Bluebird

On 18/03/2024 at 16:50, Timmie said:

 

I’m booked to see Nadine Sierra but planning on getting another ticket. Any thoughts on Liv Redpath as Lucia? Or stick with another Nadine Sierra? I did like Sierra very much in L'elisir d'amore.

If you're going to get a second ticket, I can highly recommend Liv Redpath.  She sang in yesterday's Friends' General Rehearsal.  It was the first time I'd heard her sing and I was really impressed.  I felt she gave a superb performance and am delighted that I have a ticket for one of her shows. (I'll also be seeing Nadine Sierra).

2 hours ago, Emeralds said:

I was always told (even last year) by the box office staff that there was no credit voucher system like the one at ROH - maybe things have changed now. (The website today does confirm they can offer a voucher certificate.) 

Your Box Office contact must have given you the wrong information.  I've just checked back in my emails and found that I was sent a credit voucher as early as September 2020.  

Edited to add that the system you describe (in your earlier post) would apply to a ticket returned less than 24 hours before a performance. 

40 minutes ago, Rob S said:

 

You mean there's a way we can?

If you return your ticket at least 24 hours before the show, they will give you a credit voucher for the value of your ticket (minus an admin fee).

Just received from the ROH re Swan Lake casting:

The following cast changes have been made:

Friday 12 and Thursday 18 April, 7.30pm

Anna Rose O’Sullivan is replaced by Mayara Magri as Odette/Odile.

Saturday 20 April, 7pm

Ryoichi Hirano is replaced by Reece Clarke as Prince Siegfried.

Saturday 27 April, 1pm

Anna Rose O’Sullivan is replaced by Mayara Magri as Odette/Odile.

Monday 29 April, 7.30pm

Ryoichi Hirano is replaced by Reece Clarke as Prince Siegfried.

Saturday 4 May, 1pm

Ryoichi Hirano is replaced by Reece Clarke as Prince Siegfried.

37 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Clarke was quietly partnering Cuthbertson, Yanowsky, Nunez and a number of principal ballerinas and first soloists when he was still a First Artist and Soloist for a numbet of seasons - dancing the lead male role in Sleeping Beauty, Sylvia, After the Rain, The Two Pigeons, Manon, The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet (prepared it but couldn't dance Romeo due to injury). 

Also, he danced the lead role in Ashton‘s Symphonic variations when he had barely been one year in the Company:

https://rohcollections.org.uk/performance.aspx?performance=29425&row=115

Ticket returned to Box Office

Having just managed to get a cheaper seat for Alex Campbell's last performance of Manon next Friday, March 8, I now have a spare ticket.  Before returning it to the Box Office I thought I'd check to see if anybody wanted it.  It's in the Upper Amphitheatre, R67 (one in from the aisle in the centre block) and is a full view seat costing £49.  If interested, please post here and also send me a PM.

12 minutes ago, Geoff said:

Is it me or has the Ashton Insight for Friday 31 May dropped off the calendar? Has any Friend been able to book for it yet?

We’ve been told (by the box office) that booking for this event doesn’t open till March 26.

17 hours ago, PeterS said:

I don’t know about Plymouth but Sadlers Wells booking was never on the cards for today (unless perhaps for BRB Friends?). The Wells has its own schedule for its next booking period as yet unannounced. 

BRB Friends' booking for Sadler's Wells always opens on the same day as the priority booking for Sadler's Wells Members.  The date has not yet been announced.  BRB Friends' priority booking for Plymouth is, however, now open.

3 hours ago, alison said:

 

More like around the turn of the century, surely?  It was a trigger for Tamara Rojo leaving ENB and joining the Royal Ballet.

They were still doing the Macmillan Rite of Spring in 2012.  I've even managed to find a balletcoforum thread on the programme in which it was featured ( Beyond Ballets Russes): 

Edited as I forgot to provide the link:

Another edit as I hadn't read further down the thread and now see that Emeralds had already mentioned the 2012 run.

15 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Stix-Brunell had joined Wheeldon's independent dance company Morphoses (alongside ballet stars like Wendy Whelan who still danced with their main companies like NYCB) while a student. She was cast by Wheeldon to be Alice and Perdita (and was also in the first cast of his Within the Golden Hour when it transferred from SFB) but she danced Princess Rose in MacMillan's Prince of the Pagodas as an understudy for an injured colleague. 

