MJW

Top price for the Nutcrcacker last Winter was £160

High praise for last night's opener from Mark Monahan in the Telegraph (5 stars). (Behind paywall) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/dance/ballet/the-winters-tale-royal-ballet-review-shakespeare Marco Masciari described as "a star to be"

Terrific this afternoon - certainly better than a day in the office!

Casting for this afternoon’s General https://static.roh.org.uk/digital/cast-sheets/The-Winters-Tale/The-Winters-Tale-General-Rehearsal-CS-03-05-24.pdf Pleased to see I’m seeing a different cast when I go in a week or so’s time

It's the General Rehearsal tomorrow (which I'm going to and which means a day off work!) and the run starts Friday evening. Looking forward to it as I've never seen this live before. Some pictures and rehearsal shots from the ROH's flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/royaloperahouse/albums/72177720316646846 https://www.flickr.com/photos/royaloperahouse/albums/72177720316485901

Possibly... but "...always keep a-hold of Nurse for fear of finding something worse" (!)

I think referring to both opera and ballet as one company makes perfect sense though in practice everyone will still refer to the Royal Ballet. The logo however is hideous - not sure what’s wrong with the existing typeface which is quite elegant. The new one looks as though it was chosen from the selection available in MS Word!

Two of my colleagues want to go to the ballet for the first time, so I said I would let them know once details of the forthcoming Season are released. Personally I would suggest Onegin or R&J but they wanted something light. Not sure that Alice or Cinderella would appeal so I might suggest BRB's Fille at Sadlers Wells in October.

Thanks for this! You’d think Sadlers Wells would have a link at the very least. I’ll know for next month when I see Northern Ballet

As I don’t follow BRB I don’t have a clue about the cast at all! Where are the cast sheets in the SW website?

Interesting....I'll see what happens Saturday afternoon!

Ditto. I have rebooked for the following Monday. Hopefully my Thursday visit to see Swan Lake will be fine (overtime ban) and that I can to London and back home (I don't really want to spend a night in London).

That was best performance of Swan Lake I've seen. It's a work that usually leaves me rather cold emotionally - looks and sounds marvelous but no more than that. I think the combination of an emotionally draining week at work and sitting so close to the stage (Row H in the Stalls) resulted in real connection for me. Everything gelled; terrific performances from everyone, beautiful music and a storyline that (really for the first time for me) made complete sense throughout. I'm afraid it left me in a bit of a state at the end, but perhaps that isn't such a bad thing. From my IG from this afternoon - https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5_crjlIwVT/

https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/43/swan-lake-by-liam-scarlett/cast-list/54728 Cast sheet for this afternoon’s performance. Frankly after the week I’ve had at work, I really need this!

Lots of comments wishing James a speedy recovery on his IG feed from early this morning - shows how highly appreciated he is

Yes - I received mine Friday. It will be interesting to see if any changes result.

I've recently become a Patron so despite living in Surrey will try and make every effort to support - I am planning to go up there for the September run.

Had the very good fortune last night to be sitting next to a lovely lady down from Manchester (her husband was sitting elsewhere). Her son was in his last year at RBS and was performing in Different Drummer as one of the characters in a gas mask. She was clearly very proud of what her son had already achieved - he had played Fritz previously in the Nutcracker, and was in Manon and will be Swan Lake as well. Such hard work and sheer commitment required from someone so young was very impressive and she was justly proud. Please to say he has a job offer to start in August so that must be a welcome relief. I said I would say hello if we happened to catch each other at the Summer Performance in July. 😆

After quick random check on the seating plan - looks like it only applies to the 27th (which is the date I was going on anyway) and applies to the £110 and £104 price bands.

I should just add that £40 will inevitably be spent on an extra ticket for something else in the future!

I saw ROH were advertising the 40% discount for the Macmillan triple on IG earlier today. I've never done so before, but I cancelled my existing ticket in the balcony for one in the grand tier and saved myself about £40.

Based on the above positive comments, I've booked to see BRB at Sadlers Wells next month.

These are some great behind the scenes shots - https://www.rsc.org.uk/northern-ballet-romeo-and-juliet/behind-the-scenes

Thanks for the terrific review (and pictures). Will you be seeing any of the other casts? Looking forward to seeing this in London late May.

I've read everyone's comments with interest and the offering at Saturday's matinee was certainly a mixed bag. On the plus side I enjoyed Rotunda (though perhaps a bit bland) and surprisingly I enjoyed Pam Tanaowitz's work (despite having thought her offering as part of the Diamond Celebration at ROH appalling). I could have done without the piano being moved across the stage which added nothing. I can't say I was overly impressed with Duo Concertant - the dancers standing at the piano at the start was fine but didn't need to be repeated. I struggled with the Stravinsky. Lastly, Love Letter (on Shuffle). Parts of this worked really well but it was marred by the terrible costumes, lighting effects and the music accompaniment which I found painfully loud (the chap next to me put is headphones on at point). For some reason this work produced quite a lot of whoops and cheers (though perhaps they were reacting to the rugby score?)? It would be interesting to see this work again with better music and fewer lighting effects so one can actually see the dancers. Anyway, that was my first visit to Sadler's Wells and the first time I have seen NYCB. Given I'm not likely to see them very often, I'm still glad I went.