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Lizbie1

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  1. Lizbie1
    Apologies if this has already been posted elsewhere, but there's a lovely picture of Beatriz Stix-Brunell and Mayara Magri in Tuesday's Times: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/news-in-pictures-tuesday-december-18-2018-62768tgpz?shareToken=0cbc133cbda0c987fde6c5cd1dae2cff (Scroll down; I hope the sharing link works.)
  2. Lizbie1
    I think you're allowed a certain (low) number of free premium articles per week or month.
  3. Lizbie1
    I think this refers to Mark Monahan's equivalent article - I can't find it in the links, so here it is: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/dance/what-to-see/year-proved-royal-ballet-has-problem-women-2018-dance/ I'm not in general a fan of Monahan's reviews but I agree 100% with his central argument in this piece: that women choreographers are egregiously under-represented at the RB, and that it would matter a lot less if more of their commissions from male choreographers were up to scratch. (Sorry, I'm aware that this is off topic.)
  4. Lizbie1
    Article is online now: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opera/what-to-see/forget-eno-another-company-deserves-called-national-opera/
  5. Lizbie1
    What a good idea!
  6. Lizbie1
    Sorry, I'm not particularly familiar with Cats, but I thought that Victoria, who the article says Hayward will be playing, *is* the White Cat - it also says Taylor Swift is playing Bombalurina, who IIRC is red. But I could be wrong!
  7. Lizbie1
    Thanks - doesn't look like it's online (yet).
  8. Lizbie1
    Where is that from? I can't find it in the online version of his Hansel and Gretel review.
  9. Lizbie1
    I've just had notice from Munich that Shklyarov won't be appearing in Kameliendame on 26th January for "production-related reasons". Jonah Cook is "currently rehearsing" the role, though they've stopped short of confirming him - I'd be very interested in seeing him.
  10. Lizbie1
    My beef is with misinformation, for example Hayward being still listed for 2 Pigeons long after it was publicly known that she wouldn’t be appearing. I don’t understand why, if they were still waiting to confirm Naghdi, this wasn’t replaced with a TBC.
  11. Lizbie1
    The last I saw of the idea was in this piece: https://www.gramilano.com/2015/09/kevin-ohare-interview-its-an-exciting-time-for-the-royal-ballet/. There was already some considerable loosening of the criteria, and the money men might have seen it off by now anyway.
  12. Lizbie1
    I think you've hit the nail on the head there! It's a very odd review - he seems so cross about finding nothing to fault with the show itself that he spends about half of the space complaining about something else. I can't remember when I last saw five stars given so grudgingly.
  13. Lizbie1
    I love Queen of Spades, but the combination of doubtful casting and high prices means I'm giving it a miss. I might be wrong, but I don't think Cosi has the same popularity in this country as the other da Ponte/Mozart operas, and with Thomas Allen being the only recognisable (to me!) name in the cast, I can see why it would sell slowly. As others have said, La Traviata has been treated as a cash cow for a number of seasons, and while there's nothing precisely wrong with the Eyre production, I find it dull - time to replace it? The casting this year is better than previous years at least, but I don't think it merits the prices! I think there are two main things amiss with the Royal Opera: the Kasper Holten legacy, which I suspect has beneath the surface done some financial harm, which they are trying to recoup through cutting corners, overcharging for certain productions and scaling back planned new works and productions; and lazy casting - too often revivals are either cast on autopilot or with whoever happens to be available. KH has gone; will Peter Katona's reign as Casting Director ever end? Mods: sorry if this is too much opera talk, please move if you like!
  14. Lizbie1
    Sorry, I should have said that I assumed that's what you meant!
  15. Lizbie1
    I wouldn't resent it if so many of the new commissions - and their obligatory second outings - which fill them weren't so duff. "Classic" mixed bills, like the forthcoming Les Patineurs/Winter Dreams/The Concert one or the wonderful all-Ashton triples, aside, there's usually only one part I'm interested in, if that. New commissions just aren't a good enough bet to get me there, and I'm sure that applies to many more casual ballet goers too. (The low, low prices don't really entice me either - getting there in the first place incurs time, hassle and a late night for me.) The Unknown Soldier triple was an automatic "no"*, and while I'm toying with signing up for the Within the Golden Hour/new Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui/Flight Pattern triple, it's only the latter which would get me there: I like Golden Hour well enough, but wouldn't "get out of bed" for it. *I can catch Symphony in C in the Firebird triple
  16. Lizbie1
    Perhaps because there's joy in seeing a "straight" dancer letting their hair down and taking on these roles - a bit like Ian McKellen playing Widow Twankey. Another idea: in the vein of the Ashton/MacMillan pairing, how about Wheeldon/McGregor? (That isn't a serious suggestion.)
