San Perregrino

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68856354.amp

The Judas Tree as I’m keen to watch things that I haven’t yet seen.

I had to faff around a lot with the calendar. I couldn’t find a simple list. @Bruce Wall can you help? Thanks

Link still not working. I think it’s possibly got something to do with booking not opening tomorrow and/or there being a queuing system in operation.

Royal Danish Ballet 2024/2025 season includes: Giant Steps: Balanchine Evening: Serenade, The Four Tempéraments, Symphony in C. The Princess & The Pea Bournonville’s (Englund and Hübbe) A Folk Tale Blood Wedding (new work by Eukene Sagues) Balanchine’s Nutcracker Wheeldon’s Sleeping Beauty Hübbe’s Don Quixote The Great Gatsby (new work by Arthur Pita)

i don’t think the prices are expensive for central London in mid-December. They range from £20 for rear stalls up to £72 for front stalls depending on the performance with the weekend being slightly higher. The price range for Richmond in late November and Woking in January is broadly similar. Richmond also has premium seats inc drinks & nibbles at £105. For comparison stalls seats for: A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic range from £25 - £180 and for: ENB Nutcracker at the Coliseum range from £85-£115 (child reduction is available)

I’m always surprised with events that present/showcase students that parents dont automatically receive a pair of tickets or at least ‘first refusal’ to buy some ahead of the general public. Were it a ‘grown up’ evening sponsored by ‘X,Y & Z S.A.or Ltd’ I’m sure these sponsors would have received an allocation. In this instance I’d suggest parents are the equivalent of the sponsor.

It wouldn’t surprise me if R&J was programmed along the same lines as Swan Lake this season i.e. spaced out from March until June with things inbetween, say another full length like Onegin and, in my dreams, there’d be a Triple that included my favourite ‘Symphony in C’. Separating Alice from Cinderella with Maddaddam would certainly help even out the ‘sweetness’ quotient of the first two thereby potentially attracting a different demographic. The scheduling of Maddaddam and Onegin could easily be reversed too. Is Like Water For Chocolate due for a revival?

As I said he’s got a lot to do once out of the starting gate. Partnering is dancing surely as it’s integral to the choreography? Another random thought is, in an era where obviously great store is given to chaperoning princesses and young women, why is Odile allowed to disappear alone with Siegfried running off after her and what could the pair of them possibly be doing together out of sight of their elders?

It randomly crossed my mind last time I watched SL what would the reaction be if, rather than saying no to dancing with his sisters, Siegfried decided that a bit of a dance might be just what he needed to dispel his melancholy tendencies…? though perhaps then he wouldn’t need to slip off to the woods and the lake which would make it a shorter ballet as he wouldn’t see the swans. Personally I’d keep the Benno dancing because it means better opportunities for more male dancers. Siegfried does have a lot to do once he’s out of the starting gate. As far as costumes go, I’d get rid of all black tights and shoes. A lot of the choreography especially in Act 3 is lost to view because black blends in to the richness of the Palace background rather than standing out. What’s the point of making all that effort for the audience not to be able to the skill involved?

A bit hard to do if you’ve been knocked unconscious. This Siegfried has shown us in previous scenes that he’s under his mother’s thumb and somewhat afraid of Von Rothbart at court. So having him taken out the action with a single blow sort of makes sense.

That would be the obvious man triumphs over monster macho fight, the St George slays the dragon etc Much more subtle is the girl power of the massed swans rising up in revenge for Odile’s death. Perhaps Liam Scarlett foresaw that times were changing and so gave us this seemingly unconventional ending.

Equally baffling is that it looks like Hansel & Gretel is being revived.

Is it Taisuke Nakao’s debut as Benno? Good to see Liam Boswell & Madison Bailey will dance Neopolitan too. (First time this run I think?)

I dont know the answer to your question as such. Here’s a few musings: Perhaps the balcony being closed off on opening night would give a negative impression and the producers have decided that there are enough less affluent ballet fans to buy up the tickets so I’ve put the balcony on sale. Perhaps those lucky to have balcony seats are a ‘reserve pool’ on hand to be ‘upgraded’ on the night to fill any empty seats lower down to give the ‘full house on opening night feeling’. Making cheap seats available at the start of the run can help with promoting the show to the widest audience through social media and word of mouth. And/or whetting the appetite to encourage people to come again and buy a more expensive seat. Again group bookings may have taken up the first two dates that you mention, either at a discounted rate or maybe they have been invited by the producers. Again the combined power of young fingers and social media can be a huge promotional asset if harnessed correctly. In the case of BRB Sleeping Beauty at the Mayflower in Southampton earlier this year, once all seats in the stalls and dress circle had sold for a date, the gallery was then put on sale. This might happen with the balcony at the Coliseum.