JohnS

Great shame - I’d been looking forward very much to Laura Morera et al dancing MacMillan’s Seven Deadly Sins and I saw the production had been highlighted in the Guardian I think only yesterday. Not sure about the replacement programme.

Many thanks Richard - I’ve been treating myself to Premium 2 Friends for some time now and do find H sides reasonably available when booking opens if I’m on on time. Not always (opening nights etc) but I probably book H3 or H4 for half of my visits. As I say I do like taking in a different view if I’m seeing a number of performances.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07873d3 Nick Robinson’s fascinating interview with Rory Stewart, the day after his Cabinet promotion. Interesting to hear the odd comment about learning sword dancing as a 4 year old, which might possibly account for his ballet anathema, and his love of walking, as well as many insights into Rory Stewart’s politics and motivation. There’s also an answer to my question above - Rory Stewart was confident prison performance had sufficiently improved and he wouldn’t have had to resign this summer. Nick Robinson’s political thinking podcasts invariably shed light on their subjects and I think this one is particularly illuminating.

I try to sit H sides in the Orchestra Stalls above the gangways and unless people in Row E are incredibly tall (and there’s no camera in A6/7), the view is fabulous - sufficiently near the stage to see the detail but still having a decent perspective of the whole stage and pretty good aurally. I occasionally try the front row, particularly if there are cameras. It’s good to be so close but feet can be obscured and the sound can be dominated by whoever is immediately by your feet. I also like more central seats in the Grand Tier and Balcony for that wonderful perspective of the entire stage and the better acoustic so will mix and match if I’ve opportunity to see a few performances in a run. But overall Orchestral Stalls H on the left hand side of the theatre for upper strings, woodwind and curtain calls is my first choice, particularly if I can book either my or my wife’s named seats - sitting in one of them certainly adds an extra frisson to a performance.

Many thanks Penelope - I’m just very pleased to recall Francesca Hayward’s Manon debut with Edward Watson. Fingers crossed for an injury free next season etc and that there will be some further opportunities to see Watson/Hayward together on stage.

Makes me appreciate how good it is that there’s no need for surtitles in Ballet - not that I was going to 会話中 Kaiwa-chū (if my translator works).

I guess I also have the same quite lengthy email. I’m particularly taken with changes to include: “- a list of what is on today/this week” Hopefully we may get the calendar back!

Many thanks Bridie - looking forward immensely to 11 May evening performance in light of your post. Quite a day with Francesca Hayward/Cesar Corrales dancing the matinee.

I see one of the fall outs of Gavin Williamson’s sacking is that Rory Stewart is promoted to the Cabinet as International Development Secretary where he’d previously been a minister and of course had significant experience before moving into politics. I trust it’s in order to offer congratulations - although we won’t now see whether performance in prisons has improved sufficiently to avoid Rory Stewart’s resignation this summer.

Thanks BeaverElliot. In reading your post I realised that my ‘Manon’ suggestion may be open to misinterpretation as I’d rather forgotten the gaoler! I’m still very much of the view that Rory Stewart could not possibly find Manon, and the final scene in particular, ‘boring’. Next time Manon’s on I wonder if the ROH might like to offer an invite to Rory Stewart - as part of Open Up and encouraging new audiences?

Surely Stravinsky should feature in any discussion of best ballet scores?

I should declare an I interest. Whilst Rory Stewart is not my constituency MP, he is MP where I’m the Parish Clerk and I know he is an extremely diligent constituency MP. Without any comment on his politics, I find Rory Stewart rather engaging - unfailingly courteous in the House and when being interviewed (for a few weeks there seemed to be daily Rory Stewart/Sarah Montague interviews which were fascinating), and I was rather surprised to read of his loathing of ballet.

