Sebastian

For those who would like to know more, might I suggest Julie Kavanagh’s marvellous biography “Secret Muses”? She details what was going on in Ashton’s life at the time he conceived the ballet, and spells out what she calls “its additional, hidden dimension”, the temptations of Fire Island and so on.

Gulp:

Ticket gone now

Friday 17 November 2023, 7:30pm Don Quixote Amphitheatre Upper Slips Row CC2 £14 Very sadly work now means I can’t use this ticket. Anyone interested please leave a message here as well as sending me a PM. Thank you.

In which case a cheap Slips ticket was automatically repriced at £150, to be bought (at that price?) en bloc by a patron to give it to someone deserving - but it couldn’t in fact be bought or given away as I had already bought it at its normal price. And so the returned seat stayed empty? The more I think about what went on, the more Alice in Wonderland the ROH plan for the evening appears. But it was no doubt all for the best. Sad no one got to sit in the seat I gave back though.

Those who remember the odd story of the Upper Slips seat I returned, are presumably still puzzling (as am I) why a well under £20 ticket had been repriced by the ROH system at £150. At those prices I am not surprised the seats stayed unsold.

No

Perhaps this is the right place to report a new (new at least to me) excitement with regard to online relations with the ROH. Today I received the standard email, telling me I was going to the performance on November 7 and here is my ticket. However I sadly had to return that ticket some weeks ago as I am working overseas. The credit is in my account. But what would happen if I was forgetful and let the ticket the ROH just sent me get used? Presumably two people for one seat? Incidentally this seat - in the amphitheatre slips - is now, according to the ROH email, costed at £150, which is quite a large mark up on what it originally cost. Perhaps that tells us something about ROH dynamic pricing (or the mystery of November 7)? Or this is just another example of clumsiness on the part of those who manage the website?

Ticket sold

I am currently reading a wonderful book by Iain Mackintosh, a doyen of British theatre design (not set design but rather the design of theatres), a subject I find I have opinions about without knowing anything about what turns out to be a highly skilled though little understood specialism. Part memoir, part tour and part history of British theatre from 1920 to the present day (he even has a section on the post Covid theatre scene). There is plenty here to interest readers of the Forum and which will surprise just about anyone who goes to the theatre: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Theatre-Spaces-1920-2020-Finding-Functionalism/dp/1350056243/ Highly recommended.

Over recent years I have been building up a library for my ballet research. Sometimes people on the Forum have had clear outs and very kindly given me their unwanted ballet magazines from the 20th century. As a result I am now looking for specific issues / years to fill some gaps. So perhaps, before you throw out your old ballet magazines, have a look at the "Wants" list below, just in case. If you also have other magazines you don't need any more, I can take those as well (there is a local ballet school I can give them to). Thank you very much to the Forum members who have helped so far. DANCING TIMES Anything from before 1951 1951: missing September 1952: September 1953: July, August 1954: December 1955: January, February, August 1956: August 1957: April, May, June, August-December 1958: February-April, June-December 1959: The whole year 1960: January, June, September, October, December 1961: April, September 1962: August 1963: June, July, October 1964: January, March-June, August-December 1965-1968: All years 1969: January-June, September 1975: the whole year 1976: January-April 1978: MAY, JULY 1983: AUGUST 1988: APRIL 1989: SEPTEMBER, DECEMBER 1990: MAY-DECEMBER 1991: JANUARY-APRIL, JUNE, JULY, SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER 1992: FEBRUARY, APRIL-AUGUST, NOVEMBER, DECEMBER DANCE AND DANCERS 1956: FEBRUARY 1957: JULY, SEPTEMBER, NOVEMBER 1958: JANUARY-JUNE, SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER 1959: JULY, SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER 1960: JANUARY, MARCH, APRIL, JULY 1961: JANUARY, FEBRUARY, APRIL 1964: MAY, JULY

Amphitheatre Upper Slips, AA-2 (ie the good end): £14 If interested, please post here and send DM as well.

And here is a picture by A E Chalon illustrating the scene, reproduced in Ballet and Opera magazine from October 1948:

Just found an excellent poem from 1840, Lady Blessington’s The Belle of a Season (free on the internet). Here is a short extract which tells us something about how ballet was seen in England at the time (as well as a little more about women in white, a discussion we had here on the Forum a while ago): Brisk music gayer scenes announces, And in a half-dress'd danseuse bounces, With arms that wreathe and eyes that swim, And drapery that scarce shades each limb, And lip that wears a studied smile, Applauding coxcombs to beguile, As entre-chat or pirouette Doth « brava!" thunder'd loud, beget. When Mary saw her vault in air, Her snow-white tunic leaving bare Her limbs--and heard that deafening shout Grow louder as she twirl'd about, With one leg pointing towards the sky, As if the gallery to defy, Surprised and shock'd she turn'd away, Wondering how women ere could stay, And thinking men must sure be frantic, Who patronised such postures antic; She felt abash'd to meet the eye Of every fop that loiter'd by; And, oh! how rudely did it vex Her fresh pure heart, to mark her sex Thus outraged, while the noblest came To gaze and revel in their shame.

For those who didn’t see dance historian Doug Fullington’s immense Petipa thesis from 2022, this is currently available for free online: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/49092/Fullington_washington_0250E_24377.pdf This work has so much of value I am loath to single out any particular elements. But the literature review is as comprehensive as I know, and his careful study of the still seemingly contested career of Sergeyev is much appreciated. If that wasn’t enough, his giant new volume on five Petipa ballets - co-authored with Marian Smith - comes out next month: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Ballets-Paris-St-Petersburg/dp/0190944501/

Tickets returned to the Box Office

ROH Don Quixote - Wednesday 4th October 7.30pm - Magri/Sambe - two Upper Slips seats at £14 each - AA2 and AA3 - will sell separately. If interested please post here. Many thanks.

In any case, the ticket is now spoken for.

One good cheap ticket for this amazing pianist: https://www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/202309241930 There are only six tickets available in the front (row AA) at the lowest price, £26, and they sell out quickly. I bought mine ages ago but am now unable to go. If you are interested please post a message here.

Sold

Sold

Waiting on your email (as per the PM I sent you this morning)

Would anyone like Amphitheatre C35 for the dress rehearsal of the opera La Forza Del Destino? Saturday 16th September, 6.30pm, £9. If interested please send a PM as well as posting here. Thank you.

Would anyone like Amphitheatre C35 for the Forza General Rehearsal? Saturday 16th September, 6.30pm, £9. If interested please send a PM as well as posting here. Thank you.

In case of interest (in person in New York or online): https://www.92ny.org/event/alexei-ratmansky-and-marina-harss