Lizbie1

I've seen it happen before (hence searching this time). I imagine it has to be announced by a certain date to allow schools and then the relevant ROH department to go through the necessary steps. It does frustrate me that ROH are never in much of a hurry to announce but I assume they would argue - especially in the current climate - that they need to be able to adjust their plans according to box office receipts. And as discussed further up the thread, the announcements might fall later in years where the ACE multi-year funding allocations are made.

No surprises but a couple of ballets confirmed for next season here: https://www.roh.org.uk/schools/school-matinees

Oh Lord, not them again!

And Sissens was cast in Symphonic Variations - very memorably! - in his second (?) season IIRC.

Yes, I know what it looks like - I did say it's my favourite! But there are other examples of wonderful costumes that defy this rule, such as the red dresses in Marguerite and Armand, and Onegin, or do you consider these to be "not one colour"? Because if so it feels like the goalposts are shifting - and by this definition those Act 1 costumes are also not one colour, but two chief colours and a range in between.

I disagree strongly! Such a "rule" would do away with my favourite tutu of all (the yellow Scènes de Ballet one).

In summary! Gripes first: Like most people, I don't like the Act 1 fairy costumes, mostly because they're ugly and the length looks wrong. The Act 3 transformation is weirdly noisy compared to Act 1. I don't like the bouffant hair for many of the men and I have a strong aversion to (in this case Cinderella's father's) coloured spectacles, they're creepy. Kaneko's Act 3 tutu stood too proud - though I thought all the others were fine. (The stars' tutus, which have had some criticism, looked similar in shape to those in the early film I've seen. Presumably they were good enough for Ashton.) Things others have reacted strongly against which don't bother me: The bright lights at the start: some children around me loved this bit. If the lights bother you (and they didn't me) just look away. I thought the children accompanying the season fairies looked jolly. I even liked the dandelion! The pumpkin "trick" was very effective IMO. I was trying to work out how many people would have been affected by the Cinderella entrance sightline issue. Have they made changes? If not, I'm surprised if it's a problem for many people, though of course everyone should be able to see this moment clearly. Someone said the overhead lift down the stairs looked dangerous (sorry, can't remember who). Has anyone come a cropper? I can think of more dangerous things (e.g. the notorious slide in the Manon bedroom pdd - has that been modified?). Wellington and Napoleon were OK even on repeated viewing and got plenty of laughs from around me. I saw three pairings and they were all wonderful in different ways so I'm not going to add to what's alread been said about them. Among the other parts, Annette Buvoli really stood out, as did the Gartside/Hay sisters. (I realise I'm not breaking new ground here!) I also thought the corps looked pin-sharp. There have been some negative comparisons to Disney and Frozen and Wicked. I've never knowingly seen a Disney film (charmed life) and you'd have to pay me to watch Frozen or Wicked, but here's the thing: the general public like Disney and Frozen and Wicked. If we want them to start liking ballet too, it's not a bad idea to meet them some of the way. Anyway I loved it and am sad that I can't see any more performances this run.

But much of the audience won't arrive with any of our preconceptions about what it should look like and don't have to grow an interpretation. It's a simple fairytale that everyone knows the plot of. It's not tricky!

I like the look of the Shifting Symettries programme.

Loved it!

Paranoia leads me always to keep the confirmation screen (including booking reference) open until the confirmation email arrives.

Does anyone know when booking will open for the September SW run? It's not on the ENB website (it just says "Spring") but ENB Friends sometimes get told such things. Specifically, I'd quite like to know whether there will be Saturday matinees.

I'm confused now! They're roughly the same capacity, but the Coliseum holds about 100 people more than ROH IIRC. @Benjamin, I'm sorry if you think we're getting at you, but you make quite a few assertions that aren't necessarily true! You do make me laugh though, so please don't go away.

Just noticed this error on the RBS show page: RUNNING TIME The performance lasts approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes, including an interval. APPROXIMATE RUNNING TIMES: Act I: 1 hour 10 minutes Interval: 25 minutes Act II: 1 hour 5 minutes

Actually - I might be being slightly unfair here as RB stated timings are typically on the generous side (to allow for late starts?) and include curtain calls.

Not just Balanchine...

The timings when the RB did it in 2017 were: Emeralds 35 minutes Rubies 20 minutes Diamonds 35 minutes Plus two intervals, each of 25 minutes. (I don't know if "1 interval" is an error, it seems strange.) So it's 90 minutes plus interval(s), though the George Balanchine Trust website thinks it should be 81 minutes of dancing.

To expand on my experience: I only clicked the "buy" button at 9.02 (got delayed by work!) and then waited in the queue for 10 minutes. By the time I was through at 9.12, most remaining tickets were nosebleed/restricted but a few slightly better ones were still available. I don't begrudge the scarceness of tickets for public booking as it seems right to me that parents and RBS Friends take priority. (To be clear, ROH Friends did not get priority booking for the RBS show.)

I was a couple of minutes late to join booking (got distracted by a minor work emergency) so had a nervous 10 minute wait while I queued for the RBS performance, which opened this morning for everyone not RBS-affiliated, including Friends. Not many tickets left by the time I got there but I'm happy to have got anything frankly! The process worked fine for me - it's been a while since it didn't.

I've had plenty of experience of booking systems both in the UK and abroad, and (though of course there are things I'd change) I can honestly say the ROH one is among the clearest and most intuitive. And as BBB says, queueing is pretty standard when booking opens anywhere. I think what makes us so critical of the ROH system here is that we are aware of the competition for certain tickets and any delay makes us anxious. Most venues offering ballet and opera don't, alas, have the same pressure, so it doesn't bother us as much. I'd also much rather have the ROH system than the somewhat old-fashioned set-up at Munich and Stuttgart - there are probably others - whereby you get your request in by a certain date, specifying a band, and you are then allocated (if you are lucky) a ticket without having any say about the seats. Only after that process is online booking opened.

Selling out a performance is not the same thing as maximising revenue. If the house is 5% unsold but at prices 10% higher than would have sold out the house, all other things being equal they have achieved a higher box office take. (I know that this doesn't account for other things such as bar revenues, as well as intangibles.) I wish it were otherwise but it seems likely this is part of their calculation. There is a risk of falling the wrong side of the equation but they would have balanced that against the less obvious risk of leaving money on the table. The was an interview with the late Chairman of the ROH board, where he said that the speed with which the last Ring sold out indicated to him that the prices were set too low. I think he was missing the point in a few ways, but I couldn't say that he was incorrect.

Furthermore, isn't it the widely observed custom that dancers approach the potential new company - as they are fully entitled to do! - rather than the other way around? In this respect, ballet companies go further than any workplace I can think of to avoid accusations of poaching well-trained and highly regarded people.

I don't know how it's edited for the live performance, but typically don't they film several performances before the live one in case there is footage required from it? If so, there would be continuity problems if they make changes. Also I imagine the director will presumably have a plan for the scene in question which it might be impossible to revisit in time. I agree though that I am likely clutching at straws.

Possibly (though not probably?) they are waiting until after the live broadcast to fix it.

Some people have mentioned the discontinuation of packages here, so I thought it might be interesting to throw in what Paris Opera have done. Their subscription model has been substantially rejigged, with discounts varying not according to where you are sitting in the house - this season there were no discounts for the lower tiers - but to what show you are booking: four of them (all operas) attract a 25% discount; thirteen (including some ballets) attract 15%; the rest have no discount. This is if you are booking for four or five shows; if you are booking for six or more, the discounts are 30%, 20% and 5% respectively. From my point of view this is a welcome innovation and I'd like to see ROH adopting something similar.