JohnS

In the interests of balance I should say I very much enjoyed my Avanti Platinum Club free 1st class trip to London. Going mid week meant I could enjoy the catering. I was offered breakfast, coffee and lunch for the journey starting at 10:00 and getting into London before 1:30, a few minutes late. I said ‘no thanks’ to the breakfast but it certainly looked ok. Coffee and lunch were very welcome. I do think the Gold and Platinum deals have been rather good, particularly because they require no effort on my part - Avanti simply tell me I’ve done sufficient journeys to get the Gold or Platinum free return journey. I’ll look forward to my return leg on Wednesday.

Many thanks for all these posts and I’m very much looking forward to Tuesday’s second performance of the Fume Kaneko cast. Before then it’s the first performance of Sarah Lamb’s cast, including James Hay/Meaghan Grace Hinkis as Lescaut/Mistress. I’ve been meaning to add a comment on the second Hayward/Sambe performance which I thought was outstanding. Sambe in particular was much more secure and his first solo was fabulous. Hayward was mesmerising throughout. I thought Campbell and Sambe were really well matched. Lescaut’s domination of Des Grieux at the end of Act 1 seemed much more powerful. In the cinema relay with Clarke, the height difference didn’t do Clarke any favours at all and, as others have said, I think Clarke and Hirano might have provided better balance.

I thought these were all organised by the Royal Ballet but I don’t know if individuals contribute to the costs.

Summer booking went extremely well for me on Tuesday - General Rehearsals, the Ashton triples and Sarasota programmes, Winter’s Tales, an extra Swan Lake, and the Pappano gala. I think I was finished by 9:40, my third purchase as I didn’t want to fall foul of the 30 minute checkout timer and I also decided to stay an extra night to see a couple more Sarasota performances. No waiting and no problems at all with the website.

Alex as Lescaut was at the stage door fairly quickly, perhaps a 30 minutes wait, and that may give a bit of a guide for 2nd March. I can well see it may be a fair bit longer on 8th March.

Many thanks @Lizbie1. I managed to get a ticket - my favourite Balcony seats had gone (A33 or A53) so I opted for a front row of the Amphitheatre aisle seat. I think there’s a good view of the orchestra. Here’s a link for the seat map - I hope it works for you: https://www.roh.org.uk/seatmap?performanceId=59419

I’d already got a ticket for the 8th but I couldn’t resist picking up a ticket for the 2nd. Alex Campbell and Francesca Hayward have given so many memorable performances in recent years and how fitting for Alex to sign off with Francesca in Manon.

Congratulations Alex Campbell and so pleased he will be dancing Des Grieux to bring the curtain down on this particular chapter with the Royal Ballet. What a special evening 8th March promises to be.

I don’t think there’s a thread as yet but I received the details the other day and I see the seat map has been published. And booking for seats other than stalls/grand tier is part of Summer booking ie starting from 20th February. Given the very high prices for some seats, I was pleasantly surprised that standing tickets are £25 and some restricted view seats are cheaper than Swan Lake (for example Stalls Circle bench seats). I’ll be interested to see what seats are available next week.

From the Stage Door I hear Ashton casting remains work in progress. I assume patrons who are already booking are having to do so blind and that may be the position next week when Friends booking begins. At least the Ashton programme lends itself to seeing double shows (including the General Rehearsals) and sometimes on successive days. But I recognise that doesn’t help if people are wanting to see particular dancers and can only make one performance.

I can’t remember when I last had a pair of slippers but having read the ‘Twinkle’ reviews, perhaps I should buy a pair?

I enjoyed New Works last night and good to see the Royal Ballet’s commitment to new choreography alongside the fabulous Nutcraker and Manon runs. ‘Twinkle’ was undoubtedly the highlight for me, a ballet which would grace many triple bills. The pathos and wit, ever changing groups of dancers, exits after the variations and entrances, all reminded me of ‘Dances at a Gathering’. And how good to see a new work so clearly steeped in ballet. Good too to see and hear Kate Shpway on stage, quite a change from the orchestra pit.

Having renewed my Friends subscription I took the opportunity to ask if Ashton casting would be published before booking opens - 20 February for me but I imagine already open for Patrons. I was told Ashton casting is still changing and that casting will be published as soon as possible. The reply continued: ‘We do not wish Patrons to book for a certain cast which will then not reflect who dances in that performance.’ I don’t know if that means it’s better not to publish anything in case it’s wrong but I think I’d prefer to see something even if it ends up not being 100% correct. Surely we accept that casting information is based on best available information and casting can change?

Many thanks for the reviews and @Rob S for the photos. Very much looking forward to tonight.

