Dawnstar

Perhaps he needs more time to recover as all that cape swirling probably wouldn't be good for the shoulders. I did think when the casting was announced that only 3 Drosselmeyers for the entire run might be cutting things a bit tight in terms of not allowing for injuries or seasonal illnesses.

Oh dear, watching the Insight livestream makes me want to go & book tickets for a dozen Nutcrackers! Which I certainly can't afford to do. I was already hoping to be able to catch Marianna Tsembenhoi in January & I now really want to see Giacomo Rovero as well but unfortunately his only public performance is the week when I have no trains. I wonder if Aidan O'Brian could be replacing Bennet Gartside, as Gartside has been missing so far this season. If so then I'll get to see him. I'm now going to be back to checking the ROH website daily for possible Nutcracker cast change announcements. Also it feels as though Gary Avis could narrate & perform an entire one-man Nutcracker, as he seems to know every moment of the choreography for every single character!

Same here. It's going to be rather odd seeing Campbell as Lescaut to her Manon rather than as Des Grieux. Although I am looking forward to seeing Campbell as Lescaut, as I've not seen him in that role because in the last run he only did Des Grieux.

Clarke did a schools matinee with Hamilton on 2019, as well as half a performance with Takada after McRae got injured. I was looking up Winter's Tale casts recently, thinking about who might be cast this time around, and I didn't see Osipova's name anywhere on them. I suppose if she were to do any role it would be Hermione, who thus far seems to have been performed only by Cuthbertson, Nunez, Calvert & Kaneko (at the RB that is, I know other companies have also done the piece).

I'm sorry, I thought starting an entire new thread to ask what I intended to be a quick question would be excessive, especially as it is about something in the past rather than a current event. Evidently, as is so often the case on here, I was wrong but I'm afraid it is now too late for me to delete my post.

Thanks. I had assumed she retired but perhaps she was younger when she left than I thought she was. Has Hirano stepped back from any roles though? I know he doesn't do all the lead roles, e.g. Espada rather than Basilio, but he doesn't seem to be getting de-cast from those that he does do, plus he's debuting Des Grieux, albeit that's only due to McRae being injured rather than being the original casting intention.

This is rather off topic but may I ask quickly if Cojocaru's departure was the last time any female RB Principal left the company to dance elsewhere rather than to retire? I'm pretty sure the last on the male side was Matthew Golding in 2017, as since then Kish, Soares, Watson & Bonelli have all retired. I feel I must be missing some on the female side though as I'm sure logically the RB must have lost more than 2 female Principals in a decade (Yanowsky & Morera retiring) but can't think who.

No, that was why I said "as long as it doesn't sell out of reasonably-priced tickets before public booking opens". Although he did tell me that, having booked a single Nutcracker ticket, he's recently had an email from the ROH trying to persuade him to become a Friend. A bit premature of the ROH to send that to someone who's only booked one ballet ticket, I feel!

Thanks for the replies to my query. The reason I went for Nunez/Muntagirov first, before Kaneko/Muntagirov, is that the former have already danced together in 3 runs of this production while the latter haven't done this production together (I don't know whether or not they've ever done SL together in full abroad), hence the former seem the safer bet. Actually based on the performances I saw in the last run of SL I can think of at least one Odette/Odile whose performance I didn't think was technically up to scratch. I did it that way round when he asked for advice on Nutcracker casting as he could only make a handful of the dates, so he'll be seeing Lamb & Hirano in that next month. However for SL he can make one of the Nunez/Muntagirov dates so that won't be a problem, at least as long as it doesn't sell out of reasonably-priced tickets (if any SL tickets can be considered reasonably-priced!) before public booking opens.

A friend of mine, who sees a lot of theatre but ballet only occasionally, is thinking of seeing SL & has asked my opinion on which cast to go for. I suggested Nunez/Muntagirov as the safest bet, with Kaneko/Muntagirov, Naghdi/Ball & Lamb/Hirano as other possible options. I thought, for my own interest, I'd try asking on here if more experienced ballet viewers agree with my suggestions or not?

I'm not attending but I've just had a look at the cast sheets for the first few performances & I notice with interest that Max Maslen is doing Drosselmeyer as well as the Prince later in the run. Is this casting in both roles usual for BRB's production? I've only seen it twice in nealy 30 years so I don't know the usual casting patterns.

I thought that too for a second! Re-reading the cast sheet I see it actually says on there that it's Osipova's 10th anniversary but earlier I skipped past the blurb & just read the actual cast list so missed it. I suppose Osipova probably won't make it to a 20th anniversary, let alone a 25th, so they decided to do something for her 10th. She did look very touched & slightly teary. PS I loved it when Avis picked up a flower from the stage & handed it to Richardson when they did their red run. No hard feelings between Lorenzo & Gamache!

There was a pre-curtain announcement that the cast sheet was wrong & it is going to be Sumina Sasaki as Queen of the Dryads. Having Clarke & Brandesrod in the same cast really is spoiling the female audience! I think this is the most I've liked Osipova, or at least joint with Laurencia - maybe I should only see her in Spanish roles!

