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JohnS

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  1. JohnS
    I tried the discount code for the Cellist and whilst it was accepted for 2 November, when it came to potentially purchasing a ticket, no discounted price was available. The discount was available for the earlier performance I tried. I take some assurance that it looks as if the discounts are only available for the first three performances which I think is in the email offer but I’ve had no email from ROH.
  2. JohnS
    Opening night was exceptional and Nunez and Muntagirov set the bar at an incredibly high level as regards technical excellence. But for my part, I find when seeing Nunez I’m too conscious that I’m watching a ballerina in performance rather than a character brought to life. I should say that I find Muntagirov hugely impressive both technically and in inhabiting the role, his Rudolph a revelation.
  3. JohnS
    A scintillating evening with Mayara Magri and Marci Sambe having a ball along with the entire cast. They make an ideal couple, so well matched and inhabiting their roles throughout. As in the matinee the one armed lifts seemed odd: the first brought to a close by Sambe/Magri; the second by the conductor. Koen Kessels was in the audience for the matinee but I see Valery Ovsyanikov is conducting the full run. There’s a lot I like with his conducting and was very taken with the opening night but I’d much prefer the lifts to end in unison. I enjoyed Joseph Sissens’ Espada although I thought he was too genial, dancing with a broad smile for much of the time, quite a contrast to other Espadas. Mariko Sasaki, after a fabulous Queen in the matinee, made for a stunning Mercedes. Isabella Gasperini was a delightful Amour. The Royal Ballet has such strength throughout the company and it’s a joy to see such tremendous ensemble work. I also like much of the production, particular the opening and windmill scenes for Don Quixote and the village scenes, if not so much the gypsy and tavern scenes and the language. I find the ending rather touching: Sancho Panza leading on Rocinante for Don Quixote to set off on further adventures having helped bring about the happy resolution and leaving the village a better place.
  4. JohnS
    I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday’s matinee and am very much looking forward to the second performance on Friday evening. Anna-Rose O’Sullivan I found a little tentative in Act 1 but I thought she was fabulous in Acts 2 and 3. Steven McRae is a bravura Basilio and provided great support for his Kitri. I didn’t understand the Act 1 one arm lifts where the conductor both times brought the lift to an end: on opening night the conductor waited for Muntagirov albeit Muntagirov and Nunez were cleaner. I thought Leo Dixon made an impressive Espada, exuding insouciance. And Yuhui Choe’s Mercedes made an excellent match. Mariko Sasaki was a fabulous Queen of the Dryads and I enjoyed Meaghan Grace Hinkis’s Amour. James Hay certainly made the most of Gamache: another winning performance. I’m sure Friday’s performance will be a little more relaxed after the debuts and next weekend will start what should be a stunning triple with the Kaneko and Nagdhi casts on Saturday.
  5. JohnS
    I thought Anna-Rose a fabulous Amour last time and am looking forward immensely to her Kitri debut and Friday’s evening performance.
  6. JohnS
    I wonder what would happen if you (or others) were to ask for the discount at the Box Office?
  7. JohnS
    I could only access the matinee cast sheet via the What’s On Don Q page, not via cast sheets.
  8. JohnS
    And now discounts are offered for The Cellist, what will people do if they’ve not yet booked for Dante? Always difficult but whenever discounting has to be used, there must be lessons regarding how prices were originally pitched. The more frequently the ROH has to resort to discounting, the less incentive there is to book early at full price.
  9. JohnS
    Do I take it you haven’t received the offer @capybara? I haven’t had the offer but am going 3 times plus the General Rehearsal.
  10. JohnS
    I’d be very interested to know how the ROH goes about offering discounts, for example whether it is targeting people who are already going, or those not currently booked but who might have gone last time?
  11. JohnS
    Apologies - I hadn’t noticed the dates until I got to ‘6 years later’. I do recall hearing Pavarotti many years ago. Fabulous voice of course but he remained virtually stationary on stage with the other singers having to provide all the movement.
  12. JohnS
    Picking up some comments about the Cellist and Dante from the Don Q thread, I hadn’t realised just how many seats remain unsold - for some performances it looks as if half of the seats are unsold. I appreciate there’s some time for the first performances but opening night for the Cellist is 20 October with Dante 17 November. When the season was announced I’d been a bit disappointed that we weren’t seeing Dances at a Gathering with the Cellist again as I thought that made for a fabulous double bill and where the casting (both casts for Dances) was a dream. I’ll be happy to see Anemoi but I don’t think it has the appeal of Dances at a Gathering. But irrespective of the relative merits of the other part of the double bill, prices have rocketed. In March 2020 for the Cellist I paid £61.50 for Stalls H4 albeit that was taking advantage of a subscription package. The same seat this month is £110. For Dante in October 2021 I paid £73.80 for Stalls H4, again part of a subscription package. That seat is £130 when Dante opens in November. Is this an apples and pears comparison? I don’t know what use was made of subscription packages but I think comparing what I actually paid with what I would have to pay now is valid and it certainly makes me look closely at what tickets I buy. And I’m sure many people look askance at the increases in prices they find they are having to pay. I do hope the ROH are able to sell the spare tickets with minimal discounting: the dancers and all who make performances happen deserve full houses; and we all benefit from the buzz of a packed house where an appreciative audience is engaged with the live performance.
  13. JohnS
    Surely another ‘mis-step’?
  14. JohnS

