Dawnstar

I must have seen that Insight because I remember Hamlet & Ophelia but I have no recollection of the Dante Sonata part of it.

That's interesting. I kept an eye on the website for a bit afterwards & while the MacMillan triple rush tickets were mostly still there about half an hour after the start of rush (indeed most of them are still there now) the Swan Lakes were showing as sold out by then. I guess there must have been various tickets apearing & disappearing seemingly at random, as often happens.

I do wonder why they have to announce it the day after public booking opens. I also was not expecting so many casts so it's going to be awfully complicated. I'm trying to get my head around all the casting combinations & failing. I think I'm going to have to turn it into a spreadsheet....

Thanks @Roberta. That looks safe enough!

Apologies for totally failing to see you @alison.

I'd naively assumed that all the Ashton pieces Sarasota would be dancing weould be fairly, well, traditional. I am suddenly feeling rather apprehensive! I hope Valses Nobles et Sentimentales won't be too modern, given I'll be seeing that twice as it's on both programmes.

Thanks for the programme information. That's a pity to have no synopses, at least for Different Drummer, the other 2 pieces I suppose they're not really needed for. I too had a quick look in the Floral Hall at the start of both intervals & didn't spot anyone I recognised so I assume there wasn't a Forum group up there last night. Lovely to see you too @Silke H & to meet your friends.

The ROH website managed yet again to stress me by the rush tickets not appearing until a couple of minutes after 1pm. I don't know why this happens so often.

Does anyone know which ballet the photo used to illustrate Sarasota Ballet in this video is from? The costumes remind me of Corybantic Games rather than what I'd expect costumes in any Ashton piece to look like.

I meant Forum members. I'm not sure I'd recognise any dance critics if I saw them & I'm certainly not on interval-chatting terms with them!

It sounds like a good role fit for a mostly-retired 50 year old then!

I'm glad I decided to upgrade to a stalls seat for tonight. It's all very well seeing only parts of ballets when you know what the missing bits are but when seeing a piece for the first time it's so much easier if you can see everything. Tonight was not only my first time seeing all 3 pieces but also quadrupled the number of 1 act MacMillans I've seen! (The only MacMillan 1-acter I've seen previously being Concerto). Even though all 3 pieces are by the same choreographer I found them extremely different, especially visually in terms of the designs. I was glad I'd already seen pictures of the Danses Concertantes costumes a few days ago as I'd had time to get used to them. I think if I'd seen them tonight for the first time I would have been too busy gawping at them to pay any attention to the choreography! I did still find them fairly distracting, as well as quite disguising with the headgear. As it was, the choreography felt more Ashton, or perhaps even the type of choreography I imagine some De Valois pieces to have (never having seen actually seen any), than MacMillan, which I suppose isn't surprising given when MacMillan choreographed it Ashton must have been the most important choreographer around. I did enjoy the choreography. I'm particularly in favour of the placing-the-dancers-around-the-set-while-others-are-dancing choice - it's so much easier to identify dancers, even in strange headgear, when they're stationary! (Though I still managed to get Mullova-Barley mixed up with Buvoli again, a mistake I frequently make. ) I was decidedly apprehensive about Different Drummer & was quite anxious while watching it as to how unpleasant if was going to get. Contrary to the content warning, it wasn't the murders, suicide or mental health issues that made me wince but the medical experiments. I found the Doctor really abhorrent (no offence intended to Emerton) and the Captain very unpleasant too (just when I thought I wouldn't see Avis do any nastier MacMillan characters than G.M. or the Gaoler this season but at least they are both humanly unpleasant while the Captain was inhumanly unpleasant). I suppose at least when I see the piece again I'll know what is coming, which should make it easier to put up with. While I did not like the plot, I did like much of the choreography, at least the more danced parts. I particularly liked the lines of soldiers jetee-ing across the stage and a number of the lifts in the pdds between Marie & Woyzeck and Marie & the Drum Major. I was fairly puzzled by several things that took place that don't happen in the opera, which is where I know the plot from. (On the plus side, at least compared to the opera the ballet is much shorter & has nicer music!) Can anyone say if it is worth buying a programme? Does it have any useful explanations? I though beforehand about buying one but decided against it at the time as with none of the 3 ballets having been performed by the RB for some years the production photos will presumably be of casts from years ago, many of whom I won't recognise. I agree with @Paco that Clarke did a very good job at playing a character that it does not feel as though he's naturally suited to (though I'd've still liked to have seen what Richardson or Bracewell might have made of the role). Osipova did feel naturally suited to Marie & I thought was excellent in the role. Donnelly, apart from a minor baton mishap at the start, was very good as the Drum Major. Usually I like to try to identify dancers in the corps de ballet in group scenes. I'm not very good at it at the best of times but Different Drummer must be the most impossible ballet in which to try to identify any of the male corps dancers in the scene when they all appear in gas masks! Eek, it's now 3.15am so I'm going to have to be quick about Requiem. It was great being sat so near to the singers. I thought the chorus & baritone were excellent but, being picky, I would have preferred a soprano with a slightly cooler, purer tone for the Pie Jesu. I think the Agnus Dei was my favourite section, especially in terms of music, so I found that the most moving part. I found In Paradisum a little musically disappointing. I don't know if I'm mixing it up with another requiem, as I haven't listened to Faure's for some years, but it wasn't as moving as I thought it was going to be. It also sounded as though a synthesizer was being used to play a series of notes, which I had already noticed once or twice earlier but it seemed more obtrusive at the start of In Paradisum. I thought most of the choreography was lovely. There were a few moments I wasn't that keen on, including the very start with everyone almost shuffling on, but the majority of it I really liked. I thought some of the lifts were amazing & must be so difficult to do. As I think someone has already mentioned somewhere on this thread, it is so nice to have a really well-lit piece with a light back-drop so you can see all the choreography clearly without any of the peering through the gloom that so many modern choreographers & lighting designers seem so keen on! I liked most of the costumes, though as with Danses Concertantes it probably helped that I'd had a week to get used to them as when I first realised they were the Requiem costumes I was surprised as they weren't what I had been expecting. Dancers must be God's gift to costume designers: you can put them in the most exiguous costumes because they've got such amazing figures, and you couldn't get more minimal than that loincloth! I'm very glad I saw this cast first as I thought Lamb in particular was so visually well-suited to her role & I'm not sure I'll find Cuthbertson quite as much so. I also thought Lamb & Hamilton, both being fair, reflected each other very nicely in the parts of the choreography when they were interacting. In particular there was a moment when Lamb was being held above Hamilton (this moment, though the photo is of course with Cuthbertson rather than Lamb) where it felt as if they could be the heavenly & earthly versions of the same person. I thought Hamilton was excellent in the Agnus Dei, and it was nice to see what it looks like as part of the full staging after seeing just her part in the Insight livestream. Hirano partnered Lamb very well again. At one point (I think it was in In Paradisum but I'm not certain) I was quite strongly reminded of their Manon a month ago. I know male dancers have to be strong but I was impressed by the way Hirano, Dixon & Zuchetti were lifting Acri in the Libra Me as a male dancer, even a not particularly tall one like Acri, must be significantly heavier to lift than the female dancers they are used to lifting. I thought Ball was excellent in his Christ-like role. (I was not quick about Requiem - it is now 3.45am!) Although @Silke H has already posted photos from tonight, as hers are group shots (at least on Instagram, Facebook is refusing to let me see if those are the same) I hope it's alright if I post a few closer photos of those leading dancers who didn't appear on the first night (those who did have already been covered far better by @Rob S on page 2, hence I'm not posting any photos of Danses Concertantes). If it's not alright then please could a moderator remove them.

