Lizbie1

About Eugene Onegin: I wanted to check to be sure before I wrote this but Liparit Avetisyan sang Lensky's aria at an ROH gala in 2018 and was the highlight of the evening - I don't think I've heard it done better live and I am very fussy indeed about this number. I'm prepared to shut my eyes against the production in order to hear it again.

(My all time ideal is the pre-WW2 Lemeshev recording, which is a lot to compete with - I don't even particularly like his timbre but it's astonishingly expressive as well as being a technical marvel.)

6 minutes ago, LinMM said:

I’m not sure but think your “Well?” Lizbie 1 might be aimed at my post re the students. 

No it was about last night's performance - wish I could have been there!

Sorry for the confusion!

Well?

It's also going to be rather pricey: top price £270.

I haven't posted before because it's all been said so well by everyone else, but li tai po's posts made me think how wonderful it is that someone can post here and never let slip her close personal connections with and material contributions to the British ballet scene. It was plain that she knew an awful lot about ballet and went to many performances, but not once was there any bragging or pretension.

Some posters over the years have claimed great depth of knowledge (and were subsequently found out), or hinted at mysterious sources (which of course they were unable to reveal); Capybara's style was the exact opposite. We should all learn something from that.

@Emeralds: what about your assertion that the price has "nothing to do with the sets"?

When opera sets aren't on the minimal side they can be very complicated indeed, with scenery that has to move around ths stage while being safe for dancers to stand on, sets designed to revolve and therefore be seen from all angles, etc. I can't think of anything in ballet to compare with the Keith Warner Ring sets, just off the top of my head. I imagine the only ballet sets that would be equivalent in turns of outlay (without even touching on the vast crew needed to operate it) are something like the Macfarlane Swan Lake designs, and those are expected to see hundreds of performances unlike the tens that a Ring cycle would optimistically have.

I don't imagine the hydraulics for the tree in Nutcracker or the boat in Sleeping Beauty - I had the idea that this was a milk float type affair rather than hydraulics, maybe I'm mistaken - come close in terms of technical complexity. Perhaps you know better?

There's something a bit odd about some of the pricing - for example:

Figaro top price £245, slips £51 £24 £12

Tales of Hoffmann top price £300(!), slips £39 £22 £13

But very good to have that clarification about ballet casting, well done all who questioned their wording!

12 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Thanks. I was hoping for the 2h45 to include the curtain calls but I suppose as long as it doesn't go over the 3 hour mark I'll be okay for the train. (Are there any repertory ballets other than Giselle & Nutcracker that run significantly under 3 hours?!)

Depends what you mean by repertory but La Sylphide is notably short and therefore often paired with a one-acter, and Fille isn't much over two hours in its more usual two act incarnation.

13 minutes ago, JNC said:

when I did a tour of the ROH once, the tour guide explained the higher pricing for opera due to the sets being far more expensive than ballet sets. They said that ballet sets are mainly ornamental props/screens that don’t need to take the weight of people standing on them (think a painted backdrop).

This makes a lot of sense. I'd also add that the rate of churn of opera productions is a lot higher.

9 minutes ago, ellyb said:

I appreciate I shouldn't post anything without solid evidence, I'll refrain in future and leave it to others with more expertise. Apologies for the inconvenience. 

Please don't take this too strictly! It's just that when we start on dancers' priorities (and a few other areas) things can get a bit dicey.

I wonder if with the rise of international travel for ballet and opera more people are complaining about cast changes when certain dancers are affected and looking for compensation. Obviously the ROH is clear that there will be no such compensation, but they might be feeling increased pressure.

1 minute ago, JNC said:

No I think it’s just speculation, and I don’t think it makes sense logically. 

Thank you - in that case perhaps we should stop kicking it about as a possible reason. It can lead the discussion down dangerous paths IMO.

I'm seeing the suggestion here that this is related in some part to giving dancers more flexibility wrt guesting and galas. Is there any basis for this?

Just now, Sim said:

Oh?  That's the only one I can remember having been disastrous with the advance casting.  What did I miss, or, more likely, forget?!!

The Macmillan Triple was late - I certainly booked blind - and I think Dante was too? Winter's Tale was somewhat delayed but I can't be sure because I wouldn't have gone anyway. By the time the Ashton wasn't announced I wondered if this was a trend.

37 minutes ago, Sim said:

As I said at the start, I hope they are just covering themselves by saying 'where possible' because of the Ashton triple debacle (in case they can't announce in advance for whatever reason), and continue to announce well in advance as they always have done.

