Bluebird

The ROH Winter Magazine has just arrived and contains an insert with the provisional pricing. Front side amphitheatre seats (where many regulars sit) are now priced at £34 for The Sleeping Beauty (a £4 increase compared to the Nutcracker and Mayerling prices). Interestingly, the next price down is £22 and I assume this is for the better Upper Slips seats. These same Upper Slips seats are only £15 for The Magic Flute and The Barber of Seville. This doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense as the wonderful acoustic in the Upper Slips is great for opera but the poorer sightlines should surely mean that the Upper Slips ought to be cheaper for ballet than for opera.

+ As a result of the pandemic, the 2020/21 Aud Jebsen Young Dancer programme was extended to enable dancers the opportunity to gain experience performing with the Company. That Season’s intake – Denilson Almeida, Daichi Ikarashi, James Large, Hanna Park, Maddison Pritchard and Marianna Tsembenhoi - now become Artist, joined by Viola Pantuso from the 2021/ 22 cohort.  Olivia Findlay, Ava May Llewellyn and Alix Van Tiggelen have had their Aud Jebsen Young Dancer contracts extended into the new Season. For the 2022/23 Season, five graduates from The Royal Ballet School join the Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme: Alicia Rose Couvrette, Martin Diaz, Luc Foskett, Scarlett Harvey and Ella Newton Severgnini. Marco Masciari, the Prix de Lausanne dancer for the 2020/21 Season, also joins the Company as an Artist. Darrion Sellman graduate of the Princess Grace Academy in Monaco and gold medallist at the 2022 Prix de Lausanne, joins as the Prix de Lausanne dancer for the 2022/23 Season.

I called the Coliseum Box Office last week and was told that, at this stage, there are no plans to open up the Balcony for booking. I imagine that this will only change if they manage to fill up the rest of the auditorium.

I have a recording of the television broadcast of the Queen Mother's eightieth Birthday gala and have never been able to understand why they only showed the pas de deux from Rhapsody whereas they broadcast the whole of Mam'zelle Angot. Does anybody know the reason for this?

http://links.mail.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/servlet/MailView?ms=NDY5NzE4NzgS1&r=NzcxMTkxMTc1NDQ5S0&j=MjI2MTUwODU3MgS2&mt=1&rt=0 Edited to add that I posted this before I realised that the reduction was only on the second highest price.

I'm not able to use Circle C29 for New English Ballet Theatre in the Linbury this coming Saturday, June 18 7.45pm. It's an aisle seat and the ticket is £10 (instead of £15) since, although the seat faces the stage, there's a pillar which slightly obscures the very side of the stage. I've never found this to be a problem. If interested please send me a PM and also post here to let me know that you've done so.

Due to double booking, I'm unable to use my ticket for this coming Friday's performance of Like Water For Chocolate: Amphitheatre E34 £19 (aisle seat). I notice the performance is currently sold out so am offering it here before returning it to the Box Office. Please post here if you're interested and also send me a PM.

In case it helps you, here is the url of a page that worked for me. I appear to have saved the bookmark in December 2020! https://www.roh.org.uk/about/cast-sheets?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020_Dec_Nutcracker_Reminder_11Dec&utm_content=version_A&emailsource=52326 Edited to remove unnecessary and superfluous information.

Casting now up on Like Water For Chocolate thread https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/36/like-water-for-chocolate-by-christopher-wheeldon/cast-list/49229 edited to add link to cast sheet

The casting is now up on the production page. https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/36/like-water-for-chocolate-by-christopher-wheeldon/cast-list/49229 I'll paste it in here: Tita Akane Takada Mama Elena Melissa Hamilton Rosaura Itziar Mendizabal Gertrudis Hannah Grennell Pedro Alexander Campbell Dr John Brown Reece Clarke Nacha Annette Buvoli Juan Alejandrez Benjamin Ella Don Pasqual Gary Avis Chencha Ashley Dean Nacha's former lover Harris Bell Jose Lukas B. Brændsrød Elena's mother Christina Arestis Elena's father Bennet Gartside Elena's brothers Kevin Emerton, Tomas Mock Juan De la Garza Nicol Edmonds Esperanza Jade Johnstone, Katharina Nikelski Alex Isaac Morgan, Harrison Lee Priest Philip Mosley Ranch Workers Sophie Allnatt, Leticia Dias, Ginevra Zambon, Mariko Sasaki, Téo Dubreuil, Calvin Richardson, Joseph Sissens, David Yudes Edited to remove strange format

It's just occurred to me that, if the Friends' Office sent the corrections you mention, Lisbie1, it's very odd that they weren't able to explain the date confusion when I wrote to them last Tuesday.

