Dawnstar

I was actually looking for Sunday but when I saw one for tonight thought I'd better grab it. Not the best timing with seeing ETO Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday this week but fortunately I never fall asleep at the theatre!

After over 2 months of checking the ROH website pretty much every day for Berenice tickets, at lunchtime today I finally managed to get a return for tonight!

There are a few countertenors I like but it took me quite some time to get used to the voice type (whereas lyric mezzo is my joint-favourite voice type) & generally I find their power & range to not be a good as mezzos. I know! The first time I saw ENO was with him in the title role of Billy Budd in 2005.

The third one down is a lovely photo of Magri.

I think Lamb & Watson win the Least Glamorous Costumes category! I imagine that when little girls dream of being ballet dancers those dreams wouldn't usually involve wearing a vest & knickers on stage!

I know nothing about The Bright Stream but the ROH website says it's a comedy so it seemed a better bet for my tastes than Spartacus. I have nothing against him as a person/singer, I've never heard him before, I just don't fancy the idea of a countertenor Cherubino full stop. I generally prefer mezzos to countertenors in baroque opera too. I'm only going because I've wanted to see Keenlyside as the Count for over a decade, after seeing a video of him in the role in Vienna, & he dropped out when he was supposed to do it a few years ago so, given he's now 60(!) this might be the last opportunity.

I got in immediately at 9am but then none of the pages had anything bookable on them, just the background info, so I had to spend about 10 minutes refreshing before I was able to book for anything. I too was disappointed at the lack of anything below amphi level for 4th June. I ended up going for 12th & 14th so I can see both Firebird casts I want to see, although that does mean I get Cuthebertson/Muntagirov in Month in the Country cast twice & I had hoped to see Nunez/Bracewell too. There was nothing left in the side stalls circle for those dates either, by the time I could see them, so I've had to go for the £68 seats in the stalls. I also impulse-bought a ticket for the Bolshoi's Bright Stream, which had a single £48 side stalls circle seat left on 8th August. I didn't even bother looking at the Fonteyn gala as I assumed, correctly I gather, that it'd sell out instantly. Opera-wise I only wanted Nozze & got side stalls circle for that alright. Now to spend the next 3 months continuing to pray that the countertenor Cherubino thinks better of it - no luck so far!

I'm sorry, I didn't recognise you from your profile pic or I'd have said hello. I have brown hair in a bun, glasses & was wearing a pale coat, if you noticed me.

They were terrible. The noise! It sounded like World War III was kicking off about 50 yards from the stage door. As I left at about 5.30pm they had started throwing drinks & smoke flares & the police were moving in. Fortunately there were a small enough number of people waiting that everyone managed to get inside when Campbell & Magri appeared so it was possible to actually hear conversations, which it wasn't really outside.

When I saw Muntagirov with Nunez last month the stage door was insanely busy & I had to leave for my train before he got anywhere near the outskirts of the crowd where I was. However I was very lucky on Saturday that just as I was leaving after thanking Campbell & Magri I realised Muntagirov was approching so I was able to quickly thank him for his performance last month. He did look slightly surprised but I hope he didn't mind being spoken to before rather than after a performance (it was literally one sentence, as I didn't want to hold him up). Spkeaing of stage doors, I was really impressed by the amount of time Campbell spent talking to those of us waiting after Saturday's matinee. Not just a quick autograph & "thank you for coming" but taking the time to have proper conversations with everyone. Some of the people there were evidently regulars who he knew but he also gave time to people like me who had never met him before.

I would have thought that Naghdi & Sambe was a rather different case from both Cuthbertson & Osipova, since the former were performing in London, so there's not the same risk of travel problems, & only doing a short extract rather than a full length work. I was surprised to see from Instagram that Muntagirov was dancing Swan Lake in Italy on Sunday night. He must have incredible stamina to do 2 such demanding roles within 24 hours, and with travel in between.

He partnered Sarah Lamb, replacing McRae. I wasn't there myself but my mother went & said they were excellent. I think the piece was something modern that had been choreographed on Watson but I didn't take in the details as my mother got home about half past midnight & I wasn't properly awake!

