Dawnstar

Where is there to go though? For those of us who can't afford to travel further than London there aren't a lot of options beyond the RB. ENB does only 2 or 3 full-length ballets per season. BRB & overseas companies occasionally visit to London. The RB is the only company which does a full season in London.

Thanks. I wish ENB had the equivalent of the ROH's performance datebase. It's so hard to find out about their past performances. I'm now Googling & have found from reviews that ENB did Manon in 2007/8 when Klimentova danced with Vogel. I can't find that Muntagirov danced it with her though.

Sorry, I meant in terms of sets & decor rather than choreography. Were they using the Royal Danish Ballet's production prior to 2018 or did they first use the RB's then switch?

A tangental question but may I ask what production ENB used for Manon then? I was under the impression that the 2018/19 season was the first time ENB used the production they used then & had therefore assumed that prior to that ENB hadn't done Manon, but evidently at least one of those assumptions must be wrong. Part of me thought that but then who would she have as a partner with Bonelli already retired? I think I'd rather keep the memory of them being so wonderfully matched together in the last run than see her dance it with someone who might not be as good a match.

It was definitely Hayward last time, 1st October 2019. As that was the only public rehearsal I've ever been to it stands out in my memory! I hoped for that last time, given she had zero public shows, but it didn't happen.

Is Elmes a contemporary specialist? He was the most prominent dancer in both I New Then and Watermark last week.

According to the ROH performance databse the RB have done Jewels 43 times over 5 runs, with 6-8 performances per run except in 2017 when they did 14. (Did that last run sell out? 14 performances seems quite a lot for a non-narrative ballet.)

Apropos Campbell doing both Des Grieux & Lescaut, Ball has only done Des Grieux, hasn't he? I would love to see him do Lescaut as well.

I saw this tweet & thought of the discussions we had had about popcorn at the Coliseum & RAH earlier this season. Very depressing.

I was curious to see if Lamb had done Manon with McRae before so just looked it up. The answers looks to be yes but not at the ROH, only on tour. However I was struck by how few performances of the title role she has done, only 13 and that includes 2 "extra" substituting for Cuthbertson in 2014. Assuming this next run is likely to be her last, that will mean 15 performances in total. (I don't know if she has ever guested in the role elsewhere.) That seems so few performances of a role for an entire career, & she will have had a longer than average career.

I am SO happy Hamilton gets a public performance this time. I was deeply disappointed not to be able to see her in 2019. I'm also very pleased she's dancing with Richardson, as seeing him do the bedroom pdd at the Diamond Celebration made me want to see him do the role in full. I thought Bolle came over as too old for Des Grieux when I saw him in 2019 so I'll be passing on him this time, though I'm sorry not to be seeing Nunez as after seeing her do the bedroom pdd with Acosta 2 weeks ago I was hoping she'd be cast with a partner I wanted to see. The other 2019 pairing I'd hope would be changed was Cuthbertson & Ball, as I thought he was brilliant but her Manon didn't do much for me, so I'll probably skip them this time too. I'm pleased Campbell is back to doing Lescaut (though I rather wish he was doing Des Grieux with Hayward like last time & Lescaut in another cast), as he didn't last time so I've only seen him as Des Grieux. I wonder if it was originally slated to be Corrales doing those performances, as he was paired with Magri last time? I was hoping Magri would get to do the title role this time around but I'm not too surprised that she isn't. It looks like I won't get to see Naghdi as the Mistress, as she missed the last run due to injury & is now moving on to the title role. I'm pleased to see Dias making her Mistress debut as I can imagine her in the role. I find it harder to imagine O'Sullivan in the role so that'll be interesting to see. Added: I forgot to say that while I will definitely be seeing Kaneko/Muntagirov and Naghdi/Bracewell, I'm not sure whether I am pleased by the pairings or whether I would have rather seen them the other way around... Overall I think I can probably manage to restrict myself to 5 casts, the same as last time, which is a relief from a financial point of view!

I think that is the nub of why I find the RB's extensive use of McGregor & others of his ilk so depressing. Apart from the short runs of 1 or 2 ballets from ENB, & occasional even shorter visits from BRB and overseas companies, the main supply of classical ballet in London is from the RB. So when the RB is doing contemporary works there is likely to be no classical ballet on in London. For instance this comming season as far as I can find there will be no classical ballet performed in London from 18th November to 4th December, as the RB is doing the Dante Project. And no, I for one certainly can't afford to travel anywhere else to see performances when there aren't any on in London.

Is anyone able to say if I New Then is typical of Johan Inger's work? I have just realised he's the choreographer for the Carmen ENB is doing next April. Given I did not like I New Then, if that is typical Inger then I will certainly be giving Carmen a miss.

I wonder if that was because the top opera prices were so much higher than the top ballet prices? I could never afford to do a subscription for opera tickets as even with the I think it was 20% discount the ticket prices were too high, whereas with the lower top prices for ballet the 18% discount brought them down to just about affordable for me. However now the ballet top prices have gone up significantly in the last couple of seasons I wouldn't be able to afford them even with an 18% discount, so thinking about it maybe even though I've been bemoaning the abolition of package booking it's actually moot for me!

Thanks. It sounds like just the same Gala info as on the 2 page free one handed out yesterday then.

It sounds like I should have bought the Jewels programme then & not waited in the hope for a Gala one. Does it give any contextual information about the gala pieces?

Thanks for the information but I don't want to risk booking without the casting. You can bet if there was one cast without Frola I'd manage to book for that one!

@Sophoife It's so useful having an interpreter! You wouldn't think an interpreter would be needed when the visiting company is from another English-speaking country but evidently it is!

