Dawnstar

I really hope the train companies will clarify as soon as possible what disruption there will still be on the strikes dates. I need to know by Friday whether I need to try to get a rush ticket for Woolf Works on 11th or whether I'll be able to use my original ticket for 16th.

I was rather surprised that it will be just one pairing. I had (admittedly vaguely) thought from the previous info that there would be multiple pairs of each gender & was therefore hoping that having booked for several casts I would get to see both options. Now I bet the only female pair will end up only dancing with one of the casts I haven't booked for! I was reassured by the interview with the designer that it sounds like the video elements will be fairly discreet & there will be plenty of proper scenery too. When I saw a video designer credited I was afraid it would be some awfully modern concept with video all over the place & no real sets.

It would be interesting to survey audience members who didn't realise they were watching a real life couple to see if they thought it made a difference. I thought it did when I saw Magri & Ball last month but then I know they're a couple so it could partly be me projecting that knowledge onto how I saw the performance, if that makes sense.

Wasn't it 18% or so for the package booking discount? Though I guess even 5% or 10% would be better than nothing.

Yes, it was quite eye-opening compared to the RB's Carabosse. And while it would be impossible to double the roles, with the larger Carabosse role, I imagine Reilly would also have danced the Prince at other performances.

Given how little Carabosse is visible through the mirror I reckon they could get away with a double, a la Odette in Act III. I'd like it if they had Carabosse & Florimund fighting. At the moment frankly Florimund seems to have it pretty easy winning his Princess! I've never seen a male Carabosse live, only on video. From what I recall of Anthony Dowell's Carabosse, when the RB's previous production was televised in the 90s, the role was just mime so being played by a man didn't make much difference. However when Stuttgart's production was streamed during lockdown Jason Reilly's Carabosse had some proper choreography, including jumps, so having a man in the role was more significant. Yes, he was the first dancer who came to my mind who I'd like to see doubling the roles.

Given the current RB production is based on the 1946 one, I would be absolutely fascinated if they tried that doubling nowadays. Admittedly some of the Princes I can't imagine playing Carabosse but there are some that I think could pull it off.

Thank you. I did tentatively think of Donnelly & Dean as possible identifications but I didn't think of Churches, who I also completely failed to recognise as one of the SB princes last month!

@Rob S May I ask who the 3 dancers in the Tudor-ish costumes are? I'm sure I should recognise them but I don't at the moment, not helped by being on my phone rather than laptop.

@Sim I'm the other way around: I'm pleased I saw them on 14th as I can't make 4th March!

Yet another cast change up on the ROH website now. Not good for Takada or Sambe but it must be good for Magri to get another performance in her first run of doing the role.

@Emeralds I'm going to have to wait for Friday rush to see if I can get a ticket for 11th March Woolf Works, as there aren't any stalls circle tickets I can afford still available for that date. If they're going to add more strikes in April I wish they'd just tell us now. The uncertainty is so stressful. I have Cinderella tickets for 5th & both performances on 10th so will be extremely disappointed if I can't get to both those dates.

Richardson definitely wasn't wearing earrings on 8th February, see photo below. Maybe he just forgot to take his own earrings off before last night's performance? He does wear earrings offstage - when I spoke to him at the stage door after his Nutcracker Prince in December he was wearing an attractive dangly silver filigree pair - so I imagine it would be quite easy for him to forget to take them off. I've certainly noticed performers who have forgetten to remove their wedding ring before coming onstage.

I'm very pleased to hear of Monaghan's promotion. I really liked him in Hobson's Choice in 2019, tried too see him in the Nutcracker later that year but unfortunately there was a cast change, and finally managed to see him again in Don Quixote last summer in which I also thought he was excellent. I'll certainly be booking to see him again in the future if I can. (Maslen I've not seen in any significant roles, having only seen BRB the 3 times in recent years, so I'm afraid I can't say anything about him.)

@EmeraldsI guess I've been fairly lucky so far as Woolf Works will be the first time I've lost an RB booking to strikes - though I have lost bookings for other theatres - & at least I can potentially make another date. I'm busy praying they don't add any more strikes later in April. Most of my Cinderella bookings are for the only date I can see each respective cast so no chance to swap to another date if I can't get to London when I'm booked.

Drat, I was supposed to be seeing Woolf Works on 16th. In fact the unions must really not like Ferri as there are strikes on 2 of her 4 Woolf Works dates! I guess I'll have to try to get a rush ticket for 11th as that's the only one of her performances I can now get to.

I completely agree with this. I wish they were paired together more often. I'm trying to work out if last night was the first time they've danced the two leading roles in a major ballet together? I know they did Mayerling & La Bayadere but in those instances she was playing the "other woman" in a triangle. I hadn't intended to see Ball live in SB this season, as he's doing the cinecast, but I'm very pleased that I now have as I thought he gave an excellent performance. Not only the dancing but also the acting, which considering how little Prince Florimund has to work with dramatically must take some doing! (I also realised during the performance that, assuming he does Cinderella as intended, he's going to be the only dancer who I'll be seeing in all 4 Prince roles this season.) I certainly wouldn't blame her as after the Rose Adage glitch in her opening performance I was nervous just watching her last night & was very relieved when both sets of balances went off well! I did think last night that Maeda wasn't the ideal partner for Hay. Not that they didn't dance well together but en pointe she did look rather too tall for him. So I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the originally intended pairing. Gasparini might have been better height-wise out of this season's Princess Florines. I was pleased to see Melissa Hamilton as the Fairy of the Golden Vine last night as I hadn't previously seen her as any of the fairies. I still can't see why she's considered not to have very good classical technique as she always looks fine to my inexpert eyes. I likewise can't see anything obviously wrong with Gina Storm-Jensen's Lilac Fairy solo but in that instance each time I see it, and I've seen her 3/3 SBs this season, something just seems slightly not at ease with it. Any expert opinion? Having been a bit nervous about possibly being the only single person in an audience of couples, I was relived to find the audience mix looked similar to usual. There were a couple of pairs of children fairly near me but both were pretty well-behaved with no more occasional whispering than some of the nearby adults. Although at the start of Act III as the fairytale characters made their entrances a young voice did audibly exclaim "Cat!"

I just picked exactly the same moment for tweeting my (not as good as Rob's) curtain call photos. It was so sweet. It was also lovely when he kissed her hand when they were bowing at the end of the grand pdd.

I've now watched it. Yes, the man on the left of the second pair of dancers does the gesture I was asking about with the "Talking" caption.

Thank you both. It's the first gesture, the speak/listen one, that I was puzzled by. I did understand the Songbird mimicking one. (Though each time I see it I do wonder why she gives up after Songbird & Crystal Fountain & doesn't mimic all 5!) Thanks. I'll have a look at that tomorrow, as I'm currently on the train home & I doubt the rest of the carriage will want to hear an explanation of ballet mime!

May I ask if someone can explain what the mime gesture done by Carabosse of waving her hands to her mouth means? I think I understand all the rest of the mime but the meaning of that eludes me.

This appears to be his first of this run, having checked the rest of the cast sheets as I too was curious to see if he'd done any so far.

Something else to worry about!

@LinMM That's very kind of you but I don't usually get to the ROH until about 15-20 minutes before a performance, by the time I've walked from Kings Cross, so I'm not sure if I could manage to get there in time for a before-show meet up.

I'm glad to hear Valentine's Day performances at the ROH don't differ from the usual ones. I do almost all my theatregoing alone & usually I'm absolutely fine with it but a few years ago I made a last-minute trip to a West End show on Valentine's Day, to see a previous cast member return to cover a role, & did find it awkward when I seemed to be the only person there alone.