MJW

Hopefully so; I was in London a fortnight ago at St James Palace and there were quite a lot of people with flags about. I understand there was a sit-in at Waterloo that day but thankfully missed that

Managed to grab a ticket for Saturday’s matinee. One of the few times I will have seen Osipova live. Hopefully the planned demonstrations don’t cause an issue travelling on Saturday

I saw Andy Monaghan (twice) when I went to Will's first performance in October - once in Bow Street and the second time in the main foyer. I don't know whether he goes to all of Will's performances. Very sweet if he does.

I live on the Surrey/Sussex border so at times I have been (very) lucky to have got from Covent Garden to home within an hour and a half (usually by having to run to Waterloo). Usually however a finish after 10pm will mean I am not home until 12:30 which is too late for work the next day, hence I usually only go to evening performances on a Friday or Saturday. A 7pm start therefore would be ideal. Its the reason I much prefer matinees.

First night cast photos by Alastair Muir - https://photos.alastairmuir.com/Ballet/Royal-Ballet/Anemoi-23/i-gkvm6FP https://photos.alastairmuir.com/Ballet/Royal-Ballet/The-Cellist-23/

A couple of videos from Friday's opening night - (unfortunately I managed to miss Lauren Cuthbertson on stage alone at the end of the performance). Anemoi - https://www.instagram.com/p/CyqkOXwI27t/ The Cellist - https://www.instagram.com/p/CyqBa3DIbQO/ 24hrs after the event I am still in two minds; I like both works (though the constant scene changes in The Cellist (although cleverly done) are very distracting). I think a third "contemporary" work in the middle would have been a considerable improvement. Two hours was too short for an evening - though I managed to get home by 11:15. Unfortunately given the recent discussion about ticket prices and discounts I kept thinking "and how much did you pay for your ticket..?" - not that I would have had the effrontery to ask.

Not convinced ROH has learnt its lesson on prices!

I wasn't overly keen on The Cellist when I saw it in 2020, but am going again this evening and it will be interesting to see if my feelings about it changed. I was impressed with Anemoi when I saw it live during its first run.

Quite - not the most convincing of responses. To quote from Yes Minister "...that's a load of meaningless drivel. Isn't it?" I see "diversity" is mentioned twice, so that's two ticks.

Just been watching this Insights on YouTube - fascinating to hear what goes on behind the scenes for scoring rehearsals for both opera (Susanna Stranders) and the lovely Kate Shipway for the Royal Ballet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5--sBriFFLw&t=3248s Do try and watch.

From this afternoon - apologies for the initial wonkiness. https://www.instagram.com/p/CyY1IlaIT3x/

And camp perfection from James Hay

It does rather beggar belief - very heavy discounting should surely be the last resort. I am sure that 20/25% discount on certain areas to Friends and those on distribution lists would have helped to shift sales.

Well they've managed not to perform Medusa (which I quite liked) or the Unknown Soldier again! I have no issue with the Dante Project, Anemoi or The Cellist being performed again, just not quite so soon after their first performances, nor all in the same season.

It's quite hard to see the logic behind the programming of the Dante Project and the Anemoi/The Cellist. Whilst there are only a few ballets that could be certain to sell well (Nutcracker and Swan Lake for example), given these three pieces were performed relatively recently, why not programme works that haven't been (for whatever reason). Whist there would be no guarantee of widespread appeal, they would at least have the advantage of novelty value. Personally, a re-run of the Asphodel Meadows/Two Pigeons double bill from a few years back would be perfect. On a separate but related point, I'd be very interested to know what proportion of the audience are "regulars" (Friends or otherwise) and how many are new or infrequent visitors. Presumably the latter are higher proportion for something like the Nutcracker.

For those of us going to Saturday's matinee, something to whet the appetite: From Dancersdiary - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vsgez_wvFWY

Slightly irritating as I am already booked for the 20th (which is presumably why I haven't received this!).

Some images by Alastair Muir: https://photos.alastairmuir.com/Ballet/Dance/Black-Sabbath-BRB/ Four stars in the Telegraph's review: "Anyone present who previously thought either ballet precious or heavy metal dumb will, I reckon, have had their mind conclusively changed. What more can you reasonably ask?"

Nathalie Harrison is very good - she was excellent in her interview with Laura Morera.

Does anybody find that certain streams seem play unevenly? On my PC the new streams are fine but through the app on Amazon Firestick they are very jerky. It could be my connection but other ROH streams are fine.

Hurrah - will have to rejoin now! ROH said on their IG it had been added “due to popular demand”

That's why I am going to the general rehearsal - if I don't like it at least I won't have spent too much money!

I would certainly recommend it. There are discounts available. I'm a member of the Art Fund and my ticket was £13.50 rather than £27.00 https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/27884-after-impressionism-inventing-modern-art/

Despite the inclement weather and train strikes. I spent a very pleasant afternoon at this afternoon's matinee of Jewels. I have only seen Diamonds before (performed last year as part of the Diamond Celebration). Diamonds is certainly the strongest of the three pieces followed by Rubies (which is jolly good fun and clearly enjoyed by the dancers) and then Emeralds which I found rather slow - possibly not helped by the music by Fauré which was very unmemorable. How lovely to see the Australian Ballet on stage at Covent Garden and let us hope they will be back soon especially if the Russian companies are unlikely to be visiting in the near future. Diamonds - https://www.instagram.com/p/CvkiaLmIcAg/ Rubies - https://www.instagram.com/p/CvkmQCnocyk/ Emeralds - https://www.instagram.com/p/CvknisloPIT/ Rather a long wait now until October !

Thank you @JohnS for that very detailed price comparison. It would be very interesting to know on what basis ROH does price its seating other than via the use of a tombola ! Its a shame there is so little direct two-way communication between ROH management and the visiting public. Perhaps if there was, management wouldn't get itself in such a predicament.