Dawnstar

I have no idea if there is a rule about not filming someone debuting but it does feel like it would cause extra stress to a dancer which probably isn't ideal for a debut. I was actually rather surprised they had a debutant Espada for the cinema cast. Also in terms of spreading cinecasts among the RB Principals Kaneko & Bracewell had last year's Nutcracker whereas Magri hasn't before had the lead for a cinecast as far as I can remember. (I know Ball had last year's SB but he wasn't originally scheduled for Don Q.) Dancers not getting a single public performance is certainly annoying (I still haven't forgiven the RB for only giving Hamilton a Schools matinee as Manon in 2019 so I'll have waited 5 years to see her in the role!). One public performance I'm usually okay with but this season I do wish Buvoli's sole Sugar Plum Fairy wasn't on New Year's Day, as I really want to see her but my trains are going to be screwed.

If that is the case I would ask that if the ROH doesn't consider seats good enough for invited guests then why are they happy to sell them for ever increasing amounts of money to the general public! Nunez was already filmed when the production was new in 2013 and the ROH usually avoids filming the same Principals in the same production twice. (Hopefully Muntagirov will eventually get filmed as Basilio if he ever dances Don Q with someone else.)

Thanks. I've booked front row stalls for one of the two casts I'm hoping to see. I can't afford to book for the other one at the moment so I'll have to hope either this or a similar offer is still available come December.

While it'll be good if they can sort out the RMT issues, the Aslef strikes are even more disruptive than RMT's & it sounds like they will be continuing. (And even if there aren't any Christmas strikes this year my trains to London are still due to be screwed due to engineering works!)

It seems a great pity if the ROH can't fill the house even when giving seats away!

Empty seats? Was it not full? Given many of the seats were presumably either free or greatly reduced in price then it seems odd if it wasn't full.

Reading all the reports from last night mkes me think that in hindsight I'm glad I was unable to get a ticket for that performance & had to go on 28th instead, though I was decidedly annoyed at the time booking opened, as on 28th the audience weren't too over-enthusiastic & Mayara Magri didn't fall over. I'm booked to see the cinema encore on Monday but will now be attending with some trepidation as it's never nice to see a dancer fall on stage but especially not for them when it's being filmed.

I can just about understand accidentally putting a performance on sale then withdrawing it shortly afterwards but that performance must have been on sale for at least a month and a half, given I gather it was available to book for all levels of Friends & was only marked as off-sale the night before public booking. How could no-one at the ROH have noticed a performance was on sale that shouldn't have been for weeks on end?

Wasn't that 19th March matinee a Schools performance or Welcome performance or something like that? I'm pretty sure it wasn't available for public booking & that was why Bonelli's official farewell performance with speeches & flowers was done on 4th March. So while Kaneko & Bracewell did dance SL together in the last run most people wouldn't have been able to see them no matter how much they wanted to.

Today's links includes a short article on Gramilano about the SL casting that says "Lauren Cuthbertson returns to the stage in a full-length ballet for the first time after the birth of her second child" but isn't she doing both The Nutcracker & Manon before SL? I suppose as the SPF only appears in one act of The Nutcracker then maybe that isn't counted as a full-length role but the title role in Manon certainly is full-length.

How about the ROH having the courtesy to tell the general public why they were suddenly excluded from booking that performance at only a few hours' notice? Also, given the ROH's frequent comments in recent years about how hard up they are, it feels like having a performance be changed from general booking to half or more of the audience being invite only is throwing away quite a lot of potential revenue. (I assume the invitees are likely to be getting free or reduced tickets.)

I hope so. June would give Calvert longer to return from maternity leave. However if she isn't ready then I hope Edmonds gets to do it with someone else, as it would seem unfair if he didn't get to dance because his previous partner chose to have a baby! I've been checking the ROH website for the Nutcracker cast change pretty much every day since McRae announced his injury, so replacement casting can't come soon enough for me! (Yes, I am booked for that Nutcracker cast.)

It's a bit awkward not to have the casting for the second block of shows before booking opens for the first block. Given how eye-watering the SL prices are I'm going to have to limit myself to only seeing 2 or 3 casts but it's difficult to choose between casts when some casts are still unknown. I definitely want to see Lamb, as it may be the last chance & so far all I've seen of her O/O is half of Act II. Then Kaneko/Muntagirov is my next pick out of the known casts but with 2 or 3 casts unknown.... @JNC I agree with your sentiments in a general sense but with SL being so expensive I felt relieved when seeing the casts that there were so many pairs I'd already seen in 2022 & can therefore live without seeing this time. If all the partnerships had been swapped then I'd find it much harder to choose between them!

Post removed as info already on World Ballet Day thread. I'm afraid it didn't occur to me to check that thread first for Anemoi casting.

Sure enough, the majority of tickets below amphitheatre level have been sold since last night. I wonder how much they went for? Probably considerably less than the £39 I paid for my restricted view bench.

The ROH Autumn 23 booking thread.

@Emeralds Not my dream seat, as I'd go front row stalls every time if only I could afford it, but at least if I do end up as the only person on that bench (which I suspect I won't) then I won't have to worry about leaners blocking my view!

After my rail replacement bus experience last Saturday I went through my notes on possible dates for seeing Giselle & erased all weekend performances! I had an easy first choice cast but hadn't decided on which other cast to see (I don't think I can manage more than 2 casts in terms of both money & time) but now further casting has been given above that's enabled me to decide.

I've realised that, unless I'm being even more short-sighted than I actually am, that no-one's posted any curtain call photos from Saturday's matinee on here. So I hope it's okay if I seize a fairly rare opportunity and post a few of mine. (If this is too many photos please could someone tell me within the next half an hour so I can delete some of them before the edit time expires.)

Not the bench I'm on. My ticket is C92 and that bench is advance booking. It's funny how on the right of the auditorium only 1 advance ticket, mine, is sold but 4 of the 5 rush tickets are gone whereas on the left of the auditorium all 5 advance tickets are sold but only 1, the cheapest, of the rush tickets is. The last time I almost had a bench to myself was Traviata on 14th March 2020 where I was at one end and someone else at the other with 3 spaces in between, though of course for that performance the many empty seats were due to people not turning up rather than tickets not selling.

I've just had a look at the seating plan for Wednesday when (panic attacks permitting) I'm due to be seeing the double bill & I see at the moment I have an entire stalls circle bench to myself!

Thank you again for the many further kind comments. I definitely agree with this. Personally I prefer seeing Ball with Magri than with Naghdi because for me knowing the former are a real-life couple makes it (slightly) more enjoyable. However I think this is due to the knowledge more than the actual performances. Stage chemistry is so difficult to quantify anyway.

Thanks everyone for the kind replies. I do have a lot of problems with anxiety but usually I can manage to control it when theatregoing. Sadly not this time. I'm on a rail replacement bus approaching Cambridge so nearly home. (Also apologies for cluttering up this thread with my travel & mental health woes but I had said to a couple of people at the matinee I'd let them know what I thought of the evening cast so I wanted to explain why I now can't.)

I'm both glad & frustrated to hear that. I started having a panic attack just as Mercedes & the matadors entered & after about 10 mins fighting it I had to leave. I'm absolutely livid with myself for missing most of the performance. (Currently on a train fighting to try to control waves of anxiety.)

@capybara Thanks. Nice to know my memory isn't that bad! I didn't even notice that Dixon was down for the Fandango then didn't do it, though in Act II I did note it was the first time I've seen someone double urchin & lead gypsy.