    Das Rheingold ROH

    JohnS replied to a topic in Opera & Music

    I see Rheingold is on Radio 3 this Saturday 6:30 pm and then BBC Sounds. Fabulously played and sung so well worth hearing but I do hope it’s added to the ROH Stream at some point as the production is so strong.
  15. JohnS
    I was very pleased to catch Les Noces and Four Last Songs on Saturday afternoon after the first two Acts of the Don Q General Rehearsal. I’d chosen the Second Circle A33 opposite Madeleine Pierard. I hadn’t appreciated that the view was quite so badly affected by people leaning forward from the sides. ‘Les Noces’ has certainly grown on me although in the Second Tier I still found the amplification too much: a shame as the Stravinsky has much of interest and I’m sure was impressively performed. I was also a little distracted during ‘Les Noces’ as I’d called in the Stage Door to check on flowers which seemed to have gone awol but I was assured the flowers had been delivered that morning. In checking at the second interval it transpired ‘Mat’ on the flower bucket had been taken as a dancer’s name rather than the intended ‘Matinee’. So all was well although I was a bit surprised to hear that only company flowers are presented on stage. I’ve been hugely taken with ‘Four Last Songs’, ravishingly sung by Madeleine Pierard. I’ve tended to see the ballet more as an accompaniment to the music, particularly given the quality of the musical performance. And an accompaniment as good as this is a great achievement and I very much hope something we will see again. Perhaps I’m being a little unfair on the dancers and David Dawson but being the support is one of the risks of choosing such wonderful music: exquisite, profound, and providing such solace. PS - I heard Madeleine liked her flowers but I don’t know if ‘Mat’ was disappointed.
  16. JohnS
    I take it Mr Linnzi doesn’t look at Ballet Forum?
  17. JohnS
    Fabulous photos @Rob S - they encapsulate the joyfulness of the performance.
  18. JohnS
    I ended up seeing the first two Acts of the General Rehearsal and the last two thirds of Our Voices although I was very tempted to stay for the whole of the General Rehearsal. Lovely to see @NikkiB‘s posts and all the follow ups. No real comment about the General Rehearsal but I couldn’t help wondering if Rocinante wasn’t content just to sign the ROH Orchestra petition and had decided to take his own stand. We’ll see what he does tonight.
  19. JohnS

