Rob S

47 minutes ago, jmhopton said:

Looking at the ROH casting for Bayadere for Sat 3rd Nov they have got Takada, McRae, Naghdi which is what I thought it should be. However for Tues 6th and Saturday 10th Nov they have got McRae, Naghdi, Takada which seems to indicate Yasmine is dancing Nikya. I take it this is a mistake? I thought Yasmine was only supposed to be dancing Gamzatti and not alternating roles like Nunez and Osipova. Looking further down the casting the Ball/Cuthbertson/Magri casting appears to show Magri is dancing Nikya which must be incorrect. You think the ROH could ensure their wonderful new website doesn't make such elementary errors.

Yes the order is a little mixed up for various dates on the summary page, however if you click on the date it confirms that it's not Yasmine that dances Nikiya but Boris Gruzin

If only there was some way of lowering it when it's actually needed

6 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

 

 

Rob I don't think I've ever seen pre-season casting for Don Quixote that includes all the characters you mention. At most Kitri, Basilio and the Don.

 

Dream sequence Dulcinea is usually danced by Kitri, as it is supposedly because of her resemblance to his ideal (Dulcinea) that the Don helps Kitri.

I think the Don Q DVD must be particularly helpful, the Mayerling dvd just states three roles as does La Bayadere and Swan Lake, of course the leaflet inside is much more informative

8 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Actually Dawnstar looking at the casting on the Spring casting thread I see it does only have the two leads only at the moment....but when booking starts opening may be more roles will,be shown.

Its interesting that link in the first post in the thread .....I can only see it for a short time and then the pages start blacking out!!

This could be because it's recognised I'm not really privy to this information as a Joe Public!!

La Bayadere starts tomorrow and it still only lists N, S & G, just as it did before booking opened in July...I just have to assume that the people in other roles in Saturday's performance will be the same for the performance I see next Friday

5 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

But this is a ballet where the title character is not one of the principal dancers. I don't really think many  people would decide on a date to book based on which of the wonderful Character Principals at the RB will play Don Q.

I know what you mean but I would hope to know at least the names that would typically appear on the back of the dvd of the performance....for Don Q that is admittedly quite a few; Kitri, Basilio, DQ, Sancho Panza, Espada, Mercedes, Gamache, Lorenzo, Queen of Dryads, Amour and Dulcinea.

5 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

Thank you for your replies LinMM & Rob S. I don't know if I'm spoiled by opera casting information but it does seem a bit odd that we're expected to book for Don Quixote with no idea of who will be playing the title character! At least with Mayerling casting for all the main characters was available so I knew that if, as indeed turned out to be the case, one of the dancers I was interested in seeing ended up not performing then there still would be several others. I also (for theatregoing in general, I haven't done much ballet going) am someone who doesn't always book performance justfor the leads - for instance I once booked for a Nozze di Figaro because of the Marcellina, which I can't imagine many people do!

 

I'm guessing this also means that when booking opens for Romeo & Juliet in January that we probably won't know the Mercutio, Tybalt, etc.?

Yes, I'm also someone that doesn't book a performance for the leads, my first trip to the ROH earlier this year to see Manon was for who was dancing as Lescaut's mistress...I paid very little attention to any of the other roles at the time of booking. Mayerling is the one that I've seen with the most names available before and after booking opened, followed by the Nutcracker...Swan Lake was just Odette and Siegfried. I don't know if it was better in previous years, I can't imagine you'd be told who the four cygnets will be but at least who Rothbart is. Given how much the tickets are you'd think they would tell us as other roles in Don Q give quite a significant contribution in terms of dancing content

I'm not sure how you would book now for Don Q tickets if you want more names before deciding, once the run is under way you can use Instagram to find out who is likely to be in a performance you have booked but generally that only gives you a day's notice if you haven't booked anything yet. If a dancer you follow posts that they danced in a particular performance or you read about them on this forum  you could assume they'd be in the future performances with the same named leads

One of the dancers posted a photo of a form detailing the pool of 12 dancers that will be the three shades in La Bayadere but it wasn't grouped in such a way that you can tell who will be dancing on what day, so I at least know I have a 3 in 11 chance of seeing a particular dancer in the one performance I'm seeing

1 hour ago, Don Q Fan said:

I was just disappointed with the poor choice of seats left.  It also shows there is a distinct need for more matinees!!