Oh, is that why there didn't seem to be as many regulars as usual at the ROH tonight? Were lots of people at SW instead?

I look up all the lead dancers' biographies afterwards & was interested to see that while she has been at the top rank for a number of years she's listed as doing some roles such as Carabosse rather than Aurora & Myrthe rather than Giselle. I'm glad I wasn't the only person to think of Phantom!

Whereas I'm afraid I'm not very keen on her as Mary Vetsera, having seen her twice in the role. I thought her performances were very good, I just didn't like her characterisation that much, meaning I didn't much like the character & so wasn't very moved by the end. But then my favourite Mary Vetsera is Lamb, who I guess is about as opposite to Osipova as you can get.

Sorry, double post. I'm on a train with the signal coming & going.

The Times article referred to by Lynette above said that Acosta was planning to dance the role of the Bull. Not having seen the piece, and there not being any bulls in the opera, I have no idea if that's a substantial role or a cameo.

Little girl & mother left hurridly within about a minute of Different Drummer starting! They did come back for Requiem. I hope the girl won't have nightmares. I found the Doctor & Captain pretty repulsive & scary and I'm 38!

I sometimes wonder if parents bother to read age warnings? There's a little girl across the aisle from me who looks about 5 & a boy a couple of rows behind who looks about 7. Goodness knows what they'll make of Different Drummer!

I noticed it in the article but as I was not keen on the extract from Carmen performed at Acosta's gala last summer even the promised presence of BRB dancers, including Monaghan who I like, doesn't make me want to rush to book for the full work.

The only problem with that is I don't always enjoy her acting! It depends on the role. I'm not hellbent on seeing exactly 32 fouettes (I can never manage to count them anyway) but I would want to see a good substitute for them if they're not done correctly rather than the dancer visibly struggling & giving up early. I wouldn't say I really want to see her, it's more a case of using this run to try to catch up on dancers who I haven't seen do the role in full live & who I know I'm running out of time to see, which is Nunez, Lamb & Osipova. In the last run I ended up seeing a lot of debutants, and in 2020 I didn't see any performances as those I had booked never happened, & I don't really want to be saying in the future that I only saw such-and-such dancer in a quarter of Swan Lake!

I see the ROH website now has an alert up that they'll be doing maintenence from 6-10.30am tomorrow (Thursday).

I can understand why they want to include The Dream & Rhapsody in both Ashton bills but it does make the lack of casting even more of an issue because even booking only 1 performance for each bill means that you have the risk of ending up with the same casts booked twice. Ah, right. In which case I agree, I wouldn't pay that much for the side of the amphi. In fact I gave up ever sitting in the amphi about a decade ago, when the front few rows became too expensive for me.

I'm contemplating trying to see Osipova in SL in June but the comments on her technique are a rather offputting. I've previously only seen her do Act IV, at the Ukraine Gala performance, where I found I liked her more in the role than I was expecting to, but then Act IV isn't as technical as Acts II & III. It doesn't help that SL is so expensive so do I want to fork out if she's currently not at her best technically? But then if her technique is deteriorating due to age then maybe I should see her this season because it might be worse come the next SL run....?

And here's me being grateful that Winter's Tale is only £49 for my usual seats. I mean, compared to £75 for the same seats for Swan Lake.... ETA I'm surprised to find there's still a queue at 11.15am.