It wasn't just the Ashton though!

Some of us were challenged (fair enough!) when we expressed disappointment that the season announcement would happen so late this year. What I almost said then was that it was of a piece with a general sloppiness about timeliness that IMO has got conspicuously worse in the last few years. Another example is the now routinely delayed starts and restarts of performances; it felt too soon to add late ballet casting announcements to the list, but it now looks as if they've decided to jettison the principle of casting information being available in good time for the opening of Friends' booking. It seems like the organisation is increasingly unwilling to set itself challenging deadlines and stick to them, the main exception being having a production ready for opening night.

My job involves externally imposed and very rigid deadlines; if I missed them I would pretty soon be out of a job and my employer would suffer serious consequences. There are occasions when I have to work with parts of the company where it is clear that deadlines are considered optional at best. I fear that this is becoming the prevailing attitude in parts of the ROH/RBO. It is very discourteous to the people who they are there to serve.

8 minutes ago, San Perregrino said:

in a talk this morning Alex Beard said that in a survey of 'stakeholders' in the ROH, i.e. civil servants, ACE, sponsors etc only 2 out of 5 were cognisant of the ROH being about more than opera. it beggars belief I know. however, this is a major motivator for the name change and rebranding with a view to raising the profiles of, amongst those who can influence or fund. all three entities; the Royal Ballet, the Royal Opera and the ROH Orchestra. 

This is really shocking. It's these people's job to know this stuff.

22 minutes ago, MAB said:

 

If the ROH still publishes its annual accounts that should be easy to find out.

As a registered charity they have to but IIRC they don't shed any light on this. (I've often thought it strange how little clarity charities have to provide compared to PLCs.)

My favourite applause is when people are moved to applaud the sets when the curtain goes up, as it's so exceptional and because people (me included!) couldn't help themselves. I've only witnessed it with the current RB Swan Lake Act 3 and the RB's Raymonda Act 3 - and both are absolutely worth it.

I've often thought that when ACE spending allocations are announced the ROH gets a harder time than it should because the very conspicuous headline figure covers three entities (the theatre, the ballet company and the opera company). Perhaps one of the motives for the rebranding is making this a bit clearer.

For people worrying about the direction of travel of the RB's repertoire, Alex Beard's interview in the Times today perhaps offers some reassurance, depending on the way you look at it: he flatly rejects ACE's recent assertions about the place of older operas and ballets in the repertoire:

"The reason why they are great works is that they speak universal truths to everyone in a way that is off the scale...We see this all the time: it’s the reinterpretations of classics that draws first-timers into these extraordinary art forms."

(There's a bit more but I don't want to push it with quotations.)

It is interesting that the ballet programme is all from the last 100 years whereas the opera programme has a very retro feel to it. It sounds like the RB itself has driven the profile of 24/25.

10 minutes ago, lady emily said:

That font for the new logo is dreadful. 

I don't love it but it looks familiar, maybe I've seen similar on a poster from the 70s or something! They change it quite often, I'll doubt we'll have to put up with it for long.

I didn't think much of the current one when it arrived but I've got used to it.

58 minutes ago, Pas de Quatre said:

They are traditional style lacing strings for boned bodices, which can be at the front or the back depending on the design of the costume.   To me they look as if they are badly threaded as you can't see the proper criss- cross pattern.  How tight they should be pulled depends on the measurements of the dancer.  In the corps de ballet we would make a "train" with each girl lacing the one in front!

NOT in any corps de ballet but some years ago I had to wear this type of costume for a choir and we did the same, joining the front of the train as we were ready to be laced. It makes for a good photograph!

2 minutes ago, Sim said:

This was in the small print in the Friends email:

 

Pricing will be supplied separately, and ballet casting before booking closes. 

 

I hope this doesn't mean that casting won't be known prior to when booking opens as it always has been?!  I have always been hugely grateful to the RB for the advance casting.  I have even planned holidays around who I wanted to see dance.  I would have felt a lot better had it said 'before booking opens.'!

Yes it's not much of a promise! Booking (in person) closes a few minutes before curtain up surely?

1 hour ago, Jam Dancer said:

I agree but minor quibble - Giselle is a 2 acter and it’s also one of the reasons (minor) it is my favourite ballet …3 acters always make me go - surely they could’ve cut something 🙂. ..I know it’s bordering on scandalous thinking …

I agree with every word of this - no padding in Giselle and the same goes for Fille.