JohnS

I see all six episodes of the Magic of Dance are currently available on iPlayer but each episode says only for a month. I’m assuming that means the month has already started rather than it’s a month following the scheduled TV broadcast.

https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/28783-congratulations-to-ashley-dean-benjamin-ella/?do=findComment&comment=426555 @Rob S posted a fabulous photo of Ashley Dean and Benjamin Ella on the congratulations thread above when they’d been dancing Clara and Hans-Peter in 2022/23. At the curtain call Hans-Peter was looking particularly resplendent wearing his medal and Clara of course had her necklace. I’ve been meaning to ask why in 2023/24 Hans-Peter no longer has his medal in the brief closing scenes when he meets Clara and then Drosselmeyer. I think in one of the performances I saw before Christmas the medal may have fallen off and was retrieved but in the closing scenes, there’s been a decision that Hans-Peter should no longer wear his medal. It’s a break with what I thought had been presented for many years (since the production was first presented?) and I struggle to understand why the change has been made. It also looks very odd as in all the curtain call photos we can clearly see the scuffed mark where the medal had been attached. One of the joys of this production is Clara recognising that she has her necklace and so it wasn’t a dream. But it doesn’t seem as well matched if Hans-Peter’s medal has ‘fallen off’. I’d love to see the medal reinstated and wondered if others agree?

Fabulous photo. And what’s interesting here is that Hans Peter wears his medal - but hasn’t the medal gone in the 2023 revival when H-P returns for the short final scenes? I think a medal fell off in Act 2 at one performance I saw but I don’t think any H-Ps wear their medals in the final scenes/curtain calls. I’ll try and post something on the Nutcracker thread.

No sofa but it took several attempts to get past the ‘all tickets sold’ message. I could try for the Hansel & Gretel 30/31 performances pretty much immediately but I assume it took a few minutes for Nutcracker Friday Rush tickets to be released. Things must have gone reasonably smoothly as Nutcracker tickets were pretty much all snapped up before 1:20 and we’re back to all performances being sold out. Returns appear but for only a few minutes.

Just received the following cast change after getting a returned ticket for 3 January: Monday 1 and Wednesday 3 January, 7.30pm Leticia Stock is replaced by Sophie Allnatt as Clara

One of the joys of the last couple of days has been my good fortune in finding myself in conversation with Royal Ballet School mothers. On Friday evening (Naghdi/Ball) I was chatting to my neighbour in the theatre and she told me she was over from the US to see her daughter who was a Snow Flake and Angel. She’d joined the Royal Ballet School from the US as a 15 year old and would be graduating in the summer. Apparently the corps were split between Claras and her daughter was dancing whenever Viola Pantusu (that performance) and Sophie Allnatt were dancing which, with the cast changes, meant more performances for her daughter and of course the cinema relay. Her daughter moves on from Nutcracker to Manon, most probably part of the crowd and great experience to be on stage. Her mother was over for Christmas and able to see three shows and will be back for the School’s annual performance. At the stage door the same night, I’d been seeing friends after the performance so wanted to check if dancers had already left. Yasmine Naghdi had been out early (I think so that younger audience members aren’t having to wait) and then gone back inside. I found I’d asked the mother of one of the party children: her daughter was the young girl who jumps on Grandfather in his wheelchair who was collecting autographs of the Viola cast. She’d also done the cinema relay as part of Sophie Allnatt’s cast. I said I was pretty sure Francesca Hayward had taken that part some 20 years ago - I think this was mentioned in a documentary, perhaps in Dancing the Nutcracker? A real pleasure to hear about the RBS dancers and then see them on stage the next day at the Saturday matinee. And very good to see Yasmine and Matt at the stage door after their fabulous performance.

Many thanks @Dawnstar. I do appreciate that some people may prefer to do as you suggest. If a dancer has to withdraw at short notice, I don’t see any problem in asking for the flowers to go to the dancer originally intended. If it’s at the performance, front of house staff can pass messages on. I don’t get round to organising flowers until a day or two before the performance and I think there’ve only been a handful of occasions when intended recipients have had to cancel but as you say there have been a number of late Nutcracker changes. Rather than having to deal with a late cancellation by contacting the stage door/front of house, I guess it’s quite reasonable for the sender to include a ‘flowers for named person only’ tag.

