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Dawnstar

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Everything posted by Dawnstar

  1. Dawnstar
    @Lucy M I'm glad you found the view reasonable, and my description fairly accurate. Yes, unfortunately leaners are an occupational hazard on the stalls circle benches.
  2. Dawnstar
    I meant symmetrical in terms of the overall horseshoe shape rather than all the features being symmetrical. Though I'm pretty sure the pillars that affect the row C stalls circle bench seats are symmetrical at any rate. I don't have enough experience of the other stalls circle pillars to be certain of those. One significant bit of asymmetry is the extra door on the far left side so stalls circle left benches are definitely the side to go for if you need to make a speedy exit. @Lucy M How did you end up finding the view?
  3. Dawnstar
    I've just checked the ROH Flickr account to see if they had posted any production pics for the new Carmen that opens tonight. They haven't but what they have posted since I last checked a few days ago is production pics for the Swan Lake so I thought I'd mention it here in case anyone wants to look at them. Unfortunately none of the photos have any casting details in the captions but the cast looks to be that of the Friends rehearsal as it's Sasaki & Sissens. https://www.flickr.com/photos/royaloperahouse/albums/72177720315894446/with/53626107437
  4. Dawnstar
    Having now gone through my photos, I can safely say that as expected most of them are not good, and that's after I deleted the 50% that were totally out of focus. Several of the Different Drummer ones looked like those ones ENB published of their Giselle that deliberately had massive blurring, except in my case it wasn't deliberate! Requiem was not helped by the couple next to me who kept on thinking the curtain calls were finished, got up to get ready to go, blocking my view, then realised the curtain calls were continuing & sat down again. So here are a handful that actually turned out okayish & don't duplicate your much better ones. (Moderators: I hope that's okay but if it's too much of a duplication then please feel free to delete.) It's nice to see non-Principal dancers who don't get flowers that often getting some. I would guess it means a bit more to them than to the Principals who are used to getting bouquets at every performance. I think someone on here, though I can't now find who, said that Sambe looked quite emotional at his curtain call & I agree. He looks more like someone who's just finished Manon or Mayerling than a one-acter. It's at this point that I'm glad modern photos are digital & don't have to be sent off to be developed because 2 loincloth-clad chaps within 2 batches of photos might take a bit of explaining!
  5. Dawnstar
    Thanks for the info. No, I don't want to go to 2 performances when it would be 2 nights running. It looks like I would have to pay for a pricier ticket as the price for an equivalent front stalls ticket appear to have gone up by £10 since I booked. I don't want to return my ticket, just potentially to exchange it. I don't think I've ever seen Kurihara dance though I did see Mizutani alongside Monaghan in Don Q. So it would be an easy decision if Mizutani & Monaghan were paired together this time but as it is I have to choose between a Prince I really like with an Aurora I've not seen compared to an Aurora I like with a Prince I've only seen in one or two smaller roles. Hmmm.....
  6. Dawnstar
    My trains actually ran perfectly yesterday for once, the one home even getting in a couple of minutes early. Maybe I need them to have overtime bans more often! 😉
  7. Dawnstar
    As the auditorium is symmetrical it's the same amount of view restriction on both sides with one exception. At the right-hand end of the pit there is often a curtain pulled over the end which goes round the outside of the pillar nearest the stage. If this curtain is in place then it makes the view from C95 & C96 worse because it sticks out a few inches in front of the pillar and you cannot look around the back of the pillar to try to see action on the near side of the stage. Other than that then the view restriction is the same from the equivalent seats on each side in terms of the amount of stage you miss, though of course given productions are rarely symmetrical then one side or the other is, at least in my opinion, preferable for various productions.
  8. Dawnstar
    I wouldn't want an actual boy soprano, I'd just prefer a female soprano with a cooler, purer tone. Yes, as I said in my post after the 27th performance, I did find the electric organ or synthesizer or whatever it was detracted the most from the music at the start of In Paradisum. Most want Manon, least want anything by Wayne McGregor that counts as ballet (or if dance in general is included rather than specifically ballet then pretty much anything contemporary!).
  9. Dawnstar
    I'm disappointed to read this, as I booked primarily because I've not seen Cojocaru as Aurora & thought this might well be the last chance. I'm now wondering whether to stick to going on the Thursday or to see if Sadler's Wells would let me swap to Wednesday for Monaghan, who I like. Does anyone who knows the production have an opinion on whether it's worth trying to swap dates in order to see my preferred Prince or not, given some of the reviews have said the Prince doesn't seem to get that much to do?
  10. Dawnstar
    @Lucy M The viewing angle is a bit better because of being further round but the pillar which severely blocks C22 is somewhat obtrusive in C23 as well. The view from the seat photos for C23 and its opposite number C90 are not entirely accurate in my opinion as they show the pillar as being less obtrusive than I have found it in reality. Sorry if I'm sounding depressing but I have seen a lot of performances from the side stalls bench seats over the years and, while I personally accept the view restrictions as a trade off for the close-up views, I think people need to have realistic expectations.
