JNC

Oh this is really interesting. I didn’t realise they had done little changes! Guess unless you spot the difference and you have a good eye/memory it’s not necessarily something that would be obvious. I wonder why they changed the colour of the tunic?

Sorry to take further off topic but now I’m curious - why do opera sets/productions get refreshed more often than ballet ones? Do the sets wear out quicker or is it more artistic expectations that there should be creative changes more often? I’m curious because obviously it’s vastly expensive to change all sets/costumes, bring in a new director or some creative force (eg if you have slightly different positioning depending on sets as there’s no set “choreography” like in ballet?). I’m just wondering whether in the current economic times we are in they could make the opera productions last a bit longer? I suppose nothing lasts forever and with ballets using the same productions the sets/costumes will wear and need to be replaced but producing off an existing template is going to be cheaper, there’s no big artistic changes that have to be scoped and tested with the trial/error process removed. I’m now going even more off topic and wondering what big ballet production will be the next to have a refresh! The MacMillan/Georgiadis designs feel sacrosanct at this point so I’d imagine as much as I like the current Nutcracker production that might be next in line given it’s 40 years old now. To be honest I’d prefer to see Giselle given a refresh, I don’t like the jagged edge of the Willis’ costumes and I don’t know why but the plot doesn’t seem as strong to me as ENB Skeaping or Paris Opera’s version. Or I wonder if they redid the designs for a MacMillan work that hasn’t been seen recently (Rite of Spring for example) that could be an excuse to revive it. And whilst I adore the Makarova Bayadere, if an updated production that removes some of the “concerns” about it but retains the overall plot and choreography means it can have a full revival I’d prefer this to the work never been seen again at ROH! Anyway I don’t imagine we’ll have any production refreshes for many years given budget, I think we were lucky to have Cinderella. Although if they have the money for a full act McGregor…

The package discount back in the day of “all ballet” used to apply to amphi as well - not the cheapest tickets admittedly but the mid range ones, which while they used to be cheaper than nowadays were still a little out of my budget at the time, but with the package discount even if I was paying a little more it was a bit of a treat. And it certainly swayed me to book things I hadn’t considered before, so it did work! I suppose they can’t really do packages anymore with such a reduced repertoire - for some booking periods there is only 2 main stage ballets programmed… I wonder why Alice is the one they’ve excluded from the deal not Cinderella? I’d expect Cinderella to be more of a guaranteed easy sell (even at these prices unfortunately) given the name + Christmas period. Given they’ve priced Alice the same as Cinderella, are they so confident it will sell well? It’s got 17 performances in autumn, and from the page on the website people will know it’s back in summer so people keen to see both Alice/Cinderella but not flush with cash are likely to spread them out and delay it until the summer? The Encounters bill is priced quite “low” in comparison, maybe they’re already predicting it won’t be a good seller! It’s less than half the price of Cinderella/Alice!

Thanks for sharing pricing. It’s difficult to know exactly what is going on without the seat map but looks like they’ve increased pricing in the amphi quite significantly for Cinderella. all I can say is, I hope Onegin and Balanchine pricing is more like Maddaddam and the encounters bill respectively… At least it looks like I’ll only be booking one or two performances each season!

Not sure if this is the right thread but a few more tickets for Sarasota in the Linbury have gone up if you’re quick

@alison the higher prices are what put me off giving this a go. I’d be willing to pay those prices for a ballet I really want to see (something I’ve seen before and I know is good, or by Ashton/Balanchine where I like their choreography) but it’s not worth it at these prices for me. For non ballet regulars I think people are prepared to pay that money for the big tutu ballets, or a well known story like Romeo and Juliet, but not for this. To add that there’s also no matinee performances at all (apart from on a bank holiday Monday where rail travel is always a risk) so on top of the very high ticket prices I’d have to fork out for accommodation making it even more unaffordable. It’s a shame as all the casts look great, usually there’s one that I’d always gravitate to but here there’s 2, if not 3 that I would really struggle to pick between. I might try and catch the cinema relay instead! And will live vicariously through the performance by reading reports on here!

when I did a tour of the ROH once, the tour guide explained the higher pricing for opera due to the sets being far more expensive than ballet sets. They said that ballet sets are mainly ornamental props/screens that don’t need to take the weight of people standing on them (think a painted backdrop). Of course this may not be the only reason, and I hope I’m not misremembering as the tour was a few years ago now (pre Covid). I’m aware that there are a number of ballet sets that do need to take weight (think the stairs act 3 swan lake and Cinderella) - interesting these are newer sets so maybe that is feeding into higher costs for ballet with “better”/more structural sets than previously.