Delighted to have stayed for the matinee and blown away by Fumi Kaneko and Will Bracewell - it’s so good to appreciate all the posts on earlier performances having had the thrill of seeing their live performance. Sorry - posted prematurely as the train started. Good news that at least one train is running but terminating at Preston and the train is trying to accommodate 3 train loads. Anyhow I have a seat and expect to get home this evening.

A fabulous Nutcracker this evening, Yasmine Naghdi and Matthew Ball ethereal, Viola Pantuso and Daichi Ikarashi hugely impressive, and Gary Avis working his magic, albeit it didn’t extend to keeping the meter topped up at Drosselmeyer’s house where the final scene was played largely in the dark, just a glimmer of Hans-Peter’s portrait, until an orange (safety?) light came on. I succumbed and managed to get a ticket for tomorrow’s matinee so will add some thoughts about five Nutcrackers on the journey home.

You’re quite correct @Dawnstar. I should emphasise I’m very happy with what happened. When I give flowers and if I have chance, I like having a word at the stage door. If there’s been a substitution and the flowers are given to the substitute, the ROH remove the original message so it may be the case that the bouquet doesn’t include the sender’s name. In those circumstances I like to offer congratulations, say I’m delighted the dancer has the flowers, and ask as to the dancer who was scheduled. But I’m not at all sure if there’s a standard practice. I do recall there were late changes for Mayerling towards the end of the run (perhaps when Laura Morera was injured) and a number of dancers changed performance in a 48 hour period. At the first interval I asked if flowers I’d ordered for one dancer could be given to the substitute that night and it seemed the flowers had already been put in the dancer’s dressing room.

The cast sheet hasn’t as yet been updated and bizarrely Clara’s partner was omitted - Liam Boswell in another stunning performance from someone who always makes the most of his role.

I saw Sophie Allnatt at the Stage Door and she thought Leticia Stock was hoping to dance Clara in the new year so it may just be this one show Leticia misses: unfortunately I’m not planning a new year Nutcracker trip although I’m very tempted. I’m sure I’ve seen Leticia dance Clara but not recently given Covid and maternity. I was very pleased Sophie was presented with the bouquet I’d ordered. She impressed in the cinema and in the theatre. Had I known she was dancing, I’d have ordered the flowers for her.

I see Sophie Allnatt replaces Leticia Stock as Clara for tonight’s Nutcracker. While I’m delighted to see Sophie in the theatre after the cinema relay, I’d been very much looking forward to seeing Leti in a principal role as she’s so often leading the corps.

Heading for London for Nutcracker x4 - Magri, Hayward, Lamb and Naghdi Sugar Plum Fairies A longer train journey than planned as I woke up to find my 8:00 train cancelled and a rush to leave home to catch an earlier train: not the hoped for leisurely start. Anyhow it looks as if I’ll get to London pretty much as originally planned albeit I needed to get to the station an hour earlier. The train journey is giving me chance to catch up on so many fabulous posts in preparation for Nutcracker. Many thanks to all. Having read the posts, I’m very sorry to miss Kaneko/Bracewell’s Saturday matinee and it’s probably for the best that Friday rush and tomorrow’s matinee clash as I’m sure it would be pushing it to try heading home after the Saturday matinee. I did manage to see the cinema encore on Sunday afternoon and very much enjoyed it. I like the big screen at Rheged: it’s wider than the ROH stage so Anna-Rose O’Sullivan’s armfuls of bouquets looked even more impressive. Many of the 260 seats were taken by a very enthusiastic audience. My neighbour was heading to Nice after Christmas but she seemed more taken at the thought of a Royal Ballet Nutcracker extravaganza.

I hope you were successful @Silke H as General Rehearsal tickets are quickly snapped up. I’d been meaning to say that when booking last week, by 9:20 I’d managed to put my preferred seats in my basket, including 4 Stalls Circle Row A General Rehearsal tickets, all pretty much in the centre. But when I came to pay, I got an error message/contact the box office. I was needing to be out of the house pretty quickly as I was chairing a meeting so I emailed the box office with my payment details which included dates/ticket prices but unfortunately not the actual seat numbers (which I hadn’t twigged in my rush). I was just about to leave when the Box Office phoned and they very kindly said they’d try to put together my basket. Back home at lunchtime, the Box Office had done a great job: I have my preferred tickets for all performances; and I’m pleased to have pretty good General Rehearsal tickets, albeit not quite the seats I’d originally put in my basket. There’s clearly very strong demand for General Rehearsal tickets. The Box Office team always impress me and I wonder if they have sufficient input into pricing: in-house expertise is a great asset and should be used to sense check pricing proposals, particularly if proposals are novel and consultant led.