It's great that the Giselle & Nutcracker casts are going to be announced well in advance. However if they're going to announce those casts "within the next couple of weeks" & the triple bill casts "at the end of this month" then that would mean the triple bill casts would be announced after the Giselle & Nutcracker ones, despite the performances taking place 2-3 months earlier, which would be a little odd!

I get the feeling the ROH would like people to do that!

@Linnzi5 I'm not surprised. It took me several minutes to click on one seat "correctly" earlier & that was in an unpressured situation when probably no or few others were trying to look at that seat map. If I had to book that way on a booking opening day it would certainly be good for my bank account because I don't think I'd managed to book a single ticket!

Overall I'd say I enjoyed two thirds of this afternoon's gala as I liked 6 of the pieces & disliked 3 (which is a better average than Carlos At 50, where I only enjoyed about half the rep). I must start by saying that my already restricted view seat was further restricted by some serious leaning going on so evidently I missed some significant moments in some of the pieces; for instance there have been comments about an issue with a fish dive in the Tchaikovsky pdd & I don't recall seeing that. I know curtain call photos have already been posted so I can't post mine properly but I hope it's alright that I've included a couple to illustrate points I have made. The pieces I did not like were: Watermark - this was my nadir. I didn't like Dispatch Duet last year but I thought this was much worse. Why did some men enter bent over like the first picture of The Ascent Of Man? Why was everyone costumed in white slightly transparent tracksuits? Why was the lead man hopping around the stage in his solo like he was about to launch into hopscotch? I could go on. I New Then - I had no idea what was supposed to be going on and why did one dancer spend much of the piece shuffling down the stage then shuffling back up it? Little Atlas - was this supposed to be a woman leaving one man, having an affair with another, then both of them leaving her? That's my best guess. The actual choreography made me think of McGregor at times, with one or other of the men manipulating the woman or dragging her around. I actually find this sort of choreography more sexist & at times distasteful than 19th century choreography that is sometimes criticised for its gender stereotypes. I was thinking about this during the piece & had a flashback to when I saw Magri & Ball in Sleeping Beauty earlier this season. He partnered her so beautifully & looked so proud of her that it was lovely & moving, nothing like all this man pulling the woman around in so many modern pdds. Sorry, I'm digressing. Right, the pieces I did enjoy: Everywhere We Go - I was very pleasantly surprised by this. It was ballet rather than the contemporary I was expecting. Nice choreography, nice music and a good overall forward flow of the piece without feeling too relentless. Anna Karenina - as I've never read the book I didn't know the precise moment being portrayed but I gathered there was an unhappy love affair in progress. I thought the choreography started a bit slowly with a bit too much walking around but when it picked up steam I enjoyed it. Some MacMillan/Cranko vibes. I thought Amy Harris looked quite emotional at the curtain call. Concerto - Lovely and floating as usual. The music makes me want to drift off in a good way (pity about all the coughers though). However I do wonder why Australian Ballet chose to do it as it's a bit coals to Newcastle. (@Sim You mentioned you've now got a crush on Linnae, I think I'd go for Brook instead!) Tchaikovsky pas de deux - I had to double check in the interval that I had seen this done before as the costumes looked completely different & some of the choreography looked different too. I can only assume the latter either looked different being viewed from a different angle or my memory is terrible! I had a particularly restricted view for this one but I enjoyed what I could see of it & wish I hadn't missed so much. Harlequinade - this made me want to see the complete ballet (I don't know if it's full length or just one act) as I found it delightful. I really liked Marcus Morelli's Harlequin. I found it fascinating when he was pirouetting as his wide hat with the tassels really showed up the spotting that is usually not really apparent. I thought Columbine's tutu, and those of the corps, were absolutely gorgeous. A change from the usual white & such beautiful details when you can see them closer to in photos. Don Quixote - I definitely think it was the right decision to end the gala with a big showpiece like this. The Fandago costumes were...er...a choice! I thought Bemet was very good, except for coming off her fouettes but at least she got going again. I like her stage presence/personality. I was impressed by Caley's solo. The only role I saw him do with ENB was Des Grieux so I've not seen him so a big 19th century classic solo before. (Aside: I thought he was fairly tall but he's only just tall enough for Bemet & she doesn't seem particularly tall. I can only think that I thought that because his Manon was Cojocaru, who would make most male dancers look tall by comparison!) He seems to be the leading man for Australian Ballet, with getting to close out both the first night of Jewels and the gala, which I was rather surprised about given he only joined the company last year. I'd better stop now as this is a lot longer than I intended.

Now I'm back on my laptop & can look at the seating plans properly (how anyone manages to do booking on a phone I do not know!) I'm having a look at the operas. Two of them, Cav & Pag and Tosca, I've seen within the last 13 months. Comparing what I paid for my seats then compared to what they are priced at next season, Cav & Pag will be cheaper but Tosca will be more expensive. I am extremely baffled as to what is going on with the ROH's price choices this coming season! Though I suppose I should just be grateful that at least some prices are slightly lower.

Rather you than me! I held off buying a programme for Jewels because I thought I would find it more helpful to get one for the gala, with there being so many pieces I didn't know. Unfortunately as far as I could see there were no proper programmes for the gala, only the two-page one being distrubuted for free. While it was nice to get it free, I would have found it very helpful to have had a full programme explaining what on earth was supposed to be going on in some of the pieces.

There's more of the Tanowitz? Help! I was bored rigid within a couple of minutes & spent the rest of the time with one eye on the stage & the other eye admiring the ROH's auditorium.