The press release on the ROH website is weirdly hidden - you have to go to news, click the 2024/2025 season announcement page and then in the first paragraph there is a hyperlink where they announce “Royal Ballet and Opera” to it. I read this again to see if it helped clear up confusion but it doesn’t. It’s very much saying a lot without saying anything at all, with phrases like “The Royal Opera House describes the place we work, not who we are. The whole is always more than the sum pf its parts…” What does this actually mean? It doesn’t clarify what the building is/will be called. Alex Beard says “ballet and opera are the real thing”. I mean…well yes they’re not imaginary and they are a “thing”… I’m being a bit facetious but it’s actually quite worrying their official press release doesn’t really explain what this actually means for the company (companies) structurally (is it staying exactly the same but just the umbrella name changes from ROH to rbo) and the building name etc…and without being too harsh I expect someone in Alex Beard’s position to be able to provide an authoritative, clear, and dare I say somewhat inspiring message. whoever is in charge of their communications needs to think about the clarity of messaging and not just fluff about the building being a “nerve centre” (?!) and Beard saying not even talking about the name change in his quote! we shouldn’t have to go to other news sources for clarity about what this name change means for ROH. And the fact that some sources are conflicting shows that even in briefings and interviews given directly they’ve not sorted out a clear communication about what this actually means… If I was ROH/Alex Beard I’d talk about why they are changing the name of the *organisation* from ROH to RBO to reflect two equally important partners (well three if you count the orchestra but they’re not in the name…!). Then I’d clarify the building name remains the same for traditional/historical reasons (or alternatively if the building name is changing I’d explain what the new name is). Then I’d go into the importance of art forms like ballet and opera and how they bring joy to so many, and then you can reference the cinema broadcast and outreach etc as you see fit.

@Lizbie1 I agree - my posts weren’t intended to further such speculation but rather give some thoughts on why I think it’s unlikely that guesting is delaying casting announcements.

No I think it’s just speculation, and I don’t think it makes sense logically. It’s true that dancers may know and the friends/public doesn’t - but this also doesn’t make sense to me as why wouldn’t they put out such plans (always subject to illness/injury etc). I appreciate it must be a mammoth job juggling assigning roles, looking at partnerships, thinking about rehearsal time and then coordinating that with other programmes that these principals may be dancing in and then those associated rehearsal times so it’s not an easy job, but it has to be done anyway and the further in advance they do it seems a win-win by informing friends and others interested in booking as well as having a good plan for the next few months and dancers knowing exactly when they’ll be performing and rehearsing.

@ellyb surely early casting enables RB dancers to guest “more” in that they know exactly when their RB commitments are and can work around those. I have no problem with RBdancers guesting elsewhere but I don’t think this should trump their full time job and RB scheduling should come first. If they announced casting at the time of premium friends booking you’re looking at anything between 3-6 months advance notice of when you’re expected to dance at the RB. If they are trying to manage dancers’ guessing preferences and that’s delaying casting (and that’s very much an IF unless someone has insider knowledge, I personally don’t think it’s this as it doesn’t make sense to me) it’s very much the wrong way to go about it and a huge disservice to UK audiences, Friends and the wider company (as principal casting will have knock on effects for partnerships and first soloist roles etc). Also perhaps I’m being overly hopeful but is this the RB trying to cover themselves? And the communication and follow up responses are badly worded? I know it’s still poor they can’t hold themselves to something they’ve been doing for years but there’s still a chance Friends will receive casting in advance of their booking period opening? I’ll be looking for casting detail with interest - Friends booking opens on 25 June (with higher tiers the previous weeks) so I’d except ideally casting to be released early mid June if they wanted to give Friends this information in advance. Then there’s only about 2 weeks between Friends and general booking so they really ought to get casting out at some point in June to give friends even a little head start!