If that's the case, it's a pity the message didn't get through to the Royal Ballet before they issued the casting for the Autumn.

Here is the November calendar on the ROH website: https://www.roh.org.uk/calendar?date=2022-11 Here is the Royal Ballet casting for the Autumn: https://media.wordfly.com/roh/ballet-bp1-casting-2223-enews-27-may.pdf?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2022_May_Friends_Enews_27May&utm_content=version_A&emailsource=59087 You will notice that, according to the Royal Ballet casting sheet, there are Mayerling performances November 22 at 7.30pm and November 26 at 1pm. However, according to the November calendar, the opera Alcina is on at those times. In addition, the calendar has Mayerling performances on November 21 and 24. These dates do not appear on the Royal Ballet casting sheet. I wrote to the Box Office almost a week ago to ask for clarification. I've not yet had a reply. I also wrote to the Friends' Office. They say they've queried it with the Royal Ballet and will get back to me. They've not yet done so. Having checked with a Patron, it seems that the error appears to be with the website rather than with the Royal Ballet. If that is the case, I'm amazed that it's not yet been corrected since Premium 2 Friends will be booking early next week and opera goers will have no idea that those Alcina dates might well be incorrect. IMPORTANT EDIT While I was writing the above post, a message from the Box Office appeared in my Inbox. It seems I was being unfair to the ROH website. The error was, after all, with the Royal Ballet. They've just sent me the revised casting. I've been unable to copy the pdf link they gave me so have pasted in the new information below and highlighted the new dates: Saturday 12November at 12.30pm Monday 21 November at 7.30pm Ryoichi Hirano, Melissa Hamilton, Itziar Mendizabal, tba, Yuhui Choe, Claire Calvert, Paul Kay, Christopher Saunders, Gary Avis Thursday 24 November, Wednesday 30 November at 7.30pm Marcelino Sambé*, Francesca Hayward*, Sarah Lamb, Annette Buvoli*, Isabella Gasparini*, Mayara Magri, Taisuke Nakao*, Gary Avis, Nicol Edmonds*

I think Corrales might need a bit more time before he tackles the role of Rudolf. It involves a lot of very difficult partnering. Although his partnering skills have improved a lot since he joined the Royal, I don't think he's yet reached the level needed for this role. Edited to add that this is just my opinion. Others might feel differently.

They must have read your suggestion, Capybara. The cast list has the following list of characters: TITA The youngest daughter of the De la Garza household, in love with Pedro but forbidden by family tradition to marry. She has a special gift for cooking. PEDRO The son of a neighbouring ranchero, in love with Tita. He marries her sister Rosaura in the hope of remaining close to Tita. MAMA ELENA The overbearing matriarch of the De la Garza household. She hides a secret. DR JOHN BROWN The family doctor from America. He loves Tita but her passionate feelings are reserved for Pedro. NACHA The wise old cook of the De la Garza household and Tita’s closest confidant. The two bond over their shared love of food and cooking. ROSAURA Tita’s sister. She marries Pedro but remains jealous of his close relationship with Tita. GERTRUDIS Tita’s other sister. She elopes with a revolutionary soldier, and later becomes a famous revolutionary commander. JUAN ALEJANDREZ A revolutionary soldier who marries Gertrudis. ROBERTO Pedro and Rosaura’s first child. ESPERANZA Pedro and Rosaura’s second child. ALEX The son of Dr John by his first wife. DON PASQUAL Pedro’s father and a neighbouring ranchero. CHENCHA The family maid.

The cast list for this evening's rehearsal is on line: https://static.roh.org.uk/digital/cast-sheets/Like+Water+for+Chocolate/LWFC-gen-1.6.22.pdf?_ga=2.40251938.1212520043.1653993392-1931094508.1652950752 Edited to paste in the cast: Tita FRANCESCA HAYWARD Mama Elena LAURA MORERA Rosaura MAYARA MAGRI Gertrudis ANNA ROSE O’SULLIVAN Pedro MARCELINO SAMBÉ Dr John Brown MATTHEW BALL Nacha CHRISTINA ARESTIS Juan Alejandrez CESAR CORRALES Don Pasqual GARY AVIS Chencha ISABELLA GASPARINI Nacha’s former lover HARRIS BELL José JOSEPH SISSENS Elena’s mother ANNETTE BUVOLI Elena’s father BENNET GARTSIDE Elena’s brothers TOMAS MOCK, KEVIN EMERTON Juan De la Garza LUKAS B. BRÆNDSRØD Esperanza TAESHA PATTERSON,MARIANNA TSEMBENHOI Alex BILLY TUCKER, HARRISON LEE Priest PHILIP MOSLEY Ranch Workers ASHLEY DEAN, LETICIA DIAS, MARIKO SASAKI, GINEVRA ZAMBON TÉO DUBREUIL, BENJAMIN ELLA, CALVIN RICHARDSON, JOSEPH SISSENS Brides, Revolutionary Soldiers and Wedding Guests ARTISTS OF THE ROYAL BALLET Students of The Royal Ballet School appear by kind permission of the Artistic Director CHRISTOPHER POWNEY