  17. Lizbie1
    I must be getting old: that's my second Nutcracker this year, after NB's at Woking, and the second time I've welled up at the pdd in Act I - today I was a bit of a shambles by the end of the Snowflakes Waltz and the SPF pdd as well. I never used to be a blubber, but the happy stuff is doing it consistently of late - Two Pigeons is going to be a trial! Just a few things to add to what's already been said by others: Max Maslen was very dashing as Clara's dancing partner; Yasuo Atsuji gives terrific Prince; thanks to Koen Kessels for some gorgeous syrupy portamenti in Clara and the Nutcracker Prince's Act I pdd (some might call it cheesy, but those people are wrong); and how wonderful to see dancers of the stature of Delia Mathews and Celine Gittens as Clara's mother and the Arabian dancer respectively - not only for the quality they bring, but because it gives a feeling of specialness to what could have been treated as a run-of-the-mill Sat Mat. As for the leading ladies: Laura Purkiss was radiant as Clara and Samara Downs an excellent SPF. Loved this afternoon's performance - I'll be back next year for certain.
  18. Lizbie1
    Going to tomorrow's matinee - my first BRB Nutcracker. Can't wait!
  19. Lizbie1
    Typically, any new development work will go through several stages of testing to try to eliminate any unforeseen problems with it, including being put on what's called a staging environment, which mimics as far as possible the "live" (real) website to make sure it doesn't do something drastic like make the whole thing go down; only when these hurdles have been cleared is it "released" so that it's on the public website. Very often there are specific windows (sometimes only once a month) when this last can happen, as it can be a little like performing surgery: there are protocols involved and you need to have the right people on hand if things go wrong to make fixes or if necessary "roll back" to the last version. I know it sounds long winded, but many serious problems are averted by following this procedure; though it does make me wonder if they're following it how on earth some of the rubbish we've seen already on the new website slipped the net. Increasingly there's a move to being a lot more flexible about all this, but you need the right systems and people to do that successfully; all the evidence points to the ROH not being in that position. I agree that talk of "releasing the code" isn't very helpful! p.s. I'm not an expert on the subject, but I think what I've said is broadly correct and reflects standard practice.
  20. Lizbie1
    Not upset - and I wasn’t aiming it at you, Fiz, but sometimes (seldom on this forum and certainly not on this occasion) I am given pause by the habit. I thought it worth mentioning because I think sometimes we’re unaware of how our innocent words can come across.
  21. Lizbie1
    I'd widen that to using first names only in general - and occasionally it can tip over into sounding creepy IMO.
  22. Lizbie1
    It's worse than that: it's unprofessional, discourteous and arrogant of the ROH to allow this situation to continue. Bluebird, when you finally work out which are the correct dates, they'd better not charge a fee for exchanging or returning the ones you don't want!
  23. Lizbie1
    I was reading an old Ballet Association report from 2013 the other day, which contained this from Jonathan Cope: "So far Kevin’s is a different approach, letting the people concerned put on the ballets and leaving it more to them, whereas Monica was very much in the studio putting over her ideas and also with the staging." (From http://www.balletassociation.co.uk/Reports/2013/McGorian_Cope13.html) If that's still the case, perhaps it's time to change tack. But that's not the only problem: the choice of choreographers, even when allowed to stray outside the near stranglehold of Wheeldon, McGregor and Scarlett, is so often uninspired! It feels mean to say it, but what has Marriott achieved that he merited a main stage RB commission? And is it really so difficult to get hold of Cathy Marston? Even when big names with fine reputations are brought in, Crystal Pite aside, the RB doesn't seem to bring out their best work. Why is that?
  24. Lizbie1
    I’ve just had another look, and the most I paid for this (my habitual) price band in the last two seasons was £17 for Sleeping Beauty and the new Swan Lake (though it’s possible last year’s Nutcracker, which I skipped, cost more).
  25. Lizbie1
    I haven’t done a thorough analysis, but the seats I plan to book for Romeo and Juliet will be £21 for matinee and evening alike and are still in the same price band as they were for Giselle (£12 matinee, £14 evening) and Manon (£12 matinee, not sure about evening) last season. So that’s at least a 50% price rise in the same band and for a similar category of production of comparable popularity. They were placed in a higher category for Swan Lake, but I’m hoping that was a one-off.
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