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Lizbie1

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Everything posted by Lizbie1

  1. Lizbie1
    But others here aren't?
  2. Lizbie1
    You say this, but I am given to understand by some posters here that running a large ballet company against strong economic headwinds is actually a relatively straightforward affair. It is a mystery how so many of our large arts organisations are currently having similar problems, they must all just be very badly managed!
  3. Lizbie1
    I suppose it's partly because none of these works has been performed recently and they might not have started rehearsals yet. I don't know who's staging them but could it be that the MacMillan estate wants to have a good look at some dancers first? On the whole the RB is exceptionally good at providing advance casting for lead roles. I can't really be angry at this delay (frustrated, yes!) because most other companies would be nowhere near publishing casts at this stage.
  4. Lizbie1
    Very interesting to read the Bartok scepticism as he's one of those composers I like more in theory than in practice. (And here I'll own up to not liking Stravinsky in either theory or practice - IMO, the more he's "borrowing" from other styles, composers or sources, the better his music.)
  5. Lizbie1
    Very pleased about Osipova being cast in the Isadora Duncan waltzes, presumably we'll also see her in London in this.
  6. Lizbie1
    Those constraints - and the smaller stages they'll be using - put me in mind of the early days of home-grown British ballet, so with that in mind I'll start with Tudor's Lilac Garden - though I'm pushing it to the limit for numbers (12 in total I read?).
  7. Lizbie1
    I probably have an Osipova bias, but as with her substitution of pique turns for fouettes in Swan Lake a few years back, I think certain dancers get to the stage where they have pretty much earned the right to make their own decisions in some respects. Osipova has probably forgotten more about Don Q than most dancers will ever learn. Incidentally, Peter Wright singled her out as a dancer who was very receptive to taking direction in Giselle - much more so than Cojocaru IIRC.
  8. Lizbie1
    Isn't it the point that he's simply reminding trustees of what their obligations are under existing law? I'd hope that before accepting the role they'd have familiarised themselves with this kind of thing. And "questionable" is very subjective! What, for example, the ROH trustees might consider dirty money* (e.g. BP sponsorship) could be perfectly acceptable to the vast majority of the charity's intended beneficiaries (the audience), especially if for example it helped with ticket prices. So what right do trustees have to turn it down on their behalf? *Edited to add: there is a clear exemption, stated in the Telegraph report, for money gained from illegal activities: 'Charities are required under the law to accept donations unless they can justify that doing so would cause damage to its reputation, or that the money was gained illegally.'
  9. Lizbie1
    ...and a non-paywalled report of the same https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/nov/09/charities-must-have-good-reason-to-reject-donations-says-head-of-england-regulator
  10. Lizbie1
    There was some discussion on this thread about charities (including the ROH?) turning down BP money - it looks like the Charity Commission isn't pleased about this: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/net-zero/charities-reject-fossil-fuel-donations-regulator-intervene '[The chair of the Charity Commission] pledged to crack down on the “squeamishness” of charities that refuse or return financial support “without very good reason” and added that “significant” justification was required for organisations to say no to a donation. 'The Charity Commission is now working up fresh guidance to “support trustees in their decision-making”.'
  11. Lizbie1
    Antony Tudor?
  12. Lizbie1
    Saw the Robbins bill last night, but left at the interval (only because I was very tired and I've seen The Concert relatively recently). I really enjoyed En sol and In the Night, and thought POB looked a lot more comfortable in these than they had in the Balanchine bill back in (?)February.
  13. Lizbie1
    I had one cancelled too this week, at Naples (in my case I'm in Italy anyway).
  14. Lizbie1
    Is there anything that we can't find a way to moan about here?
  15. Lizbie1
    I sometimes think I need a name for the feeling of simultaneous relief and disappointment when an an announcement means there's nothing extra I want to come up to London for.
  16. Lizbie1
    Seconded! A short running time has tipped the balance for me several times, and I speak as someone for who most of the time and expense is spent travelling.
  17. Lizbie1
    Good thing I'm not planning on seeing Swan Lake this season! I see that there is one less price band in the Amphi than for the MacMillan bill, and it looks like the missing band is very far down the order. I would not be at all surprised if the front amphi sides are £55.
  18. Lizbie1
    It was definitely going on in Paris (Bastille) in July. I was rather surprised!
  19. Lizbie1
    I think the Hippodrome trialled this a few years ago before Covid - I would have been watching WNO. I can't remember it causing any real disturbance.
  20. Lizbie1
    It's a lovely theatre and a lovely summery festival. When I went the "bell" to recall everyone milling around outside before curtain up was a brass fanfare from the balcony - the idea borrowed from Bayreuth I think.
  21. Lizbie1
    I've seen quite a lot of empty seats at the Bastille for some operas. I agree that the Garnier gets a lot of tourist traffic.
  22. Lizbie1
    Isn't it related to why gymnasts are nearly always short? Google suggests this helps with "rotational skills" - I suppose that means logically that if your extremities are further from their axis they have more distance to travel, slowing you down.
  23. Lizbie1
    I do think that fewer alternatives is a big but underremarked factor when we start hand-wringing about relative audience numbers for opera and ballet in other countries.
  24. Lizbie1
    I agree, and obviously they need to fix it! And I've said several times that it was probably a serious mistake for the website to be developed in-house. But the team running it now is probably not very closely related to the team who developed it - which presents its own problems - and has to deal with the fallout from decisions made 5 years ago or more. The ROH as an organisation can be at fault without everyone in it being to blame.
  25. Lizbie1
    But do we know that the Don Q fiasco *was* an IT problem rather than a mistake by whoever looks after ticket prices? When an opera singer's name is mistakenly loaded into a ballet cast list, that wouldn't normally be down to IT, it's just a content editor screwing up (not helped by the lack of checks that goes with not having a proper workflow set-up - but that's another story). Without knowing who's responsible for loading prices into seat plans my assumption would be that this also is not within IT's remit.
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