Henry

On the subject of soloists, I was looking through the cast lists for Swan Lake and I didn't notice Calvin Richardson. Is he away or did I miss something?

@JNC " I hope Requiem is revived in the future ..." Would that be a Resurrection?? (sorry)

May I ask? Do you mean 4th April - and not 4th March?

Carmen wore a red dress.

Generally, I too liked Jurgen Rose's costumes. A small quibble was the use of colour. I was a bit shocked to see Marguerite Gautier make her entrance in purple. For me, in the 19th century, purple was the colour for elderly ladies and widows. I expected to see M. Gautier in white (preferably) with a red camellia or in a red dress with a white camellia. Was purple really the colour for a sophisticated woman who expected to be noticed? In some places the use of colour seemed a bit too simplistic. A scene with all the dresses in a shade of blue, then a scene with the costumes in red. I don't think I would have understood the ballet within a ballet and how it was used to show Gautier's inner thoughts, if I hadn't read the synopsis. Am I being a bit dim? Was it obvious? I note from Wikipedia that Jean Aumer did indeed choregraph a version of Manon Lescaut in 1830. Has anyone ever come across it? Is it referenced in the novel or was this device invented by John Neumeier? I note that starting with an auction clearance sale in the ballet (1978) came before the musical Phantom of the Opera (1986). All said though I very much enjoyed it. Thanks again to Vienna Staatsoper, especially after their generous streaming during lockdown.

At the Thursday matinee, there were cast sheets attached to a wall on each floor - apart from the second balcony level. I was told that someone had taken it.

Unfortunately, the costumes for the first piece didn't arrive. Unfortunately, the costumes for the last piece did arrive...

May I ask? Will Mr O'Hare now have a spare contract for a new principal? Who would you like to see?

Since my mobile phone's system was updated from Android 13 to Android 14, the seatmap on the ROH website has not been displaying properly. When I view the seatmap for a performance, even though there should be lots of seats available, the seatmap displays the price filters across the top of the screen - but where I should see the seats is blank. This has been happening consistently for a few weeks now since the upgrade was done. Have others had the same problem? Thanks.

A few more thoughts. The performance is 45 minutes. The queue for the cloakroom after the performance was 15 minutes. The point of the performance is for the audience to move around, to see from different angles, to make an experience. With this in mind, the ROH is right to ask people to leave bags, coats etc. at the cloakroom. If, as a critic did, you sit down writing your notes, then you haven't experienced the event. There is a John Cage (the modern composer) story. Interested in Buddhism, he went to a lecture by Dr T. Suzuki. At the beginning of the lecture, the audience were asked not to take notes, but instead to pay attention to the lecturer. John Cage noticed the woman in front of him, writing lots of notes. He tapped her on the shoulder and said that they had been asked not to take notes. She replied "I've got that down, thanks".

A few thoughts on the first performance this evening. The ROH request that coats and bags are left at the cloakroom. Please don't assume that this doesn't apply to your handbag. The set designer, Shizuku Hariu, has done a reasonable job of defining performance areas and pathways. The sets function well. The intention that the audience will promenade around the space, where they are to go and not go needs to be clear without obstructing views etc. It is important the people move around. Don't find a "nice spot" and then stay there. The size of the audience has been considered to allow space for movement. The choreography wasn't memorable. Same for the music. This is a new role for the audience and their rules aren't clear, established yet. May they talk? May they applaud at the end of a sequence? Nude coloured all-in-one costumes in elastane lycra with the audience 1-2 metres away is over exposure. Surprised that the Intimacy Co-ordinator agreed to that. The costumes need a re-think. While there has been modern dance in museums and galleries for quite a while now, most ballet dancers have little experience of immersive. close-up performances. At the recent "Tuff Nut Jazz Club" at the Royal Festival Hall the performance venue was laid out like a night club with only 3 rows of seats. When the dancers finished their sequence, the dancer would look up, smile at an angle of 60 degrees over the heads of the audience towards the dress circle - which of course wasn't there. Singers are usually better at adjusting to the performance space. On a theatre stage they look out, they look up to where the audience are. In a cabaret, they look across, they look down to where the audience are. In this type of performance, a dancer needs to consider where their focus should be if they are to make contact. Ignoring the audience isn't interesting.

May I ask, do you mean 7th February rather than March?

I understand. The designs are very different from the usual. They dominate a first viewing. My reaction was the same. Please watch again and let me know what you think of the dancers & staging. I was very impressed. Is this company highly regarded? They are new to me.

I saw the recent ENB Giselle. I haven't seen the cinema showing of Dutch National Ballet's Giselle. I have greatly enjoyed reading the well informed discussions on the respective forums. Thanks very much for those comments - especially @Irmgard. It's greatly improved my appreciation of this ballet. It was therefore very timely for me to see this version on the Operavision website. I've enjoyed this production a lot, though I find that I appreciated it more with a second viewing. https://operavision.eu/performance/giselle-0 The design and lighting are very different from the usual for a production of Giselle. On first viewing, I was paying too much attention to those aspects. It does look very fresh and modern. On the positive side, the costumes in very clear colours make the characters very easy to identify and follow. There is a motif running through all aspects of the design giving it a definite unity. The lighting is very clear in both acts. I notice that in Act I, the trees are represented as conifers with the branches sloping down. In Act II, the trees are represented as deciduous with the branches sloping up. I would love to believe that they are the same trees but turned the other way up! Probably many people will feel that in Act II, the colours and brightness detract from a ghostly atmosphere. The company, dancers and choreographer/stager are unknown to me. Once I got used to the surprise of the design, I found that I was beguiled by the dancers and dancing. I really enjoyed the performance.

Sorry!