  11. Dawnstar
    Whereas I found the Captain & Doctor far worse than the Gaoler even though, like you, I was emotionally invested in Manon but not in Different Drummer. I think it's because the Gaoler is presented as a realistic, albeit extremely unpleasant, human being whereas the Captain & Doctor come across as inhuman groteque caricatures. (I can't bear grotesques in general: for example, it's one reason why I've never got on with Dickens.) The Agnus Dei is the one that really moved me musically both last week & last night. Unfortunately I found In Paradisum didn't quite hit the heights that I was expecting it to. (this is purely in musical terms, rather than the dance aspect.) Yes, the neat working out of seeing the performances on 27th March & 4th April in order to see all the casts ended up not working out. I would have have been interested in seeing someone else doing Danses Concertantes, even though I thought Gasparini did a very good job. With Requirem I am torn: usually I like to see different people in roles, being an inveterate comparer, but I thought Lamb & Hamilton were so perfect in Requiem that part of me is also glad that I saw them twice & not anyone else. That reminds me of something I was wondering during that baton twirling scene last night & which I hope it's not too inapparopriate to ask here: is the Drum Major's baton intended to be a phallic symbol? The way he holds it in a section of choreography after the initial twirling seems awfully suggestive.
  12. Dawnstar
    @Lucy M Yes, in future buying the new ticket before returning the old one is the safer option. Though I realise that doesn't work if you want to use the credit from the old ticket to pay for the new one. What did you go for to replace stalls circle C17?
  13. Dawnstar
    Yes, I never leave my coat in the ROH cloakroom because the majority of the time I have to leave pretty briskly in order to make sure I get my train. What I do it sit in my coat, with my arms slipped out of the sleeves, so it's not as if it's in anyone else's way. As for dressing up, I'm afraid my theatregoing clothes have to deal with a half an hour walk each way between train station & ROH so I have to go for practical clothes & flat shoes. (I never wear jeans to the ROH, though I do occasionally to other theatres.)
  14. Dawnstar
    @Lucy M On the ticket cancellation screen it says "Any outstanding items will be removed from your basket when you cancel tickets. " so I guess you must have fallen foul of that. Though goodness only knows why the ROH website does that. @alison Getting redirected to the checkout screen is a new one on me. In recent Friday rushes (though I wasn't trying today) it's sent me back to the production page when I've tried to go onto seating plans a number of times. That at least has some logic to it but sending someone to the checkout before they can get on the seating plan is completely illogical!
  15. Dawnstar
    I was thinking that now we're into April the respiratory virus season would be ending but the amount of coughing at the ROH tonight seemed to indicate otherwise! It seemed particularly frequent & loud during Requiem.
  16. Dawnstar
    They could try oceans of hair gel, a la Woolf Works Act II! @Rob S I haven't even looked at my photos yet. Not really much point in doing so now!
  17. Dawnstar
    Unless there are any more significant ticket discounts, like for the MacMillan triple, I will see the entire season, apart from that one performance, from the stalls circle benches!
  18. Dawnstar
    Yes, it will definitely be restricted I'm afraid. In terms of the dancing missed I don't find it too bad, though you will miss one side of the corps when they're right across the stage & there will be the occasional moments in solos & pas de deuxs when the dancers disappear from view & you just have to wait for them to reappear. There is also an issue with some of the key plot moments not being visible: the vision of Odette in Act III, Odette throwing herself off the rock & Von Rothbart's demise on the rock in Act IV. If you're going to try Friday rush then the stalls circle rush tickets are slightly better because they're one bench further round but you still get a similar restriction to a lesser extent. The other Friday rush tickets are much further from the stage so wouldn't give you much of the acting that you're after, unless you use binoculars.
  19. Dawnstar
    I do get fed up that the tube strikes always get called off yet, as far as I can recall, every train strike bar one in the last 2 years has gone ahead.
  20. Dawnstar
    I believe Kaneko actually danced 3 performances earlier in the run before having to step in for Cuthbertson.
  21. Dawnstar
    Sorry to hear that you're injured @Silke H. Hope you recover quickly.
  22. Dawnstar
    @Emeralds Thanks for that link. It's interesting to see the different designs. While one cannot entirely judge in black & white, I can't say I think they are preferable to the designs being used this time, apart from the abscence of the rather odd hats! (Off topic but it's interesting to see the Manon photo at the bottom of the article: photographers still going for capturing the same pose 30 years later. And my goodness Adam Cooper was good-looking when he was young.)
  23. Dawnstar
    Damn, sorry, I've just been counting up Nutcracker performances from earlier this season so typed the wrong ballet title. I definitely meant Sleeping Beauty. However digging back through the relevant thread on here indicates that Cuthbertson was actually replaced by Kaneko part-way through her previous SB performance. I guess that one would have been the filmed for backup performance & therefore explains why they couldn't use that to show Cuthbertson's performance even if they'd wanted to.
  24. Dawnstar
    Checking @Saodan's website, Cuthbertson did her 2 previous Nutcrackers that season & only missed the cinema performance.
  25. Dawnstar
    I now feel rather guilty about saying this given I'm going to get to see Lamb replacing Cuthbertson tomorrow. Given tomorrow's performance is supposed to be the back-up filming for the cinecast on the 9th, could it potentially be an issue if Lamb danced tomorrow & Cuthbertson on 9th?
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