I booked the General Rehearsal and opening and closing nights for the MacMillan and I’ll also go to the cinema relay. For me it’s been a bit harder putting together London tripsfor the MacMillan as the six performances are pretty well spread out. I prefer to catch more than one performance when I come to London, given the travel/overnight accommodation, but I’m not wanting to add Butterfly or Carmen. I know there are many other attractions in London so I’ll look again when the MacMillan casting is announced. Trips for Swan Lake were much easier to plan helped by so many performances and matinees - I was spoiled for choice.

There seemed to be a fair number of empty seats on Friday evening, certainly in the Stalls, so I doubt all seats were sold.

Many thanks @bridiem and @LinMM - a pleasingly uneventful drive home!

A fabulous matinee more than meeting my expectations and delighted to be posting this on the train nearing Penrith albeit I see there are now snow and ice warnings for Cumbria. I thought the entire cast were on too form, reprising the attack and delivering the presence that made opening night so special. Thrilling to see: Marcelino Sambé and Yasmine Naghdi (Ferryman); Francesca Hayward and Matthew Ball (Francesca and Paolo); Calvin Richardson (Ulysses); Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Luca Acri (Dido); Francisco Serrano and Joseph Sissens (Soothsayers); and the Thieves’ extravaganza. And chilling to see Melissa Hamilton’s Satan. I was sorry Liam Boswell wasn’t dancing as he had made such a telling contribution at the general rehearsal and opening night - I do hope he isn’t injured. Purgatorio has grown on me and I find I’m more accepting of the taped chant. I do like Dante’s interaction with the Penitents. The triple Beatrice/Dante remembrances/scenes I find very affecting, the Dante/Beatrice (spirt) ending rapturous, setting up Paradiso. Up thread I’d asked about the red costume for the young Dantes as I’d associated red with the enlightened Dante in Paradiso. But from the programme I got for the first run I see that red is taken as Dante’s colour and not linked to enlightenment. The programme suggests Dante’s red becomes blue in the negative world of Inferno (although there’s a question as to whether Dante’s costume looks more green than blue). Virgil traditionally wears blue so he’s in yellow in Inferno, the negative of blue. I assume the red stripe added to Dante’s costume in Purgatorio reflects the progress he is making towards Paradiso. I enjoy the celestial bodies and their interaction as Thomas Adès’s fabulous score builds and builds leading to the final Dante/Beatrice transcendence. I was again very taken with how well Paradiso works in the Stalls, the light sweeping up the rows in front and engulfing the auditorium. Fumi Kaneko somehow managed to convey a sense of weightlessness, pure spirit, just astonishing. Will Bracewell is a stupendous Dante and I found his journey utterly compelling. Fumi Kaneko and Will Bracewell have a very special partnership, a joy to see whatever their roles. A memorable weekend and I’ll happily settle for an uneventful drive home.

I enjoyed last night’s performance and was certainly impressed by Ryoichi Hirano’s Dante. For me Inferno lacked the irrepressible vitality of opening night’s cast and it was Purgatorio and Paradiso which made the most impact. I thought Matthew Ball with his attack and stage presence really helped shape the Penitents. Francesca Hayward is exquisite as young Beatrice and I do very much like the triple Beatrice/Dante interplay. Sarah Lamb and Ryoichi Hirano are fabulously well matched and Paradiso’s ending was transcendental. I was in the Stalls near the back with the benefit of an aisle seat, an unrestricted view, and thought the sweep of the light hugely effective. And I wasn't distracted by extraneous hums from the screen projections. I’m very much looking forward to the matinee and I’m pleased that for me I’ll be ending this Dante run with the Bracewell cast. I’ve been able to get a similar seat but on the opposite side of the Stalls so I have sky high expectations for the performance.

Joshua Junker is listed for tonight’s Dante cast - Soothsayer etc. The cast sheet was posted an hour ago. We’ll see if there’s a change.

