Lizbie1

By chance I've just seen that a pair of Stalls tickets has become available - £59 each. Be quick!

14 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

I'm one of those people who is put off seeing this production by the blood. I don't see the point of getting a listening-only seat though. It's much easier & cheaper to listen to a CD or radio broadcast.

Personally I find being there in person with unamplified music you get a completely different type of sound: it's a full-body thing, compared to recorded or amplified music, which only really "hits" my ears, unless it's overamplified in which case it's just unpleasant. I will compromise on a lot and spend a lot more money to get the former.

30 minutes ago, Blossom said:

Rojo’s Raymonda is enjoyable despite being a completely different storyline. The best thing about the production is that it keeps the spectacular music alive (albeit rearranged), given it is not performed widely (Denmark and Netherlands are the only full productions I have been able to find outside of Russia which is not currently an option).

POB were due to dance it before strikes and/or Covid intervened, I can't remember which. Also I think that Vienna has a production?

Aren't we straying into speculation territory here?

19 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

Sleeping Beauty overlapped with Coppelia in 2019/20 so perhaps it's that you're thinking of rather than the Nutcracker?

Could be!

6 minutes ago, San Perregrino said:

That would be the obvious man triumphs over monster macho fight, the St George slays the dragon etc

Much more subtle is the girl power of the massed swans rising up in revenge for Odile’s death.

Perhaps Liam Scarlett foresaw that times were changing and so gave us this seemingly unconventional ending. 

I think there's a medium to be struck. Having Siegfried just lie there risks making him look useless and not worth Odette's time. It's also unintentionally comic.

21 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

There was no Nutcracker in 2019/20 when Coppelia was on last. Did you mean Cinderella rather than Coppelia?

I didn't - must have been mistaken!

8 minutes ago, jmhopton said:

I suppose Onegin could be before Christmas (they need something a bit 'meaty' and dramatic to offset Alice and Cinderella) or might possibly be just after Christmas. I'm hoping for before Christmas as I always worry about post Christmas performances not selling well, especially for a ballet not so well known. Also, coming from a distance,  I always worry about public transport being affected by the weather (just one more excuse in the Avanti repertoire of excuses).

It was post Christmas last time and I think it sold well. Can't be sure though!

1 hour ago, Linnzi5 said:

Thank you for this. So, opening with Alice, Cinderella instead of Nutcracker (damn, I'll be spending more then!) and R &J in the Spring. I wonder when Onegin might be then?

We could have Nutcracker as well. Coppelia was programmed as well as Nutcracker last time.

Just now, JNC said:

Is it just as bad not in the first row?

 

I certainly felt safer once I'd taken a few steps back from my chair!

6 minutes ago, alison said:

 

I tried it once, for Don Quixote back in the Stretton era. Never again! I had to leave after 5 to 10 minutes ☹️

The first time was a bit alarming but I adjusted after a few minutes and don't give it a thought now. Having had vertigo temporarily once I do sympathise with those who can't stick it.

Much worse IMO is the front row of the Paris Opera Garnier top tier: I made it through the performance but did NOT adjust to that.

11 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Oui....I believe @Lizbie1 counted, or made a rough count. 

I was aware of the size difference - that POB is a very large company by most standards is hardly a secret - but did a count to check. 

4 minutes ago, Mary said:

Did you see a more recent run?

Yes, much more recent - five years ago, the Ball run.

11 hours ago, Fonty said:

I adore Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, I find it incredibly moving.  But I can understand why people who were expecting a ballet might be a bit startled.   I think having all male swans rather than all female ones is a terrific concept.  We are so used to seeing them as beautiful and graceful.  Bourne emphasises their power.

I wasn't expecting a ballet but I was expecting something more choreographically inventive (and better danced TBH). I agree he has some very good ideas and insights.

Like some others who've posted, I have a lot of respect for MB so don't want to badmouth him, but I've tried him several times and have to conclude he's not for me.

10 hours ago, Emeralds said:

In the UK system, Royal Ballet and English National Ballet are probably equivalent size wise to the Paris Opera.

This is not so. ENB has ~70 dancers on the payroll and the RB has ~100 (including Aud Jebsen and character dancers). Paris has about 150.

13 minutes ago, Amelie-DALP said:

When you're a Premier danseur/Première danseuse, you only have one certainty: you will never go back to the corps de ballet. But you have no certainty of dancing lead roles. You are "remplaçant" for the lead roles and you dance supporting roles: Hilarion, the Queen of the Dryads, Myrtha, Gamzatti, Lescaut (some Étoiles can dance these last three roles as well), Effie, the three Shades, the pas de trois from Swan Lake or Paquita, Kitri's two friends, the equivalent of soloist roles (and not Principals) in Balanchine's ballets...

This reminds me of the one and only (chance!) conversation I have had with a POB dancer, before I knew anything about the ranks there. She said she'd just been performing in Swan Lake and was a Sujet. I asked "petit cygne?" and was politely but firmly corrected, "grand cygne."

