Rob S

3 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

 

its amongst the changes Liam doing to make it all more logical. As John McFarlane said - six princesses turning up at a ball all with the same dress and accessories???

 

I hope they address the issue of why Rothbart a) is invited to the ball and b) why he gets to sit so close to the queen. I presume the Act 3 set design will include a lot more seating as currently there only seems to be a throne

6 minutes ago, MargaretN7 said:

Because one of the princesses, attending as a potential bride for the prince, is Spanish.

Is she? You normally have six princesses, they tend to be dressed the same and they are the ones that get looked up and down by the prince....and you have four or sometimes five national dances at the ball, Spanish, Polish, Hungarian, Italian and Russian.

The last Swan Lake I saw had no princesses and the prince checked out the five lead females from the national dances instead.

6 minutes ago, penelopesimpson said:

Okay, ignorance showing here and I haven't seen the Insight yet but....why has Swan Lake got a Spanish Dance?

Because that's what goes best with the Spanish music segment 😄

4 minutes ago, Sim said:

Hi Rob....we are just checking out the copyright issues.  We may need to leave this hidden and just suggest to everyone that in order to see the designs they watch the link to last night's Insight which will be on the ROH YouTube channel for about a month.  

Ok, well at least one of the three pics had the credit on it and I just thought it would make discussion of the new designs easier 

7 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

 

I was slightly puzzled by his claim that the beautiful new pas de deux for Act 4 was to music he had resurrected because it is extremely familiar. But seeing that alone was enough to set one's pulses racing for next week's opening night.

 

 

Yes I was somewhat confused by that too...either the new old music is elsewhere in Act 4 or I must’ve watch the 1897 (?) performance by someone else 

Oh dear, have I been naughty?

Each performance should be judged by an independent panel of up to 2,256 judges for worthiness of a standing ovation. Judges who consider that a performance is worthy of a standing ovation should stand up and indicate that decision by hitting their hands together repeatedly until either the judge or the recipient of the applause walks away#. Any judge that wishes to contest another judge's verdict should contact the venue's management where they will be issued with a 50p voucher which can be redeemed against the cost of a future performance*

# auditorium doors shut at 2300hrs

* a maximum of one voucher per judge, valid for twelve months from date of issue

I'll get my coat 🙃

10 hours ago, aliceinwoolfland said:

I *think* that may have been an old photo? 

Yeah that was the old Benno

9 hours ago, capybara said:

 

He hardly registered in the Dowell production as he quickly  merged with three other 'friends', didn't he? The Scarlett Benno has been widely reported as dancing the Act 1 pas de trois. So a considerable step up.

Yes I suppose he didn't actually do any dancing and dancing the pdt would indeed fulfill the criteria of a bigger role.

I thought the role of Benno was already quite big in the last production...how much bigger can he get!?

2 minutes ago, aliceinwoolfland said:

In the bit when they’re doing the final swamp pdd and the characters from earlier are weaving in and out and dancing behind them, is that the ghosts from their past reappearing to haunt them as if part of a hallucination, or is it literally courtesans in the swamp? 

The former.....the very much dead Lescaut and gaoler feature in that bit...it's all memories.

46 minutes ago, jmhopton said:

if we're asking for info. could someone please explain to me who everyone is at the docks in Act 3? Who are the ladies dancing? Are they ladies or are they courtesans for the soldiers? I'm only unsure because they only have knee high dresses (though of course long dresses would make dancing difficult!) Also why are they there? have they just come to ogle the latest prisoners or do they want to help? Also the soldiers; what function do they have? There seems a lot if they're just to police a few half starved women. I've been wondering for a while. It may be explained in the programme but I don't buy them and the Southport cinema info just gave casting and no plot details. (I think they'd missed a page!)

There aren't that many soldiers around, but they've got to guard and then escort an unknown number of prisoners to the prison and police the dock...clearly the arrival of a prisoner ship is a form of entertainment for a variety of the New Orleans population....it's going to be years before the jazz clubs and the NFL franchise move in

I'm not sure how you miss Des Grieux’s entrance but I keep missing the point when everyone in the background freezes

A couple of shots I managed to get last night, really wasn't sure I'd get anything decent with a very small light camera and a long focal length required in the amphitheatre but the first one looks like it was taken using 'Rob's Sacred Cow Recognition' setting ....sadly this mode was completely defeated when a big bunch of flowers was in the picture too

I think that’s a decent enough souvenir of the evening. You’re going to be hard pushed to get anything better than that with a phone, I had similar shots  from mine when I sat in the same area a couple of weeks ago. I do wish they’d allow the use of a dSLR and a nice big super fast lens 🤣...or failing that how about they sell professionally taken shots of all our favourites during these curtain calls in the shop 💡 

9 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

I used an iPhone SE.  I try to touch the screen to set the exposure meter but I find everything moves on so quickly.  I won't say how many I took to get 4 half way decent ones!

I have often thought about trying to find a camera app that will allow a centred spotmeter to be set because I think the size of the iphone’s meter is simply to big to cope with getting a correct exposure for a close up of the cast even if you were sat in the first row 😫

And don’t forget, taking loads of photos to get 4 decent ones is standard practice 🙂

13 minutes ago, aliceinwoolfland said:

Great review and fabulous photo! I have an iPhone 7 and every time I try to take a close up the cast looks washed out (it really doesn’t seem to like the ROH lights)...any suggestions? 

Are you touching the subject on the screen to set the exposure meter or just pressing the shutter button?

What I'd like to know is whether members are going to try to avoid reviews here, in the newspapers, on Radio 4 etc until they've been to see a performance themselves

Thank you, a few more...I'm happy with the composition but not the image quality from the iPhone, far too noisy

My pic from a really enjoyable first ever trip to the Royal Opera House on Thursday evening

It’s my first visit to the ROH next Thursday and I have to admit I did pay a lot of attention to the footage of the audience and what they are wearing in my numerous RB blu rays so as not to look like a tit  

I’m not sure what’s worse, finding yourself wearing your best jeans and a nice shirt in the Stalls of the ROH or, as I spotted the other day, wearing a dinner jacket and bow tie to a Ballet of Siberia performance in Swindon when everyone else is in casualwear

1 hour ago, assoluta said:

Why you should? Most dancers don't brag about such problems in public, even though they can be quite severe.

Do you mean you've just seen a picture of them and think they look wrecked?

1 hour ago, Don Q Fan said:

A few curtain call pics from the Thursday 5 April 2018 performance of Manon - It's hopefully evident who is who!

 

Osipova/Shklyarov

They're great, what kind of camera are you able to get away with for photos of the curtain call? They don't look like phone pics!!

11 minutes ago, alison said:

Making your mind up is one thing: once you actually click on a ticket you only have 30 minutes to pay for it, which can be stressful

I found that bit quite generous too, I’m used to sites giving you only 10 minutes to complete all your details after a seat is chosen 

I joined the queue at 9am in 1926th place but thankfully it didn’t take too long to start choosing. I think it’s great they give you an hour to make your mind up, a newcomer like me needs that kind of time to make his mind up