“There are some things I would be really, really bad at. You would not want to hire me to run a ballet company, I’d be really rubbish at that. I don’t like ballet. I am bored by it. I’m almost tone deaf. I feel I want to die when I watch the ballet. It would be a really, really bad mistake to hire me to run a ballet company. But if you want someone who really enjoys doing stuff and loves Government and is really proud of the country and feels that’s their thing, I’m really enthusiastic.” Rory Stewart, Prison’s Minister, clearly ruling himself out of running a ballet company. But what might help Rory Stewart change his mind about ballet? I’d plump for Manon - I just can’t believe he’d not be suitably engrossed.

Very tempted by Bernard Haitink and the Vienna Philharmonic Prom 60 (Beethoven 4th Piano Concerto with Murray Perahia and Bruckner 7 although I’m not a great Bruckner fan). I thought I’d read somewhere that Bernard Haitink is taking a sabbatical next year - does anyone know if this is correct?

But I rather thought bangorballetboy’s advice at some point fairly recently was to use google to find production details, given the poor functionality of the website? Getting a reasonable display of the website is all well and good but I’m afraid still doesn't help access a simple calendar.

Not only was the website not broken - it was considered excellent by many people, judging from comments here and conversations with audience members. Perhaps not scientific as a measure of satisfaction so I’d be interested to know if the ROH received negative feedback on its old website which might have justified a change. I quite like the Open Up designs but surely those could have been incorporated without changing the functionality of the old website?

I’m afraid the Royal Opera House seems to have adopted ‘never apologise, never explain’ as its motto. Given the very late announcement of next season compared to previous years and many other arts companies this year, it would seem reasonable to provide some explanation for the delay but I haven’t heard any. Similarly the 2017-18 annual report is to be published in May, 15 months after the year end. Again, no apology/explanation. And (in my opinion) we’ve seen many perfectly legitimate questions posted on the website unanswered, despite numerous further promptings. I do wonder why there has been such drift and if management is happy to accept the risk of alienating part of its audience by its failure to engage in debate and respond to criticism - is such a risk even acknowledged in its risk register? And frustratingly there are so many simple steps that could be taken to help restore good faith such that management complements the excellence we see on stage.

Many thanks Geoff - I clearly got the wrong end of the stick. I’m afraid I couldn’t actually access the link you posted as it asked for a Microsoft login and l’m using Apple rather than Microsoft but the link on Darlex’s very first post opening the thread works for me. I’ve pasted it below and will see if it’s ok. https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/article/dancing-pinhead-pricing

Given the pivotal role the Baker Richards ‘advertorial’ report had in stimulating this thread, would it be in order to post that report here? Or is there a copyright issue? I don’t have the report but perhaps moderators might give some thought as to whether it would be in order?

Many thanks Sim. Do you know when these photos were taken - I’m sure they can’t have been at the public performance but as you say they really capture Anna-Rose’s memorable Juliet?

And a good review: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/apr/17/night-of-100-solos-review-merce-cunningham-barbican-london?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other Francesca Hayward ‘makes movement glow’.

Lots of coverage on Today, both in the news bulletins and interviews, although the focus was on a ‘mindfulness’ concert possibly to be performed in pitch black. I’m not sure David’s link works so you might want to try: https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms

What a joy to see the BBC Proms website with its easy to use listing by composer or musician/performer (although I’d have preferred to find the Vienna Philharmonic under V rather than W as it’s referred to throughout by its English name), and a very simple calendar. The ROH needs to take a look and provide a better way for people to navigate its website - or simply revert to its earlier format for ‘what’s on’ and calendar.

Very saddened by yesterday’s dreadful fire and destruction of that fabulous ribbed roof and spire but also humbled by the response first of firefighters in saving so much of the building and its treasures, then the outpouring of grief from Paris, France and so many places, and now the determination to make good the conflagration, rebuild and renew the Cathedral, matched by many generous offers of support. I trust the injured firefighter is recovering and that President Macron’s 5 year restoration plan is a great success.

I check the links each day but may not spend much time following them. It is irritating when the links are restricted and I tend to take the view that it’s simply too much effort to sign up etc to see the full article. I’m very grateful for the immense effort put in to provide such a comprehensive service.