Rob S

It’s Olivia Cowley! You’re just making it worse! 😆

it’s not that bad is it?😆

Changes for Act 2….angels in a foggy Kingdom of the Sweets instead of the usual foliage and none of the candle relay…also the Chinese dancers didn’t enter by the steps but from the sides even though Drosselmeyer did and the angel appeared at the top of them at the end

I miss the fort more than the sleigh but I assume the full stage width step that couldn’t lower was what stopped the fort and house being moved in, I assume it can’t fit in a more forward position in the wings in time.

🎄A TREEmendous Act 1 tonight! 🎄 Mr O’Hare once again came out to tell us of a cast change, Matthew Ball being the Prince….but also that an hour before curtain up they had a major electrical problem and so some scenery won’t work but Gary Avis has had a think and the show will go on!….turns out it wasn’t the old guy’s candleholder that was knackered but the tree started the party fully grown! Everything was styled out rather well, they didn’t bother putting the angel on the tree etc and the tree growing section was just padded out with moving around….but then there was no fort or dolls house. And though the tree did disappear when it was supposed to a step remained so there was no electric float thing, they walked off at the end as they sometimes do any way

I've just remembered....last night Clara had to break her own Nutcracker as the boy that dropped it on the floor did so in a way that it didn't end up in two pieces😄

I think the wig suits Anna Rose very well. the only thing is the mesh underneath it is very noticeable on her forehead in the photos

Is your message a general one about how you great you've always found them etc, is it wishing them luck for that performance or do you write as though you'd just seen the performance?

Is there a time when even the Rose Fairy escorts wore the blond wigs? Maybe we'll see the Prince go to sparkly own hair regardless of skin colour in a few years

I'm not a veteran ballet goer but as Drosselmeyer he seems to be like that all the time, for his glittery red runs he does seem to jump up while doing them now...first time I saw evidence of him doing that was his second performance last year...he'd forgotten to do it at the performance I went to as they only did the first small red run not the full one. I have a list of his cancelled performances that I was due to see: 22/12 and 31/12. He was replaced once before cancellations for family reasons.

Sumina Sasaki has confirmed it was Sae Maeda’s Clara debut 👏

Is it Sae Maeda’s Clara debut? She’s been great 😊

Can I ask how you find these particular cast lists on the ROH website? They don’t seem to have long life as none of the links work now though they did yesterday. Is it because we keep mocking the glaring errors? 😆 I wanted to check whether it was originally going to be Gina Storm Jensen as Rose Fairy tonight or another night as we have Leticia Dias tonight now according to the published on the day version

Looks like further disruption for Raymonda....now the opening performance is 18th Jan and have seven performances....at least one date that was previously cancelled will now be available to book from noon tomorrow

I'd say so as of 1925hrs last night, must've been around a couple of dozen perhaps...over in the book section

Overall I prefer the classic battle scene but one detail of the new one I love is the way the soldiers are leaning untidily in the fort but straighten up after the first gunfire and then of move towards the door with a lot of head wobbling 😆

I'll post it here for the benefit of anyone going to the remaining Nutcrackers but if like me you forgot to get a Dante Project programme at the time the shop has a supply signed by Edward Watson at £12

Yes, Romany has done a great job in Act 1, very pleased to see she finally got to do it 👏

Other debuts I consider 'main roles' appear to be Gina Storm Jensen as Rose Fairy and Romany Pajdak in the Arabian dance (?)....and following on from the other Nutcracker thread I assume the soprano Haegee Lee hasn't done the Russian dance before

There was the cast list that stated Giacomo Rovero was both Grandfather and Clara's partner in the same act

Will tomorrow be Romany Pajdak's Clara debut?

There are two versions of the DVD and both feature Lauren Cuthbertson for some reason...I presume the performance with Sarah Lamb won't be released but I wish it would