I know when Sancho Panza was changed from Masciari to Ikarashi the other week there was no indication on the cast sheet. Maybe the error has arisen from Mariko Sasaki being listed further up the cast sheet as one of Kitri's Friends & someone's done a copy & paste without thinking it through. Hopefully it'll get fixed, as it's not fair on either dancer.

I too was surprised to see the "wrong" Sasaki listed but in terms of a replacement being noted on the cast sheet isn't that only done for roles that have been announced in advance, i.e. in Don Q only for Kitri & Basilio?

The ROH seems to have got itself confused as to which upcoming performances I have booked for. I've had an email informing me of a cast change for Cav & Pag even though I haven't booked for it. (I do intend to try to get a rush ticket but the ROH can't know that.) Meanwhile I'm still awaiting a cast change email for the Nutcracker performance that I do already have a ticket for!

I'm relieved I haven't booked Cav & Pag yet, since 2 of the 7 performances are now out for me with the strikes.

I feel like the Mistress & Monsieur GM casting was on the website until recently but has now vanished - unless I'm going mad from too much time spent checking for cast changes for the last few weeks, which is quite possible!

The other McRae-related cast change just up. This one I was not expecting: Hirano making his Des Grieux debut at 40!

The anticipated Nutcracker cast change is now on the ROH website. (Yes, I have been checking every day since McRae's injury, as I'm going to this performance!) I was expecting it would probably be Hirano & sure enough it is.

Unfortunately the cinema I've just seen an encore at evidently didn't get the memo because we saw the fall.

Having failed to make it very far into the 28th December evening performance, yesterday I made a second attempt at seeing the Hinkis/Acri cast. This time I took my mother with me, both for emotional support & because I didn't feel I could abandon her on her birthday in favour of going to the ROH for the 2nd year in a row! (Last year the unmissable attraction was Muntagirov's 2nd Rudolf.) It was fortunate I did as I don't think I'd have even got as far as the ROH otherwise as the trains were so stressful - we got to our local station only to find the train was cancelled so as the next train wasn't for an hour we had to dash home, get the car & drive into Cambridge - I spent the first half hour of the journey fighting having another panic attack. The trains this autumn have just been one nightmare after another. Fortunately by the time we got to the ROH I'd calmed down so I made it through the performance with merely lower level anxiety. I know Hinkis doesn't seem to be very popular on here but I like her, particularly from an acting point of view, so I'm very pleased I managed to see her in a leading role, especially as who knows if she'll get to dance it again given she wasn't originally cast. I thought she gave a very good performance, considering it was only her 2nd go at the role, especially in terms of acting. Unfortunately she did have to stop & re-start in the fouttes but better that than risk a fall or injury if something's not right (I don't have the technical knowledge to be able to tell what caused the stop). So far this run I've only seen the taller type of dancer as Basilio - Ball x 2, Muntagirov & Bracewell - so I found it interesting to see Acri as a representative of the shorter type of dancer. I find it amazing how different some choreography can look on the 2 different types. I thought he was excellent, both in terms of dancing and acting/stage presence. He was also a very useful "carrot" in getting my mother to accompany me, as he's one of her favourite RB dancers! I thought Gasparini & Ella were fine but that I've seen better performances in both roles. I'm not sure she's ideally suited to Mercedes in terms of stage personality, though I realise that as she's now a First Soloist & in her 30s she can't keep on just doing Clara & suchlike "nice" roles for the rest of her career. I absolutely loved Richardson as Gamache. Just the way he walked was hysterical! Such a contrast from his Espada. I do really enjoy getting to see the same dancers in very different types of roles & Don Q certainly gives lots of opportunities for the men in particular. Avis was again hilarious as Lorenzo; I prefer him in that role to the title one. I was pleased to get to see Julia Roscoe as Queen of the Dryads. She first really came to my attention 2 years ago being coached my Monica Mason as Myrthe in a Giselle Insight livestream but unfortunately she wasn't in any of the Giselle casts I saw & likewise I didn't see her Lilac Fairy last season so this was the first big solo role I've seen her do. Unfortunately something must have gone significantly wrong in the big throw lift at the end of the gypsys' dance because it basically didn't happen but at least both dancers stayed upright. I'm currently sitting on the fence as to whether to brave another trip to London on 17th for the final Don Q (if I do I'll probably be the only person in the audience not there to see Osipova) but first to see the cinema encore tomorrow, which is mercifully near enough that no trains are required!

@FionaM Oh yes. I still couldn't place everyone though. Some dancers do look so different moving in colour to still in black & white headshots!

Thank you. Now as long as I don't bump into masses of demonstrators dispersing in the direction of Liverpool Street....!

Does anyone know from experience in previous years whether the City area is likely to get back to normal fairly quickly once roads open following the Lord Mayor's Show or whether it takes a long time for crowds to disperse? According to the website roads should re-open at 4-5pm. I'm due to be getting a train that arrives at Liverpool Street at 5.45pm. So I'm wondering if walking to the ROH as I normally do will be possible or if I'd be fighting my way through big crowds the whole way? (Fortunately the other events look to be some distance from my route so I'm hoping they won't be a problem.)