Is there a particular (new) challenge as to why they can’t announce casting in advance? I’m just trying to understand where and why this could be coming from, and why they had issues with the MacMillan and Ashton castings.

@Richard LH my summary was my impression of the messaging, you’ve put one direct quote but here’s another one from Mears “The whole organisation has become a lot more approachable since I started in 2017,” It’s not directly said in the article but I’m reading between the lines here to imply my opinion is that Mears and O’Hare are being conscious about what they are programming to ensure it’s not considered “elitist” or “unapproachable”. There’s mention of the programming of an opera dealing with “challenging” subjects such as domestic violence , racism and child abuse, and also the Linbury programme of Legacy celebrating black and brown dancers (not mentioned in the article). I think there are active, conscious decisions being made with a view to challenging the conception that RBO/ROH is elitist and making it a more approachable organisation but I suppose neither Mears or O’Hare say it so directly in those terms. I should have been clearer in my original post that it was my impression of the article rather than exactly what was being stated, so apologies for that. Of course I could be 2 + 2 = 5…but given we talk a lot about ACE funding being aware of such words/criteria it’s not a stretch, but still my opinion. I add that I’m actually not against such programming - i’m not familiar with opera, I personally am unsure if I’d want to see something with such themes but just because it might not be my preference it’s not to say it shouldn’t be programmed and could be a valuable work. And the Legacy programme sounds like it could be really interesting, although there’s not a huge amount of detail right now. Similarly there is a balance to be struck and making sure heritage words that have artistic value aren’t discarded because they don’t fit a particular “agenda”. It’s a complicated topic with lots of nuance so I don’t want to take this thread off topic so I’ll leave it there! I think the overarching point I was trying to make (which may have been expressed badly) is approachable repertoire is one thing, but if people can’t afford to see anything due to the high ticket prices then that is elitist, and not approachable!

Will they give Friends ability to cancel memberships if advance casting is no longer a thing? Strictly speaking advance casting is not a privilege of membership but advance booking is and that privilege will be reduced significantly for most ballet friends! I don’t see why it can’t be provided if it used to be previously. As mentioned we all know there’s no guarantees with injuries/illness but otherwise it makes planning everything easier surely, not just for audiences but internally for the company and dancers themselves?

Thanks @jmhopton as you say the way it's worded makes it seem like casting will be announced before general booking opens, but not necessarily before Friends' priority booking opens. I'm not a Friend anymore but I think I would probably drop my membership if they didn't do advance casting at the point of Friends' booking opening as I would feel almost disadvantaged at having to pay but not getting the same information as people before general booking! As a non-Friend, I appreciate the advance casting 1-2 months before booking opens (i.e. when Friends' booking opens) as it gives me time to coordinate my diary to see what casts I want to make and prioritise, as well as coordinate with friends' calendars and potential hotel prices for various date options. It basically provides a bit of logistical breathing room to confirm plans so I'm confident in booking exactly what I want/can make on general booking day. If I only received advance casting say a few days before booking opened, it wouldn't have enough time to sort it all out!

The Evening Standard article says this, which clarifies immensely: The organisation will be called Royal Ballet and Opera from the new season, which starts in September (though the building will remain the Royal Opera House). Why this very clear statement wasn't part of the 'official' press release from ROH (now RBO) on their website though... So 'Royal Opera House' as an organisation no longer exists, this is now the 'Royal Ballet and Opera'. But the building will remain known as the Royal Opera House. (This is probably a clever way to probably not faff about too much with the web address I think.) The article also clarifies the Royal Ballet will still exist in its own right, as each the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet get their own mentions for their new season programming as they mention much about the 'two companies' in the article, so I don't think that seems to be changing. Not to take it too far off topic but it's interesting they talk about the desire for new repetoire and how they're moving to a more approachable and less elitist organisation, implied through programming. But honestly, the biggest barrier and what makes RBO elitist right now (in my opinion!) isn't the programming but the ticket prices. I started attending regularly in 2018 and I'd say it's got much less 'approachable' due to the ticket prices, particularly post-pandemic. It's just a bit irritating to me they talk about making things approachable / less elitist but there is no mention of the price of things being the biggest issue...Credit where it's due, I think their Young ROH initiative is fab and must be a big reason why they are drawing in younger audiences more, but weirdly the article doesn't even mention or promote that! And I felt a bit bad for Kevin re his photo - he does look incredibly grumpy, surely the photographer could have asked for another shot as Kevin usually is quite smiley and approachable looking so it's unfortunate he doesn't look so here (when ironically the article talks so much about approachability!).