Seems all the priority bookers got there first. I think they need to look at the whole booking system because Joe Public is not getting a fair crack at the whip. 

 

I’m  not sure how the general booking can be any fairer over the priority bookers but I’d love to know exactly what page you are supposed to look at to constitute ‘being in the queue’. I was on my chosen Don Q performance page at 0830 but still end up being 494 in the queue come 9am 

Thankfully they sorted my query out once booking was open

Trying to work out which Two Pigeons performance to book, I click on what appears to be the right one and find in the cast credits that there are three of every role listed

2 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

The Donald Gordon Grand Tier...

No, no, no....Emirates Level 3....one of the entrances to which can be named the Donald Gordon Doors after a lengthy protest march outside the building, ‘Abu Dhabi Dome: London’ 

.....’Level 5 in association with Specsavers’....

3 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

My sister has very generously got tickets in the Orchestra Stalls for us this evening; would it really sound so exciting to be going to 'level 1' or whatever it is? It's all part of the romance of going to the theatre.

Give it a couple of years and the Orchestra Stalls will officially be known as ‘Level 1 presented by Rolex’

5 hours ago, graemew said:

I have to say that worn pointe shoes ae not the most wholesome of products and I can see that commercial resale could be a real Health and Safety nightmare.

 

In that case get the dancers to sign those miniature pointe shoes you can buy in the shop 😂

27 minutes ago, graemew said:

 

I would imagine that the ROH shop would double that price. It is currently selling small packs of ex-costume department fabrics at 20 pounds/pack.  However, worn pointe shoes are not the prettiest of goods to display and so would have to be kept under the counter!   I'm sure it would be a good revenue earner though although another imposition on overworked dancers.

A shelf of small white  ‘tissue boxes’ against one of the walls with the name of the dancer on the front of each box. Simples 🙂

I suggested to the person listed as being responsible for the shoe appeal that they sell a selection of the used shoes to raise funds, I got no reply....and then at the end of the season nearly all the dancers I follow on Instagram posted photos of bins full of used shoes ( I presume they just go to landfill). Now they sent out letters requesting donations

29 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

Clarke and Acri.

Oh so I was right to say Ella but for the wrong reason! 🤣

Edit....oh, I was wrong to say Ella for the right/wrong reason, and I can’t delete this post...I’ll get my coat

8 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

Thank you. I suspected that Jenny Taylor's plea for more was mainly down to Corrales but Ella  too as well as Clarke and Acri ............ terrific. Has Ella been on before?

Actually, scrub that...I’ve got not idea why I keep calling Luca Acri Benjamin Ella....so the two  I remember were Corrales and Acri!

Just now, capybara said:

 

Who were they, please?

Not got my cast sheet handy but the main man was Corrales, plus Ella and can’t remember the other two 

Now I’ve engaged brain, I’ve remembered the single seat next to me was empty and I’m very glad the ROH doesn’t have a policy of not allowing a single person to book a seat in such a position that will allow an isolated empty seat....unless they were desperate for bookings on Saturday morning

26 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

Glad to hear that last night went so well. 

Did those of you  there  notice many empty seats? There seemed to be something like 400 still available yesterday morning.... 

I booked my ticket for last night at about 0130 on Saturday morning having just got back from Friday’s performance and was surprised how many empty seats were displayed as available in stalls and amphitheatre and that’s what persuaded me to try out a seat in the Stalls Circle. I did look at the back of the stalls last night specifically to see if there were empty seats and it didn’t look like there were that many 

22 minutes ago, Tony Newcombe said:

Totally agree. The corps were rather good in the second act. Some eye catching performances??

Rather! I did spot some interesting moves when I momentarily looked away from Princess Stephanie’s disapproving face 😂

I don’t know how often he does it but my heart did skip several beats when Kevin O’Hare made his appearance on stage before the start.....expecting to hear that ‘due to circumstances beyond our control.....’ etc, thankfully it was just for appeal purposes 

Another fantastic evening of Mayerling helped immeasurably by a front row stall circle seat

3 minutes ago, Jillykins said:

 

I agree that the Hungarian officers gave a great performance but I do want to giggle sometimes when they keep popping out of the curtains.

Doing it once is fine but surely something else could have been thought of instead of repeating it.....and then having an old bloke walking along looking round. I propose whores being chased by the police accompanied by the the closest thing Liszt did to the Benny Hill theme