9 minutes ago, Angela said:

We know how hard it is to learn German, we don't laugh or get offended if anyone makes the effort. On the contrary, we admire you! Most websites of German theatres have an English version to help you with the basics.

This is my experience - a little German goes a long way. My German is very ropey these days so I often revert to English after an intial attempt and have never been made to feel bad about it. As long as you're polite about it and don't just assume everyone speaks English you'll be fine.

3 hours ago, myrtle said:

 

Sorry what is the ballot system?   Is it a Munich only thing?   Thank you in advance

It's probably best to quote their own website:

AT ANY TIME FROM PUBLICATION OF THE SCHEDULE

You can easily place binding orders in writing as of now using the online form on the online schedule.

Three months before the performance date, all orders will be processed and half of all available tickets will be allocated. If demand exceeds the available ticket contingent, tickets will be allocated at random. If we are unable to fulfill your ticket request, we will notify you in writing. Orders can only be cancelled as long as processing has not yet begun.

https://www.staatsoper.de/en/ticket-info

i.e. they choose the seat for you from the price band(s) you have specified.

The remaining half are made available online etc. from two months before.

It's been a while since I've been to Munich but some of what I've quoted above feels new: I don't remember their saying before that half of tickets are held back. I could be mistaken, however!

6 minutes ago, Roberta said:

"A trained cellist, Claire studied music at Southampton University before embarking on her career into arts administration."

 

An example from this very forum this week of a person trained in a 'performing art' who has gone on to make a career NOT performing, though her in-depth knowledge gained via her music degree is what surely began it. 

Studying music at Southampton University is very different to "training in a performing art", which happens at a conservatoire such as RCM, GSMD, etc. Putting it in probably oversimplified terms, it's similar to the difference between studying history of art and going to art college.

She is unlikely to have had any expectations of a performing career on the back of her degree alone. To have one the usual route would be to go on to postgraduate studies at a conservatoire. (I studied music.)

9 minutes ago, Roberta said:

The wider implications of all this downgrading of creative subjects also appear to have been ignored by politicians.

 

Where will educated, informed, enthusiastic, appreciative audiences (I include in this attendees to theatres, concerts, exhibitions, museums, treasure houses in the care of the National Trust, in fact cultural offerings in many forms, long list) appear from if people aren't encouraged to see, from a young age, the value and joy of these things, and that joy belongs to all? 

 

No audience, no revenue, no jobs.  This will massively impact the economy adversely. A great British success story damaged beyond repair. 

 

I have a lot of conflicting thoughts on this subject but I'm not sure this kind of claim hangs together.  In the last few decades there has been a huge expansion of vocational courses in creative subjects in tertiary education but I don't see a corresponding increase in either amateur participants or audience members.

This may be at least partly down to primary and secondary schools downgrading performing arts but that is not the subject at hand here. And for the record, cultural development of young minds was not as standard in earlier generations as I sometimes see claimed here: my primary school in the 80s had a nativity play, some occasional movement-to-tape sessions - laughably labelled "drama" - and we were sometimes plonked in front of Music Time, which was enough to put anyone off for life. That was it. There were no school trips to anywhere more culturally enriching than Thorpe Park. If your primary school offered more, you were lucky.

15 hours ago, FionaM said:

The sightlines in Munich opera house are pretty good from stalls as well as circles.  There is a good stagger   Personally I avoid the first few rows else (like ROH and many other opera houses) you’ll not see the dancers’ feet. 

I'm not so sure about the view from the circles at Munich - I was once pretty central but a couple of rows back and I had no view of some fairly crucial action going on at the sides in Kameliendame. Depending on degree, further round (with the possible exception of the front row) is, IMO, strictly for opera. The ballot system doesn't help, either.

@TSR101 I'm not entirely sure what it is that you want. Is it that casting shouldn't be posted here until published on the website, or that discount codes sent to a subset of Friends should be shared here?

(I'm not trying to make a point, I'm just curious.)

6 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Oh, that is annoying. I can't help wondering cynically if someone saw an opportunity for getting a little extra income for the ROH with all the £4 exchange fees! 

I suspect the £4 is a fair reflection of the cost of (manually) processing refund requests so I'd be very surprised if this were the case.

1 minute ago, Roberta said:

 

And yet at Glyndebourne this is actively encouraged! 😉

Except that at Glyndebourne if you want a table and haven't brought your own you pay a charge for one of theirs.

1 minute ago, Geoff said:

That reads like - perhaps logical but nonetheless - assumption, rather than house rules. Or have you seen any such signs over the years? I haven’t ever seen one. Hence my question about rules. 

Maybe the number of people unaware of what might previously have been considered well-understood etiquette has made them feel a "rule" was needed?

There are plenty of unspoken rules when going theatres like ROH, such as keeping coughing and unnecessary noise to a minimum. People here often lament that ROH doesn't work hard enough to promote good behaviour and police bad. I don't think it's such a bad thing that patrons of the bars and café should now stand a better chance of getting a table.