@Aruna S indeed, I'm not aware of that many (if there are any?) regular trains between Stansted and Birmingham anyway so you'll likely need to go into London one way or the other, unless you can get a coach from Stansted to Birmingham directly (which actually may be quicker if it cuts the in/out London part on the train, and will certainly be cheaper!) I hope you enjoy the show and am very impressed you are coming all the way from Italy for it!

I don’t think crosscountry is an less or more reliable than any other company as so much depends on strikes (which to be announced at least 2 weeks’ in advance, which isn’t that much notice), and even if there’s no strike on the day you could have issues with people on the tracks (anything from trespassers to suicides/deaths which can be minor delays to hours and cancellations). I don’t know how much time you have to visit but if you’re flying from Italy I’d try and come the day before and maybe spend the night in Birmingham (presumably you’d have to stay at least one night anyway and Birmingham is cheaper than London). If you do travel on the day to Birmingham I’d give yourself plenty of time to arrive in case there are any issues on the day. Depending on other travel plans, rather than direct from Stansted if you go into central London you have a few options for trains - Avanti are the main one to Birmingham but if there are issues on that line you have the option of getting Chiltern railways from Marylebone which splits the risk a bit as you’re not reliant on one service/line (it doesn’t go into new street but once you’re in Birmingham it’ll be much easier to get a bus or walk or taxi as you prefer). You could also look to see if they have any direct coaches from airports to Birmingham (eg mega bus or national express). That might also give you a few more options and while maybe not as quick and comfortable as a train coaches aren’t beholden to strikes or engineering works. My other general advice is trains seem to run less frequently on Sunday and or have engineering works planned that day. I have often travelled on a Sunday so it’s not a major inconvenience but something to look out for. You also get to experience the joys of advance tickets vs anytime vs peak vs off-peak…! Good luck and I hope you have a lovely (transport stress free) time!

This is bad audience behaviour and incredibly rude. It's ok to not like something and share an opinion (if asked or once someone has experienced in their own terms) but I wouldn't say anything in the performance itself as we are all different and I wouldn't want to spoil others' enjoyment. Imagine if you were wearing a bright red dress you loved and someone said to you 'oh I hate red, no one suits it'...it's cruel and unnecessary. If she was so annoyed about Cojocaru not dancing why did she still attend? Sounds like it would have been better for her to return her ticket so someone more appreciative could have gone! I too have had the music stuck in my head, I think it's my favourite ballet score. It's so well composed with each character/scene having a different flavour, but everything works well in harmony. It's also a score that stands strongly in its own right as a musical piece.

Thanks for trying! Was it the friends general email? I'd be quite annoyed if I was a Friend and they removed a dedicated contact channel they had for me! Or the general customer services one? customerservices@roh.org.uk - this is still on their website as the contact email so if they've done some big changes there they haven't communicated it adequately and have failed to do the necessary web updates.

I'm surprised that they've bothered to do a big name change announcement, logo etc and yet the logos on the ROH webpage, twitter, social medias etc remain the same. Maybe it will be rolled out in time for the start of the 2024 season I guess. As @Rob S has noted I think I'll do a good browse of the shop during the Ashton programme to see if I want anything with the current logo on before it goes! I obviously wouldn't expect the web address to be changed for example, as that is more structural and you lose people if you have a whole new webpage (and not sure the booking systems could cope!), but I would have expected the new logos to be ready to be embedded into the webpages, and the twitter/instagram/facebook picture icons are very easy to swap. Maybe I'm just too familiar with the old logo but the letters seem too close to me on the new one. At the end of the day I don't really care too much about the logo, as much as I've got an opinion on it! I'll still call the building 'ROH'. What is more important to me is what they are programming, and the fact that the Royal Ballet remains a 'thing' in its own right (obviously as part of a wider 'Ballet & Opera' company, as was/is the case).