    Das Rheingold ROH

    JohnS replied to a topic in Opera & Music

    I very much enjoyed yesterday evening’s Das Rheingold. I hadn’t seen the cinema relay so the production was completely fresh to me, apart from reading a handful of reviews. It makes a very strong impression, gripping throughout, funny in places, and appropriately brutal when necessary: if I ever see a polo stick again I’ll think of Fafner and poor Fasolt. The Rheingold ‘milking’ machine was pretty gross but I thought captured the awfulness of the Nibelungs and the abuse of nature. Even grosser when Alberich started licking his fingers coated in gold/(custard?) but that in turn was outdone by Freia’s submergence in the gold: I hope Kiandra Howarth doesn’t become typecast for such treatment. I wasn’t quite sure about the glitter rainbow - rainbow colours might have helped. But I like the notion of Valhalla being little more than vast quantities of glitter. I wish there’d been a way to change the scenes without bringing down the house curtain which just seemed too incongruous. A black cloth would have been better if a curtain had to be lowered but with the Ash tree remaining in place for most of the opera and working so well in its different guises through decoration, I’d have hoped there would be a way not to have lowered a curtain. Fabulous singing, excellent diction and surtitles, and the ROH orchestra under Tony Pappano at its finest. Here’s looking forward to the next instalment.
  20. JohnS
    I thought the two Thursday performances were well under 2hrs 30mins, more like 2hrs 20 mins. I was outside Sadler’s Wells by 9:55pm.
  21. JohnS
    Spoilt for choice tomorrow with Don Q General Rehearsal, Opening Night and the Our Voices matinee. Do I just see Four Last Songs after the General Rehearsal or cut short the General Rehearsal? All made more difficult given the fabulous cast although I should be seeing the Nagdhi cast later in the run.
  22. JohnS
    Yellow T-shirts for full members of the ROH Orchestra with contract players all wearing yellow ribbons in support (apparently it’s one of those ‘too difficult’ steps for contract players not to appear in concert dress). Fabulous to see the whole orchestra on stage at the end of Das Rheingold with Tony Pappano and hear the support and appreciation from the audience. The ROH orchestra are asking people to sign their petition: https://www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/royal-opera-house-give-us-back-our-10 I think there’ll be similar dress/requests for support tomorrow evening.
  23. JohnS
    Many thanks for this Irmgard. I’d just say that as soon as amplification is used, the balance is contingent on where you’re sitting. If relatively close to one of the speakers, the experience is very different compared to a central position. I appreciate that sitting close to percussion or brass can also be problematic for balance but speakers seem to my ears far too dominating. My brother, a music teacher, and I thought Les Noces very difficult to take sitting in Stalls F28/29.
  24. JohnS
    Would be good to know the spend on consultants, what’s been delivered, and whether the work could have better delivered by in house teams.
  25. JohnS
    I enjoyed Our Voices, with Four Last Songs head and shoulders above the other two pieces. And I very much agree with Henry’s post above. Madeleine Pierard was particularly engaging on stage acknowledging and interacting with the dancers. I saw the matinee from the middle of the first circle and I found I was drawn to the soprano at key points and so rather missed the dancers. In the evening I was in the stalls on the far left hand side and so I was looking across the stage to the soprano with the dancers well insight. A fortunate choice and the choreography was attractive, enhancing the music although I do think it would have been interesting if ‘At Dusk’ had been an extended pdd as it’s clearly a couple albeit plus the two larks. And how refreshing to hear the soprano to my right rather than have distorted music coming at me from the left hand speaker as was the case with Les Noces and I thought in the Tchaikovsky. I still struggle to understand why there is any amplification at all given the voices on stage and the resources in the orchestra pit. Surely Gavin Sutherland should have the final say on what’s best but I’d be surprised if he were happy with what was provided. I didn’t warm to the Balenchine as I thought I would although the evening cast certainly had more panache than the matinee. The Stravinsky is hard going, not helped by the huge difference between the programme note and the synopsis on the cast sheet stuck on the wall. Whilst there’s much of interest in the Programme, I do wonder why some items are included with no explanation. I’m a great admirer of Rilke but his ‘Closing Piece’ and ‘And this is longing …’ are simply printed without comment. I’m very tempted to see how the Don Q General Rehearsal runs and nip over to Sadler’s Wells for ‘Four Last Songs’ although I don’t think I’d do that on Saturday evening and Opening Night.
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