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Lizbie1

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Everything posted by Lizbie1

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. I understand the frustration and that the comments above were not entirely serious, but while we don't know what the underlying cause of the website problem is, it's a bit unfair to say the whole team should be got rid of. Websites like this are complicated things and very often it's hard to diagnose what's going wrong, especially when there appears to be no rhyme or reason as to who is affected - they could well be struggling to replicate the problem and are therefore working in the dark. I get that the "advice" may look like they're blaming the end users but I very much doubt that's the case: while they try to find a fix they're just giving tips that will at least help some people. Would we prefer that they just say tough luck, come back in six months?
  5. IIRC someone upthread* mentioned seeing Ashton references - Symphonic Variations specifically - in Four Last Songs. I thought I caught a Monotones II reference in the men's pirouettes. It's funny how these choreographers make such an impression that either we or choreographers or both can't escape them (not that you'd want to). *Edited to add that I can't find this in the thread so presumably it was in a review.
  6. My one real gripe about the programme is the amplification of the violin solos. I don't understand why it was thought necessary.
  7. Back before Covid I stayed in Paris to see four PO and POB performances and all four were cancelled in this way. All was not lost as I ate very well and caught up on a few museums On another trip (just before Covid stopped everything) one POB performance was cancelled and one went ahead but with a statement read out at the start; I was also at the Opera Comique on the same trip and a similar statement had a "mixed reception". I think sympathy was beginning to run short by then.
  8. IIRC at least two weeks' notice is required, unless the employer agrees to cut that to one week (I don't know why they would).
  9. I look at this page more often than I should admit to: https://theopera101.com/operaabc/runningtimes/ - NB you can sort by length!
  10. This is heretical stuff but I find most Mozart operas too long and could live without Puccini. Verdi, however...!
  11. Agree - La Traviata is IMO the best opera for beginners. I agree with the comments above about Cav/Pag and L'elisir d'amore. Casting for Cav looks good but I've no idea about most of the Pag singers; L'elisir d'amore is very well cast.
  12. The previous Bath show had a staged version of Britten's Phaedra in the first half (I can remember this because the mezzo Christine Rice made it to the bar during the interval!) followed by Minotaur. It is indeed a small venue but they used the stage very cleverly.
  13. I saw Minotaur first time around in Bath and it's very good.
  14. GWR have published their timetables - it might be worth seeing if your train companies have a dedicated strike page and checking there (sorry if you've already done so).
  15. Are they RB or Rambert? I had thought the latter for the most part. I've often thought ENB could be filling that particular void.
  16. I don't know why we've got onto the subject of Onegin. I know people love it and the RB do it well but it can't be counted as an RB "heritage work".
  17. On the bright side... maybe this season's hated price increases will create headroom for some more interesting programming. Which leads me to ask: would people posting here - I'm not interested in second guessing the general public - be prepared to pay Swan Lake prices for a bill reviving some of the older RB works mentioned? I would!
  18. Possible but reprehensible. Edited to add: the conflation of mainstream Ukrainian opinion with "NATO" is careless at best. And it's news to me that NATO has 141 members.
  19. I thought that this recent article (about football) offered a very persuasive answer to the argument that sport - and by extension the arts - should not be held to a higher standard than governments. "Not being able to heat your home is suffering. Cowering as the bombers fly over your school is suffering. Being imprisoned and tortured is suffering. Going a few years without winning a cup is not."
  20. Thank you to everyone who posts about strike announcements here. I'm lucky enough to have a good coach service to London as a (less convenient but cheaper) alternative to the train. I normally hear the strike news here first, allowing me to book a coach ticket in the few precious hours before they put the price up.
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