It’s trying to deal with emails from ‘no reply’ addresses that bugs me. If email is good enough for the sender, it seems arrogant in the extreme not to allow an email reply. And worse still where the reply option listed is a premium rate phone number.

Looking forward very much to Friday’s performance to see the Hirano cast and staying for Saturday’s matinee to catch a third performance of the Bracewell cast having seen the general rehearsal and opening night. I find much to admire in Dante: Thomas Adès’s music; the energy of all the dancers; much of the design. I hope the screen projections hum which blighted Paradiso for me on opening night has been resolved or is at least less intrusive in the Stalls although I’d much prefer Balcony audiences not to be inconvenienced. My other gripe was the lack of a helpful synopsis. @Ondine very usefully provided a link to McGregor’s commentary and it’s well worth watching the 2 minutes clip. But I don’t think it’s sufficient to highlight: “it’s not a three act story ballet.” A few seconds later McGregor refers to wanting to create “our own emotional and narrative art” so it seems reasonable to me to ask for a few helpful pointers about the narrative which audience members can refer to should they wish. As has been suggested above by @alison and others, the headings for Inferno included on the cast sheet could readily be followed by a few words capturing what’s going on. And given McGregor happily talks about the three parts to the Dante Project in the clip, surely it’s not too difficult to put together a couple of sentences on the cast sheet for Purgatorio and Paradiso? I know McGregor doesn’t want audiences to think they have to be familiar with Dante or Woolf but providing helpful information is a courtesy to audience members. Those interested may well be grateful and no one is required to read cast sheets etc unless they choose to do so. At the general rehearsal and opening night I believe some audience members struggled and may well have welcomed a little help. The lack of information is not limited to McGregor. The cast sheet for Anemoi was blank save for listing the dancers: disappointing as Valentino Zucchetti was particularly eloquent about his ballet in the programme and two or three sentences could have been included on the cast sheet. I’d go further and say not providing helpful information is a discourtesy. At an extreme, not providing information can exclude audiences and reinforce an unwelcome stereotype that the performance is for initiates. But despite some grumbles where I know I’m rather stuck in a groove, I am excited at the prospect of seeing a couple of Dante performances this weekend. I think it’s great that the Royal Ballet can move so seamlessly from Don Q to Dante and I can only applaud the multi-talented dancers. It’s been hugely rewarding to see so many dancers giving their all in such contrasting roles: Calvin Richardson as Espada, Gamarche and Ulysses; Liam Boswell always impressing with such astonishing precision and timing (although I see he hasn’t been in the last two performances of the Bracewell cast); and countless others. They convince me they enjoy the rich variety and I find their on stage vitality wonderfully life affirming. I’m afraid Saturday is still Avanti contingent. I’ve booked a 17:30 train and there are a couple of trains after that but there’s a risk of disruption and cancellations. If Avanti find they have to cancel services, I hope they’ll let passengers know sufficiently in advance to get an earlier train as I don’t want to be stuck in London for two extra nights. But from the latest information the 17:30 has a green flag which I’m very much hoping it keeps.

A perfectly reasonable question but not easy to answer: there’s been some discussion in this thread about the absence of a useful synopsis. The cast sheet gives headings but nothing else. Here’s the cast list for the Bracewell cast (today’s cast list is not yet up but it may well be the same as for the 25th): https://static.roh.org.uk/digital/cast-sheets/The-Dante-Project-2023/The-Dante-Project-Cast-Sheet-evening-25-November-2023.pdf?_ga=2.113200708.1308188944.1701203633-1111864046.1694786165 I think the Sarah Crompton review is well worth a read: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/nov/26/the-dante-project-wayne-mcgregor-royal-ballet-royal-opera-house-revival-william-bracewell-review-rhiannon-faith-lay-down-your-burdens-barbican-pit?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other Today’s links also includes a more critical piece which does run through much of the action: https://bachtrack.com/review-dante-project-mcgregor-bracewell-kaneko-royal-ballet-november-2023

Top price for Dante in 2021 was £90 compared to £130 this time, an increase of 44%. But if you bought a top price ticket as part of a subscription, you paid £73.80. A subscriber in 2021 would therefore see a 76% increase in the price actually paid. For subscribers, I think that may well be a pertinent comparison but I don’t know what proportion of tickets were sold to subscribers. Restricted Balcony seats were £55. This run the price is £80, a 45% increase.