ninamargaret

Didn't enjoy it one little bit. Got horribly muddled with who everyone was, choreography was far too repetitive, perfectly well danced but that's as far as it went. Sets and effects were terrific, for me the best thing about it. The inclusion of the scenes and music for where the Prince is looking for Cinderella made me wish that Ashton had choreographed this section. Wonder why it was omitted?

should be interesting, I'm sure there will be a fascinating range of responses.

my memory is quite possibly wrong but weren't tutus once described as 'tea trays'? Don't ask me where this came from, although it could be from someone who had seen some of the earliest Soviet companies visiting here. i remember seeing the Kirov, as it was, at Covent Garden many years ago and being amused by the baggy tights worn by the men - sort of lisle looking confections!

enjoyed this and an looking forward to seeing their Rite of Spring, which is also available

it would have been good if they had done this for the recent MacMillan celebrations. It seems that while music is pretty well covered, particularly during the Proms, ballet and theatre get very poor coverage.

Totally understand about totally understand your post. Have listened to Gerontius under similar circumstances and even now I find it difficult to listen to. So I tend to think that our personal circumstances play a great part in how we react to performances, whether they are music, ballet or whatever.

I think the question of which dancers move you is an extremely complex one. so much would seem to depend on the individual viewer's response to the character being portrayed, one's own emotional state, how you react to the story, and that is before you've even thought about the dancer! Then there's your reaction to the dancer, their performance, which I am sure can be affected by their own emotional view of the role, to say nothing of how they may be feeling or if they've got a bit of a twinge! Taking all of this into account, it's amazing that so many of us have seen so many performances that we can say really moved us.

The ROH website has just told us that we are getting the new Boheme on Christmas Day, and a repeat of last year's programme about Francesca Heyward and the Nutcracker. And that's it!! So order your DVDs, fit out your old videos or whatever and enjoy!

RuthE,the second part is much shorter than the first, and just consists of the duel, and then we see Tatiana who seems to have become a successful author, at a book signing, where Onegin appears. Thank you for telling me who sang Tatiana, I didn't catch the announcement that was made about casting. While I missed not having the full story I thought this version came over very well - try and see it!

sorry, should have said women's diction, not fiction

yes, English. Women's fiction a bitbpoor, men's very good.Focuses more on the Tatiana/Onegin relationship than anything else. I enjoyed it, hope you do too.

Have just seen this by Opera up Close at the Arcola theatre. Definitely recommended, orchestra reduced to a quartet, small cast, no Gremin, but very powerful. Excellent performances.

I agree. Still haven't sussed out how to find out what's on I player without endless scrolling down. And same problem with You Tube.

As a theatre of many years standing I have found in recent years that theatre moves me rather less than ballet. As an example the scene in Winters Tale where Leontes and Hermione are reconciled I find .more affecting in the ballet than in the play, which is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. Is it my age, are actors less skilled,dancers more skilled or what?

I find it's usually the actual ballet rather than individual dancers that gets the tears going. Song of the Earth, end of Manon, end of Onegin, Mayerling, Two Pigeons, all do this almost regardless of who is dancing. But Fonteyn's entrance in Sleeping Beauty did it with her perfect arabesque, Ferri/Bonelli in Marguerite and Armand, Marcia Haydee as Juliet come to mind.

Me too!

In the late 50s I used to sell programmes and chocs at my local Rep theatre. A chocolate company produced what they called 'theatre chocolates', which were all non crunchy chocs and the whole package was packed in non rustling wrapping. They were very successful!

very sad. my late husband was particularly fond of her and we saw her in. many performances, including the rather amazing time when she did Cinderella at a matinee and evening performance in the same day. she was a stunning Juliet with MacLeary, still a performance that I remember. Her performances gave a great deal of pleasure to both of us.

Just caught this last night. Looked interesting and of course it's always good to see Francesca.

yes, RuthE, I definitely meant the David Pountney one, meat carcasses and all!

Certainly a tough evening, although this production is a lot less hard going than the famous ENO one with Josephine Barstow. If you like Shostakovich in his darkest mood -go!

I was sitting next to two Twyla fans and I'm afraid we all found it dull and repetitive. Best things to me were Magri and Sissens. I almost got the giggles in Wind, at one time I wished I was watching Oklahoma instead, then I got interested in the mechanics of the wind machines, then I wondered how much it had cost to stage. I felt that Ed Watson was underused - I always enjoy watching him on the stage but felt that Pita could have made more of the role for him. Untouchable I rather enjoyed. I saw it first time round and admit to total admiration for the dancers in it. Don't think it would stand a third viewing, but I think my enjoyment of it says a lot for the programme as,a whole. Not the best triple I've ever seen!

see you there - perhaps we can share a blanket of things get bad!

And I'm right on the end of the Stalls Circle!Will have to dress for the occasion!

Will try again when public booking opens. I always seem to do better for opera with public rather than Friends booking. At least there's a year in which tickets may be returned, so all is not lost. I see that the web site shows all four cycles as being completely sold out.