Yes. By deleting my original post, I also deleted the additional information that, in both cases, Stix-Brunell was chosen to replace other dancers - I believe she was replacing Nuñez as Alice and Cuthbertson as Princess Rose.

Edit: simultaneous posting with Bangorballetboy!

1 hour ago, Richard LH said:

Surely this is unusual though....I can't immediately think of any other Artist recently dancing two major roles like this, (with Clara) in only their second full year in the Company.

Original post deleted as memory confused me.  Wheeldon did choose Stix-Brunell as Alice when she was only 19 but Prince of the Pagodas was NOT his ballet. It is, of course, a Macmillan ballet. Senior moment!  Apologies to Blossom and Richard LH who have already 'liked' my inaccurate post! Nonetheless, Stix-Brunell did dance the principal role in Prince of the Pagodas when she was only 19 -  i.e. she danced two principal roles (Alice and Princess Rose) in her second year in the Company

53 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

For The Winter's Tale, however, they've gone back to the Manon pricing structure. 

https://www.roh.org.uk/seatmap?performanceId=54813

 

This is good news for those who sit on the bench seats in the stalls circle (seats in the bench seats in row C are £49 and the cheaper seats in row B are £63).

I omitted to compare these prices to the Swan Lake prices for the same seats.  Stalls Circle Bench Seats in Row C are £49 (compared to £75 for Swan Lake) and in  Row B are £63 (compared to £118 for Swan Lake)

This is why I commented on how good this news was for those who like to sit in these seats!

53 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

It is, however, bad news for those who like to sit in the front side amphitheatre seats.  These will be the same price as they were for Manon - £49 (compared to £35 for Swan Lake) 

Stalls Circle Standing and all Upper Slips seats are priced at £14 - again, the same pricing structure as that which was used for Manon.

I also omitted to compare the price of the good seats in the Upper Slips to the price of the same seats for Swan Lake.   £14 for The Winter's Tale and £23 for Swan Lake.  Therefore the return to the Manon pricing structure is also good news for those who like to sit in the Upper Slips.

I haven't checked the rest of the prices.  Apart from those who like to sit in the front side amphitheatre, are any other readers  suffering from the return to the Manon pricing structure?

I just had a look at the prices for the Summer Season.  We already know the Swan Lake pricing (the same as it is for the Spring run and similar to that for last season's Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella) 

https://www.roh.org.uk/seatmap?performanceId=54784 

For The Winter's Tale, however, they've gone back to the Manon pricing structure. 

https://www.roh.org.uk/seatmap?performanceId=54813

This is good news for those who sit on the bench seats in the stalls circle (seats in the bench seats in row C are £49 and the cheaper seats in row B are £63). 

It is, however, bad news for those who like to sit in the front side amphitheatre seats.  These will be the same price as they were for Manon - £49 (compared to £35 for Swan Lake)  

Stalls Circle Standing and all Upper Slips seats are priced at £14 - again, the same pricing structure as that which was used for Manon.

Here are the seating charts for the two Ashton bills:

The Dream mixed: https://www.roh.org.uk/seatmap?performanceId=54801

Les Rendezvous mixed: https://www.roh.org.uk/seatmap?performanceId=54837

The Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday evening performances have always been  mainly Upper School.  The Friday evening and the Saturday afternoon performances have always been mainly White Lodge. I don’t imagine it will be any different this year,

1 hour ago, Emeralds said:

The other magic words you're waiting for: 

 

Fille will be at-

Birmingham (25-28 September 2024) 

Plymouth (10-13 October 2024)

Sadler's Wells, London (24-25 October 2024)

Other cities/venues may be confirmed later. 

London readers, note there are only 2 dates for Fille- block those days in your diaries now! 😉 

 

I've been wondering if the London dates might not be accurate.  BRB are usually at Sadler's Wells from a Tuesday or Wednesday to a Saturday (i.e. with two performances on the Saturday).  The dates given for the new work, Luna,  are Tuesday October 22 and Wednesday October  23.  The dates given for Fille are  Thursday October 24 and Friday October 25.  I've never known them come to Sadler's Wells and not perform on the Saturday. I could be wrong but I suspect that the Fille dates might well be October 25 and 26.