I meant to say how very much I enjoyed Sunday afternoon’s Manon encore on the massive screen at Rheged. It’s great that Osipova’s Manon has been filmed and I do hope at some point there’ll be chance to see the performance again on the streaming service. While I’m becoming more appreciative, I’m still not fully persuaded by Clarke but I think that’s in part because Ball and Bracewell have been outstanding and I’m sure there’ll be other very strong Des Grieuxs this run. Osipova and Campbell I thought made the most of their brother/sister relationship. I agree with the praise for the ‘cello solo at the start of Act 3 scene 2. On first viewing I’d wondered if the close ups of Christopher Vanderspar were a bit intrusive but I didn’t find that on second viewing. He’s been Principal ‘cello for many years now and I fondly recall him, Vasko Vassilev and Robert Clark performing Rachmaninov’s Trio elegiaque 1894 for Sweet Violets.

Having read the various posts highlighting a preference for principals, I can’t help but recall some of the debuts of today’s principals when they were up and coming dancers: to give a couple of examples, who could forget the fabulous Naghdi/Ball double debut Romeo and Juliet in 2015; or Hayward’s stunning Manon debut back in 2014? I think Kevin O’Hare manages such a tricky balancing act pretty well although I’d still prefer to see slightly longer runs of some ballets.

Fingers crossed for the General Rehearsal?

If you look at the four March Manons, there are 126 ‘available’ seats ranging from £43 to £140. The only seats showing on the seat maps and available for general booking is one box, for the Hamilton Manon on 5 March. I appreciate that those people who have registered for the various access schemes may well be able to log on and book the seats. I don’t think it’s possible for non registered general public to glean anything about the distribution of these tickets - how many seats there are at the different prices. But I’m happy to be corrected if there is any information. @alison had asked about £34 tickets and that might have been for the 2x Manon on 17 February where ‘availability’ lists £34 seats for both performances but they are not on the seat maps and we don’t know how many seats there are: the descriptor is ‘last few remaining’ for both performances rather than the number of seats. When there was a lot of discussion about the access seats upstream (Swan Lake tickets were made available for general public booking around 19 January), the Box Office team were hoping there’d be greater clarity about tickets held for access and when they’d be released if they were not taken up by those who had registered for access. It doesn’t look as if there’s been any progress: for the general public not registered under the various access schemes, March Manon performances are at this point in effect ‘sold out’ until there are any returns, Friday rush, and any unused access seats are released for general booking.

I don’t think so @alison as the ‘available’ seats never show on the seat map.

Very sorry you’re having to miss Saturday’s matinee. I’m sure 27th February will be great. I was just wondering if you’ve looked at 2nd or 8th March: Hayward, Campbell, Zucchetti and probably Choe. Hayward and Campbell were great last time and 8th brings the curtain down on this run.

Is there still a problem with how access tickets are being treated? The later Manon performances show availability as 20 plus for each performance but there’s hardly anything when looking at the seat maps and nothing for the Hayward performances when 55 are ‘available’.

I very much enjoyed the cinema relay, more so than the Saturday matinee. It was fabulous to see the detail of Osipova’s Manon and all the cast. I’m hoping to see Sunday’s encore screening (unless the weather dramatically improves) but I just wanted to offer a few thoughts from Wednesday evening. I found Clarke’s Des Grieux much more impressive in the cinema than in the matinee but I still thought at times there was some insecurity and with all the close ups a little too much bewilderment. I recognise I’ve been rather spoiled by Ball and Bracewell and I’m very much looking forward to seeing Sambe again. I’m not seeing Bolle but Muntagirov, Richardson and Campbell are still to dance and I’m very keen to see their Des Grieuxs. I’ve liked the observations about Manon and Lescaut being so close, equally committed to getting their hands on the money. Osipova and Campbell came across very strongly but Campbell (with Hayward) and Acri (with Cuthbertson and Naghdi) were also very impressive. Hayward finds she’s partnering Campbell as Lescaut and Des Grieux at the end of the run and she mentioned how she’ll have to check if Campbell is lover or brother but with Lescaut pimping Manon I can’t help but wonder where the boundaries lie. I’ve very much enjoyed seeing Magri, Mendizabel and O’Sullivan’s Mistresses. They all made the most of the role and their relationship with their Lescauts. For the relay the cinema in Keswick displayed the autocue words as subtitles so departures from the autocue were even more obvious. I don’t recall this happening in previous cinema relays. I thought some of the camera choices looked a bit odd, particularly at the end of Act 2 where I don’t think GM’s backhanded cuffing of Lescaut quite worked and where the camera cut away just when GM fired his pistol so it wasn’t clear who he’d shot. I rather liked the cut away to Manon’s and Lescaut’s knowing disgust when GM became ‘over excited’ in Act 1 as Petroc Trelawny so delicately put it but I thought we missed rather too much of Des Grieux’s Act 3 scene 1 solo when the camera cut to Manon and the Gaoler.

Sadly only the Swan Lake casting was announced so we’re still waiting for Ashton (and Winter’s Tale) - see thread on Summer 2024.

I hope so Dave but I don’t know. Also the e-news tends to come out late afternoon so I’ll have to patient.

I think the fortnightly Friends news is emailed today so hopefully we’ll soon see some casting information.