Not to task anyone to do this but I wonder if someone should email the RBO team to ask directly about this? I am tempted to do so myself but not a Friend so it might be a bit odd coming from me! I'm hopeful it's just poor communication rather than meaning no advance casting at the time of booking.

I feel the press release and statements from Beard and O'Hare about the name change are a bit unclear to me. I'm not sure exactly what (and how) is changing? Is it the overarching company name, the building name, the structure of the company/companies, or a combination of all the above? Whilst I don't think the name change was necessary, I'm not opposed to it for the overarching company, it makes sense for Alex Beard for example to be CEO of the Royal Ballet and Opera. But regarding the name of the building itself, without 'house' it doesn't make sense. If I say 'I'm going to the Royal Ballet and Opera' (as opposed to going to see the Royal Ballet/Opera) it just sounds odd to me. It is an opera house! Like or not 'ballet house' just isn't a thing, historically ballets have been performed in opera houses. Surely the building is still going to be called ROH? And I presume the part of the company that is still the 'Royal Ballet' will remain its own (sub) entity within the wider 'RBO' brand? Otherwise we have got rid of the Royal Ballet? Re the new logo I don't love it. The proportions seem odd to me - the old one was all 'within the lines' whereas the new one is a bit wider and so not as 'tidy' in space? My eye is drawn more to the '&' so it looks off-centre to me. The font feels like it's trying to be more 'trendy' than 'timeless' and too thick/bold to be in harmony with the text in the crest (the way the current one is). Reading what Kevin says I suppose that's deliberate though for the visual impact for it to be stronger with advertising.

It feels a double insult to not have a Balanchine matinee and it's not being 'compromised' by having a live cinema stream either. We also didn't get the Ashton triple from 2022 streamed, nor the one this year. I'll try not to take it too personally (I am half-joking...!) I can understand why they have chosen to stream Alice, Cinderella, R&J as those are the 'well known' names. But the Wheeldon mixed bill is an interesting choice, particularly over Maddaddam. Despite the fact I won't see it in person, I would have been interested to see Maddaddam in cinemas as it's something that I would give a go if I lived in London (price dependant) but it's not worth the expense of additional travel for me now. I imagine if Onegin was advertised well it could be a draw in cinemas too. I'm coming round more to it being the 'Royal Ballet and Opera'. Although I hope they don't spend lots of money on rebranding when finances are tight elsewhere. Re Giselle - I feel after the Tchaikovsky ballets it's probably the most well known ballet? It used to be the one that companies would bring on tour so I feel it is reasonably familiar. R&J, Cinderella and Alice are known more widely for their plots, but not necessarily as ballets in their own right would be my take. Looking at youtube clips of Alice, my personal feeling is it feels a bit more like it's trying to be a 'west end' style theatre production, rather than a ballet. I can see the issue with Fille being an unknown story and the French title perhaps doesn't help things. This is easily overcome with good pictures on posters and videos/relevant advertising. I am hopeful it sells well for BRB, preparing the way for a ROH 25/26 revival. They seem to like reviving things on an 'anniversary' (the press release talks about 60th anniversaries for R&J and Onegin) so with Fille premiering in 1960, 2025 would be the 65th anniversary? Failing that 2030 makes it 70 years, although I hope we don't have to wait that long! We also have the 100th anniversary of the Royal Ballet coming up in 2026, maybe we can hope for lots of heritage works then (like Les Noces, Symphonic Variations etc). Also I imagine Sleeping Beauty is all but guaranteed that season then.

My delight at the Balanchine triple has been dampened the fact there is not a single matinee performance. They did this with the MacMillan triple recently and also more oddly a Winter’s Tale. aside from the much shorter run of ballet to broadway it is the only thing scheduled to not have a single matinee. Does ROH not want ballet lovers outside of London/SE to see Balanchine without spending a near fortune on hotel rooms? At least Onegin has a few matinees. R&J has loads but I’m discounting half of them as with them being on bank holiday weekends hotel prices will be a premium and there’s always issues with rail it seems around those days!