Ticket taken 

Ticket spoken for

Already posted in the tickets forum but am repeating here:

I'm unable to use my ticket for tomorrow's rehearsal of La Bohème (Monday January 22 at 4.30pm) It's an aisle seat in the front side amphitheatre (E81) and is available free of charge to anybody who is able to use it. If interested,  please send me a PM and also post here. Let me know today as it will otherwise be donated back to the Box Office tomorrow.  

I'm unable to use my ticket for tomorrow's rehearsal of La Bohème (Monday January 22 at 4.30pm) It's an aisle seat in the front side amphitheatre (E81) and is available free of charge to anybody who is able to use it. If interested,  please send me a PM and also post here. Let me know today as it will otherwise be donated back to the Box Office tomorrow.  I'll also paste this into the Opera Forum.

I booked without having to log in. I was just asked for my name, address, email address and phone number,

7 hours ago, LinMM said:

How often does the ROH update its seating map? 
For three days now there is erroneous information on seat availability for SL March 7th! 
It keeps saying there are 32 seats available but there has been only one but that has now gone. 
I just don’t believe that every time I access the map there are 32 people with tickets in their baskets!! 
Where are these 32 seats? 

Maybe those seats are only available to Access customers.  Access seats can show up in the numbers of available seats on the website but will only be bookable by certain members  of the Access list.

12 minutes ago, Nina99 said:

Well, I know Fumi Kaneko is for a start. There are some lovely pictures on her Instagram of her and Vadim’s stage rehearsal. It certainly looks like a very promising partnership and I’m really looking forward to seeing them both in February.

 

I think that Marci Sambe it’s also making his debut as well as William Bracewell.

Debut also for Yasmine Naghdi

I’ve already commented on the Jill Ogai/ Marcus Morelli performance that preceded their on stage promotions.

https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/28711-jill-ogai-and-marcus-morelli-promoted-to-principal-dancers-of-australian-ballet-onstage/?do=findComment&comment=425468

I was lucky enough to see most of the other casts. Two of the principals who danced Odette/Odile impressed me enormously. One was Benedicte Bemet who, during the Company’s London visit, drew a lot of attention when she danced with Joe Caley in Diamonds and in the Don Q pas de deux. In these performances of Swan Lake her Odette/Odile was truly lovely. Her Odette was sublime and her Odile cunningly sensual. Another who impressed was Sharni Spencer. Her Odette, in particular, was beautifully danced and very moving.

However the performance that stood out from all the others was the one I saw a few days ago. Rina Nemoto, a senior artist (equivalent to first soloist), who was a Lausanne apprentice at the Royal Ballet some years ago, was partnered by ex Mariinsky dancer, Misha Barkidjija. Misha really lived the role of Siegfried and I found his performance intensely moving. This didn't just come from his facial expressions. He was acting through his dancing, something I find quite rare and have experienced with very few male dancers. His partnership with Rina was electric. They were completely in tune with each other and their pas de deux, especially in the white acts. were absolutely beautiful and very moving.

Throughout the performances, the dancers in the corps de ballet were exemplary. Laura Day, who is now the corps de ballet repetiteur, can be very proud of them.

As a footnote, one interesting difference to the Royal Ballet is that the female soloist roles, in the performances I saw, were most often taken by members of the corps de ballet and coryphées (and an occasional soloist). Although senior artists sometimes took the soloist roles, on occasion, a senior artist was cast as a cygnet while lower ranks danced the soloist roles. In fact, despite having been promoted to principal dancer on the 16th, on the 19th Jill Ogai was a cygnet!

On 14/12/2023 at 12:40, Ondine said:

Small Nutcracker & RB deviation, I see 19-year-old Laura Griffiths has joined Australian Ballet, trained at English National Ballet School (David Yow) and was Senior Award Winner in the 2022 Cecchetti Classical Ballet Bursary Awards, adjudicated by Anita Young.

It’s interesting that you should mention Laura.  I’ve been to a number of performances in the current run of Australian Ballet Swan Lakes and Laura is one of the dancers who has consistently caught my eye, whether as a cygnet, as one of the dancers in the Neapolitan or as a member of the corps.  She definitely seems to be one to watch. 

Edited to apologise for taking the discussion away from the Royal Ballet.  I didn't see any other way of responding to this particular post.