Cross, Embankment, Piccadilly Circus, Waterloo, St James’s Park, Vauxhall and Victoria.'
  8. bridiem
    Well the list of potential exit-only tubes doesn't actually include Covent Garden, so I'm hoping that will be the way home!
  9. bridiem
    Oh no! That's awful.
  10. bridiem

    Room 101

    bridiem replied to taxi4ballet's topic in Not Dance

    Just catching up with this thread. This reminded me of a few months ago when I was having a minor surgical procedure under local anaesthetic, and there was classical music on in the background. I made an approving remark about this, and the doctor asked if there was any piece of classical music I particularly liked. I thought he was just making conversation, so as a simple answer I said 'Swan Lake'. A minute later, Swan Lake music was echoing around the room!! I was so impressed, and it did help me relax. The doctor was very funny too - he said he was glad when it was over because it was all getting too tragic etc. But I was amazed! (This was in an NHS hospital so it wasn't a question of paying for personal treatment or anything like that.)
  11. bridiem
    Oh dear. I still haven't replaced my video collection with DVDs...
  12. bridiem
    Great photo, Rob S. But I identified with your comment; I felt a degree of anxiety every time a lift or complex partnering moment was imminent, and sometimes the reality at least partly justified the anxiety. (Which may be one of the reasons it was difficult to really believe in his characterisation.) Hallberg's partnering brings home just how difficult it actually is; I'm constantly aware of that in my head, but most male principals make it look incredibly easy. With Hallberg, you really know he's being asked to effortlessly lift another human being above his head... Perhaps this is a post-injury phenonmenon (I didn't see him pre-injury), in which case it's very sad to see. But it seems to be quite a problem.
  13. bridiem
    I find myself struggling to express how I felt about this evening's Manon. Osipova was brilliant and fascinating - manipulative, passionate, abandoned, bereft - the whole gamut of emotions and then some more. Hallberg often danced so beautifully that it was as if time stopped; but I didn't feel a real connection with his character, some of the partnering didn't look wholly secure, and there was less physical abandon in his dancing than I have become used to in this and other MacMillan ballets. He was a very aristocratic, prince-like, classical Des Grieux. Perhaps he needs more time to really get hold of the role (though he was very touching at the end). I suppose it was a slightly passive portrayal (which is an easy trap to fall into with Des Grieux, who can seem a bit wimpish if you're not careful). So I couldn't quite believe in the story; I think this Manon would eat this Des Grieux for supper. But they did ultimately 'sell' the performance very well, aided by an excellent supporting cast (Hirano, Saunders, Avis, Calvert). And the sheer beauty of Hallberg's dancing makes me long to see more of him.
  14. bridiem
    And then where relevant you have to click again to get the rest of the casting. What is it with all these lines that stop half way?? And dates in a ginormous point size but the productions in a tiny point size?? I could go on (but won't). I clearly just don't see things as you are nowadays supposed to see things. I like clarity, order, beauty. (Which, I suppose, is why I like ballet.)
  15. bridiem
    I'm carrying over a discussion that's started on the Manon thread. It's good that the calendar pages are still accessible, but why should there not be a link to them? Why should patrons have to search in case there is such info, rather than it being presented to them? To me, the home page of the website still looks like a half-baked initial sketch awaiting improved design and functionality. The fact that it appears to be - or is considered to be - the real thing astounds me.
  16. bridiem
    Well in my experience some people do do this; it can be a pain if they wait until the lights are going down (which they have to do to ensure the seats really are empty) and then there are shuffles and crashes and people having to stand up as people start moving round. But I've never experienced that to any degree at the ROH because there are usually so few empty seats anyway. At worst people have just shuffled along a row so they're nearer the centre if they can do so.
  17. bridiem
    Yes - I've no idea about this particular production, but 'creatives' don't (or shouldn't) have completely free rein. The challenge is to create something that works for (all of) the audience, not to indulge oneself to the detriment of the audience and/or the presenting house.
  18. bridiem
    Hope you really enjoy it, CathyG! Please do post your thoughts afterwards.
  19. bridiem
    I think so, because she does 'make an entrance'. But I'm a bit ambivalent about clapping anyone's entrance really; though sometimes I do because I know it's sort of expected!
  20. bridiem
    I've never quoted myself before! I got so annoyed by this after posting this comment that I've now emailed the ROH about it.
  21. bridiem
    I never even notice his entrance! He seems to just materialise from nowhere.
  22. bridiem
    You wonder then why the pricing goes up at row D?! It's really misleading. People around me last week (in rows D and E) were all saying that there wasn't enough rake (or any rake?). At those prices it's ridiculous.
  23. bridiem
    Oh dear! So sorry, I was talking about the stalls themselves - can't remember how they describe them (just remembered - Orchestra Stalls). (I'm very unfamiliar with the lower sections of the ROH!). I thought that was the section bangorballetboy was referring to. Many apologies.
  24. bridiem
    It opens 6 May 2020. (But Watson might also be involved in the preceding triple bill? Not that that would be on the same scale.)
  25. bridiem
    Yes - I've sat there (row D in central section and B in side section) a few times in recent years (very kind gifts from my sister!) and I've been shocked to realise that there is hardly any rake. I'm 5'9" and if anyone of even average height is sitting in front of me their head is basically blocking my view. You adapt by looking to left and right all the time; but I think given the cost of the seats (compared to my normal Amphi seats where it's extremely unusual for a head to get in the way) it's outrageous! And it's great fun being so near the stage and seeing the dancers so close and without opera glasses, but you lose the patterns and the sense of the depth of the stage. So for me it's a treat but certainly not an ideal.
×
×
  • Create New...