Rebecca Blenkinsop joined ENB in 2018. She's done relatively well to be promoted to First Artist after only 4 years (two of which were affected by the lockdowns). Promotions at ENB are sometimes hard to come by. Angela Wood joined in 2010 and has only just been promoted to First Artist.

Indeed ....and the same could be said for Katja Khaniukova.

Unfortunately, it appears that they had no choice. The following is a quote from the email Alex Beard sent to Friends of Covent Garden last February: "Our old booking system is reaching a stage where the technology underpinning it will soon become obsolete, unsupported by any global platform and therefore, essentially, unusable"

I have also had Total Recorder for a long time. Around 2012 they provided a free video add on which would allow you to do screen recording. Below is the message they sent at the time. You'd need your registration name and original registration key. If you no longer have your registration information they'll email it to you on request. We have released a new edition of Total Recorder - VideoPro Edition, which combines the functionality of Total Recorder Professional Edition and its Video Add-on. Licensed users of Total Recorder Professional Edition and Video Add-on are eligible to upgrade to the VideoPro Edition for free. Total Recorder VideoPro Edition version 8.3 is available at: http://www.highcriteria.ca/download/tr83ve.exe I believe there is a more up to date version now but you might possibly have to make a further small payment. It's worth checking with them. Edited to add their email address: support@highcriteria.com

Apologies. I should have pasted in the rest of the announcement. There were eight new recruits but there were also eight dancers who left the Company in 2010. Miyako Yoshida retires at the end of the season Also leaving/left are : Viacheslav Samodurov Yohei Sasaki Gemma Sykes Cindy Jourdain Ernst Meisner Richard Ramsey Xander Parish

There were places that year. I just checked on 2010 promotions and joiners and have pasted them in below. I've highlighted the joiners from the RBS. Isn't it possible that Will Bracewell chose to go to BRB at a time when new recruits to that company were given more opportunities than new recruits to the Royal? 2010 Royal Ballet Promotions, leavers, joiners Sergei Polunin is promoted to Principal Johannes Stepanek to First Soloist Melissa Hamilton to Soloist Claire Calvert Akane Takada, Fernando Montano and Erico Montes to First Artists Nehemiah Kish joins as Principal from the Royal Danish Ballet Itziar Mendizabal joins from the Leipzig Ballet as First Soloist Graduates from The Royal Ballet School join the company as Artists and are: Yasmine Naghdi Sander Blommaert James Butcher Valentino Zucchetti joins from the Norwegian Ballet Camille Bracher joins from Johannesburg as Artist Beatriz Stix-Brunell from the School of American Ballet as Artist

It is available afterwards. From the message that comes up after you sign up for the free digital programme (my highlighting): "Watch Emerging Dancer 2022 on YouTube live from 7.30pm (BST) on Thursday 19 May, or on catch-up for 30 days."

Yes, it is scheduled to be in the RBS Summer Performance. I assume it's OK to quote from an email sent to Friends of the RBS: Edited to add that I've just realised that the information below applied to the Holland Park performances as well as to the Main House Matinée - i.e. it's possible that not everything will be included in the July 16 performance. "Once again, Artistic Director, Chris Powney, has curated an exciting and varied programme incorporating classical, contemporary and character elements. The programme will include Raymonda by Marius Petipa, PreSENTIENT by Wayne McGregor, Yondering by John Neumeier and the Pas de Douze from Ashton’s production of Swan Lake. The School is also delighted to bring new works by Mikaela Polley, Joseph Toonga and Jason Mabana, created on Royal Ballet School students especially for these performances. The Royal Ballet School Matinée will be accompanied by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, conducted by Paul Murphy, and will close, as is tradition, with the exuberant annual Grand Défilé bringing together all the students of the School."

12 dancers in a pas de douze as opposed to two dancers in a pas de deux.