Lizbie1

I do wonder what the reception to the new-look house might have been had that Arts Professional article about ticket prices never appeared, or at least had it appeared without those rather injudicious quotes from the ROH. My view is that I don’t care much either way about the physical changes to the building, but it’s the other stuff which has left a sour taste: the needless tinkering with the cast list format; the ongoing confusion about cast changes - and enough posters have said they still find it a problem that we can’t argue that it isn’t one; the across-the-board price increases; the inept absence of limits on Forza ticket purchases; the expected late announcement of next season, which looks unprofessional; and most of all the many problems with the website. This all adds up IMO to an organisation which appears to have taken its eye off the ball. In answer to BBB’s question, I’m going as much as ever this year but as Penelope says it’s because if you want to “buy” the Royal Ballet or the Royal Opera you don’t have a choice: the ROH has an effective monopoly on the supply of them. What I have cut right down on is programmes, which I used to buy nearly routinely and now buy not at all; and refreshments, which I used to buy more than half the time and now buy rarely. I’m also a lot less likely to donate money in future and once the new season is announced I’ll renew my Friends membership grudgingly and only if I decide it’s worth it.

You could well be right but in a way that’s even worse - I’d rather have my five minutes back! Building late starts in is like adding excessive slack into a train timetable, putting your customers out so you can claim to have met a target without pushing yourself. It’s self-indulgence. After a while it also encourages people to cut it fine when arriving: in Russia, where lateness is endemic, the expectation was you could arrive 5 minutes late without fear of missing the start.

I think that delay amounted to about 15 minutes - do we know why the restart after the interval was also similarly late? (I do feel slightly churlish mentioning it as the evening was such an overall success.) ROH starts are now pretty consistently about 5 minutes late: other - large, less well equipped and fully-booked - theatres manage to start on time so I don’t understand why they can’t. I’m not sure that we can blame front of house either as I’ve not noticed people coming into the auditorium after the appointed start time in any numbers. (Sorry for being off-topic!)

Big disturbance mid-aria at this afternoon’s Berenice when a lady with a sides standing ticket was asked not to sit on the standing platform with her legs over the side towards the stage (difficult to explain unless you’re familiar with the set-up). She was very angry about it - I gather she claimed to have been told by the box office that there were stools available.

I enjoy reading Jann Parry’s reviews but sometimes I think she mistakes opinion for authority. Edited to add: I know she is an authority on MacMillan but isn’t it a large part of the MacMillan legend that he allows his dancers a great deal of freedom of interpretation?

Has anyone noticed the timings please? The Sadler's Wells website says 2h 30 - is that reasonably accurate?

I don't know if it's worse than usual but the effects have possibly been more noticeable because of the absence of some dancers on planned absences (such as Cats filming, Matthew Ball appearing in the NAMP Swan Lake and Bonelli's sabbatical).

Beautiful! It’s probably heretical to say it here but I think the Georgiadis RB designs have had their day and I was very pleased to hear that Juergen Rose would be designing the Stuttgart production. I’ve never seen a design by him that I didn’t love.

Assoluta, you appear to be suggesting that you on the contrary are in such a position, yet you offer no credentials or sources for your earlier statements. Without these, it's very difficult to treat what you have posted as anything other than rumour or conjecture rather than facts or evidence. Would you care to offer us some substance to back up your claims?

Me too on both counts: the Cherubino part on principle and the baroque opera part because a) on the whole (though not always) mezzos are better singers than the countertenors I've seen cast and b) I find the authenticity argument for casting countertenors pretty spurious. IMO if casting in that range were based purely on merit - as I believe it should be - there'd be quite a few underemployed countertenors. There are of course some excep to this. Can't believe Keenlyside is nearly 60!

I love The Bright Stream - its pure unlikely joy IMO. You could have made a much less wise impulse buy. I'm with you there, though he did give a very charming interview in the Friends magazine, where he said he'd be eternally happy with "viable" as a response.

I've just noticed that we now have a title: https://www.roh.org.uk/productions/medusa-by-sidi-larbi-cherkaoui (I don't think it's been posted here yet.) The page contains the following guidance: "Please note the piece contains moderate, stylised physical threat and discreet sex references. It is not generally suitable for children under the age of 12." I'm not sure if this is new; I don't recall receiving an email about it such as the Opera has been known to send.

FWIW I understand there’s an upper limit of 9 tickets (per performance, I assume) so while probably over-generous, it’s not limitless.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect printed material to be available, and it’s not just the old or staid who like it - or at least the likes of Screwfix and Argos don’t think so!

It’s probably worth posting here as well as in the Opera forum that Wayne MacGregor will be directing and choreographing Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice for ENO this autumn. Studio Wayne MacGregor will be providing the dancers. https://www.eno.org/whats-on/orpheus-and-eurydice/ (NB at the time of writing the website appears to be on the blink.)

It takes all sorts

Call me conservative but with a limited budget I’ll be skipping the Birtwistle and Glass (I find his operas stupefyingly dull) in favour of the Gluck and Offenbach. I wonder whether they considered the Monteverdi? Other than that, I’ll almost certainly be at Luisa Miller and possibly the Rusalka.

To keep us occupied while we await the ROH announcement, here’s the ENO one: https://www.eno.org/whats-on/eno-2019-20-season-launch/ Features Wayne MacGregor directing/choreographing Gluck’s Orfeo ed Eurydice.

I’m pretty sure everyone does so, whether they recognise it or not. All I’m saying is that Darcey Bussell is, as well as being a prominent figure, human, and I don’t think we should attach much import to what she said on a single occasion at which none of us was present and able to give any wider context.

Is it possible we’re overthinking this? I know I say all sorts of rubbish when I feel under pressure to say something interesting - thank God no-one would want to publish it!

It’s difficult: I paid the minimum £25 ticket price (plus the time and inconvenience of travelling up) and - thanks to this forum over the years - had fairly low expectations so I think I came out about even. As someone else said, the surprise appearance of Ed Watson meant the evening washed its face for me. However, had I paid considerably more for my ticket and expected the advertised line-up to reflect reality I’d probably be pretty hacked off. It does seem plausible though that the organisers were let down by the Mariinsky and Bolshoi management and I agree they did as good a job as could be expected of cobbling something together under the circumstances.

That sounds very unpleasant, but lest we tar them all with the same brush I'd like to mention that when grabbing a bite to eat before the evening performance I shared a table top with a couple of (male) Sunderland fans and their young sons and they were very polite - one insisted on giving up his seat for me.

I had to leave before the end - what happened at the curtain call?

It seems clear to me that Jan’s reasoning was not that this Giselle garnered good reviews because Akram Khan’s previous works were highly praised, but rather that this track record demonstrates his talent and skill.

A few thoughts from me: 1. Krysanova’s turquoise Raymonda tutu was gorgeous 2. Bravo to whoever was in charge of the pause button for Bernal’s number 3. It’s perhaps just me but there seemed to be a preponderance of interchangeable pas de deux by interchangeable contemporary European choreographers to interchangeable music. Whatever you think of McGregor (in my case: not a lot) but last night highlighted that his is at least a distinctive and instantly recognisable voice.