Thank you. As I do most of my theatregoing alone it's nice when it's possible to meet up with others in an interval, especially as the ROH manages to put nearly an hour of them into most ballets!

May I ask how people manage to find each other to meet up? Do you all know each other already? At West End shows I've managed to meet up with people I only knew previously online by finding out each other's seat numbers beforehand, but given the size & number of levels of the ROH I think that would be tricky there.

I thought Saunders had an ideal combination of chivalry & mild dottiness. Avis was good yesterday but not quite as good. I preferred Avis as Lorenzo, in which role I thought he was excellent. Marriott's Lorenzo yesterday I didn't find nearly as detailed. For example, when Lorenzo enters at the top of the staircase in Act 3 Avis hung over the bannister out of breath, showing he was knackered from their long pursuit of Kitri, while Marriott just looked quickly over the bannister before walking downstairs.

I just saw that on Twitter & thought "How is that going to work?!" Though I guess it'll be at the time Act 2's on & that does take place at night! I very much enjoyed my 2nd viewing of Don Q this afternoon. I know the production isn't universally popular but I like it. I thought Magri gave a really good Kitri debut & she & Campbell worked really well together. I find they both come over as very warm & likeable on stage (this is in general, not just today). The rest of the cast were very good but I can't go into more details now as I'm running out of battery & about to see Follies.

Espada tonight might be a case of last man standing! After Clarke having replaced Zuchetti, there was then an announcement at the start of Act 3 that Clarke had been injured in Act 1 & was being replaced by Edmonds. I've already started praying that Clarke's injury isn't serious, given his upcoming Romeos.

The cast changes were announced over the speakers at the pre-curtain announcement. First time I've heard that this season. I guess someone has been listening to all the complaints! Oh and Reece Clarke as Espada is so good looking I'm not surprised he was having success with so many of the village girls!

Reece Clarke replacing Valentino Zuchetti as Espada & Bennet Gartside replacing Thomas Whitehead as Gamache this afternoon.

That does make more sense than the way round I was reading it. Sorry. I'm just stressing as I have a ticket for the Saturday matinee & would really like both Magri & Campbell to be on!

I'm trying to work this out but can't get it to make sense. If the implication is that Osipova may be needed to cover for a possibly injured Magri then why would Magri have been dancing in last night's R&J, as per reports on that thread?

Oh dear, reading (most of!) the comments on last night makes me want to see Osipova/Muntagirov, despite having already seen Nunez/Muntagirov & having Magri/Campbell booked for Saturday. That's one of the problems I have with theatre: the more I see, the more I want to see!

I wonder whether he might also do the likewise not very tall Hayward/Corrales performances then? Or is the piece usually cast so each Romeo & Juliet pairing have a different Mercutio? I'd like to see Hay, having thought while watching his Act 3 solo in Frankenstein on Saturday that he'd be good in the role. I can't speak for MAX but I confess I've got my fingers crossed that none of the 3 Romeos I've booked for (Clarke, Muntagirov & Corrales) get injured & replaced by Hirano. I wasn't keen on his acting in Mayerling so don't wish to see him in another leading Macmillan role in a hurry.

I would have liked to have seen other Mayerling casts for comparison (unlike Frankenstein where I feel 1 viewing was enough for now) but of course by the time I'd seen it & knew I wanted to see more of it I was too late to get tickets for any other casts, apart from seeing an encore of the cinecast. I look forward to future revivals!

It was my first time seeing the RB live so I was excited for it & Mayerling as a piece I was blown away by plus I was very impressed by all the rest of the cast, so I don't think it was the fault of my mood at the time. I guess there are just some dancers, and singers & actors, you "click" with & others you don't as much. This is one reason why I refuse to book for anything before casts are announced. Oh and one more thought from last night: if it wasn't for the synopsis, in Act 3 was anyone else almost expecting Henry to do a Gurn & go off with Elizabeth when Victor was too busy worrying about the Creature to pay much attention to her?